Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Corruption in China = Death

Boy, those Chinese don't screw around. When they Chinese FDA commissioner Zheng Xiaoyu pleaded guilty to corruption and accepting bribes that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people around the world the gov. sentenced him to death. In the U.S. we'd pat him on the head, throw him in a private country club and set some ridiculous fine that would never get paid. Then CEOs around the country would figure out how he did it, perfect the technique, then try to get rich themselves.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Economic Chauvinism: Good 'ole Boys Woman-Haters Club

So I'm talking to my well-to-do brother-in-law about the economic meltdown Michigan is currently experiencing due to the flight of manufacturing jobs, the shrinking domestic auto industy and a budget crisis created in part by the removal of almost two billion dollars in revenue from the single business tax. I was quite blown away by his response. He laid the economic blame squarely on the head of our FEMALE governor. He said we'd never be taken seiously in the business world as long as our leader was a woman.

Huh?

You're kidding me right?

He wasn't kidding.

My response: "My god, are we still that unsophisticated?"

By the time the words left my mouth I realized two things. One, the money men who run this state couldn't possible be that unsophisticated, but they realize the mass of us are and need convenient target for their money problems- and without a minority or foreigner to blame, a woman will suffice nicely. And two, patriarchal Christianity probably has a lot to do with my brother-in-law's attitude, that whole Promise Keepers, Man In The Mirror shit that places the man at the head of the pack, firmly behind the steering wheel, as the captain of the team and as the leaders of the free world - because God supposedly wants it that way regardless of the economic, social or ecological ruination he brings to the planet in the process.