CNN reporter detained in Shanghai over Obama-Mao T-shirt

**Ænema** · November 16, 2009, 07:39 PM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091116...lomacymediacnn

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A CNN correspondent said Monday she was detained by Chinese security guards in Shanghai for two hours for displaying a T-shirt on camera depicting US President Barack Obama as Mao Zedong.
Emily Chang, a Beijing-based correspondent for the US television network, said in a blog post on CNN.com that she hunted down the shirt after hearing they had been banned amid fears they "may offend the American president."
The shirt shows Obama, who is making his first visit to China as president, in a Red Army uniform staring into the distance in a pose made famous by the former Chinese leader.
The front of the shirt says "Serve the People" in Chinese, Chang said. "Oba-Mao" is written on the back in English.
Chang said she held the shirt up to the camera while filming a story in a Shanghai market.
"Two security guards happened to pass by at the moment I announced to the camera: 'This is the T-shirt everybody is talking about,'" she said.
"And that was it. They scrambled towards us and tried to pry the shirt out of my hands," Chang said. "I didn't give in.
"There was a bit of yelling and quite a scuffle," she said, adding that CNN "had everything on tape."
"We ended up being detained for two hours in the cold, maze of a market," she said. "A crowd gathered round. More security and then police showed up.
"They wanted our press cards, our passports, but most of all, they wanted the shirt," she said. "Finally, they let us go. Phew!"
Chang refused to surrender the offending shirt and joked that a number of jealous White House and CNN colleagues had tried to "bribe" her for it.

Heh. A CNN correspondent? LOL. You'd expect someone working for Fox to wear that kind of shirt.

**~~Exarch~~** · November 16, 2009, 07:40 PM

they detained her cuz they were afriad the oba-mao shirt would offend mr president

in the context of chinese culture, mr obama is a guest and as good hosts, the chinese gov. went to great lengths to make mr obama feel 'at home' lol

**Phier** · November 16, 2009, 07:43 PM

From the sound of it, it appears the Chinese government knows one of its own but decided it best not to share it with the rest of the world.

Priceless. The RNC couldn't pay for this kind of thing.

**~~Exarch~~** · November 16, 2009, 07:45 PM

Originally Posted by Phier

From the sound of it, it appears the Chinese government knows one of its own but decided it best not to share it with the rest of the world.

Priceless. The RNC couldn't pay for this kind of thing.

when wil you republicans get behind your president?
stop this infighting daarn you lol
]obama is like messiah for the USA

**Downey** · November 16, 2009, 07:59 PM

um what? Obama hasn't done anything to unify and bring the Republicans behind him.

**~~Exarch~~** · November 16, 2009, 08:00 PM

Originally Posted by Downey

um what? Obama hasn't done anything to unify and bring the Republicans behind him.

he's going to give those aging republicans free health
damn ingrates
the least they could do i sthank him

**Mr. Scott** · November 16, 2009, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by Exarch

he's going to give those aging republicans free health
damn ingrates
the least they could do i sthank him

umm its not free. The entire upper class will have to pay for it. Soooo there is no free healthcare. All that is happening is that you're making some other guy pay for you.

**~~Exarch~~** · November 16, 2009, 08:19 PM

Originally Posted by scottypd54

umm its not free. The entire upper class will have to pay for it. Soooo there is no free healthcare. All that is happening is that you're making some other guy pay for you.

why is that bad?
here in australia we have universal healthcare, the medicare levy is conditional sure, but most of us working australians pay it and we have a great healthcare system.
i dont mind paying for someone else since we're all going to get sick, grow old and our organs will fail at some pointin the future.
why would i want to be a selfish moneygrubbing prick and not support someone else and expect their kids to support me when i'm old and sick?

**Ænema** · November 16, 2009, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by Exarch

he's going to give those aging republicans free health
damn ingrates
the least they could do i sthank him

I honestly laughed out loud at that.

What about those aging independents / centrists?

Originally Posted by Exarch

why is that bad?
here in australia we have universal healthcare, the medicare levy is conditional sure, but most of us working australians pay it and we have a great healthcare system.
i dont mind paying for someone else since we're all going to get sick, grow old and our organs will fail at some pointin the future.
why would i want to be a selfish moneygrubbing prick and not support someone else and expect their kids to support me when i'm old and sick?

It may be free but you have

quality care. Ever heard of rationing?

I'm all for reforming the health care system but not to an extend of us loosing our quantity over quantity.

**Mr. Scott** · November 16, 2009, 09:23 PM

Originally Posted by Exarch

why is that bad?
here in australia we have universal healthcare, the medicare levy is conditional sure, but most of us working australians pay it and we have a great healthcare system.
i dont mind paying for someone else since we're all going to get sick, grow old and our organs will fail at some pointin the future.
why would i want to be a selfish moneygrubbing prick and not support someone else and expect their kids to support me when i'm old and sick?

because people should be self-sufficient. It isn't right when they people have to rely on others. Social Security is basically just your own money, but you are only allowed to touch it when you are older. It's the government's way of managing your money, not giving it to some other person.

If you want to pay for an old person. Then pay it yourself. We shouldn't have the government force the upper class to.

Also, universal healthcare greatly limits the meidcal business. They cause them to get lower quality doctors.
Also, taxes are already outrageously large. My dad is taxed nearly 50%!!. I believe that we should have a flat tax.

