Below The Beltway

As I noted yesterday, Ron Paul was the only Member of Congress to vote no on a resolution condemning China for it’s recent violence against the Tibetan people.
Ron Lawl points out that the argument that his defenders have used against him doesn’t really add up:
The Paultards have already sent their legions over to Digg in [...]

In the course of the same news conference, the head of the International Olympic Committee managed to say two completely contradictory things about the ability that international athletes will have to speak out during the Olympic Games in Bejing.
First, he says that the IOC stands behind the free speech rights of it’s athletes:
BEIJING, April 10 [...]

Add John McCain’s name to the growing list of politicians calling for a boycott of the Opening Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics:
Senator John McCain said today that he would not attend the opening ceremonies at the Olympics, barring significant changes in China’s behavior, if he were president.
During an appearance on ABC’s “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg [...]

Everyone, that is except Ron Paul:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution Wednesday calling on China to end its crackdown on Tibet and release Tibetans imprisoned for “nonviolent” demonstrations.
The vote was 413-1. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who recently dropped out of the presidential race, was the lone congressman voting against [...]

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has become the latest world leader to announce that he will boycott the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics:
LONDON — Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Wednesday that he would not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games this summer.
The prime minister has been under intense political pressure over [...]

The Los Angeles Times points out that the Olympic Torch Relay didn’t exist before the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympics:
The Olympic torch relay was invented by the Nazis. According to historians, Adolf Hitler wanted to promote his belief in an Aryan master race by symbolically linking the 1936 Berlin Games to the ancient Greek gods and [...]

It’s just after 6am in San Francisco as I write this, and the city is bracing for protests as the Olympic Torch relay begins:
SAN FRANCISCO — The Olympic torch arrived at the airport here from Paris in the wee hours Tuesday morning, exited out a side door and was escorted by motorcade to a downtown [...]

Once again, a state-scripted media tour of Western China has been disrupted by Tibetan Monks eager to get their message out:
XIAHE, China, April 9 (Reuters) - Fifteen Tibetan Buddhist monks interrupted a state-sponsored media tour of a restive region of western China on Wednesday, demanding the return of the Dalai Lama and yelling that they [...]

Apparently, the White House is vacillating on what to do about the Olympic Opening Ceremonies:
WASHINGTON (CNN) — The White House left the door open Tuesday to President Bush skipping the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics to protest China’s human rights record and its crackdown in Tibet.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, however, suggested that the [...]

James Joyner doesn’t think much of a boycott of this year’s Olympics:
It’s simply inconceivable that poking a stick in Beijing’s eye will cause them to suddenly become a Jeffersonian democracy, free Tibet, or, indeed, do anything that we want them to do.
China’s domestic human rights record is abysmal, to be sure, but it’s much better [...]