Saturday, August 30, 2014
I Can't Become Chinese
Why I Just Can't Become Chinese
The contributions of Chinese Americans underscore a great U.S. advantage—and the limits of China's rise.
Aug. 29, 2014 1:32 p.m. ET
From left, former Ambassador Gary Locke, Zappos.com CEO
Tony Hsieh, restaurateur Eddie Huang and labor activist Ai-jen Poo.
Photo Illustration by Sean McCabe;
ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images (Gary Locke); Reuters (Tony Hsieh);
Associated Press (Eddie Huang); Getty Images (Ai-jen Poo)
Try as I might, I just can't become Chinese.
It
started as a thought experiment: I wondered what it would take for me,
the son of Chinese immigrants, to become a citizen of China. So I called
the nearest Chinese consulate and got lost in a voice mail maze with
nobody at the end. The consulate's website explained the process for
getting visas but not for naturalization.
Then
I realized why it was so difficult to get an answer: Beijing doesn't
ever expect to hear from foreigners who want to become Chinese citizens.
As
it turns out, a naturalization procedure is found under China's
Nationality Law. But precious few people pursue it: The 2000 Chinese
census counted just 941 naturalized citizens.
But
let's say that I decided to become fluent in Mandarin, brush up my
knowledge of Chinese history and culture, move to China and live the
rest of my life there. Even then, even with thousands of generations of
Chinese genes behind me, I would still not be accepted as truly Chinese.
All this crystallized for me why, in
this supposed age of a rising China and a declining U.S., we Americans
should worry a bit less. No matter how huge China's GDP gets, the U.S.
retains a deep, enduring competitive advantage: America makes Chinese
Americans. China doesn't make American Chinese.
China
also isn't particularly interested in making American Chinese. It isn't
in China's operating system to welcome, integrate and empower
immigrants to redefine the very meaning of Chinese-ness. That means that
China lags behind the U.S. in a crucial 21st-century way: embracing
diversity and making something great from many multicultural parts.
Consider,
for instance, the way that a Chinese state media organ earlier this
year mocked the departing U.S. ambassador,
Gary Locke,
as a "banana": yellow on the outside, white on the inside. What
did Mr. Locke—the first Chinese American ambassador to Beijing, Eagle
Scout, former governor and cabinet secretary—do to earn such an epithet?
Merely his job: representing U.S. interests and values even when they
conflicted with China's.
The episode
suggested that some ruling elites in China were unwilling or unable to
distinguish between someone Chinese and someone Chinese American. The
premise of the "banana" diatribe was that an ethnic Chinese—even one
born and raised in the U.S.—must be essentially loyal to the Chinese
motherland. That assumption could be called romantic or racial. It can't
be called modern.
ISIS OPERATING IN JUAREZ
ISIS IN MEXICO: Feds Deny Watchdog Group’s Claim That Terror Group Is Operating In Juarez
Friday, August 29, 2014
GULLAH
A Unique African-American Culture, Hundreds of Years Old, That Could Go Extinct
Pete Marovich
Growing up in Beaufort, South Carolina, in the 1970s, Pete Marovich often
overheard locals speaking “a rapid-fire language that sounded similar
to English.” At the time, he had no idea then that it was a dialect that
had been passed down from their enslaved African ancestors, or that it
was just a small piece of the distinct and rich culture of the Gullah
people, who’d maintained a strong connection to their roots as,
generation after generation, they remained along the coasts of the
Carolinas and Georgia (where they’re known as Geechee).
When Marovich moved to Hilton Head Island in the 1990s, he started meeting Gullah people and learning about their history and culture.
Brought to America from “the primarily rice-producing regions of West
and Central Africa,” the Gullah/Geechee people worked the plantations of
the American southeast, where they “developed a separate creole
language and distinct culture patterns that included more of their
African cultural traditions than the African-American populations in
other parts of the United States.” After emancipation, the
Gullah/Geechee remained in the same rural coastal communities where they
were once enslaved. For many years after that, their communities
thrived without much interference from outsiders. They were free to
continue long-held traditions of “making seagrass baskets, fishing with
handmade nets, burying their dead by the seashore, and living life
simply,” as Marovich wrote in the introduction to his book, Shadows of the Gullah Geechee.
ARTICLE HERE
ARTICLE HERE
I THINK I WANT TO BECOME NORWEGIAN
How Norway has avoided the 'curse of oil'
Bergen is not a place to go looking for supercars racing around
Hugged
by mountains and perched on a stunning coastline of fjords, Bergen,
Norway's second-largest city, has picture-postcard views.
As one of the centres of Norway's booming oil and gas industries, it is also a very wealthy place.Yet there are few displays of ostentatious spending - there are no supercars with tinted windows, no designer handbag shops, and no queues of people outside exclusive nightclubs.
For while other countries have struck oil and then binged on the revenues, by contrast Norway is continuing to invest its oil and gas money in a giant sovereign wealth fund.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
Prof Alexander Cappelen NHH Norwegian School of EconomicsWe trust the government, we believe our tax money will be spent wisely”
The fund, worth about $800bn
(£483bn), owns 1% of the entire world's stocks, and is big enough to
make every citizen a millionaire in the country's currency, the kroner.
In effect, it is a giant savings account.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
TERRIBLE MOOSE ACCIDENT!
Check out the name of the towing company on the wrecker door.
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Wednesday, August 27, 2014
BEST ISRAELI/PALESTINIAN SOLUTION YET!!!
Klavan's One-State Solution: Give the Middle East to the Jews
38 MAPS EXPLAIN EVERYTHING
Commerce knits the modern world together in a way that nothing else quite does. Almost anything you own these days is the result of a complicated web of global interactions. And there's no better way to depict those interactions and the social and political circumstances that give rise to them than with a map or two. Or in our case, 38. These maps are our favorite way to illustrate the major economic themes facing the world today. Some of them focus on the big picture while others illustrate finer details. The overall portrait that emerges is of a world that's more closely linked than ever before, but still riven by enormous geography-driven differences.
http://www.vox.com/2014/8/26/6063749/38-maps-that-explain-the-global-economy
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Living on a Sailboat in the Caribbean
The Pros and Cons of Living on a Sailboat in the Caribbean
Aug 08, 2014 | Chris Heller, Nadine Ajaka
David Welsford doesn't pay rent or have a full time job. Instead, he lives on a 50-year-old wooden boat. A few years ago, he gave up the luxuries of land for life alone in the sea. "For me, what's more important than having a big house is having a space that makes me feel good," he says.http://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/374880/living-alone-on-a-sailboat/
Irish Citizens Against Muslim Invasion
Many Muslims in Ireland are shocked
by a letter posted to schools and mosques declaring a war against them.
They should be shocked that it has taken as long as it has for people
across the world to start standing up against their campaign of
intimidation.
Gutless politicians don’t stand with the people anymore. In seemingly every country across the globe, the political positions are occupied by self-serving, pandering wimps. This letter is clearly born out of a frustration with a lack of positive action on the part of government officials and a willingness of the Irish to defend their nation by taking matters into their own hands. After all, the people are the ones who are chiefly affected, not the bureaucrats.
The anonymous letter has made the rounds of Muslim schools and mosques in Dublin.
http://freepatriot.org/2013/11/27/irish-citizens-stand-muslim-invasion/
Gutless politicians don’t stand with the people anymore. In seemingly every country across the globe, the political positions are occupied by self-serving, pandering wimps. This letter is clearly born out of a frustration with a lack of positive action on the part of government officials and a willingness of the Irish to defend their nation by taking matters into their own hands. After all, the people are the ones who are chiefly affected, not the bureaucrats.
The anonymous letter has made the rounds of Muslim schools and mosques in Dublin.
http://freepatriot.org/2013/11/27/irish-citizens-stand-muslim-invasion/
DONT MESS WITH A WOMAN WITH A FARM TOOL IN HER HAND
A 54-year-old Indian
woman has killed a leopard using only her farming tools after it
attacked her on her way home from the fields.
Kamla Devi remains in hospital after a one-hour battle with the predator near her village in Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand on Sunday.
The mother-of-one used a sickle and a small spade to fight off the leopard, after which she had to walk more than half-a-mile before finding help.
The leopard attacked Ms Devi as she walked back from working in the fields, and she claims it took an hour before the injured leopard gave in.
Kamla Devi remains in hospital after a one-hour battle with the predator near her village in Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand on Sunday.
The mother-of-one used a sickle and a small spade to fight off the leopard, after which she had to walk more than half-a-mile before finding help.
Attack: Kamla Devi, 54, remains in hospital
after a one-hour battle with the leopard near her village in Rudraprayag
district, Uttarakhand on Sunday
The leopard attacked Ms Devi as she walked back from working in the fields, and she claims it took an hour before the injured leopard gave in.
She
suffered deep cuts on her body and three fractures, and had lost
significant amounts of blood by the time she reached a hospital.
Lao Tzu: Father of Taoism
Although ascetics and hermits such as Shen Tao (who advocated that one
'abandon knowledge and discard self') first wrote of the 'Tao' it is with
the sixth century B.C. philosopher Lao Tzu (or 'Old Sage' -- born
Li Erh) that the philosophy of Taoism really began. Some scholars believe
was a slightly older contemporary of Confucius (Kung-Fu Tzu,
born Chiu Chung-Ni). Other scholars feel that the Tao Te Ching, is
really a compilation of paradoxical poems written by several Taoists using
the pen-name, Lao Tzu. There is also a close association between Lao Tzu
and the legendary Yellow Emperor, Huang-ti.
According to legend Lao Tzu was keeper of the archives at the imperial court. When he was eighty years old he set out for the western border of China, toward what is now Tibet, saddened and disillusioned that men were unwilling to follow the path to natural goodness. At the border (Hank Pass), a guard, Yin Xi (Yin Hsi), asked Lao Tsu to record his teachings before he left. He then composed in 5,000 characters the Tao Te Ching (The Way and Its Power).
Lao Tsu taught that all straining, all striving are not only vain but
counterproductive. One should endeavor to do nothing (wu-wei). But
what does this mean? It means not to literally do nothing, but to discern
and follow the natural forces -- to follow and shape the flow of events
and not to pit oneself against the natural order of things. First and
foremost to be spontaneous in ones actions.
In this sense the Taoist doctrine of wu-wei can be understood as a way of mastering circumstances by understanding their nature or principal, and then shaping ones actions in accordance with these. This understanding has also infused the approach to movement as it is developed in Tai Chi Chuan.
Understanding this, Taoist philosophy followed a very interesting circle. On the one hand the Taoists, rejected the Confucian attempts to regulate life and society and counseled instead to turn away from it to a solitary contemplation of nature. On the other hand they believed that by doing so one could ultimately harness the powers of the universe. By 'doing nothing' one could 'accomplish everything.' Lao Tzu writes:
From a solitary contemplation of nature, far removed from the affairs of men, can emerge a philosophy that has, both in a critical as well a constructive sense -- a direct and practical political message. Lao Tzu writes:
Why are people starving?
Because the rulers eat up the money in taxes.
Therefore the people are starving. Why are the people rebellious?
Because the rulers interfere too much.
Therefore they are rebellious.
Why do people think so little of death?
Because the rulers demand too much of life.
Therefore the people take life lightly.
Having to live on, one knows better than to value life too much.
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taichi/lao.html
According to legend Lao Tzu was keeper of the archives at the imperial court. When he was eighty years old he set out for the western border of China, toward what is now Tibet, saddened and disillusioned that men were unwilling to follow the path to natural goodness. At the border (Hank Pass), a guard, Yin Xi (Yin Hsi), asked Lao Tsu to record his teachings before he left. He then composed in 5,000 characters the Tao Te Ching (The Way and Its Power).
In this sense the Taoist doctrine of wu-wei can be understood as a way of mastering circumstances by understanding their nature or principal, and then shaping ones actions in accordance with these. This understanding has also infused the approach to movement as it is developed in Tai Chi Chuan.
Understanding this, Taoist philosophy followed a very interesting circle. On the one hand the Taoists, rejected the Confucian attempts to regulate life and society and counseled instead to turn away from it to a solitary contemplation of nature. On the other hand they believed that by doing so one could ultimately harness the powers of the universe. By 'doing nothing' one could 'accomplish everything.' Lao Tzu writes:
The Tao abides in non-action,In this way Taoist philosophy reached out to council rulers and advise them of how to govern their domains. Thus Taoism, in a peculiar and roundabout way, became a political philosophy. The formulation follows these lines: The Taoist sage has no ambitions, therefore he can never fail. He who never fails always succeeds. And he who always succeeds is all- powerful.
Yet nothing is left undone.
If kings and lords observed this,
The ten thousand things would develop naturally.
If they still desired to act,
They would return to the simplicity of formless substance.
Without form there is no desire.
Without desire there is tranquillity.
In this way all things would be at peace.
From a solitary contemplation of nature, far removed from the affairs of men, can emerge a philosophy that has, both in a critical as well a constructive sense -- a direct and practical political message. Lao Tzu writes:
Why are people starving?
Because the rulers eat up the money in taxes.
Therefore the people are starving. Why are the people rebellious?
Because the rulers interfere too much.
Therefore they are rebellious.
Why do people think so little of death?
Because the rulers demand too much of life.
Therefore the people take life lightly.
Having to live on, one knows better than to value life too much.
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Philosophy/Taichi/lao.html
Monday, August 25, 2014
Hmmmmmm, I think I'll have the CAT CURRY please!
Cat heads found in bin bag on Manchester's Curry Mile as council investigates race hate angle
James Robinson, a resident, described how he stumbled upon the horrific find in an alleyway while stepping out for food
Manchester's Curry Mile Photo: Alamy
A bin bag filled with severed cats' heads has been discovered in a side street
in Manchester's Curry Mile.
Council bosses have launched an investigation over the bag, which is believed
to have contained the remains of up to five cats.
James Robinson, 34, described the moment he stumbled across the horrific find
while walking down a side street.
He said: "I was going out for some food and walking down the side street
when I saw a black bin bag filled with something that looked suspicious.
"When I opened it I couldn't believe my eyes. There were about five cats'
heads in there. I can't get over the shock of it."
MORE CAT CURRY HERE
THE ISRAEL TEST
Published on Jun 30, 2014
Would you believe us if we said that
the best litmus test of any society's success is its attitude towards
Israel? Well, it's true. As George Gilder explains, whether a society
envies and resents Israel's success or celebrates and tries to replicate
it is indicative of that society's progress. Countries that "pass" the
"Israel Test" tend to rise. Those who don't tend to sink. So, does your
society pass the "Israel Test"? In five minutes, find out.
Bill Whittle: Ferguson and the Real Race War
Published on Aug 20, 2014
Since the shooting of Michael Brown
by a white policeman and the ensuing riots and looting in Ferguson, MO,
Americans have been told, yet again, that there is an epidemic of crime
against black people
Soon, Europe Might Not Need Any Power Plants
Within a few decades, large-scale, centralized electricity generation from fossil fuels could be a thing of the past in Europe.
That’s the word from investment bank UBS, which just released a new report anticipating a three pronged assault from solar power, battery technology, and electric vehicles that will render obsolete traditional power generation by large utilities that rely on coal or natural gas. According to Renew Economy, which picked up the report, the tipping point will arrive around 2020. At that point, investing in a home solar system with a 20-year life span, plus some small-scale home battery technology and an electric car, will pay for itself in six to eight years for the average consumer in Germany, Italy, Spain, and much of the rest of Europe. Crucially, this math holds even without any government subsidies for solar power.
“In other words,” the report says, “a German buyer should receive 12 years of electricity for free” for a system purchased in 2020.
That would mean that after 2020, the economic incentives will align
to encourage the average European household to stop relying on the
traditional utility model for their electricity needs. “Not all [power
plants] will have disappeared by 2025,” the report concedes, “but we
would be bold enough to say that most of those plants retiring in the
future will not be replaced.”
Posted on
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/24/3474972/ubs-europe-solar-batteries-evs/
That’s the word from investment bank UBS, which just released a new report anticipating a three pronged assault from solar power, battery technology, and electric vehicles that will render obsolete traditional power generation by large utilities that rely on coal or natural gas. According to Renew Economy, which picked up the report, the tipping point will arrive around 2020. At that point, investing in a home solar system with a 20-year life span, plus some small-scale home battery technology and an electric car, will pay for itself in six to eight years for the average consumer in Germany, Italy, Spain, and much of the rest of Europe. Crucially, this math holds even without any government subsidies for solar power.
“In other words,” the report says, “a German buyer should receive 12 years of electricity for free” for a system purchased in 2020.
CREDIT: Renew Economy
Posted on
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/24/3474972/ubs-europe-solar-batteries-evs/
Sunday, August 24, 2014
THE NORTH POND HERMIT
The Strange & Curious Tale of the Last True Hermit
For nearly thirty years, a phantom haunted the woods of Central Maine. Unseen and unknown, he lived in secret, creeping into homes in the dead of night and surviving on what he could steal. To the spooked locals, he became a legend—or maybe a myth. They wondered how he could possibly be real. Until one day last year, the hermit came out of the forest
september 2014
Photo: Andy Molloy/ Kennebec Journal/ AP Photo
The hermit set out of camp at midnight, carrying his backpack and his
bag of break-in tools, and threaded through the forest, rock to root to
rock, every step memorized. Not a boot print left behind. It was cold
and nearly moonless, a fine night for a raid, so he hiked about an hour
to the Pine Tree summer camp, a few dozen cabins spread along the
shoreline of North Pond in central Maine. With an expert twist of a
screwdriver, he popped open a door of the dining hall and slipped
inside, scanning the pantry shelves with his penlight.ARTICLE HERE
Mysterious Sound from the Deep Ocean
An unexplained sound has permeated the water from one end of the Pacific to the other since 1991. What could it be?
It isn’t whales or ship vibrations or any of the other usual suspects making this noise in the ocean. In 1991, scientists first detected what has become known as the Upsweep.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) describes Upsweep: “It consists of a long train of narrow-band upsweeping sounds of several seconds duration each.” It’s been detected from one end of the Pacific to the other, a huge range.
The US Navy had never seen this signal before in its decades of listening under the waves, according to a 2002 New Scientist article. Upsweep was heard straight across the Pacific, ruling out certain localized or small-scale sources.
The sound persisted, with a peak in strength in 1994. Since then, it has been subsiding, though it remains audible, reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It seems to peak in the spring and fall. This could be related to the source of the sound, or it may simply be that the sound travels better in the aquatic environment at these times for whatever reason, says NOAA.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/901892-strange-sounds-in-the-ocean-source-unknown-listen-here/?photo=2
Friday, August 22, 2014
MAYBE "FOLKS" NEED TO GET OUT AND VOTE!
THE CITY of Ferguson, just north of St. Louis, has a population that was, as of the 2010 Census, 67.4 percent Black and 29.3 percent white. Yet whites account for five of Ferguson's six city council members, and six of seven school board members (the seventh member is a Latino). Out of 53 officers in the Ferguson police department, there are three African American.
The white Mayor James Knowles has a delusional attitude toward race in his city. "We've never seen this kind of...frustration, this kind of tension between the races," he claimed. "I know we've always gotten along."
How can a shrinking minority of whites continue to dominate the political power structure in Ferguson? One answer: In the 2013 municipal election, just 11.7 percent of Ferguson's voting-eligible residents cast a ballot. The percentage was far lower for African Americans--some 17 percent of eligible white voters participated, compared to 6 percent of eligible Black voters. As a result, according to a Washington Post analysis, whites were actually a larger part of the electorate than Blacks, despite being a much smaller minority in the population.
BUT READ THE REST:The roots of racism and rebellion in Ferguson
Outsiders, Agents Stirring the Pot in Ferguson
A Quick Catalogue of The Various
Groups IN and BEHIND
the Rioting, Looting and
Pillaging in Ferguson.
Outsiders, Agents Stirring the Pot in Ferguson?
...Hodges reported that he spoke to a source within DHS who told him rioting and violence "was encouraged and exacerbated by undercover DHS agents posing as members of the Black Panthers. ... In the past five days I have been contacted, via one of my most trusted sources, a member of DHS, who is opposed to the events and DHS involvement in Ferguson, Missouri. This source stated that DHS is running the Ferguson Police Department and that their actions are designed to antagonize and to provoke the locals to violence. He further stated that he believed that the ultimate goal is to inflame the local citizens to such a point martial law will be declared." ...
=======================================
ISIS TERRORISTS: WE'RE HERE IN FERGUSON
Sign at protest march intended to deliver message of fear
=========One of The Ferguson "Protesters" validates the first article above- see video here.
=======
SEE FULL ARTICLE HERE
Thomas Sowell Archives
Thomas Sowell Archives
08/21/14: The Media and the Mob
08/19/14: Random Thoughts
08/12/14: Attacking Achievement
08/05/14: Is Thinking Obsolete?
07/29/14: Cease the Cease-Fires
07/22/14: Bordering on Madness
07/15/14: Lawsuits and Impeachment
07/08/14: A Primer on Race
07/01/14: America's Birthday
06/24/14: A Lame Duck Country?
06/18/14: A Bitter After-taste
06/13/14: Amnesty Lite Is Still Amnesty
06/10/14: The Prisoner Swap Deal
06/03/14: The Ambassador and the Post Office
MORE HERE
08/21/14: The Media and the Mob
08/19/14: Random Thoughts
08/12/14: Attacking Achievement
08/05/14: Is Thinking Obsolete?
07/29/14: Cease the Cease-Fires
07/22/14: Bordering on Madness
07/15/14: Lawsuits and Impeachment
07/08/14: A Primer on Race
07/01/14: America's Birthday
06/24/14: A Lame Duck Country?
06/18/14: A Bitter After-taste
06/13/14: Amnesty Lite Is Still Amnesty
06/10/14: The Prisoner Swap Deal
06/03/14: The Ambassador and the Post Office
MORE HERE
The Media and the Mob
Thomas Sowell
Those of us who admit that we were not there, and do not know what happened when Michael Brown was shot by a policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, seem to be in the minority.
We all know what has happened since then — and it has been a complete disgrace by politicians, the media and mobs of rioters and looters. Despite all the people who act as if they know exactly what happened, nevertheless when the full facts come out, that can change everything.
This is why we have courts of law, instead of relying on the media or mobs. But politics is undermining law.
On the eve of a grand jury being convened to go through the facts and decide whether there should be a prosecution of the policeman in this case, Governor Jay Nixon of Missouri has gone on television to say that there should be a "vigorous prosecution."
There was a time when elected officials avoided commenting on pending legal processes, so as not to bias those processes. But Governor Nixon apparently has no fear of poisoning the jury pool.
The only alternative explanation is that this is exactly what he intends to do. It is a disgrace either way.
Race is the wild card in all this. The idea that you can tell who is innocent and who is guilty by the color of their skin is a notion that was tried out for generations, back in the days of the Jim Crow South. I thought we had finally rejected that kind of legalized lynch law. But apparently it has only been put under new management.
Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com. To find out more about Thomas Sowell and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
READ ARTICLE HERE
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