Colorado Rockies pitcher Byung-hyun Kim continues to display why he is the perfect Rockies pitcher. Kim has actually improved his ERA since my last posting from 9.64 to a for him a good 6.38. Don’t go write his name on your All-Star ballot yet. He also has an 0-5 record.
Here is a further update on the fall out from the Daniel Hong article in the Korea Times. I orignially posted about this article a couple weeks ago and I provided an additional update last week.
Today the Korea Times had an opinion piece criticizing the Daniel Hong article. The op-ed is well written and makes many of the points about Daniel Hong that was exposed through the blogosphere. Here is a quick snippet:
So, now we are left with some questions: Did this alleged conversation with Prasso actually occur? How can we trust the words of an author who claims another’s words as his own? We might be suspicious that such a person might claim a conversation that never happened as well. Perhaps Ms. Prasso will have chance to read this and comment on the veracity of the author’s use of her name and words. Prasso and Hong both make use of stereotypes as the basis for their writing. Prasso discusses the stereotypes that Westerners have of Asians and some of the problems associated with those stereotypes.Hong, however, simply borrows (scratch that, steals) Prasso’s views in order to attack a subset of westerners for which he has obvious distain. The difference here is that the former is provocative and compelling for the intelligent reader and the later is racist and offensive.
It would be interesting to hear from Ms. Prasso her self on this topic because we have already read enough from Daniel Hong. I doubt we will be reading anything from him in the future now that he has been exposed as a plagarist. Then again this is the Korea Times were talking about so who knows.
A civic group (korean media code word for anti-American group) has been allowed access to the Korean police investigation into the accident that killed the two middle school girls three years ago. I’m sure they will twist the facts of this case for their own purposes to try and build up public outrage before the June 13th anniversary of the accident.
The twisting of the truth in this case is really amazing. I have had KATUSAs tell me they thought before working with US soldiers that the US soldiers ground guided the tracked vehicle back and forth over the girls bodies because a ROK Army tank commander said so on the news. They believed the US soldiers were all laughing about it and they got in a fight with ROK soldiers at the scene over it. This is just a quick sample of the propaganda and lies put out there to smear the US Army. So don’t expect anything truthful to come out of whatever report this “civic group” puts out this week.
Also here is something I heard through the grapevine. We’ll see on the 13th if it is true or not. You will not see the parents of the two girls killed in the accident at any of the protests. They were contacted by the “civic groups” and they told the civic groups that they wanted them to quit taking advantage of this tragedy for their own gain and would not participate. If true I bet the Korean media won’t report it.
Yahoo News is reporting a sharp increase in the number of AIDS cases in Japan.
A rapid spread of AIDS over the past decade has reached a level that has confounded and alarmed the health establishment in Japan, a country that has long felt protected by a first-rate health system and widespread condom use. Infections which had stayed at infinitesimal levels are surging at rates similar to developing countries, and some experts say the real number of Japanese with HIV or AIDS is two to four times the official toll.
The overall reported total of infections isn’t to bad but there is fears that the real number is much higher:
The official toll of 10,070 HIV/AIDS sufferers in a nation of 127 million people pales next to some countries. Even if the actual figure is closer to 40,000, that would mean roughly 1 in 3,000 are infected, compared to about 1 in 100 in Thailand or 1 in 1,500 in China, according to estimates by UNAIDS, the U.N. body waging the global war on AIDS.
But many in Japan are alarmed at the dangerous mixture of chronic underreporting of cases, a sexually freewheeling youth culture that’s less inclined to use condoms or other protection, and the powerful social stigma of a sexually transmitted disease. Satoshi Kimura, head of the AIDS Clinical Center at the Tokyo-based International Medical Center, estimates that between 20,000 and 30,000 people in Japan don’t know they have the virus.
It is the recent increase in cases that is a cause for alarm:
In 2004, a record 1,165 people were reported newly infected, up 14 percent from the previous year — the same percentage growth rate as in AIDS-hit areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa, according to UNAIDS figures.
The total number of cases is thought to be doubling at a rate of every four years and could reach at least 50,000 by 2010, the Japan Center for International Exchange said in a 2004 report.
The virus appears to be spreading the fastest among males under 35. Transmission between gay men accounts for the majority of cases, but the health ministry’s 2004 annual AIDS report notes that infections among heterosexual and homosexual men are increasing at roughly the same rate.
That is really amazing that the increase last year in Japan’s HIV infection rate is similar to sub-Saharan African countries that are being ravaged by the virus.
