Del Mar Neighborhoods United

Editorials, Opinions, etc

Jan 20, 2008

The Del Mar Pkway Neighborhood Assn, does not speak for any political party, right, center or left. We will just present points on view herein, without endorsement:

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Chinese New Year embracing tradition

Why be like Reagan? By Ed Quillen, Article Last Updated: 01/18/2008 04:45:48 PM MST

Obama vs. Clinton: 6 letters, by Denver Post Opinion on 1/20/2008

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Chinese New Year embracing tradition, By John Wenzel The Denver Post, Article Last Updated: 01/11/2008 01:41:46 AM MST

It is a sad incongruity that a show celebrating a deep artistic history cannot be performed in the very country that gave birth to it.
What tiny backwater is this, you might ask?
Try China, the world's most populous country. The government has actively prevented a stage show ?— one seen worldwide by hundreds of thousands and offering a look at the country's 5,000-year-old culture ?— from playing there because it is viewed as a threat to the status quo.
"Since the Communist Party rose in power and took over China, so much of the culture has been destroyed," said Vina Lee, an award-winning artist who trained at the prestigious Beijing Academy of Dance. "Many younger Chinese have no idea what Chinese culture is."
To combat this erosion of tradition, Lee joined the "Chinese New Year Spectacular," an international touring show that attempts to present a vivid, authentic portrait of Chinese arts unspoiled by modern propaganda. The colorful program, which features 60 dancers, singers and musicians, plays the Buell Theatre tonight and Saturday.
"The current name of (the show) was from last year," Lee said of the 4-year-old "Spectacular." "Our idea was to make a show not just for the moment but to give people a sense of why we celebrate this tradition of the Chinese New Year, and what's precious about Chinese culture. We want to revive the culture that's been damaged in the past decades."
When communism came to China in 1949, a long and brutal cultural purge followed. Since that time, expressions of traditional Chinese culture have been actively suppressed.
"Chinese New Year Spectacular," a show that isn't shy about its politics, purports to be the antidote. It revels in long-standing myths and legends through extraordinary costumes and vigorous physicality designed to appeal to diverse audiences (both English and Chinese speakers guide the show from the stage).
New York-based New Tang Dynasty TV backs the program, which has been a frequent target of criticism by the Chinese government. Still, 200,000 people in 31 cities saw it last year, and NTDT plans to introduce the show to twice that number in 2008.
"It was a huge success last year and was featured in all the major theaters in Paris, Berlin, London and New York," said Erping Zhang, an adviser to the show. "You have to have a certain standard, a certain level of quality for art history to be put on these prestigious stages."
Zhang has championed Chinese cultural freedom to the U.S. Congress, European Parliament and various international bodies as director of the New York-based Association for Asian Research. His allegiance to the Falun Gong spiritual discipline, which the Chinese government has tried to dismantle over the past decade, also places him at odds with communist leadership.
"Today most shows in China combine Western and Chinese forms and instruments, and these art forms serve a political purpose," Zhang said. "The communist ideology came to China as an import, and in order to have a successful transplant they had to suppress the traditional forms."
An exploding economy juiced by globalization is clashing with the culture of censorship, Zhang asserted, and the international scrutiny of the Summer Olympics in Beijing in August will only accelerate it.
Zhang remembers his time in China's Red Guard during the Cultural Revolution, hearing people attempt to discredit philosophers like Confucius.
"I learned more about Confucius in the United States than in China," Zhang said. "It's mind-boggling to see a peaceful, scholarly sage denounced for political purposes."
Peace is an explicit message of "Chinese New Year Spectacular," whether communicated through lilting, meditative music or delicate movements based on extensive historical research.
"We're not doing the Royal Court Dance," said choreographer Lee, who has performed in more than 100 of the shows. "It's a very active show that involves lots of traditional technique, from ballet to turns and tumbling."
None of the performers in "Chinese New Year Spectacular" live in China, but Zhang and Lee said their hearts remain with friends and loved ones still suffering under repression there.
"The Chinese New Year is a time for families to meet and celebrate together," Zhang said of the holiday, which officially begins on Feb. 7. "But they're also members of society who are not able to join their loved ones because of human rights abuses and persecution."
Zhang said the reaction from audiences has been overwhelmingly positive, with many Chinese audience members brought to tears afterward.
"It's an eye-opener not only for Westerners but also for Chinese ourselves to look at our history and reflect on what's going on in China now," he said.

