Latest Gripes http://www.gripezone.com/blog/ Latest Gripes Gingrich: I can earn what I want, but you cannot http://www.gripezone.com/blog/463/gingrich-i-can-earn-what-i-want-but-you-cannot/
OK, now lets do some math here. Newt Gingrich makes Millions of dollars sitting on his ass giving speeches to those stupid enough to listen to it, let alone even dumber to pay to hear it. This Man by all accounts have never had dirt under his fingernails or aching muscles for actually doing something and being a productive member of Americas society. Now, he says these high paying union Custodians should be eliminated and replaced with child labor? You now what the average annual salary is for a custodian? Look it up. $36,000. WOW! now that is a high paying job? What ever you think, its still worth more than what Newt Gingrich has earned. I am probably sure these janitors pay more of a percentage of tax on their income also.

So, when this is all said and done and everything he has said has been translated it boils down to this. What Newt Gingrich is saying is, I can talk to stupid people that give me millions and do absolutely nothing to earn that money, but to those of you who bust your ass every day to support a family make too much money, Hell you should not make nothing! that's $0.00. This is what it boils down to. This is what wants to be the President of the united states!

It is sad, but this is the Republican way.]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/463/gingrich-i-can-earn-what-i-want-but-you-cannot/ Thu, 26 Jan 2012 23:46:45 +0000 Barbie Dumb Judge Orders President Obama To Appear In Court To Defend Citizenship http://www.gripezone.com/blog/462/dumb-judge-orders-president-obama-to-appear-in-court-to-defend-citizenship/ And the birthers simply refuse to travel away. Ever since President Obama embarrassed the hell out of birther king Donald Trump by releasing his long ...
A decide in Atlanta, Georgia has ordered President Obama to indicate up at a hearing regarding a criticism filed by a citizen of the state who contends that Mr. Obama isn't a natural-born citizen and so ought to be aloof from the ballot within the Georgia Presidential primary.

On Friday, Deputy Chief decide Michael Malihi denied a motion for dismissal of a subpoena that needs the President to attend. The hearing is ready for Thursday.

This is clearly a frivolous lawsuit brought by a racist fool who happened to seek out an equally racist decide. The President was born in Hawaii and he has released his short type and long from birth certificates. President Obama has higher things to try to to than seem before a hack decide within the hack state of Georgia, like finding and killing terrorists and fixing the economy. That being said, President Obama ought to seem, bring his birth certificates and the other documentation he will realize, win the case, and then sue the one that filed this lawsuit. This racist hick ought to be forced to pay all the legal fees, attorney’s fees, and will be forced to repay the taxpayers all the money it takes for the President to fly on Air Force One with a security detail to Georgia, to not mention all of the protection precautions necessary to guard the President en route to the courthouse and within the courtroom. That’s attending to value lots. And if this moron refuses to pay up, the IRS ought to garnish his wages and seize his belongings, property, etc. That’s the sole thanks to deter different racist birthers from continuing to file lawsuits.]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/462/dumb-judge-orders-president-obama-to-appear-in-court-to-defend-citizenship/ Sun, 22 Jan 2012 20:12:11 +0000 Griper Republican Presidents spent us into this mess. http://www.gripezone.com/blog/461/republican-presidents-spent-us-into-this-mess/ Just let the facts speak for themselves and yes! below are the factual spending statistics of our presidents since Roosevelt. Proof that the republica... spent us into this mess, the Democrats always tried to correct it but then wham! here comes another Reagan or a Bush!

Roosevelt/Truman... Democrat.....-24.4%
Harry Truman........Democrat.....-21.7%
Dwight Eisenhower...Republican....-11.0%
Dwight Eisenhower...Republican.....-5.2%
Kennedy/Johnson.....Democrat......-8.3%
Lyndon Johnson......Democrat......-8.3%
Richard Nixon.......Republican.....-3.0%
Nixon/Ford..........Republican.....+0.2%
Jimmy Carter........Democrat......-3.3%
Ronald Reagan.......Republican.....+11.3%
Ronald Reagan.......Republican.....+9.3%
George H. W. Bush...Republican.....+13.0%
Bill Clinton........Democrat......-0.7%
Bill Clinton........Democrat......-9.0%
George W. Bush......Republican.....+7.1%
George W. Bush......Republican.....+20.7%