How does Korea stand in regards to AIDS? Here is a Korea Herald report from last year:
On Oct. 20, health authorities reported that 455 people tested positive for HIV in the first nine months of 2004, raising the number of resident Koreans who have been infected with the virus to 2,994. The new cases represent a 14 percent increase over new cases in the same period the previous year. All 305 cases whose route of transmission has been determined were infected sexually: 51 percent heterosexual vs. 49 percent homosexual, according to the Korean Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). Since 1985, when the nation’s AIDS epidemic began, 591 people died of AIDS, leaving the number living with HIV-infection at 2,403.
So Korea had a 14 percent increase equal to that of Japan which means Korea’s HIV infection rate is similar to sub-Saharan Africa also. Soldiers and expats you are not safe either:
In addition, 132 foreign residents were found to be HIV-infected: They are not included in the 455 figure. The number of foreign cases in the first nine months of 2004 was more than double the 59 foreign cases found in all of 2003.
Keep that in mind the next time you go to the club.
Apparently computer passwords have benn stolen from MSN accounts across Korea the past few days:
Password-stealing software planted by hackers was active on Microsoft’s popular MSN Web site in South Korea for days before the world’s largest software company learned about the break-in and removed the computer code.
Police investigators and Microsoft specialists are continuing to search for clues to the culprits behind this week’s high-profile computer break-in. More details emerged Friday about the hacking, which targeted subscribers of an online game called “Lineage” that is popular in Asia.
So the hackers stole a bunch of Lineage passwords. In Korea this is cause for a national emergency. I would stay away from internet cafes here for a few days because there are going to be some pissed off people in them when they learn there leveled up character they have spent months working on has been erased or stolen.
Another US Army installation closed down last week in Uijongbu. Camp LaGuardia is located near the center of Uijongbu and it is a good thing that the decision to close the camp was made. When the camp was first built after the Korean War it sat in a small village surrounded by rice paddies. Now the rice paddies have been replaced by high rise buildings and bumper to bumper traffic. All the traffic and pedestrians make it a dangerous location for military traffic.
With the closing of the camp, the city of Uijongbu plans on building a much needed new expressway through the land and also to make a city park there. I hope they do build the park and do not give in to developers who want to make more high rises. The park will really be a bonus for the people who live in the central area of Uijongbu.
In Pusan plans are also being made to shut down Camp Hialeah, which sits in the middle of Pusan. Camp Hialeah needs to be shut down just like Camp LaGuardia did. The surrounding city has expanded so much around the camp that it is just not feasible to have the camp at its present location.
By the end of this year all of 2ID will be consolidated on three camps, Camp Casey/Camp Hovey in Dongducheon and Camp Red Cloud and Camp Stanley in Uijongbu. This is actually a quite a big change considering soldiers used to be spread out on about 20 different camps before the consolidation decision was made. It is a good choice to close the camps due to the changing attitudes and demographics of the surrounding Korean population. The ultimate goal is to have all USFK soldiers consolidated around Osan and Pyongtaek. There is a lot of politics involved in that decision compared to the 2ID base consolidation that could delay the time when that moves actually occurs.
The residents in the surrounding communities especially Dongducheon are not to eager to see the soldiers go due to the economic impact. There have been plenty of past protests from USFK labor unions and more coming up this week. It will be interesting to see how this plays out but the decision to move the bases down south will ultimately have to be made by the Korean government once they sort out the political implications.
Japan has been working hard to meet the energy requirements layed out by the UN’s Kyoto Protocol:
Even though Japan is already among the most frugal countries in the world, the government recently introduced a national campaign, urging the Japanese to replace their older appliances and buy hybrid vehicles, all part of a patriotic effort to save energy and fight global warming. And big companies are jumping on the bandwagon, counting on the moves to increase sales of their latest models.
On the Matsushita appliance showroom floor these days, the numbers scream not the low, low yen prices, but the low, low kilowatt-hours.
It is good to see the Japan is trying to improve energy efficiency. According to the NY Times article other nations are also working hard to improve energy efficiency. I only hope that my own country jumps on the band wagon to improve energy consumption in the coming years.
