“We demand that the government severely punish the killers who caused the collapse of the levees.

Please everyone sign the petition so we can find out the truth.”

The crowd grew more agitated. Some parents said local officials had known for years that the levees were unsafe but refused to take action. Others recalled that two hours passed before rescue workers showed up.

“The people responsible for this should be brought here and have a bullet put in their head.” Said a parent holding a photo of his 16 year old daughter.

New Orleans?

Actually, China. I substituted the word “levees” for “schools.”

This came from the front page of today’s New York Times. The topic is the anger of Chinese citizens against the government for knowingly allowing unsafe infrastructure that resulting in the death of thousands of people.

“Bullet in the head” for the people responsible? Rough justice in old China.

And imagine. They had to wait two whole hours for relief workers to show up.

This is not to minimize the horror and tragedy of what happened in China – and Burma. It is meant to show that even in countries overtly ruled by gun thugs, people have retained their common sense and sense of outrage, something apparently lost in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave.