Stick in the eye....

Grandcat Cheeto looks wise as he ponders a stick.
We had dropped by his place after we had taken a bit of an ill advised hike.

Bernie and I had just started to hike up into a nearby mountain when the snow really got going. 
We kept on  plowing up the hillside following a faint deer trail, trying to obtain the mountain ridge, but soon found we were mired in bare brush that tangled all about us. 
There was no more trail to be seen. 
After about an hour of puffing and pulling to try to get to the top, we decided this wasn't really the perfect day for this particular adventure and gave up.


It wasn't too great of a loss; we were only a few miles from home anyway, and even less miles away from where we could go see our two grandcats and their owners (AKA: our son and DIL.  It really is all about the cats when we visit though.)

Proof that the snow really did fall as we hiked.  The ground was snow less when we started out!


Jeff was working on trimming a Japanese maple that he had acquired and asked Bernie for his insight and couching. 
Notice how Cheeto is also paying close attention to what Bernie had to say.

OK...enough with the easy going chit chat. 
What I would really like to talk about is trimming down another Asian group, namely the Chinese.
Much ado was made of the state visit by the Chinese Chairman/President last week. 
Chairman/President Hu Jintao and Mr. Obama were meeting to promote US and China trade.
On January 19th a state dinner was held in honor of our Chinese guests.

So get this:

While she (Mrs. Obama) looked lovely in her fiery formal gown (that she wore to the state dinner), both the design house (Alexander McQueen) and the designer (Sarah Burton) are British, a bit of an odd choice while representing the U.S. at such a major event.  (Read full article HERE.)

Tacky.  There are plenty of good US designers that Mrs. Obama could have used.

But never mind.

That isn't the part of the official event that really has me really disturbed. 
It was the music played. 
A Chinese pianist chose to play a decidedly  (and well known in China) anti-American song.
And everyone in attendance clapped; the Chinese knowing what the song represented and the Americans because they were clueless good hosts:

Lang Lang the pianist says he chose it. Chairman Hu Jintao recognized it as soon as he heard it. Patriotic Chinese Internet users were delighted as soon as they saw the videos online. Early morning TV viewers in China knew it would be played an hour or two beforehand. At the White House State dinner on Jan. 19, about six minutes into his set, Lang Lang began tapping out a famous anti-American propaganda melody from the Korean War: the theme song to the movie “Battle on Shangganling Mountain.”




The film depicts a group of “People’s Volunteer Army” soldiers who are first hemmed in at Shanganling (or Triangle Hill) and then, when reinforcements arrive, take up their rifles and counterattack the U.S. military “jackals.”


The movie and the tune are widely known among Chinese, and the song has been a leading piece of anti-American propaganda by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for decades. CCP propaganda has always referred to the Korean War as the “movement to resist America and help [North] Korea.” The message of the propaganda is that the United States is an enemy—in fighting in the Korean War the United States’ real goal was said to be to invade and conquer China. The victory at Triangle Hill was promoted as a victory over imperialists.


The song Lang Lang played describes how beautiful China is and then near the end has this verse, “When friends are here, there is fine wine /But if the jackal comes /What greets it is the hunting rifle.” The “jackal” in the song is the United States.

(From HERE you can read more of the article quoted above.)


I was disgusted when a few months back Paul McCartney entertained at a White House dinner, and used the occasion to make rude remarks about former President George W. Bush, insinuating that Mr. Bush didn't even know what a library was. 


The fact that Mr. Bush's wife has a Masters degree in Library Science and that he also cut the check for an entire university library to be built to at his wife's alma mater suggests to me that Mr. Bush really, REALLY knows the meaning of the word "library" and personally supports them.


Regardless of nature of the insult, it is my understanding that it is rude to speak poorly of one's host's compatriots while breaking bread together.  Speaking rudely about any of the US Presidents in the setting of the White House sets my teeth on edge; when a non-American citizen does it, it really gets my dander up.


But "the Beatle" was allowed his joke, his audience (including Mr. Obama) laughed hardily and life went on.


It has been noted by many that Mr. Obama has traveled the world apologizing for America in the most appalling manner.  Apparently he feels that apologizing for the US is his job when he goes abroad.


I suppose the Chinese felt that as long as Mr. Obama thought America "sucked", playing a song that agreed with that point of view was a way of flattering their host.


Upon closer inspection, it would seem more likely that the Chinese thought they could play our President for fool.  They had done it before, when he visited there in 2009:


Shen Wu Men, which may be translated as Gate of Divine Prowess. CCTV reported that he exited through the Shun Zhen Men, which may be translated as “Gate of Obedience and Purity.”



In fact, the Gate of Divine Prowess is the outer gate and everyone must exit through it. However, Chinese media would not accord President Obama the honor of going through the “Gate of Divine Prowess.”


(Quote taken from previous article link.)


I can not think of a single culture where eating together is not a symbolic gesture of peace and good will between the participants.


To attack during such an event is nothing short of a betrayal.
I believe that on January 19 2011, we were formally betrayed by our Chinese guests.



I believe we should put our foot down and demand a formal apology immediately.
America has gotten poked in the eye with a sharp stick  by the Chinese twice now and each time America has brushed the affront aside.
I think it is time for this sort of behavior to be rebuked.
We have lost face, and apparently become blinded.
We can not allow for this ill treatment to go any farther, if not for ourselves, but for the sake of all those who are weaker than we are, and under threat by the Chinese government, especially the Chinese Christians who face merciless torture at the direction of their government.


It sickens me to imagine that even one dollar of my taxes went to feed the man Hu, who would allowed torture to be done to my Chinese Christian brother. ( http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=30513&ref=BPNews-RSSFeed0518)

Since Mr. Obama seems to think highly of apologizing for America when he is visiting other countries, I believe he should reasonably be able to expect that Mr. Hu should apologize for China while Mr. Hu is visiting our country.

And if Mr. Hu doesn't have the stomach for apologizing for that song, then Mr. Obama, I as an American am expecting you personally to apologize to those of us who paid the evening's dinner tab for the despicable behavior of your Chinese guests.