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Why be like Reagan? By Ed Quillen, Article Last Updated: 01/18/2008 04:45:48 PM MST

When one ponders the three leading Republican candidates for the presidency, it becomes clear why there is no front-runner. They're not campaigning for president so much as they're running to claim the "Reagan legacy."
But why would any sane candidate want to run as a reincarnation of Ronald Wilson Reagan? Consider his record and the issues Republicans raise today:

Illegal immigration: Reagan thought there was something wrong with an America where fruit rotted on trees for lack of labor to pick it. He signed the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, which legalized 2.7 million illegal immigrants. In other words, he supported amnesty.
Standing up to terrorists: On Oct. 23, 1983, truck-borne suicide bombers crashed their way into a U.S. outpost at the airport in Beirut, Lebanon. The death toll included 241 American service members, among them 220 Marines. Reagan responded on Feb. 7, 1984, by ordering the Marines to withdraw from Lebanon. Talk about "cut and run."
Fiscal responsibility: Although Reagan often talked about cutting the federal budget and paying down the federal deficit, that's not how it worked during his presidency. In fiscal 1982, his first budget, federal spending was $746 billion. On his last budget in 1989, it was $1.14 trillion. The national debt more than doubled during Reagan's tenure, from $1.137 trillion to $2.867 trillion.
Domestic economy: While some parts of America might have thrived during the Reagan years, Colorado wasn't one of them. More than half our counties lost population as mines and mills closed, energy prices dropped and agricultural prices fell. Downtown Denver teemed with empty buildings.
Party building: When Reagan won his first term in 1980, he carried enough Republicans with him so that the GOP gained control of the U.S. Senate, 53-46. Democrats retained control of the House, 242-192. When Reagan left office, Democrats controlled the Senate 55-45, and had enlarged their House majority to 260-175.
Foreign policy: The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in late 1979, more than a year before Reagan took office. After he was sworn in, the United States began supplying arms to the Afghanis who were fighting against the Soviets, and Islamic radicals from many countries went to Afghanistan to oppose the infidel Communists. Among those beneficiaries of American help was Osama bin Laden, whose power and influence thereby grew.
There isn't room here to go into the Iran-Contra scandal, or the savings-and-loan collapse, or the influence-peddling by Reagan appointees in the HUD scandal.
But there is room to conclude that some things Reagan did ?— e.g., amnesty for illegal immigrants, cutting and running, gross increase in the federal deficit ?— are the sorts of things Republican candidates denounce today even as they try to claim his mantle.

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Obama vs. Clinton: 6 letters, by Denver Post Opinion on 1/20/2008

Hillary Clinton?’s victory in New Hampshire continues to prove how easy it is to manipulate women, particularly feminists. Her calculated breakdown before the election continues to show us how masterfully manipulative the Clinton machine continues to be.
Hillary speaks often of her experience. Her experience includes:

* ?“Wife?” of the Arkansas governor;
* ?“Wife?” of the U.S. president;
* Member of U.S. Senate, an organization that does two things: lavishly spend our hard-earned money and overtax us to cover their spending.

Not an impressive resume for someone who wants to be president.
As a woman, I look forward to casting my vote for the first woman president. Hillary Clinton is not that woman. I look forward to voting for any of the number of women who used their intelligence to work their way through the political system becoming a representative, senator, or governor on their own merits and not as a reward for protecting their husband.

Arlene Barron, Colorado Springs

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