**Ahlerich** · November 17, 2009, 01:32 AM

Originally Posted by scottypd54

umm its not free. The entire upper class will have to pay for it. Soooo there is no free healthcare. All that is happening is that you're making some other guy pay for you.

lol. oh my. i hope the upperclass will still have enough to eat after paying for that

why the upper class btw? i mean i have no clue how the health care plan for the usa is supposed to be but is not anybody that is working and paying taxes paying for the health care.

well its about solidarity. funny that the so christian america has such a problem with solidarity. on the front page of zeit i read today that 50 million of americans dont have enough to eat.
doesnt that disturb you guys? doesnt it wonder you guys why such a rich country as the usa has 50 millions of dirt poor people that are not able to live in dignity? weird folks.. bismark brought the idea of solidarity into german politics around 1900. i guess you are just at least a century back?

i am starting to think that only american snotty rich kids are posting here. thats the only explenation i can understand.

what also makes me wonder is there are many many die hard american patriots. can you really be a patriot if you dont give a damn about your weaker countrymen dying of missing healthcare or hungry?

**Mr. Scott** · November 18, 2009, 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by Ahlerich

lol. oh my. i hope the upperclass will still have enough to eat after paying for that

why the upper class btw? i mean i have no clue how the health care plan for the usa is supposed to be but is not anybody that is working and paying taxes paying for the health care.

well its about solidarity. funny that the so christian america has such a problem with solidarity. on the front page of zeit i read today that 50 million of americans dont have enough to eat.
doesnt that disturb you guys? doesnt it wonder you guys why such a rich country as the usa has 50 millions of dirt poor people that are not able to live in dignity? weird folks.. bismark brought the idea of solidarity into german politics around 1900. i guess you are just at least a century back?

i am starting to think that only american snotty rich kids are posting here. thats the only explenation i can understand.

what also makes me wonder is there are many many die hard american patriots. can you really be a patriot if you dont give a damn about your weaker countrymen dying of missing healthcare or hungry?

Hahahaha my family is in the upper middle class. We are not rich. We do get by fine, and it is due to one thing. My family is frugal with their money. They do not spend on frivolous stuff. Americans have enough to eat. In fact, a statistic showed that America's lower class are fatter then the upper class.

So, you saying that 50 million americans have a shortage of food is false.

America is the fattest nation in the world. For the first time in history a nation has too much food

. We are definitely not going hungry.

Healthcare is not an entitlment! The way to lowering healthcare costs is in allowing insurance companies to extend beyond their state. Currently insurance companies are highly restricted on where they can market. The only way for them to make more money is by increasing prices. If the government would allow them to market anywhere in the US then the prices would be much lower for insurance.
Once again, another economic problem can be solved by the government getting out of the economy!

Dirt poor? My dad's friend works with the government. He is supposed to go around and see if people are fit for wellfare. He tells my dad this, "I tell ya Bill, two thirds of the people I check up on have a nicer car then I do". I mean honestly, our poor have housing, they have cars, they have TV's, yet somehow they can't afford health insurance? Cmon America! Stop putting the new Plasma Screen TV as a higher priority than health insurance!

**Morkonan** · November 16, 2009, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by Exarch

he's going to give those aging republicans free health
damn ingrates
the least they could do i sthank him

Just a correction:

Obama isn't going to "give" anyone free heatlhcare. Obama is putting forth the effort into making taxpayers pay for healthcare for everyone.

It's a subtle but, very important difference.

**Wilder** · November 16, 2009, 09:28 PM

Ah, yes, national health care, just like communism.

Ah, yes, Obama, just like Mao.

Glad to see the man's critics maintain such a high standard of debate.

*rolls over and goes back to sleep*

**s.rwitt** · November 16, 2009, 10:01 PM

but if you were hiking with a Friend and you came across an injured person the moral thing to do would be to help him out.

But would you support it being illegal not to help that person out?

**Wilder** · November 16, 2009, 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by s.rwitt

But would you support it being illegal not to help that person out?

Yes, as a matter of fact it is in many states.

Running with the analogy, if one buddy refused to give up gauze (doubtless to to some rant about private property) and another friend took it from him, would you really hold it against the taker?

**Ænema** · November 16, 2009, 10:13 PM

Originally Posted by Wilder

Ah, yes, national health care, just like communism.

Ah, yes, Obama, just like Mao.

Glad to see the man's critics maintain such a high standard of debate.

*rolls over and goes back to sleep*

No one is making the comparison between health care and communism. Inject more false assumptions please..

*rolls over and sighs*

**Wilder** · November 16, 2009, 10:17 PM

Originally Posted by Ænema

No one is making the comparison between health care and communism.

I think that is a reasonable extrapolation from comparing Obama to Mao.

Originally Posted by s.rwitt

Eh? I'm not sure which law you're referring to but things like "duty to report" laws lead to far too many problems to be legitimized imo. Of course it would only be an ass**** who would do such a thing, but being an ass**** isn't against the law.

A good example would be being a witness to a car accident, pulling an injured person out of the car, making their injuries worse in the process and facing litigation afterwords. Happens more than you'd think.

Ahh I think you may have hit the nail on the head here: Capability. I am certified as a Wilderness first responder, and as such am legally obligated to help (because I know what I am doing) provided I have consent. So is the analogy stretched thin? I don't think so, this is a good point.

If the federal government is capable, I think they have an obligation to provide a bare bones service to those who don't have it, that is my moral argument. I am just unconvinced that they can.

**danzig** · November 17, 2009, 01:42 AM

Originally Posted by Wilder

Yes, as a matter of fact it is in many states.

Running with the analogy, if one buddy refused to give up gauze (doubtless to to some rant about private property) and another friend took it from him, would you really hold it against the taker?

Actually its only in 10 state sos hardly many and they are limited to if you are witness to something like murder/rape you are required to call the police only if doing so wouldnt endanger you. So hardly forcing people unlike health care reform.