Dark day.

Two blows to my psyche in less than 5 minutes today.

The first, when I learned that one of my favorite authors, Dr. Jerry Pournelle is being treated for some kind of growth in his head. Malignant? There's not enough information yet, but further tests are scheduled. I now gladly buy the first issue hard cover edition of anything J.E. Pournelle and/or Larry Niven will writes. I've enjoyed his work more than any other writer, which include the creation of a future history that includes "The Mote in God's Eye," and "Falkenberg's Mercenary Legion." Here's a publisher-provided link to two free copies of his books, one of which is an early Falkenberg title.
Don't know if it matters to you Jerry, but you're in my prayers.

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I was very sad to see that Fred Thompson has surrendered in face of the midstream media's campaign of silence. Not that they'd necessarily choose him, but I've yet to talk to an American conservative who didn't like him. The media tried real hard to either ignore his campaign or put it down. They characterized him as lazy or stupid, but I believe they thought he was another republican in the Reagan mold, and that scared them bad. Anybody that scares the liberal press has to be good for America.

I like what roger suggested, when he was speculating about a possible last ditch campaign effort for Fred Thompson:

"I'm Fred Thompson. You may not even know I'm running for president, because there's been a media blackout of my campaign. Why? The media elite see me as the closest thing to Ronald Reagan, and that scares the hell out of them. Here's what I believe ... ___Insert here______. Here's what I don't belive. ___Insert man made global warming_____

If you want a pandering pimp for president, then you want McCain or Huckabee. If you want a leader, it's me. Here's where I stand, then. If I don't win the Florida primary, I'll have to quit unless I receive $40 million dollars in campaigh contributions immediately. Otherwise, I won't have to say "go fuck yourselves"; you'll have already done it.

Thank you, good night, and God bless America.
"

Chinese Gov't Offals Beat Blogger to Death

A Chinese Blogger was beaten to death in the street by local Government Officials after he tried to record a Villager's protest on his cell-phone. Wei Wenhua, a 41 year old Construction company manager and blogger reportedly happened upon a violent clash between villagers and a group of Municipal Inspectors who were attempting to dump trash in their village. That the 50 government inspectors felt justified in beating Wenhua to death for attempting to document their illegal activity is indicative of the barbaric attitude China's Government-Culture has towards the rights of the individual or the ancient Western concept that laws should apply to everybody -even members of the ruling power stucture.

The Chinese Government is particularly sensitive to losing face at this time, as they want to show a civilized facade to the world in time for Beijing's 2008 Olympics. The Government has responded to the killing by arresting 24 municipal inspectors whilst investigating more than 100 others in relation to the incident. CNN reports the killing has sparked outrage in China, “with thousands expressing anger in Chinese Internet chat rooms, often the only outlet for public criticism of the government.”

When I first heard about this killing, I expected the protest to be about the land privatization movement in China. Added to the government's troubles, is the Unrest that has also been growing in China over what villagers and farmers see as unfair land management policies. Under the Communist system of collectivization of farmland, peasant farmers have been assigned plots to work on. They don't own the land, and can be re-assigned at the government's whim. Earlier this week I heard a CBC Radio news story about how Land Developers with close connections to the Communist Party were arranging to have the peasant farmers booted off prime land near growing urban areas without compensation. The Developers then profited hugely from developing the land.

Nothing is wrong about making a huge profit in an honest manner, but in this case it's blatant Government Corruption and Theft. This is what growing numbers of Chinese villagers and farmers are angry about. They are pressing the government to allow them to own the land they farm, and be compensated if it is appropriated.

Fat chance.

Tribute to Her Father

I hope someday my kids will think half as well of me as Ann did of her father. That was really well said Ann.
Her Father, John V. Coulter died last Friday morning.