Morning News Roundup (21 Apr)

• Is this what happens when your visit to the White House gets downgraded from "official visit" to "state visit" (via the NYTimes):
  

  The meeting, the first at the White House between the men since Mr. Hu became China's top leader in 2002, was plagued by gaffes that upended months of painstaking diplomacy over protocol and staging.
  
  The occasion was disrupted when a member of the Falun Gong spiritual sect, accredited as a reporter for a sect-run publication to cover the ceremony at the White House, interrupted Mr. Hu's address and upset the elaborate choreography the Chinese delegation had regarded as the most important trophy of Mr. Hu's visit. Screaming, "President Bush, make him stop persecuting Falun Gong," the ethnic Chinese woman, Wenyi Wang, partly drowned out Mr. Hu. She continued shouting for more than a minute before security officers removed her.
  
  Compounding the gaffe, a White House announcer introducing the national anthems at the same ceremony mistakenly referred to China as the Republic of China, which is the formal name of its archrival, Taiwan. Mainland China is the People's Republic of China. China treats American support for Taiwan, a separately governed island that China claims as its sovereign territory, as the biggest irritant in bilateral relations. Even minuscule changes in the wording of diplomatic statements on the subject are often viewed as transformative on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

  
  
• Now that's a blow for freedom of speech (or maybe to)! A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said Wenyi Wang would likely be charged with attempting to intimidate, coerce, threaten or harass a foreign official in the performance of his duties, punishable by as much as six months in prison. [WaPo]
  
  
• Much pomp, little progress during Hu’s visit: “In terms of substance, what’s noteworthy is what didn’t happen: China didn’t give ground on Iran, North Korea, or anything else.” [via ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  
  
• The government plans to crack down ever harder on employers who harbor and hire illegal immigrants, pursuing companies that ignore the law so they can exploit cheap labor. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff denied the timing of the stepped-up enforcement had anything to do with recent immigration demonstrations, saying the investigations began more than a year ago. [WaPo]
  
  
• While the world focuses on Iran's nuclear ambitions, Iranians focus on the unmet aspirations of the two-thirds of the population that is younger than 30. Nearly three decades after a revolution that swept aside a monarchist system grounded in privilege, the typical Iranian has seen average income shrink under a religious government that has cultivated an elite of its own atop a profoundly dysfunctional economy. [WaPo]
  
  
• An "influential Republican" with "close ties" to new White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten tells the New York Times that Bolten is thinking about canning Miers as part of his ongoing shake-up of presidential staff. While one senior White House official denies the report, several Republicans tell the Times that Bolten thinks Miers is "indecisive, a weak manager and slow in moving vital paperwork through the system." [Salon's War Room]
  
  
• On another front, Republicans said that Tony Snow, a commentator for Fox News and a former speechwriter for Mr. Bush's father, was in negotiations for the job of White House press secretary (NYTimes). Check out some of his resume over at Media Matters.
  
  
• Here they come again: With little in sight to put the brakes on rocketing crude prices, equities analysts expect oil companies to once again post record quarterly profits next week when the industry's biggest names open their books. Companies that will be presenting results include Exxon Mobil, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron. [MarketWatch]
  
  
• Here's something that piqued Mrs. F's interest--a new ad campaign from Switzerland beckoning World Cup widows to visit the country, which seems to be overflowing with hunks. Check out the video at the MySwitzerland site (with its tagline, "Get Natural"). And if you're on a Mac (and you should be), here's a dashboard widget that will help you countdown to the first game: Germany v Costa Rica.
  
  
  
  
• Seattle is facing another major league sport extortion scheme, this time from the NBA Sonics, which are demanding upgrades to Key Arena, where they play--despite the fact that it was upgraded less than a decade ago. Their current "proposal" would have the city sign legislation for a $220 million rehab, to which the Sonics would contribute $18 million. David Goldstein (aka, Goldy) over at the WA politics-centric blog Horses Ass (long story with the name) has a suggestion for funding this initiative for the team owned by Starbucks owner Howard Schultz--a latte tax:
  

  Yes, what better way to finance a new arena whose primary purpose is to make a very rich man even richer, than to tax the business that made him so awfully damn rich in the first place? And what could be more delicious than a Marble Mocha Macchiato, than the spectacle of Schultz’s Sonics spending millions of Schultz’s dollars to convince voters to levy a tax on Schultz’s ubiquitous Starbucks?
  
  [...]
  
  What would it cost? Well, back in 2003 I-77’s sponsors estimated a 10-cent per shot tax would raise $7 million a year. The Sonics had previously backed a 20-year revenue package that would have provided $176 million for new construction plus $75 million to guarantee the bonds, so I figure a 20-cent per shot tax should more than cover the costs over 20 years.

  I say let the bums head off to a new NBA destination--I've had enough of major league sports holding Seattle and the state of Washington hostage to their demands (both of which acquiesced to new stadiums for the Mariners and the Seahawks back in the 90s). And BTW, though Goldy's suggestion is full of snark, I was in favor of the latte tax the last time 'round--which would have gone to child care programs and preschool programs--and I would still support one today for progressive measures such as those.

[PS] Back to the subject of the Gang Who Couldn't Get an Official/State Visit Straight, this can't be good for international relations (hat tip to B. Shilliday):