The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 4 of 7)

(posted 3/3/03) br> It was Yao Ming week in Washington, in honor of the gentlemanly and charismatic rookie NBA star from Shanghai who played his first game in the nation's capital last Thursday. The local Post treated his arrival the way it once might have a visit from Prince Di, and so the coverage was both silly and sloppy -- all of it obsessing over barriers Yao was supposedly knocking down for Asian-American athletes and fans alike. Even the normally sane Michael Wilbon couldn't keep from joining others in comparing Yao's impact to Jackie Robinson's. What an insult to all concerned. Black baseball was formidable well before Robinson joined the majors. He didn't need to turn black Americans on to the game itself. But he did have to overcome numerous barriers, at great risk. Yao, meanwhile, isn't even the first Chinese pro to play in the NBA. Nor did he have to overcome any NBA or American-imposed limits on Asian participation. What barriers he's faced are entirely Communist Chinese, which include a gargantuan lien on his earnings. Naturally, the Post totally ignored this ugly side of the story. /p>

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p> Meltdown (posted 2/24/03) br> Last week the Great Blizzard hit, just as the peace marchers were breaking all their Vietnam era attendance records. But then the great meltdown began, hastened this past weekend by heavy rains and flooding. In the process, the peace marchers were left exposed as the drips they've been all along, posturing and preening against king and country for no reason other than that they don't don't like men surnamed Bush and Ashcroft. Insults have done them no good, nor more importantly will their efforts to save Saddam amount to anything. Lucky for them, too! Saddam's days are numbered, but they'll emerge unscathed. That's what comes of living free and easy in the West. Until the next time, when again they try to see how much freedom they can squander. /p>

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John McCain, Business, Law, Oil