olympicmania!

The White House Press Corp were detained for three hours at Beijing International Airport on Friday.  The plane arrived a few hours after President and Mrs. Bush did. The reason for the detainment official White House  was logistical problems , However,The Northwest Airlines flight crew said Airport security were checking all luggage. More details are here from the AP via Yahoo News: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080807/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush_press_corps_plane

Meanwhile, There has been a terrorist threat against the Beijing Olympic Games. The Turkistan Islamic Party An ethnic Uigahr and Muslim group seeking revenge for the mis-treatment of the its people by the Chinese government and seeking and independent homeland in Xinjiang province. . The group made a video showing the Beijing Olympic logo burning and an explosion of am Olympic venue calling for a Holy war against The People’s Republic. The video was delivered on August 1. Two US monitoring organization SITE Intellegence Group nad  IntelCenter.  The video tell Muslims to stay away from Olympics locales. More Information here;http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/A-US-Monitor-Says-Chinese-Islamic-Group-Posts-New-Video-Threatening-Beijing-Olympics/Article/200808115073304?lpos=World%2BNews_1&lid=ARTICLE_15073304_A%2BUS%2BMonitor%2BSays%2BChinese%2BIslamic%2BGroup%2BPosts%2BNew%2BVideo%2BThreatening%2BBeijing%2BOlympics

If that not bad enough, the government is cracking down on dissidents. Two Chinese women were arrested and detained for protesting  their eviction from their homes to make way for the Olympics; Zhang Wei and Ma Xiulan, were evicted from their homes near Tiananmen Square site of the 1989 massacre of Chinese dissidents which protesting government and wanting freedoms.  The neighborhood called Qianmen just south of the square turned into a upscale shopping district with Rolex, Nike and and Starbucks.

This comes on the heels of protest by foreigners in two Americans who unfold a banner on a flagpole  showing support for the people of Tibet. And American Olympic Speed skater Joey Cheek was stopped from flying to Beijing because he spoke out the war in Darfur. Make one appreciate the freedom and opportunity to live the greatest county on earth more here:http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080807/D92DCUH00.html

In the UK going green is taking a back seat to saving green

Nearly thirty years ago,  Kermit the  Frog once retorted the line “It Ain’t Easy Being Green” in the Feature Film ” The Muppet Movie” but in the United Kingdom and scenes that play out here and around the world, Environmentalism is taking a back seat to saving.  In this article for Times Of London News paper web site         http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contributors/article4474202.ece

The paper interviews author Julie Burchill of the newbook “Not in my Name: A Compendium of Modern Hypocrisy” has a few choice word about the leaders of the Evironmential Movement quote

“Environmentalists are po-faced, unsexy, public school alumni who drivel on about the end of the world because they don’t want the working classes to have any fun, go on foreign holidays or buy cheap clothes.”

And Michael O’Leary , Cheif Executive Officer of European low cost airline Ryannair says

” the “nutbag ecologists” are the overindulged rich who have nothing better to do with their lives than talk about hot air and beans.”

Researcher and Pollsters are finding environmental issues  is not the top issue the economy and rising prices are.  Even the Politicians there are rarely bring up the environment in speeches and refuse to raise taxes fearing a backlash from the citizenry.

It not just in Brittan, Here in the US  Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama touted his green credentials. But now the nominee talks about saving instead of recycling.
But in the end it the credit crunch and the economy that has prevailed, people are not wasting food, splurging less, which make people more earth friendly. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, are you listening !