Open Thread #79

by Robert Koehler on December 13, 2008

Don’t hold back… tell us how you REALLY feel.

{ 95 comments… read them below or add one }

1 seouldout December 13, 2008 at 12:12 pm: First!
2 Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog) December 13, 2008 at 12:33 pm: Thank you, Google Ads: Seoul-Shenyang tickets only W160,600 on Lufthansa!! There’s no place I’d rather visit during the dead of winter.
3 R. Elgin December 13, 2008 at 1:00 pm: I use Adblock to avoid those ads, otherwise, if I am on some machine in a coffee shop, somewhere, I never look at this site because the ads are embarrassing. Considering how they are, I expect to one day see ads for cock rings and sex toys.

Why not trying something more catchy like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcw3alghsJk
4 Warren December 13, 2008 at 1:21 pm: Time for a new 달력.

Why am I not sorry to see 2008 slipping away?

Is it because the optimist in me says that 2009 will be a better year or because the pessimist in me says 2008 was pretty rough?

How are you feeling about it?
5 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 13, 2008 at 2:08 pm: i learned from my Russian attending, that Khrushchev visited America.

I didn’t know that.

Khrushchev also apparently was fascinated with corn, when he visited America. He stopped wheat production, and all the Russian farms grew corn.

Wheat bread became a rarity. People in Russia hated corn bread.

Corn didn’t grow well in the higher latitudes.

Russia ended up buying tons of wheat bread from America to make up for the food shortage.

Russia of old is just like the UAW. Congress ask them to eat shit, and make the same as Alabama auto workers. They balk. They’d rather die than lose their pork.
6 dda December 13, 2008 at 2:15 pm: There’s no place I’d rather visit during the dead of winter.

There’s Ulaanbaatar and Ürümqi, should you need more excitement…
7 CactusMcHarris December 13, 2008 at 2:17 pm: #4,

No, it’s been a difficult year, but if you’re warm and vertical and either (1) gainfully employed or (2) don’t need to be, you’re in good stead.

And to something else…..

Does anyone at the MH have a suggestion as to a good place to go on the Web for a little primer on how to lift quotes from another comment (and similar items)?

Someone suggested that I learn how to do that (I was just cutting and pasting previously).

Thanks for any leads.
8 Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog) December 13, 2008 at 2:37 pm: Cactus,

Actually, proper quotation is a stickler issue of mine, one on which I’ve wasted much effort here on the Marmot’s Hole.

The best way to handle quotations in these comments is to use the HTML <blockquote> tag pairs. Take the text you want to identify as quotation, and wrap it up in <blockquote> tags, thusly:

<blockquote>Here’s your quotation, sucker!</blockquote>

Note these tags are tag pairs — you must always, always, always close the quotation by use of the closing tag, which in HTML is indicated by nearly the same syntax, just with a slash inserted before the tag name. That tells the HTML parser to stop treating the text as a blockquote, and whatever comes thereafter is just ordinary text.

Here’s what you get with that HTML above:

Here’s your quotation, sucker!

And that’s what you’ve been looking for, right?
9 robert neff December 13, 2008 at 3:46 pm: Oh to be a lawyer and have so much time to instruct we inferior beings….

Thanks Brendon
10 nospam December 13, 2008 at 3:47 pm: Wonders never cease!

This past week my internet connection died and Kornet sent a technician to my apartment that actually knew what he was doing. And he didn’t have to call anyone on the phone for advice.

He actually listened to what the wife said, did not try to blame my hardware, and found the problem in a few minutes. He replaced an RJ-45 connector on the hub in the wall and was out the door in 15 minutes. I was stunned – I gave him a Coke!
11 Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog) December 13, 2008 at 4:04 pm: It’s Saturday! My day off!

As long as I’m giving instruction — pay attention, Robert — I’d like to say to all of you suckers who voted for Obama that I’m so glad he’s been elected President. Obama’s personal incompetence and brittle character, plus the sleazy entourage he’s got, are going to thoroughly discredit most of his core beliefs, making way for Sarah Palin’s frontier libertarianism in 2012. Thanks, guys!
12 iwshim December 13, 2008 at 4:10 pm: I have been waiting for the open thread to post some remarks. The original post “More on Tragedy in San Diego” was to talk about a tragedy not someone’s insensitive posting.

