Its official: the 2008 Republican Ticket will be Senator John McCain of Arizona, and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. So who is Palin and why is she getting the Republicans all happy-happy?
Well, Palin is a pro-life reformist, who took the reigns of Alaska, and has since been known as “Sarah the Barracuda” with “the bodies of those that opposites Palin line the streets of Alaska”. She has been a lifelong member of the NRA, an avid hunter, and a small business woman. She has 5 kids, the oldest going to serve in Iraq, and the youngest just born last April, who happens to be down-syndrome.
So what does Palin do to the ticket? Well, she takes a bit away from the idea of ‘experience‘, as she has been governor for only 2 years. That point is moot however. She does bring in a lot of Clinton voters, and helps bring in energy to a relatively dead campaign. Not only that, but she also energies the republican base, who at this time where not too sure if they were going to go out and vote for McCain.
Palin also is known, like Biden, to be extremely blunt. I can’t wait for the Vice Presidential debate. Hold on, because this election just got a whole lot more interesting!
Friday, August 29, 2008
DNC: Day 4
Main Speaker: Barack Obama
Barack Obama appeared in barackopolis on the 28th day of the year 2008, of the month August. Oh, and he didn’t have a toga…not fun. Anyways, Barack Obama’s speech will go down in the history books, as he accepted the nomination by the Democratic Party. He spent most of his speech attacking Senator McCain, saying that he just does not “get it”, implying the he is much too old to even understand what is going on anymore.
The speech got millions of views,, more than the opening ceremony for the Olympic games, Oscars, or even the American Idol finally! The problem with his speech was that he did not lay out any type of specific plan to do anything. It was basically an anti-McCain speech, with a lot of generalities and vagueness applied to his “solutions”. Obama’s speech was basically just a the same one he’s given 100 times over, just given a different polish
Barack Obama appeared in barackopolis on the 28th day of the year 2008, of the month August. Oh, and he didn’t have a toga…not fun. Anyways, Barack Obama’s speech will go down in the history books, as he accepted the nomination by the Democratic Party. He spent most of his speech attacking Senator McCain, saying that he just does not “get it”, implying the he is much too old to even understand what is going on anymore.
The speech got millions of views,, more than the opening ceremony for the Olympic games, Oscars, or even the American Idol finally! The problem with his speech was that he did not lay out any type of specific plan to do anything. It was basically an anti-McCain speech, with a lot of generalities and vagueness applied to his “solutions”. Obama’s speech was basically just a the same one he’s given 100 times over, just given a different polish
DNC: Day 3
Main Speaker: Bill Clinton and Joe Biden
Bill, Bill, how we love thee. Yes, the former president of the United States was in Denver, giving a speech for Obama. Though the speech was only 10 minutes long, it was a long, intense, 10 minutes. Bill walked to the podium, and actually had to ask the audience if he could do his speech, since they were all so excited and clapping. When he finally managed to get his speech underway, he came out in the first few sentences strongly for Senator Obama, dispelling any idea that his speech would be about “me myself and I”.
Bill by far had one of the most powerful speeches of the entire convention, on par with those made by his wife and Obama himself on Thursday. He full-throatily endorsed Obama, saying that he was once called too young and too inexperienced to run the country. He gave the crowd some red meat as well, hitting McCain a few times.
Biden came a bit later, and I have to admit I really didn’t pay too much attention to it. Biden basically gave the normal VP speech, attacking McCain in numerous ways, as is the lie of a VP candidate. Bill by far was the main speaker that night.
Bill, Bill, how we love thee. Yes, the former president of the United States was in Denver, giving a speech for Obama. Though the speech was only 10 minutes long, it was a long, intense, 10 minutes. Bill walked to the podium, and actually had to ask the audience if he could do his speech, since they were all so excited and clapping. When he finally managed to get his speech underway, he came out in the first few sentences strongly for Senator Obama, dispelling any idea that his speech would be about “me myself and I”.
Bill by far had one of the most powerful speeches of the entire convention, on par with those made by his wife and Obama himself on Thursday. He full-throatily endorsed Obama, saying that he was once called too young and too inexperienced to run the country. He gave the crowd some red meat as well, hitting McCain a few times.
