I hear that the whole world was on parade as Red China reclaimed Hong Kong from Great Britain today, after the British Crown's 156-year colonial rule of this Chinese erstwhile "fishing village."

I hear that the British Crown was represented at the festivities by the Crown Prince (Charles) - sans Diana, the "jewel of the crown," as well as sans the Crown Camel (Camilla - the "Stain on the Crown").

No word yet as to who represented India, the real "Crown Jewel," which first shook British Empire some 50 years ago. Maybe Babar? (the French elephant).  Or was it a descendant of some (also) British Opium War Chinese merchant?

I hear that the U.S. was represented at the Hong Kong festivities by our Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. And by the King Kong. The Beauty was apparently missing, not wanting to steal the show from the Halbrights...

I hear that China was represented by Bill Clinton and by Henry Kissinger.

I hear that the celebrations at the Tiananmen Square included George Bush and Alexander Haig, the former NATO boss.

I hear that the Chinese government closed off the gigantic Beijing square for fear that the Chinese people may pick up on Hong Kong's celebrations.

I hear that chicken and chow mein don't mix very well. The chicken, not the chow, is the problem.

I hear that the fox was there, though. Guarding the chickens at the Tiananmen Square.

You mean the daughter of the Humpty-Dumpty, the yellow ABC Nightline egg that broke when he fell off the Chinese wall?

No, the wife of the See En En silk merchant who was so Fond'a Red silk that he bought himself yards of Red Network to complement his wife's Red Hanoi Aerobics.

I'd better stop... Or else I may end up in Moscow's Red Square peddling the Mao Tse-tung nostalgia to the Chiang Khai-shek's aficionados of the by-gone Marx/Lenin/Stalin era.

The "Red Square" ("Krasnaya Ploshad"), by the way, means a "Beautiful Square" (in the old Russian), not just the "Red Square."  

Ever wondered how he "Red Square" got to be known in the West as only by its Bolshevik meaning, instead of as the "Beautiful Square," as was the context of "Krasnaya Ploshad'" when the term was coined, a few centuries ago?

For an answer to that question, check out who owns the U.S. media.

And while you're at it, also check out the guest lists at the Hong Kong or Beijing celebrations. The ones closed off to the Chinese people, of course.  Wish I could tell you this was a joke... It is not.

Happy Fourth of July, anyway!  Hope you're celebrating it in the "red-white-and-blue Krasnaya Ploshad" on an American Main Street.

Bob Dj.

P.S. April 2, 1998 (TiM Bulletin 98/4-1):

WITHER HONG KONG'S SHORT-LIVED DEMOCRACY

HONG KONG, China - We received the following comment from a TiM reader who shed a new light on what China's takeover of Hong Kong from Great Britain, last July, meant. It was another victory for globalism's dictatorship of capital over democracy, this TiM reader alleges:

"Under the new electoral rules, half of the 60 legislative seats will be elected by managers of corporations for each industry's seat. Ten will be selected by corporate committees. The remaining, meaningless seats, will be elected by the Hong Kong citizens."

R.K.

Hong Kong

[TiM Ed.: In today's (Apr. 2) voting for corporate representatives (30 seats), only 140,000 of Hong Kong's 2.6 million registered voters were eligible to vote. Two hours before the polls closed, only 26,646 people, or 19%, had cast ballots, the Associated Press reported. Speaking outside a polling station early today, where her pro-democracy Frontier group held a small protest, former lawmaker, Emily Lau, called the election "utterly repugnant."]

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