BBQ alternatives absurd
This climate change vaudeville act continues to descend into the theater of the absurd (“Alternatives to barbeque reduce carbon footprint,” Sept. 12, page 2).
So let me get this straight: the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) is encouraging Taiwanese to reduce their carbon footprint by substituting the age-old practice of barbequing on the Mid-Autumn Festival with more healthy and “environmentally friendly” activities such as gambling and drinking bubble milk tea.
To continue in the same vein, I have a few more suggestions for the agency: Why don’t they encourage Taiwanese to drink more or maybe chew more betel nut? Why not? Hey, if the Taiwanese are going to be obese gamblers, they might as well be alcoholic, obese, betel nut-chewing gamblers. Human folly never ceases to amaze me. Someone needs to create an agency to protect the Taiwanese from the Environmental “Protection” Administration.
A note to the EPA: Try encouraging Taiwanese to reduce carbon emissions by driving fewer cars so you can clean up the horrible air pollution in this country.
A note to the Taiwanese: Reducing your carbon footprint to mitigate climate change is a waste of time because the climate has always changed and so-called global warming is an elaborate hoax whose scientific credentials are nothing short of what used to be called quack science.
Don’t believe it? Paul Watson, one of the founders of Greenpeace, was very blunt when speaking on the issue of climate change: “It doesn’t matter what is true; it only matters what people believe is true ... you are what the media define you to be.”
Or how about this piece of candid observation by the British Institute for Public Policy Research in a report entitled Warm Words: How Are We Telling the Climate Story and Can We Tell It Better?: “The task of climate change agencies is not to persuade by rational argument, but in effect to develop and nurture a new ‘common sense’ ... We need to work in a more shrewd and contemporary way, using subtle techniques of engagement ... The ‘facts’ need to be treated as being so taken-for-granted that they need not be spoken ... It amounts to treating climate-friendly activities as a brand that can be sold. This is, we believe, the route to mass behavior changes.”
The EPA will never be persuaded otherwise because you can’t reason someone out of a belief they never reasoned themselves into.
As for the Taiwanese: Keep barbequing, especially that cow on Kinmen.
JASON LAMANTIA
Jhongli City,
Taoyuan County
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
On a quiet lane in Taipei’s central Daan District (大安), an otherwise unremarkable high-rise is marked by a police guard and a tawdry A4 printout from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicating an “embassy area.” Keen observers would see the emblem of the Holy See, one of Taiwan’s 12 so-called “diplomatic allies.” Unlike Taipei’s other embassies and quasi-consulates, no national flag flies there, nor is there a plaque indicating what country’s embassy this is. Visitors hoping to sign a condolence book for the late Pope Francis would instead have to visit the Italian Trade Office, adjacent to Taipei 101. The death of
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
RSS