Years of Poems and Spirits

Try not to write too much in one day … very distracting. But this piece hit me pretty hard: In China, Quake Tourism Becoming Big Business

In short, parts of the quake area have become theme parks of sorts for laser tag games, water parks (the quake-dammed lakes), survivor museums, and–perhaps the most egregious–an earthquake simulation project that re-created the horrors. Although the developer said it was for educational purposes, being a wealthy real estate man apparently didn’t lend him much credit with me.

Also, learned a new word, Ghoul (”An evil spirit or demon in Muslim folklore believed to plunder graves and feed on corpses”), as one listener used it to described those developers.

Are they? Either yes or no answer makes me cringe. Like many many things happening in China.

I wonder if any American expat in the Europe in the 19th century had similar experience?

Just to mark this day … Looks like Justice’s investigation on government lawyers who wrote the torture memos will conclude soon. The leaked report recommended “professional sanction” against John Yoo and his boss Bybee.

The AP reported that an early version of the draft recommended that the California State Bar Association seek the disbarment of Yoo, now a Berkeley law professor, and Bybee, an appellate judge. A  Justice Department official said that the final decision had not been made.

It will be supremely disappointing if Yoo is not disbarred.