Sunday, August 31, 2014
NOTHING WAS DELIVERED - THE BYRDS
ENJOY SOME VERY FAMOUS PIECE OF MUSIC HERE............................pERFECT MATCH FOR TODAYS HEADLINES.................
Decision was made on UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE - no surprise at all !
Decision to nominate 2 - 3 candidates (Beijing happy ones). They can be elected by all HKG eligible voters. Now some gatherings in Central want to PROTEST. Lets see. Beijings decision was very clear & not a surprise at all.
So then what will HAPPEN today in Central ?
Finally today there will be announcements from the China government how the CE election in 2017 will be handled. Be aware there will be NO SURPRISE. It will be exactly as it is written in the BASIC LAW. Will it then come to OCCUPY CENTRAL ? Worst case YES - but it will not help at all. OCCUPY CENTRAL will only bring damage to Hong Kong as a city & to Hong Kong people.
Please read here an article from this morning SCMP 31.08.2014:
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Please read here an article from this morning SCMP 31.08.2014:
Hong Kong poised for political showdown on 2017 election; Jimmy Lai to join Occupy
With Beijing set to impose 2017 election limits, Jimmy Lai says he will join Occupy Central
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 31 August, 2014, 4:40am
UPDATED : Sunday, 31 August, 2014, 8:53am
Barricades placed outside government offices in Central in preparation for the planned Occupy protests. Photo: Felix Wong
With Beijing expected to confirm a tough framework today for the 2017 chief executive election, both sides of the political divide have stepped up the rhetoric.
The decision to limit the number of candidates who can stand is likely to trigger a showdown with Occupy Central campaigners - and there was an added twist to the saga yesterday when media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying said he would join the civil disobedience movement.
A former top Beijing official on the city's affairs warned that Occupy Central would end in bloodshed if its organisers refused to back down.
Chen Zuoer, former deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, also suggested in an RTHK interview that the movement was being "manipulated by Western countries to overthrow a regime", and that Beijing "would not tolerate such action".
But Occupy Central founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting emphasised that his campaign was not meant to challenge Beijing's sovereignty. "We are just seeking a fair electoral system, so that everyone can exercise their political rights," he said.
Eric Cheung Tat-ming, Benny Tai Yiu-ting and economics professor Sung Yun-wing on radio. Photo: David Wong
The National People's Congress Standing Committee is expected to endorse a decision today that only two or three candidates - who have secured half of a 1,200-strong nominating committee's support - will be allowed to stand in 2017, when Hong Kong picks its first chief executive by universal suffrage.
Pan-democrats say the framework would deprive people of a genuine choice of candidates. The Occupy Central campaign plans to hold a rally outside government headquarters today to announce its next move.
Lai - whose home was searched by graft-busters on Thursday over accusations that some lawmakers had accepted advantages after leaked emails exposed his donations to pan-democrats - confirmed in an RTHK interview that he would take part in Occupy and continue to donate to pan-democrats.
"I will participate in Occupy Central, lie on the street together and go to jail together [with other protesters]," he said, while dismissing suggestions that his donations were related to foreign powers.
On the opposite side, the Small and Medium Law Firms Association of Hong Kong, a group led by Maggie Chan Man-ki of the Beijing-friendly Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, will launch a hotline tomorrow to offer free legal advice "for citizens affected by Occupy Central".
During his RTHK interview, Chen pointed to the conflicts in Libya and Ukraine in accusing Western countries of promoting Occupy Central.
"[In Libya and Ukraine,] some people persuaded specially trained citizens to take part in the civil disobedience movement, in a bid to create bloodshed," Chen said. "And when the government takes enforcement action, the masterminds take the moral high ground to condemn the governments and overthrow them."
When asked whether the People's Liberation Army's local garrison would be mobilised in the event of a large-scale sit-in in the financial hub, he replied: "Beijing would not sit there and ignore such a situation".
But Chen also said he believed Hong Kong police could handle the matter.
Speaking at a media gathering in Beijing, NPC deputy Dr David Wong Yau-kar said Occupy Central would not sway Beijing.
"Universal suffrage means a lot to Hong Kong, and we should welcome it happily," he said. "As time goes on, I think more people would want to have a vote" rather than to have a failed reform.
He lamented that the debate on political reform in the past year had highlighted key "fundamental issues" that had not been discussed rationally.
On Beijing officials' earlier warning about the relationship between democracy and national security, Wong said: "In a sense, it was quite naive for the pan-democrats to ask 'what does universal suffrage have to do with national security?'"
He said that if a pan-democrat became the city's leader, he could face a "dilemma" if someone organised a religious forum in town and decided to invite the Dalai Lama. Beijing would also be concerned about what such a chief executive could do with all the public resources and sensitive information at his fingertips, he suggested.
Wong said: "As long as pan-democrats call for things such as 'ending one-party dictatorship', it is unlikely that Beijing would allow them to run", as it was written in the national constitution that China shall be led by the Communist Party.
And if the pan-democrats were to rule Hong Kong, they should start grooming leaders who only focus on local issues and are not critical of the central government, Wong said.
He lamented that given their experience and standing, pan-democrats - especially the moderates - did not dare to say "no" and allowed radicals and student activists to tell them what to do.
More on this story
The decision to limit the number of candidates who can stand is likely to trigger a showdown with Occupy Central campaigners - and there was an added twist to the saga yesterday when media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying said he would join the civil disobedience movement.
A former top Beijing official on the city's affairs warned that Occupy Central would end in bloodshed if its organisers refused to back down.
Chen Zuoer, former deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, also suggested in an RTHK interview that the movement was being "manipulated by Western countries to overthrow a regime", and that Beijing "would not tolerate such action".
But Occupy Central founder Benny Tai Yiu-ting emphasised that his campaign was not meant to challenge Beijing's sovereignty. "We are just seeking a fair electoral system, so that everyone can exercise their political rights," he said.
Eric Cheung Tat-ming, Benny Tai Yiu-ting and economics professor Sung Yun-wing on radio. Photo: David WongThe National People's Congress Standing Committee is expected to endorse a decision today that only two or three candidates - who have secured half of a 1,200-strong nominating committee's support - will be allowed to stand in 2017, when Hong Kong picks its first chief executive by universal suffrage.
