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August 2008
Two Southern gems charm a Brit …
London’s Telegraph newspaper has sent a reporter to check out the tourist appeal of Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia.
And the verdict? Overwhelmingly positive.
Reporter Nigel Richardson called Savannah “one of the finest American cities to walk round.” He said Charleston appeared both “beautiful and affluent.”
In general, he said he “loved walking in Savannah and Charleston, spotting, through tropical tangle, the ghostly cousins of a Chelsea mews or a Brighton seafront terrace, reading heritage plaques on reconditioned facades and visitors’ books in hallways that smelled of floor polish.”
In the reporter’s view, here were the top sights to check out:
In Savannah the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, admission $4. The First African Baptist Church is at 23 Montgomery Street. Tours Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3 p.m., admission free but donation appreciated.
Gullah Grub is on St. Helena Island at 877 Sea Island Parkway. The Penn Center Historic District is signposted off Sea Island Parkway. A museum tells the story of the school for freed slaves.
In Charleston the Aiken-Rhett House is at 48 Elizabeth St. Al Miller’s Sites and Insights Tour: the Black History/Porgy and Bess Tour costs $13 for one hour, $18 for two hours.
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Does American count in the Olympics medal count?
The headline says it all: America Refuses To Accept Defeat In Olympic Medal Count.
For days newspaper reporters around the world have been yammering on about how the United States is the only nation in the world that ranks countries based on total number of medals — and not on total number of gold medals.
On Monday the London Times newspaper said that the recent Olympics were sensational, with China celebrating its ultimate aim of heading the Olympic medals table for the first time. Indeed everyone was celebrating — except those in America, where people believe that Team USA remains the main force in world sport.
The paper said: “The race for the Olympic title is measured in medals, it just depends on which medals you consult. The IOC issues its league table based on the number of golds won, which gives China the honors, but then admits that there is no official system in place to decide who is top dog. So the American public is reading tables counting the total number of medals, including silver and bronze, won at the Games. On that measure, the U.S. keep the whip hand over the home nation.”
However, the paper said that there’s no denying that the Olympics belonged to China in every sense. In Beijing, China contested almost every event and, even where they could not win medals, showed signs that they will be a formidable force in London in 2012. Like Australia, who sank from fourth in Athens to sixth in Beijing on the IOC medals table, the U.S. will have to accept that the rest of the world is catching up fast and that they will not be able to flex their sporting muscles for much longer.
The paper said: “The U.S. may feign ignorance, but there is a new Olympic order led by China, whichever league table you read.”
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A nation of racist, gun-selling, unhealthy polygamists?
America is a nation of polygamists that sold large piles of weapons to Saddam Hussein and whose citizens are not entitled to emergency medical care.
For the launch of a new pro-America Web site www.AmericaInTheWorld.com this week, a special opinion poll of nearly 2,000 British citizens was conducted. It was startling to see just how little they know about their closest ally.
For example, 58 percent believe polygamy is legal in parts of the United States. (It’s not.) More than 80 percent believes the United States sold Saddam more than one-quarter of his weapons. And many see the United States as a racist society — much more racist than Europe.
The good news is that this new Web site, launched by “a few London-based friends of America,” is designed to make the case that the United States is fundamentally a good nation. “America isn’t a perfect nation but it’s not had a fair press in recent times,” the site says. Amen to that. The group — British Conservative Leader David Cameron will be at the site’s formal launch party — rejects both American isolationism and anti-Americanism.
And tomorrow — Aug. 20 — the group launches a two-minute YouTube video entitled “A World Without The American Soldier.” Check it out.
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Bush rebuking Russia? To some Brits, that’s a joke
This week’s operation in Georgia has displayed the failure of the West’s policy of belligerence towards Vladimir Putin’s Russia, charges Simon Jenkins in a column in today’s London Guardian newspaper. “The policy was meant to weaken Russia, and has strengthened it,” he says.
He reminds readers that Georgia is a supposed Western ally and applicant to NATO. “The West has lost all leverage and can do nothing,” he says. “Seldom was a policy so crashingly stupid.”