I think we should elect all republicans! NOT!]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/461/republican-presidents-spent-us-into-this-mess/ Sun, 22 Jan 2012 13:19:16 +0000 Griper Stay Puff Cheater Gingrich declared winner of SC primary http://www.gripezone.com/blog/460/stay-puff-cheater-gingrich-declared-winner-of-sc-primary/ Yes, the Republitards/Teabaggers Rednecks gave Stay Puff Cheater Newt Gingrich their vote to be the winner of South Carolina primary. Within minutes, ... http://www.gripezone.com/blog/460/stay-puff-cheater-gingrich-declared-winner-of-sc-primary/ Sun, 22 Jan 2012 02:55:21 +0000 Attitude <![CDATA[Scott Walker's time is now numbered!]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/459/scott-walkers-time-is-now-numbered/ United Wisconsin, the coalition that spearheaded the effort along with Wisconsin Democrats, delivered to the Government Accountability Board more than...
he recall effort stemmed from anger over Walker's aggressive moves during his first year in office that included effectively ending collective bargaining powers for nearly all union-represented public workers.

Walker, who was hosting a $2,500 per person fundraiser in New York City on Tuesday, said in a statement he expects Wisconsin voters "will stand with me." Yea, Right!]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/459/scott-walkers-time-is-now-numbered/ Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:22:16 +0000 Griper Mitt Romney true colors show with release of Taxes. http://www.gripezone.com/blog/458/mitt-romney-true-colors-show-with-release-of-taxes/ After weeks of stalling, the pretender, Mitt Romney did an about-face on Tuesday and said he will release his tax returns in April and that they will ...
Romney, a multimillionaire, has been under pressure from his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination and others to release the information. Now we know his true side. He'd previously said he wouldn't release it.

"What's the effective rate I've been paying? It's probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything," Romney said. "Because my last 10 years, I've ... my income comes overwhelmingly from investments made in the past, rather than ordinary income or rather than earned annual. I got a little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away. And then I get speaker's fees from time to time, but not very much." No wonder he is so hip on sucking the banks butt pucker!

Speaking to reporters after a campaign stop in SC, Romney said most of his income comes from investments, not regular wages and salary. The tax rate on investment income is 15 percent, much lower than the 35 percent rate applied to wages for those in the highest tax bracket. (sneaky little bastard isn't he?)
But in a debate Monday night, Texas Gov. Rick Perry insisted that Romney release his returns, saying that the party needs to fully scrutinize its nominee now instead of later. The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Newt Gingrich said he will release his tax information this week.

Romney has resisted calls to release his tax returns, insisting that he and his wife, Ann, have complied with federal law that requires them to disclose information about their financial Hidings. (Oh, I mean) holdings.

"I know that if I'm the nominee, people will want to see the most recent year, and see what happened in the most recent year," Romney said, suggesting he'd release their 2011 tax information. "We'll wait until the tax returns for the most recent year are completed, then release them." For a good laugh again at the middle class exspence.

Romney's wealth - he is worth between $190 and $250 million - puts him among the wealthiest Americans. But if most of his income is from investments, it could help him to significantly lower his federal tax bill compared to people who make money in other ways.]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/458/mitt-romney-true-colors-show-with-release-of-taxes/ Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:42:34 +0000 Griper Are brine injection wells causing Youngstown Earthquakes? http://www.gripezone.com/blog/456/are-brine-injection-wells-causing-youngstown-earthquakes/ The United States Geological Survey says the epicenter of a 4.5 magnitude earthquake was about a 10Th of a mile away from a brine injection well. The ...
The USGS initially put the epicenter of the earthquake at 3:04 p.m. Saturday in McDonald Ohio. The most recent measurements now have the quake centered just off Division Street, near the D&L brine injection well on Ohio Works Drive.

The fluid injection well there was shut down Friday with an agreement between the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the well's owner following a series of earthquakes.

The well went online just a short time before the first quake occurred on March 17Th. None of the other earthquakes was centered in the Youngstown area.

No earthquakes were reported for a few months, but quakes have been felt at least once a month since August, according to ODNR. Until today, the strongest was a 2.7-magnitude quake in September; the weakest was the 2.1-magnitude March quake.

The injection well is used to dispose of waste water that's a byproduct of oil and gas drilling. Thousands of gallons of brine are injected into the well on a daily basis, and much of it is shipped to Ohio from out of state.

Earthquakes that register above 4 magnitude are typically known to cause surface damage, Minimal damage and no injuries were reported Saturday.]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/456/are-brine-injection-wells-causing-youngstown-earthquakes/ Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:16:20 +0000 Griper China, Human rights violators. http://www.gripezone.com/blog/449/china-human-rights-violators/
The Chinese government tried to censor news about the prize domestically, immediately placing Liu's wife Liu Xia under house arrest and clamping down on rights activists and Liu's supporters. It then attempted to portray the prize as part of a conspiracy by Western countries, insisting that Chinese citizens do not value civil and political freedoms.

