He’s in.
So now it’s official. This is what Confucius looked like. Link. Official attitudes to the old sage have varied over the centuries. Now he’s definitely in favor.
Which is more than can be said for Chen Liang Yu, the man who was mayor of Shanghai and party boss for the city, until this morning, whe he was dismissed. Noted for his ubiquity above all else, Chen was recently involved in a pension scandal. He was a member of the elite, 24 member politburo, and a daily fixture on TV here in Shanghai. This is the highest level case of corruption-busting that I can recall. The New York Times has an excellent piece on the scandal here. For the official line go here.
Ken Carroll
Ken
When I saw this I was reminded of the movie Casablanca
Rick: How can you close me up? On what grounds?
Renault: I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.
Croupier: Your winnings, sir.
Renault: Oh. Thank you very much. Everybody out at once
This is corruption in China? I am shocked ! I live in Taiwan corruption seems to be legal here. And in the US well who is worse the government or BOD’s?
Mike in Jubei
It’s true that notions of ‘corruption’ are different in Asia. Gift giving and doing favors are traditionally more common here, particularly in China where it was often hard to get things done without the help of friends. The whole thing can easily get blurred.
Corruption might have to be defined in the the same way as promiscuity: A corrupt person is someone who attracts larger and more frequent tips than I do. Of course, we don’t tip here so the whole of the USA would look a bit shady to me
Yes it’s hard when some judgement is accepted with such a rigid ethical position in our own culture, to allow that what we regard as evil for ourselves might be normal for others. And, as if that wasn’t hard enough to swallow, vice versa!
Of course there’s always a point where the line must be drawn for unacceptability, but how can we imagine where that point is for them when our own ingrained values are so incompatible with their social expectations?
If only the rest of the world have Political Action Committees (PACs) like the US, then PAC contributions to influence politicians wouldn’t be called bribes anymore. The longer I live, the more difficult it is for me to differentiate between bribes and PAC contributions. Then there are the US congressional junkets to Europe and the rest of the world that are paid for by generous contributors. If I were China’s leaders or leaders from third world countries, I’d set up PACs to legalize bribing like the US (it’s technically transparent), and call guanxi networking instead. I know this is doublespeak but it exists as long as there are politicians and P.R. agents.
Art
My youngest daughter went to undergrad. school at George Washington U. just next to the White House…… She worked one year for a large liquor PAC. They catered every and any party a member of congress had, no questions asked. And of course the congressmen would say it was a party for 100 people ( but it was only for 40) and the PAC would bring enough booze for 200 that would naturally stay or if the congressman was kind or too drunk my daughter and others would need a car to haul away for their own pleasue what they wished.
I once had to help her haul a full keg up to her apartment complements of some part in Georgetown for Senator X. She had rolled it from Georgetown across the bridge back to Foggy Bottom. And naturally she was only 20 at the time.
Mike in Jubei
And people wonder why there are issues in any part of politics when business is involved. It sounds silly to say that you can’t have any conflicts of interest, because it’s pretty much impossible, and almost defeating the purpose of representing people in parliament, but when there’s so much spare money etc floating around, it’s kind of hard to remain impartial.
Mike,
Aren’t adults under 21 in the States not allowed to drink, sell or touch alcohol? Don’t you love it when congressmen and congresswomen don’t have to follow the laws they passed for others?