Loose change for March 9, 2009
Economic news
North Korea news and stuff
- And now the BBC is carrying the story of Kim Jong-il's and Kim Ilsung's personal shopper. Can I call them "the Beeb"? If I called them "the Beeb," would my readers understand what I'm talking about?
- A piece in the Korea Times asks if the unrest in North Korea is a harbinger of change. I sure think so.
Other Korea-related stuff
- In the wake of the tragedy of the Internet-addicted couple whose baby died while they were off in a PC-bang, the government is looking for solutions to limit game time.
- I plan to cover this in more detail later, but there are reports that activist Robert Park, who traipsed into the DPRK demanding Kim Jong-il step down, was sexually abused while in North Korean custody. I hope to God, though, that the reports are not true, and I grasp onto hope that, like other speculatation-ridden reports of his situation, this one is not true either.
- Educators are pushing to have Chinese characters brought back as an elementary school elective, which point the way to it returning as a compulsory subject.
- Four in five people around the world see Internet access as a "fundamental right," especially in South Korea.
- Kang Shin-who of the Korea Times says that Sookmyung Women's University's MATE exam of English proficiency is being criticized by users. And if Mr Kang says it, it must be true.
- A twenty-eight-year-old man is in critical condition after being stabbed in the neck by his twenty-one-year-old girlfriend, with whom he was trying to break up. Gee, I wonder why.
- A court has upheld the twelve-year prison sentence for a serial rapist known as "Elevator Man."
- Authorities are saying the restoration of Kwanhwamun Gate will be done in time for the G20 summit.
Americana and miscellany
- The Marmot's Hole has more on the story from yesterday's Loose Change of the South Korean woman who was arrested in Guam after keeping her children in South Korea and hiding them from her husband. She has accused him of sexual abuse, but the material presented at TMH takes a much more sympathetic view of the husband.
- A bilingual fourth-grader, Oscar Rodriguez of Las Vegas, is being hailed as hero for translating for authorities — from a stretcher — in the aftermath of a bus crash that killed six people.
- Anthem's double-digit rate hikes — some of them up to 39% — has been a boon to Obama as he tries to push through health care again.
- Here's a silly blog with some funny headlines.
On Oscar Rodriguez- I'd like to see this story on every channel, because this 'in America we speak American' bullshit is so trite and so far-removed from reality.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see the Oscar Rodriguez story on every channel dealing how these illegal companies (bus) manage to operate in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteI can't tell you how often I've nearly had accidents with other transmigantes and their caravans taking old vehicles loaded down with household goods back to Mexico and Central America to sell back home. It's great that they take these clunkers out of the U.S., but they are uninsured, traveling at low speeds on interstate highways, and usually don't even have the last vehicle's tail lights working.