Just imagine for a minute that you wake up one morning to learn that someone has stolen the arm off of the Statue of Liberty. And with it, her torch. No more will she "lift my lamp beside the golden door." Instead, her great lamp is already shredded; it's on a slow boat to China as we speak.

To be followed, soon after, by the Verrazano Bridge.

Farfetched? Maybe today. Maybe not tomorrow.

Earlier in the week, I toured a scrap metal business in the Northeast Kingdom.

In a startling way, the price of scrap metal has risen so high that people are selling everything they can get their hands on. Suddenly, that old washer and dryer in the side yard, the ones with the vines growing through them, are valuable. So are those old tire rims.

"THIS 'SHUT up and play'? That's not OK. That's not the Olympics." So wrote Sports Illustrated's Aditi Kinkhabwala, joining a rising chorus of sportswriters criticizing the pre-emptive repression of speech of Olympic athletes.

It's no doubt worthy of their ire. The British Olympic Association told their teams in writing that they are forbidden to speak out "on any politically sensitive issues." Other countries have done the same.

Canadian Olympic Committee president Dick Pound made crystal clear to the Canadian Olympians, "If it is so tough for you that you can't bear not to say anything, then stay at home." USA basketball and Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, "None of these athletes [has] a responsibility to be political. They have the responsibility to represent their country." And IOC head Jacques Rogge has also said that "political factors" need to be kept away from the Games.

For once, I'm in complete agreement with the Bush administration including, amazingly, its choice of words: Boycotting the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics would be a "cop out." It's not that President Bush shouldn't have better things to do than watch a fireworks show in the world's biggest police state while hundreds of thousands of families are tossed out of homes and jobs back home and tens of thousands continue to lose lives, limbs and loved ones in the various countries he's invaded. But it's only polite for this subprime president to pay tribute to one of his chief creditors. And let's face it: A Bush away from Washington is a less toxic Bush.

It ought to be the ballot heard 'round the world. It ought to be front page news. But chances are you haven't yet learned that the Maoists of Nepal have apparently swept to power in an election that international monitors acknowledge was free and fair. Having led a People's War from 1996 to 2006, having suspended the armed struggle and making a strategic decision to seek power through electoral means, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) has apparently acquired an absolute majority in national elections for a constitutional assembly.

Prime Minister Girija Koirala, representing the Nepali Congress Party, has congratulated CPI(M) leader on the success of his party. The Congress Party, aligned with its Indian counterpart and traditionally supportive of the Nepali monarchy and its Hindu religious trappings, seems to have come in a distant third in the national vote, behind the Communist Party (United Marxist-Leninist). The latter, having spurned Maoist overtures to unite, is in crisis; its leader has resigned and declared it "morally inappropriate" to continue to participate in the current coalition government.

They've been bullies for a long time. For so long their conquered and humiliated have no recollection of their own defeat and assimilation so today they call themselves "Han Chinese," or "an official minority." But one people remain unbeaten, one people are still fighting. Although kicked off the world's frontpage more than a decade ago, Tibetans are now back! It took blood, it took a nasty beating, it took dying, but Tibet is back.

During its imposed recess from Western consciousness, the youth of the West, especially America, focused on grades and paying off school loans and playing video games. Generation X had no time for Tibet. It had no time, except for fighting to survive in an increasingly expensive, material-obsessed America. And of course time for video games.

There's been a lot of talk lateley about boycotting the Beijing Olympics over the Chinese continuing repression of Tibet. It's reached the point where even the Olympic torch requires extra police protection from potential pro-human rights "terrorists."

I fully support the rights of the Tibetan people and condemn the deadly acts of the Chinese authorities. But upon reflection, I've decided for the US to boycott the Olympics would be entirely inappropriate.

Most of Scandinavia (although the Danes are pretty suspect these days), Chile, maybe Spain, Canada (before Harper) -- I'm sure a more knowledgeable person could come up with a healthy list of countries that treat their citizens decently and otherwise mind their own business, and they should by all means boycott the Olympics.

Back among the bright and shining lies of the Bill Clinton administration, a huge contingent of American corporate and political leaders traveled to Beijing to stand in Tiananmen Square. They did not go there to pay homage to the hundreds of unarmed students murdered on this sacred ground by Chinese government troops on June 4, 1989 (the Red Cross estimates the numbers killed were as high as 3,000). They were there to embrace the criminal regime that did this, to celebrate the opening of markets with them.

When this occurred — when this group from the "free world" stood on the ground where blood was spilled — it should have been the wake up call for the world. It should have been the moment when collectively we all understood that a totalitarianism of Communism or fascism or Islam-ism or whatever-ism was being replaced by a totalitarianism of money.

China's crackdown against Tibetan protesters ahead of the Summer Olympics in Beijing carries with it a brutal echo from the past. Scores of people, including school children are reported dead and more repression has been promised. The People's Daily, the official newspaper of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), said "[We must] resolutely crush the 'Tibet independence' forces' conspiracy and sabotaging activities."

Even after decades of occupation, the ruthlessness of the crackdown has shocked much of the world. It happens the week after the US State Department removed China from its list of the world's worst human rights offenders.

There was a thought-provoking and contrarian op-ed in the NY Times yesterday regarding Tibet and the Dalai Lama, by the English author Patrick French. It's titled "He May Be a God, but He's No Politician." (I've linked to a blog that has the whole piece up)

I don't really want to do more than direct attention to the piece, which I think is sobering even if it may not be altogether right. Perhaps it's plain wrong. But I do think it's worth reading by anyone with concern for tragic things happening there these days, and ongoing. And what actually accomplishes the best ends, best intentions notwithstanding.