That argument was significantly challenged by a public letter that circulated the next week: written by retired Chinese Communist Party (CPC) elders, it called for political reforms to defend the right to free expression and a free press as guaranteed by the constitution. The letter cited the domestic censorship of comments that Premier Wen Jiabao made in New York in October, in which he acknowledged that "the people's wishes for, and needs for, democracy and freedom are irresistible." In an unprecedented move, several newspapers printed Wen's comments the next day, openly challenging censorship orders.

The Nobel Prize and the letter highlighted the growing importance of debate within mainstream society, the party, and the government about the role of "universal values." These ideas were also advocated by Charter 08, the landmark document that called for a gradual overhaul of China's political system. Liu's participation in drafting the charter prompted his December 2008 arrest and his 11-year prison sentence one year later.

Freedom of Expression

The government continued to restrict the rights and freedoms of journalists, bloggers and an estimated 384 million internet users, in violation of domestic legal guarantees of freedom of press and expression. The government requires state media and internet search firms to censor references to issues ranging from the June 1989 Tiananmen massacres to details of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

On January 12, 2010, the US search engine company Google announced it would seek an agreement with China's government to end the firm's self-censorship of Chinese internet users' search results, which it undertook partly because of government requirements. The government refused. On March 22, 2010, Google stopped censoring searches on its http://www.google.cn site and began redirecting them to its uncensored Hong Kong-based site.

On April 22, 2010, the government approved an amendment to the revised draft Law on Guarding State Secrets. The revised law requires internet and telecom firms to "cooperate with public security organs, state security agencies [and] prosecutors" on suspected cases of state secrets transmission.

At least 24 Chinese journalists are jailed on ambiguous charges ranging from "inciting subversion" to "revealing state secrets." They include Gheyret Niyaz, a Uighur journalist and website editor, sentenced to 15 years in June for "endangering state security" related to a foreign media interview he gave after the July 2009 protests in Xinjiang. That same week a Xinjiang court convicted three Uighur bloggers on the same charge. Dilshat Perhat, webmaster of Diyarim; the webmaster of Salkinm who goes by the name Nureli; and Nijat Azat, webmaster of Shabnam, received sentences of five, three, and ten years respectively.

Journalists who overstepped censorship guidelines continued to face official reprisals. Zhang Hong, a deputy editor with the Economic Observer newspaper, was fired after co-writing a March 1, 2010, editorial carried in 13 Chinese newspapers advocating the abolition of China's discriminatory hukou (household registration) system. China Economic Times editor Bao Yuehang was fired in May 2010 in apparent retaliation for a March 17, 2010, story that exposed vaccine quality shortfalls in Shanxi province linked to four children dying and at least 74 others falling ill.

Chinese journalists also continued to face physical violence for reporting on "sensitive" topics. On April 20, 2010, 10 unidentified assailants attacked Beijing News reporter Yang Jie while he photographed the site of a forced eviction. Police at the scene briefly detained the assailants before releasing them, characterizing their actions as a "misunderstanding." On September 8, 2010, security guards beat three reporters from Jilin and Changchun television stations attempting to cover a fire at the City College of Jilin Architecture and Civil Engineering.

Foreign correspondents in China continue to face reporting restrictions despite the government's October 2008 decision to eliminate requirements for official permission to travel the country and interview Chinese citizens. Those restrictions include a prohibition on foreign correspondents visiting Tibet freely.

Legal Reforms

Legal awareness among citizens continues to grow and legal reforms progress slowly, although the government's overt hostility towards genuine judicial independence undercuts legislative improvements. It also defeats efforts to progressively curtail the Chinese Communist Party's authority over all judicial institutions and mechanisms.

Two potentially significant reforms progressed on paper but not in practice. In May the Supreme People's Court, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (the state prosecution), and the ministries of public security, state security, and justice issued two directives regarding excluding evidence obtained through torture. This includes confessions of defendants and testimonies of prosecution witnesses, which underpin most criminal convictions in China.

However, these new regulations were not followed in the case of Fan Qihang, who in a video made public by his lawyer, described daily torture for six months and failed attempts to retract his forced confession during trial. The Supreme People's Court refused to investigate the torture allegations and upheld the original death sentence.

In August the government announced a draft amendment to China's criminal law that would eliminate the death penalty for 13 "economy-related non-violent offences." But in September a senior member of the legislature's Legal Affairs Committee announced the government would not pursue this initiative. China leads the world in executions: five to eight thousand take place every year.

