The Chines government is running afoul of me while Pacman Jones is just plain foul

- I’m really developing a strong dislike for China, or more specifically the Chinese government. First, there was the announcement last week that the country’s Ministry of Public Security will be kicking off a six-month campaign to eliminate Internet porn in China and deprive all sexual freaks and perverts in their country the chance to get their online freak on, and now the government has destroyed 42 million pirated DVDs, CDs and pieces of computer software. Burning copies of movies and albums is the centerpiece of media consumption here in America, and I challenge you to find any movie or music lover who doesn’t own one or several dozen copied discs. Yet here’s the Chinese government, going all overbearing dictator on its citizens and destroying their bootleg copies of Borat, the new Killers album and their pirated version of Photoshop CS. Not everyone has to money to be actual legitimate copies of those items, Chinese government, so why you gotta go ripping their bootleg versions? Isn't life in a Communist country hard enough without the government forcefully ripping your burned CDs and DVDs and destroying them? Seems like there’s a race on that continent to see whose government can be more oppressive and restrictive of its citizens’ lives, China or Russia…..

- Now what are illegal immigrant women going to do? That’s the pertinent question after Juan Balderas-Orosco, a Mexican man charged with running a ring of brothels across America that forced immigrant women into prostitution, was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for his crimes. Balderas-Orosco and twelve cohorts smuggled hundreds of women across the border and forced them to become prostitutes, often having sex with as many as 40 men a day. Hope you enjoy the next six years and eight months on American soil, Juan, because once that sentence ends, deportation is the next step. Call me crazy, but I don’t think that forced prostitution is what any anti-immigration critics have in mind when they say that those wishing to enter our country should be bringing something to the table and not just sponging off the rest of the country. Your life in your own country might be bad, but I find it very hard to believe that going to a foreign country and basically being forced to have sex with dirty, disgusting strangers all day, every day is an improvement. Maybe ol’ Juan will be forced into a special kind of prostitution of his own inside of prison, if you catch my drift…………

- Two of my least favorite things in the whole world came face to face with one another on a radio call-in show recently: Sen. Hank Clinton and American Karaoke. Hank was appearing as a part of his apocalyptic, sign-of-the-end-of-the-world presidential campaign (well, if dude is elected it will be apocalyptic) and some moron called in to ask what Hank thought should be done about hack karaoke-er Sanjaya, um, whatever his last name is. Hank quickly ducked the question, saying people can vote for whoever they want to vote for, just as they can in the presidential election. Actually, Hank is somewhat right in drawing a parallel between the presidential election and AK, because both frequently sport a bevy of unqualified, unappealing choices that make leave voters with the realization that they must vote for the least offensive of two possible options. Both situations involve a lot of fake, phony people and both waste an inordinate amount of television airtime that would be better served watching Sesame Street or reruns of Leave It to Beaver. However, Hank’s indirect, beat-around-the-bush answer to a question like this on a radio show does beg the question of what he’ll do when faced with actual political quandaries posed to him at debates and throughout the campaign.

- “I’m not a racist but…..” You hear those words and you know something racist is about to be said. It’s the ultimate contradiction, and anyone uttering that sentence ends up looking bad. Adam “Pacman” Jones of the Tennessee Titans looks nearly as bad for his own malapropism, put forth when asked about his reaction to the NFL (rightfully) suspending him for one full season for his many, many, many legal troubles and consistent run-ins with police. Jones was interviewed when he happened to be at ESPN’s Friday Night Fights boxing event in Mississippi, and during the course of the interview he unleashed the following gem when discussing his suspension: “For the most part, I’m taking it like a man, but I’m going to appeal.” Which one is it, Pacman? Are you taking it like a man and accepting your punishment, or are you going to be a whiny, petulant child, stomp your feet and appeal your suspension as if this isn't fair? If Pacman’s history is any indication, he’ll be going with the latter. He also had the audacity to allege that he’s the poster boy for the league in its crusade against felonious behavior by players, as if they’re singling him out to make a point and thus taking advantage of him. Nobody but you has had those dozen or so brushes with the law, Pacman, and even if you haven't been charged with a crime in the latest incident, you have past convictions and failed to report two arrests last offseason, which violates NFL rules. I do take issue with the whole poster boy notion, because that assumes that his punishment should be a warning to others who might follow in his footsteps and to be honest, I doubt anyone is going to go as far down Felon Road as this guy has. Others will get into trouble with the law, but I think other players will stop well short of visiting the cops as often as Pacman does. Oh, and you can appeal all you want, P., but you thinking you will win that appeal and be back on the field after missing only 10 games is as ludicrous a prediction as I’ve ever heard.

- Two days of protests in Russia have led to two consecutive days of police-administered beatdowns. For the second day in a row, anti-Kremlin demonstrators felt the wrath of the law, but take heart in knowing that Russian police are equal-opportunity abusers. Both young and old felt the cold steel of the policeman’s baton in St. Petersburg on Sunday. Protesters accurately claim that the harsh, overbearing use of force will only serve to fuel the argument that President Vladimir Putin is choking the life out of democracy and free speech in the country. Astonishingly, the major national television stations in Russia (controlled by Putin and his cronies) didn’t show much of the footage from the demonstrations. After all, when oppressing your people and stifling their right to speak out against you, who needs that kind of bad publicity shown on your nation’s airwaves. Better to oppress and abuse in anonymity, eh Vlad? By the way, I’d also like to thank President Putin for providing a glimpse of what life must have been like back in the days of Iron Curtain, since many of us aren't old enough to remember.