On Chinese Goods

As most of you are aware Chinese companies have been having some quality control problems as of late. The fact that some products they are manufacturing have quality issues really isn't terribly surprising on many levels.

What bothers me are the excuses put forward by government officials. China for all intents and purposes is one massive cartel, controlled by a few for the benefit of a few.

Regardless, anyone with common sense knows that a government that doesn't care about it's own people is not going to have a lot of concern to the well-being of foreigners. That being the case, any company that slaps it's name on a product is ultimately responsible for the quality of that product.

And let's be honest with ourselves, it is just as easy to produce crap in Canada as it is in China.

The Grim Endpoint Of Public Healthcare

Over in Britian we have a story that chills me to my bones:

A baby at the centre of a landmark case over whether life support can be withdrawn has an "intolerable life", the High Court has heard.

Baby MB, who cannot be named, has spinal muscular atrophy - a genetic condition which leads to almost total paralysis - and cannot breathe unaided.

Doctors treating the 17-month-old say it is in his best interests to withdraw ventilation and to let him die.

But his family says he has a reasonable quality of life and should stay alive.

They feel he can recognise and respond to them, and that he gains enjoyment from spending time with his family.

You heard that right. A family has to go to court to prevent a doctor from killing their 17-month old son!

I'm sure it isn't uncommon for a doctor to develope some sort of God complex but this is plain nuts. For a doctor, a fully grown adult I might add, to tell a child's parents that the child wants to die seems to me to be the stuff of some sick horror story.

And to think that the parents have to sit in a courtroom and listen to this is plain sickening.