News opinion 2008-04-21 Andanh.com

Bush and Olympics Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:40:07 CDT
“The journey of harmony” isn’t living up to its name. That’s what organizers of the Olympic Games dubbed the tour of the Olympic torch before realizing that the flame would have to be secreted away during its ceremonial meanderings. It was extinguished at least once in Paris as pro-Tibet protesters besieged it, and in San Francisco it popped up unannounced in unexpected places lest demonstrators create an unseemly ruckus. If they have a sense of humor, the gods of public relations must be smiling. China celebrated landing the 2008 Summer Olympics as a global PR coup that would seal its status as an internationally respectable power of the first rank. Instead, China is reaping the embarrassment that comes with cracking skulls in Tibet and abetting genocide in Sudan as the world’s eyes turn to it as the host of an event devoted “to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.” The International Olympic Committee shouldn’t hold the games in countries with closed political systems. There were four perfectly acceptable alternative cities to Beijing - Paris, Toronto, Istanbul and Osaka - that wouldn’t have meant holding the games in a country where dissidents would be rounded up and jailed prior to the commencement of the high-jumping and synchronized swimming. If the games weren’t a de facto seal of approval, thugs wouldn’t pant over hosting them. Hitler worked to keep the 1936 Olympic Games - awarded to Berlin in 1931 prior to his rise to power - in Germany. For good reason: historian William Shirer says that turned them into a dazzling propaganda success for his barbarian regime.“ In its eagerness to keep the Summer Games in Seoul in 1988, the then-authoritarian state of South Korea didn’t crush protesters, thus arguably paving the way for its eventual political opening. China won’t be so gingerly, but to the extent the games become the occasion for embarrassment for Beijing rather than glorious self-congratulation, the better. The torch should be harried, and Western leaders should stay away from the opening ceremonies. All of this is mere symbolism, of course. For China, though, it’s the ceremony and the pretty picture that matter most. When Chinese President Hu Jintao met with President Bush at the White House in 2006, the substance of their talks was less important than a Falun Gong protester interrupting their press conference. President Bush hasn’t declared himself about the opening ceremony, understandably. If he says he won’t go now, he’ll lose any leverage over the Chinese. But ultimately he can’t go, unless he wants to repeat his father’s experience of rubbing shoulders with Chinese officialdom fresh from a crackdown. Bush has talked about religious freedom more than any other American president. In the past, he hasn’t hesitated to irk China, meeting with the Dalai Lama in the White House. We’re warned that a boycott of the opening ceremonies would inflame Chinese nationalism. But China is a rising power beginning to flex its muscles; its nationalism gets exercised by nearly anything. We can’t be held hostage to the perpetual inflammation of people whose nationalism entails stamping out the independence and culture of another country. It is the misfortune of Beijing that it has lost the cachet it once had on the left. The country is associated less with Mao’s Little Red Book than with capitalist development and rampant pollution, making it an acceptable target for moral censure. It helps that Tibet’s most famous representative is a Buddhist monk and that the autonomy of a landlocked Central Asian region at 16,000 feet is a cause safely sequestered from any hint of the American national interest. Tibet will surely get more restive rather than less as the August games approach. They are simply too good a platform for international attention (the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests began upon a high-profile visit by Mikhail Gorbachev). China will respond brutishly and hope its Olympic stage-management still comes off without a hitch.

Keep the pools, cut the perks Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:38:00 EST
We are writing from the Phoenix Hill, Irish Hill, Butchertown, Clifton, Germantown-Paristown, and St. Joseph's Area neighborhoods, urging you to get involved in keeping all 11 of Louisville's public pools open, and reopening the Wyandotte Park pool.

Grateful for support of federal program for diabetes patients Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:38:00 EST
In Kentucky, over 260,000 people have diabetes (Type 1 or Type 2), a number that represents over 8 percent of our population. This disease cost Kentucky almost $3 billion (in health care and lost productivity) during 2004.

Quakes vs. epilepsy Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:39:00 EST
Earthquakes vs. Epilepsy: Difference? Not much -- Richter Scale/eeg, shaking of the earth/shaking of our bodies. Everyone gets scared and doesn't know what to do. When we had the earthquake Friday morning, I awoke. I felt the shaking. At first I thought I was having a seizure, but then I saw the building shake.

Further thoughts about politics, candidates Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:39:00 EST
I have always encouraged my children to vote. I told them this was our way of being involved in the political process. Now I am not so sure.

Studying genealogy can produce startling results Sun, 20 Apr 2008 23:40:00 EST
I always thought that genealogy was for people whose blood ran blue. It was for folks who traced their ancestry to the Mayflower or the American Revolution, not those who came over in steerage one step ahead of the Cossacks.