Biden came a bit later, and I have to admit I really didn’t pay too much attention to it. Biden basically gave the normal VP speech, attacking McCain in numerous ways, as is the lie of a VP candidate. Bill by far was the main speaker that night.
DNC: Day 2
Main Speaker: Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton: The woman who ran for the democratic ticket and was favored to win, and though she didn’t, put 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling. Her job was to bring the party together, and to show true ‘Unity’ in Denver.
Hillary, in my opinion, gave one of the best speeches in her political career. She emphasized why she ran, her beliefs, her accomplishments, and tied them all to Senator Obama, asking her voters to think about why they supported her. She asked them to vote for Obama if they were really with her, not only because she was a woman, but also because they believed she was right on the issues.
She stood up there and made the case for Obama, hoping that her supporters would follow suit. She attacked McCain a bit, as was expected. The whole thing looked completely genuine, even though some people still like to shout “2012!” over and over again. Needless to say, if that is really what Hillary is after, she’ll end up getting it after this performance. I don’t think there is one democrat who honestly believe that Hillary is not 110% for the Obama-Biden ticket.
Hillary Clinton: The woman who ran for the democratic ticket and was favored to win, and though she didn’t, put 18 million cracks in that glass ceiling. Her job was to bring the party together, and to show true ‘Unity’ in Denver.
Hillary, in my opinion, gave one of the best speeches in her political career. She emphasized why she ran, her beliefs, her accomplishments, and tied them all to Senator Obama, asking her voters to think about why they supported her. She asked them to vote for Obama if they were really with her, not only because she was a woman, but also because they believed she was right on the issues.
She stood up there and made the case for Obama, hoping that her supporters would follow suit. She attacked McCain a bit, as was expected. The whole thing looked completely genuine, even though some people still like to shout “2012!” over and over again. Needless to say, if that is really what Hillary is after, she’ll end up getting it after this performance. I don’t think there is one democrat who honestly believe that Hillary is not 110% for the Obama-Biden ticket.
DNC: Day 1
I'd like to make personal note before we start. Unfortunately, I was not able to get to my computer and thus the coverage is very late. I apologies. Anyway, here is Monday night!
Main Speaker: Michelle Obama
The day started off easy enough: only a few thousand protesters, one delegate leaving to go do a campaign add for McCain, and the party still wondering if they'll ever be united for Obama. This is where Michelle came in though.
Michelle's job was to get rid off all the negatives about her and her husband, especially the idea that he is an elitist and she isn't proud of her country. She needed to show the American people that they were just a normal family.
Michelle's speech was, and probably will be, the largest speech she'll ever have to give, unless her husband is elected and runs for a second term. She did surprisingly well though, talking about her life, her mother and father, and the troubles that she and Barack went through. She managed to humanize him in a way that only she would be able to do: as a loving wife and mother.
Her performance is not without its problems however. Though she accomplished her objective of humanizing Obama, she still could not get around the idea that she was proud of her country without seeing a bit contrived. She also spent more time on herself and family instead of Obama. I know I would have liked to hear more about her family, and all of that. She got what she needed to do done, but she didn’t score with any voters.
Main Speaker: Michelle Obama
The day started off easy enough: only a few thousand protesters, one delegate leaving to go do a campaign add for McCain, and the party still wondering if they'll ever be united for Obama. This is where Michelle came in though.
Michelle's job was to get rid off all the negatives about her and her husband, especially the idea that he is an elitist and she isn't proud of her country. She needed to show the American people that they were just a normal family.
Michelle's speech was, and probably will be, the largest speech she'll ever have to give, unless her husband is elected and runs for a second term. She did surprisingly well though, talking about her life, her mother and father, and the troubles that she and Barack went through. She managed to humanize him in a way that only she would be able to do: as a loving wife and mother.
Her performance is not without its problems however. Though she accomplished her objective of humanizing Obama, she still could not get around the idea that she was proud of her country without seeing a bit contrived. She also spent more time on herself and family instead of Obama. I know I would have liked to hear more about her family, and all of that. She got what she needed to do done, but she didn’t score with any voters.
