"No Guarantees" is about my life...and I guess yours in some ways, about spirituality, relationships and being. There are not too many things that are 100% guaranteed in this life. This blog is one of them!
I sometimes make things in my shed from wood, I drink coffee with people for a living, I read, I walk, I paddle, I spend time discovering stuff about a person called Jesus and I live with and love Mikaela, Andy and Sophie my three kids and Christine my amazing wife...and Max my Border Collie...and some chooks...and a rabbit called chook.
No Guarantees 
saw this a few months before the games.. thought it was funny – but after a bit of thought didn’t post it up – China’s government might be terrible, but the people are lovely, I love China and it’s people, and just can’t find it in myself to critisise their olympic games.
i’m glad it’s brought some of the human rights issues to life- i’ve even bought a t-shirt with “I Support Human Rights” in Manadrin and English on it, it was from the Free Tibet Association. So I think i’d rather make a donation to them, and support the people of China and our athletes…
and nobody could criticize you for the stand you have taken, Deano…on the other hand, for me the ‘lovely people’ you rightly speak of are represented by the man being executed in the cartoon, and the not-so-lovely powers are represented by the faceless figures in the military uniforms. I guess we all have different reactions to these kinds of snappy cartoons and I agree about the ‘cringe’ factor. I didn’t find it in the least bit funny. I don’t pretend to speak for you, but for me there is a need to have my comfortable bubble burst from time to time by something like this that makes me cringe.
And I don’t think there is anything in the least anti-Chinese in my attitude. You should see some of the social justice t-shirts I have that have proven offensive to Australians and Americans, not to mention Christians!
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yeah…can’t say that I actually see the ‘humour’ in it, to be honest. But that’s just me:)
I think this is very clever satire and makes an important point 9and is a little humourous). The way Channel 7 and the world has gone ga ga for China during the Olympics and refuuse to report anything other than glitz and glam is shameful. I love the Olympics and the sport, but that is not a reason to ignore the fact that the government of the host nation is a brutal regime who needs to be held to account for the injustices it perpetrates. Despite what the IOC would have us believe, it is right to stand up for human rights even in the context of sport and the Olympics.
Satire – “The use of humour, irony, exaggeration or ridicule to expose people’s stupidity or vices, particularly in the case of contemporary politics and other topical issues.”
Tasteless? Yep, very. Almost as tasteless as the newly introduced Chinese execution bus.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/
world/2006-06-14-death-van_x.htm
“Makers of the death vans say the vehicles and injections are a civilized alternative to the firing squad, ending the life of the condemned more quickly, clinically and safely. The switch from gunshots to injections is a sign that China āpromotes human rights now,ā says Kang Zhongwen, who designed the Jinguan Automobile death van”