Lenin, Mao, Sudan and a Baseball Hat

Reminder: The red mitten giveaway deadline is Sunday night at whatever time I decide to end it. Which could actually be Monday morning. Who knows, I'm a slacker.

About a month or so ago, the delightful and, um................................... spirited Michel of Facts Are Strictly Optional sent me a hat from her embassy in Sudan. If you've ever read Michel's blog you'll know she has a special place in her heart for my country, a description of which I'm sure you could find in the lyrics to "Blame Canada." So, I wanted to take a picture of it somewhere special but was having problems coming up with just the right place to do it. Then I was reminded of certain elements of the right wing in the States and how they like to point at Canada and accuse us of being socialists, what with our universal health care and... actually, I'm not sure what else. Gay marriage? Lax marijuana laws? The fact that we can vacation in Cuba during the winter?

Anyway, then I though, hey, how about if I took a picture of it beside a gigantic statue of Lenin's head?

And then I thought, wouldn't it be cool if that big Lenin head had a smaller statue of Chairman Mao standing on his head, balancing himself with a big stick?



And then I thought, wouldn't it be even better if that little statue of Chairman Mao had breasts? (might want to click on it to enlarge) (the picture, not the breasts)



Rock on, comrades!



The piece is called "Miss Mao trying to poise herself at the top of Lenin's head," by the Gao Brothers and is part of an public art exhibition here. The Gao Brother's had family who suffered under the Cultural Revolution so they have an interesting take on Mao, hence the breasts.

Mao offered U.S. 10 million women

From CNN:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Amid a discussion of trade in 1973, Chinese leader Mao Zedong made what U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called a novel proposition: sending tens of thousands, even 10 million, Chinese women to the United States.
"You know, China is a very poor country," Mao said, according to a document released by the State Department's historian office.
"We don't have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few of those to you, some tens of thousands." A few minutes later, Mao circled back to the offer. "Do you want our Chinese women?" he asked. "We can give you 10 million." After Kissinger noted Mao was "improving his offer," the chairman said, "We have too many women. ... They give birth to children and our children are too many." "It is such a novel proposition," Kissinger replied in his discussion with Mao in Beijing. "We will have to study it."