IMPORTANT NOTICE
PoliticalPressure account is used after this point as just a post editor. Now that there is more than one perosn running this dog-and-pony show, it will return to what ti was meant for. Please look for posts by DrakeIshtar instead of PoliticalPressure.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
OBAMA VP DAY!
Yes, it's Obama VP day! Which means short little fill-in news about Obama's Vice Presidential pick. Who is it? Well, surprisingly is Joe Biden, senior senator from Delaware.
So why is it so unexpected? Well, let's just say you'd have an easier time keeping Bill in like than you would with Joe. I mean, this is the guy that said that Obama was not ready for the Presidency, and that he was the only recent 'clean' black man to run. Now, of course that meant clean, as in nothing hiding in the closet (though it turns out there is A LOT there), instead of clean, as in cleanly. But let's ignore that little blunder, since there are other parts to this whole flop.
Biden said has been in the Senate for longer than McCain, so there goes the whole "change" and evil "Washington insiders" stuff...hopefully, since it would make Obama to look like a it of a hypocrite. Biden also has said that he would be happy to serve for McCain if asked, and had nothing but compliments for the Senator from Arizona up until he was called on for "The One's" VP pick.
Overall, Biden isn't going to help Obama much. I mean, all he bring in is his Foreign Policy experience, which will end up showing Obama extremely inexperienced. He also doesn't bring any states into play, with the exception for parts of Pennsylvania. Oh, and of course the attack-dog part, though that is debatable since that's usually were all the controversy starts. Seems like Obama failed in his first decision: picking a VP.
So why is it so unexpected? Well, let's just say you'd have an easier time keeping Bill in like than you would with Joe. I mean, this is the guy that said that Obama was not ready for the Presidency, and that he was the only recent 'clean' black man to run. Now, of course that meant clean, as in nothing hiding in the closet (though it turns out there is A LOT there), instead of clean, as in cleanly. But let's ignore that little blunder, since there are other parts to this whole flop.
Biden said has been in the Senate for longer than McCain, so there goes the whole "change" and evil "Washington insiders" stuff...hopefully, since it would make Obama to look like a it of a hypocrite. Biden also has said that he would be happy to serve for McCain if asked, and had nothing but compliments for the Senator from Arizona up until he was called on for "The One's" VP pick.
Overall, Biden isn't going to help Obama much. I mean, all he bring in is his Foreign Policy experience, which will end up showing Obama extremely inexperienced. He also doesn't bring any states into play, with the exception for parts of Pennsylvania. Oh, and of course the attack-dog part, though that is debatable since that's usually were all the controversy starts. Seems like Obama failed in his first decision: picking a VP.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
The Russia-Gerogia War Part 1
Recently, Georgia and Russia have been at war, at least on one side. Not many people, especially those who tend to watch MSNBC (who is actually defending Russia I might add) have a good understanding of whats is/was going on at ground level. Of course, since I am not an expert, I'll be giving a very brief overview of the situation, along with the two cease-fire agreements that have now been signed.
Georgia has two breakaway provinces: South Osettia and Abkhazia. When President Mikhail Saakashvili was elected, he swore to add Gerogia to NATO as well as take back these two provinses. Saakashvili has already failed in one of these areas, that of NATO membership, which was not granted to the small country. Saakashvili seemed to not want to fail the second one, and against advice from the United States, went ahead and attacked the breakway provinses. This provoked Russia, who was already buliding up their forces at the border before hand, to come in as "peacekeepers" and protect the Russian citizens there (the people in those two provinces had dual citizenship). Russia has, since entering, pushed Georgia into Georgia-proper and continued pressing them until they finnaly were able to split the country in half, by capturing the city of Gori. Russia did not stop there however, as along the way, Russia decided to destroy civilian struictures, along with military ones that were abandend.
Furthermore, Russia has completely detroyed bridges, daycares, amusement parks, schools, churches, facotiries, they even started targeting the police force! It has gone through two cease-fire agreements with the Georgians, both of which the Russians did not folow through with, even though the Kremlin said that it would. Secretary of State Condellessa Rice was sent to Tiblisi to check on things for the United States. She and Saarkashvili held a joint news conference, where she strssed that Russia would pay a price for its invasion, and that it should respect Georgian sovereighty. Russia has said that it does not see any possibility for Gerogia to retain its territorial sovereignty, at least in respect to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia has declared that it would move forces out, now for the second time, and with no results. In fact, the troops are moving forward, toward the capital city.
It gets worse though. The United States and Poland came to a deal that U.S. would get a missle defence system placed in Poland, if the U.S. would protect poland if it were to come under attack (most likely from Russia of course). In responce, one of Russia's top generals implied that Nuclear missles could be launched at Europe and even the U.S.. Russia also decided to enforce this idea, by placing a missle center in South Ossetia, that could have nuclear possibilities. Until then though, Gerogians have something else to worry about. In fact, the Russian Federation was using weapons even the Soviets wouldn't use. They're even using cluster bombs!
Russia's repsonce? Well, they deny the use of cluster bombs as well as destroying any civilian structures. They write it all off as a lie, and say they are starting to bring their forces back. At this pint however, any credibility Moscow and the Kremlin had has comepltely diminished. Russia has been bullying its neighbors, and when one gets too close to the West, this is what happens. Its a wonder that they had not invaed Ukraine yet!
That's it for now. Look for Part 2, hopefully done next week, dealing with the effect that this will have on the relationship between Russia, and NATO, the EU, and the Unites States.
Georgia has two breakaway provinces: South Osettia and Abkhazia. When President Mikhail Saakashvili was elected, he swore to add Gerogia to NATO as well as take back these two provinses. Saakashvili has already failed in one of these areas, that of NATO membership, which was not granted to the small country. Saakashvili seemed to not want to fail the second one, and against advice from the United States, went ahead and attacked the breakway provinses. This provoked Russia, who was already buliding up their forces at the border before hand, to come in as "peacekeepers" and protect the Russian citizens there (the people in those two provinces had dual citizenship). Russia has, since entering, pushed Georgia into Georgia-proper and continued pressing them until they finnaly were able to split the country in half, by capturing the city of Gori. Russia did not stop there however, as along the way, Russia decided to destroy civilian struictures, along with military ones that were abandend.
Furthermore, Russia has completely detroyed bridges, daycares, amusement parks, schools, churches, facotiries, they even started targeting the police force! It has gone through two cease-fire agreements with the Georgians, both of which the Russians did not folow through with, even though the Kremlin said that it would. Secretary of State Condellessa Rice was sent to Tiblisi to check on things for the United States. She and Saarkashvili held a joint news conference, where she strssed that Russia would pay a price for its invasion, and that it should respect Georgian sovereighty. Russia has said that it does not see any possibility for Gerogia to retain its territorial sovereignty, at least in respect to South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Russia has declared that it would move forces out, now for the second time, and with no results. In fact, the troops are moving forward, toward the capital city.
It gets worse though. The United States and Poland came to a deal that U.S. would get a missle defence system placed in Poland, if the U.S. would protect poland if it were to come under attack (most likely from Russia of course). In responce, one of Russia's top generals implied that Nuclear missles could be launched at Europe and even the U.S.. Russia also decided to enforce this idea, by placing a missle center in South Ossetia, that could have nuclear possibilities. Until then though, Gerogians have something else to worry about. In fact, the Russian Federation was using weapons even the Soviets wouldn't use. They're even using cluster bombs!
Russia's repsonce? Well, they deny the use of cluster bombs as well as destroying any civilian structures. They write it all off as a lie, and say they are starting to bring their forces back. At this pint however, any credibility Moscow and the Kremlin had has comepltely diminished. Russia has been bullying its neighbors, and when one gets too close to the West, this is what happens. Its a wonder that they had not invaed Ukraine yet!
That's it for now. Look for Part 2, hopefully done next week, dealing with the effect that this will have on the relationship between Russia, and NATO, the EU, and the Unites States.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
China and the Olympics.
First off, I do have to thank Brent for inviting me to be a part of this stellar blog.
Not that I agree with anything he says. ;)
So I know that this blog has been mostly about the election so far, but I figured there was another issue that should be discussed.
Is anyone else beginning to notice how horribly corrupt China is? I'm not really talking about major political issues in this case (I'll get to that at some point, I promise), but all the same, the things that have been recently brought to my attention are nothing short of appalling.
