Cowboy Caleb is creeped out by the new gay condominium being built in Singapore.

Then I went to look out of the window to ruminate on how there is no hope for the human race, and I suddenly realize I’m staring at that (aka the Pink Dollar Project). I don’t mind lesbians, but gay men frighten me. A lot.

Personally, if I were gay I’d worry that the Pink Dollar condo project may be an easy way to get the get the gay community all in one place for an impending crackdown. After all, homosexuality is still illegal. Still, the city state is full of contradictions.

Publius Pundit has a roundup of Australian blogger reaction to the 20-year sentence given to Australian Schapelle Corby for smuggling pot into Bali, Indonesia. And, while not suggesting innocence, Publius Pundit sees injustice in the verdict.:

Dictator Soeharto, thief of $40 billion and killer of 500,000, the
man of The Year Of Living Dangerously’s rivers that ran red with blood
in 1966, gets a mild ailment in his dotage, sending him to the hospital
and everyone in the supposed new reformasi democrasi government is at the old dictator’s side, wishing him well, bringing him flowers.
Worse
yet, the vile Abu Bakar Bashir, one of the world’s foulest terrorists,
a man in the same league as bin Laden, Zarkawi, Hambali, Zawahri and
Granda, got all of two and a half years’ jail for murdering 200 mostly Australian tourists on Bali three years ago.
What the hell does that say about Indonesian justice? 20 years for pot,
2 years for terrorist mass murder? Twenty year sentences for
Australians who damage Bali by bringing in pot, 2 year sentences for
Indonesians who kill Australians by blasting them away with bombs? It’s
obvious some kind of injustice is going on, even if Schapelle Corby is
as guilty as they come.

Cathartidae 2.0 points to a report on ugly behavior by a South Korean shopkeeper in Cebu:

I guess when you have a steady stream of suckers Korean travelers on package tours that involve the Korean tour guide taking all of the tourists to local Korean-owned businesses, these same businesses can afford to do things like banning locals from their shop.

One of my favourite smart bloggers, Daniel Drezner, has a roundup of research providing a level-headed view on outsourcing.

Japundit notes the case of a man who won’t be among the lucky one percent of accused who are accquited:

A man in Fukuoka, Japan who is on trial for murdering his wife’s niece during a confrontation with police has been spending his time in detention sending threatening letters to the judge.

The man, Tadashi Kawamura, 39, is due to receive a ruling on his case in the Fukuoka District Court on Thursday. During his trial he had shouted at witnesses, and he reportedly sent the letters because the case hadn’t proceeded as he expected it would.

From Macam Macam:

Indonesia’s aspirations to political stability received a body blow as two bombs ripped through a busy Saturday morning market in the town of Tentana, central Sulawesi, killing at least 19 people and wounding many others.  This part of Sulawesi island has been recovering slowly from major inter-communal violence in 2000.  Whether these attacks mark the start of a new phase of hostilities remains to be seen.

John at Sinosplice has discovered the new DVD boxset of all six Star Wars theatrical movies:

I saw this on sale as well, but I’m waiting for the deluxe edition with the Holiday Special and Ewok TV movies.

In an open letter by 125 relatives to President Hu Jintao, said the government’s recent accusations against Japan for failing to acknowledge its World War II atrocities were meaningless because it has not apologized for its own transgressions.
"You and your predecessors have wiped the memory of the June 4 massacre from the books and have covered up this despicable event from history," the letter said.
"In this you have been very successful. You have been more thorough than those Japanese right-wing plotters who have tried to erase the history of the Nanjing massacre."

(Via Horse’s Mouth.)

If you’re looking for a mate, it’s common sense to at least try to make yourself look attractive.

Howard W French notes that China’s most recent attempt to improve relations with Taiwan will unlikely generate much support on the island. Despite the friendly gestures, to the Taiwanese the mainland remains an ugly suitor with an unduly aggressive personality:

Whatever their feelings about popular mores next door, Taiwanese are united across political lines in their disdain for China’s heavy-handed authoritarianism, weak rule of law, official corruption on a vast scale and yawning gap between rich and poor.
“The fact is, the mainland’s economy is not as good as Taiwan’s yet,” said Chen Kongli, a professor at the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, in China. “And they think the political democracy is not as advanced on the mainland as in Taiwan. These are the two things the Taiwanese people are most proud of, their economy and their democracy.

If China wants a marriage with Taiwan, it had best make itself a more pleasant potential spouse:

David W.F. Huang, vice chairman of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, said: “In 50 years’ time, people may change perspective, but only if China genuinely changes, if China becomes a true democracy, which means at least that it should tolerate a difference of opinion, like Canada, which gives Quebec a choice, so long as it respects certain procedures. The problem is that China will not do that.”

UPDATE: ESNW provides a translation of a similarly themed and more important article from - amazingly - the Communist Party-controlled China Youth Daily.:

Whereas a New York Times columnist might have written an article about the China-Taiwan situation in terms of abstract dualities such as democracy-totalitarianism, capitalism-socialism, nationalism-separatism or independence-unification, Lung Ying-tai proposes a more concrete and personal approach.

…the people of Taiwan never thought they had to "separate" from the government on mainland China, because they have never belonged to or obeyed that government.
From the viewpoint of a military "superpower", the attitudes of the people on the island of Taiwan may be scorned.  But if you want to understand the people of Taiwan, then these ingrained historical feelings and psychological mindset ought to the first basic lesson for any understanding.
People in Taiwan are accustomed to living in a democratic system.  This means that the democracy system holds the same place in their daily lives as as daily necessities such as tea, rice, cooking oil and salt.

La Vida Lawyer recounts a Filipino bureaucrat’s philosophy:

"What is the most important rule in life?", Mr. Bureaucrat, a career officer in a government agency, blurted as he swang his club and sent the golf ball 200 yards away. I managed only to shrug my shoulders, not knowing that Mr. Bureacrat was about to give me his life lessons with a swing."Never stick your neck out for anyone," he declared as we walk towards the golf ball in the green.