China Now Butt of the Joke

"Liu Xiaobo is a convicted criminal sentenced to jail by Chinese justice. His acts are in complete contradiction to the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize."

- China, reacting to the Nobel committee's selection of Liu Xiaobo as recipient of the 2010 Nobel Peace prize.

I'll wipe the tears of laughter from my eyes, and congratulate Liu Xiaobo on his heroic dissent from his oppressive government. Xiaobo has done much more towards earning his Nobel Peace prize than the previous recipient, who was awarded his prize for talking about sunshine and puppies, hope and change, and for getting elected President of the United States of America.

I guess that now, finally, China gets the joke that is the Nobel Peace Prize: Do something that resonates with liberal European sensibilities, and you're in there like swimwear. Just ask Al Gore, or Paul Krugman.

Red Friday 2007

The Friday after Thanksgiving is referred to as Black Friday, as the retaillers usually see a profit that day. I refer to it as RED Friday, as most americans will only add to their debt on that day, and the money spent will find it's way into the coffers of the communist Chinese government. I started this last year in this other post, and I will continue to do an annual jeremiad about it until people listen, or our economy crashes. Yes, it's looking like the former possibility is more likely.

So, what's changed since last year? Well, the value of the American Dollar is down 30% versus the Euro, and also down against the British Pound and Japanese Yen. Ahh, but the dollar hasn't fallen in relation to the Chinese Yuan right? The Chinese currency is pegged to the US Dollar, so that as our dollar gets weaker, chinese imports to this country won't spike in value. Which means that americans can continue to buy chinese goods until the Dollar is 1:1 with the old Italian Lira, and the destruction of our economy is complete.

Oil, on the other hand, is not pegged to the Dollar, as any observer will note that the cost of a barrel of oil is up 60% from this time last year. Yes, it hurts, and will continue to hurt, until we both reduce consumer consumption and get our currency under control.

So, what does this have to do with shopping on RED Friday? Here are some suggestions:

1. Don't buy so much stuff!
2. If you just have to but stuff, don't buy stuff made in China.
3. Instead of buying a plasma TV, buy a copy of 'The Wealth of Nations' by Adam Smith.
4. Instead of buying a new Playstation, buy a copy of 'The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' by Edward Gibbon.
5. Some of you are talented folks, so craft something instead. We used to make stuff in this country, so revive the tradition.

Pope Writes to China, pt II

To begin, let's look at a statement, early in the Pope's letter to Chinese Catholics:

I realize that the normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China requires time and presupposes the good will of both parties.

Yes, presupposing the good will of both parties. Well, one party doesn't have the same concept of good will:

Some Catholic websites in mainland China that uploaded Pope Benedict XVI's letter to Catholics in the mainland shortly after it was released were ordered hours later to remove it.

A priest in charge of such a website registered with the government told UCA News on July 2 he felt helpless because he strongly believes that "China Church websites should publish the pope's letter."

The priest, who asked not to be named, said some government officials who came to his office on June 29 asked about the letter but did not explicitly say he could not carry it. The next evening, he uploaded the letter to his site, but he was told on July 1 morning he was not allowed to upload the text.

China's good will seems to have a price, and they want the goods up front:

The Vatican should take actions, instead of creating barriers, if it wants to improve ties with China, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Saturday.

"China's stance on improving relations with the Vatican is consistent. Namely, Vatican should sever the so called diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognize the People's Republic of China is the sole government representing China," said Qin.

"We hope the Vatican can take actions (to improve relations) and no longer creates new barriers," Qin said.

I will continue to hope for the best, but I won't hold my breath for good fruit from a wicked tree.

I'm still waiting for free trade and the market economy to bring freedom to Chinese christians. Any day now, right? Right?

Pope Writes to China, pt I

Pope Benedict XVI writes the the faithful Catholics of China:

I realize that the normalization of relations with the People's Republic of China requires time and presupposes the good will of both parties.

Yes, and China's advance preparation to denounce the Pope's message telegraphs the true nature of the Patriotic Association of Chinese Catholics. The Communist Party is a jealous god, and will have no other gods before it. From CWNews:

Chinese officials have summoned Catholic bishops to a meeting in Huariou, north of Beijing, to coordinate their response to a forthcoming message from Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) to the Catholics of China, the AsiaNews service reports.

Ever the optimist, the Pope presses on:

at the same time, though, compliance with those authorities is not acceptable when they interfere unduly in matters regarding the faith and discipline of the Church. The civil authorities are well aware that the Church in her teaching invites the faithful to be good citizens, respectful and active contributors to the common good in their country, but it is likewise clear that she asks the State to guarantee to those same Catholic citizens the full exercise of their faith, with respect for authentic religious freedom.

