It was an evening out that college students Leslie Pope and John Wagner will long remember.

Not only did they get what they called lousy service, they got handcuffed and arrested.

All over a $16.35 tip.

They were with a half-dozen friends at the Lehigh Pub in Bethlehem last month, so the establishment tacked what it called a mandatory 18 percent gratuity onto the bill of about $73, according to reports.

Pope and Wagner refused to pay.

"You can't give us terrible, terrible service and expect a tip," said Pope, a 22-year-old Moravian College senior who's a Pottsville native, according to the Lehigh Valley Express-Times.

They had to find their own napkins and cutlery while their waitress caught a smoke, had to ask the bar for soda refills, and had to wait over an hour for salad and wings, they told NBC10.

The pub, which was very busy that night, took the $73, but then called the cops, who treated the matter as a theft.

The menu clearly states, "18 percent gratuity added to check of parties of 6 of more," and a similar message is printed on receipts, a pub employee said this morning.

A court date is scheduled for next month.

MEANWHILE:

Cop Tases 10-Year-Old Girl

Arkansas mother suggested stun gun treatment for unruly daughter

SUSPECTED cannibals killed a young man, ATE part of him and then sold other bits to a KEBAB house.

Cops also believe the 25-year-old victim's body parts may have been used to fill PIES too.

The trio of homeless men were arrested in Russia - accused of murdering the man with knives and a hammer.

Prosecutors revealed: "After carrying out the crime, the corpse was divided up - part of it was eaten and part of it was sold to a kiosk selling kebabs and pies."

Suspicions were raised when dismembered parts of a human body were found near a bus stop in the outskirts of the Russian city of Perm - which is 720 miles east of Moscow.

Chopped up

The three men all have criminal records, said Russian cops.

They have been arrested on suspicion of killing their victim - who has not been named - before chopping up his corpse to eat.

Detectives for the Prem region released the astonishing statement that the human remains could have been used for kebabs and pies on their www.susk.perm.ru website.

But police said it was not clear yet if any of the human meat had been sold to customers.

A FEW years ago we came up with the term “Chimerica” to describe the combination of the Chinese and American economies, which together had become the key driver of the global economy. With a combined 13 percent of the world’s land surface and around a quarter of its population, Chimerica nevertheless accounted for a third of global economic output and two-fifths of worldwide growth from 1998 to 2007.

We called it Chimerica for a reason: we believed this relationship was a chimera — a monstrous hybrid like the part-lion, part-goat, part-snake of legend. Now we may be witnessing the death throes of the monster. The question President Obama must consider as he flies to Asia this week is whether to slay it or to try to keep it alive.

In its heyday, Chimerica consisted largely of the combination of Chinese development, led by exports, and American overconsumption. Thanks to the Chimerican symbiosis, China was able to quadruple its gross domestic product from 2000 to 2008, raise exports by a factor of five, import Western technology and create tens of millions of manufacturing jobs for the rural poor.

For America, Chimerica meant being able to consume more and save less even while maintaining low interest rates and a stable rate of investment. Overconsumption meant that from 2000 to 2008 the United States consistently outspent its national income. Goods imported from China accounted for about a third of that overconsumption.

For a time, Chimerica seemed not a monster but a marriage made in heaven. Global trade boomed and nearly all asset prices surged. Yet, like many another marriage between a saver and a spender, Chimerica was not destined to last. The financial crisis since 2007 has put the marriage on the rocks. Correcting the economic imbalance between the United States and China — the dissolution of Chimerica — is now indispensable if equilibrium is to be restored to the world economy.

China’s economic ascent was a result of a strategy of export-led growth that followed the examples of West Germany and Japan after World War II. However, there was a key difference: China made a sustained effort to control the value of its currency, the renminbi, which resulted in a huge accumulation of reserve dollars.

As Chinese exports soared, the authorities in Beijing consistently bought dollars to avoid appreciation of their currency, pegging it at around 8.28 renminbi to the dollar from the mid-1980s to the mid-’90s. They then allowed a modest 17 percent appreciation in the three years after July 2005, only to restore the dollar peg at 6.83 when the global financial crisis intensified last year.

Intervening in the currency market served two goals for China: by keeping the renminbi from rising against the dollar, it promoted the competitiveness of Chinese exports; second, it allowed China to build up foreign currency reserves (primarily in dollars) as a cushion against the risks associated with growing financial integration, painfully illustrated by the experience of other countries in the Asian crisis of the late 1990s. The result was that by 2000 China had currency reserves of $165 billion; they now stand at $2.3 trillion, of which at least 70 percent are dollar-denominated.

This intervention caused a growing distortion in the global cost of capital, significantly reducing long-term interest rates and helping to inflate the real estate bubble in the United States, with ultimately disastrous consequences. In essence, Chimerica constituted a credit line from the People’s Republic to the United States that allowed Americans to save nothing and bet the house on ... well, the house.

Nothing like this happened in the 1950s and 1960s. At the height of postwar growth in the 1960s, West Germany and Japan increased their dollar reserves roughly in line with the American gross domestic product, keeping the ratio stable at about 1 percent before letting it move slightly higher in the early 1970s. By contrast, China’s reserves soared from the equivalent of 1 percent of America’s gross domestic product in 2000 to 5 percent in 2005 and 10 percent in 2008. By the end of this year, that figure is expected to rise to 12 percent.

The Chimerican era is drawing to a close. Given the bursting of the debt and housing bubbles, Americans will have to kick their addiction to cheap money and easy credit. The Chinese authorities understand that heavily indebted American consumers cannot be relied on to return as buyers of Chinese goods on the scale of the period up to 2007. And they dislike their exposure to the American currency in the form of dollar-denominated reserve assets of close to $2 trillion. The Chinese authorities are “long” the dollar like no foreign power in history, and that makes them very nervous.

Yet there is a strong temptation for both halves of Chimerica to keep this lopsided partnership going. Despite much talk of the need to reduce global imbalances, the biggest imbalance of all persists. This year, America’s trade deficit with China will be around $200 billion, the same as last year. And China has again intervened in the currency markets, buying $300 billion to keep its currency and hence its exports cheap.

United States policy makers, meanwhile, seem equally willing to prolong America’s addiction to cheap money as long as economic recovery seems so fragile, regardless of the effect on the dollar’s exchange rate with other currencies. (When American officials insist that they favor a “strong dollar,” it’s usually a sure sign that they want the opposite.) And why would Americans want to discourage the Chinese from buying yet more dollar-denominated securities? With trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see, the Treasury needs all the foreign buyers it can get.

The reality, however, is that an end to Chimerica is in the American interest for at least three reasons. First, adjusting the exchange rates between the currencies would help reorient the American economy — primarily by making American exports more competitive in China, the world’s fastest-growing economy.

Second, an end to Chimerica would lessen the potentially dangerous reliance of American economic policy on measures to stimulate domestic purchasing. American fiscal policy is clearly on an unsustainable path, and the Federal Reserve’s negligible interest rates and the printing of dollars are artificially inflating equity prices.

Finally, renminbi revaluation would reduce the risk of potentially serious international friction over trade. The problem is that as the dollar weakens against other world currencies — notably the euro and the Japanese yen — so does the renminbi, magnifying China’s already large advantage in global export markets. The burden of post-crisis adjustment falls disproportionately outside Chimerica. Unless China’s currency is revalued, we can expect an uncoordinated wave of defensive moves by countries on the wrong side of Chimerica’s double depreciation. Already we are seeing the danger signs. Last month Brazil imposed a tax on “hot money” — large, volatile flows of foreign investment that may exit an economy as quickly as they appeared — to try to slow the appreciation of its currency, the real. A number of Asian economies last week intervened to weaken their own currencies relative to the dollar. Similar currency games were a feature of the worst economic decade of the 20th century, the 1930s.

