Nancy Pelosi has released a statement that boycotting the Olympics in China in protest to their violence against Tibetan protesters and, oh, I dunno, their blatant disregard for human rights and the environment, would be unfair because some athletes worked too hard to be ignored by their countrymen on television?

The last time the Olympics were boycotted, apartheid was dismantled.

Don't worry Nancy, NBC can take the ratings hit.

Oh, Washingtonienne. Why am i not surprised?

P.S. Your book sucked.

Hey wow: despite my having a Y chromosome and everything, I can honestly say that the Burger King picture is one of few images that really doesn't make me think of messy sex.

@ceejeemcbeegee (star deficient): First of all, why don't you have a star??? BOOOO!

Second of all, I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about a potential Olympics boycott. One one hand, you have the obviously disgusting violation of human rights, but on the other, doesn't having the Olympics that tons of people watch give NBC and others the opportunity to draw more attention to what is actually going on? I almost feel like that will draw more attention than a boycott that might just anger a lot of Americans. Plus, I do feel for the athletes who have worked so hard. But that said, I don't know what the right answer is here.

Plus, I thought the last time we boycotted was b/c of Americans being held hostage in Iran. (Am I wrong?) If that's the case, how did that end Apartheid?

@marin79: Yeah, it wasn't a boycott -- South Africa was not allowed to participate in the Olympics. Thing is, they weren't allowed to participate for something like ... 1964 to 1992, maybe? It's not like the three-decade IOC ban just gradually nagged them into a change.

Pelosi is normally pretty on the ball when it comes to Tibet, and I don't really think a boycott would be effective at much of anything except enraging the Chinese public (who see the Tibet issue very differently from the rest of the world), but that's a weakass way to put it. She's so tepid. If I'm going to have the rest of my family give me crap for having the most liberalest woman in the whole world as my representative, couldn't she be more of an actual liberal menace?

Also, good for Mark MacKinnon, although his reason (not wanting to go negative against someone he likes and respects) makes me think that there's something sorta screwed about how our presidential campaigns work now.

@nerdsausage is white male privilege: I feel the same way about Pelosi. These days she seems to be dancing around issues instead of being direct. Like this whole super delegates thing. I feel like it's just a veiled backing of Obama, which is fine & totally her perogative, but just say it!

Who knows though, maybe not being a liberal menace allows her to be more effective working with the Repubs. But I just wish the Dems would have more of the hardass, fuck-you attitude that the Repubs do when they're in charge. They just roll all over us when it's their turn & we should be doing the same. I don't care about being above that stuff - I just want our issues/bills pushed through, damn it!

@briardahl: Thanks! I should probably know that! Oops!

@briardahl: ZOMG wait that means you are a dude right? I totally just won a zero dollar wager.

aw moe, i heart malkmus too. he is married though, with 2 kids. but i bet an illegitimate child would be great pr for an upcoming pavement reunion!

Ah,Moe. Now I understand the cyber-yell re: Pavement. Sorry for slagging on your boyfriend. He's totally cute. And Slanted and Enchanted is still as good now as it was when it came out.

@Moe: Ha, you should have bet more -- surely it's obvious I'm a dude with, like, every pedantic post? A dude who's late to go drink something.

Re: The Witch.

Did she weigh as much as a duck?

That story about the woman being beaten? Yeah, the guy "reported" it AFTER he finished filming.

You know, he thought the beating was bad but not as bad as him not getting it on film. Someone tie him to a tree and beat him.

whopper bar? huh huh huh huh (beavis and butthead style snigger, suprisingly hard to type)

My crew coach in college qualified for the Olympics twice. Once in '76, he threw his back out while qualifying and was unable to compete in the games. He qualified again in '80, with his brother, and they couldn't go. You can't mention the word "Carter" without hearing more swears than you've heard in your life. It took away something he deserved for basically no reason. The athletes earned and deserve the right to compete.

Also, Obama, just say no to Casey. I don't need no anti-choicer on my ballot, tyvm.

I'm just glad to see that Alan Keyes is now a member of the constitutional law party and will be around for the general. Having a presidential election without him would be soooo boring.

What was it that Oscar Wilde said...."there is no such thing as good and evil...just charming and tedious"?

The only thing Wonkette ever did that pissed me off is that they helped out Keyes' adopted daughter.

If it was Keyes himself...a more awesome thing couldn't exist...but I thought it was bullshit to out his nonpolitical and evidently noncrazy daughter. But just take note Moe...Ana Marie Cox is an editor at Time now...so being evil has its benefits.

@Moe:

Just rest assured...if you had a baby with Steve Malkmus...that baby would be very indie...and possibly ironic to the point of being smug...possibly far more smug than talented...kinda like an unhappy depressed trust fund kid.

