I don't know whether the dye in Sheldon Adelson's suspiciously dark hair (which seems to change hue from one press conference to another) is seeping into his brain or what, but sidekick William Weidner ought to tackle El Bombastico before he makes any further political pronouncements. You see, the Venetian owner thinks that human rights abuses in China are nobody's business … especially ours.
In a truly embarrassing pronouncement, one that brings shame upon the casino industry, America's third-richest man extolled the "good life" and "incredible progress" in China. "How can someone say they're doing the wrong thing," queried Adelson re the Peking government. Gee, let's see … Internet censorship, imprisonment of journalists, brutal crackdowns on dissent, hellish working conditions up to and including de facto slave labor. Nah, nothing wrong to see. Keep moving, people. </sarcasm>
"I don't think the U.S. should be the policeman of the whole world," proclaimeth El Bombastico. And yet, strangely enough, his record of federal campaign donations (as recorded by the FEC) reveals a veritable gusher of cash flowing into the pockets of right-wing politicians who think that is precisely the U.S.'s role. They include several of the most knee-jerk supporters of our ongoing tragedy in Iraq. I guess Sheldon doesn't think the U.S. should police countries in which he has a financial interest. Selective morality is a fine thing.
As for Adelson's rhapsodic descriptions of living conditions (whose slums and hinterlands he has fastidiously avoided, it seems), they sound disturbingly like the misguided utterances of isolationist Americans who wanted to keep the U.S. out of World War II. You know, the folks who were so enamored of what they saw or read about Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Germany, and who enthused about how Il Duce and his friend were pulling those societies up by their bootstraps. (Not like that commie FDR, you know.) And never mind those Jews and Gypsies. That was an "internal matter." None of our business. Keep moving, people.
