WTU 99. AKIC Tidbits.

• Oil Prices are rising.  And China has retrenched its policy of subsidizing fuel prices.  This policy will eventually become unsustainable.  I have seen fuel line-ups with hundreds of trucks in Wuxi all this year.  With the increasing demand for energy, I don't see how the government can fix the problem without increasing energy prices and then having to try to put down the unrest that would follow.
• The three days of mourning are over.  The Earthquake has impacted the Chinese like 9/11 impacted us living in North America in 2001.  But, this year has seen a few 9/11s for China.  3/14, the day of the Tibet riots, impacted the Chinese.  I wonder if the 9/11s will ever stop here.
• Was the owner of the Blue Bar insensitive to the Chinese?  Possibly.  He definitely has the Australian gruffness and frankness. 
• Here is Wuxi Tony Update (WTU) #99:

 

• WTU 99 isn't the gala I promised.  I just don't have the time to properly edit a video.
• By the way, rare Blogspot reader, WTU 99 is embedded first on this site.  My other site's readers won't see it until tomorrow.
• One of these days, I am going to finish the novel Brideshead Revisited. 
• One thing you can say about George Bush: he is no whiner unlike the Obamas, Barry and Michelle, who complain ad nauseam about unfair personal attacks.  The criticism the Obamas have received in comparison to Bush is miniscule, and yet  Barry will not brook any attacks without complaining about them.  Obama comically went out of his way to criticize a perceived personal attack by Bush against him in a speech the president made to the Israeli Knesset. 
• How will history view George Bush?   He will probably be seen very favorably: like Harry Truman.  Truman did the right thing when he was president but was not appreciated for it at the time.  Obama, who wants to transcend politics, should know this but instead Barry joins in with the crowds of braying BDSers whenever he has the chance or makes the chance. 
• Meanwhile the current Republican nominee is nothing to write home about either.  McCain, who bills himself as a maverick, is going along with the global warming scam.  One thing is for sure, the finals of the 2008 presidential race will be the lamest since Bush-Dukakis and that Indians-Marlins World Series.
• The Stanley Cup Finals will begin soon which means the end of the NHL season.  When the players go to training camp for the next season, the U.S. presidential race will still not be decided.  If an election can last longer than the NHL season (which is ridiculously long) then something is very wrong with the election system.  But McCain can be blamed for that by supporting election finance reform.  Elections in America are expensive - there is no way around it.  But elections in America are too important to be done on the cheap.  McCain's reforms are responsible for the overlong election cycle this year.  Candidates had to start very early to get their financing operations operating.
• Meanwhile the talk of election finance reform has been a perfect way for the Chinese government is deflect their people's attention from the spectacle of democracy.  What does the average Chinese person know about the U.S. election?  They have heard it is expensive.  They know nothing of the issues at stake.
• The wife went to the  new apartment yesterday.  The workers didn't.  The glass they needed wasn't ready.  I can hardly wait to move there, even with the increasing costs of energy.
• With Tony being able to sit up, there is nothing better than to lie on the bed and have him sit beside me.  He will put his arm on my chest and relax.  A good feeling.
• Tony will soon have the knack of crawling.  Right now, his efforts have him going backwards.  He can push himself up with arms but he hasn't figured how to use his knees to push himself forward.  But he will.
• The Chinese management has taken over scheduling of the foreign staff.  I don't know what horrors await us.  Our problem is that we don't have enough students to keep us busy during the daytime.  In the evening, we are fine.  I am sure the Chinese management would like us to work six days a week but it is written in our contract that we get two days off with any extra work meaning overtime pay.