Historically, as production costs and income levels in countries have risen, their currencies have adjusted against the dollar accordingly. From 1960 to 1978, for example, the deutsche mark appreciated cumulatively by almost 60 percent against the dollar, while the Japanese yen appreciated by almost 50 percent. The lesson is that exporters can live with substantial exchange rate revaluations so long as they are achieving major gains in productivity, as China still is.

To be sure, China’s central bank has suggested that it might be willing to switch from the dollar peg to some form of exchange-rate management, taking account of “international capital flows and movements in major currencies.” But, like the recent Chinese comments about replacing the dollar as the premier international reserve currency, this may be no more than rhetoric.

During his visit to China this week, President Obama must resist the temptation to respond to these overtures with rhetoric of his own. This is not the time for big speeches, but for subtle diplomacy. Right now, Chimerica clearly serves China better than America. Call it the 10:10 deal: the Chinese get 10 percent growth; America gets 10 percent unemployment. The deal is even worse for the rest of the world — and that includes some of America’s biggest export markets and most loyal allies. The question is: What can the United States offer to make the Chinese abandon the dollar peg that has served them so well?

The authorities in Beijing must be made to see that any book losses on its reserve assets resulting from changes in the exchange rate will be a modest price to pay for the advantages they reaped from the Chimerica model: the transformation from third-world poverty to superpower status in less than 15 years. In any case, these losses would be more than compensated for by the increase in the dollar value of China’s huge stock of renminbi assets.

It is also in China’s interest to kick its currency-intervention habit. A heavily undervalued renminbi is the key financial distortion in the world economy today. If it persists for much longer, China risks losing the very foundation of its economic success: an open global trading regime.

And this is exactly what President Obama can offer in return for a substantial currency revaluation of, say, 20 percent to 30 percent over the next 12 months: a clear commitment to globalization and free trade, and an end to the nascent Chinese-American tariff war.

For as long as the People’s Republic has existed, the United States has been the principal upholder of a world economic order based on the free movement of goods and, more recently, capital. It has also picked up the tab for policing the oil-rich but unstable Middle East. No country has benefited more from these arrangements than China, and it should now pay for them through a stronger Chinese currency. Chimerica was always a chimera — an economic monster. Revaluing the renminbi will give this monster the peaceful death it deserves.

In its third-quarter monetary policy report, the communist People's Bank of China departed from well-worn language on keeping the yuan "basically stable at a reasonable and balanced level." It hinted instead at a shift from an effective dollar peg that has been in place since the middle of last year.

"Following the principles of initiative, controllability and gradualism, with reference to international capital flows and changes in major currencies, we will improve the yuan exchange rate formation mechanism," the central bank said in a 46-page monetary policy report.

The comments, published just days before a visit to Shanghai and Beijing by U.S. President Barack Obama, set out the possibility of a return to exchange rate appreciation that began with a landmark July 2005 revaluation.

The yuan strengthened by nearly 20 percent against the dollar until concern over the impact of the global financial crisis prompted Beijing to hit the brakes in the middle of last year to protect exporters.

The yuan has been stuck at around 6.83 per dollar ever since, drawing increasing ire from other countries, especially as it has followed the dollar downwards against other currencies.

The dollar has dropped 13 percent against a basket of major currencies including the yen and euro since mid-February.

Back to a Basket?

Some analysts have called for the return to a genuine basket of currencies, which the central bank said in 2005 it would use as a reference for the yuan.

"I think the wording change ... shows that it is an irresistible trend for China to resume yuan appreciation," said Xing Ziqiang, an economist at China International Capital Corp (CICC) in Beijing.

"It is not sustainable for the yuan to always be pegged to the U.S. dollar; after all, the repegging since late 2008 was just part of China's measures to address the global financial crisis, and now the impact of the financial crisis is fading, so the yuan should resume appreciation sooner or later."

The central bank's report came just hours after data that showed the world's third-largest economy had firmly put the worst of the global financial crisis behind it. Factory output growth surged to a 19-month high of 16.2 percent in October.

While exports were still down in year-on-year terms, economists pointed to the likelihood that they would start growing again soon.

Some analysts said the statement could have been timed to send a signal ahead of Obama's Nov. 15-18 visit to China.

Obama told Reuters on Monday that he planned to raise the currency issue during his trip.

However, fascist Beijing is increasingly facing complaints about its currency from other emerging economies, which see an undervalued yuan as undercutting them in global markets.

No Sudden Shift

Those concerns were evident in a draft statement from APEC finance ministers circulated on Wednesday, in which they call for flexible interest rates and exchange rates as a way of redressing economic balances.

"We agreed that flexible prices, including exchange rates and interest rates, play a critical role in allocating resources efficiently, and can facilitate the adjustments needed to support balanced and sustainable global growth," said the latest draft statement by the finance ministers dated Nov. 10.

While the statement could change in its final form, a deputy Chinese finance minister was present at discussions on it, suggesting some level of agreement by Beijing on the wording.

However, analysts were quick to caution against expecting any sudden shift in the yuan's actual value, given China's penchant for carrying out any reforms gradually.

"The central bank's worries about capital flows, liquidity, and inflation signal growing pressure for yuan appreciation," said Ben Simpfendorfer, strategist with the Royal Bank of Scotland in Hong Kong.

"But I'm not looking for gains in the currency until the second quarter as the export sector still faces large challenges and margin pressure." Markets priced in a slightly greater appreciation over the coming year.

Offshore one-year dollar/yuan non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) fell to 6.6075 bid late on Wednesday compared with Tuesday's close of 6.6320.

Yuan appreciation implied by NDFs, which moves inversely with the forwards, was around 3.3 percent in a year compared with 3.06 percent before the announcement.

With China's military growing at an "unprecedented rate," the U.S. wants to ensure that expansion doesn't destabilize the region, Rear Adm. Kevin Donegan told reporters on a visit to the Chinese territory of Hong Kong.

Donegan referred to China's expanded weaponry. His remarks echoed the concerns of other U.S. military leaders who have said the growth in China's military spending — up almost 15 percent in the 2009 budget — raises questions about how Beijing plans on deploying its new power.

"When we see a military growing at that rate, we're interested in transparency and the understanding of the uses of that military," said Donegan, commander of the USS George Washington aircraft carrier strike group, a key part of the U.S. Pacific Fleet.

Donegan's comments come as a top Chinese general visits the United States on a mission to strengthen trust between the two militaries and dispel U.S. concerns about the growth of the People's Liberation Army.

Xu Caihou, the PLA's second-highest ranking officer, told President Barack Obama on Wednesday that ties between the two countries' militaries play "an important role in enhancing strategic mutual trust and deepening their pragmatic cooperation," according to Chinese media reports.

China has boosted military spending by more than 10 percent annually for almost two decades, and the official figure of $71 billion this year is thought by many analysts to represent only a portion of total defense spending. It still amounts to only a fraction of U.S. defense spending.

China says much of the increase is used to improve salaries and living conditions for soldiers, but it has also been adding sophisticated new warships, submarines, fighter jets and other weapons systems to its arsenal. PLA leaders have also said they are considering building an aircraft carrier, but such a development is thought to be years, if not decades, away.

Donegan acknowledged the possibility of a Chinese aircraft carrier, but also said he was concerned with anti-access weapons. This class of weapons includes missiles and submarines that can threaten U.S. forces in the region and prevent them responding in the event of a crisis.

"I am absolutely concerned," Donegan said.

He went on to say, "When a navy is doing that, we just want to make sure it's transparent enough so those in the region understand what they're doing."

At the same time, Donegan described positive exchanges between the two militaries that he said he hoped would continue, including a visit by five Chinese army generals aboard the George Washington during its call in Hong Kong this week.

Ties between the two militaries have been repeatedly roiled by China's objections to U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, claimed by Beijing as its own territory, as well as Chinese efforts to disrupt Navy surveillance missions off its shores.

