And you thought Bush was bad...

Former President of Taiwan Chen Shui-Bian after he was arrested on corruption charges a fe days ago. He was the president from 2000 to 2008...seems like a bad guy. Apparently his wife and son and son-in-law are also in trouble for money laundering and short-selling stocks to turn a quick profit. Allegedly he took tons of money from tax payers. There are two main parties here in Taiwan, Chen's favors complete independence, while the current president, President Ma (or Mr. Ma depending on what side of the Taiwan strait you're from) favors more cooperation with China....it's all very complicated yet really interesting stuff. The newspapers have detailed drawings about what his cell looks like, and how he is being handled. He seems like a pretty despicable guy from what I gather....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/world/asia/12taiwan.html?scp=5&sq=taiwan&st=cse

but then again at least he didn't bring his country into a quagmire of a war like our good friend Bush.

But apparently Chen is not too happy about being locked up, handcuffed and humiliated......I like how the BBC says 'hunger strike' and uses quotations...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7726239.stm

Anyway there are protests about his detention by supporters. There are a lot of protests and demonstrations here. My Taiwanese friend said no one really takes them seriously and it's just an excuse to meet up with people and everyone goes out afterwards and has some drinks. That's my kind of activism

Speaking of the war, the Iraq War is ....well ....its over! (well sort of)
too bad this was just a hoax and not a real news story:
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2008/11/14/2003428593

There was also a story about two bloggers who posed as a McCain adviser, and put out all these quotes about Palin. The sad thing is that some reputable news agencies (like the LA Times) actually believed the story. Who knows what's true or not anymore with all these bloggers writing about whatever they want. I promise all of my blog entries are all true. Or maybe my whole trip is just an elaborate hoax to prove how ridiculous blogging is.....I guess you'll never really know.

Brian