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regicide
Joined: 01 Sep 2006
Location: United States
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 Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:35 am Post subject: Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party in the news again... |
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TAIPEI (XFN-ASIA) - Taiwan prosecutors indicted Vice President Annette Lu and two other leading members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Friday on charges of corruption and forgery.
The indictment of the three DPP heavyweights is the latest in a series of high-profile corruption cases that have rocked Taiwanese politics in recent months, and comes six months before the island's presidential elections.
"The trio have violated laws by using their positions as public servants to claim special expenses with false receipts," said Chen Yun-nan, director of the anti-corruption task force in the prosecutors' office.
The other two politicians charged are current DPP chairman Yu Shyi-kun, a former premier, and former foreign minister Chen Tan-sun.
But Frank Hsieh, the party's candidate to succeed President Chen Shui-bian next March, and his running mate Su Tseng-chang, also a former premier, were cleared of wrongdoing as their expenses were found to be legitimate.
Lu -- the highest-ranking woman in Taiwan's government -- expressed shock at her indictment, professing her innocence.
"It was like a thunderbolt out of the blue. I have to study (the case) carefully," she told reporters.
"My integrity cannot be questioned. I have no idea on what basis they have charged me, since all of my special expenses were used in public affairs."
Lu, who has served as vice president since 2000, is a 63-year-old former political prisoner and human rights advocate. She briefly stood for the DPP's nomination in the 2008 presidential race, but withdrew early in the process.
Party secretary general Lin Chia-lung defended the three party stalwarts, saying: "The three have contributed a lot to Taiwan's democratisation and it is unlikely they used false receipts.
"We believe in their innocence and we hope the judicial system will deal with their cases fairly."
Lu stands accused of claiming 5.6 mln twd in special expenses using more than 1,000 false receipts from December 2000 to May 2006 in her capacity as vice president, prosecutor Chen told reporters.
Yu allegedly claimed 2.4 mln twd in special expenses with false receipts while serving in various posts including that of premier between October 2000 and December 2005.
Chen Tan-sun had claimed 368,199 dollars in false expenses from July 2004 to June 2006, prosecutors said.
If convicted of corruption, they face a minimum of seven years in prison. The forgery charge is punishable by up to seven years in prison. |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:09 am Post subject: |
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| You lost me. What is the connection with JFK's assassination? |
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regicide
Joined: 01 Sep 2006
Location: United States
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:01 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| You lost me. What is the connection with JFK's assassination? |
I was in Taiwan for both of Chen Shui Bian's elections and my world of knowledge and experience goes far beyond the topic of the public and State Execution of President John Kennedy.
You inclination to take a poke at me , however, shows us your true intelligence and maturity.
But you and others can not help yourself because you see,
it was all part of the plan.
Everyone has heard, and has probably used the term "conspiracy theorist," and the fact of the term being in common use, also indicates that we generally agree on what it means. I saw a movie by that name, and the title character was a raving lunatic who kept his food in thermoses with combination locks to reduce his chances of being poisoned by imaginary enemies.
Regardless of how the stupid movie turned out, what's important here is the common perception people have of someone to whom that label is applied, and just as important, is who it is that applies the label. The common perception is that someone who is labeled a "conspiracy theorist" is suffering from some type of psychological disorder, and that label is usually applied to people by our government, and our news media. The next thing to consider, is that the label is applied to anyone who questions our government's version of events in any matter. Doesn't it logically follow that the media are teaching us to assume that anyone who questions the government is insane? When that label is applied to a person, doesn't it become easy to dismiss everything they say without even hearing it? How convenient for them.
I think the label first became widely used to slander people who questioned the details surrounding the JFK assassination, and forty years later, there aren't too many thinking people who still believe the Warren Commission's "lone gunman" explanation. That explanation is doubted by everyone who has taken the time to look into the details, and believed only by people who refuse to.
Which is "theory" and which is fact? In the absence of a full confession, this can only be decided by a preponderance of evidence, and it would be silly to come to a conclusion on any matter without looking at all the evidence available. This is only common sense, just as it is safe to assume some degree of guilt or complicity on the part of anyone who lies about an event, or tries to hide, plant, or destroy any type of evidence.
Conspiracy theories arise from evidence. After the government releases an explanation of a particular event, a conspiracy theory is only born because evidence exists to disprove their explanation, or at least call it into question. There's nothing insane about it, unless you define sanity as believing whatever the government tells you. In light of the fact that our government lies to us regularly, I would define believing everything they tell you as utter stupidity.
"Doesn't it logically follow that the media are teaching us to assume that anyone who questions the government is insane? "
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Last edited by regicide on Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Ya-ta Boy
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 6:18 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
it was all part of the plan.
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I replied on the OTHER thread where you posted this. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 3:46 pm Post subject: |
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| regicide wrote: |
"Doesn't it logically follow that the media are teaching us to assume that anyone who questions the government is insane? "
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Good point, oh knight of truth! Don yon Helm of Mambrino and slay the windmill...er...giant! |
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