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Pentagon Suspends Propaganda Program
Following an exposé in the New York Times that revealed that the Pentagon had successfully planted military analysts on all of the major broadcast networks and cable news networks to support its Iraq war policies, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday that the program would be undergoing an internal review and would be temporarily suspended. Meanwhile, several political blogs have pointed out that the propaganda program, which was prominently featured on the front page of the Sunday Times on April 20, was virtually ignored by the broadcast networks (who were criticized for failing to mention the ties to the Pentagon of their military experts) and that the Times itself, which acknowledged that it ran Op-Ed articles by the retired military figures who had received “talking points” from Pentagon public affairs officers, did little follow-up. Wrote Jason Linkins in the Huffington Post: “The aftermath of the story, for the Times, has been one of scant follow-up, lost scoops, and poor comparison when set alongside similar journalistic efforts.”

From Studio Briefing.

A few days ago, Alice came running excitedly to the Dog Man’s with what seemed to be a little toy rabbit. She set it down, and to everyone’s horror, it started moving! The Dog Man and his brothers tried to drive Alice and Hui Hui away with sticks, which was hard because the dogs got all keyed up and kept wanting to attack the rabbit whenever it moved. It ended up hopping into a little drainage hole. I was afraid it would die down there, so I borrowed a glove, pulled it out by one ear (which was all I could get ahold of), then got it by the scruff of the neck and took it way to the back of the compound, to a grassy area where Alice doesn’t usually go. I put it down and it hopped away. I was thinking it would be too hurt to do that, but it did. Hopefully it is okay. Actually, this is my second time rescuing a bunny from another animal. Once Numa the cat brought home a rabbit that at first I thought was dead, but had just fainted from fright. When it came to it ran around my apartment like a maniac until I could corral it and take it outside.

You guessed it …. China!

Guangdong factory makes Tibet flags 

From a report in Ming Pao Daily, translated and posted on ESWN, and then mentioned on Danwei.

The recent comment by the Korean guy was one of the most popular things ever here. It seems like he knew what he was talking about!

Samsung Head to Step Down

I haven’t written anything personal in here lately, basically because I’ve been stewing and in knots about getting ready to leave. It’s really overwhelming.  I have so much stuff here, it seems impossible to plow through it all and pare it down just to the stuff I need.  I’ve been doing a bit every day.  I DO have more than two months left, but it is still something I’m really worried about.  I’d like to get as much done as possible, so I can just think about it and get it out of my mind.  I’d also like it to finally get warmer so I can send my cold-weather clothes back to the US.  I HAVE gotten rid of 14 kilos of paper already, as well as about fifty DVDs I don’t want, about eight books I’m finished with, and two large bags of clothes.

There are more factors that make it difficult, like the new visa regulations that are in place this year, but I’ll write more about those later.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/15/224155/744/780/492483

Even Stephen Hadley, Bush’s National Security Advisor, doesn’t know the difference between Nepal and Tibet.  Well, I HOPE he does, and this was just a slip of the tongue.

This really bears out the satirical article I wrote for Shangzilla a couple weeks ago.  Matt changed it a little when he printed it, but here is the original:

DNN officials deny bias in China photos

As China netizen outcry over inaccurate reporting increases, DNN officials issued a statement Tuesday denying their mistakes were caused by bias. 

“Our mislabeling of photos was simply caused by the fact that we, as Americans, don’t know what’s going on,” said one network leader.  “Many of our present employees attended high school during the Bush administration.  They’re lucky they can even find the United States on a map.”

The editor who supplied the caption justified himself, saying, “I mean, those pictures were taken in a foreign country.  There are lots of foreign countries, like France, and India, and Puerto Rico.  I get them all mixed up.”  When asked about the picture taken in Nepal that was captioned as being Chinese, he scoffed. “Nepal isn’t a real country.  It’s made up, like Khazakstan, for that Borat movie.”

“While it’s easy to suspect that prejudice colored media coverage, there is plenty of evidence to support ineptitude claims,” noted Hong Kong Media University professor W. S. Law.  “Just look at last month’s article from the culture section, ‘Hitler’s film Modern Times, a classic for the ages.’”

Would this sell in the United States?

Originally uploaded by MFinChina

Would this sell in the United States? I can see people at Wal-Mart getting up in arms about it. “Sushi? That’s un-American!”

Found at the Carrefour near my house.

The Protests, the Olympics, and Race

As far as I know, and this is backed up by a dictionary I just used, the word cosmonaut can only be used to mean a Russian or Soviet astronaut.

From United Press International:

Korean cosmonaut shares culture in space 

Maybe the editor is confusing North and South Korea?

They spelled it wrong!

Originally uploaded by MFinChina

Those assnoles!

