And they call it democracy

  Chinese President Jiang Zemin has said in the United Nations that the principle of democracy must be advocated and implemented in handling world affairs.
  What, a dictator whose government arrests dissidents (without due process), and confines them in prisons for decades, is going to instruct us on the benefits of democracy?   
  In a petition addressed to the Communist Party's Central Committee, Liu Xiaobo and Wang XizheLiu accused the Communists of going back on pledges made before they came to power in 1949 that China's ethnic minorities should have the right to self-determination and even "the right to set up an independent country."
  Such appeals from Liu and Wang to allow Tibetans the right of self-determination, has meant a lot of jail time for both men. 
  The most famous dissident of recent times, Wang Dan, a student leader turned dissident after the Tiananmen Square massacre, faces exile after these many years of imprisonment. Shen Liangqing, a former prosecutor, was sentenced on April 3, 1998 to two years in a labor camp for meeting with journalists from the New York-based Human Rights in China and the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democratic Movements in China, an group Beijing has described as an "enemy organization."
  "It is essential to fully respect the diversity of different nations," Jiang continued before the UN, "as well as religions and civilizations." Is this supposed to mean diversity in his own country? Obviously not. Now China is the big beacon light of the East, the favored trading partner of the US. In the meantime, ordinary Chinese people are employed true, just like ordinary people in the service sector in America, people who are working for low wages, and too busy working to realize they are no longer free, but merely servants of the wealthy class.
  President Bush recently addressed the Mideast crisis, calling on the Palestinians to "build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty." No matter that Israel is the anti-democratic state in the equation, no matter at all! It sounded optimistic, I mean, who can have qualms with the basic premise? But what we are hearing from Bush is the same rhetoric we hear from President Jiang, in China. 
  What is the difference between the US and China? Both their leaders speak of democracy, and the difference is - they mean the same thing! Free speech is prohibited in China, while in the USA it is tolerated, and why? No one listens to it!
  No one cares to listen to dissent. Most of the population are slaves to their work, and to TV. Black, white, or whatever color you are, fine, so long as you don't make waves. Few Americans can tell you the details of their government, much less what goes on elsewhere. But everyone knows w ho's playing who on Sunday football, and most everybody can repeat the new mantra promoted by Mazda, zoom, zoom zoom.  
  Is this not the sound of our society, zooming right over the cliff? The multitude can choose between Mazda, Lexus and Ford and whatever other car, each with its options, and they call it democracy.
  Red China is also, becoming a plethora of consumer choices. No matter that those who dare to challenge the system, end up imprisoned, China is not only a favored trading partner, but an ally in America's war against terrorism. On this basis, Jiang's government has a license to kill, and persecute Ugher Muslims in Xinjiang.
  China can now count on Western governments to keep their mouths shut about human rights. Do we care that this is the price of China gaining membership in the WTO? Ask anyone on the street, and they will shrug, and say, "Who cares anyway?" But so long as you say the Chinese are killing Muslims in their country as a part of the US led WAR AGAINST TERROR, you'll get a smile if not a free flag lapel pin.