So it worked out well for him and his family. What a terrific guy - leaving for a great comfortable life while those he supposedly worked with are going to face a lot of problems.

A self-taught lawyer? What great qualifications for a fellowship at NYU. I assume they will all overstay their visas and become really special "undocumenteds". And..we'll look the other way when public funds are used in part for his family's support over here.

If he were from Latin America - betcha the red carpet wouldn't be laid out. And hey - for the record - I'm a liberal democrat - but one who feels that he shouldn't be made such a special case of.

Don't worry, Billie. Once Chen arrives in the US, he'll continue whining and playing us in an effort to bring his entire extended family over here. Don't do it, US! This guy has played us enough. Let the rest of his family wait in line like anybody else must.

The guy is a goofball. It wouldn't surprise me if he changed his mind in 2 months and wanted back in China,

Chen is a self-taught lawyer; he used his knowledge to file a lawsuit against officials in LinYu who were forcing thousands of women to get sterilizations and abortions against their will. Bringing this out in the open embarrassed the Chinese government, so they trumped up some charges against him and sent him to jail for four years, then put him and his family, including his children, under house arrest when he got out of prison. He then managed to escape to the US Embassy in spite of the fact that he was blind.

He seems clever and resourceful to me, exactly the kind of person we would want in the US. The commenters today are so full of venom against this guy that I can't help wondering if some of them are Chinese sockpuppets.

As I understand, the blind activist is a chinese citizen. Why are we interfering with chinese internal affairs.

I feel sorry for the chinese people he is fighting for in principle. Now that he is leaving the system, he is "taking a leave of absence" . That is practically saying, I got what I wanted, I am now on the expedite immigration line to the USA, I will fight your cause someday.

Mr. Chen, your country men and women need your guts to fight the establishment, there in China, not here in the USA.

Maybe he thinks if he has a degree in law he can go back and kick some authoritarian ass. Sadly I think he will find that some bullies are better left unpoked until you have an army of supporters behind you else you may find yourself mysteriously kidnapped one night and never heard from again.

Not just him..his whole family is "Coming To America".

Better make good egg rolls..or go back to China!

His whole family? Only his immediate family! The Chinese government is more than happy to hear the news of this agitator's departure to a land far, far away where Freedom existed a long, long time ago. His extended family will be kept in China as a bargaining chip and under close watch to ensure his good behavior while abroad.

Out of all the issues one could bring against the Chinese government, this is certainly one of the more frivolous ones for a country that is still in the throes of development and coping with over 1 billion in population. What a waste of US taxpayer's money! A perfect tool for drivel news for the illiterate mob like most news in this country. Looks like physical blindness is the least of his handicaps! This populist is one who wouldn't have been a cause for too many tears had he been run over by a tank. It would have been perfect for plausible deniability as the Chinese could then say, 'He just didn't see the tank coming poor man!" and offered its condolensces to his family while enjoying the peace and quiet resulting from his premature and fatal 'accident.'

You do know during the Vietnam war our military shot and killed college students for protesting right? Sad pieces of American truth is never talked about, only the mistakes of other countries is gloated and prized to make ourselves look so much better.

-Truth

Dude... you realized he escaped his guarded home when he's blind? I'm pretty sure he can contribute to society. You don't need sight to be able to contribute to society and earn your own living. People with "disabilities" have been doing amazing things and showing up us "normal" people for centuries and possibly longer.

I am sure this is win win. The Chinese get rid of someone who can rat them out in an acceptable manner. They look good in the process.

I don't think any human being cares about much of anything other than being fed, cuddled, and having their ass wiped frequently at the time they are born. I assure you that newly borns and young infants are completely oblivious to what a nation-state is, a proper legislative system, a judiciary, etc.

What am I saying!? Even most 'adults' in this country are not mentally competent or literate enough to be really worthy participants in a democratic state. As Jefferson said, "Those who expect to be ignorant and free in a civilized state expect what never was and what never will be!" A true viable democracy can only exist if most of its citizenry has capital (particularly real property) and is vested with a high education in which they can cogently think and articulate themeslves as to what the future course of The State will be. Since this is a far cry from the abysmal reality we face today in this country as to its general level of education which is nothing short of 'guttural' and useless, what freedom is there for most people? It all depends on how much money they have for someone else to do the thinking and talking for them. Still, for the same reasons as above, you cannot have a viable republic either with the the average level of education presenlty existing in this country: freedom doesn't come with automatic transmission and a cruise-control option and is always sold in 3-5 speed stick shift with a traditional clutch operated directly by the driver. Again, without a competent level of general education, which is absolutely nothing short of pathetic for the most part, this country's future looks pretty bleak as far as the true rights and destiny of its citizenry!

