NICK-JESSICA SPLIT: The pair who went from middling pop singers to A-list celebrities through the TV show "Newlyweds" about their life as a couple, said in a statement on Wednesday they were separating after three years of marriage. (Source: CNN)
COMMENTARY: Yet another failed Hollywood marriage. Anyone surprised? Oh, and there are rumors that she’s pregnant with either Nick’s or Bam’s baby. Spicy! >rolls eyes< And did anybody notice that I went to CNN for this news bite? Good, old, trusty CNN.
TAFF PLEADS GUILTY: In court Monday, Taff admitted for the first time that he knew he was wrong in using the campaign dollars for a home mortgage loan at the time he made the loan application. … In August 2004, Taff narrowly lost the Republican nomination in the Kansas 3rd Congressional District to Kris Kobach, a law professor. Kobach lost in November to U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore, a Democrat. Two years earlier, when Taff was the GOP candidate against Moore, Taff came closer than any other contender had come to upsetting Moore. (Source: Kansas City Star)
COMMENTARY: OK, this Taff thing is small potatoes compared with the fraud problems coming to light in the higher echelons of the Republican Party. Whatever. This is here. My mom wanted me to vote for Taff. Ha! She also wanted me to vote for Kobach. Ha! Three cheers for Dennis Moore!
HE FOUGHT THE LAW--AND THE LAW WON: The life of Nguyen Tuong Van ends today. … On December 12, 2002, Nguyen Tuong Van, then 22, was caught at Singapore airport with 396.2 grams of heroin strapped to his body and hidden in his bag. He was headed for Melbourne hoping the drug deal would settle his brother's debts. … Now, 396.2 grams of heroin is a lot, given you only need to be holding 15 grams in Singapore to get the death penalty. … 396.2 grams. That translates into about 26,000 fisted forearms. That's a lot of wrecked lives. …
In an endeavour to save his life, the media, deathpenalty opponents and Nguyen supporters have played on the image of "little boy lost" to recast Nguyen's public persona from convicted drug trafficker to a condemned young man -- a fallen angel with a kind heart and a lot to live for who made the tiny mistake of trying to pass through sovereign Singaporean territory with half a kilogram of smack under his shirt. … Those defending Nguyen have dusted off stock arguments against the death penalty, the favourite being how "statistics show it doesn't act as a deterrent". This sounds like logical argument, but isn't. (Source: The Age. Read the full article here.)
COMMENTARY: This was third from the top on Google News. Part of me is like, “Hello! It’s Singapore. What was he thinking? If you can’t buy chewing gum because they’re afraid of you mucking up their sidewalks, why would you think they’d be okie dokie with you transporting heroine?" The sympathetic part of me is like, “The death penalty? That’s really harsh--the ultimate harsh.”
It reminds me of Star Trek: The Next Generation when they visit a new world and Wesley unknowingly goes into a restricted zone. The one punisment served for every crime: death. So Picard has to do all of this moral-legal wrangling to save the boy and not break the Prime Directive. And, so I don’t seem like a complete geek, my first thought wasn’t of Star Trek, it was of that American kid who was caned for spray-painting cars in Singapore. America was in an outrage then. What would be the media coverage if it were an American this time and not an Australian?
- theCallowQueen
- In the down-hill tumble of life, I'm okay with the scratches and bruises; it's the broken bones that I'm trying to avoid.
4 comments:
America was in an outrage over Michael Fay's caning? That doesn't jibe with my memory or with polls taken at the time. It was a big story, but most americans had no problem with the punishment.
That said, I think your analysis is right on. This would be a huge story in the US, as it is in Australia.
I remember there being a loud group at the time who thought caning was extreme. I remember the overall sentiment to be that the boy was foolish and stupid and that he should be punished, but that most people felt the Singaporean government was being overly harsh. But, then again, I was 13 at the time, so my views could definitely be slanted on this one.
Haha! Star Trek! I love ST:TNG. It's so good. That's a good reference.
I think I don't want to ever go to Singapore. --at
Ah, AT, don't be too hard on Singapore. It's a great place, as long as you obey.
I've never felt as safe in a big city as I did during my stay in Singapore. I never felt a strong police presence, just that no one would think of doing anything harmful. Mostly, that's because they've found other ways to monitor you other than having troops of police on the streets.
Fines for breaking the rules are expensive. There are cameras everywhere. And the elevators even have urine detectors. If you can't wait and you go, the elevator will keep you safe until the police come and give you a huge fine.
But, like I said, you'll have no problems if you don't break the rules. It makes it quite a pleasant place to visit. I have some of my photos from my trip to visit countingpigs up on my Flikr site. You can see them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thecallowqueen/sets/438242.
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