A miracle happened

Yes, I was told a miracle happened last week. Many were living witnesses to this one in 2000 years event. I was told that someone died. Everyone knew about it but would not say it out. But news spread like wildfire through words of mouth and the new media, twitter etc. It was the biggest open secret. It was no hoax.

He died and was resurrected on the third day! Then again no one was there to witness the resurrection. Then he walked into a big party to the surprise of everyone. And it put to rest all the doubting Thomases and the disbelievers, he has risen and was seen by many. 

He is the One. He has come. The second coming is here. Go forth and spread the good news. The One shall henceforth live forever.

Happy Hari Raya Aidilfitri to everyone

Wanton killings of Chinese by White Americans

Readers if you have other knowledge of white people's atrocities and killings against Chinese people in other parts of the world please add in to this blog.


August 13, 2012, 5:00 am12 Comments
Picturing the Remnants of Anti-Chinese Violence
By DAVID W. CHEN

Many people try to pay homage to historic sites by preserving or taking stock of whatever remains. Tim Greyhavens, a photojournalist from Seattle, wants to highlight a slice of history by challenging his audience to fill in the blanks.

For a new online project, Mr. Greyhavens pinpointed, based on records and interviews, the locations of dozens of anti-Chinese incidents in the American West that occurred more than 100 years ago. After traveling to those locations, he then photographed whatever exists there now.

The exhibit offers an entry point into a little-known and ignominious chapter of ethnic cleansing in American history that, viewed more than a century later, seems stunning for the sheer breadth and brazenness of racially motivated violence.

From the mid-1800s until the early part of the 20th century, towns up and down the Western Seaboard, stretching into Wyoming and Colorado, lashed out against Chinese immigrants by rounding them up, often at gunpoint, and kicking them out. Dozens were killed and injured, and houses were set on fire.

Sometimes, the aggressors — who included mayors, judges and businessmen — acted out of economic fears. Sometimes, they acted out of cultural fears. But the Chinese also fought back, filing lawsuits and organizing boycotts, among other means. Yet much of that history is now largely unknown, even in the places where the violence transpired.

But instead of depicting that violence, Mr. Greyhavens opts for a minimalist approach. There are no people in his photos. No historical markers noting that thousands of Chinese immigrants were expelled or killed. Just frame after frame of seemingly mundane rail yards, downtown intersections, industrial zones and more, in the hauntingly titled exhibit, “No Place for Your Kind.”

“I wanted these photos to represent that all these people had been removed,” Mr. Greyhavens said in an interview. “Here’s something where time has passed, and what was there before was just gone. How do you represent something that’s not there? And what is there that can possibly be visually interesting, especially in these dull urban landscapes?”

Mr. Greyhavens began his project in 2008, when he stumbled upon a reference to a place called “Chinese Massacre Cove” in Hells Canyon along the Oregon-Idaho border. After reading up on the events, he began to “notice parallels between what happened then. and what is taking place in our country right now,” he explains in the exhibit. “Both periods are marked by a widespread lack of understanding of other cultures.”

The project’s name comes from a newspaper article from the time, describing one of the incidents. A map of the Western United States serves as an index, allowing viewers to click specific locations and read short historical summaries.

The clearest juxtaposition between past and present is his entry for Eureka, Calif., which offers images from 2011 and 1885 of Eureka’s former Chinatown. Mr. Greyhavens’s favorite photo, perhaps, depicts the only surviving home from a former Chinatown in Rock Springs, Wyo. Tensions between white and Chinese mine workers at the Union Pacific coal mine led to the destruction of 79 homes owned or occupied by Chinese.

“There is nothing about that picture that says, ‘Oh, I want to live there, even now,’ ” said Bob Nelson, museum coordinator of the Rock Springs Historical Museum, who assisted Mr. Greyhavens. “It just needs to be recognized, so it never happens again. People knew about it here, and they’re embarrassed, and I think they’re trying to atone.” 


PS. More details of the atrocities committed by the White Americans are posted in www.redbeanforum.com under the same heading in the World/International Affairs column.

Apathy, disinterest or a case of empty heads

There appears to be a closure to the cleaner woman case against the PM on the requirements to call for an election when an MP vacated his seat during his term of his office. After a long wait and full of anxiety, the case ended like being doused with a pail of cold water. The Judge Pillai ruled that there was no need for the PM to call for a by election to fill an empty MP seat. It is the PM’s absolute discretion when to hold it and can actually delay and not holding it at all. And it seems that this is final and, other than getting the law amended, that’s it.