Tbilisi is one of the few world cities in which Bush’s picture is a pin-up and where an avenue is named after him. But America is too busy to get involved in Georgia, otherwise engaged in wars that bear a marked resemblance to those waged by Putin. It defended the Kurdish enclaves against Saddam Hussein. It sought regime change in Serbia and Afghanistan. “As Putin’s troops in South Ossetia were staging a passable imitation of the US 101st Airborne entering Iraq, Bush was studiously watching beach volleyball in Beijing,” Jenkins says.
He says that Putin would die laughing if he read this week’s American newspapers. Bush declared the Russian invasion of Georgia “disproportionate and unacceptable.” According to Jenkins, Bush says that great powers should not go about “toppling governments in the 21st century,” as if he had never done such a thing. “The lobby for sanctions against Russia is reduced to threatening to boycott the winter Olympics. Big deal.”
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You think TV news is bad? So does this the Guardian …
Europeans have long charged that TV news in the United States is dreadful: obsessed with trivia and celebrity, forever interviewing citizens about some artifact of small-town life when a major news story is breaking elsewhere.
But in London’s Guardian newspaper, commentator Kieren McCarthy says the truth is far, far worse than the above.
He said that although there are a multitude of news channels — CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, CNN, and MSNBC — after an hour of flipping between them one day last week, this was the sum total of information gleaned: “there are two U.S. presidential candidates; they have produced campaign ads, people have made video parodies and posted them on the Internet; a U.S. TV news host appeared on a U.S. TV chat show last night; and someone said something controversial (read ignorant) on a different TV show the day before.”
In the meantime, one of the most sought-after war criminals in the world had been arrested and sent for trial; several new scientific breakthroughs had been announced; Zimbabwe edged carefully toward shared government; and countless other real stories came and went.
What’s worse, he says, is that there is absolutely no effort to provide historical context. “The news is paced so frenetically that anything beyond soundbites is not tolerated. News anchors consistently talk over the top of anyone that doesn’t provide a punchy point every 10 seconds. Swooshing graphics and dance music add to the general level of pace - which effectively masks the fact that almost nothing is being provided beyond personal opinion.”
He laments the fact that two comedy programs, The Daily Show and the Colbert Report, are possibly the main source of news for anyone in America under the age of 30.
Ouch.
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All the world loves Team USA basketball
Even though the U.S. men’s basketball team played their opening game on a very away court, and even though they humiliated host nation China to start their quest to Olympic gold, the packed stadium in downtown Beijing erupted in cheers each time Dwayne Wade hit a jump shot and Lebron James slammed over a hapless defender.
The U.S. team’s 101 to 70 victory over China started what fans from around the world predicted would be a smooth road to a gold medal.
“Of course I want China to win, but the U.S. team is too strong,” said a Chinese fan who gave only his surname, Wang. “They’ll certainly win the gold.”
A French journalist in Beijing to cover the Olympics said she thought the U.S. national team looked more serious than they have in recent years, particularly in the 2004 Athens Olympics, when Team USA was left with only a bronze medal.
“It’s been too long, so they are very focused,” she said.
American fans in Beijing offered bravado.
“They’ve been challenged by other national teams and they know they have to step up,” said Tom Grooms, a technology consultant from East Moline, Illinois who lives in Tokyo.
“They sure seem determined to win.”
As Kobe Bryant hit a 3 and Wade stole a pass and slammed it home, the crowd - a United Nations of fans - burst into applause.
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Faster, Higher, Stronger … Hotter?
In Beijing, speed, stamina, and strength will be important. But there’s no denying that every athlete’s looks and style will be scrutinized as well.
Here are the world-class pinups most likely to capture the world’s attention over the next two weeks — according to London’s Independent newspaper.
The two Americans on the short list include:
Dara Torres, 41, USA Swimmer Torres proves that age is no barrier. Despite having shoulder surgery in November 2007, Torres not only qualified for Beijing but beat her 25 year-old competitor Natalie Coughlin in the 100m freestyle qualifying race. She will be the first Olympic swimmer to compete in five Games: 1984, 1988, 1992, 2000 and 2008.