The latest Tibetan rebellion against Chinese rule has captured world sympathy and horribly embarrassed China's government just as Beijing has been pulling out all the stops preparing for its summer Olympic extravaganza.

But is there anything the world community can do besides issuing more platitudes?

First, some questions.

Is Tibet historically part of China, as Beijing claims? Yes and no. Tibet was spiritually linked to China from about 1370 in a "priest-ruler" relationship. Tibet's Lamaist Buddhist theocracy recognized the ultimate temporal power of China's emperor, while the emperor recognized Lhasa's spiritual primacy and total autonomy. Lhasa became the Vatican for the Mongol Empire and its successor, China's Ming Empire.

CHINA 'threatens the stability of Asia.' Such was the dire warning issued by the US Department of Defense last week, as it criticised the 17.6 per cent increase in China's 2008 military budget.

China's official military budget is $58.8 billion, but the real figure is estimated at around $110 billion. Even so, Washington's warning was pretty rich coming from the sole superpower that spends ten times more on its military than China -- a nation with four times the US population.

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates unblushingly accused China of 'lack of transparency' in concealing major defence programmes. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Some 25-30 per cent of the Pentagon's trillion-dollar budget is believed to be hidden in secret 'black' projects, or concealed in other government departments.

Why has politics in America become so trivial, so superficial and lacking in real substance? And why do we persist in such a harmful habit when the world’s problems so desperately require our attention?

Naturally such complex phenomena have multiple causes. Americans have been conditioned by ads and television to have the attention spans and memories of children. Kids are so much easier to sell stuff to than adults, who remember what happened last time they bought something from that corporation. All in all, nobody’s been as heavily propagandized as Americans. As far as I know there isn’t much data about how such propaganda affects society over time; but it’s hard to imagine any positives, while situations where the negative effects are obvious happen all the time.

But I propose to add two causes to the list of contributors.

It has been revealed in the past many months that many of the toys hitting the American market, and predominately manufactured for American companies in China, have been deemed unsafe. Whether the issue is lead paint, lead materials, defective magnets or whatever, there is a black cloud hanging over the industry, and many parents are frantically wondering what to do. I’d suggest they might heed the advice of many Chinese citizens, and do what they do. I’ll get to that in a moment.

Most of us know the story, but here’s a partial synopsis of data I accumulated in October, and which I fear represents only the tip of a huge iceberg.

I just came back from dropping off a petition from the folks in Greenville, SC sponsored by Move-On.Org, for Rep. Bob Inglis (R-SC) to stand against Bush and his plans to attack Iran. The people in the office were very pleasant and promised that they would forward the petition to the staff in Washington. They thanked us for delivering the petition and said that Rep. Inglis would see it. Now what he will do with it remains to be seen. I doubt that it will influence Rep. Inglis to vote against any bill that authorizes the use of military force, no doubt he will cite the threat that Iran poses to our “national security”, whatever that means.

I’ve been thinking about mone-TERROR-ism. Actually I’ve been thinking about the US dollar, the emergency OPEC conference, the big four TRILLION-aires, spending, and solutions. While working as a forensic investigative accountant on the Savings and Loan mess, I was told that when someone owes you $100,000s, you have a borrower. When someone owes you MILLIONs, you have a partner! Taking that to the next levels… when someone owes you BILLIONS or TRILLIONS, it is the one holding that debt who has the real problem, and its’s the debtor who is really the one in the driver’s seat. Please read on.

Mark your calendar! 11/07/07 - Today is D-Day, the date the history books will record the start-date of the new Depression. Ironic - those "lucky numbers". It's not hyperbole, and here's why (never mind the 400 point Dow drop, that's happened before):

The Chinese had begun a sell-off of their US securities. They have dollars held by their government and, separately by their treasury (like the Fed).

Today, that entity has made clear that they will be unloading some $400 billion, which they already began in August (according to the China Daily, they sold off $9 billion - without buying any new debt in that month alone) in an attempt to divest of American Government securities. (They still hold over a trillion dollars of, well, other dollars – stock, corporate paper, etc)

You probably know Gisele Bundchen as the luscious Brazilian supermodel who graces more magazine covers than any other. Today,Bloomberg reports that Ms. Bundchen has some serious smarts to go with her stunning looks.

While many investors have been diversifying, not only in business sectors, it is now clear that that is not enough. One must diversify the currency in which those holdings are kept. As reported, Gisele just inked a deal with Procter and Gamble to be the face of their Pantene line of hair care products, but insisted that the contract be paid in euros – not dollars. Since 2006, I have been writing (previous writing was not published here at SC) about the need to move a portion of one’s portfolio out of the dollar. Like Ms. Bundchen, the Bloomberg report additionally names investors Warren Buffett and Bill Gross as prominently bullish on the euro.

After the U.S.S.R. dissolved, Americans believed their country was the sole, remaining superpower, but the strength of any nation is its economy. Without a robust and thriving economy, the U.S. never could have built the vast military machine that projects American power to all corners of the globe. But the U.S. has weakened. Since 2006, Bush admits he’s increased the deficit by three trillion dollars since taking office, but creative book keeping conceals the real number. Add the as yet unfunded future payments to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Veterans Benefits, plus individual, corporate and the fifty state’s collective debt, and the deficit skyrockets to 44 trillion dollars. This figure was determined by economists and budget analysts at the US Treasury, the Federal Reserve, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Congressional Budget Office. The Bush Administration’s tax cuts, the corporate scandals that occur with rapid fire frequency, the huge expenditures on prosecuting the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and now the threats against Iran send the message to foreign lenders that the U.S. has no intention of reining in its spending. "The budget should be balanced; the treasury should be refilled; public debt should be reduced; and the arrogance of public officials should be controlled." Cicero. 106-43 B.C.