Why does Mitt Romney sound so corny? It seems to me that Romney missed one experience which changed the outlook and even the vocabulary of most of his schoolmates. This is a man who never experienced the '60s. You know what I mean: peace demonstrations, dope smoking, ironic detachment, all that.

The Olympics have beenused fordemonstrations throughout the twentieth century; it appears that this trend will continue into the twenty-first century.

The London Olympics will be just like Beijing's, except less sinister and more fun.

The presidential nomination process remains the weakest part of our political system. It's too lengthy, its rules are too capricious and giving eternal first dibs to Iowa and New Hampshire is intellectually indefensible.

Obama is hardly alone in his effort to mythologize China in order to justify expansion of government. Obviously, China’s a formidable economic player, and a growing military and diplomatic power. But only a fool would trade our problems for theirs.

A successful Olympics bid will constrainChinabecauseBeijing will find itself less able to crush its people's aspirations under the world's close scrutiny.

While the US counter-culture of the 1960s may bear little resemblance to anything in Chinese society today, the 'average Chinese citizen' would likely be surprised to learn that he cares not about human dignity. Indeed, fundamentally, Ai Weiwei is silenced precisely because of his quest to ensure that Chinese citizens can live lives of dignity.

Yet another food scandal is gripping China--tons of melamine-contaminated milk products were seized from warehouses in Chongqing. The milk problem is the the tenth serious food scandal in just the past few years. It provides more evidence of the inability of China's officials, corporations, and consumers to prevent lethal production.