Monday Post

This has been said before but bears repeating:

Young migrant workers in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen are sorely underpaid but in no position to ask for more money, state media on Monday cited a survey as showing against a backdrop of strikes.

Factories in China's export powerhouse province of Guangdong, where Shenzhen is located, have been hit by a string of stoppages over the past few months by workers demanding a bigger slice of the country's economic wealth.

In Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong, the average monthly wage for young migrant workers is less than half that of those who hold full-time, long-term jobs in the same city, at 1,838.6 yuan ($271.3), according to the new survey.

"Many companies pay in line with the city's lowest minimum standard, and migrant workers can only raise their income by doing excessive amounts of overtime," the All-China Federation of Trade Unions said.

Such a salary "can only maintain the very lowest standards of living in Shenzhen," it added.

The survey, excerpts of which were carried in Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, made no reference to the bout of strikes, in line with the muted coverage of the unrest by Chinese media.

The latest strike has affected a plant supplying parts to Honda Motors' China operations.

But the publication of the study in an official newspaper shows that the rising demands of a new generation of workers migrating from Chinese villages, or born to migrants in the cities, are weighing on policy-makers.

A similar report last month warned migrant demands were a test for stability, something the Communist Party values above all else.

The new survey pointed out that young migrant workers were in a weak position when it came to pushing for higher pay.

"They ... don't know much about protecting their rights and ... lack communication channels within companies," it said. "When their rights are infringed upon in most cases they choose to change jobs, so there is a lot of movement of labor."

Young migrants thought they should be getting at least 2,679 yuan a month, but would need 4,200 yuan a month to be able to afford to have a family, the survey found.

Though they were better educated than the generation of migrants that came before them, they were still essentially doing the same manual jobs and few had risen to the ranks of management, it added.

NOTE: by stability, refer to how the communist Chinese government deals with parents who have lost their children in earthquakes or people whose homes have been bulldozed during the Olympics. This is what Canada trades with China for.

Maybe I shouldn't type this in case I appear superstitious or ridiculous:

ABC’s Nightline has a fascinating story about Edward Kagin, an atheist and provocateur, who conducted a mass "de-baptism" of fellow non-believers to symbolically dry off the baptism waters:

Standing at a podium wearing a long brown monk’s robe, Kagin read with the oratorical skill of a preacher from a set of pages in his hand and invited participants to come forward to be de-baptized.

He recited a few mock-Latin syllables, to the audience’s amusement. An assistant produced a large hairdryer, labeled "Reason and Truth," and handed it to Kagin. The man who’d elected himself to be de-baptized stood before him. Kagin turned on the hairdryer, blowing the hot air in his face in an attempt to symbolically dry up his baptismal waters.

"Come forward now and receive the spirit of hot air that taketh away the stigma and taketh away the remnants of the stain of baptismal water," Kagin shouts.

Because nothing says rationality or intelligence like waving a hair dryer around to "remove" the effects of baptism.


So we're clear:


Can. 845 §1. Since the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, and orders imprint a character, they cannot be repeated. (More)



People who hate dogs cannot be trusted:

Blind passengers are being ordered off buses or refused taxi rides because Muslim drivers or passengers object to their 'unclean' guide dogs.

One pensioner, a cancer sufferer, told how had twice been confronted by drivers and asked to get off the bus because of his guide dog, and had also faced hostility at a hospital and in a supermarket over the animal.

The problem to carry guide dogs on religious grounds has become so widespread that the matter was raised in the House of Lords last week, prompting transport minister Norman Baker to warn that a religious objection was not a reason to eject a passenger with a well-behaved guide dog....

The tension stems from a strand of Islamic teaching which warns against contact with dogs because the animal's saliva was considered to be impure, the Muslim Council of Britain said.

It urged Muslims to show tolerance and common sense over the issue.

'We need to be flexible on this,' a spokesman said. 'Muslim drivers should have no hesitation in allowing guide dogs into their bus or car.

'If a dog does lick you, it's not the end of the world. Just go home and wash yourself.'

I'm still trying to understand why we need to explain to adults the need to grow the hell up.

Where is Batman when you need him?

Sarah Palin, who waded into a New York political fight by endorsing Ann Marie Buerkle in NY-25, is drifting into a decidedly higher-charged battle: The fray over a planned mosque near Ground Zero.

"Peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand, Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts. Pls reject it in interest of healing," she tweeted Sunday....

The building's planners, the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, have said it's modeled on religious and community centers such as the YMCA, and that the 13-story, $100 million building would also include an arts center, gym and a swimming pool, as well as a mosque. It would be two blocks away from Ground Zero.

The project, which has become an increasingly partisan issue in New York, received a renewed burst of national attention when CBS and NBC rejected an ad from the National Republican Trust PAC that crosscut footage of the 9/11 attacks with the sounds of Muslim prayer.

"On Sept. 11, they declared war against us," a narrator says. "And to celebrate that murder of 3,000 Americans, they want to build a monstrous 13-story mosque at ground zero."

While a recent poll showed a majority of New Yorkers oppose the plan to build the mosque built near Ground Zero, an aide in Mayor Michael Bloomberg's City Hall hit back at Palin, first tweeting “@SarahPalinUSA mind your business.

This is the same Michael Bloomberg who thought the Times Square bomber was some random nutjob opposed to Obamacare. When someone from outside of your state sees a bad move before you do, you know it's time to quit.

I'm amazed at the stuff you can do with duct tape or glue. Really.