Human Rights Defenders

Most human rights advocates, defenders, and organizations endure varying degrees of surveillance, harassment, or suppression by police and state security agencies. Several leading figures have been jailed in the past three years, and several NGOs shuttered or constrained. Yet the domestic "rights defense movement"-an informal movement connecting lawyers, activists, dissidents, journalists, ordinary citizens, and peasant and workers' advocates-continues to expand as demands grow for the state to respect its own laws.

Despite pervasive state censorship, rights advocates helped generate public and media debate on issues including illegal detention centers for petitioners travelling to the capital to lodge grievances (known as "black jails"), abnormal deaths in custody, widespread torture to extract confessions, use of psychiatric facilities to detain dissenters, socioeconomic discrimination against ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, and endemic abuses linked to forced demolitions and eviction.

Activists nonetheless paid a heavy price for these advances. In addition to routine harassment, they endure aggressive police surveillance, illegal home confinement, interception of communications, warnings and threats, repeated summons for "discussions" with security officers, and short-term detention.

Human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng has been missing for two years. He reemerged in Beijing in early April 2010 after a year of official obfuscation about his status, telling journalists and supporters that security agents had repeatedly tortured and kept him captive. He disappeared again a few days later. In October police rejected his brother's effort to register him as a missing person.

The blind legal activist Chen Guangcheng was freed from prison in September, only to be confined with his entire family in his home village and denied medical treatment for ailments he developed in prison. Unidentified men working at the behest of local police officials threatened and roughed up journalists and activists who tried visiting him.

On November 10 Zhao Lianhai, the father of a child who developed kidney stones due to the contaminated milk scandal, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years' imprisonment on charges of "causing a serious disturbance" for his role in organizing a victims association to file a class action lawsuit.

Migrant and Labor Rights

The All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) remains the sole legal representative of workers in China; independent labor unions are banned. Labor activism-mainly by migrant workers-in several foreign-invested factories in southern Guangdong province in the summer of 2010 challenged that prohibition, resulting in improved pay and benefits for strikers at production facilities for Japan's Honda and Denso Corporation. In August the ACFTU announced reforms aimed at developing a more democratic selection process for union leaders. Yet its insistence that reforms "not deviate from the leadership of the Communist Party" indicates that restrictions on independent union activity will remain.

The government has yet to deliver on longstanding promises to abolish the hukou system. Access to public benefits such as education and healthcare are linked to place of birth; China's 230 million migrant workers are denied access to these services when they move elsewhere in the country.

In June 2010 the State Council, China's cabinet, announced a proposal to replace the hukou system with a residential permit system, which would extend public welfare benefits to migrants in China's cities. However, the proposal lacks a timetable and financial provisions for the hukou system's elimination.

Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

The government decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 and removed it from the official list of mental disorders in 2001 but does not allow same-sex marriage. In March 2010 former vice-minister of health Wang Longde told state media the government needed to end discrimination against gay men in order to more effectively combat the country's HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Despite such indications of progress, entrenched social and official discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in China limits them from realizing fundamental rights of expression and association. Beijing police forced cancellation of the first Mr. Gay China pageant in January 2010 without explanation. In September 2010 Beijing police detained hundreds of gay men rounded up in a Haidian district park in an apparent effort to harass and intimidate homosexuals. The men were reportedly released only after providing identification and submitting to blood tests.

Women's Rights

Entrenched gender-based discrimination and violence continue to afflict Chinese women. Inequality is particularly serious in rural areas, where gender-based discrimination, unequal access to services and employment, trafficking into forced prostitution, and violence are more common than in cities. In June 2001 the nongovernmental Anti-Domestic Violence Network of China Law Society (ADVN) called for revisions to domestic violence provisions of the Marriage Law. The ADVN criticized the current Marriage Law for requiring victims of domestic violence to provide what the organization considers to be impossibly high standards of proof of long-term physical abuse.

Police typically subject suspected female sex workers to public "shaming" parades in violation of their rights of privacy and due process. Public criticism of the practice peaked after a widely publicized June 2010 incident in which police forced two suspected sex workers to walk bound and barefoot through the streets of Dongguan. On July 27, 2010, state media announced an official ban on the practice, although it remains uncertain whether it will be enforced.

Health

The Chinese government moved in 2010 to protect the rights of people with HIV/AIDS. On April 27, 2010, it lifted its 20-year-old entry ban on HIV-positive foreign visitors. And on August 30, 2010, an Anhui provincial court accepted China's first-ever job discrimination lawsuit on the grounds of HIV-positive status. In November the provincial court ruled against the defendant.

