Beijing: Same old city, even worse pollution

When the evildoers from Beijing put forward their successful bid for the 2008 Olympics, their campaign slogan was "New City, Great Games." Looks like they only got one of those four words right -- Games.

Because if the NYT and other media sources can be believed, Beijing is no different. Not only is the government there far more repressive than ever, and even financially backing even worse dictators in North Korea, Burma and Sudan; but because the capital is verifiably one of the most polluted cities in the world.

Forget the "green games." Sure, they've used recycled materials to build their stadia. So what? 1200 new cars are added to the traffic gridlock every day -- in the same city that was famous for nearly everyone getting around on their bicycles. And "clean coal"? They just burn it in even greater amounts than the "dirty" kind.

Bottom line: The city had 120 smog alerts this year. And even many of the so-called "Blue Skies" days had particulate levels far above what most Western countries would consider safe. How many smog alerts did Los Angeles have, by comparison? Maybe a half dozen at most. It's bad compared to the rest of America (with the exception of Houston which has no standards at all), but I can't remember the last time the Southland was covered in pea soup which is an almost daily occurence You Know Where.

And what are the implications, competition wise? Well, we know how the East Germans cheated Canadians out of gold medals in Montréal, only years after the fact. There's no doubt the strict training regimen the Butchers of Tienanmen Square have imposed on its athletes, includes not only mountain training so they can whiz through at near sea level but also day training through smog alerts.

Many Olympic Committees around the world are sounding the alarm over how the pollution in the city will affect their competitors. I'd be more worried about a near complete Red sweep because of the unfair advantage. That, and the continuing insistence of some Western governments that China and other so-called "developing" countries remain exempt from Kyoto et sequens.

In the present instance, the old expression "Better dead than Red" is entirely appropriate. It's way too much to hope for a grass-roots revolution to end Communism once and for all in the short-term, although one must still pray that will happen. But for the present, Beijing has only eight months to clean up its act; at least in the air. If they don't, we should consider trade sanctions to get them into compliance with the norms practiced by businesses in most of the rest of the world.

And of course, they have to get rid of the lead in their toys that winds up in the air anyway. It's simply a matter of fairness.

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