Nothing Funny
July 12th, 2007The White House is releasing its Iraqi Progress Report today and they’re going to say, “They’ve met half their goals. They haven’t the other half.” My first response is: “A .fivehundred record isn’t even good enough in the baseball world, let alone where thousands of lives and millions of dollars are at stake.” My second response is: “Good for the Iraqis. I hope it’s true and they’ve met significant goals, even if it’s an awful percentage.” My third thought is: “This is why I’ve always supported withdrawal of most of our soldiers but leaving some to supervise and help operate.” I think it’s all out of our hands now, as the Iraqis must step up to the plate and you can’t do that by hitting for them all the time. We should’ve given them more control ages ago, and nothing’s changed since to convince me that we’re better suited “fighting” for them rather than advising and fighting with them.
Of course, they’ve managed to divide themselves and fight one another instead of working to end the conflict with one another. Instead, they’re pulling inside jobs on their local banks (stealing two hundred and eighty two million dollars) rather than working together to protect their future.
Recently, I was chatting a friend that I go to White Sox games with and the death penalty came up. He linked me to this website and said, “It’s my homepage.” We talked about the death penalty and shared our thoughts on it with one another. Neither of us is a supporter of it. I immediately thought of our conversation when I read this,
Under scrutiny around the world over the quality of its food, drug and consumer goods, China confirmed yesterday it had put to death the man who had come to symbolize the country’s shame. Sixty-three year old Zheng Xiaoyu, former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, was executed after taking more than $850,000 (U.S.) from drug companies – allowing them to take their drugs directly to market without testing. The fraud resulted in at least 10 deaths, but likely scores more.
Zheng’s execution sent a strong message to the country and to the world that China is serious about clamping down on an explosion of corruption and fraud that has brought it untold damage in markets around the world. But whether it can actually stop the damage remains to be seen. Even the SFDA itself is skeptical. “As a developing country, China’s food and drug supervision began late and its foundations are weak,” SFDA spokesperson Yan Jiangying admitted during a press conference yesterday. “Therefore the food and drug safety situation is not something that we can be optimistic about.”
More prosecutions are expected, and, very likely, more revelations. Only last week one of Zheng’s key accomplices, Cao Wenzhuang, was also sentenced to death, with a two-year suspension that could evolve into a life-sentence under Chinese law. Four others were given varying sentences. Zheng’s execution came swiftly. He had been found guilty and sentenced on May 29. His appeal failed on June 22. Yesterday, few Chinese had sympathy for Zheng.
“I’m not surprised at all with the sentence,” Prof. Wang Yigao of the Hunan Academy of Sciences told the Toronto Star last night. “Officials like Zheng who are goofing off in government should be shot more often.”
It almost reads like a satire, especially the last paragraph, but that’s more a testament to the farcical tragedy that is the death penalty (and the Chinese government) than it is to any humor.