So here it goes…
Gbevers — this was a stupid thing to say:

1. gbevers
Posted December 10, 2008 at 9:21 pm | Permalink
I cannot understand why he would have a press conference the day after his wife, children, and mother-in-law were killed in such a terrible accident. It does not make sense to me.
Actually, having a press conference immediately after such a tragedy seems more like a Korean thing than an American thing. I think the average American would want to grieve in private.
Without meaning to make light of the tragedy, I wonder if the family would have been held partially responsible of the accident if it had happened in Korea, considering that they had chosen to live in that particular house.
13 gbnhj December 13, 2008 at 4:16 pm: Don’t hold back… tell us how you REALLY feel.

Well, actually, I feel a bit down today – don’t know why.
14 Linkd December 13, 2008 at 4:23 pm: You’re missing the point, counselor. “Core beliefs” were the problem with the current President – a man who refused to apply a moment’s thought to the process of running America, because his little set of core beliefs were so right that nothing was required beyond adherence to them. It is the sort of leadership that appeals to some, as you aptly demonstrate.

Obama was elected to think, not to believe.
15 Linkd December 13, 2008 at 4:30 pm: Jizz in my pants
16 Seth Gecko December 13, 2008 at 4:30 pm: Ok, let’s try this out
17 bumfromkorea December 13, 2008 at 4:33 pm: tell us how you REALLY feel.

I feel that finals should be illegal. You know, if anything else, just to save billions on Red Bulls, Monsters, Rockstars, Full Throttles, Granola bars, Doritos, and pizzas (oh, dear sweet mother of Jesus, pizzas) annually. College students can instead donate that money to AIDS research and find a cure for the fucking thing overnight.
18 Linkd December 13, 2008 at 4:38 pm: You’re missing the point, too, bum. You have to do them because we had to do them. You want to graduate and displace us old farts at the top of the food chain? Then take your f**king lumps, punk.

PS – use condoms.
19 gbnhj December 13, 2008 at 5:17 pm: Bump to Linkd’s video link above. ‘I ate a grape and I jizzed in my pants‘ LOL
20 Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog) December 13, 2008 at 5:24 pm: Obama was elected to think, not to believe.

That’s most distressing, because he’s not shown us a lot of thinking, just belief in warm and fuzzy ideas. Barack surely doesn’t seem like a fast thinker when the TelePrompTer goes off. Even with it, his little “addresses” on YouTube have been utterly vapid and empty. If this is going to require thinking, we may have gotten the wrong guy.

As an aside, I wish you’d spare us your thoughts on US politics. Nobody needs to hear from your Canuck ass about these matters, just we ought not trouble you with our views on Prime Minister Poutine or whoever the hell you’ve got.
21 JiMong December 13, 2008 at 5:33 pm: Canadian health care system sucks! The system is just f**k up. Korean medi care is so much faster and much better in efficiency and effectiveness, IMO
I would give “F” on Canadiann system..
22 JiMong December 13, 2008 at 5:38 pm: Damn Canadian BlackBerry ….It should be Canadian not Canadiann
23 JiMong December 13, 2008 at 5:44 pm: And the Canadian politicians… Not much better than Korean ones
24 gbevers December 13, 2008 at 7:12 pm: IwShim wrote (#12):

Gbevers — this was a stupid thing to say:

I disagree. I think that was a good comment. Also, I think my comments, in general, are mostly brilliant.

Brendon wrote (#20):

That’s most distressing, because he’s not shown us a lot of thinking, just belief in warm and fuzzy ideas. Barack surely doesn’t seem like a fast thinker when the TelePrompTer goes off. Even with it, his little “addresses” on YouTube have been utterly vapid and empty. If this is going to require thinking, we may have gotten the wrong guy.

I agree. Obama is a self-promoting talker, not a thinker, though he did impress me somewhat during his O’Reilly interview, which I think helped him a great deal.

The problem is that Obama has the liberal US media on his side, so for the next four years, I expect to continue to see the media praising his “warm and fuzzy ideas” while glossing over or shifting blame for his mistakes. Nevertheless, I still have hope that people will eventually see Obama for what he really is, which is a selfish, self-centered man.

Listen to Obama’s speeches. He uses “I” way too much.
25 r.rac December 13, 2008 at 7:32 pm: uh rjk, the workers is alabama make MORE than UAW workers per hour for GM, that has been proved by a number of sources
26 Linkd December 13, 2008 at 8:01 pm: You wish?. Very well! In the spirit of the season, I make your Christmas wish come true, and for the remainder of the Yuletide season shall refrain from commentary on US politics. Merry Christmas! You can thank me by remembering to reach for your wallet EVERY time you pass a Salvation Army bell-ringer. That goes for all you rich Republican robber barons.
27 gbnhj December 13, 2008 at 8:04 pm: Really, aren’t politicians ‘self-promoting talkers’ as a breed? Politics in general is an arena in which the meek fall behind, whatever their party affiliation.

I’d also aver that the American press, after any apparent ‘honeymoon’ period they may be under with Obama, will become more aggressively critical of the man and his administration. That’s the nature of reporters.
28 Arghaeri December 13, 2008 at 8:28 pm: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7SL-GMcO_8
29 R. Elgin December 13, 2008 at 8:31 pm: Have you guys read up on this Bernard Madoff — a major NASDAQ trader — who has cost the industry at least 50 billion dollars USD? Apparently he has been running a gigantic Ponzi scheme for years and it has only now unraveled.

Because of the lack of trust in the system that this and other failures have caused, one must ask “Is the failure of the U.S. financial system so far fetched a thing?”
30 Arghaeri December 13, 2008 at 8:32 pm: Whoops wrong link,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv5iEK-IEzw
31 R. Elgin December 13, 2008 at 8:34 pm: Geez, a modification to the above: Madoff is actually a former NASDAQ chairman. Man, that is bad!!
32 R. Elgin December 13, 2008 at 8:39 pm: P.S. Thanks “Arghaeri” for that link; that was too funny!
33 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 13, 2008 at 11:25 pm: i have seen obese women, who are single, yet managed to get pregnant and give birth more than 5 times.

never married, yet weighting 300 pounds, with 5 children or more, pregnant possibly more than 10 times, with some abortions and miscarriages in between.

what kind of men are impregnating these women?

I believe in bombarding certain cities of the world with condoms.

Let’s start with Iran.

This whole shibang about I’m Muslim guy, I want a virgin who is covered like a mummy, is blatant hypocrisy. In fact, one of these guys is a pal of mine, who prays round the clock, and somehow knows the term, THO. I, a Christian, had to look that one up. On urban dictionary. The hypocrisy I’m talking about here is that they seem to look at naked or nearly naked non-Arabian women, and indulge in it, while demanding their own to be virgins, circumsized clits, covered like a mummy unless in the fuck room, etc.

especially if you are a woman, why the hell would you want to be a Muslim? Your boys are looking at porn, and you’re not supposed to even know what a dick looks like.
34 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 13, 2008 at 11:32 pm: oh yeah, only the Muslims request ‘no males’ when visiting a doctor.

it’s okay for you to look at a Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu pussy, but not a Muslim one? Am I supposed to get an erection from looking at a hole oozing with blood, fluids, and a human head? I suppose I should tell her in Arabic, ‘don’t act like you’re not impressed’, if i get an erection, right?

what a whole pile of bullshit.

even the Vietnamese guy with the tiny penis let a female Urologist examine him.

I think it’s more weird, when I run into these ‘Persian’ girls or guys, who drink alcohol and dress like male/female sluts. Mohammed, what or who are you?
35 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 13, 2008 at 11:37 pm: everyone knows about Osama bin Laden’s youth, right?

Somehow managed to sleep with hundreds of whores in the Arabian peninsula.

Goes thru a ‘rediscovery’ of ‘Allah’ and starts attacking US military in Africa and Arabia, and then New York City.

this may have been prevented if someone cut his balls off.
36 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 14, 2008 at 12:01 am: Okaaay, well this is one of the weirdest stories I’ve read in a long time. Page Six is reporting that a woman named Suda Boof, a self proclaimed former Osama Bin Laden sex slave, is saying that Bin Laden is obsessed with America’s dear Whitney Houston. September’s Harper’s Bazaar magazine has excerpts from Boof’s autobiography “Diary of a Lost Girl,” where she writes:
“He told me Whitney Houston was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.” “He said that he had a paramount desire for [Houston] and although he claimed music was evil, he spoke of someday spending vast amounts of money to go to America and try to arrange a meeting.” “He said he wanted to give [her] a mansion that he owned in a suburb of Khartoum. He explained to me that to possess Whitney, he would be willing to break his color rule and make her one of his wives.” “[He would say] how beautiful she is,” “what a nice smile she has, how truly Islamic she is but is just brainwashed by American culture and by her husband – Bobby Brown, whom Osama talked about having killed, as if it were normal to have women’s’ husbands killed. “In his briefcase, I would come across photographs of the Star [magazine], as well as copies of Playboy. It would soon come to the point where I was sick of hearing Whitney Houston’s name.”

LOLoud.
37 CactusMcHarris December 14, 2008 at 2:09 am: #8

Here’s your quotation, sucker!