Freedom on paper and as thin as a flag is not a true symbol of existing freedom nor is having the right to hold a gun: try to use it and find out how free you really are!

Not as much public moneys as keeping a drug offender incarcerated and under 'rehabilitation' so as to feed the penal system lobby and its pharmaceutical backers.

Don't worry! The Chinese, Arabs, and even Russians have been working hard to get someone in The White House for quite some time. Why do you think The US Supreme Court ratified a bill that doesn't require disclosure as to campaign finance by corporate sponsors? Do you really think campaigns are mostly funded by $5 checks sent out by Grand Pa and Grand Ma Jones out of their meagre social security check? Who do you think pays the minimum $1 Billion now needed to run a presidential campaign? What do you think that $1 Billion is for? Plane tickets? A lot of people to bribe and a lot of rackets to send out and do their work! Corruption is costly and also subject to inflationary prices like any other service offered in The US these days didn't you know!?

He probably has one of those chinese pugs as his seeing eye dog. Maybe they will let him bring that too America if they haven't eaten it yet. He can come over and get all those government loans. Now days if you are not from this country you get treated better than the a U.S citizen.

I think those feeling sorry for him and cheering his cause are blinder than he is!

His media-savvy, fellow Chinese activist friends helped him escape house arrest.

I cheer on any person that has the bravery to stand up and speak against women being forced to get abortions against their will, which is what Chen did to get the Chinese government so mad at him.

NYU has offered him a fellowship. It's a private university, so why would any US tax money be involved?

Unless this featherweight of an activist is ready to be nailed to a cross or to throw himself to the lions then Jesus wouldn't think much of him either for all his hypocrisy! If Cyrano de Bergerac were still alive today he would probably repeat one of his many satirical letters addressed to shallow hypocrites like him:

No, no, be on your way; as I can already see you so ravaged,
that I imagine your nerves are only dry and ready enough,
in your agitation, to evoke this noise you call speech, it is infallibly what
causes you to fret and move around incessantly: but since there is indeed something of a voice; For God's sake please enlighten me as to if whether you speak
only by virtue of shuffling your feet around, or do you shuffle your feet around by virtue of your speech;
which leads me to believe that all of this loud clamor you utter
doesn't come from your tongue, as a tongue alone detached
could easily say a good quarter of what comes out of your mouth,
and most of the rest of your speech is so far removed from reason,
that one can easily see that your speech comes from a part of your body
that is quite distant from your brain.

Cyrano de Bergerac. Works: Satyrical Letter Against a Worrisome Pain.

Yes, Cyrano de Bergerac has total relevance here. He had many things to say about activists who fight against injustice. /sarc/

Chen has attempted to use the Chinese legal system to right injustices being carried out by local officials -- not once, but repeatedly. He has done this in spite of threats, beatings and incarceration. Unless you've done the same, you really haven't earned the right to call him a featherweight.

Compared to his fellow China-man who stood before a tank and stayed in his country, he's a featherweight!

Not only does it get you into the United States but your entire family, I wouldn't be surprised to find his dead relatives coming also. Just think how many people from all over the world will now be able to come here on persecution claims. Welcome to the new America. I think our government is trying to create a land of OZ where money grows on trees and people are happy being poor, hungry and homeless.

There is already an immigration category for persecution victims - Asylum. You need to prove though that you are in danger, which I understand, he did.

Maybe if Americans made a claim to The State Dept. as to how they are getting cheated out of their future by this sick corporate regime we have running this country we could all get some kind of political amnesty as well!

Hmm, you put forward an interesting argument, Toasty.

...but the family that needs it here will continue to struggle and the children will only dream of going to a prestigious university.

Confussed - you say the family next door to you has nothing to eat and is only weeks away from eviction, but you worry about the kids going to a prestigious university...an average university won't do, it has to be "prestigious"? You certainly chose an appropriate moniker for yourself.

I think the demonstrations have already started we just need to continue this economic downturn to see if the next follows.

