[Vigilanteman]

These little settlements might have television and electricity, but many still do not have telephones - a sign that China's economic miracle has yet to reach some of the country's rural areas.

If the overlords in Beijing used their Wal-Mart earnings in deveolping the rural areas rather than advancing missile technology and a blue water navy, nobody would starve.

[highlander_UW]

If the overlords in Beijing used their Wal-Mart earnings in deveolping the rural areas rather than advancing missile technology and a blue water navy, nobody would starve.

I'm not defending the communist Chinese government. They are rife with abuse as any centralized government is and maybe worse than most. What I'm pointing out is that it's cold to wish death on some poor abused rural farmer whose only concern is his dried up garden so that the world might view the Chinese government as the abusive thing it is.