Message date: 2008-08-19

What Bush Got Right

A broad shift in America's approach to the world is justified and overdue. Bush's basic conception of a "global War on Terror," to take but the most obvious example, has been poorly thought-through, badly implemented, and has produced many unintended costs that will linger for years if not decades. But blanket criticism of Bush misses an important reality. The administration that became the target of so much passion and anger
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Beijing in August

Twenty years ago, the Chinese thought every American was a millionaire. This belief was reflected in the country's conspicuously lax entry requirements, as anyone with a bald eagle on their passport was ushered right in. So their current insistence that American tourists go through the same visa protocol as everyone else only underscores the country's newfound self-confidence. China has lifted its head up and realized it can deal with the great powers of the world on its own terms.
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Overnight in the Dubai Airport

We are on our way for six weeks of study at Tyndale House. It is 3 am in the Dubai airport. Oh the life of a PhD student!! Peter and Ramadan are on the red-eye to London; here is what the rest rest of us are up to right now: There are people spread out on the ground everywhere. This is Jeff Korvah, a Liberian from Lofa county who stopped by to chat. He
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Reactions from the 0lympics in Beijing/Hong Kong

I spent the weekend at the Olympics
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Full-Time ESL Teachers

Teach along the ancient Silk Road in the cultural
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Four at Four: Fear and Mortgages

The Dow could not get anything going. Low volume and general malaise hit shares of major financial companies, which dragged the rest of the market lower. The equity market was pressured throughout the session after reports on wholesale inflation suggested
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China's Gold Medal Spin

China's Gold Medal Spin Topics: democracy | human rights | journalism | propaganda | secrecy Source: The Age (Australia), August 16, 2008 Pro-Tibet Protest During the OlympicsIn a scathing review of the Chinese government's handling of the Olympics, Jacquelin Magnay writes "there has been the fake singer, the fake fireworks, the fake minority kids (they were all Han, and not from the 55 different ethnic groups as portrayed), the fake press freedoms, fake internet access, fake promises. ... Bei
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Cancer-Stricken 34-Year-Old Chinese Computer Engineer Dies After Being Denied Care in Private US Immigration Prison

Tuesday, August 19, 2008 :Earlier this month, a thirty-four-year-old Chinese computer engineer, Hiu Lui Ng, who overstayed his visa, died in a Rhode Island immigration detention center. He had cancer in his liver, lung and bones, and a fractured spine. Despite repeated complaints of severe pain, Mr. Ng was refused independent medical evaluation by immigration officials. Before Mr. Ng died on August 6th, he told his sister that the nurses at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island ha
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What Have We Become? - Op-Ed For New America Media

The following is an op-ed I wrote for New America Media that contrast the hypocrisy of George W. Bush deriding China for human rights violations, while a Chinese migrant dies in Bush's own detention centers. What Have We Become? - Medical Neglect in Immigrant Prisons Reveals America at Its Worst New America Media, Commentary, Kyle de Beausset, Posted: Aug 17, 2008 BOSTON -- On the eve of the Beijing Olympics, while Bush was preparing to express his "deep concerns" over China's human rights re
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Doping Cases: Merely Maintaining the Credibility of the Spectacle?

Fani Chalkia from Greece tested positive for the banned steriod Methyltrienolone (AP Photo/ Czarek Sokolowski ) With a host of Olympians having tested positive for drugs, we turn our attention back to Beijing. Today
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Let Freedom Ring

Democracy Now: Earlier this month, a thirty-four-year-old Chinese computer engineer, Hiu Lui Ng, who overstayed his visa, died in a Rhode Island immigration detention center. He had cancer in his liver, lung and bones, and a fractured spine. Despite repeated complaints of severe pain, Mr. Ng was refused independent medical evaluation by immigration officials. Before Mr. Ng died on August 6th, he told his sister that the nurses at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Center in Rhode Island had told hi
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Call to the (Protest) Pen: China

(old enough to win a gold medal, too young to marry Timmy Von Trimble) You wouldn
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Olympic Glory and Shame

There is one thing for sure, nothing is for sure when it comes to the Olympics. The Olympics is a place where even the best laid plans can collapse in under a tenth of a second, by the whim of a judge or by a nagging injury. Like its sporting counterpart, Olympic marketing is an expensive gamble that sometimes pays off big but many times doesn???t at all. For all the happy faces going home with gold around their necks there are many more heads hanging low. The Olympics are a winner takes a
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Isolated county marks 100th day since devastating quake

Beichuan County, battered in the magnitude 8.0 earthquake on May 12 in Sichuan Province, was opened on Monday for survivors to hold memorial ceremonies for the dead. More than 20,000 people, mostly of the Qiang ethnic group, came back to the county which had been isolated since late May to prevent epidemic "Beichuan is an autonomous county of the Qiang minority group, who observe the custom of holding ceremony for the deceased on the100th day of their departure," said Qu Yong'an, ...
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Jordan, China ink nuclear co-op deal

Jordan and China Tuesday signed a nuclear agreement, paving ways for future cooperation on peaceful uses of nuclear energy, especially on electricity generation and water desalination. Under the agreement, the two sides will conduct cooperation and exchange on basic and applied researches, nuclear plant designing, constructing and operating, mineral exploration and processing among other areas. The pact was signed by China's ambassador to Jordan Gong Xiaosheng and Chairman of the ...
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