Today’s Reads (Mar 29)

Minister Pay Hike

• Paternal Nanny: Justifications and the Perpetuation…

  from To Fix a Mocking Peasant

• Leaders and Managers
• Sweet Talking

  from Mr Wang Says So

• For the People?

  from texo.sg

• The screaming of the cows

  from ringisei

• Singapore government promotes obscenity

  from Yawning Bread Sampler

Other

• “Earth to YPAP: Is there life out there?”

  from Coffee and Cigarettes.

• Britain’s Shining This should be an uplifting pos…

  from Perspective Unlimited

• Budget 2007 Debates: Ministry of Information, Communication…

  from Siew Kum Hong

Advertisement

“In God We Trust?” – An American Lesson

No one grows up thinking his destiny is to become a superhero. That’s because he isn’t Bill, who regular gives lectures every Saturday night in the community center in Brooklyn, New York. It’s a grueling form of penance he says. “Something I just need to do to get it out of my system.” A way even of mourning the collapse of his most cherished ambitions – “the American dream.” Bill, who drives a yellow cab, is one of those who believe the Freemasons are controlling America and world.

In Bill’s universe, the ubiquitous one dollar bill isn’t just currency as it is a cause celebre for the disgruntled, who believe the same – “we are being controlled by benign forces who have permeated the highest level of government!” That’s their mantra. I want to emphasize Bill isn’t just an ordinary taxi driver. He describes his job almost in religious terms, speculating on such questions as spiritual strength and the importance of finding one’s path through the search for the “great truth.” Bill believes the “great truth” lies in the mystery of how a pyramid features at the back of a one dollar note –“that’s the easy part,” he says, “it’s a Masonic symbol so they (the freemasons) control us and whole world.”

Sitting down for one of Bills lectures and listening to his obscure disquisitions on the nature of “the truth,” ranks as one of the most riveting experiences in my life. Not only does he come across as legitimate, intelligent and well researched, but what Bill actually says makes a cogent case. Its one that leads me to ask, “What the hell went wrong with America?” – “Why is the freest country on this planet, mired by so many conspiracy theories as to who actually runs the government?” – “Why do conspiracy theories continue to suggest, some unseen and benign hand has somehow seized the reins of authority in the most powerful country on this planet?”

At the heart of the question: what does a one dollar American bill have to do with the proposed pay rise of civil servants and public administrators in Singapore?

Today’s Reads (Mar 28)

• Sick of constant Media blitz in support of GST and Civil servants Pay Hike

  from HardwareZone Forum

• Budget 2007 Debates: Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Finance

  from Siew Kum Hong

• Philip Yeo’s words of wisdom!

  from Diary of A Singaporean Mind

• The Arena – An eye opener about the Singapore education…

  from Singapore Election Watch

• Compensating for a frustrating neighbourhood

  from Yawning Bread Sampler

• Why I swear never to join Young PAP

  from Hear ye! Hear ye!

• FEER and Singapore

  from Singabloodypore

• Re: My Thoughts In Hougang

  from Singapore politics through the eyes of an ordina

• Adventures of Elite Girl ep0029

Singapore Government Ministers’ Salaries: The Debate

Contents

1. The Government’s Case
   • MM Lee Kuan Yew
   • PM Lee Hsien Loong
2. The Blogosphere’s Reply

Read the rest of this feature >>

Today’s Reads (Mar 27)

Pay Hikes

• The Queer Sensibilities of Singapore’s Wordscape

  from A Xeno Boy in Sg

• Oh my god! I am speechless!

  from zyberzitizen

• Minister Pay Hike

  from A long and arduous road of an entrepreneur

• Adventures of Elite Girl ep0028

Offbeat

• All Singapore workers to have salaries pegged to top earners

  from Singapore Donkey

Other

• Malaysia and Singapore aren’t too different after all

  from Hear ye! Hear ye!

• Leaking Talent III: an unbureaucratic bureaucracy?

  from e pur si muove

• Melissa Sim, Sunday Times

  from e pur si muove

• Questions for Oral Answer: 1 March 2007

  from Siew Kum Hong

• Singapore seeks young rich expats (CNN.com)

  from Yahoo! News Search Results for singapore

[Film] When “300” Is Just Not Enough

“Today, they are trying to tamper with history by making a film and by making Iran’s image look savage.” 21 March 2007.
– Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on the film “300.” Reuters, AF-P.

For many Iranians and Arabs in the Middle East, the movie ‘300’ has been greeted with a mixture of anger and outrage. Its one that we may not really appreciate beyond dismissing as just another Arab nation overreacting once again – after all they are so sensitive aren’t they? That’s only because you’ve probably never ever heard of the word, “Thermopylae” before have you? No it’s not a Teflon frying pan. Neither is it even a space age insulator used by astronauts in their space suits. Nor a transparent film that cuts out deadly UV rays commonly used in automobiles.

The battle of Thermopylae 480BC was first recorded by the classical Greek historian, Herodotus, who lived in the Persian city of Halicarnassus.