Pan-democrats say the framework would deprive people of a genuine choice of candidates. The Occupy Central campaign plans to hold a rally outside government headquarters today to announce its next move.
Lai - whose home was searched by graft-busters on Thursday over accusations that some lawmakers had accepted advantages after leaked emails exposed his donations to pan-democrats - confirmed in an RTHK interview that he would take part in Occupy and continue to donate to pan-democrats.
"I will participate in Occupy Central, lie on the street together and go to jail together [with other protesters]," he said, while dismissing suggestions that his donations were related to foreign powers.
On the opposite side, the Small and Medium Law Firms Association of Hong Kong, a group led by Maggie Chan Man-ki of the Beijing-friendly Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, will launch a hotline tomorrow to offer free legal advice "for citizens affected by Occupy Central".
During his RTHK interview, Chen pointed to the conflicts in Libya and Ukraine in accusing Western countries of promoting Occupy Central.
"[In Libya and Ukraine,] some people persuaded specially trained citizens to take part in the civil disobedience movement, in a bid to create bloodshed," Chen said. "And when the government takes enforcement action, the masterminds take the moral high ground to condemn the governments and overthrow them."
When asked whether the People's Liberation Army's local garrison would be mobilised in the event of a large-scale sit-in in the financial hub, he replied: "Beijing would not sit there and ignore such a situation".
But Chen also said he believed Hong Kong police could handle the matter.
Speaking at a media gathering in Beijing, NPC deputy Dr David Wong Yau-kar said Occupy Central would not sway Beijing.
"Universal suffrage means a lot to Hong Kong, and we should welcome it happily," he said. "As time goes on, I think more people would want to have a vote" rather than to have a failed reform.
He lamented that the debate on political reform in the past year had highlighted key "fundamental issues" that had not been discussed rationally.
On Beijing officials' earlier warning about the relationship between democracy and national security, Wong said: "In a sense, it was quite naive for the pan-democrats to ask 'what does universal suffrage have to do with national security?'"
He said that if a pan-democrat became the city's leader, he could face a "dilemma" if someone organised a religious forum in town and decided to invite the Dalai Lama. Beijing would also be concerned about what such a chief executive could do with all the public resources and sensitive information at his fingertips, he suggested.
Wong said: "As long as pan-democrats call for things such as 'ending one-party dictatorship', it is unlikely that Beijing would allow them to run", as it was written in the national constitution that China shall be led by the Communist Party.
And if the pan-democrats were to rule Hong Kong, they should start grooming leaders who only focus on local issues and are not critical of the central government, Wong said.
He lamented that given their experience and standing, pan-democrats - especially the moderates - did not dare to say "no" and allowed radicals and student activists to tell them what to do.
This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Hong Kong poised for political showdown
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Comments
****** Aug 31st 2014
11:52am
11:52am
While being born in Hong Kong is truly a privilege, bestowing our pure intentions towards Hong Kong's progress is a blessing. In this context, when we reflect upon universal suffrage, we should first of all carefully understand that Beijing has the best and fair interests of Hong Kong and its people at heart always.
Universal suffrage refers to embracing our values that inspire practice of righteousness in all that we think, do and express consistently. Righteousness refers to practicing the moral values of our lives. Our Parents, Families, Relatives, Friends and our Proud Community embraces the characteristics of being called Asia's World City; let us all strive towards upholding and contributing towards this vision earnestly.
Hong Kong is the land of promises which means each and every one of us in Hong Kong is/are a promise to Hong Kong and China as well; and being promissories, let us honor this virtuous privilege characteristically. Remember that the world is watching and more than the admirable gaze of the world it is our own consciousness that is witnessing whether we are being true to our calling and purpose of life which always inspires us to living our divine essence which embodies the practices of peaceful co habitation respectfully with one another without causing any civil disobedience or hindering one another's safety and well being please, God bless.
Universal suffrage refers to embracing our values that inspire practice of righteousness in all that we think, do and express consistently. Righteousness refers to practicing the moral values of our lives. Our Parents, Families, Relatives, Friends and our Proud Community embraces the characteristics of being called Asia's World City; let us all strive towards upholding and contributing towards this vision earnestly.
Hong Kong is the land of promises which means each and every one of us in Hong Kong is/are a promise to Hong Kong and China as well; and being promissories, let us honor this virtuous privilege characteristically. Remember that the world is watching and more than the admirable gaze of the world it is our own consciousness that is witnessing whether we are being true to our calling and purpose of life which always inspires us to living our divine essence which embodies the practices of peaceful co habitation respectfully with one another without causing any civil disobedience or hindering one another's safety and well being please, God bless.
tinborhui Aug 31st 2014
11:46am
11:46am
Wong is right that universal suffrage is desired by Hong Kong. It is unfortunate that Beijing is not offering it. Rather they seem set to offer a manipulated election under the pretense of universal suffrage.
norodnik Aug 31st 2014
11:39am
11:39am
RTHK Radio just announced the Chen Zuo'er said that if OC doesn't back down "there will be blood"...SCMP follow through with this. It's an outrageous statement...and they've compared OC with Libya and Ukraine. If they really think so then they really have no comprehension of reality.
We could use their logic to say that the CCP is the soft p-o-r-n version of North Korea...and you wouldn't be wrong....
We could use their logic to say that the CCP is the soft p-o-r-n version of North Korea...and you wouldn't be wrong....
taleni8 Aug 31st 2014
11:24am
11:24am
It only hurts more if you struggle and resist. Just lie there and think of England.
ejmciii Aug 31st 2014
10:42am
10:42am
Witness the death of one nation, two systems. RIP hopes and dreams that the Communists would honor their agreements as to autonomy. Threats of the PLA marching into central must make the Beijing tools happy. Soon their masters will come home to set things right. The death of HK as a financial center comes not from Occupy Central but from the tyrants in Beijing who will not tolerate dissent from their edicts. Communists rule and citizens take their orders like good boys and girls. These omens portend an ill wind coming from China and likely soon.
the sun also rises Aug 31st 2014
10:18am
10:18am
It looks our democrat-****-tycoon Mr.Jimmy Lai is a person of action , not just words for democracy in his media: the Apple Daily ( a popular local paper) and Next Magazine ( a popular local weekly which subscribers not fewer than 25,000 !) plus donations( totally HK$40 millions in the past two years ) to local democratic camp members. Recently, in the so-called 'Anti-Occupy Central' campaign, the local leftists /pro-Beijing elements accused our pro-non-violent civil-disobedience :'Occupy Central' organisers of letting other people's adult children going to be killed /jailed but never theirs ! Now Jimmy himself publicly declared he would take part in the 'Occupy Central' campaign and got ready to be jailed---a strong retort towards those loyal slave-servants in town indeed ! Shame on these slave-servants who ask Hongkongers to be loyal and obedient people of a corrupted autocratic ruling regime ! Shame on them indeed !