A series of confrontations involving vessels from the two navies has raised concerns over China's rising determination to defend what it sees as its territorial interests in the South China Sea, where the U.S. has long operated as the major international power.

Donegan said the Navy would continue to operate in international waters — something that could come in defiance of Beijing's claims it has the right to bar surveillance work inside its exclusive economic zone.

"We are going to continue to operate in the South China Sea and international waters and not in territorial seas of another country," he said.

(Xinhua)  Why Are The Thirty-Year-Old Execution Photos Of A Corrupt Female Government Official So Popular On The Internet?  By Qin Henhai.

On April 23, 1979, the People's Daily had an exclusive news report: In Heilongjiang province, the largest corrupt gang was busted.  The criminal Wang Shouxin and others were arrested and investigated for the crimes of sharing illegal profits and then hiding and covering up the loot.

On February 28, 1980, this principal criminal of this internationally known crime -- Heilongjiang Province Bingyuan County Combustible Fuel manager and party secretary Wang Shouxin -- faced the legal consequences.  You can call her a "corrupt official" but she is a merely a manager of a combustible fuel company.  Nobody knows what the rank might be in the hierarchy of officialdom but it is probably the lowest possible.

A few years ago, the process of her execution was published by the photographer at the scene and then broadly circulated on the Internet.  Recently, someone posted these photos on Sohu.com.  Within a few days (ending 4pm on May 3), those photos had been seen by 1.132 million persons.  The popularity was astonishing.

Ordinarily speaking, when a life is terminated, one should be studying the pathos of the death, no matter how much this person deserves to die.  But why are so many people looking at these photos in so many different ways (calmly, emotionally, carefully or thoughtfully)?  Some people even long for this scene to occur today.  Now that is truly thought-provoking.

Today as it was thirty years ago, everybody hates those people who loot state resources through bribery and corruption.  Therefore, when people see photos of a corrupt government official being executed, they are pleased.  However, there are some differences in feelings between today and thirty years ago.

Thirty years ago, a case involving several hundred thousand RMB results in the death penalty.  Today a case involving hundreds of millions only results in a suspended death penalty.  In Heilongjiang province, the later and greatest corrupt female government official Han Jiazhi was given a suspended death penalty for seven million RMB in ill-gotten gains.  The former Heilongjiang governor and later State Land Resources Department director Tian Fengshan was given a life sentence for corruption involving 4.98 million RMB.  If Wang Shouxin was executed in her time, why should Han Jiazhi and Tian Fengshan be allowed to live?

... Thirty years ago, there would a public meeting after which the convict is taken out to the execution field and shot.  Today, many localities use lethal injections for execution and also give certain rights to those who were given life sentences and deprived of their political rights.

Therefore, fewer and fewer death penalties are carried out.  The number of public executions has also decreased.  Correspondingly, the deterrent effect against corrupt officials has weakened.  This is why people become nostalgic for the photos of the execution of government officials several decades ago.  Apart from this current series of photos, another series entitled <Mao Zedong personally signed the approval to execute seven criminals> has also been popular on the Internet recently.

It is hard to explain all the reasons but one thing is quite obvious: if we can be more decisive, powerful and open in punishing government corrupt officials, people would be less concerned about events that occurred several decades ago.

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I have been abducted by aliens, says Japan's first lady

(Oh, and she also knew Tom Cruise in a previous life)

Japan's new Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, with his wife, Miyuki, in the early days of their marriage

After the demise of the United States space shuttle, Columbia, some celebratory cheering was posted on Chinese websites. Liu Xiaobo, a renowned writer, published an article on overseas websites analyzing this unfortunate turn of events propagated by some Chinese Internet users. Some Chinese listeners of Voice of America have also made comments via call-in phone lines on the Anti-American sentiments among some Chinese.

