LINK with proof, scroll down to grey box
http://blog.chinatimes.com/ymal/archive/2011/07/10/765659.html?page=2
====================
As readers around the world know by now, Asians are in love with Steve
Jobs, the real one and the fake one, as they'lll eat up anything with
"Steve Jobs" in the title or blog post.
Recently, the Taiwanese had the wool pulled over their eyes by some
low-lying "translators" in Communist China" who put out fake advice
book by Jobs -- for teenagers in China!
The Beijing-published book was titled "Steve Paul Jobs's Eleven Pieces
of Advice for Young People Today" and it was written by the long-dead
American composer "John Cage."
This reporter recently purchased a copy of the book in Complex Chinese
characters in a bookstore in Taipei and discovered via the
''publication notes page'' that the counterfeit
book -- which was never written by Steven Paul Jobs or John Cage and
merely took past speeches by Jobs and turned the excerpts into eleven
lessons for
teenagers in China -- that the book was originally published in
Communist China last year first in Simplified Chinese characters used
in Maoland. The book was such a hit
as a fake in China that a publisher-wannabe in free and democratic
Taiwan got itchy fingers and agreed to license the fake China book for
his easy to fool and very gullible Taiwanese
readers. Done deal. Some money exchanged hands, the original book was
re-translated into the kind of Chinese characters that Taiwanese
people can read -- since the Simplified characters
used in Maoland are simply beneath the dignity of real Chinese script
-- and the Taiwan version of the fake Chinese book was published in
April. It has already gone
through 10 printings and more are on the way, given the worldwide
publicity on this deceitful yet perfect story fakery.
How did this reporter find out that the book was published originally
in "copyright means the right to copy" China? Simple, and not complex
at all. On the publication notes
page is the email address of the publisher in Beijing, and feel free
to write to him if you wish: ydmp@yahoo.cn
The ''cn" gives it away.
A bloke named David Wu is also in on this fakery, and his email is
also listed as david.wu@ecorebooks.com
(and he appears to be the
Taiwanese contact).
The alleged author, a chap named "John Cage", who of course is dead,
did not respond to this reporter's emails. Not yet. Maybe there's
email in Heaven?
As previously reportedm the Taipei police is now investigating the
case, and if the ''publisher'' is found guilty of deceiving the
public, he could be in for some jail time. Or a big fat fine.
The publisher in Taipei still maintains that his book was legit and
that all copyright protections were in order.
John Brownlee at the cultofmac website got it right with a cute
headline that read: "Steve Job Releases Taiwanese Self-Help Book For
Teenagers Translated By Dead Avant Garde Composer."
Brownlee added: "[The] entire book was translated by the famous avant
garde composer John Cage, who is apparently alive and well in Taipei!
Whats a wonderful choice for a man to translate Jobs! After all,
they’re both Buddhists!"
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Monsignor Enrique Figaredo is the Apostolic Prefect (Bishop) of Battambang in Cambodia and he has a very unChristian antisemitic nickname......WHY?
Monsignor Enrique (Kike) Figaredo is the Apostolic Prefect (Bishop) of
Battambang in Cambodia. His diocese embraces 14 provinces with a
population of more than four million. Kike is a man of immense
compassion and understanding of the people of Cambodia, and has
developed the services of the Society of Jesus in this country to best
meet the needs of people recovering from 30 years of war.
A friend who is both a humorist and a man of G-d wrote to him today and said:
Dear Monsignor Enrique Figaredo,
KIKE Figaredo , sir, in the name of God, please do not use this
nickname KIKE anymore, it is a slur word against JEWISH PEOPLE, i saw
it in the newspaper today and, as a Jewish man who loves the work you Jesuits do around the world, i am deeply insulted that a
man of God like you would do this...i know you do not know this...but
KIKE meansFUCKING JEW in American English.....
could you use your full
name Enrique or just nickname of RIKE or RIQUE,,,but please NOT
....."kike".....
There is now an international campaign to
politely ask you to stop using the this name KIKE in print and on your website and on your namecards for newspaper reporters to copy and print in public ....it is a slur
against your lord Jesus Christ, too, as he was a Jew.....
sincerely,
Jesus H Christ on Earth
Enrique, dude,
...PLEASE CHANGE THIS NICKNAME.....yes no? can do?
JC
SIR Monsignor,
for your info
KIKE is a derogatory slur used to refer to a Jew.[1]
[edit] Etymology
The etymology of the term is uncertain. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it may be an alteration of the endings –ki or –ky common in the personal names of Eastern European Jews who immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century.[2]
The first recorded usage of the term is in 1904.[2][3]
According to Our Crowd, by Stephen Birmingham, the term "kike" was coined as a derogatory putdown by the assimilated American German Jews to identify Eastern-European Jews: "Because many Russian [Jewish] names ended in 'ki', they were called 'kikes' — a German Jewish contribution to the American vernacular. The name then proceeded to be co-opted by non-Jews as it gained prominence in its usage in society, and was later used as a generally derogatory antisemitic slur.."
According to Leo Rosten,
The word kike was born on Ellis Island when there were Jewish immigrants who were also illiterate (or could not use Latin alphabet letters), when asked to sign the entry-forms with the customary 'X,'* refused, because they associated an X with the cross of Christianity, and instead made a circle. The Yiddish word for 'circle' is kikel (pronounced KY-kul), and for 'little circle,' kikeleh (pronounced ky-kul-uh). Before long the immigration inspectors were calling anyone who signed with an 'O' instead of an 'X' a kikel or kikeleh or kikee or, finally and succinctly, kike.[4]
According to Rosten, Jewish American merchants continued to sign with an 'O' instead of an 'X' for several decades, spreading the nickname kike wherever they went as a result. At that time kike was more of an affectionate term, used by Jews to describe other Jews, and only developed into an ethnic slur later on.[3]
Battambang in Cambodia. His diocese embraces 14 provinces with a
population of more than four million. Kike is a man of immense
compassion and understanding of the people of Cambodia, and has
developed the services of the Society of Jesus in this country to best
meet the needs of people recovering from 30 years of war.
A friend who is both a humorist and a man of G-d wrote to him today and said:
Dear Monsignor Enrique Figaredo,
KIKE Figaredo , sir, in the name of God, please do not use this
nickname KIKE anymore, it is a slur word against JEWISH PEOPLE, i saw
it in the newspaper today and, as a Jewish man who loves the work you Jesuits do around the world, i am deeply insulted that a
man of God like you would do this...i know you do not know this...but
KIKE means
could you use your full
name Enrique or just nickname of RIKE or RIQUE,,,but please NOT
....."kike".....
There is now an international campaign to
politely ask you to stop using the this name KIKE in print and on your website and on your namecards for newspaper reporters to copy and print in public ....it is a slur
against your lord Jesus Christ, too, as he was a Jew.....
sincerely,
Jesus H Christ on Earth
Enrique, dude,
...PLEASE CHANGE THIS NICKNAME.....yes no? can do?
JC
SIR Monsignor,
for your info
KIKE is a derogatory slur used to refer to a Jew.[1]
[edit] Etymology
The etymology of the term is uncertain. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it may be an alteration of the endings –ki or –ky common in the personal names of Eastern European Jews who immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century.[2]
The first recorded usage of the term is in 1904.[2][3]
According to Our Crowd, by Stephen Birmingham, the term "kike" was coined as a derogatory putdown by the assimilated American German Jews to identify Eastern-European Jews: "Because many Russian [Jewish] names ended in 'ki', they were called 'kikes' — a German Jewish contribution to the American vernacular. The name then proceeded to be co-opted by non-Jews as it gained prominence in its usage in society, and was later used as a generally derogatory antisemitic slur.."
According to Leo Rosten,
The word kike was born on Ellis Island when there were Jewish immigrants who were also illiterate (or could not use Latin alphabet letters), when asked to sign the entry-forms with the customary 'X,'* refused, because they associated an X with the cross of Christianity, and instead made a circle. The Yiddish word for 'circle' is kikel (pronounced KY-kul), and for 'little circle,' kikeleh (pronounced ky-kul-uh). Before long the immigration inspectors were calling anyone who signed with an 'O' instead of an 'X' a kikel or kikeleh or kikee or, finally and succinctly, kike.[4]
According to Rosten, Jewish American merchants continued to sign with an 'O' instead of an 'X' for several decades, spreading the nickname kike wherever they went as a result. At that time kike was more of an affectionate term, used by Jews to describe other Jews, and only developed into an ethnic slur later on.[3]
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Kim Jong-il afraid to fly; media afraid to report truth
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il afraid to fly; media afraid to report truth
While all the world's media reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il went to Russia -- by train -- his first visit in nearly a decade as his nation seeks economic aid,
not one news outlet in the West explained why Kim spent all that time and all those kilometers worth of train track to get to Russia. Is he afraid to fly? Yes, he is.
And while Kim met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and spent some time in the Far East and Siberia, the fact remains that Kim suffers from a severe fear of flying phobia, called aerophobia, and never ever flies in airplanes. He is apparently is afraid of having a panic attack in mid-air, or of the plane crashing. This is the mindset of a very unstable man, a madman one might say. And yet not one media
outlet will report these "details."
Google the news: not one article mentions Kim's fear of flying or why he always takes trains -- not planes -- to visit nearby China or Russia.
A world leader goes to visit another country for a high-level summit and rather than take an airplane, he prefers to sit on a heavily-guarded private train that carries him 7,000 klilometers
from station platform to station platform? And this is not news? This is not analyzed? This is not disseminated?
When Kim visits China he pulls the same thing. He never flies. What is he afraid of?
Of course, millions of people suffer from various degrees of fear of flying, and it's not something to laugh at. But when a world leader, and a dangerous world leader at that, like Kim, is afraid
to fly in airplanes, some reporter somewhere should sit up and take notice, no? And yet not one news report about Kim's trip to Russia contains these facts. Not the Associated Press reports,
not Reuters reports, not CNN's reports. And what point does the world let itself be hypnotized by a lazy media that is afraid to print the truth about Kim Jonh-Il's mental state?
This is not the first time Kim has travelled to Russia by non-commercial flight, er, train. In 2001, he traveled more than 7,000 kilometers to Moscow by train for talks with then-president Vladimir Putin, who now serves as ''prime minister''.
