No protestors there

The Chinese Communists have finally figured out how to have a photo op with the Olympic torch without all those pesky protestors. Go climb a mountain.

Live television footage showed a Chinese mountaineering team holding up a specially designed torch — separate from the main Olympic flame — along with Chinese and Olympic flags on the peak of Mount Everest.

"One World, One Dream," one of the climbers said on the approach to the peak, repeating the slogan for the Olympics. "We have lit the torch on top of the world," another climber said.

The 19-member team broke camp before dawn and reached the top of the 29,035-foot mountain a little more than six hours later.

The climbers then all crowded together at the top of Everest and passed the torch among themselves.

Do you think any of the climbers looked around and said, "Hey! I can see burning Tibetan villages from here!"

I guess dissenting Chinese and Tibetans don't count

Former President Jimmy Carter explains why he would not support a boycott of the Beijing Olympics:

As president, Carter led the boycott of the Moscow Olympics in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. "That was a totally different experience in 1980, when the Soviet Union had brutally invaded and killed thousands and thousands of people," he said, rejecting the idea of boycotting the Beijing games to protest China's crackdown in Tibet. He did not address whether just the opening ceremonies should be boycotted.

So you see, because the Communists don't have to invade to continue to be repressive towards their own people and the Tibetans, not too mention other Asian ethnic minorities within their borders, it doesn't really count.

I thought the whole point of the torch relay was for it to be seen

If the Olympics organizers and the police are going to play "hide and seek" with the Olympic Torch, what's the point of continuing with the relay?

After its parade was rerouted and shortened to prevent disruptions by massive crowds of anti-China protesters, the planned closing ceremony at the waterfront was canceled and moved to San Francisco International Airport. The flame was put directly on a plane and was not displayed.

The last-minute changes to the route and the site of the closing ceremony were made amid security concerns following chaotic protests in London and Paris of China's human rights record in Tibet and elsewhere, but they effectively prevented many spectators who wanted to see the flame from witnessing the historic moment.

And just why are we allowing Chinese security to operate in the United States?

Torchbearers in other cities have complained of aggressive behavior by paramilitary police in blue track suits sent by Beijing to guard the Olympic flame. Although there were no major problems reported in California, they did make their presence felt.

At least one torchbearer decided to show her support for Tibetan independence during her moment in the spotlight. After being passed the Olympic flame, Majora Carter pulled out a small Tibetan flag that she had hidden in her shirt sleeve.

"The Chinese security and cops were on me like white on rice, it was no joke," said Carter, 41, who runs a nonprofit organization in New York. "They pulled me out of the race, and then San Francisco police officers pushed me back into the crowd on the side of the street."

Now this is costing money

Whether or not the United States boycotts the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony to protest China's treatment of Tibet, we sure as heck should have boycotted the stupid torch relay.

Hundreds of security officers deployed across San Francisco for the flame's only U.S. stop. Activists fuelled by anger about Beijing's policies in Tibet and its reaction to deadly rioting in the Himalayan region last month were gathering for demonstrations.

Several hundred paraded through the city's streets on the eve of the torch procession, many carrying Tibetan flags and signs and chanting "Shame on China."

On Wednesday, some 700 security officers deployed in the West Coast city and airspace restrictions were imposed. Barricades were set up outside the Chinese consulate.

Coast Guard boats were to patrol the waterfront route of the torch. The relay was to start at 1 p.m. (1700 GMT).

Coast Guard boats? Don't they have something better to do, like search for escapees from Alcatraz or enemy submarines?

I have a solution much more amenable to the San Francisco (not to mention federal) taxpayer. Provide as much protection for the Olympic Torch as they do for military recruiting centers in the Bay area. That torch will be at the bottom of the Bay in no time, and everybody but the Chinese and the Olympic Committee will be happy.

Where's an angry hippie mob when you need them?

How about San Francisco?

Several hundred supporters of Tibet marched through the streets of San Francisco on Tuesday to criticize China before the Olympic torch is run through the city the next day.

"Shame on China," chanted the protesters, many carrying Tibetan flags and signs, as they marched through the streets.

They also protested outside the Chinese consulate.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom said he had been in contact with French and British officials to gain insight on how the city should handle protesters.

Because obviously they did it so well.

If I could be so humble as to offer advice, the protestors should pretend the World Trade Organization is in town. That will get them in just the right mood.

Pelosi: US should consider boycott of Olympics opening ceremony

Commies.

Killing dissent is not an Olympic Sport

The Dalai Lama denies trying to "sabotage" the Beijing Olympics but groups supporting a free Tibet "could remind the international community, including the Chinese people, about the repression and urgency of the situation in Tibet."

His statement came a day after Chinese authorities warned preparations had been made to stop campaigners opposed to China's rule of Tibet from protesting in the Himalayan region before and during the Olympics.

Pro-Tibetan independence groups have sought to use the Olympics as a platform to publicise their cause with publicity stunts in Tibet and Beijing.

In April last year, five Americans from Students for a Free Tibet were expelled from China for staging a demonstration on Mount Everest in which they called for Tibetan independence.

In August, during celebrations to mark the one-year countdown to the Games, another six foreign free-Tibet activists staged a two-hour protest on the Great Wall near Beijing and were promptly kicked out of the country.

China has ruled Tibet since 1951, a year after sending troops in to "liberate" the devoutly Buddhist region, and has violently suppressed a number of uprisings since then.

The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed revolt against Chinese rule, has set up his government-in-exile in Dharamshala.

The Dalai Lama is wrong. The Beijing Olympics will go as they have in all totalitarian regimes, from Hitler's Berlin games to Moscow in 1980: a giant propaganda feat masking the oppression. While geopolitics make it a tough call whether individual nations should boycott, we should be under no illusion that the games will be of any benefit to the oppressed in China, let alone allow any airing of grievances. Those under the boot of Chinese Communist rule have no responsibility to support the Beijing Olympics, and arguably have a moral responsibility to condemn the rest of the world holding a party dancing on the blood stains of Tiananmen Square.