Inside the Asylum

I've been writing a lot about North Korean unfathomability, but weirdness is not confined to the north of the peninsula.

Korea’s major school uniform makers have agreed to end all celebrity endorsements indefinitely before the new school term begins in March [2009]; the cost cutting decision was made following government’s demand to halt the rising prices of school uniforms. It’s a good call from the government and manufacturers, but some fans might mourn that they won’t be seeing their favourite idols in cute uniforms in near future.

Following Japan's recent unprovoked surprise attack on the Moon, USA with Australia's assistance is about to launch a second kamikaze assault, not once but twice. Whatever has the Moon done to provoke this wave of imperialist aggression?

A ROBOT explorer will soar into space next week on a kamikaze mission to punch a hole in the moon... Travelling at 2.5 kilometres a second, the empty two-tonne upper stage of the rocket that launched the probe will crash first, sending debris - rock, soil and, perhaps, long-frozen ice - at least 10 kilometres high... Travelling close behind, the 700-kilogram kamikaze robot, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, will plunge through the plume, sniffing for water. Four minutes later it too will smash into the surface.

There's an Australian claiming he's spotted a human skull in one of NASA's photos. A detailed examination of the photo and some fairly skeptical analysis can be found at Depleted Cranium.

What I really want to know ... is the skull Chinese?

It was good enough for the BBC and CNBC, so why wouldn't it be good enough for the Wall Street Journal? Once again, Inside the Asylum beats them to the punch.
On June 9th I told you that the Chinese authorities may block the purchase of Hummer. On June 11th on page C4 of the Money and Investing section of the Wall Street Journal, I read a story about how the Chinese authorities may block the purchase of Hummer. Well, two days late isn't too bad for the MSM I guess. Still, you saw it here first.

I can't believe how stupid the Obama administration is. Well, that's a lie. By now, I know full well how stupid the Obama administration really is. So, first off, after failing to pressure Australia into taking the Uighurs, they copy former conservative Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his Pacific Solution for boat people. You know, the one that all good liberals deplored. Pay Palau $200 million in "aid" to take the Uighurs. Problem solved! No tricky human rights issue with returning them to China for persecution. They can just live down in Palau ...

The problem is, if Obama's people had any brains and knew anything about, oh, say, Chinese politics, Taiwanese politics, Pacific politics, etc., they'd know that they've just lit of fuse on a time bomb that's going to come back and bite them in their human rights behinds. Palau recognizes Taipei, not Beijing. Why? Money. The Taiwanese government sends lots of "aid" to Palau in return for it. Plain and simple. Now, it's a regular game among the Pacific island states to regularly swap recognition back and forth between Taipei and Beijing in return for a few million ... it's a great little earner. Obama has just handed the people of Palau a great bargaining chip to use with the Chinese and an incentive to Beijing to get out their check-book.

Prediction: in a short time (just long enough to be respectable, like changing boyfriends) Beijing will announce a new large aid package for Palau. Palau will have a sudden change of heart realizing after all that the Taiwanese government is not in fact the legitimate leader of all China. Oh yeah, and those Uighurs ... on a plane heading for China, and that's the last anyone will see of them. Great job Obama... deliberate? Or just plain stupid?