More in the news!

Haven't left yet, so what should I do... read some blogs, of course! Cartoon via Perry Bible Fellowship, check it out (ran across it at Coming Anarchy), there is some funny stuff there. I'll put some more up later.

Hubris has a hilarious look at what the Miers confirmation hearings might look like (check out his post on the Roberts confirmation), and Instapundit has been unusually active in discussion (even opening comments!). Kinda interesting. Bush brought it on himself; wonder if the Republicans will learn how to be a majority party before they lose it. Although I was a little relieved to read this Michael Barone article on Democratic political demographics... admittedly from a partisan perspective.

PBS News has had a 5-part series on the Chinese economy this week, Tuesday's episode on investing in China was pretty good... today's interview with Cheng Siwei (link posted when available), Vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the People's National Congress. There were excerpts before, but this section has been quite instructive. 'Benefits of globalization and free-trade' being expounded upon by a high-standing communist Party official. The 21st century is amazing. However, there were some quite notable points that he brought up. The 'dual economic structure' of the PRC is quite a potential problem- the economic gap between the city and the rural areas, is a matter of considerable concern. The interview gets interesting and interesting, especially when currency reevaluation becomes the issue. Noting their 'modest' RMB evaluation (as in not noticeable and insignificant, IMHO) Vice-Chairman Cheng discusses their beliefs on RMB. He talks about the PRC's buying US Treasury Bonds as a benefit to us- stabilizing our deficit. Pressure from the US to appreciate or reevaluate is seen as a 'threat', an issue of 'sovereignty'. Prefer to solve the problem through dialogue. I'll have to discuss this some other time...

Okay. Maybe I should be doing something productive, like shooting or studying Arabic. I'll probably slow down on the blogposts when I get there. Later.