Kailim Aug 31st 2014
9:22am
9:22am
We don't have to come to this. Why not build another democracy of Chinese people along with Taiwan, the only condition is forsaking anti-Beijing stance.
By the way, Central is nothing related to democracy and is our business hub. It is meant livelihood to many people, not just tycoons. Don't ruin it.
By the way, Central is nothing related to democracy and is our business hub. It is meant livelihood to many people, not just tycoons. Don't ruin it.
Flypaper Aug 31st 2014
10:17am
10:17am
@kailim, there's nothing "anti-Beijing" about it. What we want is simply for Beijing to keep its promise: Hong Kong ruled by Hong Kongers. That means enabling what is already our civil right under international and Hong Kong law of permanent residents being allowed to vote and stand in HK elections. Why won't you support this very simple call?
Pages
WHEN DYLAN WAS MEETING THE BEATLES...........NOTHING TO DO W CHINA OR HONG KONG
BESIDES TROUBLE COMING TO HKG TOMORROW - PLEASE SEE HERE - NICE ONE HERE:
When Dylan met the Beatles – history in a handshake?
Fifty years ago this week the Beatles and Bob Dylan got together to share a few joints – and the world of music was never the same again. Or so the story goes. But does pop culture really work like that?
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Kicking down the doors of perception … Bob Dylan and the Beatles. Photograph: Getty
Just as a stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, the 50th anniversary of a major Beatle-related happening comes around every other week in 2014. Friday marks one of the bigger half-century landmarks, and the birth of a way of looking at rock music that just won't go away. On Friday 28 August 1964, in a room in the Delmonico hotel at Park Avenue and 59th in New York City – at a rendezvous brokered with a keen eye to a story by journalist, mutual friend and assiduous self-publicist Al Aronowitz – the Beatles encountered Bob Dylan for the first time.
Here the folk-singing scarecrow-prophet introduced the excitable Scousers to marijuana for (allegedly) the first time. Ringo Starr, the first to be offered a smoke and ignorant of dope etiquette, chugged through that first joint like a stevedore attacking his first Woodbine of the morning and collapsed in a giggling mess. Brian Epstein became so stoned he could only squeak,"I'm so high I'm up on the ceiling." Paul McCartney believed he'd attained true mental clarity for the first time in his life and instructed Beatles roadie and major-domo Mal Evans to write down everything he said henceforth. Dylan, meanwhile, lost his cool and began answering the hotel phone by shouting, "This is Beatlemania here!" Otherwise they drank wine and acted the goat, like bands do.
The post-game analysis was that, the doors of their perception not so much cleansed as kicked to matchwood and burnt, the Beatles then left behind childish things and set out on the road to enlightenment, serious artistry and self-expression at all costs. Exposed to the Beatles, Dylan would go on to create folk-rock and import the social conscience of traditional American music into the rock arena, thereby providing the counterculture with its national anthems.
Never ones to undersell their achievements, baby boomers subsequently promoted this fairly shambolic Beatles-Dylan hangout as a decisive summit, a defining event of rock culture. "Until the advent of rap, pop music remained largely derivative of that night at the Delmonico," Aronowitz would later proclaim. (Goodnight, soul, funk and disco; back in your box, James Brown and Kraftwerk.) "That meeting didn't just change pop music – it changed the times."
The truth, inevitably, is more prosaic. "The meeting was a game-changer," says Mark Ellen, co-founder of Mojo and Q magazines, "but it wasn't the instant dramatic meeting of superpowers that people imagine." The two parties had already regarded one another with envy long before they met. The Beatles were becoming tired of screaming teenage fans and life as a group, just as Dylan was becoming enamoured of exactly those things. "At the Delmonico," says Ellen, "they were passing one another at a time when each of them would quite liked to have been the other one."
Afterwards, the Beatles began to mine their own interior lives for personal, self-examining songs like Michelle and Yesterday. Dylan made 1965's Bringing It All Back Home album, half of which featured a rattling full electric-rock group, to the horror of the turtleneck crowd. "These changes were probably going to happen anyway," Ellen argues. "And the Beatles and Dylan were eventually going to meet because they had to meet, just as the Beatles had to meet Elvis eventually. They were the biggest things on the planet at the time."
David Bowie and Iggy Pop Photograph: Jan Persson/Redferns Yet the idea of an ultimate turning point, a fork in the woods, a Zarathustra moment where everything changes, persists. It plays to the pop fan's weakness for a version of the "great man" theory of history – the notion that everything depends on this one decision or that single conjunction – and connects to the lure of the counterfactual. (What if Kurt Cobain had lived?) If the Beatles and Dylan stories are modern myths, then the Delmonico hotel meeting becomes that most modern and meta of all pop events, a crossover episode. It's Sherlock meets the X-Men, it's England meets America, it's Dylan's adopted dustbowl past meeting the Beatles' democratised hyper-pop future, one side nourishing the other. You can see where this sort of thinking leads a person.
In which case, maybe it's sad that pretty much every fateful encounter in music turns out not to be quite so singular after all. Take, for instance, the case of Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. They first run into one another on the platform at Dartford station in October 1961. Mick is carrying a clutch of rare blues records, Keith a hollow-bodied Hofner cutaway guitar. They recognise kindred spirits, fall to talking about music and within a year have formed the Rolling Stones. A prime Sliding Doors moment, you'd think.
