One of the strangest and most upsetting accounts of media insanity I’ve ever heard. What will it take to reign in Fox news and keep Bill O’Reilly and his colleagues from ruining lives?

(And yes, I am still not blogging. I’m just giving links. You’ll know I’m blogging again when you see the next insufferably long post that’s become my signature.)

This sounds too good to be true. The researchers sound downright ecstatic. Wouldn’t that be a great Christmas gift?

I wouldn’t be at all surprised, considering the debt Bush owes to the far right, which is notoriously critical of “Red China.” It looks like the process is already in motion.

More proof of the CCP’s determination to carry out reforms, no matter the cost to the party. Read about it here, too.

Update: The men have been released, which is not surprising considering the international uproar this created.
No, I’m not blogging again (yet). But when I see good links, I’ll keep sharing.

…until I get my momentum back, which could take weeks. I feel totally uninspired and depressed about politics, American and Chinese. As I said a few days ago, the level of intensity throughout the Chinese blogosphere seems to have fallen to a new low, and everyone seems to be hibernating. Maybe it’s just the time of year. Whatever it is, a good break would probably be a smart thing for me, maybe until the new year. Of course, if something strikes me as especially, irresistibly blog-worthy I’ll post about it. But right now, I feel the fire’s gone out and I’ve got to figure out what I want this site to be. Thanks.

Being the colossal bore I am, today I started reading Ford’s neglected masterpiece of 1915, The Good Soldier. While I’ve only finished the first few chapters, I can safely say it’s about the most voluptuous and expressive prose I’ve ever encountered. Flaubert comes inevitably to mind, because each sentence, each word is so carefully chosen, and you know the author won’t settle for anything less than utter perfection.

Anyway, in the introduction there’s a quote from an essay Ford wrote in 1914 on the art of writing. I want to put it down here because I know it’s a passage I’ll want to return to again and again once I start writing my own masterpiece of a novel. He is describing how the writer should approach his audience:

To him, you will address your picture, your poem, your prose story, or your argument. You will seek to capture his interest; you will seek to hold his interest. You will do this by methods of surprise, of fatigue, by passages of sweetness in your language, by passages suggesting the sudden and brutal shock of suicide. You will give him passages of dullness, so that your bright effects may seem more bright; you will alternate, you will dwell for a long time upon an intimate point; you will seek to exasperate so that you may the better enchant. You will, in short, employ all the devices of the prostitute. If you are too proud for this you may be the better gentleman or the better lady, but you will be the worse artist….[T]he artist is, quite rightly, regarded with suspicion by people who desire to live in tranquil and ordered society.

That’s worth more than a whole semester of creative writing. I think I’ll tape it to my monitor and read it before every post I write.

This is just so pathetic.

A 10-year-old girl was placed in handcuffs and taken to a police station because she took a pair of scissors to her elementary school.

School district officials said the fourth-grade student did not threaten anyone with the 8-inch shears, but violated a rule that considers scissors to be potential weapons.

Administrators said they were following state law when they called police Thursday, and police said they were following department rules when they handcuffed Porsche Brown and took her away in a patrol wagon.

“My daughter cried and cried,” said her mother, Rose Jackson. “She had no idea what she did was wrong. I think that was way too harsh.”

In their infinite kindness, the police released the 10-year-old girl without charges. But one thing I can promise — she’ll never be the same girl again.

How can we be so stupid? Why is America hellbent on being the laughingstock of the entire world?

A WaPo article on Bush’s comments yesterday on Social Security:

“We had a good discussion about the problems that face the Social Security system,” Bush told the press, “and there is a recognition among the experts that we have a problem. And the problem is America is getting older and that there are fewer people to pay into the system to support a baby boomer generation which is about to retire.

“Therefore, the question is, does this country have the will to address the problem. I think it must. I think we have a responsibility to solve problems before they become acute. . . . [W]e must be willing to address this problem. . . . [T]he time is ready for us to solve this problem. . . . I think what’s really important in the discussions is to understand the size of the problem. . . . What’s important, Steve, is before we begin any discussion is to understand the scope of the problem. And that’s why these trustees are vital in helping educate the American people, and Congress, as to the size of the problem. And I will not prejudge any solution. I think it’s very important for the first step to be a common understanding of the size of the problem. . . .

“We have got a member of what was called the Moynihan Commission with us. They studied this problem in detail. They made some suggestions about how to move forward in solving the problem. Much of my thinking has been colored by the work of the late Senator Moynihan and the other members of the commission who took a lot of time to take a look at this problem, and who came up with some creative suggestions.”

And, Bush said in closing: “We will not raise payroll taxes to solve this problem.”

A couple hours later, press secretary Scott McClellan took to the podium for his press briefing. And in case anyone missed it: “We all need to agree that this is a real problem,” he said. Over and over again.

Well, they certainly know how to stay on-message, even if it makes them sound retarded.

Of course, most of us know the “problem” is not nearly as huge a crisis as the Bushies are making it out to be. But Social Security “reform” is a cornerstone of the Bush vision thing, deranged as their formula may be. Just one more attempt to take from the working classes. Krugman summed it up nicely two days ago:

They come to bury Social Security, not to save it. They aren’t sincerely concerned about the possibility that the system will someday fail; they’re disturbed by the system’s historic success.

For Social Security is a government program that works, a demonstration that a modest amount of taxing and spending can make people’s lives better and more secure. And that’s why the right wants to destroy it.

Couldn’t have said it better. Be sure to “read the whole thing”; it may be Krugman’s best piece to date.

If you live in HK and are interested in politics and news, you should take a look at this new online community, the first of its kind in HK according to Dan Gillmor). From Chatter Garden’s news release:

Chatter Garden, an online community for news and discussion about Hong Kong regional politics and public affairs, is now live.

The English language site was created as a University of Hong Kong student project for the New Media Workshop, part of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre. Visitors are encouraged to engage in online community dialogue, writing weblog entries and moderating stories. The Web site creation was directed by assistant professor Andrew Lih and visiting lecturer Dan Gillmor, author of the book, “We the Media.”

While Hong Kong has one of the most free media environments in East Asia and China, there are surprisingly few forums for public discourse. Chatter Garden was inspired by other online citizen journalism projects, such as OhmyNews (Korea), Malaysiakini and DailyKOS (US) to engage citizens in discussing regional public affairs. Topics include politics, economy, culture, and “One country, Two systems.”

Chatter Garden is named after “Chater Garden,” the park next to the government Legislative Council building, and a popular gathering place for local political rallies.

Some interesting discussions are going on over there, and it definitely has potential.

Thanks to Jeremy for the tip.

This is stolen verbatim from ESWN, and it’s a high compliment to a site I hold in the highest esteem.

(Associated Press) A disabled man holds a sign which offers his kidney for sale, on a sidewalk in front of Beijing’s Tiananmen Gate Wednesday Dec 8, 2004. Sales of organs are controversial in China with some people offering them for sale as a way out of poverty. China has also been accused of harvesting organs from executed prisoners. Prices for kidneys can reach up to 500,000 Yuan (US$60,500) each.

If there were a Mendicant Creativity Award, this guy would win my nomination.