Immigration.

I will always defend people’s right to protest, peacefully, anything they may not agree with; but I draw the line at stupidity.

I think it is totally ridiculous to sit back and protest the upcoming legislation on illegal immigration into the US, by running around waving the flag of Mexico. I am sorry, but the US is not a repository of jobs for whoever wants them, regardless of their citizenship.

There ARE legal ways to come into America; people do it on a daily basis. The time to stop coddling illegal immigrants has come.

Breaking the law is breaking the law, period.

This is not a statement of, “If you don’t like it, go back to your own country.” It is a statement of, “If you don’t like it, go back and re-enter in the legal way.”

In this day and age of terrorism, the government has a duty to keep track of people entering the country. And, they have a duty of protecting tax paying citizens.

The US government is not responsible for protecting the rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to Chinese citizens living in China, so why should it be responsible for Mexican citizens illegally in the US. And, forget the political correctness, Latino illegal immigrants is the major problem that the government is dealing with.

My grandmother came from England, my sister-in-law came from the Philippines, and one of my father’s best friends came from China… all legally.

I came to China, legally. While I am here, I must obey the tax laws and agreements between China and the US. I do not receive any welfare benefits from China, I do not receive any medical benefits. I sure as hell am not given an "illegal immagrant drivers license".

I must have my visa/passport to be able to:

Travel.
Work.
Check into a Hotel.
Rent a home.

I do not complain about this, it is the law of the land I chose to come to and work in.

China has strict laws for those who come into the country illegally. Guess what… I do not need to complain if they make those laws more stringent… I AM OBEYING THE LAW!

It is things like this that I know the politicians will cower under pressure to. It is things like this that really turn my stomach now, when viewing the insanity that can go on in America.

The legislation, in which they are considering, does nothing to hinder people from coming to America in a legal way. It simply turns the act of illegally entering the country as a felony, and is considering doing something that should have been done long ago… build more fences.

And, to those who say that Mexican immigrants take jobs that Americans do not want, I say “Bullshit”. They are given the jobs at a lower salary and without tax withheld, at a rate far below what the employers would have to pay a citizen. And, as far as I have seen, the US government has not wiped out poverty in the past 2 ½ years I have been gone.

If a company says it cannot afford to hire people, guess what… increase the sales price of the product. It’s simple economic development; supply and demand.

If I try to get on a plane illegally, I can get shot in the head… consider yourself lucky.

Baaaaddd Denmark.

After living here for a few years, I have come to see the huge amounts of insane “political correctness” that floods the “West”. It annoys the hell out of me, truly.

So, I will break with that tradition and say this…

THESE PEOPLE ARE FRIGGIN MORONS!

Yes, obviously, when I think “aggressor”, Denmark is the first country to pop into MY head…

Memories

Just remembering what I was going through before I came to China.


Linkin Park - "In The End" (It starts with)
One thing / I don’t know why
It doesn’t even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind / I designed this rhyme
To explain in due time
All I know
time is a valuable thing
Watch it fly by as the pendulum swings
Watch it count down to the end of the day
The clock ticks life away
It's so unreal
Didn’t look out below
Watch the time go right out the window
Trying to hold on / but didn’t even know
Wasted it all just to
Watch you go
I kept everything inside and even though I tried / it all fell apart
What it meant to me / will eventually / be a memory / of a time when I
I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn't even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn't even matter

One thing / I don’t know why
It doesn’t even matter how hard you try
Keep that in mind / I designed this rhyme
To remind myself how
I tried so hard
In spite of the way you were mocking me
Acting like I was part of your property
Remembering all the times you fought with me
I’m surprised it got so (far)
Things aren’t the way they were before
You wouldn’t even recognize me anymore
Not that you knew me back then
But it all comes back to me
In the end
You kept everything inside and even though I tried / it all fell apart
What it meant to me / will eventually / be a memory / of a time when I
I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter

I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There’s only one thing you should know
I've put my trust in you
Pushed as far as I can go
For all this
There’s only one thing you should know
I tried so hard
And got so far
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter
I had to fall
To lose it all
But in the end
It doesn’t even matter

Where are my spectacles?

Last night, right before bed, I received a message from one of my students:

“Though you are my teacher, I must say ‘I LOVE YOU!’”

Wow! That made me feel quite happy and young. It’s not often you get someone, half your age, to say something like that.

This morning, I woke up with a little more spring in my step, until…

I got this message:

“Sorry, I love you are like my father! I forgot to say that! Please forgive me!”