A Roman Holiday for Some Chinese
After the Columbia space shuttle tragedy, people and their leaders in many nations expressed sympathy and condolences, paying their utmost respect for the American scientists dedicated to the human exploration of outer space. The Chinese president, Jiang Zemin, also sent a telegraph to President Bush to convey his sorrow. However, on some of the major websites of China, web users have made comments expressing their delight in this tragedy. In an article written for the United States web forum ObserveChina.com, the Beijing-based Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo conducted some quantitative analysis on the postings of the major Chinese Internet opinion forums. His study leads him to the conclusion that although the rejoicing rhetoric on these Internet sites are not as prevalent as that in the immediate aftermath of the September 11^th terrorist attacks on the U.S., aA whopping 50% of the postings that have appeared on China’s two leading Internet services, "sina.com" and "netease.com" are anti-American gloating over the tragedy of the Columbia. For example, some Chinese Internet users "thanked Allah for protecting Iraq"; some believed the Columbia tragedy was "a punishment from Heaven upon the U.S. for its desire to control the world"; some predicted that "with this disaster the U.S. would finally decline and China would rise up eventually defeating the United States; some even regarded the explosion of the Columbia as the "the most beautiful fireworks for Chinese New Year’s Day!!!" Some held the sentiment that "today we are really happy...Thanks to the U.S.A. for giving us such pleasure." And there was also this: "No fireworks for the Chinese New Year? Now the U.S. has given us the biggest fireworks to say bye-bye to the past and to welcome the New Year."

Poisoned by Ultra-Nationalism:
What do we make of these poisonous outbursts of extreme anti-American venom? Again, the writer Liu Xiaobo analyzed his study in Beijing: "The outpouring of such extreme anti-Americanism is the result of the poisonous ultra-nationalism, which undermines common human values, destroying a decent sense of justice and sympathy, blurring the substantial difference between liberty and dictatorship, between humanity and anti-humanity, between goodness and evil, between truth and falsehood, and between civility and barbarism. Its only sentiment is cold-blooded hatred, its only message is vulgarity and venting, and its only expression is obscene indelicacy."

Misled by the Government Media Reporting
One listener from Shandong Province in China called in via VOA’s hot line today, and provided his own analysis of the anti-American outburst. He believes that the anti-Americanism in China has resulted from erroneous interpretations of news events conducted by the Chinese government-controlled media. The listener stated that "Among today’s Chinese people, there exists an anti-American feeling. I believe this has been caused by the state and government that have been deceiving the people. For example, the common folks do not know the good side and the bad side of the U.S.-China relationship. And the Chinese government only lets its media outlets tell one side of the story, twisting the facts this way or that way, thus resulting in anti-American feelings."

One Should Not Celebrate Over Others’ Misery
However, in the Internet discussion group "Strong China Forum" under the auspices of the People’s Daily, an Internet user named "MBOY6" has a different perspective on the festive mood of some Chinese over the Columbia disaster. He states that "a considerable number of "netizens" who have celebrated over the Columbia disaster are by no means cold-blooded. They are not celebrating over the loss of human lives, but for the setback of the United States space programs, which makes him/her happy about one failure of the American hegemony in its unlimited expansion." Yet one netizen from Sina.com disagrees with such a view. He believes that even if the U.S. is a competitor of China, the Chinese people should still not exude happiness over America’s setback. This netizen, with an Internet name of "Cold Heart," says thatsays "Seven people disappeared forever on their way home. In the eyes of the despicable, this loss of lives constitutes beautiful celebratory fireworks, with which they decorate their contemptible and shameless vanity. Jealousy has made these callous people lose basic human sympathy. Even if the United States is China’s competitor, we should not rest our hope for superiority on the failure of our opponent. If our superior opponent tripped and fell, should we applaud for such misfortune? If the majority of Chinese people think this way, it would be better to move the 2008 Olympics somewhere else."

Internet Alone Won’t Bring Down Dictatorship
With the rapid spread of Internet applications, many people believe this will precipitate the democratization process in some totalitarian countries, even bringing down the dictatorial governments. Yet other scholars point out that despite the fact that the Internet has provided a new venue for obtaining information, the Internet has not become a serious threat to the governments in many non-democratic countries due to governmental monitoring and control.