Like I said before, Maoism is inherantly anti-christian in it's avowed repression of any religious expression not worshipping the State. More later, after I read the whole document.

h/t CWNews

Mao v. Mary

From CWNews, China is opressing Christians again:

A government decree has ruled that the Marian sanctuary, and the pilgrimages that have brought over 40,000 pilgrims there annually, are evidence of "illegal religious activity."

The Henan government plans to raze the sanctuary, bar pilgrimages to the site, and destroy the celebrated statue of Our Lady of Carmel that is revered by Catholics there. To discourage faithful Catholics from organizing sit-ins on the site to protect the shrine, authorities have scheduled military exercises in the area.

It's just another instance of how the Maoist government can do what it pleases with the Chinese people, while the retail-addled consumers in the West do nothing to help. The religious liberties of the Chinese people are secondary to cheap footwear for Americans.

Maybe if the Chinese rename the shrine "Our Lady of Low Prices"..

Mao, the Movie

A fawning firm treatment of Mao Zedong is in the works. To cerebrate, in chinese manufacturing fashion, I'm going to copy some famous tagrines from hit movies:

Mao's Mother, speaking to young Mao: "The life is a box of chocolate, Mao. Very difficult to say any you obtain."
____

Mao, after his mule has been scared off: "I did not think, you smile. You see, my mule does not like the person smiling. His some you ridicule him the crazy idea. Now if you apologize, if I knew you go to, perhaps I convince him, you truly have not meant it."
____

Mao, riling chinese peasants: "Tells us the enemy, perhaps they need our life, but they never will adopt... our freedom!"
____

Mao, later, speaking to his troops: "Is taking the line! Stays with me in the same place! If you found oneself alone, rides in the green domain and the sun in yours face, do not have to trouble. For you is in Elysium, and you already were die!"
____

Mao, talking about his tanks: "Very good, the person, you sees, the picture, we us opposed big and is better than all tanks, therefore possesses us to be able to hope does is, the picture, frightens them, y'know. This pole gun is ordinary 76mm but we increases pipe this piece it, and Capitalist pigs believed, the picture, it is possibly 90mm. We obtained we ammunition, it uses the paint to fill. When we fire at it, it makes the pretty picture, frightens the person! And we have a loudspeaker, when we enter our extremely loud performance music the battle. It... is a little calm we to get down."
____

The final scene, Mao has sacrificed himself to save the people of China:

Lin Biao: "Mao."
Mao: " Country... stemming from danger?"
Biao: "Yes."
Mao: "Do not grieve, Comrade. This is a logic. Many needs to exceed...
Biao: "... Minority need."
Mao: "..Or that. I have until now never accepted Kobayashi the Maru test. How do you think my explanation?"
Biao: "Mao."
Mao, before dying: "I will be and always will be your friend... Exactly long and is prosperous."
___

If anyone can guess the movies these diarogs are transrated from, more power to you...

Avenues

"As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils. Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

- George Washington, Farewell Address

10% Less, Right Now

If our national security is compromised by our fuel consumption right now, why wait ten years to cut usage by 20%. Let's start right now. Being January, we're at the beginning of a new year, so let's see if we can't drop our own usage by, say, 10%.

Ten percent, right now. How, you may ask? Make fewer trips to Walmart (another issue tackled later), use public transportation, plan your errands to reduce inefficiency, car pool. Use your imagination.

During World War II, gasoline was rationed. We were at war, and had to make sacrifices. Why not bring that same level of urgency to our consumption now?

While we're at it, another threat to our national security is looming in the form of our trade and currency imbalances with China. Not only have they siphoned away our manufacturing base with artificially low labor costs and created a trade imbalance with low-cost goods, but they've bought enormous amounts for U.S. debt, guaranteeing their leverage over us, economically.

Let's also buy less from China, say 10% less, right now. Every purchase, evaluate the need for the item, and look for non-Chinese alternatives. It will involve some time, research, and some sacrifice, but remember: This is our national security at stake!

10% less gasoline use, 10% less Chinese trade. Let's do it.

Before you shop..

Please think of these two men, Chinese Catholic priests, Fathers Shao Zhoumin and Jiang Sunian. Why think of them? No one knows where they are right now, since being arrested by Chinese police in late September.