There’s nothing like feeling OLD on your birthday.

Day One...

March 19th 1969Before man landed on the moon…
Before there was Woodstock…
Before Watergate…
Before Sesame Street…
Before the home computer…

There was this…

What the hell were my parents thinking?

(37 years, and I still look the same way when I wake up in the morning.)

Ahhhhhh… relief.

Anyone who really knows me, knows that I am an avid coin collector. Since coming to China, I have slowed down a great deal in my habit of looking for coins. There are just far too many more adventures out there for me to spend my time looking for coins.

That does not mean I blindly pass over them when they are lying out in the antiques market; I just don’t go there specifically for coins.

The other day, I was passing one shop in the antiques market… a coin shop, but I made it a point of only going in there to look for non-Chinese coins. With the monstrous population of China, coins are as common as houseflies. But this man seems to get in some wonderful older foreign coins.

In my research of coins, I have learned many things about not only coins, but their countries history, culture, and much more.

One thing that I had read about (thanks to my father), was the history of silver and silver coinage in China.

During the Ming Dynasty, they stopped producing silver coins, which posed a problem when it came to a trade standard. To this day, you can see images of gold and silver Chinese “sycee” in China. Sycee are oval shaped “bars” that were used in trade. They would come in different sizes, and would actually have pieces snipped off to make change. The only major problem with them was the purity of the gold or silver, since there was no standard.

Foreign silver coins quickly became the standard for trading in China; so much so, that places like England and the US minted silver coins specifically called “Trade” Dollars/Pounds. This practice went on up until the late 19th, early 20th century. At the time, China did not have much in the area of silver mines, and 80% of the world’s silver was mined in South America.

Whenever someone in China would use these coins within China, the person accepting the coins in trade, would require that the customer “chop” or stamp these coins in order to prove it’s purity. Obviously, if a coin was used quite extensively, it would bear numerous “chop marks”.

The stamped markings could mean any number of things, the persons name, a wish, or a quote.

Since coming to China, I have seen several foreign silver coins, most are faked, but there are still quite a few real ones around. I have always kept an eye out for one that had been “chopped”, and I finally found one (1888 Mexican coin). It’s not a “Rare” find in the “coin world”, but I found it “at the source”. So, it will make another interesting addition to the thousands of coins I have back home.

I know… it sounds boring, but it made me quite happy. A nice little early birthday present for myself.

My Monkey Sister Is Leaving!

http://www.kyle.cn/sounds/pgstm.ram

Jay is getting ready to head to the big city of ShanHai on Wednesday; finally getting her independence in life.

A time for a change… The fun times may stop here, but we will have many more fun times in the future.

I love my “Monkey Sister”.
(Yes, she learned to wear her own hat and gloves on cold days, after I made her wear those.)

Morning thoughts.

After repeatedly waking up at 3:00 in the morning, just to go sit in the woods, one can look past the obvious differences between spring and winter, to appreciate the subtle differences.

The rotation of the earth brings on a lot of changes:

The sun is much larger in the sky, and the sunrise seems much brighter.
Where there was a void of colors, there are now brilliant greens reflecting off the new growth.
The cold is different; it’s a cold that you know will go away before mid-day.
The sounds of the woods have changed; the harsh calls of crows are now eclipsed by the light, high pitched chirps of returning songbirds.
Where there was once the smell of decaying leaves, the sweet smell of flowers wafts through the air.
Once frozen streams break the silence with their trickling.
Insects, that seemed to have disappeared, are now joyfully going about their daily routines.
Where condensation once turned to frost, it now settles in as dew, wetting everything that touches it.
The harsh crack of a twig on dry leaves, under your feet, now becomes a muffled pop.
The bleak silence of the winter woods is replaced by an endless sound of activity.
The winds come to remind you that it is still not yet summer.
The trees, full of new foliage, now sway in those breezes.
Echoes are now quieted by the curtain of foliage.
The scent of the spring spawn fills the air. (For those of you who have never fished, or spent time in the woods, yes… you can smell it.)
Your breathing becomes different, now that the air is filled with moisture. It is not more difficult, just different; there is no way to describe it.
Branches, which would have broken at your touch, now bend, filled with life.

This is what I woke up thinking about this morning.

I truly do miss the woods.

Bags, Equal Rights, and Stuff...

Yesterday, I was taking a walk with Jay, trying to lift her spirits. It is time for graduation across China; students are starting to head out into the “real world”. Many westerners will not understand the true complexity of this situation, or how much different it is here in China.

In most western societies, a feeling of individuality and independence is fostered from an early age. This is not the case in China. Again, please toss off those ideas of “good/bad” and “wrong/right”.

The youth of China are responsible for their elders, not only culturally but legally; and their elders are responsible for their children. The interdependency between parents and children is quite strong.

Leaving home and getting a job is the first taste of independence they will have, and even then, they must take into consideration the responsibilities they have to their parents.

This can be overwhelming to many Chinese students. Imagine what thoughts are brought to mind for a Chinese student at the idea of failure; they are not only failing themselves, which is an easy thing to handle, but they have the added weight of failing their parents. The student is not only worried about their future, but their parent’s future as well. These are things that westerners worry about much later in life, not at 23.

Anyway…

Jay needed a long backpack, and was having trouble finding one in town. I think I was the only person in town who knew where one was… and it was the ONLY one. (Once you see it, you will realize why I noticed it. And, my best friend David will cry when he sees the price I paid.)

It was a Fieldline® Avalanche backpack. I don’t know how this little store came about having it, but it was the real deal, all 2,980 cubic inches.

I picked it up for 185元 or about $23.00.

Needless to say, I think she was happy with it. Camouflage seems to be a stylish thing here, and the nice cammo patterns are pricy.

Anyway… =)

While we were walking, she said something to me:

“Did you know that when a woman marries a Chinese soldier, if she wants to divorce him and he does not want a divorce, they will not get a divorce? But, if he wants a divorce, and she does not, he can still divorce her? And, if she has a lover, and he is found out, the lover will go to jail? That does not seem fair.”

I pondered it for a moment and replied, “Well, what if the soldier is a woman? If she wants a divorce, and the man does not, will she get a divorce?”

Jay said, “Yes.”

I continued… “And, if HE wants a divorce and she does not, they will not get a divorce?”

Jay said, “Right.”

I continued further… “And, what if HE has a lover, and she is discovered, will his lover go to jail?”

Jay said, “Yes.”

I looked at her, without cracking a smile, and said, “Ahh, see? Equal rights.”

Jay said, “Yes… um… err… SHUT UP!”

It was so fun watching those wheels spin. HAHAHA

It’s that time again.

Time for the annual meeting of the National Peoples Congress.

Before I begin, there is something that I have mentioned many times before, which I want to make clear. “Freedom” is a subjective term; open to many forms of interpretation. What one country may give up in freedom, they may gain in other freedoms; and the vice-verse. It all comes down to how a culture views which freedom is more important to them.

A classic example of this is “Freedom of the press”, which is fundamental in the US. But, with that freedom, some things have arisen that have caused a loss of freedom for many. I firmly believe that the extensive, in-depth coverage of people harming children has caused more damage than good. Knowing the lurid details of the crime will only foster those tendencies in some people, bringing on more. China has 1.3 billion people, yet I see children playing alone, in groups, riding bikes, and having fun without constant supervision from their parents. That being said, I am sure that those things do happen in China, and I am not saying freedom of the press is bad; it is an integral part of the US culture.

When it comes to basic freedoms, it is hard to explain to people about the freedoms that a democracy can bring you.

I tell my students, when discussing differences between China and the US, there is no “right/wrong”, no “good/bad”, only differences. This is true for most everything; but when you take into consideration the basic “self evident” freedom of representation, one cannot help but judge, especially when the people have no say in such matters.

Again, this is a subject in which I truly feel for the people of China. They are the same as I am; they are hard working, they have the same feelings… Do they not deserve the same fundamental freedoms that a democracy holds dear?

"If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?" – William Shakespeare

This is not a difference between “Democrats” and “Republicans”, this is not an issue of “Liberalism” over “Conservatives”; this goes way beyond that. Those differences seem trivial when taking into consideration the vast differences between a Democracy and an Oligarchy. And, yes, no matter how you slice it, China is an Oligarchy. It is not “Communist”, it is not “Socialist”, it is run by an elite few, who procure their positions by who they know, how much money they may have, and how the Party might like them.

ol·i·gar·chy
n. pl. ol·i·gar·chies
1.

a. Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.
b. Those making up such a government.

2. A state governed by a few persons.

It is easy for someone in the US to say, “Oh, the same is true in America.” But this is just not the case. When it comes to the issue of a voice in the government, people in the US sometimes have no idea how much of a voice they truly have.

Do you know, in England, the hereditary membership in the House of Lords was only abolished in 1999? People in the US have had a voice in their government since its foundation.

Today, in China, nearly 3,000 “representatives” will meet in the NPC. As I mentioned someplace else, earlier today, I cannot find three people who can decide on what to eat for dinner, but the NPC has 3,000 people who unanimously agree on a constant basis, on legislation that they have not even been a part of writing. It is, in no uncertain terms, a “rubber stamp” congress, used to “legitimize” the will of the party elite. I am NOT saying that their will is BAD.

Obviously, there are perks to being a member of the party, anyone will tell you that. Many of my students believe it is more important to be a party member than it is to study, to get a job after graduation.

In the US, there is no “membership” to a party, you don’t pay dues, there is no “list”; it is simply an ideology that you may agree with. There is no retirement plan, health care package, or financial gain in being a “Democrat” or a “Republican”, but there are in the Communist Party. Anyone, even the politicians, will tell you there is more of a financial gain in the private sector in the US, than being in the government. I made far more than a US state senator, by the time I was 30, and that was also getting close to the same salary as a US Congressperson. (Forget the local government, I could work at a KFC and make more than a local government official in the US.)

This is not to say that party members are bad people. I am not saying that at all. But, here in China, your social status does change with party membership. How can you represent a group of people, when your own status has brought you to a position that may be above them? How do you know their will?

But, what about those who do not wish to be in the party? What about those who can’t afford to be in the party? What about the hundreds of millions of people who are not in the party?

When someone joins the party, they have to study the ideology of the party, and they are tested on those ideas. What about those who do not share the views of the party? What makes it criminal to think that there MIGHT be a better way to do something?

Party membership should not be the deciding factor of your social status… being a citizen of China should be the determining factor.

To go back to the Shakespeare quote… if you prick a Chinese person, do they not bleed? The benefits of being a Chinese citizen should be held higher than the benefits of party membership.

Since long before the first dynasty in China, rulers have been discussing the subject of the peasantry; why is it still a topic at the 2006 meeting of the CNPC?

I am NOT saying that party members do not care.
I am NOT saying that the government does not care.

I am saying that they do not understand. They have become too far disassociated with the citizens of China, that they have become useless in their actions.

I am going to group two people together, which will irritate some Chinese, but I am only grouping them together for one point, I am NOT saying their goals or ideology’s were the same. Please, take this into consideration.

Look at Pu Yi: He had full power, but was so far disassociated from the people. Then, he lost that power. He knew no other way of life, than to be in power. I firmly believe that his thought process rationalized his activities with the Japanese, as being a way to get back to being an “Emperor” so that he could “help the people”, in his own mind. His limited knowledge of the plight of the Chinese people was shown by his actions.

But, how did he eventually lose that thought process? He was forced to see life as a normal citizen, dying as a gardener in BeiJing.

Look at Mao (in his final days): He sat up at Zhong Nan Hai for so long, that he had swimming pools and dance floors installed. Even after appointing a successor, he was still under the impression that it was he who knew what was best for the people. Anyone who did not share his views was vilified: Zhou EnLai, Deng XiaoPing, several other leaders, and even the person he chose as his successor, Lin Biao. Mao’s political history is FILLED with people who were close friends, then sent off for “rehabilitation” after they viewed things differently than Mao. His political power only ended with his death. And, even then, his death was not as the rest of the citizens of China, he can still be seen today, preserved, under glass.

The saddest part about this is that you have a template to go by in seeing what will happen to the Chinese political system… The Soviets.

The Soviets, in the last decades of its existence, tried to put forward the same old ideas that it had been fostering for generations. The only problem was that the hard liners were getting older. After Brezhnev died, it seemed like they went through a leader every few weeks, until they realized they had to put in someone who was not going to die within a week… Gorbachev. And, only then did development come to the Russian people.

One Soviet leader once made the statement that, even if there were two parties in the U.S.S.R, the people would still only vote for the Communist Party. Guess what, he was wrong, dead wrong. With those words, he showed is ignorance of the will of the people.

Today’s Communist party of China is getting younger. I do see the thoughts of change in the actions of Hu JinTao and Wen JiaoBao, but often times, you can still see the will of the old party line showing through.

The will of the people can only be seen through their voices, and their voices can only be truly seen when they select who leads them and who represents them.

The people do not even have the freedom to publicly criticize their representatives. How can those representatives know the peoples will, when they won’t let them speak their minds? The truth is they can’t.

Recently, the China Daily reported on the opening of a blog for law-makers and political advisors. In it, the report stated the following:

“Zhou Hongyu, a deputy to China's lawmaking National People's Congress (NPC), said Friday he felt something special about this year's NPC session, scheduled to open Sunday.

A blog site has been opened for him and other NPC deputies a week before the session, grouped under the title of "deputies' blogs."

"With this blog, I'll be better able to hear voices from the general public and learn about their lives. It will help me fulfill my duties as an NPC deputy," Zhou, a vocal proponent of educational reform, writes in the opening remarks on his personal blog.”

It is 2006, and this is new… It is a step in the right direction, I hope to see more.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to...

Every time I start that sentence, I can’t help but quote Lloyd Bridges, from the movie Airplane, and say, “Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue.” Too funny.

Anyway…

I DID pick the wrong week to quit wearing my thermals. It had been getting warmer, but not “warm”, so I thought I would try to go without them.

Yesterday, the wind picked up, and it got COLD. Worst thing is, not only did I decide to stop wearing my thermals, but the school decided in its infinite wisdom, to turn the heat off. I woke up in the middle of the night with my “bits and pieces” freezing off. I could not find the remote to the heater that I have in my room. And, NO, I am not that lazy, it will ONLY work with a remote.

Just two days ago, they started to hand out new bedding for the foreign teachers. Only problem is, I never had any “old” bedding, after it was lost in the move. I turned down their offer for the new stuff, because the heat that the school supplies in the rooms requires that we leave the window open most of the day. It would have been nice to have last night.

One of the good things about moving to the commercial college is that all of my classes are being held in nice new computer labs. This means, that during the upcoming hot days, I HAVE AIR CONDITIONING IN THE CLASSROOM!!!!

That’s another thing I have missed, climate controlled buildings.

HOLY CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just noticed it’s SNOWING outside. Seriously ironic.

Yep… looks like I picked the wrong week.

(Update - This is the heaviest snowfall I have seen in JinZhou.)

AHHHH!!!!

http://www.kyle.cn/sounds/hrps.ram
Jimmy died!

(Jack Wild as "Jimmy" & H.R. Pufnstuf)

First Barney, now Jimmy... what next??? BIG BIRD?

Ponderance.

Early this morning, I got up and went to the school store to get myself something to eat. I say “early”, it was about 7:40, and I was not sure if the dining hall would have anything left to eat. (I found out yesterday, they make a mean potato salad type dish.)

I had not been feeling well, and for some reason I was extremely hot. (Not sure how that factors into the story, but I thought I would mention it.)

I have a “relationship” with the people at the school supermarket. I’m always teasing the cashiers, talking with the stock boys/girls, or joking with the managers. The strange thing is they have two sets of twins as cashiers; it can be quite confusing and amusing at times. It’s always fun to see the students react in dismay when they see me flick someone’s pony-tail or bend the register screen so they can’t read it.

Being silly is a way to make me more “human” to the students. I don’t mean that in a bad way, it is just that being a foreigner in a place were there are so very few, students seem to think of us more as a curiosity. When I speak Chinese to the cashiers or “play” with them, and students see it, you can tell by the look in their eyes that I have broken some barrier that they have created for me. Many times, this will bring on conversations with students that would never happen otherwise. Not that this was my intention, just an observed reaction.

I had purchased my daily allotment of yogurt and drinks, teased the cashiers, and headed back to my room.

The morning was a really nice one; not very cold, but clear blue skies and lots of sunshine. As I waded through hundreds of students, a thought struck me… “What am I doing here?” For some reason, I could not stop laughing. I wasn’t thinking that in a negative way at all, quite the opposite. I thought about what weird twists and turns in life had put me in the middle of northeast China.

Three years ago, it was the furthest thing from my mind, literally. I think it was somewhere back there with the thought of having dinner at Chuck-E-Cheese with my wife (The Queen of England) and our friends Elvis and Jimmy Hoffa.

The idea of traveling to the US is a common thought for many students here, but the reverse is not true for mine and previous generations of Americans. Not that Americans don’t/haven’t thought about traveling to China, but they do it more on a “vacation in BeiJing” sort of way.

I think the Cold War had a lot to do with that, at least from the perspective of mine, and previous generations of Americans. I still had preconceived images of the “Communist Block”, from years of propaganda. (Look, it exists on both sides.)

I know many people still feel the same way today. That is sort of why I write as much as I do.

As I recently explained to my new friend David Guan, even when I have a complaint, within those complaints, “westerners” can still see the fact that China is not what we were lead to believe. Ok, so my internet costs more… They HAVE the internet.

So, I try to dispel images like this:

But, I still believe that images like this are justifiable: