Category: Uncategorized

Korea has had a recent wiretapping scandal and now America has it’s own wiretapping scandal, or should we consider it a necessary provision to prevent future terrorist attacks in America? I have been wondering how the US media and their Democratic allies would down play the recent success of the Iraqi elections and today I got my answer. After the election that drew an amazing 70% turn out, I figured the Democrats would complain about 30% of the population being disenfranchised voters in order to down play the election. Instead they were even more clever.

They launched a story about domestic spying that was uncovered over a year ago by the New York Times. They have been holding on to this story for over a year and have been waiting for the right moment to drop it. The NY Times alleges that they held on to the story this long at the urging of the Bush administration, but now they just happen to publish this story right after the Iraqi election and the upcoming vote to renew the Patriot Act. Coincidence, I think not. With so much success and buzz coming from the Iraqi elections the media and their Democratic allies needed something to cloud the buzz and change the subject; so they launched this story. Plus it puts the supporters of the Patriot Act in a difficult position to vote for the continuation of the act.

What is sad is that the media is implying that the wiretapping is illegal when in fact it is legal and President Bush followed all the appropriate guidelines for domestic spying:

The official said that, since October 2001, the program has been renewed more than three dozen times. Each time, the White House counsel and the attorney general certified the lawfulness of the program, the official said. Bush then signed the authorizations.

“The president has authorized NSA to fully use its resources ¿ let me underscore this now ¿ consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution to defend the United States and its citizens,” the official said, adding that congressional leaders have also been briefed more than a dozen times.

The Bush administration did not break the law and the NY Times article did not even say the Bush administration broke the law. The US President can authorize the domestic wiretapping only if a threat of a catastrophic terrorist attack is possible. Bush authorized the wiretapping in October of 2001 right after 9/11. I would say the risk of another terrorist attack was very high and the President responded accordingly. Plus he informed the Senate Intelligence Committee which is headed by a democrat Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) which did nothing to stop the domestic spying. How come Senator Rockefeller’s name and the Democrats responsibility in this issue is not spread all over the news?

Before you become concerned about the NSA listening in on your conversations with your significant other keep in mind that the NSA was only spying on suspected terrorists making phone calls or e-mails abroad not internally within America. Warrants were issued for phone calls and e-mails that were made domestically:

The surveillance, disclosed in Friday’s New York Times, is said to allow the agency to monitor international calls and e-mail messages of people inside the United States. But the paper said the agency would still seek warrants to snoop on purely domestic communications ¿ for example, Americans’ calls between New York and California.

So basically if you aren’t making phone calls to suspected terrorists in let’s say Egypt you don’t need to worry about the NSA wiretapping your conversation.

The NSA requested these powers after 9/11 because some of the Al-Qaida hijackers based in San Diego communicated with their superiors abroad through phone and e-mail and the federal authorities were forced by law to not monitor such conversations. If the NSA had picked up on these phone calls and e-mails from San Diego before 9/11 the whole tragedy could have been prevented.

Intelligence officials are even saying that the wiretapping powers prevented one publicized terrorist attack to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge:

Iyman Faris, a/k/a Mohammad Rauf, 34, of Columbus, Ohio, was charged in a two-count criminal information filed under seal in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, on May 1, 2003. Faris pleaded guilty to the charges in the criminal information on the same day. The charges and plea agreement were unsealed today.

In court documents accompanying the plea agreement, Faris admitted casing a New York City bridge for al Qaeda, and researching and providing information to al Qaeda regarding the tools necessary for possible attacks on U.S. targets.

This guy pleaded guilty to organizing an Al-Qaida terrorist attack and was caught due to the NSA’s ability to wiretap. What I find interesting about this, is that the same people now complaining about civil liberties violations would be the same people criticizing the Bush administration if they did nto prevent this thwarted terrorist attack on the Brooklyn Bridge. We know that the powers given to the NSA prevented one terrorist attack, but how many other attacks were foiled that we don’t know about?

However, playing politics and selling books is more important than national security. That is right this is also about selling books. The author of the NY Times article is releasing a book next month and the article is an actual excerpt from the book. How can any reasonable person think that this the release of this article is not based on politics and selling books? How can this all be a coincidence?

Some may remember the recent wiretapping scandal that happened here in Korea. This scandal involved the Korean CIA wiretapping for political reasons. There has been no evidence that any of the wiretapping done by the Bush Administration was done for political purposes. There is no evidence that Bush was wiretapping John Kerry for example. The wiretapping was done for national security yet opponents to the wiretapping are opposed due to political reasons not civil liberties.

This article has already had the effect of delaying the passage of the Patriot Act that the Democrats are currently filibustering plus no one is talking about the Iraqi elections anymore. It is amazing to me that a big chunk of the media and a political party wants the US to lose the war in Iraq and set conditions for another terrorist attack in America in order to return to power politically.

With all this said, if you are still worried about losing your civil liberties, remember the only civil liberty you are losing is your right to communicate freely with terrorists. I don’t know about you, but this is one right I don’t mind giving up.

Here is a great link that shows the power of photography to influence public opinion. How is this photograph bending the truth of it’s message? Click here to find out.

I got an e-mail from the Lost Nomad that should put to rest the conspiracy theories about the Korean government targeting Typepad accounts to silence criticism about Dr. Hwang. Nomad was informed from Typepad about what happened:

During routine maintenance of our network and storage systems last night, we experienced an issue with our primary disk system where data from published blogs are stored. We are currently running diagnostics on the device, and working to restore your data as soon as possible. Verifying data can be a slow process and will take time.

In the meantime we are currently deploying backup copies of your weblogs from approximately 2 days ago. This is what will be displayed for your blog. The TypePad application is currently unavailable, which means that users will not be able to log in, and visitors to weblogs will not be able to post comments. We are working to bring TypePad back online as soon as possible.

Is it just me or does Typepad have a lot of problems with their accounts for some reason? Hopefully they will get this problem fixed successfully so the great K-blogs affected by the problem will be back up and running properly.

Once again the do gooders are blaming the US military for prostitution in Korea:

South Korea is edging out Japan as the new destination of trafficked women, most of whom are forced into sex trade, a woman rights advocate revealed.

Nuqui recalled that during her trip to South Korea in August, she noticed that those working in clubs near the US military bases were made to wear sexy outfits, perform on stage, and sell drinks to customers. If they refuse, they risk not getting their salaries.

Really nothing new here besides the fact that Korea beat out Japan this time in human trafficking. This is a little surprising considering Korea has 1/3 the population of Japan. This however, is a topic that continues to bug me.

Can someone please tell me how the US military is responsible for prostitution in Korea? The world’s oldest profession was alive and well in one of the world’s oldest countries, Korea long before the US military ever came here. Can also someone please tell me how USFK would even stop prostitution in Korea? Well, that is exactly what people expect the United States to do:

“We urge the United States of America to take a second look at the trafficking of women in Korea, as well as the reported involvement of US military personnel,” she said.

This is ridiculous because I see this over and over again where people expect the good old USA to stop prostitution in Korea. For example should USFK send soldiers down to the Red Light Districts in Mia-ri or Yongsan-gu and arrest all the Koreans there because the USA is expected to stop prostitution in Korea?

Does Korea and the Philippines have no responsibility as well for the prostitution problem? This is Korea and the Koreans are responsible for policing their own laws, not USFK. Plus 95% of the prostitution in the country happens away from US military bases. Even the smallest villages in Korea still have their own “massage parlors”.

The Philippines has a responsibility in this matter as well because the common perception is that the Philippine women are duped into coming to Korea. I’m sorry to burst some people’s bubbles, but most of these women know what they were getting into before they ever came to Korea. These women came anyway because they were desperate to get out of poverty and coming to Korea gave them an opportunity to earn more money than what they would have made in the Philippines plus the outside chance of marrying a US GI.

Often these women say they were duped to everyone that talks to them in order to draw sympathy from customers in order to have more drinks bought for them along with the fact that very few people would openly admit anyway to wanting to become a prostitute; especially girls from a staunchly Catholic country like the Philippines. So the do gooders take these stories and run with it. Think about it; how could these women not know that they would end up as prostitutes in Korea? For years it has been well known about the plight of Philippine women in Korea.

These facts have been discussed not only in the world media, but also the domestic media in the Philippines. Yet, the Philippine women keep coming. Why doesn’t the Philippines not allow their women to apply for the E6 Visa? They won’t do that because officially the Philippine government is against prostitution in Korea, but unofficially they sanction it by letting Philippine women get E6 Visas. The government allows this because the country needs these women to bring in the foreign hard currency to aid the economy. Plus it reduces the amount of unemployment in the country.

Yet with all of these factors out there, the USA is supposed to stop prostitution in Korea.

The voting for the new parliament that will remain in power in Iraq for 4 years has begun. These are not transitional but permanent seats for the next 4 years so even the Sunnis are expected to turn out and vote heavily in this election. This quote here from a 77 year old Iraqi grandma has got to be the quote of this election:

“ANYONE WHO DOESN’T APPRECIATE WHAT AMERICANS HAVE DONE — WHAT PRESIDENT BUSH HAS DONE — LET THEM GO TO HELL!”

