Welcome
back to Panda Punchers, my opportunity to post my favorite inane China bashing
quotes of the week. With the Olympics and a U.S. presidential election coming
in 2008, and in the face of financial turmoil, expect the rhetoric to reach the
heights of idiocy. Enjoy, and feel free to send me your personal favorite
quotes from batshit reactionaries.

1. McAfee – the security software company released a
report on Thursday about cyber-crime, noting that "government-affiliated
hackers in China
are at the forefront of a brewing 'cyber Cold War' still in its infancy."
[Nice little report that is sure to drum up a lot of business for McAfee.
However, why is it that when Russia or the U.S. put on war games with troops,
planes, and ships it is called an "exercise", but when China gets
hackers to check out Internet defenses, it is called a nefarious, aggressive
move?] <LINK>

2. David Brooks of the New York Times – writing a short bio
of Netcom's Edward Tian, Brooks engages in the worst sort of stereotyping and
syrupy prose imaginable:

With his lingering
insecurity, with his fierce determination to prove and reprove himself, he is
in some ways typical of the Cultural Revolution generation elite. But he is
also a cultured man, and in that he is atypical. The Cultural Revolution swept
away much of the old Chinese culture. It was followed by the wave of
commercialism and materialism. Dignity is now defined by money and French and
Italian luxury goods.

The spiritual vacuum
left by the Cultural Revolution has yet to be filled. Some set of values — good
or bad — will eventually fill it, and at that point, the final aftershock of
the hell will be finally felt.

This made me gag,
seriously. Brooks figured out a way to criticize China not only for the Cultural
Revolution, but also the new direction of its economy, all in one column!
Congratulations. <LINK>

3. Jack McLain, of
the Constitution Party of Florida (i.e.
nutjob fringe group). This quote speaks for itself:

It’s past time that
Americans recognize: First, that Communist China is NOT a friend but have
declared that we are their worst enemy who must be destroyed; Second, that
standards of production of foods, toothpaste, or whatever in China are not
equivalent to those of the United States; and Third, the extreme trade
imbalance between the U.S. and China is leading to the ultimate showdown with
the determined Communists to overthrow us financially as well as militarily.

Yikes. <LINK>

4. "The
Obituary of the World" blog. This guy is seriously schizophrenic and needs
medication (I think I mean that literally, so perhaps I shouldn't even be
poking fun at him . . .). Anyway, here's part of his rant:

I once heard one of those Republican American
Fascist commentators on Fox complain that China is no longer called "Red
China", but the silly ass does not know Communist China has long since
abandoned the Communist Revolution; and the workers are treated like crap; and
medical care for "the people" is sky high; and gangsters have moved
into the construction trade; and kids are shooting up; and capitalism is the
new-crowned king–just like in the USA.

The thing to note is not that Communist China is communist, but that is it better at capitalism
than the USA.

Scary part of that
one is that some of it is true. <LINK>

5. From the
descriptively-entitled "Free-Fire Zone" blog:

Check the label. On
anything! Even on your computer, its mouse, printer, cables, surge protector,
desk chair, desk, mini-blinds, curtains, light bulbs. Suddenly (at least to
me), everything we use is made in China. RED China.
COMMUNIST China.
China, where in the big public square downtown, they shoot their own citizens
with tanks. China, where the government censors not only TV, radio, and
newspapers, but even the internet. China, where all the capitalistic profits
realized on their exports goes to the military for modernization, for
anti-satellite systems, for new submarines, for aircraft and ICBMs.

This guy probably has a bomb shelter in the backyard and
checks for Communists under the bed every night before going to sleep. God love
'im. <LINK>

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