Category: Uncategorized

Is President Roh on the verge of quitting? Let’s hope so:

President Roh Moo-hyun said Tuesday that he hopes he would not become the first head of state who resigns before his tenure expires and did not rule out the possibility of cutting ties with the governing Uri Party

The embittered president made the bombshell remark in a Cabinet meeting at Chong Wa Dae, apparently out of his deep frustration over offensives from both governing and opposition parties and the media.

He said he would be forced to quit the party he founded after winning in the 2002 election, if he has “no choice but to do so.” Roh’s five-year term ends in February 2008. He is banned from seeking reelection under the Constitution.

As much as I would love to see President Roh quit, I would be really surprised if he did it. I think Roh is trying to distance himself from the Uri Party which currently has a popularity rating 8.8% compared to the opposition GNP party rating of 44.3%. He may be thinking that his own low popularity rating of 11% is caused by his ties to the Uri Party. If he could cut ties with them than maybe his own popularity rating will increase. However, I think what he doesn’t realize is that his own unpopularity has more to do with own incompetence than ties with the Uri Party.

Read more over at Lost Nomad and the Marmot’s Hole.

I gripe about the Korean media quite a bit when it comes to GI crime stories and the wonders of kimchi but really the US media is much worse. Flopping Aces has the run down on the recent Civil War in Iraq^TM and the information being published about it from our worthless professional journalists from the MSM. The published articles might as well be coming from Hezbollahwood.

HT: LGF

So now not only am I stupid, but I also have no career options:

I want to make it abundantly clear: if there’s anyone who believes that these youngsters want to fight, as the Pentagon and some generals have said, you can just forget about it. No young, bright individual wants to fight just because of a bonus and just because of educational benefits. And most all of them come from communities of very, very high unemployment. If a young fella has an option of having a decent career or joining the army to fight in Iraq, you can bet your life that he would not be in Iraq.

Let me guess, it was a botched joke.

What started his tirade you ask? It was this commend and question from Chris Wallace:

Congressman Rangel, you caused quite a stir this week when you said that you’re going to introduce a bill to reinstate the draft. Here’s what you said this week in a newspaper article. Let’s take a look. “The great majority of people bearing arms in this country, for this country in Iraq, are from the poorer communities in our inner cities and rural areas.”
But a recent and very detailed study by the Heritage Foundation, Congressman, found the following and I’m going to put that up: 13 percent of recruits are from the poorest neighborhoods. That’s less than the national average of people living in those neighborhoods. Ninety-seven percent of recruits have high school diplomas. Among all Americans, the graduation rate is under 80 percent. And blacks make up 14.5 percent of recruits for the military; the national average is 12 percent.
Congressman, in fact, contrary to what you’ve been saying, isn’t the volunteer army better educated and more well-to-do than the general population?

Rangel is an idiot and like many of the Democrats he can’t come to grips that this is not a 1968 military anymore. His demographic stereotypes of the US military do not match reality. White males are over represented in combat arms branches (slightly) while blacks are over represented in combat support elements. Not that there is anything wrong with that because everyone volunteers for the job they do in the army. Hispanics are the demographic most widely over represented in combat arms branches and I don’t hear hispanics complaining. Maybe because once again they volunteered for the positions. Rangel’s claims that blacks are some how over represent in combat arms branches while the white males are hiding in college like in 1968 are groundless and borderline race baiting just like his claims that people join the military because they have no other options.

The military is an all volunteer force, highly educated, and very professional. I for one like what I do and will go back to Iraq again if needed. It is a shame that some in the US government are determined to slur it and tear down those of us committed to defending this country.

HT: Milblogs

I guess if they can’t concrete over it, they will at least concrete under it. From the Marmot’s Hole:

In a telephone conversation with Yonhap, a government official revealed that the government is considering building a mall complex—complete with shops, restaurants and movie theaters—under what is now the U.S. garrison at Yongsan, which is supposed to be returned to Korea in late 2008.

Plans to turn the land above ground into a huge citizen park remain unchanged, however.

Seoul City is not happy about this—it feels that the plan doesn’t fit with the spirit or ecology of the planned park, and it’s particularly worried that the government may later use its prerogative to develop above ground as well.

And to think I was under the impression that U.S. base land was so toxic it was burning holes to California. Who knew?

I am going to continue to maintain that by the time it is all said and done, the top of Yongsan is going to see plenty of concrete as well.

The cab driver from this assault has decided to speak out about the incident from the hospital he is currently admitted to. From the Stars and Stripes:

“It is not an assault case, but an attempted murder case,” Baek said through a split lip, an ugly black bruise spreading across his neck and fresh gauze taped across his eye. “Now I am just thankful to God that I am alive.”

Two U.S. soldiers, 18-year-old Anthony Justin Faulkner and 20-year-old Justin Ronald Brown, were questioned in connection with the case, according to South Korean police. Police officials said they would forward the case to prosecutors, who must decide whether to charge the soldiers.

While the U.S. military would not confirm identities, officials said two soldiers belonging to a subordinate unit of the 19th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) were under investigation.

Police said the soldiers admitted attacking the taxi driver, saying he verbally assaulted them.