However, HIV/AIDS activists and nongovernmental advocacy organizations continued to face government harassment. In May 2010 Wan Yanhai, China's leading HIV/AIDS activist, fled to the United States, citing official harassment of his NGO, the Aizhixing Institute. On August 16, 2010, police in Henan province detained Tian Xi, a veteran HIV/AIDS rights activist pursuing state compensation for victims of the province's blood contamination scandal, on charges of "intentionally damaging property" after a minor altercation at a hospital. Tian faces up to three years in prison.

Government officials and security forces continue to incarcerate suspected users of illicit drugs without trial or judicial oversight in drug detention centers for up to six years under China's June 2008 Anti-Drug Law. Detainees in drug detention centers suffer widespread human rights abuses, including arbitrary detention, forced labor, physical violence, and denial of medical services, including evidence-based drug dependency treatment and treatment for HIV/AIDS.

China's rapid economic growth has led to widespread industrial pollution. The government is failing to address the public health repercussions resulting from severe environmental degradation. Lead has poisoned tens of thousands of Chinese children, many of whom suffer permanent physical and mental disabilities as a result. Despite Chinese and international law that purport to protect people from polluted and hazardous environments, Human Rights Watch research to be published next year shows that local governments across China have prioritized concealing the problem, turning children away from hospitals, refusing to test them for lead, and withholding or falsifying test results.

Freedom of Religion

Despite a constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion, China's government restricts spiritual expression to officially registered churches, mosques, monasteries, and temples. Religious personnel appointments require government approval. Religious publications and seminary applications are subject to official review. The government subjects employees, membership financial records, and activities of religious institutions to periodic audits. It deems all unregistered religious organizations illegal, including Protestant "house churches," whose members risk fines and criminal prosecution. Certain groups, including the Falun Gong, are seen as "evil cults," and their followers are subject to official harassment and intimidation.

Police and government officials raided a training session on law and theology organized by a Christian house church in Henan's Fangcheng County on March 11, 2010, and temporarily detained three attendees. On May 9, 2010, Guangzhou police broke up an outdoor house church service in a local park and later temporarily detained the church's leader for questioning. On October 10, 2010, Beijing International Airport immigration officials blocked five Protestant house church leaders from boarding planes en route to an international evangelical conference in South Africa.

Tibet

The Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and the neighboring Tibetan autonomous areas of Qinghai, Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan province, remained tense. The Chinese government gave no indication it would accommodate the aspirations of Tibetan people for greater autonomy, even within the narrow confines of the country's autonomy law on ethnic minorities' areas. There were no mass arrests in 2010 of the kind that followed the spring 2008 protests, but the government maintains a heavy security presence across the Tibetan plateau and continues to sharply curtail outside access to most Tibetan areas.

Tibetans suspected of being critical of political, religious, cultural, or economic state policies are targets for persecution. In June the 15-year sentence given to Karma Sandrup, a prominent art dealer and environmental philanthropist, on unfounded charges of "grave robbing" signaled a departure from the government's previous willingness to embrace economically successful Tibetan elites who abstained from political pursuits. Multiple due process violations marred the trial, including evidence the suspect and witnesses had been tortured.

In July 2010 the government rejected the findings of a comprehensive Human Rights Watch report, which established that China had broken international law in its handling of the 2008 protests. The report, based on eyewitness testimonies, detailed abuses committed by security forces during and after protests, including use of disproportionate force in breaking up protests, firing on unarmed protesters, conducting large-scale arbitrary arrests, brutalizing detainees, and torturing suspects in custody. The government accused Human Rights Watch of "fabricating material aimed at boosting the morale of anti-China forces, misleading the general public and vilifying the Chinese government," but failed to respond to any of the report's substantive allegations.

Xinjiang

The Urumqi riots of July 2009-the most lethal episode of ethnic unrest in recent Chinese history-continued to cast a shadow over developments in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. The government has not accounted for hundreds of persons detained after the riots, nor investigated serious allegations of torture and ill-treatment of detainees that have surfaced in testimonies of refugees and relatives living outside China. The few publicized trials of suspected rioters were marred by restrictions on legal representation, overt politicization of the judiciary, failure to publish public notification of the trials, and failure to hold genuinely open trials as mandated by law.

Pervasive ethnic discrimination against Uighurs and other ethnic minorities persisted, along with sharp curbs on religious and cultural expression and politically-motivated arrests under the guise of counterterrorism and anti-separatism efforts.