Today’s Reads (Mar 26)

Public Sector Salaries

• Are you inspired by your ministers?

  from zyberzitizen

• The Ministers’ Salary Brouhaha

  from Singapore Kopi Tok

• Money Money Money
• We are worth every cent..

  from My sketchbook

• A man like that is hard to find but I cant get him…

  from 1 more Sg Blog : Just another Singaporean. Hi Fi

Other

• Survival of Small States-Hong Kong or Singapore?

  from Singapore Angle

The Perils of Attempting to Regulate the Internet

Recently at a Foreign Correspondents Association lunch, the government unveiled its strategy to manage the new media. Second Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts, Dr Vivian Balakrishnan – mentioned the need to set “the rules of engagement” for the new media.

It’s a development that has generated considerable consternation in blogosphere – some have labeled it, simply as yet another attempt to control and regulate the internet. Others feel real or imagined. This was simply just another ploy designed to cower wayward bloggers to behave or else…… The oblique threat is clear – we live in a world of implications. So now you know the facts of life – the writing is on the wall.

This throws out the question what are the drivers which had led to this development? What does the government hope to accomplish and more important will it really work? Are there any pitfalls?

Weekend Bulletin (Mar 24/25)

Public Sector Salaries

• Poor politicians and civil servants

  from nofearSingapore

• Singapore Ministers’ PAINFUL Sacrifice : Unfair and…

  from Diary of A Singaporean Mind

• Cut the crap

  from Two steps from twilight

• Its a rich man’s world

  from 1 more Sg Blog : Just another Singaporean. Hi Fi

• Just pay them more, lah.

  from Coffee and Cigarettes.

• Refrain

  from A Xeno Boy in Sg

• Minsta Pay Increase Special!

  from The Void Deck

• The ‘Service’ In Civil Service…

  from Wanderings, Musings and Happenings from Ian on S

• Adventures of Elite Girl ep0027- Staying Together, Moving Ahead
• The Case for Higher Salaries for Government Ministers

  from theonlinecitizen

Scholarships & Bonds

• Is Breaking a Scholarship Bond Immoral?

  from Singapore Angle: Perspectives

• Screwing The Girl Some Other Guy Really Loves

  from Wanderings, Musings and Happenings from Ian on S

Other

• Wanted: MPs With Courage And Ability To Speak Out

  from SingaporeSurf

Media

• The new media and the old media with its old spins

  from To Fix a Mocking Peasant

• Is Vivian Balakrishnan for real?

  from zyberzitizen

• Navigating the Age of the Internet, Singapore and…

  from Young PAP Blog

Talent

• Leaking Talent II: Singaporeans are marketable

  from e pur si muove

• I am Singaporean XX – Singaporeans in Demand?

  from Die neue Welle

Today’s Reads (Mar 22)

• Anti-smoking ads on TV: Health Promotion Board scarier…

  from URBANRANT – Musings and rants on life in Singapo

• Understanding the Talent Leak!

  from Diary of A Singaporean Mind

• Malaysia And Its Singaorean Inferiority Complex

  from SingaporeSurf

• THAILAND: Thai police chief says Shin sale broke law

  from AsiaMedia Southeast Asia News

• Of scholars and bonds

  from Hear ye! Hear ye!

• An unfair and unjust system!

  from Diary of A Singaporean Mind

Offbeat

• Philip Yeo admitted to National Neuroscience Institute…

  from Singapore Donkey

“When Singapore Inc Simply Means Having to Apologize (Part II) – A Surreal Conversation With A Rabbit

“People don’t hate what they see. They hate what they don’t see. The only problem is how do you even fight what you can’t see? See what I mean folks! That’s the thing that drives me up the wall. That’s the whole problem with those cotton picking commies! I just hate them for all the wrong reasons that I can’t seem to see, let alone think of!”

It’s a quote once uttered by an obscure senator by the name of Joseph McCarthy whose brief arc in American history exemplified the psychology of hate on a national and continental scale.

(1) I AM IN TROUBLE MY MODEL IS GOING NO WHERE!

I am certain something like those feelings which was once ran deep and silent in the American psyche during the 50’s. Currently exist in the mind of our Asian neighbors whenever the topic of Singapore and Singaporeans comes out. Real or imagined, these sentiments are often exacerbated by a milieu of factors, economic disparity, religious differences, historical fissures and a thousand other factors come into play. It all adds up to conjure the image where we (Singaporeans) are perceived as the rich kid on the block by our ASEAN neighbors. We are the smarty pants everyone likes to hate. Having said that, it also says very little beyond the run of the mill trite and cliché – it holds, saccharine true, only because it leaves a lingering taste long enough to remain believable. But falls short of being substantively convincing – that’s what happens when you use a lousy model – it produces lousy thinking – along with lousy results.

Today’s Reads (Mar 21)

• Singapore And Malaysia’s Johor – So Near, Yet So Far

  from SingaporeSurf

• Singapore – Well-loved or Well-hated?

  from this lush garden within

• Interview with Chris Anderson, Author of “The Long Tail”

  from Singapore Entrepreneurs ~ Venture Capital Fundin

• Proud to be Singaporean?

  from theonlinecitizen

• Life in construction

  from Yawning Bread Sampler

• On education: A Touchy subject for some!!

  from nofearSingapore

• Reasoned Exits

  from ringisei

• Leaking talent

  from Next Stop Wonderland