I must have read 20 reviews of Flight 93 over the past three or four days. Absolutely none jumped out at me like this splendid article by Ron Rosenbaum, explaining how United flight 93 gave us all the “redemptive uplift” for which we thirst whenever confronted with inexplicable evil.

Redemptive uplift: It’s the official religion of the media, anyway. There must be a silver lining; it’s always darkest before the dawn; the human spirit will triumph over evil; there must be a pony.

That’s always been the subtextual spiritual narrative of media catastrophe coverage: terrible human tragedy, but something good always can be found in it to affirm faith and hope and make us feel better. Plucky, ordinary human beings find a way to rise above the disaster. Man must prevail. The human spirit is resilient, unconquerable. Did I mention there must be a pony?

9/11 is no different. Flight 93 has become 9/11’s pony. The conjectural response to the hijacking has become (even more than the courage of the rescuers in the rubble) the redemptive fable we cling to, the fragment we shore against our ruin. Or so it is as envisioned in The Flight That Fought Back and Flight 93 and now United 93. A film in which, we are told by its production notes, we see “the courage that was born from … the crucible” of 9/11. A story of “something much larger than the event itself,” Greengrass tells us, a story in which “we … find wisdom.” One almost hears the subtext: This is “the feel-good film about 9/11.”

Read it all. His strongest point, I think, is that we’ve intoxicated ourslves with the flight 93 fable in a manner that is self-deceptive: there is no pony. A few sick thugs with box cutters brought America to its knees that day, and five years later we are still reeling. The sickening act led us into a messy global war we cannot win, wrecked our economy and sent us into the deepest and longest-lasting funk since the Carter days. There were no victories, no happy endings, no pony. Celebrate the act of heroism and remember it; it really was Americans at their best. But, as Rosenbaum says, there was no cause for optimism: “No one wants to admit it, but no Flight 93 fable of heroism can mask the fact that we now live in a world we are utterly unprepared for, a world out of control.” Again, read the whole article. Even if you don’t agree, it’ll set you thinking.

If you are now or ever were a member of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Civic Party, Hu Jintao wants to know about it. From the unlinkable SCMP:

Beijing is seeking a membership list for the newly formed Civic Party, fearing “hidden members” could join this year’s Election Committee poll.

Sources close to the central government said officials from its liaison office in Hong Kong had been asking veteran professionals and businessmen from the city over the past month whether they had joined the new pro-democracy party. The Civic Party, launched in March, has kept its membership list confidential, as do all parties in the city, because of privacy concerns.

Bernard Lim Wan-fung, a former president of the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, said an official from the liaison office asked about his political affiliation three weeks ago during a study trip in Guangzhou.

“He asked whether I had joined the Civic Party. I just told him that I hadn’t,” he said.

A member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, who did not want to be named, said Beijing was concerned “hidden members” from the Civic Party could join the Election Committee poll later this year. A date for the election has still to be set.

“Beijing is very much concerned because the Civic Party is stronger than the Democratic Party. I know people from the liaison office have been asking around about the membership list.

Look under your bed. If a Civic Party member is hiding there, let the party know.

Rebecca coolly and methodically flays Yahoo alive, in her typically understated manner, and her new post should get lots of attention.

I’ve tried to give all the Internet companies every benefit of the doubt, understanding their need to build their businesses in China. Google and Microsoft each showed some humanity as they made their difficult decisions on how to keep their integrity as they did business on the CCP’s terms. Yahoo has yet to demonstrate this humanity. They have a lot to answer for, Rebecca says, as she questions a rather vacuous statement from Yahoo spokesperson Mary Osako.

Yahoo! has given no indication that its practices contributing to the conviction of at least 4 Chinese dissidents will be modified in any way in the future. Yahoo!’s original decision to house e-mail servers inside China under Chinese legal jurisdiction clearly has had horrible human consequences. What will they do to change current practices to prevent such things happening in the future? They’ve given no indication that they’re doing anything concrete whatsoever, rendering Osako’s statement on the matter completely meaningless, it seems to me. To pass off responsibility to Yahoo!’s Chinese partner Alibaba is not a legitimate response, either, because if such collaboration continues, it will be happening under Yahoo!’s brand, and thus by implication with Yahoo!’s consent and approval.

Those are serious charges. Yahoo has done so much to create one of the world’s best-known and admired brands. Are they going to let this poison the well? I was deadset against a boycott of google. Google’s “crimes” in no way merited such an extreme reaction. But if Rebecca’s on target (and she nearly always is), Yahoo’s crimes just might qualify.

It sure looks that way to me, and you have to wonder what their strategy is

The head of Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic church says the Vatican must halt talks with China because of its appointment of bishops without Vatican consent.

“The dialogue cannot continue, because people will think we are prepared to surrender,” Cardinal Joseph Zen told the South China Morning Post. His comments come just days after state-sanctioned clerics in the Chinese city of Kunming ordained a new bishop.

The Vatican had asked for the ceremony to be delayed, to assess the candidate. Another bishop is set to be appointed without Vatican approval in Fujian in the coming days. A Roman Catholic congregation in Beijing
China’s Roman Catholic church has about 10 million members

The Chinese Church does not recognise the Vatican’s power to appoint bishops, causing disagreement between the two sides. But until recently, most appointments had been approved by both parties, easing tensions. The Vatican would soon issue a “very strong reaction to underline the seriousness of the matter,” Cardinal Zen told the newspaper, which is based in Hong Kong.

“We cannot budge. When you brutally place such a fait accompli, how can you call this dialogue? This totally runs against the spirit of dialogue,” he said.

Zen is right. It looked like some real progress was being made, and China seemed poised to reap a public relations windfall with its new-found toleration and open-mindedness. After making such good progress, what’s the point of throwing a monkey wrench into the machinery? If they keep it up, soon they’ll be back to square one.

So much about this in the blogs today. This rather amazing post sums it up the best (and get a load of that bronze sculpture of chickenhawk Bush!). Just keep scrolling.