A Texas Tech fraternity is being put on probation for selling over 300 t-shirts of a Tech player wearing a number 7 jersey, hanging the Texas A&M dog mascot by its leash, mimicking the A&M catch-phrase of "Gig 'em!"
I'm not sure if I'll have the blog about it done this week, but this will absolutely earn this fraternity an award from the administration of Ronald Reagan University--the country's first CONSERVATIVE Arts College...
Just a teaser...
Change of Pace...
I know that you generally don't look to the same people who just spoke the merits of the OC and 90210 (much less someone who just advocated a "Vick 'em" t-shirt) for information on the socioeconomic disaster that is China...but what can I say? I'm a renaissance man.
The Book...
I just finished reading "The Coming China Wars" by Peter Navarro (a Harvard economist now teaching at UCI Business School).
Here's the thing: I don't read this kind of stuff, but I heard the guy speak at a conference and thought I'd give it a whirl. And it has absolutely blown my mind.
You all NEED to read this book. I promise that it will forever change the way you get out of bed in the morning. I assume that a few of you are better informed, but knowing the people that read this drivel every morning, I assume that most of you looked at China the way that I did--like the Boston College of World Powers. (Ranked highly despite the lack of a difficult schedule...and bound for an inevitable test that could send them to #1 or #25 in about 15 minutes...)
What I didn't know is that China is where Satan has planted himself for the forseeable future. I mean--what a place! There is acid rain falling from the sky that people hope kills the infection running around the land. There is corruption at the top that allows for the drug-trade at the bottom. It is quite literally hell on Earth--just with a lot more of those hats that Raidan wore in Mortal Kombat.
Here is a quick run-down (chapter by chapter):
Chapter 1: The China Price
Basically--if you make it in the US, they can make it cheaper, and will because of a virtually free labor force and a government obsessed with growth.
Remember in Pro Wrestling when Hulk Hogan used to get his ass kicked every match and then come back and win in the end because the deck was stacked against the other guy? Kind of the same thing here. No matter what US Producers do, they can't win.
Chapter 2: China's Counterfeit Economy
Yes, they produce more than half of the world's DVDs in an illegal fashion--but far more concerning is that 10% of the prescription drugs in the world are phony (and from China.)
Note: Be CAREFUL when you buy the "Morning After Pill" online...it is likely comprised of chalk and...uh...chalk.
Chapter 3: Killing Us (and Them) Softly with their Coal
China pollutes enough to pollute the sky in AMERICA.
Moral: Don't bother waiting three months for a hybrid-car. While you may get an adoring nod from Cameron Diaz and Larry David, you'll do so as you breathe China's national fart.
Chapter 4: The "Blood for Oil" Wars--The Sum of All Chinese Fears
China needs a lot of oil. A LOT of oil...and they don't really have any.
(Oh--and they have a nuclear Arsenio big enough to put a hole in Venus.)
You know the weird Mormon family with the cement bunker in their house? May want to think about buddying-up with them...
Chapter 5: The "New Imperialist" Wars and Weapons of Mass Construction
China has basically blackmailed every African, South American and Central American country, robbing them of their natural resources.
Look...cool is cool...but I don't want anything to do with a country tough enough to blackmail Castro AND Mr. Eko.
Chapter 6: The 21st-century Opium Wars--The World's Emporer of "Precursor" Chemicals
Doing coke, crack, LSD, ecstacy or PCP, it is probably comprised of components created in China and smuggled illegally through its borders (while the government turns its head.)
YEAH! These rice-munchers sure know how to party!
Chapter 7: The Damnable Dam Wars and Drums along the Mekong
China has basically dammed up every river within its borders 1000 times over and most are built with second-rate components.
Someone call Steve Carell...
Chapter 8: The Bread and Water Wars--Nary a (Clean) Drop to Drink
No environmental standards and dammed (not to mention damned) rivers that the country will be out of clean water before Britney sees her kids again.
You know what feels great after a long workout? A nice hot shower in sewage and toxic waste.
Chapter 9: China's Wars from Within--The Dragon Comes Apart at the Seams
There is so much corruption and out and out theft within the Chinese government and so many plains-folk with pitch-fork that something is going to give eventually.
Who's up for Sweet and Sour Aristocracy?
Chapter 10: Of "Bloodheads", Gray Dragons and Other "Ticking Time Bombs"
The medical care in China are virtually non-existent. Oh--and with an added bonus of a national policy that allows one child. Most of those are men (for a lot of reasons). No men? Women go into prostitution. No money for prostitution? Men have sex with men. Oh--add to that an enherent lack of condoms and twenty years of rebel blood donation and you've got a small climate for immuno problems.
I knew that Chinese boy I fell in love with was too good to be true...
Chapter 11: How to fight--And Win!--The Coming China Wars
Not going to spoil it...it reads like a fiction novel--just with the added bonus of not having to imagine anything.
Long and short:
China doesn't give a you know what about anyone (particularly themselves.)
Check it out though...great book.
Back to useless rants about college sports and guys who leave the house with their collars up tomorrow.
I read now...so email me: mcflyblogs@gmail.com
2 comments:
You want to know the scariest part about China? They have a university that would hire one Michael Weed to TEACH conversational english. I couldn't make that one up myself.
Good blog today. Since you summarized the book, I think I'll just buy it for cheap off the black market instead of paying retail price at the bookstore. I think it's time for an overrated/underrated blog. My new underrated: grilled cheese sandwiches and strawberry milk. Too bad you don't like dairy
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