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The Daily Dose/March 16, 2008
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
   
More notes from around the Human Experience, starting in Tibet, where the usually laid back monks are getting restless at continued Chinese occupation and find themselves going up against the Chinese army, oponents they are oh-for-the-last-sixty-years against and why this will probably not result in autonomy for Tibet, but rather more repression and and more lip-service and calls for restraint from countries that don't really care than mankind should really be subjected to. Also, the usual On This Date crap and a couple of questions concerning Mr. Spitzer and Barack Obama. Plus, Angela Gheorghiu Week concludes on the Column Four Foto!
BACK IN THE HIGH LIFE AGAIN: Those zany, freedom-loving Tibetans are back at it. 20 years after their last protest of Chinese occupation, they are at it again, as violence raged in Lhasa and in outlying areas. Nothing has been independently verified yet, but the official Chinese news agency manfully acknowledges ten Tibetans burned to death and some estimates claim up to 100 deaths. Numerous sources reported that 20 Tibetans were arrested.
Hey, Wait A Second: Well, actually, most Tibetans would love to be freedom-loving. Most aren't because they live in Tibet, and if you live in Tibet and are under, say, 55-years-old, you have no idea what freedom is like because you've lived under Chinese occupation your entire life.
FunFact: China has occupied Tibet since 1951.
Whew, Thank Goodness: Fortunately, the Chinese Army is on the scene to put a stop to all this freedom nonsense. Despite the pluckiness shown by the Tibetan monks, the Chinese have still been able to shoot people, enforce curfew and generally return repression to an area they have occupied for generations.
Shoot First, Bribe Later: The initial slaughter over, Chinese authorities have taken to going door to door, offering leniency to demonstrators who turn themselves in over the weekend, threatening harsher sentences on those who don't, and offering tempting rewards for those who turn protestors in.
Location, Location, Location: The protests come two weeks before the Olympic torch relay is scheduled to begin. China is wagering that its slaughter of Tibetan monks will not result in a boycott of the Beijing Olympics, scheduled from Aug. 8-24.
This Will Surprise You: For their part, the International Olympic Committee is hoping the same thing, scurrying around urging anyone who will listen not to boycott the Beijing Games.
Quote That Sucker: "We believe a boycott won't solve anything," said IOC President Jacques Rogge said. "On the contrary. It is penalizing innocent athletes and it is stopping the organization from something that definitely is worthwhile organizing."
And while the term "worthwhile organizing" should be interpreted to mean "very profitable", Rogge has a point. Tibet has been under Chinese occupation for 57 years and boycotting the Olympics isn't going to change that in time for the opening ceremony. Unfortunately, more Tibetans dying is probably the only way anything is going to change.
Uh-Oh: And Rogge's probably right. The American-led boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics, protesting the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan, didn't work, as the Soviets stayed in Afghanistan until 1989, and a boycott of the Beijing Games probably wouldn't accomplish anything either, except lead to another smack-down of Tibet.
A Bold Prediction: Nobody is going to boycott anything. The Olympics is such a cash cow that no one is going to rock the boat too much. Of course, the rhetoric will fly in gold medal quantities for awhile, but in the end, no one will care enough about the Tibetans to do anything except form some committees pay unending lip service.
TEN HUT! On this date in 1802 Congress authorized the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy. The school would open the following July 4th. President Thomas Jefferson signed the legislation authorizing the academy despite initially opposing it. As Secretary of State Jefferson had advised President George Washington there was no provision in the Constitution for a military academy run by the federal government.
Ready, Aim, Massacre: On this date in 1968 U.S. troops under the command of Lt. William L. Calley massacred several hundred Vietnamese civilians - mostly women, children and the elderly - in what history records as the My Lai Massacre. Death totals range from the official Army total of 347 to 504.
Ready, Aim, Lie: The cover-up began immediately, as initial reports out of My Lai claimed that 128 Vietcong and 28 civilians were killed. Calley would not be charged until Sept. 1969, and the American public would not learn about My Lai until Nov. 1969. Of the 40 people charged either in the massacre itself or the cover-up, only Calley would be convicted. After being sentenced to death, appeals reduced his sentence to 20 and then ten years and he was paroled after three-and-a-half years of house arrest. He is now retired and living in Atlanta.
Hey, What The Hell's Going On Here?: On this date in 1985, Terry Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent of the Associated Press, is kidnapped following a tennis game in Beirut. Anderson was held hostage for 2,455 days, or six years, eight months and 19 days.
ELIOT SPITZER QUESTION OF THE DAY: Have clients 1-8 of the Emperor's Club been identified yet? We're just curious.
BARACK OBAMA QUESTION OF THE DAY: Why in the hell is he being held responsible for something his minister said? Does everybody have to toe the line nowadays? This is insane. His minister does not dictate Obama campaign policy. If Reverend Jeremiah Wright wants to get on his pulpit and liven matters up by saying American terrorists caused 9/11 or that blacks should sing "God Damn America", well, that is certainly his prerogative and maybe even his responsibility since 1) sermons are usually boring as hell, and, 2) he's more or less right because i) America has spent most of the last two decades annoying everyone on the planet and burning up whatever goodwill we had, and ii) blacks have been getting screwed in this country ever since we shipped them over here and destroyed their life, language and culture by making them our slaves.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: There was not a trivia question the last time out.
Today's Trivia Question: How many graduates of the U.S. Military Academy have become heads of state?
Threats? Recipes? Trivia question answers? Email The Writer's Shack Here!
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