Who can names these two islands connected by a bridge?
Here is an interesting article about a gallery in London that features anti-Bush political cartoons:
I ventured into the small gallery which, through this Saturday, will host an exhibition of political cartoons dedicated to President George W. Bush.
Some prominent cartoonists, including Steve Bell and Martin Rowson, are showcasing their collection of cartoons about Bush. The cartoonists satirize Mr. Bush as an incompetent leader who has led the planet into a blood bath in Iraq and has evil ambitions of world domination.
Mr. Rowson told me that he gets around 400 pieces of hate mail every time he upsets Republicans in the United States with his depictions of George Bush.
I can understand a debate about President Bush being incompetent or arguements over the war in Iraq but to call Bush “evil” is just taking things to far. I find it interesting that the cartoonists feel so free to demonize Bush but are to scared now to print Islamic cartoons for fear they will be attacked and murdered. Yet Bush and the Republicans are the “evil” ones.
A U.S. soldier was sentenced to five months of confinement and a bad conduct discharge during a court-martial Friday on charges he was absent without leave from his unit for more than nine months.
Kenneth H. Gore Jr., of the 8th U.S. Army, also was reduced from the rank of E-2 to E-1 during the half-day court proceeding.
So why did he go AWOL?:
During questioning, Gore told Parrish he had married a South Korean woman in early 2005 but had problems getting her a visa to return with him to the United States.
Gore said he had submitted an extension package to stay in South Korea so he could work the issue but the Army denied his request. A second request also was denied, he said, which led him to decide to stop reporting for duty so he could get her “paperwork processed.â€
“I thought it would take anywhere between a couple a days and a week,†he stated in court Friday.
Instead, Gore holed up in an off-base apartment until January 2006 while his wife worked to support them, he said.
On Jan. 3, Gore said, his wife called military authorities and told them his whereabouts. A military investigator and Korean National Police who responded found Gore hiding in a closet, he said.
He goes AWOL for the wife and the loving wife turns him in. I wouldn’t say this has the makings of a healthy marriage. Yes he is an idiot and he now has 5 months at Camp Humphreys to think about it.
This case is a perfect example of why I say it is better to get a Fiance’ Visa instead of getting married in Korea if your time in country is short. Bring the significant other over to the US before getting married to see how she adjsuts, plus the paperwork drill is much easier and doesn’t require you to go AWOL like this dumb soldier.
So who started the Yongsan fire? Was it the crazy ajumma?:
A South Korean woman who had protested outside a Yongsan Garrison gate for the last month is the lead suspect in a Thursday morning fire that’s being called the biggest blaze on the U.S. military base in at least 35 years, according to South Korean and U.S. officials…….
Police also have requested a mental evaluation of the woman, identified as Kweon Jung-ja, 57. She has been seen frequently outside of Yongsan Garrison complaining about the South Korean government and asking the United States for help, Jang said.
On the night of the fire, she was at the scene yelling that she had started it, South Korean police have said.
Or was it the drunk ajushis?:
On Wednesday night, five service corps workers had returned to that building after a union dinner, Jang and others have said. The workers had been drinking, though it was unclear how much, Jang said.
At some point, all five men fell asleep. One of the men, Lee Guen-sang, told police he was awakened by a noise outside the building, Jang said. Smoke was beginning to fill the room, Lee told the police.
Lee, who was not harmed in the fire, found Kweong screaming that she started a fire, Jang said. Lee and another man, Kim Jin-su, escaped the building unharmed, Jang said. They later told police they didn’t know that there were other people sleeping in the building, Jang said.
It was still unclear Friday how Kweon was able to get inside the compound.
My money is on both of them. Here is my theory. The drunk ajushis probably left the gate open which allowed the crazy ajumma to enter and set the place on fire. Sounds plausible to me. This is definitely one of those only in Korea stories.
Here is a link to at least one person who witnessed the aftermath of the fire.
This is pretty amazing that this family actually made across the maritime border without being detected:
A family of five North Koreans, including two children, were found adrift aboard a small barge inside South Korean water across the eastern sea border, military officials said Sunday.
A South Korean coast guard boat spotted the barge carrying the North Koreans sailing across the tightly guarded border in the East Sea on Saturday night and towed it to Goseong, a port on the east coast, they said.
The North Koreans told investigators their boat had drifted for two days before striking a rock, the officials said.
The military and the Coast Guard were jointly investigating whether the North Koreans had an intention to defect, they said.
The investigation should be short, but I’m not sure what else a family of five on a barge would be doing out in the middle of the East Sea in the cold other than defect.
Even Hines Ward is getting in on the Korean baseball wave. By the way the game is about to start. Go Korea!
So what really happened at Camp Humphreys this week?
South Korean authorities under heavy police escort Wednesday took the first steps toward sealing off a large tract of contested farmland that is to eventually become part of an expanded Camp Humphreys.
Some local residents who oppose the expansion scuffled with South Korean riot police and four female protesters were injured and taken to area hospitals, police said.
Police also made arrests but had no immediate word Wednesday night on how many.
The South Korean government has taken control of the land so the U.S. military can triple Camp Humphreys’ size and turn it into its main installation in South Korea by 2008.
Work crews Wednesday began setting up fencing and digging trenches across roads to prevent farmers from working the rice fields, something growers have threatened to begin doing Friday in defiance of the expansion plan.
“We are planning to set up barbed-wire fences,†an official at South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said Wednesday.
