The media was continuously assessing Barack Obama’s day to day progress as president. What was going to be the first piece of legislature he would sign, who he was talking to and what he looked like sitting in the oval office. Meanwhile, a previously media saturated politician has likewise been going about her job. Hillary [...]

Communism has been shunned by Americans and democracies world wide, but is the hate so deserved? Ideally it sounds really good. Although some aspects sound awful (doctors making as much as garbage men), ideas like everyone having an education and health care are awe inspiring to me. And certainly the optimal form of government for [...]

So you woke up this morning with a strange pain in your ass, and your poll numbers in the tank.  Your head hurts like hell, and you smell like scotch.  Congratulations, you are John McCain… and your running mate is a dumbshit.  Nice try, nothing like using a vagina to get the Hilary Vote.  But [...]

The Dali Lama is in Ann Arbor this weekend and I urge everyone to take advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity.
The Dalai Lama at Crisler Arena from the Free Press

A new weekly feature brought to you by my lack of motivation to study.

The complete matrix is behind the jump.
(Best if viewed in Large format. Look at “options” in the blog’s upper right corner. Click Large. Good.)

Today, Hillary Clinton called on President Bush to boycott the opening ceremony of the Olympics. You can find the article here.
This blog has had some discussion before on whether or not President Bush should boycott the opening ceremonies. With Hillary Clinton’s statement though, I feel more discussion is required. I think we can all agree [...]

Bush’s Last China Visit
“I think boycotting the opening ceremony, which really gives respect to the Chinese government, is something that should be kept on the table.”
~ House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the possibility of President Bush boycotting the opening ceremonies of the Olympic games. As of now, the French President, the German Chancellor, [...]

It holds true most of the time that the harshest condemnation of China comes from people who have little first-hand information about the country. Sure, China has a lot of problems, but if you have ever visited the country or talked to 10 people from China for a combined length of more than 5 hours, [...]

This post comes as a response to Sam’s post below and was originally going to be a comment, but went way too long. My main criticism comes with the focus that he puts within the post. It is clearly meant as a means to introduce another perspective into the current discussion of China, [...]

That’s me on the far-right.
I won’t pretend to be an expert on China, but I like to think I know quite a bit.
China has had territorial claims of Tibet since the early Qing dynasty in the 17th century. In fact, the first Dalai Lama was installed as the political and spiritual leader of Tibet by [...]

With a visit from the Dalai Lama and an LS&A theme semester, China has been a hot topic this year at U-M. On the brink of what might be China’s coming out party as a world power – this summer’s Olympics – worries of “toxic toys” and an ascendant China’s possible challenge to Western [...]

China’s internet usage is booming and most people are connected to the media in one way or another. In the wake of huge protests by Tibetan monks and the government’s violent response, however, very few Chinese people know about the severity of the event, and that’s if they even know about it at all. In [...]

These are pictures I found on the website for The Economist of Lhasa, the Tibetan capital city. They speak for themselves.

In Lhasa, the main city of Tibet, peaceful protests turned into rioting on Friday. In the riots, official Chinese news agency Xinhua says 10 people died. But, the Tibetan government in exile said that at least 80 corpses had been counted. Since then, about 8000-12000 Chinese soldiers have been dispatched to Lhasa in a harsh crackdown [...]

Michigan’s economy is changing and with that change Michigan has suffered. Manufacturing jobs are being lost to countries whose workers are willing to work for pennies on the dollar. Dangerous trade policies, which were lobbied for by Amway’s Dick DeVos and protected by Republicans in Washington, D.C., are leaving Michigan workers and Michigan’s [...]