Hello Kitty Will Have Her Revenge On Hu Jintao
May 20th, 2007 at 11:58 am by Smantix
The ghost of Upton Sinclair could have written this story in the Washington Post today about tainted Chinese food imports that aims for your head but instead plants a massive bacterial infection in your lower intestine:
China’s less-than-stellar behavior as a food exporter is revealed in stomach-turning detail in FDA “refusal reports” filed by U.S. inspectors: Juices and fruits rejected as “filthy.” Prunes tinted with chemical dyes not approved for human consumption. Frozen breaded shrimp preserved with nitrofuran, an antibacterial that can cause cancer. Swordfish rejected as “poisonous.”
No word as to the MSG content. And not to fearmonger but it can always get worse:
Despite those violations, the Chinese government is on track to get permission to legally export its chickens to the United States — a prospect that has raised concern not only because of fears of bacteria such as salmonella but also because Chinese chickens, if not properly processed, could be a source of avian flu, which public-health authorities fear may be poised to trigger a human pandemic.
[...]
given repeated findings of unsanitary conditions at China’s chicken slaughterhouses. Corbo said he has seen some of those audits. “Everyone who has seen them was grossed out,” he said.
You can have a multi-billion dollar trade deficit with us. Close off your markets to our goods. Steal copyrighted material, kill our pets, put antifreeze in our toothpaste, and all this time we’ve only been worried about getting too much Hello Kitty in our General Tsao.
But, and with apologies to Merle Haggard, when you’re talking ’bout my grilled chicken, boy, you’re walking on the fightin’ side of our fat asses. Good thing we have our priorities straight.
May 20th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Thanks a lot Smantix. That just about quashed my hunger for Chinese food for, well, just about forever.
Oh yeah. I’ll probably go the rest of my life without brushing my teeth as well. I might as well pull up stakes and move to Tennessee now…
May 20th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Now, now. No need to do something rash.
How about we make a deal and we just forward Sharon to you?
May 20th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
OK…but only for a weekend (long enough to rip all the tunes off her MP3).
But I’m shipping her back the moment she mentions the greatness of Michael Moore…
May 20th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
How long until the Chinese scream foul play or racism?
I don’t think this economic juggernaut will ever take over until they got their internal corruption under control.
At least in the Good ol’ U.S.A. our corrupt politicians also own real estate and industry thereby using their self-enriching pork to actually create jobs.
The Chinese gov’t strikes me as the Third-world buy-me-a-hacienda-on-the-Riviera type.
May 20th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
It hasn’t been given much media play in the US but there have been two big complaints filed by the US against China related to the WTO and Chinese business men banded together to purchase $16 billion worth of US products at once as a sign of their commitment to remedy their constant devaluation of the yuan and out staggering $230+Billion trade deficit.
It’s about time they learned that the customer is always right.
May 20th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
Billy–One weekend with me, and you’d never want to send me back!
Smantix–Feel free to “Forward” me to other single men in my age range. I’m a looking for my next ex.
Okay. About China. Y’all need to know that on top of everything Smantix mentioned, they are the #1 supporter of the Sudanese Government, whose Arab-Islamic regime is committing the genocide in Darfur.
For all of the reasons listed, Americans should boycott all products with China.
May 21st, 2007 at 2:26 am
“I’m a looking for my next ex.”
Hey that’s my line! I stole it from Jurassic Park though.
May 21st, 2007 at 5:06 pm
I’ve been using that line for decades. Actually, the first time I used it was introducing my now 2nd ex husband as my next ex husband before we were married.
It’s not that I’m cynical about marriage…
Anyhow, I’m not sure where I first heard that expression.
May 21st, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Sorry Sharon – but it looks like the only way we’re going to be able to keep somebody from sending you back is if we stamp “Made In China” on your backside.
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:51 am
Oh man. I’m boycotting China. Couldn’t you stamp me with something more politically correct, or at least, ‘Return To Sender?’
May 22nd, 2007 at 4:55 am
Speaking of MSG, I hope y’all aware that KFC is selling more MSG than actual chicken, so to speak, and that it’s highly addictive.
What does the FDA do about that?
