had she written lines like the following, i would have been suspicious:

1. seoul- paris of asia
2. korean palaces on par with forbidden city
3. your next trip should be seoul

but she didn’t wrtie things like that. indeed, she wrote about something people actually think about. i’m sure more than a few people wondered about bathrooms in seoul when going there for whatever reason. i think it’s good to know there’s good shit holes in korea!

and don’t think for a moment i believe you hate korea or koreans. you make me laugh, blue.

Good for her, good for the AJC, bad on me for jumping the gun.

So I guess the question is how do we attract more skilled immigrants and how do we keep out the unskilled ones?

The failed immigration reform planned to introduce a point system and put restrictions on family visas. This went over like a lead balloon among constituencies with large immigrant populations. We need a point system like the ones used in Australia and Canada, which weigh education, language proficiency, age, and family ties. Politically, it probably won’t happen. The Hispanic Caucus is refusing to support badly needed emergency guest worker visas because it wants to use them as a bargaining tool to get a liberal immigration bill passed.

http://www.latimes.com/news/lo.....storylevel

Someone’s gotta take up the slack when the baby boomers retire.

So I guess the question is how do we attract more skilled immigrants and how do we keep out the unskilled ones?

seoul is becoming world class, folks

yeah, world-class also ran backwater

There are about 10-15 commenters on this blog worth reading, and since this is the first time I recall ever seeing your handle, you’re obviously not one of them. I’ve got cum-stains on my keyboard more insightful.

I said previously I don’t blame Seoul tourism officials for trying to promote the city. But they can be blamed for going about it in such a ham-handed manner. They’re not only offering up blank checks, but the sample story ideas make it pretty clear that they’re not looking for journalists to cover the city, warts and all. They’re offering free trips in a quid pro quo for tourism advertisements that shine a bright light on the sparkle.

The other reason I thought it was funny was because the paper in question is the Atlanta Journal Constitution (not the Atlantic Journal as you keep referring to it). Atlanta is made up of about 60% black, 35% redneck, and 5% other, of which maybe 2-3% is Asian. So at minimum 95% of the people that open up that paper have absolutely zero interest in how clean the toilets of Seoul are. It’s just a ludicrous article considering all factors involved.

Given that, and the timing of the series of articles on Seoul in that paper just happen to fall in line with the stated first round of journalist tours, it seems pretty likely that Betty Gordon is serving up grade A advertisements for the City of Seoul in exchange for an all-expenses paid vacation. With the current budget tightening occuring at most major papers, I’m guessing her editor saw it as a cheap and easy way to get some international coverage without the AJC spending a dime. Either that, or they just don’t give a shit at the AJC about pay for play stories. And knowing what I know about Atlanta, it’s probably the latter. Regardless, it just looks bad for everyone involved.

Of course there’s a very small chance that she’s on assignment from the paper and is not being wined and dined by Seoul, but given the timing, and that she’s filing numerous stories and they’re all sparkly in nature, it seems unlikely. I can’t imagine a budget meeting at the AJC convening by someone saying “Okay, so $6000 goes to Betty for her expose on Korean toilets…cut the check, and cancel the investigation on abuse at that orphanage in Decatur.”

Surely pawi, you can recognize a fix when you see one.