From a Korean cookie box, found at the Carrefour near my house.

It’s 99.99999999% sure that I’m going to Michigan State University in the fall to get an MA in Teaching English as a Second Language.

I’m really scared, though.  Living in China has become a big part of my identity.   What’ll it be like to lose that, at least temporarily?  Also, my life is really comfortable here, I have lots of freinds, I get respect from people around me (mostly), etc.  But the thing is, I’ve been here for eight years.  I just really need a new challenge.  I need something more in my life, which, despite all the good things I have going, can feel kind of flat.  I’ve gone as far in my present job as I can right now, too.  I’d feel sort of stagnant if I stayed here, and I think I’d start getting really frustrated.

As for why I chose Michigan, at first I looked for programs that seemed appealing to me, especially those that seemed more practical than theoretical.  Then I tried to figure out the school’s reputation, and whether I could get some form of assistantship or other financial aid.  In the end, I applied to Indiana, Michigan State, U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Arizona State U.  So far, I’ve heard back, and been accepted by every school but IU.  Illinois and Michigan both offered me assistantships, so I tried to decide between them.  Teya lived near MSU and knew people who went there, and told me her friends were happy with the program and were glad they’d gone there.  The people from the program also seemed really personable and helpful when I had problems with my GRE scores and stuff.  Meanwhile, I have another friend at U. of Illinois right now who doesn’t seem to be enjoying himself very much.  He’s found some of the teachers not very approachable, and it seems like for him, the program is something for him to get through so he can get the degree paper.  He’s a pretty easygoing guy (or he was when I knew him better), so his having criticisms carries a lot of weight with me.  I’m a worrywort, and will probably want to ask my professors a lot of questions about writing papers and stuff, so it is important to me that they be welcoming and helpful.  Plus, comparing the stipends (not that that is the most important thing), the Michigan one was higher, and I think pretty generous.  So, in the end, I’ve decided to go with Michigan.

Some people ask me, “Why are you studying teaching English?  You speak Chinese well, so why don’t you major in that, or get some sort of Chinese studies (like Chinese culture or politics) degree?”  Well, the answer is that I really do like teaching English. If I focused completely on Chinese, I don’t know what I would do with it.  I don’t want to work in business.  I also don’t know about going into academia, and by that I mean PhD level academia with lots of research.  From what I saw at Indiana, I don’t know if I’m mean enough for that.  It seems like “hard” academia can be a pretty nasty field.  With Chinese studies, I don’t know … would I work in politics?  But then, I’d have to work for a politician whose views I’d agree with, or it would be a big problem for me.  I mean, I generally support Obama, but I don’t think he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to China.  Or I could work for a think tank … but I don’t know how you would get that kind of job.

But anyway, it seems that I’ll be studying teaching English, at least for a while, and we’ll see where things go after that.  I never thought I would end up teaching English in China, so maybe I’ll end up doing something unexpected again.

Super-bullshitty, simplistic article by Nat Hentoff in this week’s Village Voice. I don’t even know where to start to complain about it.

The birthday girl!

Originally uploaded by MFinChina

Here’s Christine!

It was a good party! I blame myself for the hangover.

Statue of instant ramen inventor erected to mark 50th anniversary of creation 

IKEDA, Osaka — A statue of late instant ramen inventor Momofuku Ando has been raised to mark the 50th anniversary of the noodle dish’s creation outside the museum devoted to his achievement.

Ando’s 90-year-old wife, Masako, and close friend and former Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, 89, unveiled the statue of Nissin Food Products founder and instant ramen inventor Ando during a Tuesday ceremony at the Momofuku Ando Instant Ramen Museum.

Ando’s son, Hiroki, now the president of Nissin, said “his small invention has grown,” noting that 91.6 billion servings of instant ramen are sold in 44 countries or territories per year.

The statue of Ando is 3.5 meters tall and features the company founder standing atop a dais shaped like an instant noodle cup while holding some instant chicken noodles in his right hand.

(Story originally from Daily Mainichi Online, where you can see a picture of the statue.)

• Conveniently for pilgrimage purposes, Osaka also has an octopus ball museum! Another reason to check out “big slope,” which is what its name means (in Chinese, anyway).

After Christine and Robert’s birthday party, I think I have my first ever hangover.  I thought I could evade it by drinking three glasses of water before bed, but no dice.  Now I’m hoping drinking water and taking some Advil will make me feel better soon.

Another person associated with the film NAKED CITY has died … director Jules Dassin.  In other news, Dith Pran, who inspired THE KILLING FIELDS, has died as well.

This came to me in a dream last night, believe it or not.

What happened to the Communist who couldn’t spell?

(Please guess in the comments section.)