Perhaps Mr. Krich has been in Bangkok so long he's failed to notice that the U.S. no longer has any moral high ground upon which to stand. Per capita, the U.S. imprisons more people than China. Americans yap about Tibet but invaded Iraq, and the list goes on--Gitmo, extraordinary renditions, illegal domestic spying, etc.. As a self-described China watcher perhaps Mr. Krich should become an American watcher instead to get up to speed on moral high grounds. Did he not hear the snickering when Bush and Rice tried to chastise Putin for invading Georgia?

Aluf Benn seems to be saying that the Israeli people felt troubled psychologically that Olmert's misadventure in Lebanon went horribly wrong, so the Zionists are killing innocent Palestinian women and children to make everybody (except for fringe peaceniks)feel better. I find it very disturbing that this piece of Zionist propaganda is the lead article in Salon. I wonder, Joan, if you have forgotten so soon that article after article in Salon condemned this kind of behavior from the Bush administration, yet now you are giving the Israelis a pass. How Come?

I have been a student of China and the Chinese since the mid- 1980s. When I first flew into Shanghai it was dark and the city below me was invisible. There were no street lights and the few cars and trucks that were moving about kept their headlights off to conserve energy. It's not dark in Shanghai anymore. The economic miracle is manifest everywhere in mirrored skyscrapers, death-defying overpasses, and seemingly constant gridlock--the good life. And yet, while the Gold Coast of China's eastern seaboard dazzles with 21st century dynamism, the interior of the country is becoming an uninhabitable wasteland. The choking coal smoke is acrid, the ground water is polluted with heavy metals and low level radioactive waste. Everyday, children are kidnapped from the cities and sold into private households or brothels. Corruption at all levels of officialdom is endemic. The Party elite, in bed with power capital, are ravaging the landscape and sacrificing the lives of untold thousands of Chinese citizens. Never before has a people affected such a massive destruction of the natural environment, and done it in such a short amount of time. Makes you think the Chinese can do just about anything, which is why we're always hearing that the 21st century is the Chinese century (the 20th century belonged to the U.S.) But is this necessarily the case? For China to succeed it will need to use everyone's resources, and this includes ours. True, the Chinese are far more canny than the Japanese, who bought real estate; the Chinese are buying mining rights. During the global economic downturn China has begun to fray around the edges across a broad spectrum factory wage earners,and itinerant laborers. Last year there were literally 1000s of uprisings (large and small) against petty officials, police, courts, and the nouveau riche who live beyond the law. For the power elite to keep the masses from becoming too restive they need an economy that is growing at 8% to 10% per annum. To sustain this level of growth they will need resources, everything from oil to molybdenun. Think about it. Do you really want the 21st century to belong to the China? Do you want Chinese corporations owning the ground you walk on? Do you want your children and grand-children working for such a ruthless and despotic criminal gang? I think not. Do your part. Buy local.

Walter Cronkite was a bag of wind shill for the entrenched, white establishment. Do you think his was everybody's "trusted uncle" in African-American households? in Latino households? When is white America finally going to outgrow their addiction to the circle-jerk?

While the North American media focuses on Chinese washing machines and lack of electricity (no disrespect to Andrew Leonard intended)the more telling stories about China go unreported. Last week at the Tonghua Steel Mill in Jilin province angry workers beat to death the company's new CEO who announced the lay off of 25,000 workers. The layoffs were part of a deal arranged by a rival company and corrupt government officials. Following the CEO's (perfectly timely) death, the government called off the proposed deal. This was a major story but received no mention in the U.S. Why is that Mr. Leonard? Why write about washing machines when the real China stories are happening elsewhere. The Chinese countryside is seething with peasant and worker anger. Major uprisings and riots occur weekly if not daily. Given China's importance to U.S. financial stability, I think Salon should devote a bit more serious attention to what is going on there.The story, first reported in the Chinese press (it was too big and deal to bury entirely),was then picked up by the Guardian. Again, why the silence in the U.S. Hmmm?

Post-Script: think how much better Americans would feel these days if the corrupt bonus boys of Wall Street had been served-up the same treatment as the Chinese CEO instead of being given golden parachutes.

Dear Joan,

Why not get your mind out of Rush Limbaugh's ass and turn your attention to the serious business of reporting news? Your personal infatuation with celebrity is addling your performance as the steward of Salon. Ask yourself, would David Talbot be focusing his attention on Mr. Limbaugh's nether region, while the U.S. is going to hell in a hand-basket?

It seems that many of the respondents to this Limbaugh piece agree that Joan should get her head out of Rush's ass, and use her voice for something other than singing in the dark.

Perhaps you, your family, and everyone else who lives in the desert you call Los Angeles should pack up and leave once and for all. Whose water are you wasting trying to save houses that have been built where they do not belong?