Mia Farrow Takes Protest to Hong Kong

That, and other news, in today's Political Panorama.

Mia Farrow arrived in Hong Kong today and was allowed to enter Chinese territory after being briefly questioned by authorities at the airport. The AP reports that Farrow was warned not to disrupt an Olympic torch relay through the city.

Farrow is among the most prominent activists putting pressure on China to take greater action in ending the genocide in Darfur. As such, she has been putting pressure on those involved in the Olympic Games in Beijing, linking the event to the situation in the Sudan even as the Chinese government argues that the Games should not be politicized.

Farrow plans to speak to the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Hong Kong.

The Time 100: Celebrity and politics mix as Time magazine unveiled its Time 100, a list of the most influential people of the year. Among them: Hillary Clinton, who gets a write-up from Rob Reiner; George W. Bush, written by Silvio Berlusconi;  Australia's prime minister Kevin Rudd, by Cate Blanchett; and Michelle Obama pens about Oprah Winfrey. Roseanne Barr writes of George Clooney, "Simply as I can put it, George Clooney could run for President (and maybe should) and get my vote!"

Voter Drive: Jack Johnson, John Mayer and the Foo Fighters are among the long list of musicians and artists who are headlining a voter registration drive called HeadCount. The plan is to register 100,000 voters at more than 1,000 concerts this year, including ever concert by the Dave Matthews Band, Johnson and Mayer. (In the summer of 2004, the group registered 12,161 voters at Dave Matthews concerts). Volunteers will be staked out at concerts and major music festivals his summer.

New Book: On Huffington Post, attorney Kevin Morris and professor Glenn Altschuler review the recently published, "Strange Bedfellows: How Late Night Comedy Turns Democracy Into a Joke." They challenge some of its assumptions. "The premise that late-night comedy endangers democracy is, well, preposterous. Peterson could just as well argue that late-night, as a whole, has enriched America's political culture."

Coffee, Anyone: One of the more bizarre YouTube moments getting attention this week: Hillary at the coffee maker.  Are these YouTube spots jumping the shark?

 

Comments

[JOHo]

I think she should have been banned from HK.

Why cant the Chinese government stop trouble makers entering their country? The USA does all the time.