Photo, above:  The inimitable Barry Beck, former captain of the New York Rangers, now in Hong Kong to develop the Hong Kong Academy of Ice Hockey.  See Hour 2, Block B, Barry Beck, General Manager, Hong Kong Academy of Ice Hockey.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Co-host: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com

Hour One

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 1, Block A: Alan Tonelson, Research Fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council Educational Foundation, in re: China Hints at Effort to Export Cars to West    Chinese automakers are starting to ask some of the largest Western auto parts companies to supply parts that meet American and European regulatory standards, according to senior executives at the parts companies.

The requests are the clearest sign yet that after more than a decade of preparation, Chinese manufacturers are starting to feel the confidence to begin high-volume auto exports to the West.

In another sign of shifting policy, a senior Chinese Commerce Ministry official said at an auto industry conference here on Thursday that Chinese automakers should prepare for the lowering of steep tariffs on imported cars. That change has never been . . .

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 1, Block B: Charles Ortel, managing director at Newport Value Partners, in re:  China's Slower Growth Puts a Drag on Western Profits

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 1, Block C: Dr. David M. Livingston, The Space Show, and William Harwood, The Space Place & CBS News space consultant, in re: Russians launching a three-man Soyuz to the space station just after 11 p.m. EST. They're carrying an Olympic torch as promo for the Sochi Winter Games.

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 1, Block D:  Tod Lindberg, Hoover, in re:  2013 elections; the war between the Republicans.

Hour Two

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 2, Block A: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re: Zhou Xiao-chuan, head of Chinese Central Bank, like his predecessors relies on govt investment. "Mini-fiscal stimulus" that further flooded the mkt and debased currency.  Lots of Mainland Chinese funny money floating out of the country, as risks and opportunities s outside China are so much better than those internally. Disappointing third-quarter numbers.  The word "rumor," as cast out by unelected tyrants of Beijing, merely means that they don’t like what they're hearing. The U.S. and China Both Need Economic Rehab by Niall Ferguson and Moritz Schularick

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 2, Block B:  Barry Beck, General Manager, Hong Kong Academy of Ice Hockey, in re:  ice hockey in Hong Kong, mirabile dictu, where all the ice is in shopping malls. Cater to local children: primary and high school leagues.  Kids laugh and have a great time. Also involved with the HK Ice Hockey Assn; next year, our senior men's team going to Luxembourg; women's team to Mexico.  Brought on this show by Steve Eisenberg, who still cherishes his number 5 jersey.    "Barry Beck Scores" on YouTube   

 

 

 

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 2, Block C:  Michael Davis, Hong Kong University Law School, in re: universal suffrage in Hong Kong?  Oh no –that'd be an example to the citizens of the Mainland and upset or destroy the unelected tyranny of Beijing.   Foreign dips in HK are politely encouraging real democracy by 2017. Chinese Communist Party leaders have long been paranoid about foreigners. ("Chinese leaders don’t mind elections as long as they know the outcome in advance.")  Hong Kong Basic Law: "Ultimate aim is to select the chief executive by universal suffrage." Were there to be one man, one vote, candidates would stand whom Beijing doesn’t want.  . . .  Occupy Central has threatened civil disobedience if democracy is prevented.  . . .

HK opposition at risk of becoming enemy of the State  Some pro-establishment Hong Kong legislators signed a joint statement on Wednesday, demanding Chu Yiu-ming, organizer of Occupy Central, stop the campaign and stop collaborating with Taiwan's pro-independence activists. One of the legislators expressed his concern that the campaign of Occupy Central will ruin Hong Kong's rule of law and the prospect of universal suffrage. Collaborating with the pro-independence forces in Taiwan will put Hong Kong's future at the risk of violence.

According to media reports, Chu went to Taiwan on October 19 and had discussions with Shih Ming-teh, former chairman of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, about "cooperation to occupy Central." Furthermore, they appealed to "the people concerned about democracy" to support "Occupy Central" and "Hong Kong's democratization."

Their actions remind us of the Hong Kong independence movement incited by a handful of opposition activists last year. 

The convergence of the forces of "Hong Kong independence" and "Taiwan independence," according to many Hong Kong media, causes nothing but chaos.  . . .

As outsiders try to help Hong Kong, Beijing and its local backers protest too much Officials seem unwittingly to be showing what they really think of democratic development.  In recent weeks we have seen heightened sensitivity to seemingly innocuous comments made by US and British officials about Hong Kong's political development.

Clifford Hart, the new US consul general, met local politicians and expressed support for "genuine democratic suffrage". British Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire likewise stressed the need for "genuine choice". Each carefully backed fundamental democratic principles that are guaranteed in the Basic Law, without endorsing any parties or policies.

Their words drew sharp criticism from the chief executive, the chief secretary and China's foreign ministry - accusations of foreign interference and warnings that the US and Britain should stay out of Hong Kong's internal affairs. The chief secretary's prickly response seemed especially inappropriate on the . . .

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 2, Block D:  Joseph Sternberg, WSJ Asia editorial board, in re: Koizumi Tries to Starve Another Beast  The nuclear shutdown the former prime minister supports is prompting long-overdue electric reforms. Junichiro Koizumi sure knows how to cause a stir. The popular former Japanese prime minister has taken to the airwaves to oppose a restart of the country's idled nuclear reactors. His televised comments in recent weeks focus on the dangers of nuclear waste and the desirability of green alternatives. He has riled his former protégé, fellow Liberal Democratic Party member and sitting prime minister, Shinzo Abe, who is pushing hard for a nuclear restart.  Critics note that Mr. Koizumi is  . . .

Hour Three

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 3, Block A: Eli Lake, senior national security correspondent, Newsweek/Daily Beast, in re: Benghazi. The timeline tells the story. A member of Congress writes a letter; House Intelligence Committee, led by Mike Rogers, now will be able to question witnesses, CIA contractors.   Challenge to State's tale; more than one witness t0 events.

State says: Around 9:45, siege begins, small fire arms; then running gun battle, then abt an hour of light arms fire, a lull of four hours, and at dawn the second wave attack.

Others say that the fighting was consistent and not intermittent.  If this is the case, and requests for air support were denied, then this context is important.   Who decided not to deploy a FEST team?  As you know, CNN found parts of Amb Stevens's diary. Further, possible intimidation of witnesses: reports of this widespread. Why nondisclosure agreement and required polygraph tests, if they occurred? The official line, "Anyone in CIA who wants to testify may do so,"  is not always an accurate statement.

Benghazi Whistleblower Says He Was Smeared A leaked memo appears to undermine significant details in a new book from a witness to the embassy attacks. But its alleged author tells The Daily Beast he didn't write it. Plus, new pictures from the compound. 

The Benghazi whistleblower whose new book details massive security failures in the run-up to the September 11, 2012 attacks denies he wrote an incident report made public this week that undermines key details in his memoir.

The debate over the Obama administration’s actions before and after the attack on the U.S. mission was reignited following an . . .

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 3, Block B: Jeff Bliss, The Bliss Index, in re: Mr Obama's very bad, awful not-so-good day anent the ACA.  Last week's document dump.  No  one wanted to tell the Chief Executive how bad the website was – a Potemkin website!  Can’t transfer data; also huge security risks.  IT run by people who don't understand the technology – subservient geeks who've exposed the American people to a website that could never work for thirty days.

Tony Trenkel, CIO for Centers for Medicare Services (CMS), throws himself under the bus: will leave on 15 November.  The facts, themselves, are laugh lines. Even the failure failed.

. . . why they're not checking for fraud: this is evidence that HHS knew it was building a system that's not ready for public use:In July, Health and Human Services essentially gave up on verifying applicants' eligibility for ObamaCare's insurance subsidies. When HHS's databases could not swiftly and reliably verify applicants' income and employment histories, the administration decided to grant the subsidies quickly based on little more than the applicants' personal say-so—an open invitation to fraud.

Obamacare rollout worse than initially realized  A stack of daily updates written by Obamacare contractors shows the October rollout hit more walls than previously known: In the first days, half of the calls to the phone center had problems, paper applications could not be processed and up to 40,000 people at a time were sitting in the waiting room of http://www.HealthCare.gov.

The 175 pages of internal updates during the sign-up chronicle the growing ailments and efforts to heal the system during October. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, led by Republican Darrell Issa, obtained the documents from contractors involved and released them Wednesday.

"50% of the call center calls have issues," reads an entry on day three of the sign-up. "Anecdotal evidence supports a widerspread problem (with the call centers)," the October 3 document says.

Phone trouble continued into the next week. "Our call center reps can't see their screens," wrote an unnamed consultant on . . .

A key official at the agency responsible for spearheading the problematic rollout of Obamacare website HealthCare.gov will leave the administration for a job in the private sector, CBS News has learned.

Troy Trenkle, the chief information officer (CIO) at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will depart his post on November 15, according to an email sent to CMS staff Wednesday by Michelle Snyder, the agency's chief operating officer.

During his time as the agency's CIO, Trenkle oversaw $2 billion in . . .

Mystery shrouds plans for release of ObamaCare enrollment data

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 3, Block C: Jillian Kay Melchior, NRO, in re: Follow the Money Trail: The Connected Company behind Healthcare.gov Democratic powerbrokers lobbied for QSSI’s big award. Quality Software Services Inc., the company that built the data hub for Healthcare.gov, won its huge contract after its parent, UnitedHealth Group, enlisted two so-called super-lobbyists. These men are Democratic power-brokers: They have raised significant amounts of funds for Democratic causes and campaigns, and they maintain lots of friends in high places.  vide: Jeff Forbes and Stephen Elmendorf.

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 3, Block D: Katya Kazsakina, Bloomberg, in re:  Picasso’s ‘Cigare’ Sells for $1.1 Million in Dull Sale ;  More than $2 Billion in Art Hits New York Auctions

Hour Four

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 4, Block A: Conservative Internationalism: Armed Diplomacy under Jefferson, Polk, Truman, and Reagan by Henry R Nau.  (1 of 4)

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 4, Block B: Conservative Internationalism: Armed Diplomacy under Jefferson, Polk, Truman, and Reagan by Henry R Nau.  (2 of 4)

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 4, Block C: Conservative Internationalism: Armed Diplomacy under Jefferson, Polk, Truman, and Reagan by Henry R Nau.  (3 of 4)

Wednesday  6 November   2013  / Hour 4, Block D: Conservative Internationalism: Armed Diplomacy under Jefferson, Polk, Truman, and Reagan by Henry R Nau.  (4 of 4)

..  ..  ..

Music

Hour 1:  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  Gravity.  Call of Duty.

Hour 2:  Shaolin. Breaking Bad.

Hour 3:  House of Flying Daggers. Hotel California.  Frost Nixon.

Hour 4:  Proposition.