Giant Insects of Taiwan.... and other stuff...

As an antidote to that last post, I give you..... giant bugs!... and, er, one other photo of something else....

And those are my fat fingers, not some small child's...

For scale, the bike computer here is 2.5 inches long and over an inch thick with the mount...

A live one... (the one on the bike had ceased beetling)

Smallest of the bunch, but moving about... also my fat fingers (not two big toes as it might appear to be)

And, obviously, not a bug at all, but I couldn't resist adding this in, and frankly, I didn't have a clue where else to put it. This may be known depiction of a mythological figure, but I was clearly absent that day if it was discussed in class, but in any case, a cherub with a shell or whatnot cradling some dude's genitalia is not my first pick for the front of an apartment building - but that's just me, clearly.  I probably should start a collection of apartment building art and statuary, there's a wealth of ridiculous stuff both in front of and within the lobbies of Taiwanese apartment complexes (to my tender sensibilities).  A friend used to live here and the architecture of the building is a mish mash of different styles, and the art is also a grab bag ranging from this statue, to giant golden horses pulling some other mythological dude's chariot, along with a mess of busts of other guys (that's all out by the pool).  In the lobby are suits of armor and all manner of other ostentatiousness.  And there are elements on the exterior of the building that look to be from Chinese mythology and symbology.  They're clearly hedging their bets,  but it's a great mix if you're into that sort of thing!

Not trying to make the long form rant a trend here, but.....

It's June 4, 2014, the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing.  It's sad that protests that began with so much promise were put down not only with such brutality and death, but that looking back, it appears the Chinese rulers have thus far at least succeeded in buying off the Chinese people with material goods and prosperity.  Bread and circuses as such.  

It's fascinating to see this anniversary through the local media here in Taiwan.  It's openly discussed here, but in China, you can't really mention the massacre much less protest about it.  It's been well scrubbed from history it seems.   And the Great Internet Firewall of China is working overtime at present to stamp out any chance citizens there might have to learn about what their government did to the protestors.

The anniversary has been marked annually in Hong Kong, and also here in Taiwan.  But in Hong Kong, it's hard to say how much longer that will be the case as they are watching their freedoms - both existing and promised go away as the Chinese tighten their grip on the local media  and government to make any dissent and protest in HK more difficult.  

Here in Taiwan, the ruling KMT is so smitten with the Chinese Communist Party it appears they won't be able to say much beyond calling Tiananmen Square "a regrettable occurrence" or some other similar bit of mealy mouthed, passive sentence construction BS.  I hope I'm wrong, but from what has been done and said by the KMT about the protests here in Taiwan and how they kowtow to the CCP, I cannot imagine I'm too far off.

Considering this anniversary, I cannot help but think back to how, despite our failings and shortcomings,  25 years ago it felt like we in America had a Constitution that most all of us could generally depend upon,  less so if your skin has a brownish hue, sadly.   But for most, much of the time, it worked.   When things happened that were unconstitutional, we made changes in stutters and starts, with too many outside of its protection, yet it was a good and noble ideal with protections that we were slowly making work for everyone.

But given the passage of time, and recent events,  it's clear to see that a bunch of cowardly politicians, citizens, military, judicial, law enforcement, media and intelligence people have pissed all over those great ideals, again and again, in the name of fighting whatever battle du jour seems most efficient to use as cover (whether the 'war on drugs', or the 'war on terror') for their desired authority and power.  

Sure we're not generally getting gunned down in the streets for protesting, though it happens - as the 44th anniversary of the Kent State shootings passed on the 4th of last month.  But you sure can get pepper sprayed and cracked across the face with a baton, as well as hauled off to court and convicted for doing provocative, dangerous things like sitting peacefully at a demonstration.  

Different than our right to peaceably assemble, but no less important, is the right to be secure in our persons, houses, papers and effects.  I realize that a principled Originalist Justice, (and I say 'principled' wholly facetiously) like Scalia might try to argue that phone calls and email don't count since they said 'Papers' way back when, so there's that.  But we now live in a time where our government is hoovering up every last bit of data about us, who we associate with and what we might happen to read on the internet, what we might purchase, who we might call or email all without warrant.  

And the stories we're told about why we *need* to do this?   Well, here you go:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/06/top-5-claims-defenders-nsa-have-stop-making-remain-credible

Remember when we learned about the really repressive regimes - scary police states like the Shah's Iran (and later the Ayatollah's Iran), Hussein's Iraq, Chiang's Taiwan,  Pinochet's Chile, all of the Communist dictatorships - those places where people lived with the constant fear of the government watching and listening to them lest they do or say something subversive.   (Sad how many of the list above were US allies, but that's another rant for another time)  Remember how we used to at least feel like we didn't have to worry about that, cause we had something called the Constitution and a government that generally tried to live up to?  Yeah, me too... it was pleasant while it lasted.

And yes, I get the measure of irony of me posting this on a blog platform from Google - who hoovers up almost as much information about us as the government - I'm not crazy about that either, but there are crucial differences:  I use Google services knowing full well what they are doing.  I do so voluntarily and secondly, at least so far, Google does not have battalions of armed enforcers to come to my house to beat me or throw me in jail if I do or say something that they deem provocative... I know, give it time....who knows if Sergey Brin's dreaming of having his own police force,  only time will tell. Ideally corporations aren't this big and powerful, but at the end of the day, they're still no match for the power of the government bodies above us - whether City, State or Federal - they all have various police and investigative forces that can, and will, make your life a living hell, or worse, at times end it if they deem you have run afoul of them.  

So to the honor of the memory of those who died trying to secure political freedom and self determination 25 years ago in Beijing and countless other times and places in lands distant and near, please don't imagine that the freedoms you enjoy now will always be around for you and your offspring in years to come.   It is true that it's a long way from Beijing to Washinton DC, and I don't mean to suggest that we're heading for tanks rolling down The Mall anytime soon, but if we keep chipping away at the foundation of it all, there could be tanks on The Mall.  Speak up and act - if we don't do it now, it's only going to get harder and harder, until at some point, it might simply be impossible.

You might say that this 'intelligence gathering' will never be used against us, that it's simply a tool to prevent terrorism or drug dealing or whatever.   But given the current structure of such programs, if you say that, you're counting on the good will of unelected people in the NSA and other similar governmental bodies.... something that the founders of the US knew to be folly.  It's why they wrote the Constitution and created our system of government in the manner that they did.

And if you think this is all ok because Obama's president, consider a President Ted Cruz with these powers at his disposal.   Or if you're whacked out enough to think that having Cruz as President is a good idea one other thing for you to consider if the Republican's 2016 voter suppression efforts are not sufficient - President HR Clinton.  

I'll close by saying I'm not at all talking about the mythical Constitution of the umm, people, (I'll stick with that simple non-pejorative word),  in the desert at the Bundy ranch and their apologists in the media and government, or those who think that government health insurance is the first step down the road to concentration camps - in my experience, people who espouse those views generally can scarcely get through the day without pissing on most all of the Constitution save for their beloved and staggeringly misinterpreted 2nd Amendment.  No, I'm talking about the Constitution that applies to, and that should protect us all.  That is the one at risk unless we do something to protect it by ending, or radically curtailing the NSA current programs.  The current Congressional efforts are too weak to be much help.