I'm sorry moe. I don't wanna be around yo whiney bitchy pretentious ass baby.

BUT...I am thrilled to find something I really disagree with you about!!!! XOXO

@cde: Bwahaha!
What makes you think she's a witch?
Well, she turned me into a newt!
A newt?
....I got better.
Burn her anyway!

An Olympic boycott isn't going to change China. If anything it will whip people up into more of a nationalistic fervor than they're already in. Just saying. How about boycotting American sponsors of the Olympics -- you know, those companies that have funded the rise of China to the world's fourth largest economy.

Also, "the biggest whore in Washington"? Nice slut-shaming, Moe.

@3cardkitty: Or even- boycott anything made in China. That said, there wouldn't be much left to buy, but China has such a huge belief in what it's doing that they will probably only take notice of the rest of the world if we hit 'em where it hurts. If you boycott the olympics, the only ones to suffer will be the athletes. The Tibet protest at the torch ceremony in Greece wasn't even shown on the Chinese news- they cut to prerecorded footage.

Also, witch stoning? I thought the preferred methods were drowning & burning ;) But seriously, these people employed this woman as a witch in the first place, so they knew what she was from the start. Is there a consumer affairs for when you don't get what you pay for from witches?

Everytime I see that pic I think of BiscuitDoughJones. Once I saw them side by side I became unable to separate the two in my mind. Sorry BDJ - and don't fret, you're hotter.

@Sugarless: I'd imagine by the time he reported it, the beaters would have left without being filmed. And the cops would not have shown up in time to stop it anyway.

@madamdalriada: It's a fair cop atleast ;D

Fuck that the athletes should be boycotting.

re: the link between blood sugar and brain activity thing... that explains so much about Ann Coulter.

Why does BK need rebranding? If I can pick up fries at 3 AM, they're doing everything properly. Also in Europe (haven't been to a US BK in years), they play music videos all day, called "BK TV", which once caused me to miss the last subway of the night back to my apartment. True story. So my point is: if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

@ceejeemcbeegee (star deficient): I could not have said it better myself. No, really. I couldn't not have articulated it this well. And here's a star.

@goodcheapfun: Yes, the athletes should be boycotting. They're all doing it for themselves anyway, and they know it and we know it. They don't need our TV applause.

@briardahl: And China should not be allowed to particpate, let alone host.

@marin79: Wasn't there a year Russia didn't show us and then we won all the Gold medals in Gymnastics or something? I can't really remember...

I agree, it's a rock and a hard place. I've known Olympic athletes, and they work their asses off. But at the same time, you have a world stage where you can really take a stand against injustices. It's just... a pickle.

And mind you , they are only calling for a TV boycott. The athletes would still be able to compete, they just wouldn't get TV exposure.

@marin79: Ditto!!!! And I went to the same college as Ms. Pelosi, where we were indoctrinated to be Fierce!!!!! I no comprende this soft and cuddly BS. Soooooo disappointed in Nancy.

@ceejeemcbeegee (star deficient): With all due respect, as a former resident of South Africa, the reasons for abolishing Apartheid had nothing to do with the Olympics. The business leaders, particularly the Oppenheimer's of DeBeers, engaged the leaders of the ANC in secret negotiations held in England in the 1980's in which the beginnings of the mostly peaceful transition were initiated. And let us NEVER forget the tremendous contribution of Nelson Mandela and the rest of the peacemakers. MADIBA!!!!!

@vegemitekid: Actually, their footage of the Greece ceremony was much worse -- they had dozens of stories about how the security was so great. The international TV coverage is a great example of companies bending over for China. China puts a 10-second delay on live coverage from international networks that broadcast here to a limited audience -- CNN specifically. So if something comes up they don't like, they push a button and the screen goes black. We've been seeing a whole lot of black screens lately. There was nothing pre-recorded seen here, just a black screen. Oddly enough, they did started reporting the protest four days later....
The torch comes to Tiananmen Square on Monday. Should be interesting.

I am ashamed to admit that I read Jessica Cutler's book. And that motherfucker was addictive. And I've recommended it to others.

fuck jessica cutler, and fuck the chinese politburo cuntocracy.

speaking as a vaguely ethnic chinese person, they both (all?) suck balls.

angry, angry, angry today.

@3cardkitty: Oh wow. So you pretty much know when there's something they don't want you to see. All I heard here was that they had rehersal footage and switched to that when the protest started. So, dumb question here, what about internet news? How does that work?
Strange that they did report on it later, maybe they figured they couldn't repress it because it was being shown all over the world.
Monday should be very interesting.... probably not in a good way. Cross fingers it doesn't get violent.

Jessica Cutler is proof positive to me that karma does exist.

As for the whole benevolent god thing...well, the jury is still out on that.

@TheGuvnah: +1. I can't believe I wasted my money on that retarded book.