In April Beijing installed a new leader for the autonomous region, Zhang Chunxian, to preside over an ambitious economic overhaul. In May the first national Work Conference on Xinjiang unveiled numerous measures that are likely to rapidly transform the region into an economic hub but also risk further marginalizing ethnic minorities and accelerating migration of ethnic Han Chinese into the region.

By the end of 2011, 80 percent of traditional neighborhoods in the ancient Uighur city of Kashgar will have been razed. Many Uighur inhabitants have been forcibly evicted and relocated to make way for a new city likely to be dominated by the Han population.

Key International Actors

China's government became more brazen in thwarting international norms and opinion. In late December 2009 it successfully pressured Cambodia to forcibly return 20 Uighur asylum seekers, despite its record of torturing Uighurs and vocal opposition from the US and others. A few months later, when the US suspended a shipment of trucks to punish Cambodia for violating the 1951 Refugee Convention, China provided a comparable shipment within a few weeks.

The Chinese government also continued to obstruct international efforts to defend human rights by taking steps to derail growing international momentum for a commission of inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma. China's United Nations delegation also opposed the release of a UN report documenting use of Chinese ammunition in Darfur in violation of an arms embargo. The Chinese government has still not issued invitations to the UN high commissioner for human rights or a half-dozen other special rapporteurs who requested visits in the wake of the Tibet and Xinjiang protests.

Although more than a dozen countries continue to pursue human rights dialogues with the Chinese government, few of these opaque discussions produced meaningful outcomes in 2010. While most of these governments offered strong support for the Nobel Committee's choice of Liu Xiaobo as winner of the peace prize, many failed to seize other opportunities, such as conducting high-profile visits to China or meeting senior Chinese officials to raise human rights concerns.]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/449/china-human-rights-violators/ Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:45:43 +0000 Griper The Death Camp of Communist China http://www.gripezone.com/blog/448/the-death-camp-of-communist-china/
How very strange this last point is! In the West, we long ago gave up the idea that these people are actually supposed to carry out their jobs and should be personally responsible for their failure to do so.

What is most striking about these criticisms is how historically insular they appear in light of the modern history of China. This is a subject that is deeply painful, horrifying in its detail, highly instructive in helping us understand politics — and also puts into perspective these reports of recent troubles in China. It's a scandal, in fact, that few Westerners are even aware, or, if they are aware, they are not conscious, of the bloody reality that prevailed in China between the years 1949 and 1976, the years of communist rule by Mao Zedong.

How many died as a result of persecutions and the policies of Mao? Perhaps you care to guess? Many people over the years have attempted to guess. But they have always underestimated. As more data rolled in during the 1980s and 1990s, and specialists have devoted themselves to investigations and estimates, the figures have become ever more reliable. And yet they remain imprecise. What kind of error term are we talking about? It could be as low as 40 million. It could be as high as 100 million or more. In the Great Leap Forward from 1959 to 1961 alone, figures range between 20 million to 75 million. In the period before, 20 million. In the period after, tens of millions more.

As scholars in the area of mass death point out, most of us can't imagine 100 dead or 1000. Above that, we are just talking about statistics: they have no conceptual meaning for us, and it becomes a numbers game that distracts us from the horror itself. And there is only so much ghastly information that our brains can absorb, only so much blood we can imagine. And yet there is more to why China's communist experiment remains a hidden fact: it makes a decisive case against government power, one even more compelling than the cases of Russia or Germany in the 20th century.

The horror was foreshadowed in a bloody civil war following the Second World War. After some nine million people died, the communists emerged victorious in 1949, with Mao as the ruler. The land of Lao-Tzu (rhyme, rhythm, peace), Taoism (compassion, moderation, humility), and Confucianism (piety, social harmony, individual development) was seized by the strangest import to China ever: Marxism from Germany via Russia. It was an ideology that denied all logic, experience, economic law, property rights, and limits on the power of the state on grounds that these notions were merely bourgeois prejudices, and what we needed to transformed society was a cadre with all power to transform all things.

It's bizarre to think about it, really: posters of Marx and Lenin in China, of all places, and rule by an ideology of robbery, dictatorship, and death that did not come to an end until 1976. So spectacular has the transformation been in the last 25 years that one would hardly know that any of this ever happened, except that the Communist Party is still running the place while having tossed out the communist part.

The experiment began in the most bloody way possible following the second world war, when all Western eyes were focused on matters at home and, to the extent there was any foreign focus, it was on Russia. The "good guys" had won the war in China, or so we were led to believe in times when communism was the fashion.

The communization of China took place in the usual three stages: purge, plan, and scapegoat. First there was the purge to bring about communism. There were guerillas to kill and land to nationalize. The churches had to be destroyed. The counterrevolutionaries had to be put down. The violence began in the country and spread later to the cities. All peasants were first divided into four classes that were considered politically acceptable: poor, semi poor, average, and rich. Everyone else was considered a landowner and targeted for elimination. If no landowners could be found, the "rich" were often included in this group. The demonized class was ferreted out in a country-wide series of "bitterness meetings" in which people turned in their neighbors for owning property and being politically disloyal. Those who were so deemed were immediately executed along with those who sympathized with them.

The rule was that there had to be at least one person killed per village. The numbers killed is estimated to be between one and five million. In addition, another four to six million landowners were slaughtered for the crime of being capital owners. If anyone was suspected of hiding wealth, he or she was tortured with hot irons to confess. The families of the killed were then tortured and the graves of their ancestors looted and pillaged. What happened to the land? It was divided into tiny plots and distributed among the remaining peasants.]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/448/the-death-camp-of-communist-china/ Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:41:17 +0000 Griper Test http://www.gripezone.com/blog/372/test/ ]]> ]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/372/test/ Sun, 13 Nov 2011 14:02:57 +0000 Griper fix my state http://www.gripezone.com/blog/323/fix-my-state/ Who believes a wallstreet raider is going to do what is best for the little guy in the buckeye state? Well there had to be some cause he is the gov...]]> Who believes a wallstreet raider is going to do what is best for the little guy in the buckeye state? Well there had to be some cause he is the govenor now. I can;t wait for the recall push to begin, lets go! I was at the rally on tuesday in colubus and was glad to see a big turnout, upon returning to work on wend. and telling my union bros. about what I saw, I was layedoff that very day. Wow that was fast but construction work is picking up anyway.

]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/323/fix-my-state/ Sun, 06 Mar 2011 14:52:44 +0000 carl mcdonalds really has got rude. http://www.gripezone.com/blog/309/mcdonalds-really-has-got-rude/ What with their drive through? Ever freaking time you go through there and pull up to the speaker they are trying to tell you what to order! Whethe...]]> What with their drive through? Ever freaking time you go through there and pull up to the speaker they are trying to tell you what to order! Whether its automated or some person saying " Hello, would you like to try our piece of shit today? WTF? Give it a rest! I always respond with a NO! I think I will tell you what I am ordering!


Dumb asses!

]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/309/mcdonalds-really-has-got-rude/ Mon, 07 Feb 2011 14:41:34 +0000 Griper Birds from the sky http://www.gripezone.com/blog/284/birds-from-the-sky/ What is the government doing that is killing birds in the thousand and fish as well? Hiding something?

]]> What is the government doing that is killing birds in the thousand and fish as well? Hiding something?

]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/284/birds-from-the-sky/ Thu, 13 Jan 2011 00:53:39 +0000 Jeff <![CDATA[Senate agreed to lift the "don't ask, don't tell]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/272/senate-agreed-to-lift-the-quot-dont-ask-dont-tell/ Wow, Lets keep the country moving downhill. I am sick of the so called political correctness. What is wrong is wrong. PERIOD! Sick of people thinki...]]> Wow, Lets keep the country moving downhill. I am sick of the so called political correctness. What is wrong is wrong. PERIOD! Sick of people thinking that this behavior is OK and calling people who disagree bigots. Whats next? Are you going to call one a bigot because he/she wants to marry or have sex with a goat? Where are my rights when I have to see two gays intimate in a public place and want to barf?


How thes idiots voted!


The 65-31 roll call Saturday by which the Senate agreed to lift the "don't ask, don't tell" policy prohibiting gays from serving openly in the armed forces.


A "yes" vote is a vote to repeal the policy and to allow gays to serve openly.


Voting yes were 55 Democrats, 8 Republicans and 2 independents.


Voting no were 0 Democrats and 31 Republicans.


ALABAMA


Sessions (R), No; Shelby (R), No.


ALASKA


Begich (D), Yes; Murkowski (R), Yes.


ARIZONA


Kyl (R), No; McCain (R), No.


ARKANSAS


Lincoln (D), Yes; Pryor (D), Yes.


CALIFORNIA


Boxer (D), Yes; Feinstein (D), Yes.


COLORADO


Bennet (D), Yes; Udall (D), Yes.


CONNECTICUT


Dodd (D), Yes; Lieberman (I), Yes.


DELAWARE


Carper (D), Yes; Coons (D), Yes.


FLORIDA


LeMieux (R), No; Nelson (D), Yes.


GEORGIA


Chambliss (R), No; Isakson (R), No.


