Following the recently publicized scandal involving governmental officials and gambling, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Kuo Jung-chung (郭榮宗) yesterday warned against the legalization of gambling, saying that such a move would probably cause more social problems.
Kuo said that politicians from every political party frequently gamble abroad, and that allowing casinos into the country and legalizing gambling could present a threat to social order, he added.
Yeh Chih-kuei (葉智魁), a professor from National Dong Hwa University specializing in the research of US casinos, said that casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City have caused crime rates to surge in those areas as well as increasing levels of corruption among government officials.
Those who advocate the establishment of casinos try to make sure that the building of such places will not disturb the social order, Yeh said. However, even in the largely law-abiding society that is the US, crime rates in casino districts are higher than other areas, he added.
Yeh also said that it would be a waste of resources to have extra police helping to maintain order in casino districts if gambling was legalized in Taiwan.
Shih Chao-hui (釋昭慧), professor of ethics at Hsuan Chuang University, said he was planning to pass a petition against the legalization of gambling around election candidates to sign before the elections.
Shih said that the signatures he obtains will be announced later in the month to see which candidates agree or disagree with such a policy and urged voters to vote against those who want to legalize gambling.
"We don't want Taiwan to become the ROC -- the Republic of Casino," Shih said. "Many people are disillusioned, thinking that casinos will bring in money and benefits, but that's not true. We have to surrender social order and morals when we have casinos."
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
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