Rick Raw: Boycott The Olympics –China’s Abysmal Human Rights Record Nullifies Its Privilege of Hosting This Prestigious Event

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Allowing China to host the Olympics was a bad idea from the onset. In fact, China doesn’t deserve the Olympics or free trade status with the United States. For Western nations to condemn China for its abysmal human rights record in regard to Tibet and its oppression of its own people’s freedoms, while granting them favored nation status is blatantly hypocritical. The truth is: China is governed by a hardline Marxist styled communist party that in 1951 invaded Tibet and committed genocide on the Tibetan people, forcing the Dalai Lama into permanent exile in India.

More seriously, the People Republic of China (PRC) used Tibet’s mountains to install their ICBMs, aimed at the United States. Why do we pretend that China has suddenly become a freedom loving democracy, when in fact, the PRC tortures and jails opposition leaders and commits unspeakable atrocities to keep their burgeoning population under control? Yet, we buy shoddy merchandise from China and send their containers back empty, creating an unconscionable trade deficit.

Intelligent people wonder why we even recognized China and gave it UN representation. Granting China the privilege of hosting the Olympics has rubbed salt in the old wounds of the Tibetan people who have protested the progress of the Olympic torch all over the world. From the beginning of Tibet’s occupation by the Chinese communists, their intent has been to annex Tibet and erase any semblance of Tibetan culture.

Since the invasion, Tibetan language has been strictly repressed. Tibetan school children were taught only Chinese dialects. Today, many younger Tibetans do not speak their native language. Tibetan culture, which was a unique commingling of religion and politics, was banned. However, the Dalai Lama has led and inspired his country’s religious and political culture among exiled Tibetans living in other countries.

In China’s Litang, in Sichua province, a city of over 50,000 people, 90% of the population is ethically Tibetan. Today, Litang is a city under siege because the Chinese government has shut down commerce and warned the people not to listen or cooperate with what they call "the Dalai Lama clique." Anti-Chinese riots erupted in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on March 14, leaving many dead and injured citizens. Consequently, the Chinese government has declared Marshall Law in Litang to avoid an escalation of Tibetan protests in that city. Yes, the specter of Tiananmen Square still haunts freedom loving Chinese and Tibetan people living on the mainland or in Tibet.

In recent times, despite China’s propaganda that it has granted its citizens more freedoms, the leadership in Beijing has only opened the country up to commerce, which hides their real agenda of maintaining iron control of the largest population on earth. There is still no freedom of press, religion, or assembly. Thousands of political prisoners are rotting in Chinese jails for simple acts of protest. In this appalling atmosphere of fear and treachery, China is putting on a false front of hospitality by inviting the world to its blood soaked streets for the Olympics. And what about its large cache of nuclear weapons? That question can only be answered by the CIA. If they even have a clue.

The atmosphere of communist oppression is reason enough to boycott the Olympics in Beijing. Moreover, the health of the athletes and fans is in jeopardy because of China’s lung choking pollution, which is the highest in the world. I say, stop giving China the privileges of democratic nations. Demand that the Chinese government grant freedom and democracy to its people and give independence back to the Tibetan people. Otherwise, treat them as a hostile nation and shun them in every aspect of diplomatic interaction. And, stop outsourcing jobs and manufacturing to China. Finally, stop allowing their inferior merchandise into our country. They are not our friends.

Rick Raw: Viva Viagra on Its 10th Anniversary–The Pill That Launched The Second Sexual Revolution

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Everyone has seen the commercial: A group of mature but cool looking session musicians are tuning up between takes, and one guy thinks of a clever satire of "Viva Las Vegas" by adding the word Viagra instead of Las Vegas. "Check this out," he says. The musicians jam on the song with big Cheshire cat grins, which implies, "Yeah, we got some nooky last night!"

Ten years ago, no one would dare mention an aging man’s shameful problem of "not getting it up" or the new age term,"erectile dysfunction"(ED). But that was before Viagra hit the market in 1998, and suddenly men over 50 were getting frisky with their wives or chasing other women. Today, over 35 million men in more than 120 countries have taken 2 billion Viagra pills–an average of six Viagra pills every second. Hey, let the good times roll.

Incredibly, when the magic pill hit the market, soon Pfizer was grossing $1 billion a year. Then the jokes started to make the rounds. It was dubbed "Pfizer’s riser." A curious side-effect of taking Viagra was fodder for countless comedians’ jokes. In rare cases, it can cause a four-hour erection which sounds like an extended party, but it’s a serious problem. Imagine going to the doctor with a woody that won’t go down. Not since the birth control pill premiered in the 60s and ignited the sexual revolution had a drug associated with sex gone so ballistic. The drug restored men’s dignity and sexual prowess into their 80s and 90s, if their hearts could take it. If not, what a way to go.

Ironically, helping men achieve erections as they aged was not the original purpose of the drug. Viagra and the other ED drugs such as, Cialis or Levitra, set off a chemical reaction in the bloodstream that produces nitric oxide, a neurotransmitter that opens up blood vessels which is vital to erections and other circulatory health.

Pfizer was holding trials using the active ingredient in Viagra, sildenafil citrate, on patients suffering from high blood pressure or angina. The patients went home and to bed with their wives. The next day smiling test subjects reported that they enjoyed great sex for the first time in years, and their erections were long lasting and hard as rocks. "Hey, never mind high blood pressure or angina," the Pfizer eggheads proclaimed. "This pill will be the biggest selling drug in history." And, they were right.

Before Viagra, male ED was treated as a psychological problem not a physical one. The treatments were medieval, using vacuum pumps, surgical implants, and penis injections (ouch). The drug has been a sensation, bringing this taboo subject out of the closet and allowing seniors to talk about what once was an embarrassing subject. Of course, like any new drug, Viagra was open to abuse. Club goers added Ecstasy to Viagra and dubbed it "Sextasy" as a recreational turn-on drug. This super-Viagra led to unprotected sex and a spike in new cases of HIV.

The truth is, Viagra is not an aphrodisiac. The user’s hormones have to reach the brain which tells the heart to pump blood to the penis, then the drug opens up the blood vessels and viola– wood baby! It all starts the traditional way, with a glass of wine, soft music, making out, and the launch sequence is initiated. Add the emotional component, and a man over 60 or 70 feels young again. In contrast, Viagra has a dark side–older men who cheat on their wives. The rejuvenated geezers armed with Viagra feel youthful again, but their wives may not share their new enthusiasm for sex. This conflict has led to a smattering of divorces. However, the drug’s positive effects far out weigh its negative features.

So let’s tip our glasses to Viagra’s 10th anniversary. Romance, passion, and sex go on into old age. And, that is worth celebrating.

Rick Raw: Newspapers on Life Support–All Print Media Fading Fast

By Rick Grant rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Recently, those of us who have worked for print media and newspapers all our journalist careers have felt the pain of downsizing, layoffs, cutbacks, and buyouts. I’ve worked for Entertaining U, for 24 years. Overnight, EU went virtual and monthly, reducing my job to part time employment. From various sources, I’ve heard downsizing horror stories from colleagues in other publications. Movie reviewers became expendable as newspapers cut back on staff. Longtime movie critics for Newsweek Magazine, Jan Stuart and Gene Seymour, took buyouts. More than a dozen daily newspapers, including those in Denver, Tampa, and Fort Lauderdale, and several alternative weeklies have laid-off their movie critics and other staff.

The Pew Foundation’s Project for Excellence in Journalism has recently reported that "the newspaper industry’s decline accelerated last year, with circulation dropping 2.5 % and advertising revenue falling 7%." Of course, our wrecked economy is partially to blame, but the Internet revolution has created a seismic shift in information delivery. Now information travels in cyberspace at the speed of light, leaving the printed word on the brink of obsolescence.

Indeed, the Internet is an unstoppable runaway train, with its offshoots such as, Podcasts, iPhones, and smart cellphones with full Internet access, have taken over the dissemination of information. I predict that in the next ten years, newspapers and other print media will be almost extinct. Today, cutting down trees to make paper seems not only ecologically wasteful but as primitive as making fire by rubbing two sticks together.

Ah yes, I love the smell of newspaper ink in the morning. But I grew up getting my news the old fashioned way-- printed on paper. Today’s youth shun newspapers as a relic of the past in favor of tapping into cyberspace, wirelessly. Everyone is on the go, plugged into to iPods via those tiny headphones or Blackberries that allow them to send E-mails, text their fingers into knots, or find out if Britney Spears is wearing underwear that day. Yes, it’s a brave new world of instant communications and information overload. Please, can I just sit down and read my newspaper?

The only problem with this Internet revolution is: How do the former print media mavens make money in cyberspace. Advertising has always been the domain of print and electronic media. Print media big shots expanded their websites as the demand increased. Now, the media conglomerates should ban together and setup incentives for luring advertisers to their websites. There are plenty of examples of websites that are selling advertising. My favorite is former CNN anchor, www.DarynKagan.com She has a daily hi-res webcast with a human interest story. She has nailed national corporate video advertising for her site.

It’s just a matter of time before the former newspaper marketers figure out a foolproof formula for selling on the Internet. The trick is proving to advertisers that they are getting the exposure for which they pay. Like radio and television, a universally accepted rating system is needed that is more comprehensive than just the number of hits. Since I showcase my own webzine, www.rickatnight.com, I’m daily wrestling with new ideas to sell advertising. Since I was downsized, I desperately need the income. Journalism was my Plan B. I have no Plan C.

Unquestionably, there are a myriad of news and commentary sites on the Internet from www.huffingtonpost.com to humorist Andy Borowitz’s funny www.borowitzreport.com that are scattered around like chicken feed on the Internet. New and innovative ways of grouping sites by content are being developed. Stop the presses–stop cutting down trees–print is a dying breed.

In contrast, when I told someone I was now writing for my webzine and EU’s website, he said, "Big deal, everyone has a website." True, and everyone thinks they’re a writer. But very few of us are intelligent and experienced journalists. As in print, the cream will rise to the top, eventually. And, one day old timers like me will talk nostalgically about the good old days when newspapers were still around.