1. I guess I win my bet on the Pennsylvania hacking story:

Early morning on Friday, January 4, 2008, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government website was infected with a computer virus. In order to prevent the spread of the computer virus, system administrators began a coordinated effort to shutdown other commonwealth agency websites in order to prevent the spread of the computer virus infection. System administrators and IT security staff were able to preliminary identify the source of the data breach–a domain name registered in China.

The fact that this attack may have originated in China is not surprising. As early as 2006, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), a U.S. Congressional Commission, warned about China's cyber threat capabilities. According to the 2006 USCC annual report, China is creating military information warfare units and shifting its cyberwarefare to become offensive in an effort to disrupt enemy networks and information systems. <LINK>

2. Congressman Phil English on China trade. More than anything else, I notice the tone and diction here. I have helpfully emphasized some terms below:

China is among the largest challenges when it comes to American trade policy. In 2006, the annual deficit with China ($232.5 billion) and imports from China ($287.8 billion) were records. At the current rate, the bilateral balance of trade will become even more lopsided in 2007.

The trade policy challenge of China is not limited to staggering trade deficits. Blatant intellectual property theft, rampant subsidies and prolific dumping plague the bilateral relationship and eviscerate any chance for America’s employers to compete on a level playing field.

The sector of our economy most in the crosshairs of China’s mercantilist trade practices is the American manufacturing base. As long as China continues to operate outside of conventional trade norms, it is nothing more than a rouge [sic?] agent threatening to break down the worldwide trade regime. In the new year, Congress needs to aggressively move forward with legislation that will effectively deal with China-related trade issues, including subsidies, intellectual property rights and exchange rate practices.

OK, this stuff is not exactly over the top, but please note that Rep. English is someone that was over here recently and is respected and listened to on trade issues. The way that adjectives are thrown in here, including "blatant, rampant, and prolific," suggest to everyone that these practices are extremely widespread. If "blatant IP theft" means that DVDs are sold on the street corner, then yes, that's accurate. But that is extraordinarily misleading. Even worse is the suggestion that "America's employers" cannot compete for these reasons, ruling out that there might be other factors behind the woes of the US manufacturing sector. English plays into the "US as victim" meme quite well with the use of "crosshairs" and "mercantilist trade practices." Again, China is living the good life at the expense of the poor US worker, and PRC policy is deliberate in this regard — this is what qualifies as normal discourse these days.

Most troubling is that I only read English's comments after reading and agreeing with a critique by (I can't believe I'm saying this) the Club for Growth. Yikes.

3. From The Daily Growler, a nice blog name by the way, we get an indication that even folks who are not talking directly about China feel the need these days to throw in some mindless invective. I add this as continued evidence that all the negative China talk has seeped into the normal discourse over in the U.S., in this case perhaps because of the whole product quality controversy. This guy was talking about Martha Stewart, of all people, and neatly segued into China bashing:

[Martha Stewart is] still pedaling [sic] her stuff on K-Mart commercials–all her stuff 'Made in China'–not Taiwan, now, don't forget, the China we respect now is Communist China, the People's Republic of China, Red China, Commie China, Mao China–the original home of child labor wasn't it?

Was that really necessary just to make a point about Martha Stewart?

4. When I was at university, I was alternatively amused and outraged by the ridiculous statements made by pampered and spoiled rich white kids who would take up a cause and agree with everything the spokesmen of that movement said. This sort of thing happens on the Right as well as the Left, but at my school, it was the Lefties that fell into this trap the most often.

The following is an excerpt from some group that, I'm sure, thinks they are doing God's work in trying to get folks to boycott the Olympic Games this year. Their undying faith in activists and activism on behalf of human rights warms my heart, but their naivety annoys me to no end. For some background, the below quote is about the New Year's Tournament of Roses Parade, which is held in Pasadena, California; this year, the parade included a float from China, which these folks refer to as "the Communist float" — nice. They go on to excoriate Mayor Bogaard of Pasadena who, after listening to a bunch of China activists tell miscellaneous tales of woe, had the audacity to question the accuracy of those statements! Ha ha. The activists, according to our naive bloggers, have been:

. . . tortured and even killed in China to coerce them to give up their beliefs or are forced to give their organs to profit the corrupt regime–[Pasadena Mayor] Bogaard referred to them as allegations! That speaks volume.

That certainly does speak volume, not to mention poor writing. Anyone who takes the testimony of professional activists at face value is a loser.

That's not all, the human rights activists from various organizations protesting this float of shame were accused of playing a political role. Actually the fact that the Communist float was invited to be in the parade in the first place by the Mayor is nothing but short of political. Let's keep on shining the light on Beijing's worsened human rights record and failure to keep their promise. Let's remind everyone that the Chinese regime is unfit to host the Games and that the Games are used as a tool of repression!

Not sure if the writer is a native English speaker or not (I suspect so), but the poor writing might tell us something about the age of the writer. More importantly, though, my goodness, complaining that the choice of a float from China might have been motivated by politics? A choice made by the Mayor? How dare he make a political decision!

Brings back bad memories of college, to be honest. The black-and-white world view these folks have is really comparable to President Bush's foreign policy. The extremists on the Right and Left hate to see that comparison made, but of course it's true. Whoever is on their side is always correct, and heroic, and whoever disagrees is evil and a cynical politician.