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:34 am
Mitch–that sounds like nonsense to me. I had KFC the other day, and MSG doesn’t look or taste much like meat. When you say “more” are you talking by weight, by volume, or are they charging me for big piles of MSG that they are throwing in the dumpster? Because if it’s the latter, I’d rather get it in a bucket and take it home. Maybe if I can collect enough I can mix it with some other stuff and use it for spackle.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:01 am
Little bit confused with relativity of pop culture reference. Hello Kitty is a Japanese invention.
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:09 am
Thanks for the tip, Mitch…that would explain why my floor is littered with chicken bones. I was wondering why I can’t stop eating chicken. And the grease build-up on my keyboard is absolutely disgusting…
Which chapter of PETA do you belong to?
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:11 am
Hello Kitty is Japanese, not Chinese, of course, so is the headline some sort of elaborate smackdown of East Asian trade politics? Japanese culture will conquer the Chinese government through better export standards?
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:36 am
Ummmmm,
Um, try not to over think this. OK?
May 22nd, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Remember when Walmart sold USA only? Now it is a lot of product from China.
How well is the World Economy working?
May 22nd, 2007 at 1:12 pm
Cranky,
Good idea. Because if you think about it at all, the Hello Kitty reference makes no sense.
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:27 pm
Obviously this is not a place for strict constructionists like Ummmm. Thanks for telling us what we already knew/didn’t care about. Next thing we know, you’ll be telling us that water is an inanimate object.
This does remind me of one of my favorite All in the Family episodes.
Meathead was beating up on Archie for his lack of cultural knowledge. Meathead said that Archie probably couldn’t tell the difference between a Japanese and a Chinese person.
Archie disagreed. To prove his point, Archie said something like, “I’d just line ‘em up next to each other and say ‘Now which one of you’s is the Chink?’”
Classic.
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Uh, I’m pretty sure Prestone is a registered trademark. They won’t appreciate the false implication that their product found its way into Chinese toothpaste.
Just sayin’.
May 22nd, 2007 at 4:10 pm
Normally, I’d assume that Some Guy is being snarky. But with this crowd, it’s hard to say.
May 22nd, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Well- it seems to me that whenever we make comments that purport to discuss meaningful policy, in this case, sounding some sort of alert to avoid any foods imported from China, it is not terribly unreasonable to listen to a “strict constructionist() like Ummmm”, who might actually know something about the Far East- beyond what you learn reading Michelle Malkin’s fulminating blog entries about immigration. And this is not about PC hypersensitivity, it is, to quote Professor Harold Hill, “knowing the territory” before coming off as an idiot.
Suppose the Japanese decided to shut down all trade with North America based on getting a load of contaminated crude oil from PemEx, and the inference was that the inspectors had skipped checking out that load because it was siesta time. Wouldn’t you: 1) react to the ugly stereotype about Mexicans; 2) protest that Cisco Systems and Pfizer have no connection whatever with Mexican crude oil; and 3) say that Mexico, Canada, and the US are simply not one amorphous mass of “North America, they are in fact very distinct?
Lumping all of East Asia, which is bigger than North America, into one big undifferentiated chunk (where most other members have historic enmity with Japan) is a greater sin.
May 22nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Geez, are these Instapundit readers? When did they get all lame?
May 22nd, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Ah, the slippery slope of the instalanche.
Though I’m not averse to the double, triple, or even the life-threatening quadruple entendre, it is what it is.
I won’t be attempting to hold your shaking hands through it or pat your white knuckled, keyboard pounding fists of rage at my role as the Occidental Tourist.
You may take your Chicom loving soliloquies on the historical origins of Hello Kitty elsewhere.
May 22nd, 2007 at 7:03 pm
Don’t blame Insty. All he does is send them. Their cognitive abilities and lacking senses of humor are entirely their own.
Indeed.
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:29 pm
ching chong ching dong hai karate
why is everybody so mad
chow fun ching sushi chong
chinese japanese what’s the difference
ching chong domo arigato mr roboto
the real enemy is george bush and america
May 22nd, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Rosie:
I was under the impression that this blog was inhabited by adults. How did you get in?
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:12 pm
shelly
wtc7.com
google it
off to torment elisabeth now
bye
May 23rd, 2007 at 5:49 am
I’m missing what’s going on in this thread.
Well, crap. Looks like I’m going to have to lose some weight so I can get by on my looks again, because this getting by on my brains thingie isn’t working out for me.
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:40 am
Good idea Sharon, call us when you are looking dangerous. Nothing like a slim woman to get some attention. