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This is China

The Olympics have been a tremendous success and I have enjoyed them enormously. However, there is one huge fear that I have always held that seems to be coming true: this success of sports is going to be used to validate horrible public policy.
This came to light yesterday in two pieces. The first was an [...]

Continue reading “Big Olympic Fear Comes True” »

Alan Combs has been ridiculed as a tool of the right and for being Sean Hannity’s patsy. However, in the middle of a conversation about how former candidate John Edwards is unfit to be president for cheating on his wife, wimpy Combs suddenly breaks in and points out that McCain cheated on his wife too. [...]

Continue reading “Combs Grows a Pair: McCain Should be Held to Same Standards” »

Bush and McCain are really, really different on policy. Just ask McCain’s surrogates.

Two parts I love about this:
1. Toward the end Sanford starts talking about the McCain-Bush approach. Which, uh, is not one thing.
2. Wolf asks him about being VP at the end, almost as if to make it more apparent that this interview has [...]

Continue reading “Bush and McCain Really, Really Different” »

Last Friday, a true villain in American history died, and the first line of his obituary aptly sums up his sad legacy:
Jesse Helms, the former North Carolina senator with the courtly manner and mossy drawl who turned his hard-edged conservatism against civil rights, gay rights, foreign aid and modern art, died early Friday.
He made his [...]

Continue reading “Forget Helms; Clair Engle is Real Hero” »

In China, all too often, criticizing any aspect of Chinese society or the government is taken as an affront to the entire country. On my blog I pretty much say whatever I want, but in my personal interactions I try to be a little more cautious. Nevertheless, it also strikes me as bizarre that talking [...]

Continue reading “When Can One Criticize China?” »

American leaders like Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsay Graham have long argued that China has an unfair trade advantage based on the historically undervalued Renminbi. While they were right to a small degree, these policymakers long failed to identify a much more problematic issue. Chinese manufacturers have had an edge over their counterparts in America [...]

Continue reading “China Continues to Fall Short of Market Economy” »

I guess you can say I was not a normal child. Even in my teens I can remember getting up Sunday mornings and watching the political talk shows. The best of the batch was always Meet the Press.
On Friday, June 13, Tim Russert, the brilliant host of Meet the Press, died at age 58.
Russert’s style [...]

Continue reading “Tim Russert, A Political Junky’s Best Friend” »

I think he was the strongest VP possibility by a wide margin, but Mark Warner has categorically ruled himself out. This from the AP (via Politico):
Former Gov. Mark R. Warner on Saturday removed himself from consideration as a vice presidential running mate for Democrat Barack Obama.
Warner clarified his intentions for the first time as he [...]

Continue reading “Mark Warner Off VP List” »

A couple of months back I speculated on whom each party might choose as the vice president. And now, with the Democratic race finally over, it is time to take another look.
Starting on the GOP side, there are a few people that are thought to be on the short list. I rank them here in [...]

Continue reading “The Race for the GOP Vice Presidency” »

When the American northeast went black in August of 2003, the official version of events was that a tree branch crippled a huge chunk of the American and Canadian power grids. This either seemed far-fetched, or utterly terrifying, depending on your point of view. Well, a new report from National Journal says that China’s “cyber-militia” [...]

Continue reading “Did China Cause 2003 American Blackout?” »