Allyson Felix, 23, USA Felix, already an Olympic silver medal-holding sprinter, lives in Los Angeles and is a committed Christian. Her father is an ordained minister and is professor of New Testament Greek; her mother is a primary school teacher. “My running is an amazing gift from God,” says Felix on her personal Web site.
The other glamour gals include: Alexandra Orlando, 21, a gymnast from Canada; Christine Arron, 35, a runner from France; Shanaze Reade, 20, representing Britain in bicycle motocross; and Margherita Granbassi, 28, a fencing champion from Italy.
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Poem ‘relay’ protests Olympics in China
A poetic protest of China’s human rights abuses traveled around the globe and reached its destination in Beijing this week, shortly before Friday’s the opening ceremonies for the summer Olympics.
The literary group PEN International organized readings and other events in 65 countries for the poem “June,” written by poet and journalist Shi Tao (seen here), who is serving a 10 year prison sentence. His poem laments the violent crackdown of the protests at Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, a subject that is now taboo in China.
The poem was translated into 98 languages in a four and a half month “virtual” trip that roughly followed the route of the Olympic torch. In the final leg of the trip, the 144-page protest petition was delivered to Chinese officials by mail. The poem and a map of its travels can be seen at www.penpoemrelay.org.
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Remember Ray Ewry?
With the Olympic Games about to kick off in Beijing, the Times newspaper of London has come up with its list of the top 100 Olympic athletes of all time, using a complex points system. It’s no surprise that many of the greatest athletes — at least according to the paper — are American.
Here are the top 10:
1) Raymond Ewry (United States) 120pts born 1873 Lafayette, Indiana; died 1937 Long Island, New York
2) Paavo Nurmi (Finland) 108pts born 1897 Turku; died 1973 Helsinki
3) Carl Lewis (United States) 105pts born 1961 Birmingham, Alabama
4) Martin Sheridan (United States) 104pts born 1881 Treenduff, Ireland; died Manhattan, New York
5) Eric Lemming (Sweden) 94pts born 1880 Gothenburg; died 1930 Gothenburg
6) Ville Ritola (Finland) 75pts born 1896 Peraseinajoki; died 1982 Helsinki
7) Merlene Ottey (Jamaica/Slovenia) 70pts born 1960 Hanover, Jamaica
8) Meyer Prinstein (United States) 65pts born 1878 Szczuczyn, Poland; died 1925 New York
9) Ralph Rose (United States) 64pts born 1885 Healdsburg, California; died 1913
10) Jackie Joyner-Kersee (United States) 63pts born 1962 East St Louis, Illinois
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John Edwards and an alleged love child? Enquiring minds in Britain want to know …
The British media says it is in a state of shock this week over the fact that the American media has chosen to ignore the juiciest political story of the month and possibly even the year: the discovery by National Enquirer hacks of John Edwards in the corridors of a Beverly Hills hotel, where his alleged mistress and alleged love child were also staying, at half past two on the morning of Tuesday, 22 July.
Says Guy Adams, media reporter, in today’s Independent newspaper in London: “Since Edwards was, until recently, hoping to be president and will almost certainly have a prominent role in any Barack Obama administration, his marital integrity is a matter of public interest. It could yet become an election issue. Yet neither the highfalutin’ New York Times, nor the Chicago Tribune, nor even the LA Times, on whose patch the whole sordid business occurred, have yet stepped up to the plate to report it.”
Adams says that the media’s old-fashioned reticence seems quaint in this day of kiss-and-tell journalism. “But it’s also depressing: one of the reasons America’s newspapers are dying is their perceived pomposity,” he said. “Readers say they are too timid to rock the boat; right-wingers complain (with some justification) that they conspire to suppress damaging stories about Democrats. The general public thinks they have simply become boring.”
Most importantly for the newspapers themselves, Adams claims that the Edwards story could be selling truckloads of newsprint at a time when media companies are hemorrhaging customers.