First, the matter of the Chinese women's gymnastics team.
Olympic rules clearly state that any athlete competing in the games, regardless of country of origin, must be at least sixteen years of age by December 31st of the year of the games.
Now, that being said, take a look at China's women's team.
Do they all look sixteen to you? No, I didn't think so.
To anyone with half a brain, it is quite evident that more than half of China's team is underage. The problem is, China wants girls as young as possible, because the smaller and thinner their gymnasts are, the more agile and flexible they are, giving China the athletic advantage. So how are these girls being allowed to compete when they are so very obviously underage? The answer is simple, but somewhat shocking. China falsified papers for all of their underage gymnasts, altering their birthdates so that "legally" they are sixteen, or will be by the end of this year. In my opinion, China should be disqualified for these despicable actions, but two problems arise. First, there may well be no solid proof of the alterations, seeing as now the that papers have been permanently altered, the chances that there are still living copies of the originals is slim. Second, though most of us are seething and waiting for China to be punished, who is there to penalize? It isn't really fair to take the medals away from the girls on the team, after they worked so hard to earn a spot on the team in the first place. It wasn't as if they were going to turn down a spot on the Olympic team, falsified papers or no falsified papers. They shouldn't have been offered the positions in the first place, but what's done is done, and these young girls can't be charged for the actions of upper authorities. Said upper authorities should, logically, be the ones to take responsibility and be penalized for their actions, but the likelihood of that outcome is probably coupled with that of Obama choosing Hillary Clinton as a running mate.
And as if that isn't enough, there's this whole lip syncing fiasco, which I'm sure most of us have heard of by now. To save time, I'll give you the short version.
If you watched the Olympic opening ceremony, you saw the cute little girl with the pigtails, seven-year-old Lin Miaoke, do crazy stunts on the trapeze and singing "Ode To The Motherland." As it turns out, it wasn't actually her doing the singing. The girl who was actually doing the singing was nine-year-old Yang Peiyi, who, with her "chubby face and crooked baby teeth" apparently wasn't cute enough for China's opening ceremonies.
Let me give you a second to digest that.
That's right. They decided that this nine-year-old girl, who had the "perfect" voice, apparently wasn't good looking enough for their ceremonies, so they picked some other girl who they deemed cuter, and synced the voice with the face.
Anybody else want to vomit?
China is so completely obsessed with their image that they're going to unimaginable lengths to preserve it. This girl is nine years old. Honestly, this is ridiculous. I think what China doesn't realize is that their plan is sort of backfiring; the harder they try to preserve their image by doing things that the rest of us find vomit-inducing, the more they look like image-obsessed criminals, which, honestly, is what they're beginning to turn into.
Apparently, China's noble quest for perfection includes corrupted officials and hiding their less-than-perfect children.
One last thing for you to chew on before I leave you.
You know all those pretty fireworks you saw on your telly on the night of opening ceremonies?
Half of them were prerecorded and then rebroadcasted.
Three cheers for façades!
Goodnight, and good luck.
/Edit.
In interest of the subject at hand, I recently read an article by Mitch Albom in the Free Press highlighting exactly the points I wished to cover, but doing so much more eloquently than I could manage. Hopefully, this will bring a little more professional insight to this topic.
Not that I agree with anything he says. ;)
So I know that this blog has been mostly about the election so far, but I figured there was another issue that should be discussed.
Is anyone else beginning to notice how horribly corrupt China is? I'm not really talking about major political issues in this case (I'll get to that at some point, I promise), but all the same, the things that have been recently brought to my attention are nothing short of appalling.
First, the matter of the Chinese women's gymnastics team.
Olympic rules clearly state that any athlete competing in the games, regardless of country of origin, must be at least sixteen years of age by December 31st of the year of the games.
Now, that being said, take a look at China's women's team.
Do they all look sixteen to you? No, I didn't think so.
To anyone with half a brain, it is quite evident that more than half of China's team is underage. The problem is, China wants girls as young as possible, because the smaller and thinner their gymnasts are, the more agile and flexible they are, giving China the athletic advantage. So how are these girls being allowed to compete when they are so very obviously underage? The answer is simple, but somewhat shocking. China falsified papers for all of their underage gymnasts, altering their birthdates so that "legally" they are sixteen, or will be by the end of this year. In my opinion, China should be disqualified for these despicable actions, but two problems arise. First, there may well be no solid proof of the alterations, seeing as now the that papers have been permanently altered, the chances that there are still living copies of the originals is slim. Second, though most of us are seething and waiting for China to be punished, who is there to penalize? It isn't really fair to take the medals away from the girls on the team, after they worked so hard to earn a spot on the team in the first place. It wasn't as if they were going to turn down a spot on the Olympic team, falsified papers or no falsified papers. They shouldn't have been offered the positions in the first place, but what's done is done, and these young girls can't be charged for the actions of upper authorities. Said upper authorities should, logically, be the ones to take responsibility and be penalized for their actions, but the likelihood of that outcome is probably coupled with that of Obama choosing Hillary Clinton as a running mate.
And as if that isn't enough, there's this whole lip syncing fiasco, which I'm sure most of us have heard of by now. To save time, I'll give you the short version.
If you watched the Olympic opening ceremony, you saw the cute little girl with the pigtails, seven-year-old Lin Miaoke, do crazy stunts on the trapeze and singing "Ode To The Motherland." As it turns out, it wasn't actually her doing the singing. The girl who was actually doing the singing was nine-year-old Yang Peiyi, who, with her "chubby face and crooked baby teeth" apparently wasn't cute enough for China's opening ceremonies.
Let me give you a second to digest that.
That's right. They decided that this nine-year-old girl, who had the "perfect" voice, apparently wasn't good looking enough for their ceremonies, so they picked some other girl who they deemed cuter, and synced the voice with the face.
Anybody else want to vomit?
China is so completely obsessed with their image that they're going to unimaginable lengths to preserve it. This girl is nine years old. Honestly, this is ridiculous. I think what China doesn't realize is that their plan is sort of backfiring; the harder they try to preserve their image by doing things that the rest of us find vomit-inducing, the more they look like image-obsessed criminals, which, honestly, is what they're beginning to turn into.
Apparently, China's noble quest for perfection includes corrupted officials and hiding their less-than-perfect children.
One last thing for you to chew on before I leave you.
You know all those pretty fireworks you saw on your telly on the night of opening ceremonies?
Half of them were prerecorded and then rebroadcasted.
Three cheers for façades!
Goodnight, and good luck.
/Edit.
In interest of the subject at hand, I recently read an article by Mitch Albom in the Free Press highlighting exactly the points I wished to cover, but doing so much more eloquently than I could manage. Hopefully, this will bring a little more professional insight to this topic.
China's tiny gymnasts in service to the gold
Mitch Albom
BEIJING -- What did you expect? Any country that would lip-sync out a 7-year-old singer because she wasn't cute enough for the opening ceremony wouldn't hesitate to use underage children to capture gold medals. That's a no-brainer. There is what you see and there is what really goes on in China, and what you see at these Games, the image they project, is as precious as oxygen to the New Emperor of the Planet. Who cares if a gymnast is so young she is, as one critic charged, "missing a tooth"?
"Deng ..." a reporter, according to Reuters, asked a Chinese gymnast who looks small enough to pack in a suitcase, "what Chinese zodiac animal are you?"
"A monkey," Deng responded.
Not only was it the correct chronological answer, it was dead on in the irony department. Every four years, female gymnasts become dueling national Tinker Bells. And while we ignore their sport in between, during the Olympics it's as if our existence hangs in the balance.
China beat the U.S. for gold in the team competition, and it became a drama and a controversy. Tonight, they battle for the individual title of Olympic champion.
Brace yourself. It's barefoot war out there.
A question for the ages
America gasped when our blonde pixies slipped and stumbled. Alicia Sacramone, a 20-year-old from Boston (making her almost a grandma), fell off her balance beam mount and plopped on her rump during the floor exercise. Her teammates, at times, seemed wobbly.
Meanwhile, the Chinese girls, performing before a raucous home crowd, delivered mostly flawless performances and waved with wild exuberance before, presumably, being put down for their naps.
You must turn 16 in the Olympic year to compete in this sport. But honestly. This one girl? Deng Linlin? She's 16 the way I'm 16. All the girls are tiny: She looks up to them. Previous registrations for events suggest several Chinese gymnasts may barely be 14 (even that is hard to believe), but all you need for the Games is a valid passport, and, surprise, the team has those. Who are you going to interrogate? The Chinese president?
Instead, Deng and her teammates were grilled by journalists with: "How did you spend your 15th birthday?" "What are your memories of it?" All that was missing were the hot lights and the cops.
But they won. That's what matters here. If you're looking for outrage, remember that not long ago, with its One Child policy, little girls were in danger of being killed over here or, at the least, shipped out for adoption. Now, in service to the state, they are on a pedestal.
It's a win-or-else mentality
But then, China is not in this for the warm and fuzzies. They don't make commercials here about the joy of trying even if you fail. There is an expression you see -- I spotted it at a museum that featured the urban planning of Beijing -- and it goes "Have no best, only better."
Translation for the Olympics: Gold is the minimum. More gold after that.
It is the reason why, as of this writing, China had more gold medals than anyone, and more than three times as many golds as it had silver or bronze. America may have more total hardware, but second or third place is of little interest here. The Chinese planned for years to specialize in sports that yielded multiple medals and go for gold. East Germany did it. So did the Soviet Union.
Now the Chinese are getting their wish -- no matter what the sacrifice -- and we seem more upset over it than they are. When news broke that the darling of the opening ceremony, a cute-as-a-button, pig-tailed singer who performed "Ode to the Motherland" was actually lip-syncing, because the true singer, a 7-year-old girl, was judged by a high-ranking official as not pretty enough, the Western world was aghast. But not the hosts.
"We combined the perfect voice and the perfect performance," Chen Qigang, the ceremony's chief music director, told Beijing Radio. "The audience will understand that it's in the national interest."
It may sound cruel and robotic. But Luciano Pavarotti lip-synced his Olympic aria in Torino. And Bela Karolyi, the hysterical gymnastics analyst for NBC who blasts the Chinese for age abuse, was accused of similar things when he was the "enemy" coaching Romania, remember?
Tonight, if an American finishes second, we can say she gave her all. And if a Chinese girl wins gold, her government can say "as expected." It's a barefoot war out there, with young women crying and little girls on the firing line. You can forget sometimes, here in Beijing, that sports are supposed to be fun.
Aren't they?
Edit./
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Obama's Race Card playing tactic
A bit of belated news, but news nonetheless. Obama has once again played the race card. Oh, and ignore the part II in the title, since he's done it plenty of times before that.
Obama, in June, first said that the republicans where going to try to make you scared of him by talking about his name, and the fact that he is black.
In August, Obama used the exact same statement, with the exception of the "...and did I mention he's black" part, which he traded in for "...doesn't look like all the other presidents on the dollar bill".
So you have to ask: why is Obama doing this, and what will the voters think?
The reason why Obama is playing this card is simply because he does not wish to go through the vetting process, like Clinton and McCain had to do, and, well, ANY person running for office, let alone the highest office in the land, would have to go through. Basically, he is playing the card so that if anyone were to look back into Obama's rather messy past, or even challenge him on the issues, Obama and his goons would end up painting the person as a racist. It's exactly what happened to Hillary and Bill Clinton in the Democratic primaries, since the two had to fumble on their words at every moment to make sure that they could not be seen as racist, even by people so far left as Obama, Sharpton, or Jackson. Unfortunately, Obama's plan had worked. Now he is putting it into play against John McCain, who made sure that the moment it came out, he put out a statement showing how Obama played the card, and the Obama's campaign low road tactics.
But really, how does this resonate with voters? Obama basically has the hardcore liberals eating from the palm of his hand, but is having trouble with the Hillary voters, usually women over the age of 40, and blue-collar workers, also voters who came in large numbers to the Hillary campaign, and finally the Hispanic voters, who recent polls show may be going to Obama, but aren’t necessarily locked in as John McCain has a history with the Hispanic vote. Now, this does not work well wit any of the above. All three of the groups would see this for what it is, a racial move, and will be moved more towards McCain.
It really is a shame that in today's political climate, race still comes to the forefront by politicians trying to force people to vote for them, or else have those people be considered "racist" since they didn't share the same views. Really, American politics have come to a new low.
Obama, in June, first said that the republicans where going to try to make you scared of him by talking about his name, and the fact that he is black.
In August, Obama used the exact same statement, with the exception of the "...and did I mention he's black" part, which he traded in for "...doesn't look like all the other presidents on the dollar bill".
So you have to ask: why is Obama doing this, and what will the voters think?
The reason why Obama is playing this card is simply because he does not wish to go through the vetting process, like Clinton and McCain had to do, and, well, ANY person running for office, let alone the highest office in the land, would have to go through. Basically, he is playing the card so that if anyone were to look back into Obama's rather messy past, or even challenge him on the issues, Obama and his goons would end up painting the person as a racist. It's exactly what happened to Hillary and Bill Clinton in the Democratic primaries, since the two had to fumble on their words at every moment to make sure that they could not be seen as racist, even by people so far left as Obama, Sharpton, or Jackson. Unfortunately, Obama's plan had worked. Now he is putting it into play against John McCain, who made sure that the moment it came out, he put out a statement showing how Obama played the card, and the Obama's campaign low road tactics.
But really, how does this resonate with voters? Obama basically has the hardcore liberals eating from the palm of his hand, but is having trouble with the Hillary voters, usually women over the age of 40, and blue-collar workers, also voters who came in large numbers to the Hillary campaign, and finally the Hispanic voters, who recent polls show may be going to Obama, but aren’t necessarily locked in as John McCain has a history with the Hispanic vote. Now, this does not work well wit any of the above. All three of the groups would see this for what it is, a racial move, and will be moved more towards McCain.
It really is a shame that in today's political climate, race still comes to the forefront by politicians trying to force people to vote for them, or else have those people be considered "racist" since they didn't share the same views. Really, American politics have come to a new low.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Energy In America
Let's face it, the only thing that is taking over the War on Terror and the failing economy is the energy crisis., and oh boy is it taking over! So let's see what the candidates are for and against:
John McCain:
-For Offshore Drilling
-For Coal Mining
-For Nuclear Power
-For Wind Power
-For Solar Power
-For Electric Cars and Hybrid Cars
-For Ethanol
-For Fossil Fuels
-For other types of Energy
Barack Obama:
-For Wind Power
-For Solar Power
-For Electric Cars and Hybrid Cars
-For Ethanol
-For other Energy Sources
-Against Offshore Drilling
-Against Coal Mining
-Against Nuclear Power
-Against Fossil Fuels
Now, the two have one major source, or lack there of when it comes to Obama. For McCain, his major priority seems to be that the oil offcoast will be available for drilling. Obama takes a different approach. He focuses on the idea of conservation, which basically means that the American people need to just deal with it.
Last thing though, and of course it has to deal with Obama since he can't stop getting in the spotlight! Obama recently said that we would save all the energy that we could get from off the cost if all we did was make sure our tires were properly inflated. Really?!
So the candidates can't really agree on much of anything, so let's leave it up to the voters to decide who really have what it takes to get out of this mess.
John McCain:
-For Offshore Drilling
-For Coal Mining
-For Nuclear Power
-For Wind Power
-For Solar Power
-For Electric Cars and Hybrid Cars
-For Ethanol
-For Fossil Fuels
-For other types of Energy
Barack Obama:
-For Wind Power
-For Solar Power
-For Electric Cars and Hybrid Cars
-For Ethanol
-For other Energy Sources
-Against Offshore Drilling
-Against Coal Mining
-Against Nuclear Power
-Against Fossil Fuels
Now, the two have one major source, or lack there of when it comes to Obama. For McCain, his major priority seems to be that the oil offcoast will be available for drilling. Obama takes a different approach. He focuses on the idea of conservation, which basically means that the American people need to just deal with it.
Last thing though, and of course it has to deal with Obama since he can't stop getting in the spotlight! Obama recently said that we would save all the energy that we could get from off the cost if all we did was make sure our tires were properly inflated. Really?!
So the candidates can't really agree on much of anything, so let's leave it up to the voters to decide who really have what it takes to get out of this mess.
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