You do understand that the economic downturn started around 2008, right? Whose administration has been in power during that time? You do realize it has been Obama, not Romney, right, Einstein?

I am Chinese and an American (Born and Raised). I understand the lack of freedom of speech having lived in china for a 18 month period, and I understand the government's mandates... but this man is NOT one of the peaceful, educated activists i have encountered here in the USA and in China. He is just a trouble maker and we don't need him in the USA.

One small indication... instead of thanking the USA for giving him asylum and trying to make it easier for his family that remains in China, he taunted the Chinese government in emails about how they could not touch him... come on... are you 5 years old? do you care at all about your family? do you want to force the USA into a political nightmare with your "blind tirades"????

Given the legitimacy of the pressing issue he's clamoring about, I couldn't agree with you more. He's looking to make himself a demogogue and populist agitator without addressing any legitimate issues. In any case, as human procreation is an exponential function, the entire world will have to address this question and possible solution sooner than later. We are over 9 billion on this planet and this zoo is just going to get more crowded unless people start dying like flies.

No here is the difference between a republican and a democrat. A democrat will give a person in need free medical, food stamps, and public housing. A republcian will give the person their business card and tell them to call them for a job,,,,

I agree with Jason Chu that Chen is more a trouble-maker than an activist. If he's been granted a student visa and he, himself, has said that the Chinese government will permit him to return and will protect his rights when he returns to China and whie he's in the U.S., then, it seems to me that he cannot ask for political or religious asylum later. He has drawn so much attention to himself that when his NYU fellowship ends he will have to return to China. OR, it will be obvious when he overstays his student visa and becomes an illegal immigrant to be deported back to China.

There are so many questions about his activism, his education, his genuine intent. Activism against China's one-child policy: How can he claim that China forces abortion of second pregnancies when he has 2 children and he has a nephew? He's not opposed to the one-child policy on the basis of Christian faith, because I doubt he's a Christian. If he were a Christian, he would have been persecuted for evangelizing, not for opposing the one-child policy. Education: He's taught himself Chinese law but did he even go to college in China? If not, why and how in the world does NYU grant him a fellowship?

Got to ask Chen the question President Kennedy asked each of to ask ourselves: "What can you do for the U.S.?"

Time magazine also named Hitler Man of the Year circa 1935.

Toni get a clue because allot of people and their families suffered to achieve the so called American dream. But most of them did it with hard work. My parents suffered when the Germans killed and tortured members of both sides of the family and when they came to the U.S nobody welcomed them and millions of others with open arms. You and all your other so-called rich humanitarian click don't get it. Wake up because we have our own problems in this country and we should stop giving the freebies to people like this. So next time when you sit down with your Bree and wine with all your limo liberal friends and discuss the events of the day maybe you will get a clue but i doubt it.

mountainbike8265 - I am a conservative and lower-middle class. Chen has done what he has through hard work (the blind are not allowed to enter law school, yet he snuck into classes and self-studied to become a lawyer). Yes, I probably will not get a clue with regard to the thinking on this response board.

Ask a good many Americans born and raised here who had that happen to them because of their actual or suspected political beliefs. Does the name Joseph McCarthy ring a bell? You obviously haven't felt the full brunt of The Patriot Act yet but, maybe if you speak and actually say something intelligent that catches the wrong ears, who knows? You may be next to end up locked away with no thoughts as to your due process rights! At least the Chinese government is honest and telling its people, "We do it because we can and we will" instead of the American BS version, "We're not supposed to but it was just too good to miss such a great opportunity at oppression!" Well good for him that he got his ticket to a bankrupt country, and good for the present administration at getting such a cheap lackey to campaign on its behalf throughout the world with rhetoric as empty as its own!

Actions are held to be good or bad, not on their own merits, but according to who does them, and there is almost no kind of outrage — torture, the use of hostages, forced labour, mass deportations, imprisonment without trial, forgery, assassination, the bombing of civilians — which does not change its moral colour when it is committed by ‘our’ side.

Notes on Nationalism (1945.)

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power.”

Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Chen taught himself enough Chinese law to have won a couple of cases he argued in Chinese courts before he was imprisoned for 4 years. Those cases were claims against the local rural governments, not the central Chinese government. But when he decided to escalate his profile by taking on the one-child policy's enforcement (remember he has 2 children), he could have argued the case himself when his lawyer was blocked from appearing in court for the case. Apparently, he didn't. The central Chinese government supposedly prohibits forced sterilization and forced abortion, which I remember learning about in school 50 years ago. Chen's fight is with the local rural governments over the one-child policy enforcement which explains why he keeps asking the central Chinese government to investigate the local governments. Does the U.S. really need to be concerned about how the local rural governments are behaving in China? I think not.