HAWAII


Akaka (D), Yes; Inouye (D), Yes.


IDAHO


Crapo (R), No; Risch (R), No.


ILLINOIS


Durbin (D), Yes; Kirk (R), Yes.


INDIANA


Bayh (D), Yes; Lugar (R), No.


IOWA


Grassley (R), No; Harkin (D), Yes.


KANSAS


Brownback (R), No; Roberts (R), No.


KENTUCKY


Bunning (R), Not Voting; McConnell (R), No.


LOUISIANA


Landrieu (D), Yes; Vitter (R), No.


MAINE


Collins (R), Yes; Snowe (R), Yes.


MARYLAND


Cardin (D), Yes; Mikulski (D), Yes.


MASSACHUSETTS


Brown (R), Yes; Kerry (D), Yes.


MICHIGAN


Levin (D), Yes; Stabenow (D), Yes.


MINNESOTA


Franken (D), Yes; Klobuchar (D), Yes.


MISSISSIPPI


Cochran (R), No; Wicker (R), No.


MISSOURI


Bond (R), No; McCaskill (D), Yes.


MONTANA


Baucus (D), Yes; Tester (D), Yes.


NEBRASKA


Johanns (R), No; Nelson (D), Yes.


NEVADA


Ensign (R), Yes; Reid (D), Yes.


NEW HAMPSHIRE


Gregg (R), Not Voting; Shaheen (D), Yes.


NEW JERSEY


Lautenberg (D), Yes; Menendez (D), Yes.


NEW MEXICO


Bingaman (D), Yes; Udall (D), Yes.


NEW YORK


Gillibrand (D), Yes; Schumer (D), Yes.


NORTH CAROLINA


Burr (R), Yes; Hagan (D), Yes.


NORTH DAKOTA


Conrad (D), Yes; Dorgan (D), Yes.


OHIO


Brown (D), Yes; Voinovich (R), Yes.


OKLAHOMA


Coburn (R), No; Inhofe (R), No.


OREGON


Merkley (D), Yes; Wyden (D), Yes.


PENNSYLVANIA


Casey (D), Yes; Specter (D), Yes.


RHODE ISLAND


Reed (D), Yes; Whitehouse (D), Yes.


SOUTH CAROLINA


DeMint (R), No; Graham (R), No.


SOUTH DAKOTA


Johnson (D), Yes; Thune (R), No.


TENNESSEE


Alexander (R), No; Corker (R), No.


TEXAS


Cornyn (R), No; Hutchison (R), No.


UTAH


Bennett (R), No; Hatch (R), Not Voting.


VERMONT


Leahy (D), Yes; Sanders (I), Yes.


VIRGINIA


Warner (D), Yes; Webb (D), Yes.


WASHINGTON


Cantwell (D), Yes; Murray (D), Yes.


WEST VIRGINIA


Manchin (D), Not Voting; Rockefeller (D), Yes.


WISCONSIN


Feingold (D), Yes; Kohl (D), Yes.


WYOMING


Barrasso (R), No; Enzi (R), No.

]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/272/senate-agreed-to-lift-the-quot-dont-ask-dont-tell/ Sun, 19 Dec 2010 11:32:58 +0000 Attitude Christ is The Reason for the Christ-mas http://www.gripezone.com/blog/269/christ-is-the-reason-for-the-christ-mas/ Twas the month before Christmas*


*When all through our land,*



*Not a Christian was praying*



*Nor taking a stand.*



*See the PC Police had taken away,*



*The reason for Christmas - no one could say.*



*The children were told by their schools not to sing,*



*About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.*



*It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say*



* December 25th is just a ' Holiday '.*



*Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit*



*Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!*



*CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod*



*Something was changing, something quite odd! *



*Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa*



*In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda..*



*As Targets were hanging their trees upside down*



* At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.*



*At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears*



*You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.*



*Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-is-ty*



*Are words that were used to intimidate me.*



*Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen*



*On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton !*



*At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter*



*To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.*



*And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith*



* Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace*



*The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded*



*The reason for the season, stopped before it started.*



*So as you celebrate 'Winter Break' under your 'Dream Tree'*



*Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.*



*Choose your words carefully, choose what you say*



*Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS ,



Not Happy Holiday !*



Please, all Christians join together and



Wish everyone you meet during the



Holidays a



MERRY CHRISTMAS



Christ is The Reason for the Christ-mas Season!
]]> http://www.gripezone.com/blog/269/christ-is-the-reason-for-the-christ-mas/ Thu, 09 Dec 2010 22:25:48 +0000 Griper