Internet Used by the Government to Rule
Two researchers, Shanthil Kalathil and Taylor C. Boas, from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, have conducted a study on Internet use in eight authoritarian countries. Their study concludes that the Internet has not necessarily posed a threat to authoritarian regimes, especially those that endeavored to control the Internet from the early stages of its development, despite the belief held by many that widespread use of the Internet would constitute serious challenges to dictatorships and states in self-imposed isolations. "According to our study of eight countries," says Kalathil of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, "we believe that the Internet does not necessarily pose a threat to dictatorial regimes. They not only view the Internet as a virus that spreads freedom, but also view it as a tool. The impact of the Internet is conditioned by the socio-politico and economic environments in which it is used. This is not to say that the Internet is completely useless in creating challenges to dictatorial regimes. But we have found that the Internet is often used by these regimes to strengthen their power to rule."

Technology to Monitor the Internet Becomes More Advanced
The target countries of the study conducted by the Carnegie scholars include China, Singapore, Vietnam and Myanmar in Asia, and Cuba, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. In China, Kalathil points out, the government strictly controls the use of the Internet, blocks en masse the dissident websites and BBS forums, and restricts the contents of online expressions, thus making the Internet unable to effectively promote social openness and democratic values–despite the fact that more and more people in China are obtaining information from the Internet, and the emergence of public online forums where expressions and exchanges of ideas are allowed. Kalathil further points out that out "the authorities in China have used laws, surveillance, intimidations, and arrests to restrict this new form of information dissemination. At present, the methods used by the Chinese government seem to be working. Internet users in such dictatorial and closed societies are fearful of persecution by the government, therefore they avoid touching politically sensitive topics in their self-expressions. The increasingly sophisticated and complete cyber surveillance technology the Chinese government has been able to obtain has made the Internet users unwilling to take the risk of being arrested to check out restricted websites, or to take part in political activities by using the Internet."

Self-Censorship by Yahoo! and Others
Kalathil states that some organizations such as the Falun Gong spiritual movement and the Chinese Democratic Party are now limited to exerting their influence overseas through their Internet websites, despite the fact that they had some initial success in using the Internet to organize, communicate and to spread their views. This is because of restriction and obstruction by the Chinese authorities. In addition, the Chinese government has realized that it is impossible to build a perfect firewall, so it has resorted to encouraging self-censorship mechanisms, demanding Internet service providers such as Yahoo! to sign agreements with the Chinese government to voluntarily filter the information going through their networks. The government of China however does occasionally allow certain critical views online under certain circumstances to let the people blow off steam. The government of course uses the Internet as a tool for propaganda. These developments indicate that the Chinese government has successfully controlled the development and usage of the Internet in China.

The Internet Alone is Not Enough
Taylor C. Boas, who is Kalathil’s co-author of the new book entitled "Open Networks, Closed Regimes–The Impact of the Internet on Authoritarian Regimes," concludes in the research that their case study of the eight authoritarian regimes in the Middle East, Cuba and Asia revealed that the fundamentalist Islamic views expressed on the Internet in some Middle Eastern countries have posed direct challenge to the governments in the region that have chosen to join the United States in the war against terrorism; that the mere existence of the Internet alone does not guarantee the advancement of social democracy or regime collapse. Yet in the long run, the Internet may cause some changes in these societies, and may gradually strengthen the improvements of social institutions and precipitate economic development, thus; exerting positive impact upon national development. The two authors urge the decision-makers of Western countries to recognize this reality, and promote gradual reforms in these countries through international infrastructures such as the World Trade Organization and through dialogues on human rights, because it may take a long time for the Internet to show its impact upon politics.

One of the three candidates vying for the Republican nomination in the 2nd Congressional District is Tony Zirkle, an attorney, perennial candidate, and holder of odd and strange views. Zirkle has already made a name for himself this cycle by advocating for nationwide racial segregation. Now, though, he has done something that is even worse than his inappropriate racial statements.

