JoAnne Stone's Blog

China Unfit to Host 2008 Olympics

JoAnne — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:15:06 EDT

This summer, President George W. Bush will smile while jaunting up the stairs to Air Force One - his laughable presidency all but over - with not a care in the world.

For 13 hours, he'll lie on a couch in the airplane, drink pomegranate-flavored water and watch reruns of Texas Rangers games from the glory days of Nolan Ryan and Jose Canseco

Eventually, he'll land in Beijing, China, for the 2008 Summer Olympics. He'll pose and smile for photos with great Chinese leaders.

You'll definitely read about it in the newspaper, and so will people just like you all over the world; and you'll probably feel pretty good when you do. Like a bottle of cheap gin the whole globe can pass around, the Olympics somehow make it okay to forget for a little while.

This is helpful for most of us, but somewhat unfortunate for the Tibetan people, whose struggle against occupation has gone on for nearly 60 years

In 1951, the Chinese government annexed Tibet and declared it part of China. In 1959, an uprising resulted in the expulsion of the Dalai Lama; since that time he has run a "government in exile" based in India and become a martyr for global political rights.

On March 10, in honor of the 49th anniversary of China's great experiment in the abuse of state sovereignty, Tibetan monks began to protest en masse the continued demonization of the Dalai Lama and China's efforts to ethnically cleanse Tibetans.

China, for its part, pledged to "resolutely crush" those people. Within days, it launched a fresh military campaign in the region. It kicked out journalists and declared no quarter on religious figures.

Anyway, a generation later, as a reward for Chinese progress and a concession that China has established itself as a modern global player, it gets to host the Olympics!

Irony in such high doses should be fatal.

Free Tibet

JoAnne — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:15:09 EDT

The time has come for China to free Tibet. The brave protesters in Paris who extinguished the Olympic torch and the amazing young people who unfurled the "Free Tibet" banner from the cables of the Golden Gate Bridge were an inspiration to us all. But unless people begin to put their money where their mouths and hearts are, nothing is going to change. So with that in mind, I have made a decision. If Tibet is not freed, I am going to boycott the Olympics and their sponsors. I know what you're thinking: "yeah, like they care". But these companies claim to take corporate citizenship seriously, so it's time to see just how seriously they take it... or if it's just lip service.

I don't expect these companies to pull out. They have already put millions of dollars into supporting the games. But if enough people say, "Hey! This concerns me enough to actually think about where I am spending my money", then the advertisers should listen. That is what they want! They want people to think about their brands when they need a new watch or DVD player or mutual fund. The issue becomes what will I be thinking, which at the moment is nothing nice.

My hope is that these advertisers can say to the Olympics, "Hey, supporting you isn't quite the deal it used to be because people are not watching. They're not watching because of what your hosts are doing in Tibet". I encourage you to do some research, then take the time to compose an email and send it to each of the corporate sponsors.

Hillary Clinton Calls Cheney Darth Vader

JoAnne — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 18:52:02 EDT

And all this time I thought Dick Cheney was an old, bald guy with a scary monotone voice who has a failing heart and a blood clot in his leg. A guy who eats too much red meat, can't dance and likes to eat the heads of bats on Saturday nights just for kicks. But y'know, Senator Clinton is right -- Cheney really IS like Darth Vader!

Case in point: Most humans would be unable to withstand the cold, oxygen-free environment of outer space. Fortunately, Cheney quit breathing years ago and his cold-blooded vascular system only requires two heartbeats per year.

Darth Vader may have the Sith, but just one wrong step and Cheney'll call in his OWN storm troopers. Only his don't wear white jump suits and wield ray guns. They wear red, white and blue and have nuclear bombs. These colors don't run!

While Vader has the Force, Cheney has mastered the art of the evil death stare. Just ask any unlucky reporter who goes too far in asking about his lesbian daughter.

As for Vader's lightsaber, it's no match for Cheney's shotgun. I'm sure Harry Whittington will vouch for that! Plus, Vader killed his generals who failed. Remember the names Shinseki and Abizaid?

However, a glaring DIFFERENCE between Cheney and Vader is this: in the end, Vader came back to the good side. Well it certainly doesn't look like Cheney is on THAT path.