Here's the text:

If you missed last night's opening ceremonies, you missed out on history.

Think about the North Korean mass games, except more high-concept and slightly less creepy but much more intimidating. Sarkozy was drunk, Rudd was accompanied by some jolly fat woman who was even drunker, Bush looked like he would have preferred to be somewhere else, which is odd because the family has long loved them some China, and the commentators were like something out of "Best In Show," except unscripted and more unintentionally hilarious. Meanwhile, someone had the bright idea of dressing up the U.S. team like they were on their way to a boat party in the Hamptons, which actually may have scared some of the other countries, which, of course, is the point of all this anyway.

Towards the end, one gets the feeling, "Oh, wow, there are a lot of these people and they're the most competent adversaries the U.S. has faced since the Germans." But then, when the Chinese roll out their giant squadron, they're led by a cute little victim of the recent earthquake - and you think, "Ah. They're just as scared of their own people as we ought to be of them. They're worried about dissatisfaction over their response to the needs of their people. They're politicking. We're not so different after all, are we?"

But then they pull off this Triumph-o-the-Will stunt towards the end involving a flying Chinese athlete and a giant torch that appears out of nowhere, followed by the greatest fireworks display since Dresden, and you wonder, "Are we working on some sort of nano weapons, just in case?"

We'd better be.

If the intent of China was to impress, they have, I think, succeeded.

On Sat, Aug 9, 2008 at 9:58 AM, Karen Lancaster <lancaster.karen@gmail.com> wrote:

I can't see it. Is it about the brand new China Olypmics question?

On Sat, Aug 9, 2008 at 8:49 AM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

No kidding. It was very intimidating. See my recent CreateDebate post.

On Sat, Aug 9, 2008 at 9:48 AM, Karen Lancaster <lancaster.karen@gmail.com> wrote:

Wasn't that just stunningly beautiful?

But the sight of all those Chinese martial arts guys lined up in soldier precision like that was also a little frightening/intimidating don't you think?

We probably want to keep them on our side.

On Sat, Aug 9, 2008 at 6:32 AM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

Did you watch that opening ceremony last night? Jesus Christ.

On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 6:17 PM, Karen Lancaster <lancaster.karen@gmail.com> wrote:

I am SO sorry for being such a buttinsky.

I DO trust you to do the right thing.

I also love you very much.

Mmmmmwah (me, blowing a kiss) - Mom

On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 10:33 AM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

Because the actual test phase has already ended. Second of all, no one is retorting my stuff for the most part because they cannot. Trust me, what I'm doing at Protein Wisdom is going to become a staple of my "samples" folder and will probably get me a job. Thirdly, I'm linking to supporting evidence just as much as anyone else is - sometimes, my arguments don't make use of actual sources, but are instead purely rhetorical and logical. Fourthly, trust me, I've been in communication with the guys who run Create Debate, and know what is expected of me.

On Fri, Aug 8, 2008 at 11:25 AM, Karen Lancaster <lancaster.karen@gmail.com> wrote:

CreateDebate is probably looking for people that will provide retorts/continue arguments -- which is what you're SO good at and which I don't see you've done very much on that site?

Other posters are linking to supporting evidence, replying to posts and you are just not making the effort there.

Why not?

Love,

Your mother who is concerned about how you are going to support yourself

--
KAREN LANCASTER, WRITER/EDITOR
3419 Westminster Ave., Box 25
Dallas, TX 75205
(214) 914-0455
lancaster.karen@gmail.com

--
KAREN LANCASTER, WRITER/EDITOR
3419 Westminster Ave., Box 25
Dallas, TX 75205
(214) 914-0455
lancaster.karen@gmail.com

--
KAREN LANCASTER, WRITER/EDITOR
3419 Westminster Ave., Box 25
Dallas, TX 75205
(214) 914-0455
lancaster.karen@gmail.com

--
KAREN LANCASTER, WRITER/EDITOR
3419 Westminster Ave., Box 25
Dallas, TX 75205
(214) 914-0455
lancaster.karen@gmail.com