Except that they already knew each other from primary school. And the London blues scene that gave birth to the Stones was such a small one that, even separately, Richards and Jagger would surely have gravitated to Alexis Korner's Ealing jazz club and therefore Charlie Watts, Ian Stewart and finally Brian Jones. Maybe events would have corrected themselves, as they do in science fiction.
David Bowie meeting Iggy Pop at Max's Kansas City club in 1971, without which no Raw Power, no Ziggy Stardust and therefore, arguably, neither glam-rock nor punk? It was hardly a chance meeting. Bowie, besotted with the Stooges, had made a point of seeking out Jim Osterberg and Lou Reed, too.
You could say that Roger Daltrey spotting Who bass player John Entwistle in the street really was a lucky coincidence. ("I hear you play bass," the singer reputedly said, an astute observation given that Entwistle was actually carrying one at the time.) But even the most dedicated Who fanatic would find it hard to argue that this providential encounter determined the band's future. Whoever played bass, the Who would still be the Who.
Morrissey meeting Johnny Marr? The guitarist tramped over to Stretford specifically to knock on the future Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now hitmaker's door and demand that they write songs together (plus they'd already met once at a Patti Smith concert). Clash manager Bernard Rhodes spotting John Lydon on the King's Road in an "I Hate Pink Floyd" T-shirt? The incestuous London pre-punk scene of 1975 would surely have brought Lydon and the Sex Pistols together eventually. Simon and Garfunkel? Met at elementary school. Pete Doherty and Carl Barât? Who cares?
Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant Photograph: Fabio Nosotti/Corbis Pretty much the only serendipitous meeting that stands up is that between Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, who happened upon each other in a hi-fi shop on the King's Road in August 1981, got talking about music and were writing songs together within a week. Yet both were habitués of London clubland and would surely have got together sooner or later anyway.
Just as we no longer think that the assassination of Franz Ferdinand "caused" the first world war, perhaps we only imagined that unrepeatable meetings between supernatural talents shaped our music culture. Meanwhile, the very notion of a meat-space encounter between opposing talents is disappearing as collaborations take place virtually. The 50th anniversary of Kanye West dropboxing a file to Daft Punk is unlikely to be celebrated. And that's probably a good thing.
Here the folk-singing scarecrow-prophet introduced the excitable Scousers to marijuana for (allegedly) the first time. Ringo Starr, the first to be offered a smoke and ignorant of dope etiquette, chugged through that first joint like a stevedore attacking his first Woodbine of the morning and collapsed in a giggling mess. Brian Epstein became so stoned he could only squeak,"I'm so high I'm up on the ceiling." Paul McCartney believed he'd attained true mental clarity for the first time in his life and instructed Beatles roadie and major-domo Mal Evans to write down everything he said henceforth. Dylan, meanwhile, lost his cool and began answering the hotel phone by shouting, "This is Beatlemania here!" Otherwise they drank wine and acted the goat, like bands do.
The post-game analysis was that, the doors of their perception not so much cleansed as kicked to matchwood and burnt, the Beatles then left behind childish things and set out on the road to enlightenment, serious artistry and self-expression at all costs. Exposed to the Beatles, Dylan would go on to create folk-rock and import the social conscience of traditional American music into the rock arena, thereby providing the counterculture with its national anthems.
Never ones to undersell their achievements, baby boomers subsequently promoted this fairly shambolic Beatles-Dylan hangout as a decisive summit, a defining event of rock culture. "Until the advent of rap, pop music remained largely derivative of that night at the Delmonico," Aronowitz would later proclaim. (Goodnight, soul, funk and disco; back in your box, James Brown and Kraftwerk.) "That meeting didn't just change pop music – it changed the times."
The truth, inevitably, is more prosaic. "The meeting was a game-changer," says Mark Ellen, co-founder of Mojo and Q magazines, "but it wasn't the instant dramatic meeting of superpowers that people imagine." The two parties had already regarded one another with envy long before they met. The Beatles were becoming tired of screaming teenage fans and life as a group, just as Dylan was becoming enamoured of exactly those things. "At the Delmonico," says Ellen, "they were passing one another at a time when each of them would quite liked to have been the other one."
Afterwards, the Beatles began to mine their own interior lives for personal, self-examining songs like Michelle and Yesterday. Dylan made 1965's Bringing It All Back Home album, half of which featured a rattling full electric-rock group, to the horror of the turtleneck crowd. "These changes were probably going to happen anyway," Ellen argues. "And the Beatles and Dylan were eventually going to meet because they had to meet, just as the Beatles had to meet Elvis eventually. They were the biggest things on the planet at the time."
David Bowie and Iggy Pop Photograph: Jan Persson/Redferns Yet the idea of an ultimate turning point, a fork in the woods, a Zarathustra moment where everything changes, persists. It plays to the pop fan's weakness for a version of the "great man" theory of history – the notion that everything depends on this one decision or that single conjunction – and connects to the lure of the counterfactual. (What if Kurt Cobain had lived?) If the Beatles and Dylan stories are modern myths, then the Delmonico hotel meeting becomes that most modern and meta of all pop events, a crossover episode. It's Sherlock meets the X-Men, it's England meets America, it's Dylan's adopted dustbowl past meeting the Beatles' democratised hyper-pop future, one side nourishing the other. You can see where this sort of thinking leads a person.In which case, maybe it's sad that pretty much every fateful encounter in music turns out not to be quite so singular after all. Take, for instance, the case of Keith Richards and Mick Jagger. They first run into one another on the platform at Dartford station in October 1961. Mick is carrying a clutch of rare blues records, Keith a hollow-bodied Hofner cutaway guitar. They recognise kindred spirits, fall to talking about music and within a year have formed the Rolling Stones. A prime Sliding Doors moment, you'd think.
Except that they already knew each other from primary school. And the London blues scene that gave birth to the Stones was such a small one that, even separately, Richards and Jagger would surely have gravitated to Alexis Korner's Ealing jazz club and therefore Charlie Watts, Ian Stewart and finally Brian Jones. Maybe events would have corrected themselves, as they do in science fiction.