Debasing comments have nothing to do with one's level of education. Besides, everyone in this country is still entitled to freedom of speech.

Thanks, Jonboy - I can't believe the continued disparaging comments about Chen and his family.

Oh my! He's an activist so that automatically makes him so special with some new revolutionary insight as to address systemic social problems! The typical rhetoric of the new age sophist who believes that peace for peace's sake is the best remedy for humanity. Well, even agitators about nothing will get a frequent visit from the FBI here because they raise eyebrows for ultimately nothing but popular attention: a very common phenomenon these days that has spread its infection accross the world obviously.

The more this country flexes its political and military muscle across the world in the name of 'democracy' when ultimately it is only for specific political and economic interests that benefit only a small minority who hold the reigns of power then the more of a laughing stock it will be for the rest of the world. In the electronic revolution that is now in full swing, this change of political outlook could literally occur with the click of a mouse! If anything--bringing this to a more basic level--this country has a lot of cleaning up to do as to its own internal affairs and the horribly limited way it understands the world in order to be part of the world to come: if not, then we may as well put chains on ourselves and tie the other end to a Wal-Mart job!

Sooner than later, the Chinese will dump the dollar and there's nothing the US can really do to save its currency as a world reserve other than dominating an overpriced and all too volatile oil market that supports it. The Chinese are not terribly thrilled in having to lend dollars back to the US so that it can block its own oil prospects in Afghanistan and Africa and that is why they have an oil and economic pact with the Russians as security.

In any case, oil as a commodity is no longer such a vital national security interest as it was during The Cold War and a bi-polar world. We would probably be better off with an administration that doesn't have its head stuck up the dominant oil cartel's a#$ instead willing to make more concessions to the Russians whose oil is just bursting at the seams and ready to flood the market! It's a sad truth but because of decades of bad fiscal and monetary policies, the dollar is literally on its last thread as the world's reserve currency and it is just a matter of time before the IMF monetary garbage truck comes to haul it away! There's just no real need for it other than force of habit at this point.

I agree with you, Toni. I'm puzzled by how venomous people are being against this man. As I said in an earlier post, I really wonder if some of the posters here are Chinese sockpuppets.

Mercy, Wow you must be the type that will pay top dollar to hear this so- called oppressed political activist speak . Go back to liberal ville or better yet maybe you can get a seat next to the Clinton's.

China they don't want this trouble there.

Thousands of women in a Chinese province were being forcibly sterilized or made to get abortions. Chen sued the officials of LinYu in an effort to stop this practice. That's what he did to upset the Chinese government.

Yet another triumph for Barack Obama. He is the most successful foreign policy president in the post-war era. I'm even giving him the benefit of the doubt on Afghanistan, which I wouldn't have thought possible. The guy is gold.

Yes obama is doing great internationally. He's setting up a new tax sheltor for the rich in what used to be Burma.

all Ronald Reagan did was tear down some silly old wall

I AGREE

That all immigrants should have to come here legally

Political Amnesty has always been a method of immediate immigration into this country but, if China is so oppressive, why do we have such good business relations with them. The hypocrisy that pervades undermines any constitutional argument for granting political amnesty to such a person! If he was escaping Mao or Pol Pot then that would be an entirely different story! China's constitution never made any promises to its citizenry that they could talk about any political issue: it doesn't even promise to compensate them for eminent domain actions! If he had guts he would follow the example of Socrates or Jesus or, on the other side of the spectrum, of Patrick Henry! This guy is looking for a free meal and the present administration desperate for votes is more than happy to give him seconds just in case he decides to pack up and go back!

Citizen K-2113048

"Yet another triumph for Barack Obama. He is the most successful foreign policy president in the post-war era. I'm even giving him the benefit of the doubt on Afghanistan, which I wouldn't have thought possible. The guy is gold."

I hope for your own sanity that you're being sarcastic. The guy is gold alright: gold plated just like a good many other empty suits and shoes to have filled the requirements of that office in recent decades. The guy (although anything is an improvement to his predecessor) can't even articulate a cogent sentence for himself without a teleprompter. His political inexperience as to international relations was evident when he was blabbering about this campaign as his comments and observations were about as idiotic as Sarah Palin's!

