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Bad planning...


According to the Korea Times: "Man robs homes to pay for plastic surgery."
By the way, I don't know if there is prison rape in Korea, but I would guess that a man might not want to have plastic surgery shortly before going to prison.

In a different story: "10% of Korean Men Wear Makeup."


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Over 70% of Seoul students receive private education, according to the Korea Herald
76% of parents said they are feeling pressured financially to teach their children.

Question: How long until some of those parents start robbing their neighbors to pay for private education? Back when I was in Korea in the late 1990s, there was a story about a Korean woman caught for prostitution explained that she did it to pay for private tutoring for her children.

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CNN's John King apparently was the first to report that a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing was a darker-skinned or black male.

1) CNN has re-learned the lesson that it is good to be first, but you want to be RIGHT! Was there anyone besides CNN reporting it was a darker-skinned or black male?
 
2) It seems that initial reports about such incidents are usually wrong. I rec
all the case in 1996 in which Richard Jewell, a white police officer working as a security guard at the Atlanta Olympics who discovered some pipe bombs, was falsely accused and much ridiculed as a suspect (someone in the FBI tipped off a reporter, the actual criminal wasn’t arrested until 2003).

 
3) It is a reminder that it isn’t only online media that spreads lies and misinformation. The traditional media is damned good at that, too.


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The Korean government continues its push to increase growth.

Here's the latest crime report from the Korea Herald:

* Shinsegae vice chairman fined 15 million won for not attending parliamentary hearings over the company’s alleged infringement of small retailers. The Hyundai Department Store received a 10 million won fine.
* The Seoul Central District Court has ordered the heads of Hyundai Department Store, Lotte Group and Shinsegae Department Store, and the Shinsegae Group to stand trial as part of the government’s probe into large conglomerates dominating mom-and-pop businesses.
* And to protect mom-and-pop and traditional markets, the Cabinet earlier this week decided to slap higher fines on large retailers for violating rules on reduced operating hours.


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An irrelevant statistic in American politics is that 90% of Americans support gun control. An irrelevant list is the names of Congressmen who opposed the gun control bill.

Here's something more important, gleaned from a National Journal article: " Three vulnerable Senate Democrats seeking reelection in 2014 joined most Senate Republicans in thwarting the bipartisan amendment mandating background checks for gun purchasers on Wednesday.

“Just four Republicans -- including one up for reelection in 2014, Susan Collins of Maine -- voted for the bill.

“Other Republicans voting for the bill are up in 2016: Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois, John McCain of Arizona and Toomey.”

http://www.nationaljournal.com/blogs/hotlineoncall/2013/04/in-cycle-dems-baucus-begich-pryor-oppose-background-check-amendment-17

My point: national polls and full lists don't mean anything to politicians up for election in districts or states where polls either go in a different direction or that the issue is not as burning as the national media presents it.


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