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Our current Rice Hysteria
Got rice?
Of course you do. Even if the price is up in Chinatown.
But why buy more to hoard when the prices are artificially high? That only drives up the prices even higher and makes a temporary spike last longer.
I don’t know about Uncle Ben’s, but your fancy Cal-Rose long grain grown in America rice shouldn’t [...] -
Tibet protests DO have impact: China to open talks
China now appears to be bending the Tibet issue after weeks of tough talks, violence and international protest.
Of course, that’s still an interpretation based on this “read between the lines” public pronouncement:
“In view of the requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming talks, the relevant department of the central government will have contact [...] -
Yellow Peril in Pa. Primary
Hillary Clinton knows Asians are good for evoking emotion.
So in her 11th hour campaign struggle she’s used the fear of Asia to drum up support. Her 30 second spot, shows a blip of a headline: “U.S.-Japan at War,” “Pearl Harbor, Manila bombed in Air Raid.”
If you dislike Hillary, this will anger you. How dare she [...] -
Special to blog readers: This week’s “Emil Amok”
In the aftermath of the Tibet/China/Torch protests, one thing is clear:
What we have here is a failure to communicate.
All the way around–from City Hall to the Board of Supervisors, from the street protestors to the pro-China counter-protestors to the Olympic committee to China–no one has found an effective way to persuade the other to move [...] -
Hillary–Asian America’s candidate–scores on electability
If you missed the debate last night you can read it here.
After all the debates this campaign, this one really did feel like the 15th round of a championship fight.
With Obama in the delegate lead, he was in major avoidance mode, being more defensive than not, trying to hang on and not slip up. Clinton, [...] -
Pelosi leans toward Olympic boycott
Nancy Pelosi has always been a leader on the human rights question with China. Oddly, it was the Clinton administration, not a GOP administration, that was able to lift the ban on trade with China. I remember when that happened I wondered if the trade would incent China to be better [...]
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Newsom’s Olympic fig leaf
Mayor Gavin Newsom is doing the only thing he can do right now: he’s hiding behind the issue of safety.
On a KCBS radio interview, Newsom said he was “sorry” people didn’t see the torch along the announced route. The mayor said the change was made in “real time” to assure the safety of the torch [...] -
Olympics of Chaos
Imagine you gave a party and your guests arrived, but at the last minute you decided to have your cake somewhere else—without your guests.
Does that sound bizarre?
But isn’t that exactly what’s happening on San Francisco streets as city and Olympic officials try so hard to avoid protesters or the general public?
This is Chinese freedom in [...] -
A call for peace today: Richard Gere at the real torch rally
Now I know the real reason candlelight vigils are essential at night protest demonstrations in San Francisco.
You need a thousand candles just to stay warm.
It was so cold even the star attraction, Richard Gere knew he couldn’t read an entire message from the Dali Lama. So he stuck to the highlights.
“It is the legitimate right [...] -
The torch will go on–and so will protest
You didn’t think they’d stop it did you? That’s what they’d do in China, perhaps. Not here.
What we’re likely to see Wednesday is messy democracy in action. People bring on a torch. Others protest the symbol. Free speech is free speech. You don’t limit it. You say, “bring it on.”
The Chinese Chamber folks are funny, [...]