We interrupt this presidential campaign myopia to bring you an urgent bulletin:
The situation in the city of Lhasa is extremely grave with the population living under de facto martial law, said the Dalai Lama's Geneva-based European envoy.
More than 80 people have been killed and several hundred injured, and protests are spreading to other parts of Tibet, Kelsang Gyaltsen told swissinfo.
"Even though the Chinese government doesn't dare to officially announce it, the situation in Lhasa is de facto martial law," he said.
Schools and monasteries are sealed off, and there are heavy restrictions on people's movements with security forces stepping up their hunt for rioters in house-to-house searches, he explained.
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Around 400-500 people who received gunshot wounds are without medical assistance, scared of being arrested if they go to hospital, Gyaltsen added.
What can we do? One thing is to contact our Senate and House members, to ask them to speak out and support allowing foreign journalists into Tibet, to witness and report firsthand what is happening.
Their presence -- knowing the whole world is watching --would greatly change the situation.
And ask them to consider an Olympics boycott.
And ask them: Why do we do business with China, but not with Cuba?
This is an opportunity for Americans to get their heads out of the sand, or wherever else they may be stuck at the moment.
Please do something.