27Nov
I’m sure y’all have heard about the unrest in Thailand including the shutdown of Bangkok’s two airports. I have only one comment on a paragraph in a CNN article that stuck out to me as blatantly wrong, having lived in Thailand for eight months:
In Chiang Mai late Wednesday protesters wearing yellow shirts pulled a 60-year-old man from his car and shot and killed him, Reuters journalist John Sanlin told CNN. Anti-government protesters typically wear yellow shirts, he said.
Yellow is the King’s color. The King has always kept above the fray of politics and coups and is the one person that everyone in Thailand loves. Everyone (including us foreigners) would always wear yellow shirts on Monday (the King’s birthday). On a given day (let alone Monday), it seems 25% of the men in Chiang Mai, Thailand wear a yellow polo shirt with the King’s shield/crest on the left breast pocket. For the Reuters reporter John Sanlin to say that anti-government protesters wear yellow is akin to saying that anti-government protesters tend to have legs. On top of this, both political sides sides wear yellow to show that their actions are patriotic–according to this travel blog, the soldiers that participated in the latest coup tied yellow ribbons to their gun barrels. It’s the equivalent of American politicians wearing flag pins.
26Nov
Wow!
I just took this pic yesterday.
19Nov
Go Mitt! Romney gives excellent, excellent advice on the proposed big three bailout:
IF General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye. It won’t go overnight, but its demise will be virtually guaranteed.
Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself. With it, the automakers will stay the course — the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check.
Ok, so maybe I should have supported Romney over McCain. (But the three-way race between Huckabee, McCain, Romney made things difficult and Romney dropped out before Huckabee…)
17Nov
Categories: Asides, Photos
I’m thinking of Californians (especially the Witmer family in LA) during these wildfires (and thanking God that there are no trees to burn in KS). The Big Picture has some spectacular photos of the fires.
10Nov
Dorcas’ latest Letter from Harrisburg column is up and it’s a good’un!
08Nov
I am surrounded by Morans. This morning I picked up the Hutch News and did a double-take as I saw the headline: “Moran sets up bid for Senate”. I continued to read, “WASHINGTON – With the 2008 election season over, Rep. J. Moran wasted little time taking the next step in his likely bid for higher office.” I double-checked the name of the newspaper at the top: yup, Hutchinson News, not Washington Post. Having just lived in Virginia and having two Morans (one US Representative and one VA House of Delegates) always on the political scene, I thought my days of political news about Morans was over. Apparently not. I used to have Rep. J. Moran in VA and now I have Rep. J. Moran in Kansas. The difference between Virginia and Kansas becomes stark, however, when one notices the one detail that is different: Rep. J. Moran (D-VA) and Rep. J. Moran (R-KS).
08Nov
Anyone want to fly to San Pedro Sula, Honduras for $215 OW + tax? Contact Golden Rule Travel or email dad (marvin at goldrule dot net).
07Nov
Categories: Asides, Photos
As usual, the awesome The Big Picture blog over at the Boston Herald has some stunning pictures, this time of the coronation of Bhutan’s new 28-year-old king.
03Nov
