WOW Shrub and Peolsi on CNN Giving Dali Lama Medal

[physioex]

Finally US Politicans giving the medal to a person who deserves actual recognition. :hippie:

P.S. Guess we have add the do not call list and the Congressional Medal of Honor two things we all can agree on. :rofl:

[Ian David]

1. Bush also signed the bill to ban cockfighting.

So make that three things he got sort-of right.

Although is Presidential Signing Statement says, "The Executive Branch can choose to host cockfights as part of the broader War on Terror."

[physioex]

10. You got a point there......

"The Executive Branch can choose to host cockfights as part of the broader War on Terror."...Is a joke right? I would wouldn't put it past Uncle Dick.

[Deep13]

2. Recognition for what exactly?

I know D.L. is anxious to have his thone back and stuff, but what has he really done that is especially laudable? Just wondering.

[Ian David]

3. Recognition for pissing-off the Chinese, who own all our debt.

This is like Bush dating the landlord's ex-wife.

[physioex]

6. Pffft.....

Let em get pissed. Can't please everyone.

[Ian David]

15. Then he really shouldn't be afraid of assigning the Armenian Genocide Bill.

The only reason he's doing this is to piss-off the Chinese for not cooperating with us on Iran.

[physioex]

17. Oh hey I agree with you....

And I also said he never did anything else right.

[skipos]

5. Tibetans have waged peacful resistance where most would have waged violence

Have you been to Tibet? it is an occupied country in many ways.

[physioex]

8. That's right...

Non-violent resistance like Gandhi & MLK.

[Deep13]

12. I know Tibet is an occupied country.

I might suggest to them that peaceful nonviolence is not an effective way to throw out an invader.

Anyway, what is D.L. doing about it? If there is something, I would like to know. It seems to me that he wants to kick out the communists so he can go back to being an absolute ruler.

[physioex]

13. So.....

If that's what the Tibetans want, then that what they shoud have.

[Deep13]

14. Is that what they want?

If someone has asked them, I'd like to know what they think. I tend to doubt the Chinese have allowed any independent polling.

[physioex]

16. Ofcourse not....

But am I sure they want them out and let them manage their own business.

[Deep13]

21. That's what I figured. nt

[skipos]

19. They want China out and the Dalai Lama back, that's for sure. nt

Do you know who the Dalai Lama is, and what he means to Tibetans? I am not asking to be a jerk, but if you know, then you can see why he is so important to them.

[Deep13]

20. I guess that was my question.

I know who he is. He is the heir to the Tibetian theocracy, a brutal, absolutist oligarcy that that enslaved the common people and exacted horrible punishment for even minimal noncompliance. Granted, he himself was only in power briefly and only as a child. I understand he was supported by the CIA for awhile. I won't normally hold that against an exhiled leader, but in his case it doesn't exactly square with his message.

So the question remains, what DOES he mean to the Tibetians? Has anyone bothered to find out? Is it even possible to find out with the Chinese in control there? I wonder if he means what the Tsar meant to Stalinist Russia: bad now, but even worse previously.

D.L. is lionized by the media, by Hollywood stars and by our government. I know he likes to spread his trite greeting-card philosophy to people willing to pay to hear it. What no one has explained to me is just what it is he has actually done to further the cause of freedom in Tibet. In fact, I am not aware of that even being his goal. He may simply wish to restore the absolute monarchy. What I do know is that well-meaning people will often believe anything that seems to reinforce their preconceived notions.

Maybe he has done a lot. If so, I am unaware what that is. Yes, someone will tell me to research it along with every other question I ever ask on this website. I don't have time for that and what research I have done has been online without much success beyond locating websites of his adoring fans.

[skipos]

23. It seems like you have already made up your mind.

But to answer your question "what DOES he mean to the Tibetians?"
He means everything. I have been to Tibet, and it is clear from everything I saw and everyone I spoke to that Tibetans want China out and the Dalai Lama back. I have no belief that pre-China Tibet was my kind of utopia, but it was the way most Tibetans wanted to live. I would want to live that way, but I wouldn't want to live the way 99% of the population does. I generally try not to look down on the way people live, or force them to change their ways. Sometimes I do. You seem to regard the Dalai Lama the way I regard the Taliban. I think they have very little in common.

"What no one has explained to me is just what it is he has actually done to further the cause of freedom in Tibet."
It seems like creating awareness by meeting with world leaders doesn't cut the mustard for you. If you expecting him to lead an army in China, you don't know much about Tibetans. If you were to ask Christians what Jesus did to further the cause of freedom, what do you think they would respond? Would that response satisfy you?

Much of what you are saying sounds like what the Chinese say about the pre-China Tibet. I think if you were to go to Tibet (and the rest of China for that matter) you might change you tune. It certainly changed mine.

[Burma Jones]

4. He didn't say "heckuva job, Tenzie" did he?

[physioex]

7. Ohhh....

I wasn't pay attention that close. Sorry.

[partylessinOhio]

9. It is total insanity to piss off the banker who holds all your war debt.

If China calls in the loans will the rich pay back their tax cuts to cover the bill?

[physioex]

11. They are gonna call it in anyways......

I can't think of a better way.

[Monk06]

18. The Chinese are already dumping treasuries. The booze is gone and the party's over.

[physioex]

22. Exactly....The party is over.

So why fret they are going to "call in" our securities....