David Bowie meeting Iggy Pop at Max's Kansas City club in 1971, without which no Raw Power, no Ziggy Stardust and therefore, arguably, neither glam-rock nor punk? It was hardly a chance meeting. Bowie, besotted with the Stooges, had made a point of seeking out Jim Osterberg and Lou Reed, too.
You could say that Roger Daltrey spotting Who bass player John Entwistle in the street really was a lucky coincidence. ("I hear you play bass," the singer reputedly said, an astute observation given that Entwistle was actually carrying one at the time.) But even the most dedicated Who fanatic would find it hard to argue that this providential encounter determined the band's future. Whoever played bass, the Who would still be the Who.
Morrissey meeting Johnny Marr? The guitarist tramped over to Stretford specifically to knock on the future Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now hitmaker's door and demand that they write songs together (plus they'd already met once at a Patti Smith concert). Clash manager Bernard Rhodes spotting John Lydon on the King's Road in an "I Hate Pink Floyd" T-shirt? The incestuous London pre-punk scene of 1975 would surely have brought Lydon and the Sex Pistols together eventually. Simon and Garfunkel? Met at elementary school. Pete Doherty and Carl Barât? Who cares?
Chris Lowe and Neil Tennant Photograph: Fabio Nosotti/Corbis Pretty much the only serendipitous meeting that stands up is that between Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, who happened upon each other in a hi-fi shop on the King's Road in August 1981, got talking about music and were writing songs together within a week. Yet both were habitués of London clubland and would surely have got together sooner or later anyway.Just as we no longer think that the assassination of Franz Ferdinand "caused" the first world war, perhaps we only imagined that unrepeatable meetings between supernatural talents shaped our music culture. Meanwhile, the very notion of a meat-space encounter between opposing talents is disappearing as collaborations take place virtually. The 50th anniversary of Kanye West dropboxing a file to Daft Punk is unlikely to be celebrated. And that's probably a good thing.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Thursday, August 28, 2014
ICAC surprise visits to Jimmy Lai & Mr. Lee
Today we had some RAZZIA at Jimmy Lai & Mr. Lee conducted by ICAC - see more here:
CLICK IT & LEARN ABOUT MODERN CORRUPTION IN HONG KONG !
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
TODAY !
the message will be delivered to Hong Kong people: Universal suffrage will be conducted according to THE BASIC LAW. Full stop. The Byrds give us the soundtrack for that.
Thailand: Hard stance against illegal beach business
Thai military government now HARD measures against ILLEGAL BEACH BUSINESS at Phuket and other beaches - everything just torn down. Good !
See here more from Phuket Magazine:
quote:
The project started right after army’s seizing of power, and the Phuket Beach Clean-Up did not take long to show results. As the project is still going on, this page will be steadily updated in a way to give you information as accurate as possible about what is happening (or already has happened) to the favourite beaches of Phuket and the venues they used to feature - or in some cases, still do. Buddhism says that nothing’s permanent; get ready to see Phuket beaches (almost) as they were 20 years ago.
The heart of Phuket’s tourism industry has been thoroughly 'cleaned' and not longer hosts the invading five rows of beach-chairs and umbrellas. All solid structures – bars, restaurants, boutiques – that used to stand on the beachfront have also been removed.
Nobody has yet talked about the three famous restaurants built on the rocks between Patong and Kalim, but White Box Restaurant, located at the northern end of Kalim Beach, has already been visited by officials. Only time will tell if this popular restaurant will be removed or not.
As for today, Karon Beach only had all the small beach bars, sun-loungers and umbrellas removed. Karon went through a clean-up ordered by the municipality in 2011, therefore the actual project had not much left to do.
The two restaurants - Ruen Thep Seafood and Beyond Resort’s – located toward the southern end of the beach are still operating.
Kata is one of the most popular beaches on Phuket’s west coast and here too, all sun-loungers that used to occupy five rows on the southern part of the beach have been removed. The few small beach bars settled all along the beach are also gone.
The biggest venue that had to go is the cool Ska Bar, built on the rocks under the huge Banyan tree at the southern end of the beach; nothing but its front signboard and cement staircase remain of it.
All the other popular restaurants – Kata Mama, Re-Ka-Ta, Boathouse, and more – do not seem to be concerned about the clean-up project so far.
Surin is certainly the beach that has suffered most so far in the Phuket Beach Clean-up 2014. It was also the busiest one regarding beach clubbing, and dining with toes in the sand. All restaurants’ and beach clubs’ wooden decks have been removed from the beachfront under the trees.
According to the latest announcements of the army, all restaurants and beach clubs – Catch, Bimi, Salt on Surin, Diamond, Pla Beach & Restaurant, Sea Breeze, Taste and more – will have to go.
This popular beach of Phuket also went through a serious clean-up: all the restaurants and restaurant decks that used to be installed in the shade of the trees on the beachfront have been removed.
A dozen tiny restaurants are still open in the area between the trees and the backside of Rawai Temple and a sea view is still available while you lunch or dine.
Kata Noi is a small and charming beach occupied on mostly half of its length by the long-established Katathani Phuket Beach Resort.
The few bamboo and thatch beach bars and boutiques as well as all beach-loungers have been taken away.
Rawai remains exactly the same as it used to be. This rather quiet beach does not host any illegal-considered businesses so far. The popular Nikita’s restaurant to one side of the beach and the cool Baan Haad Rawai Restaurant to the other side are still open, yet the latter had to clear out its platforms & salas set up on the beach side of the little road.
Ya Nui went through drastic changes: everything from the large bamboo and thatch restaurants to beach sun-loungers and small businesses settled on the beachfront have been removed.
Some remains of the restaurant’s roofs and other trash have not been taken away yet.
Ao Sane is a small beach accessible by passing through The Royal Phuket Yacht Club at the western end of Nai Harn. The restaurants and guesthouses set on the beachfront are still operating.
The owners of these relaxed venues told us that they have not (yet) been approached by the military concerning the legality of their venues.
UNQUOTE
This is in response of century long illegal occupying beach space with illegally installed restaurants. Some made a fortune on it. Now everything is gone. Corruption still very gross in Thailand - money counts. You pay the right guy - nobody will bother you...........CHEERS !
