Anti-China protests in Tibet have brought a harsh crackdown.
It was hoped that the prospect of hosting the 2008 Olympics would force China to clean up its human rights act.
In two weeks, China's Olympic celebrations begin with the start of the torch relay. In what can only be described as macabre political theater, the flame — representing the Olympic spirit — is scheduled to be carried through Tibet. I hope all the corporate sponsors of the Beijing Olympics are feeling good about how they decided to spend their advertising dollars.
Civilized countries should boycott the Beijing Olympics. If it is politically impossible to do so at this stage, participating nations, individual athletes and media representatives have a responsibility to publicly and frequently express their concerns about China's human rights record.
If the IOC doesn't move to put pressure on Beijing consistent with its obligations, it risks this Olympics being remembered like the 1936 Games in Berlin. Already, the spirit of the Olympics in Beijing has become associated with the word "genocide," thanks to Stephen Spielberg and the Dalai Lama. Indeed, if the IOC and the rest of the world do not pressure Beijing to stop the crackdown and improve human rights now, a boycott of the Games will widely be seen as justified.
The Jayhawks' colors? Red and blue.
Today is the day: The nation will find out which 65 teams have been invited to the NCAA Tournament to decide the national champion of men's college basketball. And on Monday, offices across the land will be abuzz with employees figuring out the brackets for their office pools -- many of them illegal.
An estimated 3 million people participated in online brackets last year, placing $2.5 billion on illegal bets and costing their companies $1.7 billion in lost productivity.
Why do we go so crazy for March Madness? And is there an upside to your office pool?
Responsibly operating a first-class office pool wasn't a completely selfless act. Running the office pool allowed me to study the sociological curiosity that is homo predictus up close and personal. It was a regular anthropological expedition every March.
And over the years I've developed a few theories as to why everyone and his brother, cousin, aunt, uncle, mom, dad, cat, and neighbor's in-law's second-niece twice-removed can't resist filling out a bracket.
Theories? Well, I've developed one theory: Americans like to gamble, especially if it's vaguely verboten. Indeed, the wink-wink illicitness of bracketology adds to the bonding experience. The NCAA pool is the modern-day version of bath-tub gin.
It happens every year, and next week, it'll happen again, and if you're the manager or owner of a company, you may be wondering if you should let it happen: The March Madness office pool.
Actually, don't worry. As it turns out, there are good business reasons to keep your college basketball office pool going. According to a recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive, of the 44% of American workers who have participated in an office pool, 45% of them named office camaraderie as the main reason for doing it. Thirty-six percent of the people participating do it for the love of money; 15%, for the love of the game; 2%, pressure from their other co-workers.
In other words, the study suggests that you're actually fostering teamwork if you let your staff participate in a March Madness office pool.
Sports fans won't be the only ones watching the world's athletes in Beijing this summer.
Human rights advocates won't be celebrating the summer Olympics in Beijing. China censors the press, cracks down on dissent, and supports genocidal regimes. But the Olympics is supposed to be about setting aside differences, not "wallowing" in politics. Besides, an effort to boycott the Beijing games never got anywhere. Now British Olympic officials are requiring athletes to sign a contract promising not to speak out about China's abusive behavior or face being banned from Beijing. Have Western governments lost their nerve? Should Human rights issues affect whether countries participate in the Olympic games? Is it too late to confront China on its human rights record
From this moment on, I will not write about the Beijing Olympics unless the subject at hand is censorship and repression in China. And -- unless the Chinese government changes its policies -- when the Olympics do come, I will not blog about them at all. I will take the opportunity to write as often as I can about the lack of Freedom of Speech on the Chinese Internet and on the suppression of bloggers and journalists in that country.
Let us lay to rest the argument that we should dispel politics from the Olympics. Politics underlie host governments' motivations, with China nothing less than the norm. If we allow the international community simply to accept the Beijing Games as the Chinese present it, we will concede a great, undeserving misperception. For, the true realization of "One World, One Dream" means the promotion of the human condition -- whether Chinese, Burmese, Sudanese, or American. And, in this event, China falls short of even the bronze medal.
