Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2012

Taking their own advice?

Today's Korea Times has a staff editorial about the struggles of Korean parents to pay for private tutoring for their children. The KT concludes:  " Solutions won’t be easy to find. Yet, in order to lay the groundwork for the country’s sustainable development, our overspending problems in education should be rectified as soon as possible. In particular, it would be urgent to reduce demand for private education by upgrading public education. Now is the time for parents to change their mindset on getting a college degree." 1) I guess I was in the policy battles in Washington, DC, for too long. I now skip past the analysis, statistics, new hip phrases and get right to the conclusion/alleged solutions. The last paragraph finally mentions the lack of solutions. If they had one, they probably would have started the staff editorial with that. 2) So the Korea Times says public education needs to be upgraded.  Questions  * How long has the Korea Times been saying t

Upcoming

Korea: The Hidden Economic Miracle Thursday, August 16, 2012 7 p.m. Artreon TOZ, Shinchon subway (near Yonsei University) * * * Henrique Schneider, chief economist of the Swiss Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, Switzerland’s biggest think tank, and a member of the Swiss Council for Energy and the Swiss Competition Commission, will be the featured speaker. 10,000 won per person, wire to Woori account 1002-842-088197 by August 13 (15,000 won per person after that). Casey Lartigue, a visiting scholar at the Liberty Society and host of the event, will also comment on Korea's economic miracle. RSVP by August 13, 10,000 won per person. After that or at the door, the charge will be 15,000 or until seats are filled. Email caseyradio@daum.net to confirm your RSVP with the spelling of your name on your bank account. Food and beverages will be served. Business Casual (i.e., dress as your mother would dress you) requested, but even Business Clown will be accepted

Colbert King's latest drive-by on Limbaugh

William Raspberry 1) Former Washington Post columnist William Raspberry recently passed away . He was one of those thoughtful columnists who usually considered both (or more) sides of an issue before coming to a conclusion. To be sure, he usually came down on the left side, but it was clear that he wasn't knee-jerk. I read his column for about 15 years. 2) Back in 1993, Raspberry wrote a column accusing talk show host Rush Limbaugh of being a bigot similar to racist politicians of the past. Then, after actually listening to Limbaugh's shows, wrote an apology . Limbaugh dubbed that the Raspberry Effect. 3) Colbert I. King of the Post (read below) has picked up from Raspberry's original column. August 11, 2012 Headline: Broadcasts that breed hatred King starts off:  "We may never know why Wade Michael Page, an avowed white supremacist, opened fire on Sunday on worshipers at a Sikh temple in the Milwaukee suburbs. After killing six people and wounding thre

Chang Ha-Joon's books banned in South Korea?

According to Iggy Mogo : "ha-joon chang. all his books are banned in his own country… and having them can even land you in jail, jail for a very long time (national security law of s. korea)." As a microcosm of Chang's writings, the text is based on hyperbole and distortions. According to a Yonhap story , one of Chang's books is one 23 books banned by the South Korean military: " The Constitutional Court on Thursday justified the military's ban on books labeled seditious, arguing that the prohibition serves to prevent the weakening of soldiers' spirits." The defense ministry banned 23 books it categorized as subversive for pro-North Korea, anti-capitalism, anti-government or anti-U.S. contents. The list included "Bad Samaritans" by Chang Ha-jun, a Cambridge-educated Korean economist critical of capitalism, "The Global Trap" by Hans-Peter Martin, an Austrian journalist, as well as books about North Korea." I