See here more from Phuket Magazine:
quote:
Phuket Beach Clean-Up 2014
What happened to Phuket's Beaches - August 2014
The Phuket Beach Clean-Up is the test-phase of a vast anti-corruption project planned to be applied later on to the entire country by the military who took power in May 2014. This project aims at giving back public land to the people by removing all private businesses that illegally built bars, restaurants, and any commercial activity right on the beach. According to the Building Control Act, no building is allowed up to 10 meters from the beach.The project started right after army’s seizing of power, and the Phuket Beach Clean-Up did not take long to show results. As the project is still going on, this page will be steadily updated in a way to give you information as accurate as possible about what is happening (or already has happened) to the favourite beaches of Phuket and the venues they used to feature - or in some cases, still do. Buddhism says that nothing’s permanent; get ready to see Phuket beaches (almost) as they were 20 years ago.
Patong Beach
Nobody has yet talked about the three famous restaurants built on the rocks between Patong and Kalim, but White Box Restaurant, located at the northern end of Kalim Beach, has already been visited by officials. Only time will tell if this popular restaurant will be removed or not.
Karon Beach
The two restaurants - Ruen Thep Seafood and Beyond Resort’s – located toward the southern end of the beach are still operating.
Kata Beach
The biggest venue that had to go is the cool Ska Bar, built on the rocks under the huge Banyan tree at the southern end of the beach; nothing but its front signboard and cement staircase remain of it.
All the other popular restaurants – Kata Mama, Re-Ka-Ta, Boathouse, and more – do not seem to be concerned about the clean-up project so far.
Surin Beach
According to the latest announcements of the army, all restaurants and beach clubs – Catch, Bimi, Salt on Surin, Diamond, Pla Beach & Restaurant, Sea Breeze, Taste and more – will have to go.
Nai Harn Beach
A dozen tiny restaurants are still open in the area between the trees and the backside of Rawai Temple and a sea view is still available while you lunch or dine.
Kata Noi
The few bamboo and thatch beach bars and boutiques as well as all beach-loungers have been taken away.
Rawai Beach
Rawai remains exactly the same as it used to be. This rather quiet beach does not host any illegal-considered businesses so far. The popular Nikita’s restaurant to one side of the beach and the cool Baan Haad Rawai Restaurant to the other side are still open, yet the latter had to clear out its platforms & salas set up on the beach side of the little road.
Ya Nui Beach
Some remains of the restaurant’s roofs and other trash have not been taken away yet.
Ao Sane
The owners of these relaxed venues told us that they have not (yet) been approached by the military concerning the legality of their venues.
UNQUOTE
This is in response of century long illegal occupying beach space with illegally installed restaurants. Some made a fortune on it. Now everything is gone. Corruption still very gross in Thailand - money counts. You pay the right guy - nobody will bother you...........CHEERS !
Monday, August 25, 2014
More about that UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE
http://video.ft.com/v/3743269753001
Click the link up there - funny it starts with a HSBC advertising.............................
Click the link up there - funny it starts with a HSBC advertising.............................
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Universal suffrage - just according to BASIC LAW - what else did you expect.................
Yesterday big meeting in Shenzhen with high ranking politicians from Beijing. The topic was 2017 CE election procedure.
Very easy: Several "nominated candidates" will be available for the public to elect. Candidates will be "carefully" selected
by a commitee & this most probably needs approval from Beijing. Then we can vote on that candidates. This is how it is meant
to be and written down in the BASIC LAW. Nothing else.
Here some footage from CCTV.COM from yesterday:
quote
HK legislators urged to promote universal suffrageEditor: Ren Zhongxi 丨Xinhua 08-22-2014 07:45 BJT Share this: Share on twitter Share on facebook Share on sinaweibo Share on email More Sharing ServicesFont size: SHENZHEN, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Senior legislature official Li Fei on Thursday called on Hong Kong legislators to promote implementing universal suffrage of chief executive with political bravery and wisdom. Li, deputy secretary-general of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, made the remarks at a symposium on universal suffrage in Hong Kong on Thursday. Implementing universal suffrage will entitle Hong Kong citizens to directly elect the chief executive by vote, which will mark a historical leap for Hong Kong's democracy progress, Li said, adding this will also create conditions for universal suffrage of all members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Li said, "the Legislative Council has the constitutional responsibility to implement the universal suffrage of the chief executive and should seek ways for solving political issues with utmost political bravery and wisdom," Li said. Li expressed his sincere hope that all members of the Legislative Council, local legislature in Hong Kong, taking a responsible attitude toward Hong Hong people and the history, will join hands with the central and Hong Kong governments to promote the development of democracy in the city. The current chief executive was elected by an election committee in 2012. Hong Kong plans to introduce universal suffrage in the election of chief executive in 2017. The Legislative Council, along with the chief executive and NPC Standing Committee, is responsible for the revision of the method of electing the chief executive, according to Li. To accomplish and well implement the revision, the Legislative Council must cooperate well with the chief executive and the NPC Standing Committee on the basis of Hong Kong's Basic Law, following the requirement for using the public power and respecting the decisive power of the central government on the development of Hong Kong's political system, he said. Defying the Basic Law and the principle that Hong Kong must be governed by people who love both Hong Kong and the country is an attempt to get rid of the administration of the central government and turn Hong Kong into an independent political entity, Li said. "The people of the whole nation, including Hong Kong citizens, will never compromise to allow it to happen," said Li. He warned those who have unpractical ideas to change their stance and sincerely practice the principle of "one country, two systems." A total of 48 lawmakers from Hong Kong attended the meeting together with political advisors and lawmakers from the mainland.
unquote
Be aware CCTV is state owned & controlled, means this statement is already some kind of reflection what will be announced later next week in Beijing officially.
Occupy Central organizers may go ahead with some action, but they admitted today that this (most probably) will not change the central government mind at all. In my opinion any OCCUPY CENTRAL action will make things more worse. Easy question:
Why not take at least a little step forward - any aggressive action will even destroy any good will from Beijing. In the end it will harm Hong Kong society.
