http://jenniferhast.blogspot.com/2008/03/no-color…

Sarkozy isn't talking about a general boycott of the Olympics and neither am I. I think that boycotting the opening ceremony, though, is not a bad way at all of embarassing China while still having the press coverage for the two weeks (do the Olympics still go two weeks these days) the press will be there.

My guess, though, is that China has already struck very restrictive deals on what the press can and can not report while they are there. I like the idea of broadcasting from India. I hope that goes for reporters, too.

French wine should be purchased on the basis of it's quality, not politics. And now that the California and French root stocks are pretty much the same (due to the heroic disease battling efforts of both regions), you can get a better deal with the California wines (for mostly exchange rate reasons). Of course, it's all a matter of taste, and the California wines are admittedly getting a little oakey. But that's an issue of aging, and it is a deliberate response to a fad. The French are apparently more resistant to the recent fads.

No, it would be ironic.

However, he is being misguided here. The last thing we need is another Olympic boycott. It was wrong when Carter did, and it would be wrong now. The fact is, what we need most in China is media scrutiny, and the Olympic coverage will bring that. It's precisely what the Tibetans want. Now I'll admit that I've met some Tibetans who disagree, but they want violent revolution, which will not work against China. Most Tibetans want the embarrassment of China that media coverage will inevitably bring. They especially want the cameras on Tibetans in the crowd wearing their "Olympics 2008- Tibet" t-shirts (available at any refugee camp in India).

Denying China the Olympics will only bring them sympathy. But bringing a bunch of foreign media into the country will only hurt China. If China opens up the media, they will bring on bad coverage. If China tries to shut it down, we will get media coverage from India complaining about the media shutdown. While China has managed their propaganda pretty well so far, they won't be able to pull it off during the Olympics. Ultimately, the Olympics will be a major media disaster for China. They want to hang themselves, so let's give them the rope. The only thing we need to do is to make sure our media outlets leave a team in India to broadcast when the Chinese try to shut down the broadcasts from China. India will be more than happy to oblige. They do their best to avoid military conflicts with China, but they like propaganda coups.

So many good France jokes could go out the window….

I try really hard not to love this guy, lol. But he keeps chipping away at my doubts.

I think that we're okay buying some more French wine. Given what he's said and done in the past two months, I think maybe we could buy a little extra.