Blog @ MoreWhat.com

US Protests China’s Visa Refusal for Olympian Joey Cheek

By VOA News
The United States is formally protesting China’s decision to deny a visa to U.S. Olympic gold medalist and Darfur anti-violence campaigner Joey Cheek.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Wednesday the U.S. is disturbed to learn that China has refused his visa.

Cheek, a speedskater who competed in the 2006 Winter Olympics, had planned to go to Beijing to support Olympic athletes who are members of Team Darfur. The group aims to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region.

China is a major investor in Sudan and has come under increasing pressure to help end the violence in Darfur.

International experts say more than 200,000 people have died and some 2.5 million have been displaced from their homes since Darfur rebel groups rose up against the Sudanese government in 2003.

Sudan says Western governments and media have exaggerated the scale of the conflict.

from MoreWhat.com:

…and Nancy Pelosi chimes in (of course)….

Pelosi Calls on President Bush to Secure Entry of Joey Cheek to Beijing Olympic Games Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Contact:Brendan Daly/Nadeam Elshami, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Speaker Nancy Pelosi released the following statement after the Chinese government revoked a visa for Olympic gold medalist and Team Darfur co-founder Joey Cheek:

“The Chinese government’s decision to bar Olympic gold medalist Joey Cheek from attending the Olympics because of his advocacy for Darfur is reprehensible. This action by Beijing’s leaders is part of an orchestrated campaign to deny entry to individuals because of their political views, beliefs, writings, association, religion, and ethnicity.

If an Olympic athlete, past or present, wishes to attend the Olympics no one should find that unusual or controversial. But if that athlete has chosen to add politics or activism or controversy to their resume’, is it surprising that the host country for the Olympics would refuse to let them enter the country? There have always been controversial overtones associated with the Olympic games. In a perfect world, this athletic event would be simply about sport and competition. It is not a surprise that China refused Joey Cheek’s visa. It is not a surprise that the White House expressed they are disturbed (ya, right) about Cheek being barred from China. And even less of a surprise is that Speaker Nancy Pelosi would offer her two cents on the matter.

Hey Joey, if you want ot be involved in sport, don’t make it political. Hey China, if you don’t want to draw attention to your political choices, don’t bar Joey. Hey White House, it was essentially required for you to respond (enough said). Hey Nancy, you have time to chime in on Joey Cheek but not attend to energy and other urgent matters related to what should be your real job or responsibility.

From this blog, on the energy issue and the one aspect of oil, build some refineries for converting oil to gasoline, etc., before you focus all your thoughts on drilling. On the drilling, fine, drill. Drill to your hearts content. But, up front, stop saying everything will be fine and no harm will come from drilling. Put some measures in place for what will be done to correct errors if you are wrong. And don’t forget about the refining. As for the alternative sources…. forget about it. You have for 30 or 40 years and so has the public. Only crisis will bring alternatives, as always. So forget about the alternatives. None have been brought forward yet and will not likely be for many decades to come. Remember, if you drill like there’s no tomorrow but fail to refine what you drill it is pointless, except for investors.

Go ahead, tell me I’m wrong.

Stanford Matthews

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 7th, 2008 at 11:17 am and is filed under Bush, wordpress, Politics, oil, sports, United States, China, Opinion, Africa, Pelosi, Foreign Affairs, Energy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.