I love it, but outside of Foxnews and talk radio I don’t expect this to get any air time because there are more important people like Howard Dean to replay over and over again on TV saying the US can’t win the war despite continuing evidence to the contrary, but still I love the quote.

One of my favorite reporter/bloggers from Iraq, Michael Yon has been nominated for TIME magazine’s Photo of the Year. The story behind the picture is tragic and is definitely a representation of the evil the US is fighting in Iraq. Michael Yon sums it up best in his own words:

It was an instant of clarity in a blur of chaos that, for many of us, frames and defines the nature of this war. Any US soldier who has ever served in combat can probably give countless examples of moments like this. I just happened to be on the scene that day when a terrorist who had been trailing a Deuce Four patrol in a car packed with explosives waited until a crowd of children had gathered around the soldiers and selected that moment to drive into the crowd and detonate. Although little remained of him to be shown in this frame, the image somehow still reveals the true nature of our enemy in this war.

You can read Michael’s dispatch describing what happened before and after this photo by clicking here.
You can vote for Michael Yon by clicking here. Just scroll through the pictures and then vote for the picture you like best. Currently Michael Yon’s photograph is ranked first with 67% of the vote. Let’s keep him there; vote now!

Hat Tip: One Free Korea

Via the Asiapundit, here are some pictures that may be a sign of a new China.

Here is a strange fact I just though of, with all my time in Korea I have yet to see a Korean lesbian in public that wasn’t a drinky girl. Does Korea have a lesbian shortage?

The Korean government has chosen a European firm to develop a new helicopter for the ROK military. The ROK Army is in need of new helicopters because their military is still using the old but reliable Vietnam era Huey helicopters. The European firm was chosen according to the article because they met the required specifications:

The decision is a fresh departure from practice that has seen the U.S. enjoy a de-facto monopoly in Korean defense procurement, with sources saying the ministry did not take political factors like Korea’s long-standing alliance with the U.S. into consideration. A committee member said only Eurocopter’s proposal met its standards.

Looking at the concept picture of the helicopter it looks like the offspring of if a US Blackhawk and a Russian Hoplite had a one night stand. IMHO I would feel more comfortable with a combat proven Blackhawk than a European copter that has yet to be built.

According to this report via the Katolic Shinja, 90% of Koreans support torture:

The majority of Americans believe that the use of torture is justified for terrorism suspects, according to an Associate Press poll. The poll was taken in a number of different countries, showing a large gap in values between Americans and some European countries.

61 percent of Americans, 90 percent of South Koreans, and over 50 percent of citizens from France and Britain support the use of torture. On the other hand, the majority of people from Spain and Italy said that there were no circumstances that would justify such acts. Despite the support of torture, the majority of citizens in every country except the US said they are against secretly detaining prisoners for interrogation. About two thirds of Americans are in favor of that practice.

Using the liberals’ definition of torture wouldn’t soldiers in the ROK Army be considered to be tortured every day? Heck I have seen employees get slapped around here and if that employee got slapped around that way at GITMO it would be considered torture and on the front page of the NY Times. For the record I’m for roughing people up if it means saving US lives. I’m not for ripping out fingernails or hanging people up side down but if pushing someone around during interogation, intimidating them, making them listen to rap music all night, gets someone to talk then lets do it. Some how I don’t think giving someone a Koran, cable television, and a plate of cookies and milk will do much to get them to talk or save US lives.

Here is an article in the Korea Times that lists all the good things Korea is doing in the international community. I can’t argue that Korea is not doing good things internationally because they are, but I have to wonder about this passage here concerning refugees:

Our office, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN refugee agency mandated to lead and coordinate international actions to protect refugees and provide emergency assistance worldwide, will receive $1.5 million US in 2006 from the Korean government, an increase of 35 percent from 2005. The contribution is expected to be increased further. Although Korea, as the 11th largest economy in the world, has belatedly taken long delayed action to increase its fair contribution, the actions themselves deserve much credit.

He must mean all refugees that are not North Korean because it is well known how little South Korea does to protect North Korean refugees in China and the Unification Minister Chung Dong-young has actually spoken out against the North Korean refugees. So that passage rings very hollow to me. Here is another statement that got me thinking:

Now is time for Koreans to do more for the world and to be proud as Koreans.

Should Korea do more in the world just so people can feel proud to be Koreans? How about just doing more to simply help people even North Korean refugees?