Something doesn't add up. It's got to do with whistle-blower Edward Snowden's revoked passport. The United States says it was revoked before Snowden high-tailed it out of Hong Kong. It's pointless to revoke a passport without letting interested parties know. But our government insists it didn't know. Either it's lying or US security officials are such dunderheads that terrorists everywhere must be smiling. Our government says that Snowden left "through a lawful and normal channel". Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying even said he exited with a valid passport. But WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he left with an Ecuadorian refugee document. Which is true? Departing passengers have their passports scanned at the ticket check-in counter and immigration when they leave. If a passport was revoked, would it show up at this point? Snowden had entered Hong Kong with a US passport. Surely, immigration red flags would have popped up if he had left with Ecuadorian documents, as Assange claims. Such a departure would be anything but "normal" unless it is normal practice for Hong Kong immigration to let people in with one passport and depart with another. Nothing adds up unless you conclude Beijing instructed Leung to let him go. In that case, the chief executive's boast of Hong Kong upholding the rule of law is just bull. Snowden's departure was not normal, it was political.
Today you will know why the Legislative Council is derisively called " ", like its Chinese name " ". But " " in Cantonese means "garbage council". Legco has lived up to that name before but today it will prove it really is a self-serving "garbage council" that puts votes ahead of the overall interests of the society it serves. Hong Kong's three dumps are filling up fast. Wasteful Hongkongers are among the world's top rubbish producers. The Tseung Kwan O landfill will overflow by 2016. Today, the government will ask Legco's public works subcommittee for spending approval to expand the landfills. But the pan-democrats have said they'll oppose it. The pro-establishment side is dithering. Our legislators are too gutless to offend "not in my backyard" Tseung Kwan O residents who fiercely oppose the expansion. They fear losing votes if they confront the residents. The next Legco election is in 2016 when landfills will overflow. The government should let our city be swamped by rubbish, then point the finger in election year at those who opposed the expansion. Let's see how many votes these gutless legislators get then.