Does anybody on this site have a clue about the game of politics? It's Biden who's the brains in this affair just like it was Chenney in control of the previous administration. The VP is expected to be in the political shadow of the president and it is a perfect vehicle for a decision maker to call the shots and not have to explain himself while letting a pretty face do it for him! Get a grip and wake up! Stop reading Ghandi and read more of Kissinger's works or some of James Baker III's articles on either Foreign Affairs or Foreign Policy: what politicians read for thoughtful foreign material: not a George Clooney and Susan Sarrandon op-ed about their sheepish insights into the political process!

There is actually a different process for asylum seekers, and has been for years; I remember Russians used to defect to the US using the same law. And just because you haven't heard of him, does not mean no one has; he was profiled in Time magazine in 2007 and has been the subject of much media attention ever since.

all Ronald Reagan did was tear down some silly old wall

GermanGem - Are you really as much of a Dumb Blond as you seem to be? Your Sugar Daddy must not be with you for the stimulating conversation.

Because he and his very media-savvy, activist friends turned this into an international news circus, complete with pink lemonade.

They took him to the US Embassy, putting the US in a very awkward position, and while he's there, he never once asks for asylum. Then, with his consent, he's taken to a Chinese hospital, where he sits in his room, making phone call after phone call to every Western media outlet in existence while his brutal and dastardly Chinese keepers do nothing to him and let him speak ad infinitum.

He played us for a visa first for himself, then for his wife and children, and he was in the process of playing us for visas for his entire extended family -- which he will continue to do once he arrives here, no doubt.

That's how he jumped ahead of others: by being very experienced in manipulating the media, as well as the US and Chinese governments.

'For an empire, nothing is inconsistent which is politically expedient.' Pericles of Athens. Or, in the words of George Cluny's character in Three Kings, "Necessity!"

A Political Statement & Hate Crime by the Obama Administration

This act is nothing more than a deliberate and purposeful insult - an offense against the mother of a United States National Guard soldier that was blocked out of her law classes though she is highly skilled in the law - to insult her directly because she is of Jewish ancestry.

The Obama administration influenced the deaths of members of her family, one of them while she was graduating in Chicago, that died the very next morning.

This is nothing more than another Obama "prank" as he makes a joke out of everything - but is deliberately mocking and insulting the American people.

No woman in this nation is handed the opportunity to practice law without sitting for the bar - but Mr. Obama will probably grant this man a free ride, free law practice, free everything from home to vehicle - while blocking out the mother lawyer of one of his own courageous soldiers.

She'll still have student loans to pay.

Her ancestral families settled the east coast and fought in every war for this nation's liberty.

But her worth is unimportant.

She wanted to improve the condition of life for New England.

She's the mother of an American soldier that fought for this nation.

She's homeless, all property confiscated by the government, earning a law degree while her son served under Barack Obama.

This is the new United States of America - ignore the ancestors - embrace China.

But - at the "end of the day" you all still have a $50,000 bill to pay for her education.

She cannot.

She is blocked out of everything.

She is a Jew.

Huldah Anna Greene & Elijah Frost Hatch are her 3rd great-grandparents.

IF you are her descendant, then you are, too.

Hulda Anna Green

Birth Nov 1844 in Maine, United States

Death 22 Apr 1903 in Wells, York, Maine, United States

Pvt. Elijah Frost Hatch, U.S. Civil War

Birth 6 Oct 1836 in Lyman, York, Maine, United States

Death 15 Nov 1906 in North Berwick, York, Maine, United States

Mackie Get a grip. You need to try a little reality. Seems you are way out there.

Another poor Jew. We should all be crying!!!!

Exactly. For the conclusion being made the person being Jewish has no logic and is an appeal to pity. If the writer treats judaism as a religion in this context, "So what? Completely irrelevant!" If the writer is referring to Judaism as a race, again, "So what? Does the persecution of Jews demand more sympathy than the persecution of others for different reasons?" If the writer believes that then he/she is not really an American as Jews seem to require some special attention when it comes to injustice. If not, it is still irrelevant and he/she demonstrates only their own biggotry and idiocy!

Mackie is the same crazy nut who said gays are invading her ancestral home of Wells, Main...