Here some footage from CCTV.COM from yesterday:
quote
HK legislators urged to promote universal suffrageEditor: Ren Zhongxi 丨Xinhua 08-22-2014 07:45 BJT Share this: Share on twitter Share on facebook Share on sinaweibo Share on email More Sharing ServicesFont size: SHENZHEN, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Senior legislature official Li Fei on Thursday called on Hong Kong legislators to promote implementing universal suffrage of chief executive with political bravery and wisdom. Li, deputy secretary-general of the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, made the remarks at a symposium on universal suffrage in Hong Kong on Thursday. Implementing universal suffrage will entitle Hong Kong citizens to directly elect the chief executive by vote, which will mark a historical leap for Hong Kong's democracy progress, Li said, adding this will also create conditions for universal suffrage of all members of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong. Li said, "the Legislative Council has the constitutional responsibility to implement the universal suffrage of the chief executive and should seek ways for solving political issues with utmost political bravery and wisdom," Li said. Li expressed his sincere hope that all members of the Legislative Council, local legislature in Hong Kong, taking a responsible attitude toward Hong Hong people and the history, will join hands with the central and Hong Kong governments to promote the development of democracy in the city. The current chief executive was elected by an election committee in 2012. Hong Kong plans to introduce universal suffrage in the election of chief executive in 2017. The Legislative Council, along with the chief executive and NPC Standing Committee, is responsible for the revision of the method of electing the chief executive, according to Li. To accomplish and well implement the revision, the Legislative Council must cooperate well with the chief executive and the NPC Standing Committee on the basis of Hong Kong's Basic Law, following the requirement for using the public power and respecting the decisive power of the central government on the development of Hong Kong's political system, he said. Defying the Basic Law and the principle that Hong Kong must be governed by people who love both Hong Kong and the country is an attempt to get rid of the administration of the central government and turn Hong Kong into an independent political entity, Li said. "The people of the whole nation, including Hong Kong citizens, will never compromise to allow it to happen," said Li. He warned those who have unpractical ideas to change their stance and sincerely practice the principle of "one country, two systems." A total of 48 lawmakers from Hong Kong attended the meeting together with political advisors and lawmakers from the mainland.
unquote
Be aware CCTV is state owned & controlled, means this statement is already some kind of reflection what will be announced later next week in Beijing officially.
Occupy Central organizers may go ahead with some action, but they admitted today that this (most probably) will not change the central government mind at all. In my opinion any OCCUPY CENTRAL action will make things more worse. Easy question:
Why not take at least a little step forward - any aggressive action will even destroy any good will from Beijing. In the end it will harm Hong Kong society.
Friday, August 22, 2014
THE STANDARD here about Mr Rafael Hui
Article copied directly from THE STANDARD - this Mr Hui is representing a certain kind of corrupted managers - he even do not have any idea something is wrong in his actions. He more feels himself as a VICTIM of something not explainable...................Poor Hong Kong !
BEA wins bankruptcy order against ex-chief secretary Rafael Hui
(11-27 11:40)
A court this morning issued a bankruptcy
order against former chief secretary Rafael Hui Si-yan.
Hui, 65, allegedly owes Bank of East Asia HK$60 million. The bank had filed a lawsuit claiming unpaid debts from Hui in April.
The lawyer representing the lender said Hui did not respond to the the bank nor did he has submitted any payment as of yesterday.
BEA asked Hui to pay all money due under two overdraft facilities and two credit cards the bank had provided.
Hui is also facing at least three more lawsuits filed by three different creditors seeking loan repayment.
On August 29, Standard Chartered Bank sued him for unpaid debts amounting to HK$1.2 million.
Earlier, Honour Finance -- owned by Sun Hung Kai Properties -- filed a suit against Hui over a loan of HK$3.16 million made to a company in which Hui acted as guarantor.
Chong Hing Bank also claimed that Hui owes it HK$9.8 million.
This brings to about HK$74 million that Hui allegedly owes banks and other financial institutions.
Hui is facing eight charges, including misconduct in public office and conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, while Sun Hung Kai Properties' Kwok brothers -- Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen -- face similar charges. --The Standard
BEA wins bankruptcy order against ex-chief secretary Rafael Hui
(11-27 11:40)
 |
Hui, 65, allegedly owes Bank of East Asia HK$60 million. The bank had filed a lawsuit claiming unpaid debts from Hui in April.
The lawyer representing the lender said Hui did not respond to the the bank nor did he has submitted any payment as of yesterday.
BEA asked Hui to pay all money due under two overdraft facilities and two credit cards the bank had provided.
Hui is also facing at least three more lawsuits filed by three different creditors seeking loan repayment.
On August 29, Standard Chartered Bank sued him for unpaid debts amounting to HK$1.2 million.
Earlier, Honour Finance -- owned by Sun Hung Kai Properties -- filed a suit against Hui over a loan of HK$3.16 million made to a company in which Hui acted as guarantor.
Chong Hing Bank also claimed that Hui owes it HK$9.8 million.
This brings to about HK$74 million that Hui allegedly owes banks and other financial institutions.
Hui is facing eight charges, including misconduct in public office and conspiracy to commit misconduct in public office, while Sun Hung Kai Properties' Kwok brothers -- Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong and Raymond Kwok Ping-luen -- face similar charges. --The Standard
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
About LOVE & PEACE
I copy/paste this one exactly from HONGKIETOWN - you also can find the link in right hand reading pane - no further comment - use your brain:
quote
Hong Kong – Can It Get Any Weirder?
So the deal as you all should know by now is that there is this group called Occupy Central With Love and Peace. Their deal is that should they decide that the preparations for the 2017 elections in Hong Kong are not truly democratic, they will stage a protest that will possibly bring Hong Kong’s Central district to a standstill.
They’ve been talking about this for more than 18 months now and every Beijing loyalist and card-carrying member of the Communist party has been predicting the destruction of Hong Kong if this takes place. The walls (and the banks) will come tumbling down! No more foreign investment! Fire and brimstone coming down from the sky, rivers and seas boiling, earthquakes, volcanos, the dead rising from their graves, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together … you get the idea.
So this group of brainiacs decided that the best way to protest this coming protest would be … to stage a protest! And so yesterday we had the Alliance for Peace and Democracy (sigh) staging a protest march from Victoria Park to Central.
As the New York Times and other sources have noted, it would appear that many of the participants of yesterday’s march were mainland Chinese.