And that’s what you’ve been looking for, right?

How did you know that I too am a sucker for proper punctuation, attribution and concatenation? It will do it to me every time. Thanks a bunch!
38 CactusMcHarris December 14, 2008 at 2:13 am: Here’s your quotation, sucker!

My apologies to all of y’all for using the MH as a testing ground for poorly-performed HTML training.
39 bumfromkorea December 14, 2008 at 4:05 am: That’s right, LinkD. We’re all graduating, and we’re all coming for your jobs! Get ready to live off pensions and social security! >:-D

On a side note, since Salvation Army is mentioned… do NOT put a single cent in one of those Salvation Army donation bs. You’re not donating to charity… you’re paying for Salvation Army Officers’ housing, food, insurance, car payment, family car payment, their kids’ cars payment, TV, etc. (all part of each officers’ “allowances”). If you’re feeling generous this season of giving, donate to some other cause. SA uses like 5~10% of its donation to actual charity.
40 Seth Gecko December 14, 2008 at 5:20 am: gbevers said:

Obama is a self-promoting talker, not a thinker, though he did impress me somewhat during his O’Reilly interview, which I think helped him a great deal.

How the hell did impressing you help him “a great deal”?

(lol)
41 Acropolis7 December 14, 2008 at 5:28 am: Barack surely doesn’t seem like a fast thinker when the TelePrompTer goes off.

And John Mccain did not even when his teleprompter was on Brendon. You do realize that John Mccain had a teleprompter to right? To bad he did not when he addressed the people as “My fellow prisoners”.
42 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 14, 2008 at 5:54 am: prove that Salvation Army spends only that, and prove that other charities spend a higher percentage.

also, prove that giving to the US govt results in a higher percentage reaching real people.

genuinely curious,

w j k
43 Sonagi December 14, 2008 at 6:26 am: @bum:

Do you have links to support the claim that only 5% of donations actually go to needy recipients? According to this news report, local agencies are required to send %11.25 of all donations to the national headquarters in Tampa. The red kettles alone took in $118 million, so the amount tithed isn’t chump change. I couldn’t locate the salary of the current Commanders, the Gaithers, but their predecessor, Todd Bassett, received free housing plus $13,000 a year for managing a $2 billion budget.
44 bumfromkorea December 14, 2008 at 6:32 am: @ Sonagi

Just something from a personal experience, having been involved with the Salvation Army for couple of years before I got fed up with what is basically a legalized corruption.
45 Sonagi December 14, 2008 at 7:00 am: Perhaps your experience reflects the leadership of your local agency. I quit donating to the kettles when I found out the ‘volunteers’ were paid.
46 bumfromkorea December 14, 2008 at 8:21 am: :-/ “Local” would have to include the entire Southwest regional leadership, from what I’ve witnessed. Arizona’s SA is definitely one of the worst, but not the only one.

Yeah, that volunteer thing irked me too.
47 Linkd December 14, 2008 at 9:51 am: Yikes. One can only imagine what’s going on in Korea then. I officially withdraw my endorsement. In other news, I gave $50 to Wikipedia last week. Was that an act of evil, too?
48 redneck hickboy December 14, 2008 at 10:01 am: For those who are following this, Pennsylvania attorney Philip Berg has asked the US supreme court to file an injunction to stay the granting of electoral votes to Obama, until his place of birth is clarified.

The charge is that he is ineligible to be President because he was born in Kenya.

Before you go wild, note that I don’t claim the charges or true or false; but the details are interesting to say the least.

Mr. Berg also filed a request for a writ of certiorari. My understanding is that this would force Obama to produce the original document for the court’s perusal.

The supreme court will decide whether to allow the writ in the next several business days. 4 out of 9 is enough.

Proponents of the motion haved sicced (sic) structural media experts on the birth certificate, and here is some stuff on their claims:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFZ0h5ixicI&eurl=http://www.obamacrimes.info/thelatest.html

Obama’s team produced actual (alleged) photos of the a newly produced certification of live birth, after more pressure came down on them for proof. This is a different document that you can get on request.

As a security measure, these documents are given a different style of border with each calendar year.

The photos of the certificate of live birth produced by Obama were allegedly taken of a 2008 version. But they have a 2007 border. With a 2008 production date.
49 Sonagi December 14, 2008 at 10:09 am: Out: 9-11 truthers
In: Obama birth certificate truthers.
50 redneck hickboy December 14, 2008 at 10:33 am: Beats apathy.
51 R. Elgin December 14, 2008 at 10:47 am: . . . only in a perverse sense though.
52 gbevers December 14, 2008 at 11:21 am: Redneck (#48),

What would happen if Obama were disqualified to be president for some reason? Would John McCain and Sarah Palin get the jobs or would Joe Biden simply replace Obama?

Can you imagine the media and public reaction if Obama were somehow disqualified and John McCain and Sarah Palin got the jobs? I would love to see the reaction of the Obama media, but I would also fear that it might destroy America.
53 Sonagi December 14, 2008 at 11:55 am: Yes, we’d have a repeat of December 2000 when violent riots broke out in urban areas across America after the US Supreme Court stopped Florida’s recount. Despite all the voting irregularities, the American people peacefully accepted the Supreme Court’s decision then and they will regardless of how the court rules on these lawsuits. Obama birth certificate truthers, sleep well tonight. The sky’s not falling.
54 Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog) December 14, 2008 at 1:21 pm: The charge is that he is ineligible to be President because he was born in Kenya.

I don’t really understand this kind of argument. Isn’t the Constitutional requirement “natural born citizen” of the United States — i.e., one who is entitled to citizenship at birth, and not by reason of naturalization? 8 USC §1401 defines who is entitled to US citizenship at birth, and it includes anyone born abroad to at least one US citizen parent. Isn’t Barack’s mother Stanley Ann Dunham from Kansas? The fact that all Hawkers are bastards aside, I think Kansas is still part of “Real America” and Kansans are US citizens. Is it alleged that Stanley Ann Dunham is not an American? Or that he was not born of Stanley Ann Dunham?
55 killian92 December 14, 2008 at 1:46 pm: Merry Christmas everyone.

PS: I Love Korea.
56 redneck hickboy December 14, 2008 at 2:07 pm: My guess is that the requirements to be a citizen are not as stringent as the requirements if you wanna be prez. It’s pretty straight:
1 ) over 35
2 ) Have to have resided in US 14 (consecutive?) years
3 ) Must have been born on US soil.

The thing is, it may be about to become a major issue. I hope it doesn’t, because even if he was born in Kenya, he was pretty much immediately shipped to Hawaii. I don’t think we need this shiite rightnow.

BUT the constitution is the constitution. And Obama is playing it dangerously be refusing to allow court access to his Hawaiian vaulted original.
57 redneck hickboy December 14, 2008 at 2:28 pm: from the 20th amendment to the US constitution:

Section 3. If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President. If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a President elect nor a Vice President elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as President, or the manner in which one who is to act shall be selected, and such person shall act accordingly until a President or Vice President shall have qualified.
58 keith December 14, 2008 at 2:31 pm: Personally I despise almost all politicians (most lawyers too). I do however find it exceptionally hilarious to observe what poor losers the republicunts are, it really is very amusing.

I hope Obama does well, he surely can’t make a bigger mess than Bush and his venal chickenhawk crew. Anyone who thinks Palin is not a complete moron needs to be neutered to prevent them breeding more idiot children.

Merry Xmas and a happy and prosperous New Year everyone.
59 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 14, 2008 at 2:36 pm: I don’t think it matters, as long as Obama was born to Ms. Dunham.

End of requirements.

Obama is due to fall.

I’m counting.

Jeremiah Wright, ACORN, Jessie Jackson, Jr.

People he don’t know really well.

LOL.

Let’s see if he gets caught sleeping with Obama girl.

LOL.
60 Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog) December 14, 2008 at 2:37 pm: My guess is that the requirements to be a citizen are not as stringent as the requirements if you wanna be prez. It’s pretty straight:
1 ) over 35
2 ) Have to have resided in US 14 (consecutive?) years
3 ) Must have been born on US soil.

The Constitutional requirement is not that the person elected President “have been born on US soil”. The Constitution says “natural born Citizen” plus the 14 years’ residence and age 35 stuff.

So the question then becomes what does “natural born Citizen” mean? And if it means eligible for citizenship at birth, 8 USC §1401 explains who’s entitled to citizenship at birth. Was this section of the US Code in effect at the time Barack Obama was allegedly born in Kenya August 4, 1961? If not, he may have a problem and that would explain why his birth certificate has been treated as a state secret by his campaign.

Wouldn’t it be nice if America had a press corps interested in these kinds of things, instead of bringing us CSI: Wasilla investigating whether Bat Boy had fathered Trig Palin?
61 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 14, 2008 at 4:43 pm: watch Clint Eastwood’s new film.

This is what I needed.

Unrelatedly, it brings a little bit of everything I’ve had in my accessory thoughts of late.

Eastwood is probably a misguided liberal like the rest of Hollywood. (not Holywood).

They are here to entertain, and as long as they do that good, they’re okay with me. But, they need to shut up regarding politics.
62 r.rac December 14, 2008 at 5:36 pm: uh moronneck, the scotus has already thrown a similar case in new jersey out this week. its deader than generalissimo francisco franco

even the idiot clarence thomas knows this is a load of crap
63 d December 14, 2008 at 6:37 pm: Got a question for all of you out…

Should children’s hagwons be teaching their advanced level students books concerning issues like the holocaust, slavery and other touchy subjects? Some of these books are being taught to 12-15 yr. old students and include derogatory terminology as well as some relatively disturbing scenes… The argument is that these students are at a pretty advanced level and are not there only to improve their language skills but also dig a bit deeper into western culture/history.

The argument continues that these books are historical fictions and teachers can simply focus on the dramatic element and ignore the historical context thereby avoiding sticky discussions… Your thoughts?
64 Darth Babaganoosh December 14, 2008 at 7:15 pm: 12-15 year olds at a “pretty advanced level”? Hogwash.
65 Pohang December 14, 2008 at 7:33 pm: @61

Unrelatedly, it brings a little bit of everything I’ve had in my accessory thoughts of late.

Ohhhhhh. Now I get it. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. Why is it that wjk rarely contributes anything intelligible, you ask? It’s because his thoughts are ‘accessories.’
66 tbonetylr December 14, 2008 at 7:49 pm: # 60

Is this YOUR weekend or what? YOU ARE FULL of SHIT!
67 noelinkorea December 14, 2008 at 7:54 pm: Apparently an old Korean superstition – throw the patient inside a dead pig!

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/flashback/2008

…first photo and caption.
68 Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog) December 14, 2008 at 8:19 pm: tbonetylr — I wish I could fathom your bottomless rage directed at me, but I can’t. I think you must be mentally ill or something.
69 Linkd December 14, 2008 at 9:17 pm: A little perspective on the Madoff thing (so far shaping up to be the largest fraud in history. That is, if it turns out that anyone can prove that a fraud happened – it’s so hard in finance):

Sure, Madoff was a shitster to take new investors’ money and use it to pay out previous investors, rather than invest it as he said he would (an unsophisticated Ponzi scheme, as Madoff himself has admitted). But many of his investors are themselves giant hedge funds, who are supposed to be sophisticated investors – people capable of doing their own due diligence. Take a look at this chart, spanning 1990-2007, showing “returns” on Madoff funds. Notice anything missing? It goes up in a STRAIGHT LINE for 17 years, through 2 or 3 cycles of bubbles and recessions. Zero volatility. A straightforward impossibility.

Also, the dude owned 75% of his own company, and his brother was the only other listed Director. Even Korean chaebol have a little broader ownership base than that. And his auditor? I love this part:

Friehling & Horowitz included one partner in his late 70s who lives in Florida, a secretary, and one active accountant…Friehling & Horowitz operates from a storefront office in the Georgetown Office Plaza in New City, sandwiched between a pediatrician’s office and another medical office… A woman who works in a nearby office, who didn’t want to be identified, said Friehling doesn’t come to the office regularly. When he does, he is the only person there…Another woman in a nearby office, Leslie Cousar, said the man who comes to the auditor’s office does so for 10-to-15 minute periods, and wears tight pants and tie-dyed shirts.

Not to diss Madoff’s accountant’s fashion sense, but this is the guy who signed off on those “returns” reported in the graph linked above.

So, yeah, you can crucify Madoff, who probably got away with more than he should because, like, 20 years ago he was the NASDAQ chairman, but really, what he did was not even one-hundredth as sophisticated as the process of creating the subprime bubble, and there is simply no excuse for sharp slicky hedge fund managers to have been handing over billions of their clients’ money to Madoff. His operation was clearly a sham.

But that’s what bubbles do – they make people careless, they make people think it really is easy to make risk-free money. There will be more of these coming to light as things shake out. I hope someone does the forensics and writes a book. Something else for the next generation of Wall Streeters to ignore.
70 Linkd December 14, 2008 at 9:30 pm: R.Elgin:

Because of the lack of trust in the system that this and other failures have caused, one must ask “Is the failure of the U.S. financial system so far fetched a thing?”

Let me turn this around. How about considering that the fact you even KNOW about this within a few days of Madoff’s own sons and employees and investors knowing about it might be a sign that the US financial (legal/regulatory/media) system DOES work, rather than that it does not?
71 Sonagi December 14, 2008 at 9:43 pm: How many of you Obama birth certificate truthers think the Clintons had Vince Foster murdered?

It’s Sunday morning where I’m at and I have more pressing things to worry about, like whether the eggnog scones baking in my oven will rise properly since I didn’t put in enough baking powder. It was my first time substituting eggnog for milk, so fortunately, I rolled and cut only half the dough as a trial run.
72 wookinponub December 14, 2008 at 10:11 pm: Finally, someone who is doing something significant, instead of worrying about who the TLC runs up the flagpole for us weenies to adore/despise.
73 gbevers December 14, 2008 at 10:16 pm: The Charlie Craze.

“Charlie bit me.”

Copycat 1

Copycat 2

Copycat 3
74 tbonetylr December 14, 2008 at 10:21 pm: # 68

What a wimp, like people should feel sorry for you because I suggest a post you made is FULL OF SHIT? Get over yourself. Instead you point your finger at me, like something is wrong. Go FUCK YOURSELF!
75 Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog) December 14, 2008 at 10:31 pm: There‘s that inimitable tbonetylr charm, and fixation on Brendon. If you want to fight, or something, I guess I could give you directions to the office. Just as long as this isn’t some sort of weird jilted-affections thing. Because I’m not a pole-smoker (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and still think you’d be better off boning chicks in China or Japan instead of here in Korea, where you’re constantly in conflict.
76 gbevers December 14, 2008 at 10:39 pm: If you have not seen “Star Wars,” don’t watch THIS VIDEO. It is a spoiler.
77 R. Elgin December 14, 2008 at 11:39 pm: . . . How about considering that the fact you even KNOW about this within a few days of Madoff’s own sons and employees and investors knowing about it might be a sign that the US financial (legal/regulatory/media) system DOES work, rather than that it does not?

Because he was caught only after doing this for over a decade apparently and, thought the SEC investigated him in 1992, they had pretty well ignored other supernatural oddities as well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/13/business/13fraud.html

If the system was working well, should he not have been discovered sooner instead of the financial community putting a hit out on Elliot Spitzer?
78 R. Elgin December 14, 2008 at 11:58 pm: Should children’s hagwons be teaching their advanced level students books concerning issues like the holocaust, slavery and other touchy subjects? Some of these books are being taught to 12-15 yr. old students and include derogatory terminology as well as some relatively disturbing scenes… The argument is that these students are at a pretty advanced level and are not there only to improve their language skills but also dig a bit deeper into western culture/history.

If this is happening, then it seems that the hagwons are running education in Korea instead of the Ministry of Education. If these hagwons are using almost any kind of spurious material for teaching, then it is conceivable that Korean kids may be learning fiction as fact, without any qualitative judgment.

Considering how the hagwons seem to be deliberately supplying rigged-for-failure school tests to public schools, in this country, so as to scare parents into sending their kids to hagwons, my opinion of the educational system is not good whatsoever already.

Consider this recent observation as well: one of my business associates went to a reunion for one large PR company where they worked before and there, out of twelve people, half were sending their kids overseas for education and these are not rich people either. IMHO, this is a telling sign that the education system in South Korea is failing to meet the needs of its citizens and is in real danger because the wrong sort of people run it — entrepreneurs and political hacks instead of caring educators.
79 Sonagi December 14, 2008 at 11:58 pm: Was this section of the US Code in effect at the time Barack Obama was allegedly born in Kenya August 4, 1961?

There is no tangible evidence that Barack’s mother was ever in Kenya period, nevermind that she gave birth there. The burden of proof is on the accusers. Since there is no tangible evidence that Barack Obama was not a natural born US citizen, I and most of my fellow Americans are ignoring the birth certificate truthers. Even the mainstream right-wing is not giving any credence to the allegations.
80 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 15, 2008 at 2:58 am: dear hagwon heads,

Public education in Korea is actually on a higher, more rigorous level than that of the United States public school system.

objectively, they are ahead in literacy, math, science, to name a few. Sure, you can harp about ‘critical thinking’, which is glorified ‘liberal thinking’.

just the facts, not opinions, please.

the problem with Korea is that, it is overpopulated. There is no justification for having a dozen ivy’s in Korea. 3 is enough. Comprendre?

Is ivy’s are 3, then what about respectable universities? A marked scale down as well.

Hagwons are basically the Kaplan’s, Princeton Reviews, Becker’s, Usmle world, etc of Korea.

they are there to study for you how to ace an exam, to give you the shot at getting the limited spots that are available.

school alone is never sufficient, US or Korea. Unless, you’re really, really smart, you need someone to point out what’s likely to high-yield on the test.

it’s amazing you guys say things like this. As if you aced all the nationalized, standardized exams of the United States. People of similar background, who I know have taken the old SAT I said it was easy as pie, save for memorizing vocabulary, which is the challenging piece.
81 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 15, 2008 at 3:01 am: i want the Associated Press to quote me on this.

Hagwons are not cram schools.

How is it cramming, if the fucking kid has been going there all his fucking life?

They are equivalent to the Kaplan’s, Princeton reviews, Becker’s, Usmle world, etc of Korea.

They can quote me as ‘wjk’.
82 Pohang December 15, 2008 at 5:02 am: Public education in Korea is actually on a higher, more rigorous level than that of the United States public school system….There is no justification for having a dozen ivy’s in Korea. 3 is enough.

There are no ‘Ivy’s’ in Korea wjk. None. Check out Seoul University’s global ranking and let me know what you find.

You may know about Ivy league schools in the US, but I guarantee you nobody in the USA has ever given a second thought to Seoul University. It is an unknown. Korea is pretty small on the map, or perhaps you’ve forgotten? Most students would be hard pressed to locate your country, let alone a particular university here.

If Korean kids are ahead in any subjects, it comes at the cost of their childhood, so that is nothing to brag about. Kids in the US start school at 9:30, take an hour for lunch, 20 minutes for recess and are home by 3:00pm. No hagwons. They have a life. They can have fun. They can live.

Hagwons are not cram schools. They are asshole schools. They are places where misguided parents murder their kid’s childhood. Korea is a rat race where everyone wants to work at Samsung or LG. All individuality and creativity is stifled at a young age in the name of becoming a ‘company man.’ It’s retarded. Comprendre?
83 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 15, 2008 at 5:49 am: at least we agree hagwons are NOT cram schools.

they spend life there for their entire meaningful youth.

Seoul Koryo Yonsei means something in employment in Korea. That is all that matters.
84 hitest December 15, 2008 at 3:37 pm: at least we agree hagwons are NOT cram schools

just trying Brendon’s suggestion re: quoting
85 Brendon Carr (Korea Law Blog) December 15, 2008 at 4:27 pm: It works!
86 eujin December 15, 2008 at 10:12 pm: Photos from the roll-out of ROTEM’s new KTX-II

http://www.kimchi39.com/586
87 CactusMcHarris December 16, 2008 at 5:02 am: So Brendon…

When are you holding the HTML WebEx?

Thanks for edumicating me on it – I got the power.

WJK at #83,

And hagwons are crams schools, just hideously incestuously-bred ones.
88 Fred2 December 16, 2008 at 3:41 pm: BTW – Brendon never ever lost his cool.
89 dry December 16, 2008 at 11:45 pm: So wjk…did you use Kaplan’s?
90 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 18, 2008 at 12:11 pm: New Yorkers, by and large, voted for the Democrats.

This is the reward from the Democratic governor.

Increases in taxes.

Let’s see how they taxed the “rich”.

My, my, my. There is an ‘itunes tax.’

I guess he thought too many people in the subways and buses were using ipods.

Is he for real?

There is a soft drink tax of 18%, so you won’t get fat.

This is like Orwell’s 1984 to the extreme.

nypost.com/seven/12172008/news/regionalnews/govs_tax__spend_shocker_144629.htm?page=2

New Yorkers are fucking idiots.

On top of that, JFK’s daughter will sneak herself in as US Senator.

This is like fraud, to some extent.

People of New Jersey, Connecticut will also chip in on this tax based on consuming.

No matter how you spin it,

THIS IS TAXING the MIDDLE CLASS.
91 wjk, 검은 머리 외국인 December 18, 2008 at 12:14 pm: Obama will tax the richest 1% of America.

LOL, LOL, LOL.

You, dumb shit, retards.

Pay your 4% on beer.

Tithe to the Democrats.
92 gbevers December 18, 2008 at 1:11 pm: Does anyone know anything about the per-word rates mention on the National Virtual Translations Center Web site?

Here is their promotional video

Here is an interesting MSNBC news article from 2004 that mentioned the translation center: Translation technology in the age of terror
93 iwshim December 19, 2008 at 8:30 am: Here’s your quotation, sucker!
94 inkevitch December 19, 2008 at 1:26 pm: blockquote Here’s your quotation, sucker! /blockquote
95 inkevitch December 19, 2008 at 1:27 pm: Here’s your quotation, sucker!