Today is the 16th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Simon’s World has a great posting to commemorate this tragedy. Here is a preview:
There’s plenty that could change. The CCP plays a delicate balancing game between socio-economic tensions and its grip on power. What’s worse is it is good at it. But without the effective feedback mechanisms that democracy provides the powers-that-be need to hope they remain good at the game. It will only take one slip for the edifice to come crashing down. Which is why in situations like June 4th, 1989, the CCP is likely to err on the side of crackdown and confrontation. There’s no upside in compromise and they hold the guns.
That’s the problem. Firstly it seems almost inconcievable for another 1989 protest to happen as things stand. Secondly if it should happen the question to ask is how would the CCP leadership respond today? The answer is clear – in the same way. The CCP are good at learning the lessons of history.
The CCP has a clear desire to remain in power at all costs. Democracy and freedom is not an inevitability for China. That’s the legacy of Tiananmen Square.
I couldn’t agree more.
In response to comments about the lack of Asian male news anchors I have decided to do some research on this subject. The first place I checked out was TV news stations in LA because I remember seeing an Asian male news anchor on the news there. Guess what I found him. On ABC7 in LA they have a male news anchor Rob Fukuzaki. Then in San Francisco on KRON4 they have an award winning Asian male reporter Vic Lee. Here is a quick list of his notable accomplishments:
Lee’s reporting has earned local and national recognition. He was honored with the prestigious George Polk Award of Journalism for Best Local Reporting for “Clean Rooms, Dirty Secrets,†a 1985 investigative news series on hidden health hazards in Silicon Valley’s semiconductor industry. “Clean Rooms, Dirty Secrets†also received a Best Investigative Reporting award from the Associated Press (AP).
Lee has won local Emmy awards for Best Writing, Best News Story, Best Series, Best Specialized Reporting, and Best Multi-Part Feature from the Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS). Other awards include: Best Spot News Story from United Press International (UPI); Best Live Coverage, Best Investigative and Best Enterprise awards from the AP; Best Television Enterprise Reporting from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ); and Best TV Reporting, Unlimited Subject Matter and Asian American Issues national awards from the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).
Then I found Robert Handa who is on KTVU News in San Francisco. He is another award winning reporter and anchor for that station. Here is some of his recognitions:
During his career, Handa has won numerous awards including:
an Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Investigative Reporting
a UPI Western Regional Award for Best News Reporting
an Associated Press Award for Best Documentary
two awards from RTNDA (Radio Television News Directors Association) for Best Live/Breaking News and Best Multi-Part Series
California School Boards Association for Best Education Reporting
Handa has won several national journalism awards including top prizes from the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) as well as a first place award from the National Association of Black Journalists.
In addition, Handa was given the ‘Community Star’ award from Asian Americans for Community Involvement ( AACI) and the first-ever ‘Media Excellence’ award from the South Bay Islamic Association.
I’m beating a dead horse here now, but Asian male news broadcasters do exist. Asian males are much fewer and far between than Asian females though. During my research I was actually surprised by the amount of Asian female reporters out there compared to Asian males. Here is some more interesting data I uncovered in a USA Today article:
An Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) study last year found that 86 Asian-American women but only 20 men were employed on the air in the USA’s top 25 markets. The ratio was even more lopsided among news anchors: Thirteen women held such jobs in those markets; only one man did.
So in the top 25 news markets there are 86 Asian female reporters. That is over three Asian female reporters per market but less than one Asian male reporter per market.
So what can be the cause of the disparity between Asian female and Asian male reporters? Could it be that not enough Asian males are studying journalism and broadcasting? If so why? Or are news stations racist against Asian males? I don’t think that is the case because there are many hispanics and African-Americans on the news. Alright Asian males out there you are more qualified to answer this question than I am. I’m interested to hear what you think.
The Chosun Ilbo is reporting that the US Air Force’s stealth bombers will come to Korea every year on a rotational basis:
The F-117 will carry out exercises here for four to six months a year, a strategy that would boost the U.S. Forces in Korea’s fighting strength no less than if they were based here permanently and is therefore expected to draw protests from North Korea.
USFK spokesman Kim Young-kyu said Tuesday the F-117 fighter-bombers will arrive shortly as part of a “routine rotational deployment.” He said their presence was part of strengthening the USFK’s deterrent capability. Asked if this was an annual mission, he said, “You may see it that way.”
Kim said besides normal training, pilots would also familiarize themselves with the terrain of the Korean Peninsula. The U.S. Air Force rotates its F-117s in areas of strategic importance worldwide.
With the cancelling of the program that finds Korean War casualties remains in North Korea and the deployment of the stealth bombers; Washington is definitely turning up the pressure on Pyongyang.