From a layman’s point of view, there appears to be many loopholes in the judge’s interpretation of the law. But layman’s opinion does not mean anything to the court. The thing is whether the legal profession see anything wrong with the judge’s interpretation of the law or fully agree that the brilliant judge’s ruling is clinically perfect, flawless? If this is the reason, then no one can find fault with the law and the legal fraternity. But if it is a case of apathy, disinterest, not my business, or full of empty heads, then it is a sad ending.

Nothing of this case was heard till this morning when Elgin Toh wrote his commentary in the ST. He dealt with the legal and political implications and consequences of the ruling. The ruling that the PM has absolute discretionary power when to hold a by election is as good as saying no by election, and no MP for the constituents if he so decided. Definitely this must not be the intention and spirit of the law. And political expediency would mean that the constituents may have to go about their affairs without an MP which is unsatisfactory and undemocratic.

The basis of a democratic system is to have an elected representative of the people to be in parliament to be their spokesperson, to speak on their behalf and to cast votes on their behalf. In reality the last bit is of course a myth as MPs normaly do not ask their constituents on how to vote. They vote according to the dictates of their parties.  But this must not rob the people of their right to have a MP of their choice in parliament. The ruling implies that a PM can deny the people this right, albeit indirectly and irresponsibly.

Then again, if the view of a lawyer MP is right, the election is to elect a govt, and when a govt is in place, having or not having an MP is superfluous, secondary, not necessary. Is this really the spirit and intention of the constitution on election laws?

Would there be further discussions from the elite and the brilliant and learned counsels trained in law, and politicians who believe in democracy and democratic processes on this matter? Getting the constitution amended to patch up this hole or anomaly is as good as fat hope under the current political climate.

The silence, the fait accompli, seems to suggest that this matter is closed, or not important or relevant to worth further discourse from our thinkers and elite. Hopefully Elgin Toh’s probing article would stimulate some interest and a new enlightenment in this election law, in the constitution and in practice.

Divide and rule in the Middle East…and Asia

As war looms with the US conniving with the Israelis to attack Iran, the rest of the pathetic Arab countries could only watch with disdain. The rest of the world pretends to look the other way. Where is the UN and why is the UN and western media not condemning such an aggression? Some of the Arab states have been targets of regime change and in a state of turmoil, some were semi colonies of the US, needing the Americans to support the regimes, and some were so under developed militarily that they were inconsequential.

These encourage Israel, with the US backing, to strike at any Arab state it likes, at its own time, even talking about it openly without fear. The shit Arab countries could not do anything as they were individually too weak to hit at the Israelis. The western media and western countries would report the whole show as if it was a virtuous war, a right thing to do, to hit at any Arab state, including the current target, Iran. Politically, militarily, economically, religiously, they have all the good reasons to hit at any Arab states to cripple them and prevent them from becoming strong and independent countries.

Now what can the silly Arabs do, splitted, divided, weakened, just like the rest of Africa, and facing the Evil Empire and a powerful bully with superior arms armed and provided by the Evil Empire? If only the Arabs were united, if only the Evil Empire does not arm Israel to the teeth, Israel would not be so foolhardy and confident to take on the Arab world.

The western formula of divide and rule is effective in the past and still effective today. While they divide their enemies, they stand united, like how they united themselves to wipe out the Red Indian tribes to take over their country, the continent of North America.

The Middle East is suffering the same fate, divided and at the mercy of the western powers led by the Evil Empire with Israel as the point man. The same formula is being introduced into Southeast and East Asia. The silly Asians must be divided just like the Arabs and be at the mercy of the Empire. Favour a few, dangle a few carrots, and make them dance, or unite them, like they did in conquering North America. This time it is to unite Japan, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, India and possibly the rest of the Asean states to launch a concerted attack on China. The call is now for Asean to stand united with the Empire to conquer China and turn it into another North America.

The future of Asean is very bright, to own a piece of China and be a member of the Empire. This is the course being charted for them by the Evil Empire. The temptation is very sexy.

The world, especially Africa and the Middle Eastern countries and also Asean, must watch what this Evil Empire is doing, how it is going to work, cloak and dagger, to wipe out Iran. And that is the lesson to be learnt, the true nature of the Evil Empire, attacking any country it so chooses, by giving it a tag.