Why does this abduction, a routine event for Catholics in China, have anything to do with shopping? While you're out shopping, look at the things you're about to purchase, and observe where they are made. Do you notice something? Any eerie similarities? Most of the stuff is likely made in China. Christmas cards, holiday light strands, Christmas ornaments, and the lot. By buying stuff made in China, we incrementally validate China's right to dispose of Catholic priests as the Maoist government sees fit. And it seems that China is into disposing of their "problems" piece by piece, organ by organ:

Some experts estimate that well over 90 percent of all organs transplanted in China come from executed prisoners, given the limited supply of other organs. China has no system of voluntary donor cards. Furthermore, experts say, because China defines death as a cessation in heart rather than brain-stem activity, there's little opportunity to recover organs from other sources.

So, more to think about this holiday season, eh? Or you can NOT think about it. It's your choice.

Red Friday Cometh

The Friday after Thanksgiving is now commonly known as Black Friday, as it’s insinuated how the pre-Christmas shopping done on that day puts merchants “in the black”. I propose a different moniker for it: Red Friday. Here’s why:

1) A large number of Americans will surrender their meager savings, and many go into debt, in an orgy of fiscal incontinence, also called “Holiday shopping”. The average American adult will accrue an extra $1,000 in debt for holiday shopping, Americans will be “in the Red” for next year’s landfill fodder and yardsale flotsam.

2) Many of the products purchased by said Americans will be produced overseas, adding to our overall trade deficit. Last year’s trade deficit was $655 Billion (excluding petroleum), which is a tremendous drag on our own economy, and has been devastating to our own manufacturing base. Buying cheap has never cost so much.

3) Much of the above trade deficits will be the products made in Communist China. In 2005, the trade imbalance with China, alone, was $202 BILLION. They also happen to hold a sizeable amount of U.S. debt, which end up giving them a significant amount of leverage over us, especially in the arena of currency values and trade.

4) Oh, sure, the products are inexpensive. That’s because they’re made by people in squalid conditions, making a pittance. I believe that we found those conditions intolerable in our own country, so why do we turn a blind eye to it elsewhere, precisely when we’re generating the demand for it? And if earning squat was bad enough, these people don’t get to practice their religion freely, nor speak freely, nor have unfiltered information sources (Thanks for your help with that, Google). Many are killed by their oppressive governments.

So, when you go out shopping for holiday merchandise this year, be it on Red Friday, or any other day, look at your labels, and decide if it’s really worth the cost to you, your country, and the people who suffer to bring you these items.

of Mice and Martyrs

By now, many have chewed over the gunpoint conversion to Islam, made by hostages in Gaza. It's hard to really criticize apostasy under duress unless you've been there, and like many sage commenters out there, I'll just pray that when the time comes, I'll have the courage to proclaim Jesus as Christ and Lord. As for the timid believers out there, Peter had denied Christ three times from the same fear, and Jesus forgave him. Good luck y'all.

The Maoist Chinese gov't has released a catholic bishop they've had in prison for a decade. Now some may say" Well, Jimbob, now that the Maoists have released a bishop, are you going to continue your trade embargo with China?" Well, I'm not one to fall for feints and other gestures, as the Maoists have exhibited an insincere and contradictory policy of public releases and secret arrests and re-arrests. Where are these guys?:


Bishop Su Zhimin of the Baoding diocese, where Bishop An served, was arrested in 1997 and his current condition and location are unknown.

Bishop Han Dingsiang of Yong Nian, also in the Hebei province, was arrested in 1999 and his current condition and location are unknown.

Bshop Jian Zhiguo of Zhengding, Hebei, was arrested in June of this year; he has been arrested 9 other times in the past three years. His current status is unknown.

Bishop Shi Enxiang of Yixian, Hebei, was arrested in 2001; his current condition and location are unknown.

Bishop Yao Liang, an auxiliary of the Xiwanzi diocese in Hebei, was arrested in July of this year, and is being held in Zhangjiakou.

Bishop Zhao Zhendong of Xuanhua as arrested in December 2004; his current condition and location are unknown.

And these are just the bishops! Where are all the priests that the Chinese gov't has sent for "re-education"/ coerced apostasy? The courage of Chinese Catholics must be great, and they truly love our Lord despite the cost. Maybe the recently released Fox News crew may do well to study these Chinese Martyrs as an example.

And lastly, the courage of Lina Joy, a christian convert in Malaysia, a Muslim country. The qualities of the Religion of Peace really shines through in situations like this:

But she is now in hiding after death threats from Islamic extremists, who accuse her of being an apostate.

Now, to be fair, those were just the extremist adherants of the Religion of Peace. How about the more moderate:

In rulings in her case, civil courts said Malays could not renounce Islam because the Constitution defined Malays to be Muslims.

They also ruled that a request to change her identity card from Muslim to Christian had to be decided by the Shariah courts. There she would be considered an apostate, and if she did not repent she surely would be sentenced to several years in an Islamic center for rehabilitation.

I imagine that the muslim concept of rehabilitation is very different than what christians would come up with. Long story short, another prisoner for Christ. Pray for her, and others like her throughout the world, and pray for the strength to be as courageous when the time comes for us.

Marxist love

And They'll know we are marxists by our love, by our love
Yes, They'll know we are marxists by our love.
-Parody of 'One in the Spirit', P. Shotles 1966

From CWNews

Authorities in China's Hebei province have arrested more than 90 members of the "underground" Catholic Church, including Bishop Yao Liang, the Cardinal Kung Foundation reports.

Bishop Yao, the head of the Xiwanzi diocese, who had previously been taken into custody last March, was arrested on July 30. A priest of the same diocese, Father Li Huisheng, was arrested on August 1.

When some Catholic faithful protested the arrests, and asked for information about the whereabouts of the jailed clerics, policy mobilized a force of 500 to jail 90 members of the underground Church on August 2. The arrests followed a previous crackdown by Protestant "house churches" in the area, in which thousands of military police participated on July 29.

Those of you who've been reading my blog a while know my sympathies for the chinese faithful, oppressed by both the government and the manufacturing companies that make this oppression possible. My boycott of chinese-made goods just doesn't seem enough, and there are few who are willing to make the same sacrifices. Maybe it's time to start going for the companies that manufacture goods over there, and persuade them that while China may be cheapest, they're materially assisting the Maoist government in persecuting their people. If enough large companies start pulling out, or threatening to, the government may stop this kind of oppression. Any other suggestions?
Past posts:
Render unto Mao
Can we buy their freedom?

Render unto Mao..

Mao Zedong

I'm calmer now, and as most of my readers know, I'm usually that calm voice of faithful reason. In discussion elsewhere, my concerns with supporting the regime of China we met with a scriptural argument. The commenter wrote not to get too upset because we should "render unto Caesar, what is Caesar's" and that the problems of China are complex and require nuance. No, he didn't say 'nuance', but the rhetoric was practically screaming it, and nuance has been the illness of catholicism in America.

Here's how I see the difference. I have to pay taxes to the USA and the State of Nebraska, at least so sayeth my W-2 and my Turbo Tax™ software. These taxes are required of my citizenship, and though I may not agree with everything that's done with my taxes, I still have to pay them.

I don't have to buy stuff made in China. I don't have to buy stuff from the businesses that are supporting the Chinese government's ability to cloister their people and opress them and often murder them. Chinese Catholics live under burdens that I can scarcely imagine struggling with, and while I pray that God gives them the grace to persist in their faith, I feel that I should not, in the name of desire for material comforts, assist in their persecution.

That's what it is, after all. If I want a new pair of sneakers, and I don't need them, then it's not really necessary that I have them. Even if I can rationalise 'needing' the sneakers, it behooves me that the expenditure is not used to further opress the people that made it. The same thing with toasters, spatulas, kitchen utensils, clothing, toys, and other non-essentials.

It may sound scrupulous, and maybe overly so, but in America our definitions of neccessities has broadened immensely. What are the degrees of cooperation with evil, and where should we draw the line? Do we have the courage to face down our 'need' for material things?


Here there be courage.

Can we buy their freedom?

Is anyone else getting tired of hearing about events like this:

Chinese police detained two underground Roman Catholic priests this week and has held a 70-year-old bishop for three months.

I'm really tired of seeing how catholics are treated in China, and having people speak about how engagement is going to bring change. Ok, you want change? Here it comes:

I ain't buying anymore of their crap!

99% of the time, the stuff made in China isn't a vital neccessity to everyday life, and so doesn't need to be purchased. Period. I'll continue to buy stuff made in Guatemala, Romania, or even Thailand, but not from China. I'll still get takeout from the local House of Hunan, but anything that says 'Made in China' is staying on it's shelf at the store.

I've already been weaning the chinese garbage from our normal expenditures, only when there are no alternatives will I buy their wares. I don't shop at Walmart anyway, so there's one less source of tension there.

If China thinks that I am being selfish, and that thier people will suffer if I don't buy their goods, I'll say this:

"Quit jailing my spiritual brethren! If you can let them live freely, then I will consider you fair. Until that day, you get squat from me."

Wow, I've been ranting, haven't I? So be it, but my challenge still stands. Can you go 'China-free for a Free China'?