Democrats, decide! Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:11:00 EST
Physician Howard Dean is wrestling with every doctor's nightmare: a patient who has cold feet about taking his advice.

The Pope, abortion and faith Mon, 21 Apr 2008 00:12:00 EST
Pope Benedict XVI's visit to the U.S. has afforded the American media and others an opportunity to remind us that the Catholic Church is "out of step" with modern times.

Finding a permanent president Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:33:00 EST

Readers' views Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:17 EDT
EDUCATION CUTS REFLECT WORST SESSION IN YEARS

I encourage the teachers of Kentucky to refuse to teach beginning with the 2008-2009 school year.

Lawmakers in this year's session of the General Assembly had at least two opportunities to raise additional revenue and failed. According to some polls, more than 60 percent of Kentuckians said they would approve casinos if the legislature gave them an opportunity to vote on the bill. This would have brought in more than $500 million.

The legislature also refused to approve a 25-cent tax increase on cigarettes, which would have created more than $100 million in revenue.

After shirking their responsibility, lawmakers had the audacity to give teachers a 1 percent pay raise over the next two years, even though inflation is more than 4 percent.

Heston more than Moses, Ben-Hur Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:05 EDT
Charlton Heston is dead and I never got a chance to thank him for making my life easier. No matter how awful life can get, I always have one thing to fall back on: At least there are no marabunta along the Rio Negro.

If you don't recognize the reference, rent the 1954 film The Naked Jungle, in which South American chocolate producer Christopher Leiningen (Heston) faces off with an army of red warrior ants to save his plantation.

Of course, in this film, Heston is aided, not by a burning bush, but by the love of a good woman who puts the natives to shame with her bravery.

In fact, Joanna (played by Eleanor Parker) puts every man in the film to shame. She speaks French, rides a horse, plays the piano and gives Heston a lesson in piano tech.

It seems Steve Carrel is not the first 40-year-old virgin in moviedom. Heston's character, it seems, had no time for women while he was in New Orleans, and though some plantation men went into the village at night, he didn't.

No cloud over downtown condos Mon, 21 Apr 2008 02:05 EDT
"Shadows over the Condos" overstates the negative and understates the positive.

Lexington is benefiting from a diverse infill and redevelopment effort that is revitalizing its downtown. The creative efforts of many real estate professionals are also helping to reduce the demand to build subdivisions on Fayette County's prime agricultural land.

Marc King, one of the Kimball House Square investors mentioned in the news report, has saved and restored a number of downtown Lexington's historic properties. Several of the new condos have readapted light industrial properties. Saving historic and high-quality buildings and creating an expanded real estate tax base are good for Lexington.

As the article said, many of the new condo units have been sold to investors and owner-occupants. The high demand for lower-cost condos has been demonstrated by strong sales in the $95,000 to $200,000 price range.

The absorption time for higher-cost housing is always longer; this also appears to be the case in Lexington's downtown market.

Political playback Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:14 EDT
Making government's ends meet

"I sort of had the impression the cupboard was going to be bare. I just didn't know that the cupboard was going to be gone, too."

"We have a six-year road plan that looks like a 15-year wish list."

"The good news is that we have 18 months to deal with the really bad news."

"We're spending money like drunken sailors over there, and we don't have it, and we've been doing it for a long time."

Priced out of the running Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:05 EDT
Many lawmakers are applauding themselves so loudly for not raising taxes that they can't hear the door slamming on Kentucky's future.

By making college less affordable for families here than it would be in other states, Kentucky is committing economic suicide.

The latest example is a proposed 13 percent jump in tuition at community and technical colleges. A student taking a full load of 15 hours of course work would pay $1,950 a semester.

The two-year schools are supposed to be the gateway to a better future for working people, single parents, young adults who struggled in high school and those who can't afford to leave home.

In other words, the very people who must upgrade their knowledge and skills if Kentucky is to have a chance of pulling itself out of poverty and competing.

Lose-lose situation Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:05 EDT
With March Madness still semi-fresh in the memory, think of the 2008 General Assembly from a basketball perspective.

This session should have played out as a two-on-one break, with a Democratic governor and a Democratic House majority taking the offense to the Republican-controlled Senate.

Of course, teamwork remains a foreign concept for many Democrats, and particularly so for the Kentucky variety. As Gov. Steve Beshear -- quoting the late Will Rogers -- noted in a mid-session interview with the Herald-Leader, "I'm not a member of any organized political party; I'm a Democrat."

Never have the homespun humorist's words been put to more appropriate use than in Beshear's reference to the Democratic disarray during this session.

As a result of that disarray, what should have been a two-on-one break became something of a one-on-one-on-one-on-one game, with Beshear and a split House Democratic leadership doing the individual free-lance thing, not only against Senate Republicans but against one another as well.

Lethal injections Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:08 EDT

Chinese Dir