Original photo caption: “U.S. President George W. Bush playfully pats the backside of U.S. Women’s Beach Volleyball team player Misty May-Treanor (L) at her invitation while visiting the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Grounds at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, August 9, 2008. Team mate Kerri Walsh (R) watches.”

Corrected caption, eight minutes later: “ATTENTION EDITORS – CAPTION CLARIFICATION U.S. President George W. Bush playfully pats the back of U.S. Women’s Beach Volleyball team player Misty May-Treanor (L) at her invitation while visiting the Chaoyang Park Beach Volleyball Grounds at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, August 9, 2008. Teammate Kerri Walsh (R) watches.”
REUTERS/Larry Downing (CHINA)

From the LATimes Top of the Ticket:

President George W. Bush, who played baseball, coached Little League, owned a big league team and watches the Texas Rangers at every opportunity, can’t stay away from the U.S. teams at the Beijing Olympic games.

Today, as the busy crowd over at our Olympics blog notes, after an hour’s brisk bit of mountain-biking himself, Bush paid another visit to the American athletes, watching the women warm up for softball, regretting the disappearance of that sport from the next Olympics (”It’s good for the world to have girls playing softball and these women are going to show young girls how to win”) and trying his hand, so to speak, at volleyball.

Bush knuckled off a couple of lobs, but defending gold medalists Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh gave the chief executive some pointers. Then after a good play, in the tradition of female volleyballers, May-Treanor turned, bent over slightly and offered her bikinied rear-end for the 43rd president to slap.

“Mr. President,” she said, “want to?”

Want to has nothing to do with it in public life.

As the son of a president, a husband of nearly 37 years, the father of two daughters, the subject of some attempted tabloid exposes and a seasoned political veteran, who is not a female athlete but knows that every camera for a half-mile is trained on him, Bush wisely chose instead to brush his hand across the small of May-Treanor’s back. (See photo.)

Hat tip: Brutally Honest

Our world is filled daily with the battles, sniping, wars, debates and arguments that reflect our cultural and political differences. Absorbing that much negatively daily is hazardous to our health…. LOL.

So last night, I abandoned everything to take in the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing. Words fail… I was mesmerized, and brought to tears more than once with the magnificent beauty and precision of the presentations involving casts numbering 2008. I tell you now, if you missed this spectacular event, comb the broadcasts for a replay. You will not regret it.

Beijing pulled out all the stops and put on the most unique, and inspiring opening ceremony I’ve ever seen. One would expect the advanced fireworks from China. But the Bird’s Nest arena with it’s huge image projection screen, combined with the amazing technologies the Chinese used in each of their segments, was nothing less than jaw dropping. The thousands of citizen artists performed with such exacting precision, you would have thought they were computer driven. Between the manpower and technology, it took Buzby Berkley staging to unimaginable heights for visual entertainment. Even the traditional lighting of the torch, kept under wraps from the press, was awe inspiring.

China’s flag was carried by their 7′1″ basketball star, Yao Ming. At his side, marched 9 year old Lin Hao – a survivor of the earthquake in Sichuan province, and a hero in his own right. He lost 20 of his 30 classmates. He got out of the building, but returned not once, but twice, to rescue two more of his classmates. It was yet another visual of the contrasts (i.e. yin/yang) in the Asian culture.. the dark and the light, the dynamics of sound, the sweet or plaintive strains of the music, contrasted with the intense pounding of the ancient drums. And here, the tall and the short.

This picture from Sina English news site.

If China wanted to reintroduce itself to the world, it has certainly gotten off to a great start. Yes, the realities of their communist government and human rights abuses still remain. But for four and a half, all too brief, shining hours last night, they… as a collective nation… gave the world a gift of elegance, creativity, and the joy that can only come when athletes converge from all over the world to engage in civil and spirited competition.

Oh but the Olympic spirit could last 24/7.

Below a few samples of the presentations. However do not miss a visit to The Boston Globe’s pictorial today to see even more. Here’s more Olympics FAQs on the ceremony and venues.

And more photos at Beijing’s BIMC news site.

The dancer below is elevated on a mat, carefully borne by hundreds.

President Bush greets children after lunch at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, Aug. 6. President Bush is in South Korea on the first leg of his Asian tour. Mandel Ngan-AFP/Getty Images

On the heels of “The One“, and his One World Rock Tour, comes President Bush, on his way to China for the Olympics.

Bottomline Upfront (who is now stationed in Korea, btw):

As President Bush arrived in Seoul, Korea today, the media predicted that Bush’s visit would be met with “large protests”.

The “progressives” and anti-U.S. civic groups thought the turn out opposing Bush would be huge:

“We predict more than 10,000 citizens will participate. We’ll show Korean people’s voice to Bush,”’ one member of the coalition said.

However, 374 conservative groups planned pro-American demonstrations welcoming Bush in Seoul Plaza, just a short distance from the progressive’s rally site.

Turns out, only a couple hundred protesters came out while 15,000 pro-U.S. Koreans came out to welcome Bush into the capital city of Seoul.

Visit Amy Proctor’s blog, for video footage from Korean TV news. Amy also notes,

None of the pro-Bush rallies were government sponsored; they were voluntary rallies by Koreans who appreciate Pres. Bush and the United States.

Reuters corrected it’s headline from: Bush arrives in Seoul, faces large anti-US protest to Bush arrives in Seoul amid minor protest

Korean moonbats:

Aug 5: South Korean protesters wearing masks of President Bush and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak perform during a rally against Bush’s visit in Seoul. South Koreans are concerned about the importing of U.S. beef and mad cow disease. Ahn Young-joon-AP

Ain’t freedom a wonderful thing?