But Baek said the soldiers are lying and that he has no clue why he was attacked.

Baek said he was standing at the urinal when one of the soldiers grabbed him from behind and pulled him off the ground in a headlock. Choking and unable to breathe, Baek said he momentarily lost consciousness.

He said he came to after being smashed into a door and dragged into a toilet stall.

“At the moment, I thought … I was to become a dead man,” he said.

What a bunch of idiots. Even if they were verbally assaulted it is no excuse to give the guy the beating that he was given. They better be getting their blood money ready because they will be paying for this cab driver’s next holiday to Guam.

Any bets that alcohol was involved in this?

More over at Lost Nomad.

Code Pink leader Medea Benjamin who was recently in Korea, you know Cindy Sheehan’s friend that can’t spell, has an interview in Oh My News posted. I’ll warn you now that you will need a strong stomach and I do mean a really strong stomach to read it. After reading the article I don’t know who the bigger Israel hater is, the interviewer Christopher Brown or Benjamin? Nancy Pelosi is not even enough of a liberal wacko for these people, so you have been warned, read with caution.

UPDATE: More details have come out that the soldier’s death was possibly a suicide. It is the holidays so take extra effort to look out for each other during this time of year.

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Not many details out yet, but a 2ID soldier has died at Camp Eagle:

A 2nd Infantry Division soldier was found dead at Camp Eagle on Saturday, according to Army officials.

Pvt. Gristen Buttrey, 23, was discovered by his roommate in his barracks room, a 2nd ID spokesman said. The cause of his death is under investigation, a spokesman said.

Buttrey was an ammunition specialist with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Aviation Regiment, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade.

An old icon of the DMZ is being moved:

“It’s very sad to see this kind of history rot away in the DMZ,” said Han, 80. “But I’m very happy for what they are doing today.”

On Monday, a crane lifted the locomotive on to a flatbed truck and took it to Imjingak, where it will be spruced up in accordance with its standing as a South Korean national cultural property.

Workers will spend up to two years preserving what is left of the train, but they will not be restoring it to its original condition.

To do that they would probably have to replace most of the original material, which is heavily corroded after 56 winters of inactivity.

“We will use chemical techniques to maintain the locomotive as it is, to slow down corrosion,” said Jeong-seok, Cultural Heritage Administration spokesman. “This will preserve it for the next generation to see.”

The locomotive will be treated in a public glass enclosure at Imjingak, the Imjin River train station that now serves as a tourist park. Imjingak is only about a mile from the restricted access Tong-il “Unification” Bridge, which leads to Camp Bonifas and the United Nations Joint Security Agency.

The locomotive will then be returned to the DMZ, one bridge away from the final South Korean checkpoint and one mile from the military demarcation line that separates the two Koreas.

I think Nomad is right, maybe Cindy Sheehan did want to get some Taco Bell after all. From the Stars and Stripes:

Peace activist Cindy Sheehan and a handful of other Americans on Tuesday afternoon held their passports in front of South Korean riot police outside a main gate onto Yongsan Garrison, requesting a meeting with U.S. Forces Korea’s commanding general.

Their blue booklets and their chants for the U.S. military to halt base expansion plans south of Seoul went unanswered during the 40-minute long protest.

“My father served at this base,” Sheehan said as she stood in front of Gate 5 at Yongsan Garrison. “I have the right as an American to come onto this base.”

No Ms. Sheehan you don’t have the right to enter a US military installation because only US military ID card holders are allowed on post or you can have a valid ID card holder sign you in on post. Better yet maybe you can become a Yongsan housekeeper; that appears to be the easiest way to get an ID card now a days. Then again that would mean you would have to work for living instead of getting your free hand outs from your rich liberal puppet masters. If she is getting all this money through a non-profit I would love to see the book keeping because aren’t non-profits supposed to disclose their finances? I would love to see if she pays any taxes on anything considering the lifestyle she is now living.

Secondly you should be deported from Korea because as the lawyer Brendon Carr noted, foreigners on a tourist visa cannot conduct political activity in Korea. I’m sure the Korean government is just letting her get away this because they don’t want to get any bad press and figure she will just go away as quickly as she popped up.

According to the Economist it is:

The Economist weekly has ranked South Korea 31st and North Korea 167th or dead last in its global democracy index. In a special edition titled “The World In 2007”, the U.K. magazine looked at the state of democracy in countries around the world using 60 indicators across five broad categories such as free elections, civil liberties, functioning government, political participation, and political culture. The index classified the nations surveyed (165 independent states and two territories) into four groups: 28 full democracies, 54 flawed democracies, 30 hybrid regimes and 55 authoritarian regimes.

South Korea scored 7.88 out of a possible 10 to land in 31st place and was classified as a flawed democracy. It scored a high 9.58 for free elections but did worse than advanced nations in the rest of the categories: 7.14 in functioning government, 7.22 in political participation, 7.5 in political culture and 7.94 in civil liberties. North Korea was last with a paltry 1.03. The Economist did not produce a democracy index for each country last year.

(Note: sarcasm on) I wonder why Korea’s lowest score was for a functioning government?