From the SCMP:
Also a clear indication of how stupid the police look is their estimation of 118,000 marchers in this event, as opposed to their estimate of just 98,000 for this year’s July 1st protest. Comparing overhead photos of the two events, as many have been doing on Facebook, shows the truth pretty clearly – that July 1st’s march had many times more participants than yesterday’s dog and pony show.
So there you have it. A protest to protest a protest. Made up of people bussed in from across the border with the promise of a free meal and people coerced by their employers. And the icing on the cake is the lying by the police.
I wonder when someone will stage a march to protest the real rulers of Hong Kong – Cheung Kong, Sun Hung Kai, New World, etc.
unquote
quote
Hong Kong – Can It Get Any Weirder?
So the deal as you all should know by now is that there is this group called Occupy Central With Love and Peace. Their deal is that should they decide that the preparations for the 2017 elections in Hong Kong are not truly democratic, they will stage a protest that will possibly bring Hong Kong’s Central district to a standstill.
They’ve been talking about this for more than 18 months now and every Beijing loyalist and card-carrying member of the Communist party has been predicting the destruction of Hong Kong if this takes place. The walls (and the banks) will come tumbling down! No more foreign investment! Fire and brimstone coming down from the sky, rivers and seas boiling, earthquakes, volcanos, the dead rising from their graves, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together … you get the idea.
So this group of brainiacs decided that the best way to protest this coming protest would be … to stage a protest! And so yesterday we had the Alliance for Peace and Democracy (sigh) staging a protest march from Victoria Park to Central.
As the New York Times and other sources have noted, it would appear that many of the participants of yesterday’s march were mainland Chinese.
Typical was Kitty Lai, an investment adviser wearing an orange T-shirt and a baseball cap emblazoned with the logo of the Hong Kong Federation of Fujian Associations, a group that represents people from the coastal province across from Taiwan.That phrase “silent majority” has irritated me since the days when Nixon and Agnew used it to try to defend the Vietnam War. “The protesters may be against it but there’s a silent majority who love it!” or something to that effect. How does a “silent majority” speak, anyway? And how does one negotiate with a totalitarian government bent on maintaining control at any cost?
“We want everything to be stable,” Ms. Lai, 50, said in Mandarin Chinese. “We want everybody to live harmoniously.”
Many participants brought along their Indonesian and Filipino domestic helpers, who also donned the T-shirts and hats, with some given Chinese flags to wave.
“Hong Kong people desire peace. They’re not afraid of speaking out, and the silent majority has spoken,” Robert Chow, a spokesman for the alliance, said in an interview. “Why should they follow Occupy Central and try to hold Hong Kong hostage? If they really want universal suffrage, negotiate with Beijing. Negotiate with the government.”
After the demonstrators had left, the detritus of protests, including posters, water bottles and flags, was strewed across the park, in contrast to the aftermath of pro-democracy rallies, when volunteers patrolled the ground, cleaning up everything, including wax from candle drippings.You’d think all those rich people who’d brought their maids along would get them to do a bit of cleaning up afterwards. But nooooo ……
From the SCMP:
The SCMP also live-blogged the march.Clans that hailed from all corners of the mainland made up a crucial part of the turnout. Their origins were on full display – T-shirts of the same colour to depict a certain hometown and banners held high proclaiming the same.Some had their fill at sponsored dim sum lunches in restaurants before setting off from nearby Victoria Park.But under the gruelling sun, some abandoned their mission to oppose Occupy just 500 metres into the march, near Sogo department store.The clans were not the only ones putting up united fronts; dozens of South Asian protesters were dressed in red T-shirts – curiously – carrying the logo of the Federation of Hong Kong Shenzhen Associations. They refused to say if they were members of the federation or had been paid to take part. “We are tourists,” a man said.Yesterday’s rally proved lucrative, at least for Causeway Bay restaurants. At Cheers in Windsor House, 30 tables were reserved by the Hong Kong Hubei Fraternity and An Kwei Clans Association to treat protesters before the march started. In the same building, all of King’s Cuisine and several more tables in Choi Fuk Royal Banquet were taken up by the Hong Kong Hakka Association. About 30 protesters were decked out in blue T-shirts with the logo of Ying Wah Construction Group.
A woman with another company said her mainland employer had mobilised staff. “I join the July 1 pro-democracy rally every year. I would not have joined [this march] if there was no pressure,” she said.
“Keep your Hong Kong and China flags as souvenirs, don’t throw them away,” organisers tell marchers at the finishing point.Why would patriots need to be reminded not to throw away their country’s flag?
4.20pm: One woman taking part told the Post that she had only joined the march after direct pressure from her seniors at work. The woman, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals, said she was from Hong Kong but some of her colleagues had travelled from Shenzhen. “I would not have joined if there was no pressure,” she said, adding that she normally took part in Hong Kong’s July 1 demonstration.No one was arrested for the egg-throwing incident, a clear indication of the police turning the other cheek when it politically suits them.
4pm: Some minor confrontations have been reported between marchers and Occupy Central supporters. One marcher threw a tray of 24 eggs at members of People Power, who support the Occupy movement, but the eggs hit a woman police officer, according to reports.
3.55pm: The march is rather a lacklustre affair, according to Post reporters on the ground. Marchers are plodding along, shielding themselves from the sun with umbrellas, while there is no chanting of slogans or creative costumes often seen during Hong Kong demonstrations. “Whistles blown half-heartedly can be heard from time to time but most people look indifferent. It seems like a march without a soul,” reports Nectar Gan.
Also a clear indication of how stupid the police look is their estimation of 118,000 marchers in this event, as opposed to their estimate of just 98,000 for this year’s July 1st protest. Comparing overhead photos of the two events, as many have been doing on Facebook, shows the truth pretty clearly – that July 1st’s march had many times more participants than yesterday’s dog and pony show.
So there you have it. A protest to protest a protest. Made up of people bussed in from across the border with the promise of a free meal and people coerced by their employers. And the icing on the cake is the lying by the police.
I wonder when someone will stage a march to protest the real rulers of Hong Kong – Cheung Kong, Sun Hung Kai, New World, etc.
unquote
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