(Sorry…last sentence in 5th paragraph should read, “Things AREN’T perfect but they’re one helluva lot better off now than before.”)

There are fundamental differences between China and United States and anyone looking to find their way through the Corporate Media hype, China’s attempts to muffle criticism and our attempts to direct their history had best bone up on those differences.

Essentially, our culture is about 225 years old; theirs is about 5,000 years old. We, the People “created” our government. They, the Chinese, have been given their government (be it via a Dynasty or Dictator, benevolent or tyrannical).

We, having created our government, tend (or at least, used to tend) to its continued upkeep. We vote, we demonstrate, we donate, we campaign…we do all those things owners of a democracy are expected to do.

The Chinese, having been “given” their government, don’t really “own” it. If their Dictator or Emperor is kind and benevolent, they thrive. If their Dictator or Emperor is tyrannical, they suffer. This has been their history for thousands of years and during that time they’ve experienced centuries of incomparable wealth, sophistication, and advancement; and they’ve experienced centuries of poverty, disease and neglect.

So here they are, in 2008, in the process of attempting to move 1.3 BILLION people from the 19th century into the 21st. Go to China, ask ANY 20-something if they’re content with the way things are and they’ll say “no.” Ask them if they want to rock the boat and push for dramatic changes and they’ll say “no.” They have only to ask their parents how things were 25 years ago (much less ask their grandparents how things were in the 1950s or 1960s) and they have their answer: Things are perfect but they’re one helluva lot better off now than before.

(Now, let’s ask our own 20-somethings those same questions.)

the monks in Tibet “seen” supposedly burning, looting; it was NOT them; independent media showed the monks begging journalists to help them; alas, they could not; folks “made to look” like the monks were the ones who did it; the monk’s (who would not harm a thing) paid the price with their lives; thank you Bush & Current American Governement; this was a WESTERN trick, NOT an Eastern one; NOW you see that when Obama claims American’s ripping babies out of mothers arms & they are taking refuge in churchs: FALSE PICTURES folks; Point is: The WORLD knows this very well; do AMERICANS? WAKE UP AMERICANS!

America’s current direction may be heading more toward China’s authoritarianism, but China is still gets the medal in repression and control.  Internet control, monitoring by hotels of the internet habits of its guests, a pretty restrictive ban on professional and flash photography, and the ban on protests of any kind are some of the “rules” at the Olympics. This puts us to shame in the authritarian/paranoid state category.  We may be bad, and we may be exploiting the repression of the Chinese people as a cheap manufacturing base, but we still have quite a ways to go before we reach China’s level.

I think all the focus on the political repression in China is a good thing.  China needs to stop fearing its own people so much, a free China is good for everyone.  It is time where the world community can send a collective message to China that they are not yet a civilized country.  Perhaps they will listen and learn.  The United States government and people would also do well to pay attention, remember of the principles of freedom this country was founded on and do a little introspection as to how we have gone away from that toward a China-like model.

LOUISE-THANK YOU-I AM THAT AGE ALSO-I-too-REMEMBER ALL THOSE THINGS-I have watched this GREAT COUNTRY and SYSTEM go TO HELL!!!!I FEAR FOR ALL OF US!!!!!

more breaking news

hmmm,

this article was included in the google search result i posted last nite…..
it isnt there now.

so much deception, so much treachery.
but i have observed the scene long enough to know whats news and what is disinfo

there are times when i just know whats going on behind the scene, no proof required, this is one of those moment…..
tinyurl.com/5orxrj
[to view, just copy the link as it it is and paste in the address bar, then hit enter]

oh, i just heard 4 foreign postestors are arrested in beijing, surprise surprise, two yanks and two brits.
those damned chicoms really suck, dont they ?

Aint life grand? And a wee bit ridiculous. I remember when folks in LA had to wear masks. Wasn’t to long ago. I remember flying into a bowl of brown mud on a bright and sunny day and marveling that the pilot could find the runway.

I remember when politics and sports were two different things, and everybody wanted to keep it that way.

I remember when an Olympic competitor was more important than the whiny ego of a non-producing neo-con.

I remember when toys were manufactured in the United States and we didn’t have to worry about our kids being poisoned. In fact I am so old I remember when every town had several toy stores and almost every town had a manufacturing base. I remember back to when the Wal-Mart model didn’t own the government and the local city council, and our right to shop in a variety of different mom and pop stores. Yep, I remember what it was like when we in America actually had reason to believe in ourselves.

I personally refuse to blame China for the problems we have with things imported. I prefer to blame Wal-Mart, who will do ANYTHING to make a buck, including making your kids sick.

And I refuse to condemn China’s effort to join the Olympic World because of their history of human rights abuses. Anybody read OUR history lately? Tibetans suffer and you all care, but you apparently don’t give a hoot about Palestinians who suffer at the hand of the Israeli war party, or the lost and missing and dead, courtesy Bush and Cheney and their war party. Double standards abound. Especially in the good ol United States of.

Maybe that’s the inevitable result of allowing the conservative party to gain credibility.

No matter I suppose. At least no matter for those who become impassioned over the suffering of everyone except the ones we have a hand in causing to suffer.

~~~

“It seems to be OK for those opposed to a given Chinese policy to politicize the Olympics. But woe to China if it uses the Games to promote some of the more positive things it is accomplishing.” http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/olympics_blog/china/in dex.html

I watched the Chinese raise Olympic flags this morning and I was moved and impressed. And guess what folks. I could actually see them! Unlike so many times when I haven’t been able to see across a Freeway in America.

Perhaps we are approaching the day when we no longer say remember the starving children in China. How close are we to hearing, remember the starving children in America? What’s up with that? Oh yeh Monsanto’s falling down on the job. Seems to me if we are going to allow Wal-Mart to destroy our manufacturing base, and Monsanto to own every seed we need to survive, the least they could do is make it available when we need it at a price we can afford. And guaranteed not to make someone or something sick!

To much to ask for I know. I mean the profit is infinitely more important, right? And the dividends for all the non-producers. Right.

But hey, what goes on back home doesn’t matter, cause we’ve got China to pull down. Only maybe we need to stop and ask, just for the heck of it, who ya gonna call if China wants their money back?

You know, that National Debt thing?

I find all this talk of boycotting the Olympics over Tibet to be silly.

When the U.S. Olympics team participated in the 2004 Olympics, no one booed or jeered them or in any way mistreated them over the Iraq invasion.

Everyone was able to put politics aside to enjoy the games.

Yet now with China it seems that politics must take center-stage?

I wonder what the reaction would be if China decided not to let the U.S. team and U.S. tourists/sponsors participate because of Iraq?

This is silly and should end. Tibet is an important issue, but let’s not ruin things for all the participating teams and athletes for those few days.

I wouldn’t be surprised if certain parties anxious to embarass China are behind all this hysteria.

All part of the great game…when you’re king of the hill you have to keep all contenders at bay..

relax,
hippy pam

uncle sham has everything under control

Yep-let’s go spend our money in a country with the least concern for their citizens rights and so much pollution in the air that wearing a mask is advisable.A country that still has SARS outbreaks.A country that regularly[with our governments approval] sends LEAD PAINTED TOYS for our children to play with so they can get lead poisoning-