The Dalai Lama is a man of peace and honor.

I am very happy that he received the award - and let me also make it official, that I give President Bush a

big

thumbs-up ( - there ain't a bigger smiley, if there was I'd use it)

- anyway, Bushie gets a "big" thumbs-up for a) giving the award, and b) for not using it as an opportunity to hurl pointed barbs in Chairman Hu's direction.

Nope, Bushie said his few words on China, but really, he was very statesman-like at that presentation, I saw the whole thing, and it even "surprised" me - I mean, Bushie looks pretty darn good when he's behaving himself, doesn't he?

It's a shame that the Dalai Lama has to be perceived as such a "political" figure in China, because even though he does support Tibetan independence and all that, the two peoples really have much more in common than they do apart.

Yeah, well - a thought occurred to me as I was watching that ceremony, 'cause in spite of the his Holiness' broken English, what he was saying came through loud and clear - and that is,

Why is it that some of these governments are so scared of returning power to the people? In some cases it's a military strongman, in others it's a power cadre, but the thing they all have in common is that they "don't like elections". Ond of the common arguments you'll always hear around this is, "corruption". You know, like, "the people always elect corrupt officials, and the only way we can prevent that is not to have elections".

How's that for bass-ackwards "logic"?