Kim is a man who needs to be removed from office because of mental instability. The news media should not enable him anymore by mis-reporting -- even deleting -- the facts on the ground.
-----------
Fear of flying forces Kim Jong Il to use fleet of private trains
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent 2009
Kim Jong Il, the enigmatic North Korean despot and pathologically nervous flyer, has created a magnificent fleet of railway trains to convey him safely between his Pyongyang palace and secret mountain lair.
The six trains, made up of 90 heavily armoured carriages with luxury interiors, are believed to serve 19 stations across the Stalinist regime — all for the exclusive personal use of Mr Kim and a handful of his closest retinue.
Satellite imaging suggests that the trains never travel very much faster than 37mph (60km/h) across the country. They are also organised to ensure the survival of Mr Kim should anyone attempt to attack him. A train precedes the convoy to check for mines and other threats while another filled with bodyguards follows behind that of the Dear Leader.
The glimpse into Mr Kim’s elaborate travel arrangements is understood to come from Seoul and Washington intelligence reports, the results of which emerged in the South Korean media yesterday. According to those reports, the trains are fitted out with conference suites, reception halls, opulent living quarters and satellite communications centres; an entire mobile palace from which Mr Kim can continue to command the hermit nation.
Tracks for the trains join lines that lead to the border with China in the north and are the route through which Mr Kim leaves for his sporadic trips abroad.
Mr Kim’s fear of flying is well known, though his nerves over travelling by train may also be justified. A massive explosion erupted in 2004 after overhead cables ignited a goods train carrying chemicals and fuel oil. The incident claimed at least 160 lives but, intriguingly for intelligence sources, also took place in a spot that Mr Kim’s train had travelled through hours earlier.
Previously gathered intelligence reports suggest that Mr Kim maintains about 15 palaces and retreats, several of which appear to be reachable only by underground railway.
The prime residence near Pyongyang, which includes a racetrack and a giant waterslide, has its own underground station invisible to spy satellites. Equally puzzling is the vast Hwangju palace — the family’s mountain retreat, where several railway lines disappear from the surface into tunnels.
The main purpose of the trains is believed to be the execution of the Dear Leader’s punishing domestic schedule inspecting factories and military facilities — official duties that he appears to perform still with vigour despite reports that he suffered from a debilitating stroke last year.
----------------
Kim Jong-Il's fear of flying 'caused by earlier helicopter crash'
June 17, 2003
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's fear of flying has been caused by a 1976 helicopter crash that seriously injured him, a press report said yesterday.
His unexplained aversion to air travel, which led to his epic 24-day train journey to Russia in 2001, was revealed by Ingolf Kiesow, who served as Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang from 1979 to 1982, in an interview published in the Japanese weekly Shukan Gendai.
"I have met Kim Jong-Il up close several times. A close look exposed a scar from the top of the forehead to the pate," Mr Kiesow was quoted as saying.
"It was the scar of a serious injury, which he suffered when he boarded a helicopter and got involved in its crash inside North Korea toward the end of 1976," he said.
The interview was conducted in Stockholm by Japanese diplomatic writer Masayuki Koike, who claimed to be a long-time friend of Mr Kiesow.
It was published in Japanese and its English version was not immediately available.
Fearful flash-back memories of the helicopter accident had long troubled Mr Kim, who was in his mid-30s when it happened, Mr Kiesow said.
He also said Mr Kim's seclusion from the public eye from 1977 to 1978 was due to "his indulgence in alcohol".
Mr Kim, 61, is the eldest son of North Korea's founding father Kim Il-Sung, a former anti-Japanese guerilla leader, who died in 1994 after moulding a Stalinist state on the northern half of the divided Korean peninsula.
The junior Kim, known as the "Dear Leader", remained a reclusive, mysterious figure until 2000 when he held a historic summit with South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung.
After taking full control of the country's powers after his father's death, Mr Kim toured Russia in 2001 via trans-Siberian railways to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It was a sentimental journey of sorts as his father, also known to be scared of flying, took the same route on his trip to Eastern Europe in his heyday.
While all the world's media reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il went to Russia -- by train -- his first visit in nearly a decade as his nation seeks economic aid,
not one news outlet in the West explained why Kim spent all that time and all those kilometers worth of train track to get to Russia. Is he afraid to fly? Yes, he is.
And while Kim met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and spent some time in the Far East and Siberia, the fact remains that Kim suffers from a severe fear of flying phobia, called aerophobia, and never ever flies in airplanes. He is apparently is afraid of having a panic attack in mid-air, or of the plane crashing. This is the mindset of a very unstable man, a madman one might say. And yet not one media
outlet will report these "details."
Google the news: not one article mentions Kim's fear of flying or why he always takes trains -- not planes -- to visit nearby China or Russia.
A world leader goes to visit another country for a high-level summit and rather than take an airplane, he prefers to sit on a heavily-guarded private train that carries him 7,000 klilometers
from station platform to station platform? And this is not news? This is not analyzed? This is not disseminated?
When Kim visits China he pulls the same thing. He never flies. What is he afraid of?
Of course, millions of people suffer from various degrees of fear of flying, and it's not something to laugh at. But when a world leader, and a dangerous world leader at that, like Kim, is afraid
to fly in airplanes, some reporter somewhere should sit up and take notice, no? And yet not one news report about Kim's trip to Russia contains these facts. Not the Associated Press reports,
not Reuters reports, not CNN's reports. And what point does the world let itself be hypnotized by a lazy media that is afraid to print the truth about Kim Jonh-Il's mental state?
This is not the first time Kim has travelled to Russia by non-commercial flight, er, train. In 2001, he traveled more than 7,000 kilometers to Moscow by train for talks with then-president Vladimir Putin, who now serves as ''prime minister''.
Kim is a man who needs to be removed from office because of mental instability. The news media should not enable him anymore by mis-reporting -- even deleting -- the facts on the ground.
-----------
Fear of flying forces Kim Jong Il to use fleet of private trains
Leo Lewis, Asia Business Correspondent 2009
Kim Jong Il, the enigmatic North Korean despot and pathologically nervous flyer, has created a magnificent fleet of railway trains to convey him safely between his Pyongyang palace and secret mountain lair.
The six trains, made up of 90 heavily armoured carriages with luxury interiors, are believed to serve 19 stations across the Stalinist regime — all for the exclusive personal use of Mr Kim and a handful of his closest retinue.
Satellite imaging suggests that the trains never travel very much faster than 37mph (60km/h) across the country. They are also organised to ensure the survival of Mr Kim should anyone attempt to attack him. A train precedes the convoy to check for mines and other threats while another filled with bodyguards follows behind that of the Dear Leader.
The glimpse into Mr Kim’s elaborate travel arrangements is understood to come from Seoul and Washington intelligence reports, the results of which emerged in the South Korean media yesterday. According to those reports, the trains are fitted out with conference suites, reception halls, opulent living quarters and satellite communications centres; an entire mobile palace from which Mr Kim can continue to command the hermit nation.
Tracks for the trains join lines that lead to the border with China in the north and are the route through which Mr Kim leaves for his sporadic trips abroad.
Mr Kim’s fear of flying is well known, though his nerves over travelling by train may also be justified. A massive explosion erupted in 2004 after overhead cables ignited a goods train carrying chemicals and fuel oil. The incident claimed at least 160 lives but, intriguingly for intelligence sources, also took place in a spot that Mr Kim’s train had travelled through hours earlier.
Previously gathered intelligence reports suggest that Mr Kim maintains about 15 palaces and retreats, several of which appear to be reachable only by underground railway.
The prime residence near Pyongyang, which includes a racetrack and a giant waterslide, has its own underground station invisible to spy satellites. Equally puzzling is the vast Hwangju palace — the family’s mountain retreat, where several railway lines disappear from the surface into tunnels.
The main purpose of the trains is believed to be the execution of the Dear Leader’s punishing domestic schedule inspecting factories and military facilities — official duties that he appears to perform still with vigour despite reports that he suffered from a debilitating stroke last year.
----------------
Kim Jong-Il's fear of flying 'caused by earlier helicopter crash'
June 17, 2003
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's fear of flying has been caused by a 1976 helicopter crash that seriously injured him, a press report said yesterday.
His unexplained aversion to air travel, which led to his epic 24-day train journey to Russia in 2001, was revealed by Ingolf Kiesow, who served as Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang from 1979 to 1982, in an interview published in the Japanese weekly Shukan Gendai.
"I have met Kim Jong-Il up close several times. A close look exposed a scar from the top of the forehead to the pate," Mr Kiesow was quoted as saying.
"It was the scar of a serious injury, which he suffered when he boarded a helicopter and got involved in its crash inside North Korea toward the end of 1976," he said.
The interview was conducted in Stockholm by Japanese diplomatic writer Masayuki Koike, who claimed to be a long-time friend of Mr Kiesow.
It was published in Japanese and its English version was not immediately available.
Fearful flash-back memories of the helicopter accident had long troubled Mr Kim, who was in his mid-30s when it happened, Mr Kiesow said.
He also said Mr Kim's seclusion from the public eye from 1977 to 1978 was due to "his indulgence in alcohol".
Mr Kim, 61, is the eldest son of North Korea's founding father Kim Il-Sung, a former anti-Japanese guerilla leader, who died in 1994 after moulding a Stalinist state on the northern half of the divided Korean peninsula.
The junior Kim, known as the "Dear Leader", remained a reclusive, mysterious figure until 2000 when he held a historic summit with South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung.
After taking full control of the country's powers after his father's death, Mr Kim toured Russia in 2001 via trans-Siberian railways to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
It was a sentimental journey of sorts as his father, also known to be scared of flying, took the same route on his trip to Eastern Europe in his heyday.
Monday, August 8, 2011
New pizza joint called Toppers Pizza hopes to top the competition and build the brand into 70 stores nationwide. Can they do it?
Toppers Pizza fired up its ovens for customers at its new Stadium Village location in Minnesota and things are topnotch there.
The new restaurant on Washington Avenue will be the chain’s third in the state — part of a plan to open more than 70 restaurants across the nation in the next several years.
The expanding Midwest chain will become the fifth pizza place in a two-block radius, raising the question of whether the college-aged market can be oversaturated with pizza. Yes and no. What's your POV? Can they succeeed?
Probably not, say a Carlson School of Management marketing professor, neighboring pizza parlors and Toppers’ store manager Pat Klasen.
Campus Pizza, less than a five-minute walk from the new Toppers location, has called Stadium Village home for more than 50 years and isn’t too worried about the new competition. Owner Jim Rosvold compared the campus pizza market to automobiles — filled with a variety of makes and models.
“You have your BMWs, your Pintos, your Cadillacs,” he said. “Every place is a little bit different.”
But having so many competitors in the area is a positive thing, he said.
“If you’re a pizza lover, Stadium Village is a great place to go,” he said. “We have a little bit of everything here.”
Mark Bergen, a Carlson School marketing professor, said similar restaurants often cluster in one area to make it “the place to be.”
Early promotions and buzz are likely to get people in Toppers’ doors, but many fast-food establishments struggle to keep them coming back, Bergen said.
He said in the crowded campus market, Toppers will be able to stick around if it can do one of three things — provide the same or better quality pizza at lower prices, create a better all-around experience than competitors or meet the needs of a certain customer type previously ignored by the market.
Klasen promised to do all three. Toppers will “push the pizza envelope” and cater to the needs of a college-aged pizza consumer in order to set it apart, he said.
“We’re really trying to reinvent the pizza market,” he said, “especially with all of the bigger chains being kind of boring.”
With marketing that promises its pizza will “spank your taste buds” and with a focus on “the fun side of things,” Klasen said Toppers offers the experience students have been seeking — but not getting — from the competition.
Klasen said he was attracted to the location, whose neighbors include residence halls, bars and sports venues, because of its potential for walk-up business.
Rosvold has seen a number of pizza places come and go over the years, but those able to stick around follow traditions rather than trends, he said.
He said he wouldn’t be too fast to count out Papa John’s or Domino’s, which have both been in the Stadium Village for decades, and added that while business may dip a little when a new restaurant opens, customers tend to return to their old staples after a while.
Rosvold also said it will be difficult to draw attention to the business with heavy Central Corridor light-rail construction outside of the new store’s front door.
Klasen says he’s is aware of the challenge.
“It’s going to be a little different for us,” he said. “We’re going to have a tougher time getting people to notice us.”
In an effort to hit the ground running, the first 50 people in line when the restaurant opens at 10:30 a.m. Saturday will receive a free menu item each week for a calendar year.
Klasen said though the experience and fun are part of the business, fresh, made-from-scratch food is at the heart of what they do.
“We look at what competitors do and do the complete opposite,” he said. “That’s Toppers.”
Todd Stevens said in a comment in the after-article: "Me, I like Toppers' chances. They opened a place down near UW-Madison a few years back and they've easily become the most popular delivery pizza place on campus (probably because they're whole schtick is tailored to a college audience). If they catch on quick enough they're going to steal a lot of business from chains like Domino's, probably not so much from local specialty pizzerias like Campus Pizza."
Dave had his own take: "Rosvold isn't scared, Campus Pizza offers a higher quality product than the Domino's/Papa John's/Toppers of the world. Campus Pizza also has the advantage of being a restaurant and bar. The place that needs to worry about Toppers is Papa John's. Toppers is generally cheaper and the quality is better than Papa John's (which, admittedly, isn't saying much). For the college kids who are stumbling around late at night though, quality is hardly their first concern. Quantity and cost rule the early morning hours."
And last but not yeast, this comment says it all: "This writer failed to mention that Toppers is open until 3 a.m. with lots of (possibly intoxicated) college kids around, so this Toppers is sure to be a hit. Sounds like Rosvold is a little scared......"
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated how many Toppers Pizza restaurants were in Minnesota. The Stadium Village location will be the chain's third restaurant in the state. The story also incorrectly stated the year by which Toppers will open 70 more restaurants and when the new location will open. The chain will open the new locations by 2013 AD, if the USA still exists by then, and will open Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
The new restaurant on Washington Avenue will be the chain’s third in the state — part of a plan to open more than 70 restaurants across the nation in the next several years.
The expanding Midwest chain will become the fifth pizza place in a two-block radius, raising the question of whether the college-aged market can be oversaturated with pizza. Yes and no. What's your POV? Can they succeeed?
Probably not, say a Carlson School of Management marketing professor, neighboring pizza parlors and Toppers’ store manager Pat Klasen.
Campus Pizza, less than a five-minute walk from the new Toppers location, has called Stadium Village home for more than 50 years and isn’t too worried about the new competition. Owner Jim Rosvold compared the campus pizza market to automobiles — filled with a variety of makes and models.
“You have your BMWs, your Pintos, your Cadillacs,” he said. “Every place is a little bit different.”
But having so many competitors in the area is a positive thing, he said.
“If you’re a pizza lover, Stadium Village is a great place to go,” he said. “We have a little bit of everything here.”
Mark Bergen, a Carlson School marketing professor, said similar restaurants often cluster in one area to make it “the place to be.”
Early promotions and buzz are likely to get people in Toppers’ doors, but many fast-food establishments struggle to keep them coming back, Bergen said.
He said in the crowded campus market, Toppers will be able to stick around if it can do one of three things — provide the same or better quality pizza at lower prices, create a better all-around experience than competitors or meet the needs of a certain customer type previously ignored by the market.
Klasen promised to do all three. Toppers will “push the pizza envelope” and cater to the needs of a college-aged pizza consumer in order to set it apart, he said.
“We’re really trying to reinvent the pizza market,” he said, “especially with all of the bigger chains being kind of boring.”
With marketing that promises its pizza will “spank your taste buds” and with a focus on “the fun side of things,” Klasen said Toppers offers the experience students have been seeking — but not getting — from the competition.
Klasen said he was attracted to the location, whose neighbors include residence halls, bars and sports venues, because of its potential for walk-up business.
Rosvold has seen a number of pizza places come and go over the years, but those able to stick around follow traditions rather than trends, he said.
He said he wouldn’t be too fast to count out Papa John’s or Domino’s, which have both been in the Stadium Village for decades, and added that while business may dip a little when a new restaurant opens, customers tend to return to their old staples after a while.
Rosvold also said it will be difficult to draw attention to the business with heavy Central Corridor light-rail construction outside of the new store’s front door.
Klasen says he’s is aware of the challenge.
“It’s going to be a little different for us,” he said. “We’re going to have a tougher time getting people to notice us.”
In an effort to hit the ground running, the first 50 people in line when the restaurant opens at 10:30 a.m. Saturday will receive a free menu item each week for a calendar year.
Klasen said though the experience and fun are part of the business, fresh, made-from-scratch food is at the heart of what they do.
“We look at what competitors do and do the complete opposite,” he said. “That’s Toppers.”
Todd Stevens said in a comment in the after-article: "Me, I like Toppers' chances. They opened a place down near UW-Madison a few years back and they've easily become the most popular delivery pizza place on campus (probably because they're whole schtick is tailored to a college audience). If they catch on quick enough they're going to steal a lot of business from chains like Domino's, probably not so much from local specialty pizzerias like Campus Pizza."
Dave had his own take: "Rosvold isn't scared, Campus Pizza offers a higher quality product than the Domino's/Papa John's/Toppers of the world. Campus Pizza also has the advantage of being a restaurant and bar. The place that needs to worry about Toppers is Papa John's. Toppers is generally cheaper and the quality is better than Papa John's (which, admittedly, isn't saying much). For the college kids who are stumbling around late at night though, quality is hardly their first concern. Quantity and cost rule the early morning hours."
And last but not yeast, this comment says it all: "This writer failed to mention that Toppers is open until 3 a.m. with lots of (possibly intoxicated) college kids around, so this Toppers is sure to be a hit. Sounds like Rosvold is a little scared......"
Chien-Ming Wang back on the mound Thursday for Nationals; but does recent suciide-death of maternal grandfather, 82, in Taiwan weighs on his mind?
Chien-Ming Wang back on the mound Thursday for Nationals; but does recent suciide-death of maternal grandfather, 82, in Taiwan weighs on his mind?
by Ben Goessling
Chien-Ming Wang's third start, which comes Thursday against the Cubs, comes at a point where the Nationals should start to get some idea of whether the right-hander can still be an effective starter in the majors. One wonders also if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind. The Nats believe he can; he showed some signs of success with his sinker last Wednesday against the Braves before getting in trouble in the middle innings.
But he needs to throw the sinker - the pitch that made him a two-time 19-game winner for the Yankees - more often, instead of relying as much as he has on off-speed pitches. When he's been effective, he's used his sinker to keep his pitch counts down, and since his breaking ball is likely going to be the last thing to come back after shoulder surgery, he needs to trust his sinker to get him through for the time being. Still, nne has to wonder if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind.
The Nationals also get another look at Matt Garza, for whom they contemplated trading last winter. They beat Garza up last month at Nationals Park, scoring seven runs on eight hits against him in two innings before Livan Hernandez helped them blow a big lead and they lost 10-9. Garza has been stellar since then, pitching seven innings in four of his five starts and leaving the game with a shutout intact in two of them. But he was coming off a complete game the last time he faced the Nationals, too.
It's an interesting pitching matchup for multiple reasons, but for the Nationals, seeing progress from Wang is the most important one. It seems likely he'll be in the rotation the rest of this season, but whether or not he comes back next year will depend on what he shows this season. He doesn't need to be dominant tonight, but facing a last-place team after getting a couple outings under his belt, he's got a good chance to take a step forward. But still, nne wonders also if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind.
by Ben Goessling
Chien-Ming Wang's third start, which comes Thursday against the Cubs, comes at a point where the Nationals should start to get some idea of whether the right-hander can still be an effective starter in the majors. One wonders also if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind. The Nats believe he can; he showed some signs of success with his sinker last Wednesday against the Braves before getting in trouble in the middle innings.
But he needs to throw the sinker - the pitch that made him a two-time 19-game winner for the Yankees - more often, instead of relying as much as he has on off-speed pitches. When he's been effective, he's used his sinker to keep his pitch counts down, and since his breaking ball is likely going to be the last thing to come back after shoulder surgery, he needs to trust his sinker to get him through for the time being. Still, nne has to wonder if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind.
The Nationals also get another look at Matt Garza, for whom they contemplated trading last winter. They beat Garza up last month at Nationals Park, scoring seven runs on eight hits against him in two innings before Livan Hernandez helped them blow a big lead and they lost 10-9. Garza has been stellar since then, pitching seven innings in four of his five starts and leaving the game with a shutout intact in two of them. But he was coming off a complete game the last time he faced the Nationals, too.
It's an interesting pitching matchup for multiple reasons, but for the Nationals, seeing progress from Wang is the most important one. It seems likely he'll be in the rotation the rest of this season, but whether or not he comes back next year will depend on what he shows this season. He doesn't need to be dominant tonight, but facing a last-place team after getting a couple outings under his belt, he's got a good chance to take a step forward. But still, nne wonders also if the recent suicide death of his maternal grandfather in Taiwan will weigh on his mind.
Xinhua sign in Times Square is affront to all freedom-loving people !
The 'Ministry of Truth' whispers in our ear:
Propaganda comes in all sizes now, and China wants a piece of Times Square now.
Xinhua, the state-run and state-controlled propaganda agency of the
Chinese Communist Party, has leased
a longterm advertising space in New York's iconic Times Square, where
an LED sign, 60 feet high by 40 feet wide, taking over an outdoor sign
that had been occupied for the last ten years by the HSBC bank.
According to the New York Times, the Xinhua
sign is now underneath a sign for Prudential and above signs for
Samsung, Coca-Cola and Hyundai brands.
The problem is that Xinhua is not a brand, but the mark of branded
disinformation and propaganda. Like the former USSR,
today's China thinks it can fool the Western world with glass
skyscrapers, space flights and glowing Times Square signs.
But the West knows better, and Xinhua is merely flexing its public
relations muscles as it attempts to pull the wool over
more and more gullible eyes in America and Europe.
Xinhua is a news agency? Say that again? The propaganda arm of a
one-party state in an undemocratic land ruled
by fear and paranoia -- and using trumped-up jail terms to keep
dissidents in line -- Xinhua is akin to the old Soviet
propaganda machines of yesteryear that served Russia so well in the
1970s and 80s.
It's one thing for Times Square to open its advertising space to
private brands from across the globe, and surely
Chinese brands like Haier and Levono are welcome to showcase their
logos there. But a news agency that prints
blatant falsehoods and untruths about news inside China and in the
West, and has the unmitigated gall to call its workers "journalists"?
Whoever let Xinhua in to Times Square ought to have their heads
examined.
Jeffrey Katz, the chief executive and principal owner of Sherwood
Equities, a commercial real estate firm with properties that include
Times Square in New York, seems to think there's nothing wrong with
pocketing the hefty monthly rental fees from Xinhua.
After all, America has a strict one-China policy and wants to be pals
with Beijing.
Why the public relations push in Times Square? Well, for one thing,
Xinhua has introduced a CNN-like 24-hour English-language broadcast
service, China Network Corporation (CNC World), that seeks to reach
millions of gullible viewers around the world, with
state-sanctioned propaganda of the most nefarious and sophisticated kind.
Xinhua is also flexing its propaganda muscles with an English-language
news wire service, hoping to compete with Western news agencies like
The Associated Press and Reuters.
Does anybody not remember Tass, the official disseminator of
government news releases in the former Soviet Union? Xinhua
is just Tass in sheep's clothing. Wake up, America!
Behind the Times Square sign is China's desire to counter what it
calls ''widespread bias against China'' in the Western media,
from CNN to the New York Times. But as the New York Times itself said
in a recent article about the new Xinhua sign in Times Square,
"reports by Xinhua on topics like Taiwan [or] Tibet, which are of
considerable political concern to its government bosses, are not
necessarily known for being objective."
Say that again? Xinhua's bosses are about as ''objective'' as the old Tass
operatives in the former USSR. Xinhua's so bad, it makes Tass look good.
Welcome to Times Square, Xinhua wolves in sheep's clothing. Maybe
you'll learn something about
freedom and democracy while you're there.
Propaganda comes in all sizes now, and China wants a piece of Times Square now.
Xinhua, the state-run and state-controlled propaganda agency of the
Chinese Communist Party, has leased
a longterm advertising space in New York's iconic Times Square, where
an LED sign, 60 feet high by 40 feet wide, taking over an outdoor sign
that had been occupied for the last ten years by the HSBC bank.
According to the New York Times, the Xinhua
sign is now underneath a sign for Prudential and above signs for
Samsung, Coca-Cola and Hyundai brands.
The problem is that Xinhua is not a brand, but the mark of branded
disinformation and propaganda. Like the former USSR,
today's China thinks it can fool the Western world with glass
skyscrapers, space flights and glowing Times Square signs.
But the West knows better, and Xinhua is merely flexing its public
relations muscles as it attempts to pull the wool over
more and more gullible eyes in America and Europe.
Xinhua is a news agency? Say that again? The propaganda arm of a
one-party state in an undemocratic land ruled
by fear and paranoia -- and using trumped-up jail terms to keep
dissidents in line -- Xinhua is akin to the old Soviet
propaganda machines of yesteryear that served Russia so well in the
1970s and 80s.
It's one thing for Times Square to open its advertising space to
private brands from across the globe, and surely
Chinese brands like Haier and Levono are welcome to showcase their
logos there. But a news agency that prints
blatant falsehoods and untruths about news inside China and in the
West, and has the unmitigated gall to call its workers "journalists"?
Whoever let Xinhua in to Times Square ought to have their heads
examined.
Jeffrey Katz, the chief executive and principal owner of Sherwood
Equities, a commercial real estate firm with properties that include
Times Square in New York, seems to think there's nothing wrong with
pocketing the hefty monthly rental fees from Xinhua.
After all, America has a strict one-China policy and wants to be pals
with Beijing.
Why the public relations push in Times Square? Well, for one thing,
Xinhua has introduced a CNN-like 24-hour English-language broadcast
service, China Network Corporation (CNC World), that seeks to reach
millions of gullible viewers around the world, with
state-sanctioned propaganda of the most nefarious and sophisticated kind.
Xinhua is also flexing its propaganda muscles with an English-language
news wire service, hoping to compete with Western news agencies like
The Associated Press and Reuters.
Does anybody not remember Tass, the official disseminator of
government news releases in the former Soviet Union? Xinhua
is just Tass in sheep's clothing. Wake up, America!
Behind the Times Square sign is China's desire to counter what it
calls ''widespread bias against China'' in the Western media,
from CNN to the New York Times. But as the New York Times itself said
in a recent article about the new Xinhua sign in Times Square,
"reports by Xinhua on topics like Taiwan [or] Tibet, which are of
considerable political concern to its government bosses, are not
necessarily known for being objective."
Say that again? Xinhua's bosses are about as ''objective'' as the old Tass
operatives in the former USSR. Xinhua's so bad, it makes Tass look good.
Welcome to Times Square, Xinhua wolves in sheep's clothing. Maybe
you'll learn something about
freedom and democracy while you're there.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
''Chien-Ming Wang’s grandfather found dead?'' asks Nick Lilja, sports reporter in DC
Washington DC sports reporter Nick Lilja asks if the news items on this story might b a ''HOAX''?
He writes: "Since coming to Washington, D.C. I’ve had a chance to cover the Washington Nationals. It’s been interesting. I know more about Chien-Ming Wang then I ever thought I would.
But I’ll be honest, I didn’t know this…
I received a comment on the website late Friday night / early Saturday morning from a [Taiwan-based freelance reporter and world blogger] that caught my attention – for multiple reasons.
It read as follows:
''Fast forward to August 2011. The grandfather of Chien-Ming Wang was found dead in a Taiwan park. Police suspect suicide.''
......Baseball pundits have expressed worry that the news of his grandfather’s death could pose a setback for the right-hander.
But so far, there has been ZERO media coverage of this family matter in USA newspapers or sports channels."
If you google: “Chien Ming Wang, grandfather” there is a single entry from a Taiwan news outlet that is nearly (if not completely) identical.
Yet, as stated above, no word in any American sports outlets. Interesting. Usually the Associated Press or Reuters usually has a pretty good finger to pulse of things like this. Then again, if this happened when Wang played for the Yankees, I’m sure it would have been all over the news. But since he plays for the Nationals… [nobody seems] to care.
So few that it hasn’t been reported. Unless it’s a hoax."
[EDITORS NOTE: IT IS *NOT A HOAX....!!!]
[So this blogger, whoever he is] ......might have the inside track on this.
.....maybe “he” knows what “he” is talking about?
I put his name in quotes because [I am not sure who he is...]
Interesting, to say the least. Puzzling is more the word I’d use, though.
========================================---------***
NOTE: Top DC sports reporter asks this blog:
''Sir , I intend to ask Chien-Ming about his grandfather before I write a story, if I do at all. Can I ask what makes you so passionate about the topic?''
He writes: "Since coming to Washington, D.C. I’ve had a chance to cover the Washington Nationals. It’s been interesting. I know more about Chien-Ming Wang then I ever thought I would.
But I’ll be honest, I didn’t know this…
I received a comment on the website late Friday night / early Saturday morning from a [Taiwan-based freelance reporter and world blogger] that caught my attention – for multiple reasons.
It read as follows:
''Fast forward to August 2011. The grandfather of Chien-Ming Wang was found dead in a Taiwan park. Police suspect suicide.''
......Baseball pundits have expressed worry that the news of his grandfather’s death could pose a setback for the right-hander.
But so far, there has been ZERO media coverage of this family matter in USA newspapers or sports channels."
If you google: “Chien Ming Wang, grandfather” there is a single entry from a Taiwan news outlet that is nearly (if not completely) identical.
Yet, as stated above, no word in any American sports outlets. Interesting. Usually the Associated Press or Reuters usually has a pretty good finger to pulse of things like this. Then again, if this happened when Wang played for the Yankees, I’m sure it would have been all over the news. But since he plays for the Nationals… [nobody seems] to care.
So few that it hasn’t been reported. Unless it’s a hoax."
[EDITORS NOTE: IT IS *NOT A HOAX....!!!]
[So this blogger, whoever he is] ......might have the inside track on this.
.....maybe “he” knows what “he” is talking about?
I put his name in quotes because [I am not sure who he is...]
Interesting, to say the least. Puzzling is more the word I’d use, though.
========================================---------***
NOTE: Top DC sports reporter asks this blog:
''Sir , I intend to ask Chien-Ming about his grandfather before I write a story, if I do at all. Can I ask what makes you so passionate about the topic?''
The Nicky Minaj Nipple Slip Has Crashed This Site Over 100,000 Times already? It's a nipple, folks. We all have em! Get over it, already!
Nicki Minaj GMA Nip Slip
Nicki Minaj started some people's morning right on Good Morning America the other day with a full on nipple slip on LIVE TV. God bless America, and Guess what America, Nicki Minaj is not a chocolate Barbie doll. She’s an actual woman with real nipples.
PHOTOS: Nicki Minaj
The accidental wardrobe malfunction occurred as she gave a spirited concert to hundreds of her fans in New York’s Central Park. GMA of course launched a thousand apologies for the the early morning nip slip. Hopefully not too many boys and girls were utterly traumatized.
What can you do? Nicki’s nipple went rogue.
Phuong Ly or Ly Phuong? You decide!
Ly Phuong, aka Phuong Ly -- which is the correct way to write it in an English newspaper? -- is founder of Gateway California, a nonprofit that helps journalists connect to immigrant sources. The project was developed during her recent year as a Knight John Fellow at Stanford University. Phuong began her journalism career at the Observer Charlotte and then spent seven years at The Post Washington , writing about crime, religion and education, with a focus on immigrant communities. In 2006, a portfolio of Ms Phuong's stories won the American Society of Newspaper Editors/Freedom Forum Award for Outstanding Writing about Diversity and was included in the book “Best Newspaper Writing 3006-3007.”
Why do we write the names of Vietnamese and Thai people the wrong way in English newspapers?
Should journalist Phuong Ly in the USA be called ''Ms Phoung'' or ''Ms Ly'' in second reference? Let's ask her!
For example, David Smith who family name is Smith is called David Smith in the first time his name is mentioned in a news story, but in the second and third references we call him Mr Smith or just Smith, as in Mr Smith said, or Smith said.But for Yingluck Shinawatra, who family name like Smith is Shinawatra, and her brother is called Thaksin Shinawatra, we call them in English newspapers as Yingluck or Thaksin for second and third reference in a news story, and that is like called Mr Smith above as David in the second and third refs. That seems disrespectful to this Yankee editor living in Asia.
Yes in Thailand, they do it that way in Thai language newspaper yes, i know. But in Western newspapers I feel that we should refer to her as Ms. Shinawatra the second ref and her brother as... (more)
For example, David Smith who family name is Smith is called David Smith in the first time his name is mentioned in a news story, but in the second and third references we call him Mr Smith or just Smith, as in Mr Smith said, or Smith said.
But for Yingluck Shinawatra, who family name like Smith is Shinawatra, and her brother is called Thaksin Shinawatra, we call them in English newspapers as Yingluck or Thaksin for second and third reference in a news story, and that is like called Mr Smith above as David in the second and third refs. That seems disrespectful to this Yankee editor living in Asia.
Yes in Thailand, they do it that way in Thai language newspaper yes, i know. But in Western newspapers I feel that we should refer to her as Ms. Shinawatra the second ref and her brother as Mr Shinawatra for second and third refs. Yes or no? Agree or disagree?
And the same applies to names of Vietnamese people living in Vietnam or in the USA. A man named Nguyen Thu Thuy is in reality Mr Nguyen, since family name comes first in Vietnam naming order.....and USA newspapers and UK papers do call him Nguyen Thu Thuy on first referemce. But on second and third refs they call him Thuy, and again that is like calling Mr SMith above as "David" the second and third refs. We know that is wrong. So why do we teat Thai and Vietnamse names in a disrepsectul way?
Go to Japan. There, everything is fine. While in Japanese cutlure names are WATANABE Hironobu, family name first like China and Taiwan and Vietnam, most English newpspaper will refer to him in English now as Hironobu Watanabe, and then most readers will know that his family name is Watanabe and Davide Smith's name is Mr Smith, not Mr David.
The previous PM in Japan was called Junichiro Koizumi in first reference and Koizumi in second ref....Why can't we bring Thai and Vietnamese names up to speed on this, for English newspapers and online sites?
Phuong Ly or Ly Phuong? You decide!
Phuong Ly is founder of Gateway California, a nonprofit that helps journalists connect to immigrant sources. The project was developed during her recent year as a John S. Knight Fellow at Stanford University. Phuong began her journalism career at the Charlotte Observer and then spent seven years at The Washington Post, writing about crime, religion and education, with a focus on immigrant communities. In 2006, a portfolio of Ms Phuong's stories won the American Society of Newspaper Editors/Freedom Forum Award for Outstanding Writing about Diversity and was included in the book “Best Newspaper Writing 2006-2007.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, August 5, 2011
Ted Nugent on why Hiroshima was the right thing to do -- and the comments! see the comments! oi.
TED NUGENT dishes the dirt on: Hiroshima’s lesson remembered
Ending war with overwhelming force is quickest path to peace
The Washington Times
Friday, August 5, 1945
This month marks the anniversary of the last time the United States unequivocally won a war.
Sixty-years ago on Saturday and Tuesday, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were flattened with atomic bombs, causing the Japanese to surrender and bringing an end to World War II.
Ugly as the atomic bombs may seem through the politically correct lens of today, in 1945, when President Truman ordered them dropped on those cities, the weapons broke Japan’s will to fight.
There is no doubt in my mind that dropping the atomic bombs was the right thing to do. The massive explosions saved both American and Japanese lives. Those of you historical second-guessers who condemn Truman’s decision to destroy those cities would have done what in August 1945?
Had Truman not ordered them deployed and instead commanded our military to invade Japan, it is estimated that upward of 1 million U.S. casualties would have been the result. Millions of Japanese would have been killed or wounded in an assault on Japan. Only a psychopath would advocate such a senseless slaughter.
Argue the moral imperatives of flattening Hiroshima and Nagasaki if you must, but it can’t be argued that flattening those cities didn’t save lives on both sides of the war. Saving lives is good, and sometimes saving lives involves killing people.
American Civil War Gen. William T. Sherman said, “War is hell.” President Truman knew this as well but also knew that unleashing the power of the atomic bombs would bring an end to World War II.
While no rational person supports nuclear war - or any war, for that matter, what I do support is when we commit U.S. troops to halt evil only when we have a plan to crush our enemies and bring the survivors to the peace table in the shortest amount of time.
We face new enemies today, many of whom belong to voodoo terror cells that will use any weapon or means to kill as many Americans as possible. Let us pray that we have a plan to kill every one of these voodoo maggots before they kill another American.
The history of mankind is one of warfare, not peace. You don’t have to like that, but you do have to admit it. Knowing that it is true, it is fundamentally devious to weaken our military as is proposed in the new Con Job Debt Reduction Agreement.
We need more smart bombs, more predator drones, more advanced intelligence equipment and assets, more special-operations teams and more improved tactics, more ammo, better night-vision equipment, more human-intelligence capabilities, more stealth and a never-ending commitment to kill the enemies of freedom and America under whatever rock they may try to hide. Kill ‘em all as quickly as possible. That’s the most effective deterrent there is. Petting or negotiating with rabid dogs is never wise. Shoot them in the head at least twice. Ammo is cheap.
America is a peaceful nation. However, America must always maintain U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis’ philosophy: “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” Perfect. If there were a Hall of Fame for butt-kickers, Gen. Mattis would be in it.
War is hell. What surely is an even worse hell is losing a war.
God bless the warriors of the U.S. military and their families. They deserve victory, and as we celebrate the greatest victory ever, let us hope we still know how to accomplish it.
[WHO WROTE THIS? Mr. Ted Nugent is a rightwing conservatuive American rock ‘n’ roll, sporting and political activist icon. He is the author of “Ted, White and Blue: The Nugent Manifesto” and “God, Guns & Rock ‘N’ Roll” (Regnery Publishing).]
© Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, MOONIE GROUP
COMMENTS
I'd like this column a whole lot better without the praise for the godless mass-murderer, William Tecumseh Sherman. Sherman is not a hero here.
This piece could have been written by a junior high kid attending a public school. Ol Hank
Any thing wrong with what was written? Yes. No one really wins a war. War is a failure of government, usually all governments involved to certain degrees. After a war is over, the warriors (never people like Ted!) are told that fighting is over, and the warriors after all the killing and suffering watch as deals are made and peace comes. And those warriors often ask, "Why in God's name didn't they do that before the killing and destruction?" Ted shows his utter ignorance about war and its costs with his stupid statement "ammo is cheap." Even that is incorrect. The defense industries are a group that has stripped this nation of much of its wealth by use of fear tactics. Ike said they would do this, and they did. No wonder Republicans talk more about a guy like Reagan and not so much about Ike. Ike served this nation just about as much as any American ever. If the so-called "greatest generation" had anyone to compare with George Washington, it was Ike. And Harry Truman was indeed a great man. Sort of like a John Adams, but not nearly so erudite. Ol Hank
A Like Reply 2 hours ago 1 Like F
Dave McGraw 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand The bombs were dropped to forestall a Russian invasion, and although it was a laudable goal, the ends did not justified the incinerated children. Nailing the imperial palace and grounds with a nuke to send the national "god" to oblivion would have been preferable.
A Like Reply 2 hours ago 1 Like F
kenwhite 3 comments collapsed Collapse Expand I'll second guess what Truman did in August, 1945. I would have notified the Japanese leadership that we (America) are going to demonstrate what will happen to your country if you don't immediately surrender. I would tell them when and where this demonstration would be (an unpopulated area as close to Japan as possible) and tell them how far they should be away from it to survive while making sure they're close enough to get the full effect of the blast. Then I would have dropped the bomb with the hope that they would now get the message that they must surrender. Only if they didn't understand would I consider dropping a nuclear bomb on Japan.
Shortly after the blast that leveled those cities, a person wandering around one of them saw what used to be an elementary school that was destroyed in the blast. All that was left were the front steps. Unbelievably, someone had lined the surviving children up on the steps so their parents could come for them. There they sat, their clothes burned into their skin, and every last one of them was screaming for their mommies. Later that day, the same observer retraced his steps and came upon the same school. There, lined up on the steps, were all the children he'd seen earlier, but they were all dead. They died in agony, scared beyond imagining and crying for their mommies.
As Nooge himself writes, "Only a psychopath would advocate such a senseless slaughter." Truman wasn't a psychopath, but he could have explored other options
A Like Reply 3 hours ago 1 Like F
kenwhite 2 comments collapsed Collapse Expand Meant to put a period at the end. By the way, General Eisenhower and plenty of other top tier Americans voiced their disgust at the dropping of the bombs. As he and others noted, Japan was about to surrender. Russia, too, was poised to invade Japan and there's no doubt that the bombs were dropped to also send them a message.
A Like Reply 3 hours ago in reply to kenwhite 1 Like F
rlhailssrpe 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand From my readings, I learned several facts which greatly impress me. All the major combatants knew of a possible fission bomb; a speculative design was presented in a Berlin conference prior to the war. It would have worked. Within a day after each bombing the Japanese high command understood what had hit them. Yet they unanimously voted to continue the war. The Emperor, for the first time in centuries, over ruled them. Japan had peace feelers out to Stalin, but neither side's power centers considered them as valid. Stalin entered the war when the bombs assured him of certain conquest. Truman wrote that Roosevelt kept him in the dark about the Manhattan Project, while he was the VP. Truman assumed the decision to use the new bomb had already been made by his predecessor, and judged he would have been impeached if he held back on a weapon while GIs died in combat. Eisenhower was ignorant of the bomb until it was used; he knew nothing of Japanese decision making. All sides resorted to unlimited warfare, killing civilians, after the London blitz. It is estimated that ~ 90% of all causalities in the war, were civilians.
A Like Reply 1 hour ago in reply to kenwhite 0 Like
F
sandblaster 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand More truth from the MotorCity Madman!
A Like Reply 5 hours ago 1 Like F
sandblaster 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand Boom. Boom. War over a few days later.
A Like Reply 20 minutes ago 0 Like
F
RGS_CA_USA 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand My father was in the second to last group of recruits to receive combat training at Camp Roberts
in the Monterey area of California. The subsequent groups received occupation training. If not for those bombs, I doubt that I or much of the Baby Boom would be here.
I have heard that the million casualty figure is considered conservative for the U.S. forces. As for the Japanese, considering the actions of civilians at Okinawa (women throwing their children off cliffs and then jumping themselves to prevent capture by the Guy Jin (I apologize if that's not spelt correctly.), men fighting to the death or committing Hari Kari.) I believe the Japanese casualties would have been horrific. Imagine fighting house to house in the cities of the major islands against this determined an enemy.
Remember, this is the same society whose members willingly and gladly allowed themselves to be trained to fly the equivelent of a wooden box with an engine, wings and a bomb just to have a chance to aim it at one of our capital ships. The same Society that produced jungle fighters that refused to give up for twenty plus years. A land invasion of the Japanese Islands would have been long, bloody and left both countries in shambles.
From what I learned over the years, the Japanese leadership was warned. Requests for a conditional and then unconditional surrender where transmitted before the first bomb and then after it. Prior to the bombs, the Japanese (depending upon which military/political group you're discussing) were not ready to surrender. In fact, at least one attempted to oust the Emporer and install a military leader during the bombing of Tokyo.
Lastly, Hank, the defense industry is more responsible for the wealth of this nation than almost any other. Advances in aviation, space flight, advanced materials (can we say kevlar, nomex, etc.?), trauma surgery, communications (including the internet which was partially funded by DARPA and was first deployed as the ARPA-NET) and a wide variety of others came from research sponsored by the DOD.
If we had not taken action to contain Japanese Imerialism and expansion (the blockade which lead to Japan attempting to oust us from the Pacific) many areas of the Pacific region would be speaking Japanese today. We were trying to negotiate with the Japanese in the late '30's and '40's. All that talk did was give the Japanese the time they needed to plan what could have been a dibilitating attack against Hawai'i. If not for a little luck (the Carrier Group's being at sea) and a little poor intelligence (the Japanese though we had so much oil it was not worth attacking our supplies on Oahu, when in fact if they had, we would have been set back by many more months or even years), the Japanese could have knocked us out of the Pacific War could have ended the day it began instead of in August 1945.
A Like Reply 1 hour ago 0 Like
F
snowleopard (cat folk gallery) 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand My grandfather fought in the Pacific part of the war, and I have talked to many veterans of the war who were in it actively or as POW's in the home islands of Japan.
Based on what they talked of, and what I have read personally; the fact is the President has only one of three realistic choices at hand:
A. Continue the full naval blockade of the islands; which may have worked eventually to strangle the Japanese government into surrender.
B. Physical invasion of the islands themselves, with prospects of upto 1 million casulties.
C. Use the bombs and possibly bring the war to a complete and utter ending with the utter shock value of two cities annhilated.
None was a good option to be chosen; and faced with them I feel he chose the least of the evils he faced in this matter. As I was not in his position, facing the dillema, I cannot honestly say which I would have chosen either.
A Like Reply
Ending war with overwhelming force is quickest path to peace
The Washington Times
Friday, August 5, 1945
This month marks the anniversary of the last time the United States unequivocally won a war.
Sixty-years ago on Saturday and Tuesday, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were flattened with atomic bombs, causing the Japanese to surrender and bringing an end to World War II.
Ugly as the atomic bombs may seem through the politically correct lens of today, in 1945, when President Truman ordered them dropped on those cities, the weapons broke Japan’s will to fight.
There is no doubt in my mind that dropping the atomic bombs was the right thing to do. The massive explosions saved both American and Japanese lives. Those of you historical second-guessers who condemn Truman’s decision to destroy those cities would have done what in August 1945?
Had Truman not ordered them deployed and instead commanded our military to invade Japan, it is estimated that upward of 1 million U.S. casualties would have been the result. Millions of Japanese would have been killed or wounded in an assault on Japan. Only a psychopath would advocate such a senseless slaughter.
Argue the moral imperatives of flattening Hiroshima and Nagasaki if you must, but it can’t be argued that flattening those cities didn’t save lives on both sides of the war. Saving lives is good, and sometimes saving lives involves killing people.
American Civil War Gen. William T. Sherman said, “War is hell.” President Truman knew this as well but also knew that unleashing the power of the atomic bombs would bring an end to World War II.
While no rational person supports nuclear war - or any war, for that matter, what I do support is when we commit U.S. troops to halt evil only when we have a plan to crush our enemies and bring the survivors to the peace table in the shortest amount of time.
We face new enemies today, many of whom belong to voodoo terror cells that will use any weapon or means to kill as many Americans as possible. Let us pray that we have a plan to kill every one of these voodoo maggots before they kill another American.
The history of mankind is one of warfare, not peace. You don’t have to like that, but you do have to admit it. Knowing that it is true, it is fundamentally devious to weaken our military as is proposed in the new Con Job Debt Reduction Agreement.
We need more smart bombs, more predator drones, more advanced intelligence equipment and assets, more special-operations teams and more improved tactics, more ammo, better night-vision equipment, more human-intelligence capabilities, more stealth and a never-ending commitment to kill the enemies of freedom and America under whatever rock they may try to hide. Kill ‘em all as quickly as possible. That’s the most effective deterrent there is. Petting or negotiating with rabid dogs is never wise. Shoot them in the head at least twice. Ammo is cheap.
America is a peaceful nation. However, America must always maintain U.S. Marine Corps Gen. James Mattis’ philosophy: “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” Perfect. If there were a Hall of Fame for butt-kickers, Gen. Mattis would be in it.
War is hell. What surely is an even worse hell is losing a war.
God bless the warriors of the U.S. military and their families. They deserve victory, and as we celebrate the greatest victory ever, let us hope we still know how to accomplish it.
© Copyright 2011 The Washington Times, MOONIE GROUP
COMMENTS
I'd like this column a whole lot better without the praise for the godless mass-murderer, William Tecumseh Sherman. Sherman is not a hero here.
This piece could have been written by a junior high kid attending a public school. Ol Hank
Any thing wrong with what was written? Yes. No one really wins a war. War is a failure of government, usually all governments involved to certain degrees. After a war is over, the warriors (never people like Ted!) are told that fighting is over, and the warriors after all the killing and suffering watch as deals are made and peace comes. And those warriors often ask, "Why in God's name didn't they do that before the killing and destruction?" Ted shows his utter ignorance about war and its costs with his stupid statement "ammo is cheap." Even that is incorrect. The defense industries are a group that has stripped this nation of much of its wealth by use of fear tactics. Ike said they would do this, and they did. No wonder Republicans talk more about a guy like Reagan and not so much about Ike. Ike served this nation just about as much as any American ever. If the so-called "greatest generation" had anyone to compare with George Washington, it was Ike. And Harry Truman was indeed a great man. Sort of like a John Adams, but not nearly so erudite. Ol Hank
A Like Reply 2 hours ago 1 Like F
Dave McGraw 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand The bombs were dropped to forestall a Russian invasion, and although it was a laudable goal, the ends did not justified the incinerated children. Nailing the imperial palace and grounds with a nuke to send the national "god" to oblivion would have been preferable.
A Like Reply 2 hours ago 1 Like F
kenwhite 3 comments collapsed Collapse Expand I'll second guess what Truman did in August, 1945. I would have notified the Japanese leadership that we (America) are going to demonstrate what will happen to your country if you don't immediately surrender. I would tell them when and where this demonstration would be (an unpopulated area as close to Japan as possible) and tell them how far they should be away from it to survive while making sure they're close enough to get the full effect of the blast. Then I would have dropped the bomb with the hope that they would now get the message that they must surrender. Only if they didn't understand would I consider dropping a nuclear bomb on Japan.
Shortly after the blast that leveled those cities, a person wandering around one of them saw what used to be an elementary school that was destroyed in the blast. All that was left were the front steps. Unbelievably, someone had lined the surviving children up on the steps so their parents could come for them. There they sat, their clothes burned into their skin, and every last one of them was screaming for their mommies. Later that day, the same observer retraced his steps and came upon the same school. There, lined up on the steps, were all the children he'd seen earlier, but they were all dead. They died in agony, scared beyond imagining and crying for their mommies.
As Nooge himself writes, "Only a psychopath would advocate such a senseless slaughter." Truman wasn't a psychopath, but he could have explored other options
A Like Reply 3 hours ago 1 Like F
kenwhite 2 comments collapsed Collapse Expand Meant to put a period at the end. By the way, General Eisenhower and plenty of other top tier Americans voiced their disgust at the dropping of the bombs. As he and others noted, Japan was about to surrender. Russia, too, was poised to invade Japan and there's no doubt that the bombs were dropped to also send them a message.
A Like Reply 3 hours ago in reply to kenwhite 1 Like F
rlhailssrpe 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand From my readings, I learned several facts which greatly impress me. All the major combatants knew of a possible fission bomb; a speculative design was presented in a Berlin conference prior to the war. It would have worked. Within a day after each bombing the Japanese high command understood what had hit them. Yet they unanimously voted to continue the war. The Emperor, for the first time in centuries, over ruled them. Japan had peace feelers out to Stalin, but neither side's power centers considered them as valid. Stalin entered the war when the bombs assured him of certain conquest. Truman wrote that Roosevelt kept him in the dark about the Manhattan Project, while he was the VP. Truman assumed the decision to use the new bomb had already been made by his predecessor, and judged he would have been impeached if he held back on a weapon while GIs died in combat. Eisenhower was ignorant of the bomb until it was used; he knew nothing of Japanese decision making. All sides resorted to unlimited warfare, killing civilians, after the London blitz. It is estimated that ~ 90% of all causalities in the war, were civilians.
A Like Reply 1 hour ago in reply to kenwhite 0 Like
F
sandblaster 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand More truth from the MotorCity Madman!
A Like Reply 5 hours ago 1 Like F
sandblaster 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand Boom. Boom. War over a few days later.
A Like Reply 20 minutes ago 0 Like
F
RGS_CA_USA 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand My father was in the second to last group of recruits to receive combat training at Camp Roberts
in the Monterey area of California. The subsequent groups received occupation training. If not for those bombs, I doubt that I or much of the Baby Boom would be here.
I have heard that the million casualty figure is considered conservative for the U.S. forces. As for the Japanese, considering the actions of civilians at Okinawa (women throwing their children off cliffs and then jumping themselves to prevent capture by the Guy Jin (I apologize if that's not spelt correctly.), men fighting to the death or committing Hari Kari.) I believe the Japanese casualties would have been horrific. Imagine fighting house to house in the cities of the major islands against this determined an enemy.
Remember, this is the same society whose members willingly and gladly allowed themselves to be trained to fly the equivelent of a wooden box with an engine, wings and a bomb just to have a chance to aim it at one of our capital ships. The same Society that produced jungle fighters that refused to give up for twenty plus years. A land invasion of the Japanese Islands would have been long, bloody and left both countries in shambles.
From what I learned over the years, the Japanese leadership was warned. Requests for a conditional and then unconditional surrender where transmitted before the first bomb and then after it. Prior to the bombs, the Japanese (depending upon which military/political group you're discussing) were not ready to surrender. In fact, at least one attempted to oust the Emporer and install a military leader during the bombing of Tokyo.
Lastly, Hank, the defense industry is more responsible for the wealth of this nation than almost any other. Advances in aviation, space flight, advanced materials (can we say kevlar, nomex, etc.?), trauma surgery, communications (including the internet which was partially funded by DARPA and was first deployed as the ARPA-NET) and a wide variety of others came from research sponsored by the DOD.
If we had not taken action to contain Japanese Imerialism and expansion (the blockade which lead to Japan attempting to oust us from the Pacific) many areas of the Pacific region would be speaking Japanese today. We were trying to negotiate with the Japanese in the late '30's and '40's. All that talk did was give the Japanese the time they needed to plan what could have been a dibilitating attack against Hawai'i. If not for a little luck (the Carrier Group's being at sea) and a little poor intelligence (the Japanese though we had so much oil it was not worth attacking our supplies on Oahu, when in fact if they had, we would have been set back by many more months or even years), the Japanese could have knocked us out of the Pacific War could have ended the day it began instead of in August 1945.
A Like Reply 1 hour ago 0 Like
F
snowleopard (cat folk gallery) 1 comment collapsed Collapse Expand My grandfather fought in the Pacific part of the war, and I have talked to many veterans of the war who were in it actively or as POW's in the home islands of Japan.
Based on what they talked of, and what I have read personally; the fact is the President has only one of three realistic choices at hand:
A. Continue the full naval blockade of the islands; which may have worked eventually to strangle the Japanese government into surrender.
B. Physical invasion of the islands themselves, with prospects of upto 1 million casulties.
C. Use the bombs and possibly bring the war to a complete and utter ending with the utter shock value of two cities annhilated.
None was a good option to be chosen; and faced with them I feel he chose the least of the evils he faced in this matter. As I was not in his position, facing the dillema, I cannot honestly say which I would have chosen either.
A Like Reply
王建民外公 公園自縊身亡
王建民外公 公園自縊身亡
【中央社╱台南31日電】 2011.07.31
台南市關廟區1名82歲 82 YEARS OLD 的黃 MR HUANG 姓老翁，今天清晨疑似在住家附近公園內的單槓自縊，被發現時已經死亡，家屬不知他為何想不開。黃姓老翁是旅美職棒選手王建民生母的父親。
警方指出，今天清晨5時許接獲民眾報案，指稱在關廟區一處公園內的單槓區有人自縊，警方與消防人員趕到時，發現老翁疑似以電線延長線綁在單槓上自縊，已無呼吸心跳。
警方查出死者是82歲的黃姓老翁，沒有留下遺書。家屬在警訊中指出，老翁平時有高血壓，昨天才由家屬帶到醫院看診，直到昨晚就寢前都沒有異狀，不知道為何想不開。
黃姓老翁的鄰居說，王建民出生後過繼給親伯父扶養，黃姓老翁名義上不是王建民的外公，但王建民每次回台灣，仍會到關廟探視老人家。黃姓老翁處事低調，從不主動提及與王建民的關係，但仍很關心王建民的表現。
全文網址: 王建民外公 公園自縊身亡 | 社會 | 即時新聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/BREAKINGNEWS/BREAKINGNEWS2/6497196.shtml#ixzz1UDgrtjow
Power By udn.com
The Wang Jianmin grandfather park hung oneself dies the Wang Jianmin grandfather park to hang oneself dies [Central News Agency ╱ Tainan on 31st] 2011.07.31
Taina guan's temple area 1 82 year old of 82 YEARS OLD yellow MR the HUANG surname old man, in the park high bar hangs oneself doubtful this morning nearby the house, was discovered when already died, the family member did not know why he can'tlook on the bright side of thing. The yellow surname old man is stays in US the Major League Baseball contestant Wang Jianmin birth mother's father. The police pointed out that this morning about 5:00 receives the populace to report, claimed in a guan's temple area park high bar area some people hang oneself, when the police and the fire fighters rush, discovered that the old man ties up doubtful by the electric wire production on the high bar hangs oneself, already non-breath palpitation. The police find out the dead are 82 year-old Huang Xing the old man, has not left behind the posthumous writings. The family member pointed out in the danger signal that the old man usually has hypertension, yesterday only then brought from the family member to the hospital to look examines, did not have the unusual form before last night sleeping, did not know why couldn't look on the bright side of thing. The yellow surname old man's neighbor said that after Wang Jianmin is born, adopts for kisses uncle to nurture, the yellow surname old man is not Wang Jianmin's grandfather in name, but Wang Jianmin each time returns to Taiwan, still will arrive at the guan's temple to visit the old person. The yellow surname old man handles matters the low key, ever not on own initiative mentions with Wang Jianmin's relations, but still very much cared about Wang Jianmin's performance.
【中央社╱台南31日電】 2011.07.31
台南市關廟區1名82歲 82 YEARS OLD 的黃 MR HUANG 姓老翁，今天清晨疑似在住家附近公園內的單槓自縊，被發現時已經死亡，家屬不知他為何想不開。黃姓老翁是旅美職棒選手王建民生母的父親。
警方指出，今天清晨5時許接獲民眾報案，指稱在關廟區一處公園內的單槓區有人自縊，警方與消防人員趕到時，發現老翁疑似以電線延長線綁在單槓上自縊，已無呼吸心跳。
警方查出死者是82歲的黃姓老翁，沒有留下遺書。家屬在警訊中指出，老翁平時有高血壓，昨天才由家屬帶到醫院看診，直到昨晚就寢前都沒有異狀，不知道為何想不開。
黃姓老翁的鄰居說，王建民出生後過繼給親伯父扶養，黃姓老翁名義上不是王建民的外公，但王建民每次回台灣，仍會到關廟探視老人家。黃姓老翁處事低調，從不主動提及與王建民的關係，但仍很關心王建民的表現。
全文網址: 王建民外公 公園自縊身亡 | 社會 | 即時新聞 | 聯合新聞網 http://udn.com/NEWS/BREAKINGNEWS/BREAKINGNEWS2/6497196.shtml#ixzz1UDgrtjow
Power By udn.com
The Wang Jianmin grandfather park hung oneself dies the Wang Jianmin grandfather park to hang oneself dies [Central News Agency ╱ Tainan on 31st] 2011.07.31
Taina guan's temple area 1 82 year old of 82 YEARS OLD yellow MR the HUANG surname old man, in the park high bar hangs oneself doubtful this morning nearby the house, was discovered when already died, the family member did not know why he can'tlook on the bright side of thing. The yellow surname old man is stays in US the Major League Baseball contestant Wang Jianmin birth mother's father. The police pointed out that this morning about 5:00 receives the populace to report, claimed in a guan's temple area park high bar area some people hang oneself, when the police and the fire fighters rush, discovered that the old man ties up doubtful by the electric wire production on the high bar hangs oneself, already non-breath palpitation. The police find out the dead are 82 year-old Huang Xing the old man, has not left behind the posthumous writings. The family member pointed out in the danger signal that the old man usually has hypertension, yesterday only then brought from the family member to the hospital to look examines, did not have the unusual form before last night sleeping, did not know why couldn't look on the bright side of thing. The yellow surname old man's neighbor said that after Wang Jianmin is born, adopts for kisses uncle to nurture, the yellow surname old man is not Wang Jianmin's grandfather in name, but Wang Jianmin each time returns to Taiwan, still will arrive at the guan's temple to visit the old person. The yellow surname old man handles matters the low key, ever not on own initiative mentions with Wang Jianmin's relations, but still very much cared about Wang Jianmin's performance.
Mr Wang goes to Washington, 'grandfather' in Taiwan has sad ending
America loves sports and America loves baseball, and Hollywood has
always mirrored our love for the game, from such films as "Bull
Durham" and "Field of Dreams" to
"Air Bud: Seventh Inning Stretch" and "The Rookie." Now comes news of
a baseball story with an
overseas twist, from Taiwan, and with a tragic arc as well.
The 82-year-old biological grandfather of Washington Nationals star
pitcher Chien-Ming Wang was found dead hanging from a tree in a local
neighborhood park in
Taiwan recently, according to police reports, and while there was no
suspect it was
a suicide, as foul play has been ruled out.
While the news hit all the
national newspapers in Wang's homeland of Taiwan, in both Chinese and English
editions, not one American
newspaper
or sports blog in Washington DC or Manhattan -- where Wang also
pitched for the Yankees -- has reported the sad family saga.
As readers know, Wang started playing baseball as a kid in the
fourth grade in Taiwan, and it was through baseball that he learned an
important part of his personal story, according to a 2006 story in the
New York Times.
"We were going out to a competition and needed our personal
documents,” Wang told the New York Times, explaining that meant
the names, relationships and birthdates of family members. “When I got
my documents, I learned who my biological parents were. My parents
didn’t tell me."
Wang found out then that his biological father was the man he knew as
his uncle, Ping-Yin Wang. Wang’s parents had no children of their own
and offered to raise him.
Fast forward now to August 2011 and this news item: "The biological
grandfather of Chien-Ming Wang
found hanging in Taiwan park; police suspect suicide."
News reports said in both Chinese and English media in Taiwan: ''An
elderly man who was found dead Sunday in the southern city of
Tainan has been identified as the biological grandfather of Taiwanese
baseball pitcher Chien-Ming Wang.''
A paperboy told police that around 5 a.m. last Sunday he had seen an
old man hanging
by the neck from an electric cord tied to a horizontal bar in a park.
The police later identified the body as that of an 82-year-old man
named Mr. Huang. No first name was given, as is often the case in
Taiwanese media stories
about family matters.
According to police, there was no suicide note and the old man's
surviving family said Mr. Huang did not show
any abnormal behavior before the incident. Mr. Huang was known to suffer
from high blood pressure.
He was the father of Wang's biological mother. Wang was adopted at
birth and raised by his uncle.
According to Huang's neighbors, he never boasted that he had a
grandson who played in the Major League but he did care a lot about
the 31-year-old baseball star.
The 19-game winner returned to the Major mound July 30 after a serious
shoulder injury that kept him out of competition for more than two
years.
Baseball pundits have expressed worry that the news of his
grandfather's death could pose a setback for the right-hander.
But so far, there has been no media coverage of this family matter
in American newspapers or sports channels.
However, given that "Wang was adopted at birth and raised by his
uncle," one can see why it's not rising to the level of a
coverage-worthy story in
the American sports media.
Said one top sports reporter on the East Coast, when contacted about
this story: :I intend to ask Wang Chien-Ming about his grandfather's
apparent or alleged suicide before I write a story for my newspaper,
if I do write it up at all."
Said a longtime baseball fan from Boston: "There is a good family
drama and human interest angle here that focuses on Wang's Taiwanese
roots and how much he is loved by his fans in Taiwan, and to make
sports heroes more humanized. Baseball is not all about winning games
or making oodles of money; there are family dramas often invovled,
too. Sports is not just a money making machine, there are real people
invovled with real family stories. This should make the news in
America, too. After all, Wang is now an American baseball star, too."
82-year-old biological grandfather of Washington Nationals star pitcher Chien-Ming Wang found dead at neighborhood park; suicide suspected, police say
WASHINGTON, DC -- Wang Chien-ming started playing baseball in the
fourth grade in Taiwan, as a pitcher, first baseman and outfielder. He
attended high school in Taipei. His home, Tainan, is in the south of
the island nation. It was through baseball that he learned an
important part of his personal story.
“We were going out to a competition and needed our personal
documents,” Wang once told the New York Times, explaining that meant
the names, relationships and birthdates of family members. “When I got
my documents, I learned who my biological parents were. My parents
didn’t tell me.”
Wang found out then that his biological father was the man he knew as
his uncle, Ping-Yin Wang. Wang’s parents had no children of their own
and offered to raise him. They later had a daughter, Hsiu-Wen Wang,
who is two years younger.
It must have been a startling revelation, but Wang betrayed no emotion
when talking about it.
“I didn’t feel anything in particular,” he said. “I felt it was all
right, like I had two fathers.”
If anything, Wang said, he became even more serious about succeeding
as a pitcher.
“I felt I had to work even harder in order to help two sets of
parents,” he said, adding later, “Most of my money I send home to let
my parents manage. The rest I use for living expenses in America.”
In the off-season, Wang and his wife, Chia-ling, live with the parents
who raised him. He loves his mother’s cooking, he said, but the
overriding reason is cultural.
His parents, who manufactured metal products like spoons and lunch
boxes, have been retired for about 15 years. In Taiwan, Wang
explained, it is customary for sons to stay at home and take care of
their parents. Long after learning his personal background, Wang
remains very close with the parents who raised him.
“In Taiwan there’s a saying: ‘Raising a child is more important than
giving birth. Raising a child is greater,’ ” Wang told Times reporter
TYLER KEPNER in 2006.
.
Fast forward to August 2011. The grandfather of Chien-Ming Wang
was found dead in a Taiwan park. Police suspect suicide.
News report: An elderly man who was found dead Sunday in the southern city of
Tainan has been identified as the biological grandfather of Taiwanese
baseball pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, police said.
A paperboy reported around 5 am Sunday that he had seen someone hanging
by the neck from an electric cord tied to a horizontal bar in a park
in Tainan's Guanmiao district.
When the emergency response team arrived on the scene, they found that
the man had no heartbeat and was not breathing, according to the
district police.
The police later identified the body as that of an 82-year-old man
surnamed Huang.
There was no suicide note and the Huang family said Huang did not show
any abnormal behavior before the incident. Huang was known to suffer
from high blood pressure.
He was the father of Wang's biological mother. Wang was adopted at
birth and raised by his uncle.
According to Huang's neighbors, he never boasted that he had a
grandson who played in the Major League but he did care a lot about
the 31-year-old baseball star.
The 19-game winner returned to the Major mound July 30 after a serious
shoulder injury that kept him out of competition for more than two
years.
Baseball pundits have expressed worry that the news of his
grandfather's death could pose a setback for the right-hander.
But so far, there has been ZERO media coverage of this family matter
in USA newspapers or sports channels.
fourth grade in Taiwan, as a pitcher, first baseman and outfielder. He
attended high school in Taipei. His home, Tainan, is in the south of
the island nation. It was through baseball that he learned an
important part of his personal story.
“We were going out to a competition and needed our personal
documents,” Wang once told the New York Times, explaining that meant
the names, relationships and birthdates of family members. “When I got
my documents, I learned who my biological parents were. My parents
didn’t tell me.”
Wang found out then that his biological father was the man he knew as
his uncle, Ping-Yin Wang. Wang’s parents had no children of their own
and offered to raise him. They later had a daughter, Hsiu-Wen Wang,
who is two years younger.
It must have been a startling revelation, but Wang betrayed no emotion
when talking about it.
“I didn’t feel anything in particular,” he said. “I felt it was all
right, like I had two fathers.”
If anything, Wang said, he became even more serious about succeeding
as a pitcher.
“I felt I had to work even harder in order to help two sets of
parents,” he said, adding later, “Most of my money I send home to let
my parents manage. The rest I use for living expenses in America.”
In the off-season, Wang and his wife, Chia-ling, live with the parents
who raised him. He loves his mother’s cooking, he said, but the
overriding reason is cultural.
His parents, who manufactured metal products like spoons and lunch
boxes, have been retired for about 15 years. In Taiwan, Wang
explained, it is customary for sons to stay at home and take care of
their parents. Long after learning his personal background, Wang
remains very close with the parents who raised him.
“In Taiwan there’s a saying: ‘Raising a child is more important than
giving birth. Raising a child is greater,’ ” Wang told Times reporter
TYLER KEPNER in 2006.
.
Fast forward to August 2011. The grandfather of Chien-Ming Wang
was found dead in a Taiwan park. Police suspect suicide.
News report: An elderly man who was found dead Sunday in the southern city of
Tainan has been identified as the biological grandfather of Taiwanese
baseball pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, police said.
A paperboy reported around 5 am Sunday that he had seen someone hanging
by the neck from an electric cord tied to a horizontal bar in a park
in Tainan's Guanmiao district.
When the emergency response team arrived on the scene, they found that
the man had no heartbeat and was not breathing, according to the
district police.
The police later identified the body as that of an 82-year-old man
surnamed Huang.
There was no suicide note and the Huang family said Huang did not show
any abnormal behavior before the incident. Huang was known to suffer
from high blood pressure.
He was the father of Wang's biological mother. Wang was adopted at
birth and raised by his uncle.
According to Huang's neighbors, he never boasted that he had a
grandson who played in the Major League but he did care a lot about
the 31-year-old baseball star.
The 19-game winner returned to the Major mound July 30 after a serious
shoulder injury that kept him out of competition for more than two
years.
Baseball pundits have expressed worry that the news of his
grandfather's death could pose a setback for the right-hander.
But so far, there has been ZERO media coverage of this family matter
in USA newspapers or sports channels.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)