In the S&S article the police stopped the protesters, but the Korean media had a different version of the story.
The Defense Ministry and police are not stopping them for fear of violent clashes. Police are, however, stopping any tractors from elsewhere by stationing some 4,400 officers on 11 major access roads and highway tollgates near the area since Wednesday.
“It’s illegal to work fields the Defense Ministry has already taken control of with government permission, but we haven’t used any aggressive measures to stop them because that could provoke residents and activists,†a ministry official said. Instead, the ministry says it will bring them to book for trespassing once it has collected evidence of wrongdoing.
“Collected evidence of wrong doing?” The police saw them breaking the law right in front of their own eyes and didn’t arrest these people! What more evidence do you need?! Expect more Camp Humprheys drama to come.
Here is something you will probably not hear much about from the Korean media:
A South Korean player at the first World Baseball Classic (WBC) in the United States has tested positive in a doping test, South Korean team officials said Saturday.
Park Myeong-hwan, a 29-year-old pitcher from the Doosan Bears, was tested for an illegal drug, and is banned from playing in remaining games, the officials said.
However, you will hear a lot of this:
The U.S. media has also been frank in its admiration. The New York Times cited Buck Martinez, the U.S. team manager, as praising the Korean team’s talent, spirit and preparation. MLB.com went further, hailing Korea as the best team in the world right now, a “Classic†formation — high praise in a country that has been living with baseball for more than 130 years. Thus the World Series is known as the “Fall Classic,†the All Star Game as the “Midsummer Classic†and, of course, the present competition the World Baseball Classic.
At least the US baseball team beat Korea at something, they at least had no positive drug tests which actually comes as a mild surprise considering the current steroid scandal in Major League Baseball.
Also isn’t it interesting that the US media praises the Korean team for playing well and winning against the US, where if a US team does well against Korea, the Korean media brings up the black helicopter, CIA conspiracy theories of how Yankee is screwing Korea. For example, I have yet to see a story in the Korean media about what a good speed skater the American Olympic gold medalist Apollo Ohno is. Instead he just gets tore apart by being called a cheater and needs riot police to protect him when he comes to Korea to compete. If you haven’t noticed by reading this blog, I don’t like the Korean media much.
With that said I hope the Korean team does win it all even though I will be subjected to the self congratulating media orgasm that is sure to follow.
Form American deserter to North Korea Charles Jenkins has given an interesting interview to Korea’s Oh My News International:
The ex-sergeant served 25 days in a U.S. military brig in 2004 after being dishonorably discharged for desertion and is thought to have bartered his freedom with his knowledge of the North. “I was told that they had an agent in North Korea for over 20 years that didn’t give them one tenth of what I gave them.”
Jenkins told the U.S. he “would not be surprised” if Pyongyang has a nuclear weapon. “Close to my house was a mountain and Russia put missiles in there. Everybody knew that. Nobody goes up there or talks about it, but they’re all aimed at Japan and South Korea.”
To think that there is a minority of idiots in South Korea that want to kick out the US Army’s PATRIOT missile batteries from South Korea.
Jenkins had some kind words for North Korean leader Kim Jong Il though:
Kim Jong Il called in the World Health Food Program, “which his father would never have done. That helped a lot of people.” He claims Kim junior also investigated the camps and freed many people. “I say the son was better than the father.”
Could divorce be in the future for Jenkins?:
The subject of divorce came up between Jenkins and his wife, who is 19 years younger, after the government offered to exchange the couple’s Korean marriage license for a Japanese version.
“I told her: if you want to kick me out: do it now,” says Jenkins tearfully. “She said if we divorce, what about Brinda and Mika? That would be hard on them. So she told me she wouldn’t divorce me. I told her if you want to get married again in Japan I’ll leave. But I won’t leave Japan; I’ll stay for my daughters. She wouldn’t do it. She’ll never divorce me.”
This has to be one of the strangest marriages ever. Read the rest of the article for more.
A U.S. soldier was sentenced to five months of confinement and a bad conduct discharge during a court-martial Friday on charges he was absent without leave from his unit for more than nine months.
Kenneth H. Gore Jr., of the 8th U.S. Army, also was reduced from the rank of E-2 to E-1 during the half-day court proceeding.
So why did he go AWOL?:
During questioning, Gore told Parrish he had married a South Korean woman in early 2005 but had problems getting her a visa to return with him to the United States.
Gore said he had submitted an extension package to stay in South Korea so he could work the issue but the Army denied his request. A second request also was denied, he said, which led him to decide to stop reporting for duty so he could get her “paperwork processed.â€
“I thought it would take anywhere between a couple a days and a week,†he stated in court Friday.
Instead, Gore holed up in an off-base apartment until January 2006 while his wife worked to support them, he said.
On Jan. 3, Gore said, his wife called military authorities and told them his whereabouts. A military investigator and Korean National Police who responded found Gore hiding in a closet, he said.
He goes AWOL for the wife and the loving wife turns him in. I wouldn’t say this has the makings of a healthy marriage. Yes he is an idiot and he now has 5 months at Camp Humphreys to think about it.
This case is a perfect example of why I say it is better to get a Fiance’ Visa instead of getting married in Korea if your time in country is short. Bring the significant other over to the US before getting married to see how she adjsuts, plus the paperwork drill is much easier and doesn’t require you to go AWOL like this dumb soldier.
