China has been playing a dangerous game since the end of the Mao Dynasty, and the advent of the reformers.

Not that they had a choice.  The stark reality of China today, like all nations, is a culmination of Geography, Climate, and Politics.

China has been trying to limit population growth, while transforming a largely agrarian society into a modern technological one.

The problem is that they have many decades of work left ahead of them, and time is running short due to the aging of the population, and the costs that will incur to society.

China had 153 million people aged 60 or over by the end of last year, accounting for 11.6 percent of the country’s 1.3 billion population, said Vice-Premier Hui Liangyu at a plenary meeting of the China National Committee on Aging (CNCA) Friday.

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed while giving a speech last week. This made a small bit of news, but the big news in the blogosphere was the heckler that stood up and yelled “Tyrant. You are a tyrant.” as he was speaking. Speculation quickly arose that it was Washington State Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders, although this was unconfirmed. Of course, when pressed Justice Sanders denied it.

Sanders said he did attend the gathering of the Federalist Society last week, but had gone back to his hotel before Mukasey made his evening address.

Today though, Justice Sanders has a different story.

After listening to Mukasey defend the Bush administration’s counterterrorism policies — its detainment practices at Guantánamo Bay, its interpretation of the Geneva Conventions’ reach — Sanders stood and shouted "Tyrant! You are a tyrant!"

The first failure of Socialism in the America’s occurred at Plymouth Plantation, in the 1620s…

From a piece by Rick Williams Jr.:

On December 16, 1620, the tiny ship loaded with “tools and weapons, a stock of dried and salted foods, a few goats, pigs, and chickens” landed at Plymouth Rock. Their hardy Christian faith and work ethic enabled them to hang on with tenacity, despite battles with the elements and Indians. The Pilgrims also experienced the devastating “Starving Time” when half of them perished from malnutrition, pneumonia, and tuberculosis. This time of want was due primarily to their unbiblical economic system.

You're a little late to the electric car party.

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute could probably explain why it is that the American people voted for socialism this time around. You’ll find a link to them in the sidebar. Meanwhile, here’s a few excerpts from a recent article in USA Today that ought to wake you up!

“Without knowledge of your country’s history, key texts and institutions, you don’t have a frame of reference to judge the politics and policies of today,” says Richard Brake, head of the institute’s American Civic Literacy Program.

Earlier reports focused solely on college students; the new study expands the focus and concludes Americans across all economic, educational and political/social backgrounds are equally lacking. Among findings:

• 71% earn an F; the average score was 49%. Ages 25 to 34 had an average score of 46%; ages 45 to 64 had a 52% average. Of 164 respondents who say they have held elected office, 44% was average.

A recent article on National Review by Mona Charen and comments from my friend Karma (no, not the metaphysical concept, she’s really a friend of mine) got me to thinking again. Strangely enough, this time about the Pirates of the Caribbean. Maybe it’s got something to do with the Somali pirates taking a Saudi oil tanker too — which gets me thinking about something else altogether.

Anyway, Mona Charen reviewed the new James Bond movie Quantum of Solace. Apparently she didn’t think it was that good. One of the things she didn’t like about it was the portrayal of the C.I.A., which she pointed out was really a veiled portrayal of Hollywood’s attitude about the United States. Apparently if there’s some evil immoral thing that can be done by a right wing administration, it’s going to find its way into a movie, and the C.I.A. or some other American agency will be helping it along. The fact that thousands of movies coming from Hollywood carry this theme just might have something to do with the way the world perceives us.

Californians Gather To Celebrate Annual Wildfire Tradition

So, I keep asking my friends in California, explain to me why you live there again?

• You have the annual Wildfire festival.
• In the odd year that the Rains come, you have massive mudslides and flooding.
• You have one of the highest tax burdens in the country.
• And you have to deal with the insanity vortex in the Bay Area.
• Oh, and the occasional earthquake that could always be the potential (and often predicted) Big One.

Wow, makes living with a 14,000 foot volcano less than 60 miles away seem almost idealic.  I guess I can put up with the rainy season in Puget Sound (the time of the year known to out of staters as “Fall/Winter/Spring”).

I despair of ever being able to comment on things with the flair of Bill Whittle, or the ability to phrase complicated issues in easy to understand ways, like Walter Williams:

Evil acts can be given an aura of moral legitimacy by noble-sounding socialistic expressions such as spreading the wealth

, income redistribution or caring for the less fortunate. Let’s think about socialism.

…This mechanism makes the particular victim invisible, but it still boils down to one person being forcibly used to serve the purposes of another. Putting the money into a government pot makes palatable acts that would otherwise be deemed morally offensive.

This is why socialism is evil. It employs evil means, coercion or taking the property of one person, to accomplish good ends, helping one’s fellow man. Helping one’s fellow man in need, by reaching into one’s own pockets, is a laudable and praiseworthy goal. Doing the same through coercion and reaching into another’s pockets has no redeeming features and is worthy of condemnation.

When GHW Bush failed to deliver the coup de grace to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, and failed to support the uprisings against him in the aftermath of the 1st Gulf War, the stage was set for the current conflict.

Likewise, the failure of Clinton and the UN to effectively deal with Somolia in the 1990s leads us to the ongoing problems in that region, which has now brought us piracy at a level unseen for many decades.  And now, this piracy threatens the lifeblood of modern civilization - oil.

From FT.Com:

A Saudi supertanker laden with an estimated 2m barrels of oil that was seized by pirates was on Tuesday confirmed to be anchored off the coast of Somalia.

While most other seizures have been of vessels heading into or out of the Suez Canal, the latest incident will raise question marks about the safety of the route from the Arabian Gulf to the Cape of Good Hope – a route taken by the largest oil tankers heading from the world’s main oil-producing regions to both Europe and North America.

I was reading an article on Townhall.com today, and through double layers of indirection learned that David Brooks said in the New York Times…

There is not yet an effective Republican Leadership Council to nurture modernizing conservative ideas. There is no moderate Club for Growth, supporting centrist Republicans. The Public Interest, which used to publish an array of public policy ideas, has closed. Reformist Republican donors don’t seem to exist. Any publication or think tank that headed in an explicitly reformist direction would be pummeled by its financial backers. National candidates who begin with reformist records — Giuliani, Romney or McCain — immediately tack right to be acceptable to the power base.

I have to wonder about this. I think that Mr. Brooks is confusing things rather than helping. He begins his opinion piece this way…