Rather than mad cow disease, those protesters should be worried about the BDS koolaid in their water supply.

Fortunately, Korean war veterans don’t suffer from the same BDS malady that their moonbat brethren are afflicted with:

Aug 5: South Korean war veterans rally to welcome Bush’s arrival in Seoul.

They must share something in common with these heroes:

President Bush addresses military personnel at the U.S. Army Garrison-Yongsan in Seoul, Aug. 6. Gerald Herbert-AP

President Bush greets U.S. military personnel stationed at the U.S. Army Garrison – Yongsan in Seoul, before departing for Thailand. Larry Downing-Reuters

I doubt many of these groups would ever risk life and limb for Tibetian Liberation, but they are making a statement. It is a start… A small start. If it is effective is another issue.

Officials put out Olympic torch 3 times

PARIS – Security officials extinguished the Olympic torch three times Monday as protests against China’s human rights record turned a relay through Paris into a chaotic series of stops and starts.

Despite massive security, at least two activists got within almost an arm’s length of the flame before they were grabbed by police. Officers tackled many protesters and carried off some of them. A protester threw water at the torch but failed to extinguish it and was also taken away.

At the start of the relay, a man identified as a Green Party activist was grabbed by security officers as he headed for 1997 400-meter world champion Stephane Diagana, the president of France’s national athletics league, who was carrying the torch from the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. The man was tackled before he got close to Diagana.

The procession continued but, soon after, a crowd of activists waving Tibetan flags interrupted it for the first time by confronting the torchbearer on a road along the Seine River. The demonstrators did not appear to get close to the torch, but its flame was put out by security officers and brought on board a bus to continue along the route.

Less than an hour later, the flame was being carried out of a Paris traffic tunnel by an athlete in a wheelchair when the procession was halted by activists who booed and chanted “Tibet.” Once again, the torch was temporarily extinguished and put on a bus despite protesters’ apparent failure to get close.

Some 3,000 officers were deployed on motorcycles, in jogging gear and using inline roller skates. Still, police barely stopped the second rush at the torch, and the attempt to extinguish it with water. Other demonstrators scaled the Eiffel Tower and hung a banner depicting the Olympic rings as handcuffs.

The torch was extinguished for the third time when police interrupted the procession as a precaution because they spotted a crowd of demonstrators on a bridge they were approaching.

Police said they did not immediately have a count of the number of arrests. Mireille Ferri, a Green Party official, said she was held by police for two hours because she approached the Eiffel Tower area with a fire extinguisher. In various locations throughout the city, activists angry about China’s human rights record and repression Tibet carried Tibetan flags and waved signs reading “the flame of shame.”

Riot police squirted tear gas to break up a sit-in protest by about 300 pro-Tibet demonstrators who blocked the torch route.

France’s former sports minister, Jean-Francois Lamour, said that though the torch had been put out, the Olympic flame itself still burned in the lantern where it is kept overnight and on airplane flights.

“The torch has been extinguished but the flame is still there,” he told France Info radio.

Police had hoped to prevent the chaos that marred the relay in London a day earlier. There, police had repeatedly scuffled with activists angry about China’s human rights record leading up to the Beijing Olympics Aug. 8-24. One protester tried to grab the torch; another tried to snuff out the flame with what appeared to be a fire extinguisher. Thirty-seven people were arrested.

In Paris, police had drawn up an elaborate plan to try to keep the torch in a safe “bubble.” Torchbearers were encircled by several hundred officers, some in riot police vehicles and on motorcycles, others on skates or on foot. Boats patrolled the Seine River that slices through the French capital, and a helicopter flew overhead.

About 80 athletes had been slated to carry the torch over the 17.4-mile route that started at the Eiffel Tower, heading down the Champs-Elysees avenue toward City Hall, then crosses over the Seine before ending at the Charlety track and field stadium.

Across town, City Hall draped its building with a banner reading, “Paris defends human rights around the world.”

One torch bearer, two-time French judo gold medalist David Douillet, told RTL radio that he regretted the choice of China, “because it isn’t up to snuff on freedom of expression, on total liberty, and of course, on Olympic values.”

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has left open the possibility of boycotting the Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing depending on how the situation evolves in Tibet. Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Monday that was still the case.

Activists have been protesting along the torch route since the flame embarked on its 85,000-mile journey from Ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing.

The torch’s round-the-world trip is the longest in Olympic history, and it is meant to shine a spotlight on China’s economic and political power. Activists have seized upon it as a backdrop for their causes, angering Beijing.

Beijing organizers criticized London’s protesters, saying their actions were a “disgusting” form of sabotage by Tibetan separatists.

“The act of defiance from this small group of people is not popular,” said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic organizing committee. “It will definitely be criticized by people who love peace and adore the Olympic spirit. Their attempt is doomed to failure.”

The torch relay also is expected to face demonstrations in San Francisco, New Delhi and possibly elsewhere on its 21-stop, six-continent tour before arriving in mainland China May 4.

Two closing remarks;
1. It is nice to see the Green Party actually protesting real oppressors like the Communist Chinese. However, as I said above, if/when the time comes to stand and fight for freedom, I do not expect them to join me and other US and Allied Soldiers.

2. I am really happy that the French Police and other interior security organizations were so well prepared and able to deal with potential riots. Now that the proved they can handle the less violent Green Party, maybe they can do something about those 750+ “Sensitive Urban Zones” (ZUS in French).