The would-be emperors' new hosedown
On the heels of the rejection by Taiwan's High Court of the pan-blue opposition's request to nullify the outcome of the March 20, 2004 presidential election, the Ministry of Justice's Supreme Prosecutor's Office has posted online the Select Committee Report On Investigation of Shooting Incident Of President Chen Shui-bian & Vice-President Annette Lu and Select Committee Report Conclusion & Summary On Investigation of Shooting Incident Of President Chen Shui-bian & Vice-President Annette Lu published by forensic expert Dr. Henry Lee. The two parts are available in both English and Chinese-language versions and can be downloaded as PDF files from the following links:

* Report [English] [Chinese]
* Conclusion & Summary [English] [Chinese]

These documents strike yet another blow against the pan-blues' already terribly weak case. They demonstrate that the forensic evidence shows that President Chen Shui-bian and Vice-President Annette Lu were indeed struck by bullets fired from outside of the vehicle in which they were riding. The pan-blues continue to such nonsensical claims as that Lu was hit by a "marble" [BETTER TRANSLATION: "ball bearing"] or that Chen's wound isn't a bullet wound at all.

They stubbornly press on with their futile battle, all the while crying about things like "justice" and "democracy."

People First Party (PFP) legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (AKA "Mr. Bulldozer") tried to throw sand in the eyes of those who might be planning to read Henry Lee's conclusions, claiming that without Lee's signature they might be "forgeries." That kind of statement reeks of desperation! I'm fairly confident that Lee has access to both the Internet and the media, and he'd be making denials by this time if they weren't the documents he gave to the High Court.

As for the timing of the report's release, according to State Public Prosecutor General Wu Ying-chao, "now is the 'best time' to publish the report because the 319 shooting investigative team has completed investigations based on part of the report which had to be kept secret before."

The pan-blue leaders wouldn't know democracy if it bit 'em on the ass. In fact, I think it has bitten them more than once.

Ready, aim, uh, which way do I point this thing?
Politicians within the pan-blue camp criticized their own lawyers for "not having the political savvy" to handle the case successfully, according to FTV's English Edition. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan then sharply told the media not to criticize the lawyers. Talk about aimless!

In Taiwan, at least by people whose heads aren't full of rocks, John Kerry's concession in the US Presidential Election is being held up as model behavior for someone who loses an election by a narrow margin. I'm beginning to appreciate it a little more by looking at it from this angle.