I'm shocked, shocked to find there is repression in China.  Hold on a minute while I count my winnings.

Or so the International Olympic Committee seems to be saying in the wake of Chinese back stepping on human rights promises, and international protests over Tibet.  Gerhard Heiburg, Norway's IOC member, went so far as to say working with China was proving "more difficult than we originally thought".

Do tell.

Back home, an American softball player came out against boycotting the Olympics saying it would be wrong to deny athletes their dreams.  No word on what she thought about the dream of free speech, practice of religion, or the right to have more than one child.  Not her table, please move to another section.

Bud Selig, the great moral authority trying to save baseball from a steroid problem executives purposefully ignored for over a decade, is recently back from China.  His keen powers of observation still greatly evident after going to a Dodgers exhibition game where he somehow didn't notice the police roaming the stands questioning people about what the banners they held up meant.

Out on the political left in this country there is outrage that China is exerting it's control over Tibet.  Tibet and the Dalai Lama represent exotic spiritual mystery to people who have dedicated themselves to the great moral crusade of stamping out prayer before US high school football games.  Buddhists count, but not Christians secretly meeting in homes across China trembling in fear of the government knocking on their door.

"Step out of line the man come and take you away."

Shakespeare has become a good friend of mine over the years.  What was it the old boy said, "A plague on both your houses".  Or in this case, all our houses.

Just who did the Olympic Committee think they were dealing with when they awarded the Olympics to China in the first place?  Give the Chinese government it's due as perhaps the only honest entity in this sorry story.  They believe what they believe and make no secret of their attitudes.

Where were all the media types and self-appointed guardians of international virtue when the announcement of the games was made?  What did they not know then about China or Tibet that they know now?

Who are the athletes kidding when they say how much the Olympics can change the world, and then refuse to take a stand against the injustice of holding the games in a totalitarian state?

What do the IOC, Selig, and the American business community all have in common?  They see fortunes to be made and want to go along for the ride.  Then again, it's a ride we're all on, buying an endless range of Chinese made goods. 

So now we're excited about the Olympics?  Tibet?

Now we feel the need for some moral outrage?

Give me a break.

Have the Olympics in China.  Don't have the Olympics in China.  It won't change things in Tibet.  It won't change things in China.  If anything, it provides a reason to round up the usual suspects for the duration of the games.

You want to protest holding the Olympics in China?

Forget about doing it through the athletes.  They've trained for years to get to Beijing.  It isn't realistic to think they will turn back now.

Start by turning your TV to another channel during the Olympics.  It's a two for one.  You send a message to the Chinese by not watching theirs.  You might also wake up the networks and their sponsors.  If you are planning a trip to the Olympics, don't go.  If you're thinking about buying Olympic merchandise, don't.

Whatever you do, don't expect any obvious change in China.  It is still essentially a closed society carefully feeling its way forward from at least 100 years behind the Western World.  Change happens incrementally in China, and only when the Chinese have concluded it is in their best interest.

History will record China went astray by following the wrong Marx (Karl instead of Groucho).  Groucho's philosophy was much more realistic and the man knew the value of a good cigar.  So here we are, a few million dead here and there from the odd purge along the way and one long march toward an unknown future.

Should we care about the Chinese Olympics, or their reaction to our reactions?  To paraphrase Rick Blaine in 'Casblanca', "Let me know when they get to Brooklyn."