On Sunday, Zirkle spoke to a crowd of nearly 60 neo-Nazis/white supremacists gathered in Chicago to commemorate Hitler’s birthday. The fact that Tony Zirkle, a candidate for United States Congress, would honour a gathering of neo-Nazis who believe one of the most evil men the world has ever known was in fact a great leader, is utterly despicable and beyond the pale. Tony Zirkle has disgraced himself.

Here is a photo of Zirkle speaking to the gathering:

John McCain was at the bottom of his military class at Annapolis, but still got to pilot a fighter plan due to his father’s connections. He is the son and the grandson of admirals. He finished 894 of 899 in his graduating class. Despite crashing five aircrafts, John McCain was never disciplined. And son-of-single-mother Obamais, of course, the privileged elitist.

The National Enquirer has an article about "Dirty Dancing" actor Patrick Swayze, claiming the 55-year-old is dying of pancreatic cancer. Late Wednesday afternoon, his publicist confirmed the terminal diagnosis. An excerpt is on their website:

In a shocking world exclusive, The NATIONAL ENQUIRER has uncovered the devastating news that the beloved Hollywood actor and dancer was diagnosed in late January with pancreatic cancer that has spread to other organs.

Full details are in the print edition of the NATIONAL ENQUIRER that goes on sale tomorrow.

For the past month, Patrick, 55, has been travelling to Stanford University's prestigious cancer centre in Palo Alto for radical chemotherapy, but his doctors are no longer optimistic that the treatments will be successful.

Patrick and his wife Lisa Niemi -- who both have pilot's licenses -- have been flying their private Beechcraft plane into Palo Alto's airport, minutes away from the Stanford Cancer Centre, where the actor has received outpatient treatment.

He received three doses of chemotherapy and the tumour shrank, but less than his doctors had hoped for -- and Patrick was told he should prepare for the end.

"He was told he could have two more treatments, but his cancer was not responding. In short - they held out little hope for a cure," said an insider.

The man who danced into the hearts of audiences worldwide in the 1980s in Dirty Dancing and then broke them in the poignant love story Ghost in the early '90s has lost more than 20 pounds in the past few weeks and is restricted to a liquid diet because he has trouble keeping down solid food, added the insider.

The story has already rocketed around the world, as seen here, here, here and here.

Everybody serves in their own way.

It's been a rough month for descendants of English-speaking heads of state. Prince Harry, third in line to the British, Canadian, Australian, etc throne, has been serving his country in Afghanistan, while in the States Jenna Bush answered the call of duty to attend her bachelorette party in Boca.

And unfortunately, both have to come to an end. Prince Harry has come back from Afghanistan because Matt Drudge leaked the story. (Incidentally, Harry was serving under the head of the British Army defense staff, who is actually named Air Chief Marshall Sir Jock Stirrup) As for Jenna the party has to end because, well, come to think of it, it doesn't have to end. At least until right before she wants to be president.

So how do the pair's respective adventures stack up?

I'm with Ian Dale, as I am with His Grace, Archbishop Cranmer, now that he has persuasively unplugged this nuttery and nonsense and insanity with all the balance it requires. I have always thought Rowan Williams was weak and fundamentally unfit for his post, but now he's being just downright dangerous. Thankfully, the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury is not the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, but I wonder if Her Majesty has the power to dismiss him? If so, fire him at once. Terminate with extreme prejudice. http://themonarchist.blogspot.com/

In response to Dr. Rowan Williams statements, the Australian government has unequivocally ruled out the introduction of Islamic courts in Australia. A similar proposal had previously been dismissed by the Howard government in April 2005.

Yesterday the Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, also ruled out introducing Islamic law, or sharia. "The Rudd Government is not considering and will not consider the introduction of any part of sharia law into the Australian legal system," he said.

The Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson, said everyone who came to Australia should accept the existing laws.

"Now this is a ham sandwich to a crocodile," he said. "The idea that in some way you would change your basic values, culture and law to accommodate some people who feel that they don't want to see themselves as Australians first, above all else - under no circumstances would I support that."