What to you think? Please vote, and explain the reasoning why.

My vote? I am happy to go first and publicly put myself out there for criticism. Yes, he should proceed to attend, as scheduled. I agree with Dan Harris at the China Law Blog — we need friends and support to fight the Al Queda’s of the world (go look at a map and see who borders China to the west and India to the north), North Korea, to win in Iraq (assuming we ever can), to deal with a potentially nuclear Iran and others (note to my good friend and OCOB colleague and finance professor who is from Iran, Dr. Cyrus Ramezani — Cyrus, like you I don’t buy for a second the bad guy Iran rhetoric we are hearing out of Washington, but I list Iran here in case the mullahs there stay in power and I end up being wrong and you and I have to eat our words!), to help contain the chaos that may break out in the Pakistans of the world, rally support to counter Russia if things turn south there and ugly, the FARC in Columbia gets its mojo back, to keep leverage on the Europeans should they ratchet their protectionism up even more, etc.

As a guy who by profession operates in gray areas each and every day, I am more than comfortable with my vote and it’s an easy call for me and one I can sleep with at night. I tend to approach an issue like this using a form of the utilitarian ethical model which means I analyze the pros and cons surrounding an issue that I can think of. So for me, here, on this issue, the geopolitical pros of America showing public support to China for its day in the sun and the mileage that will get us on a number of fronts simply outweighs the cons. My vote is also based on pure, unadulterated, unabashed American self-interest and how we can, quite honestly, use China to further our own strategic advantage just as she will use us for her advantage if Bush attends the event (or not). My vote has little to do with whether I like China or not with all her beauty marks and warts.

How about you? Step up. Be heard. All votes are welcome, and count equally. There is no right or wrong or expected answer here. Everybody is 100 percent free and entitled to their own opinion. State the why behind your vote. In doing so you practice some of the writing and persuasion communication skills you learned in Dr. Whitaker’s and Dr. Beamon’s class. And what drives your vote — utilitarianism, a belief in natural law, you are a member of the school of legal positivism, etc.?

Submitted By: Nic Marlin

Last Tuesday, March 11, the U.S. Department of State issued “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2007.” The reports criticize over 190 countries and regions on their human rights issues.

From which country does it sound like the following issues/ statistics come from?

• Millions of underage girls become sex slaves in this country
• 1.41 million violent crimes were reported nationwide in 2006, an increase of 1.9 percent over 2005
• Of the violent crimes, the estimated number of murders and non negligent manslaughters increased 1.8 percent
• Throughout 2006, residents of this country age 12 or above experienced an estimated 25 million crimes of violence and theft
• About 30,000 people die from gun wounds every year
• In 2007, this country witnessed the deadliest shooting rampage in the country’s modern history
• The government has seriously violated the freedom and rights of its citizens; violations of civil rights in this country have risen 25% from 2001 to 2007
• One out of eight of this country’s citizens lives in poverty
• Racial discrimination is a deep-rooted social illness in this country
• This country has the highest inmate to population ratio in the world

Can you guess which country this is? The last one gives it away doesn’t it? These are statistics of the United States and they come from various credible sources, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the FBI (see this People’s Daily Online article).

In response to the reports the U.S. Department of State issued, China issued a report called, “The Human Rights Record of the United States in 2007.” After being criticized for human rights issues by the U.S., the Chinese government felt it was necessary to point out a few human rights issues in the United States that the U.S. reports neglected.

A recent article titled, “China hits back at US on rights…,” highlights a few key arguments in the Chinese report. The article points out that “(America’s) arrogant critique on the human rights of other countries are always accompanied by a deliberate ignoring of serious human rights problems on its own territory.” Other arguments are that “the United States has a notorious record of trampling on the sovereignty of and violating human rights in other countries,” and that “the invasion of Iraq by American troops has produced the biggest human rights tragedy and the greatest humanitarian disaster in modern world.” It also criticized civilian deaths in Afghanistan, secret prisons, and torture of detainees.

The Chinese report serves as a good reminder for the citizens of the United States to reflect upon its own issues. For those of you who did not guess the correct country from the statistics above, why do you think that you are unaware of these U.S. statistics? Is there a reason that people in the United States do not know the real  [Nic, this somehow got cut off. How should the remainder read?  - Prof. Carr]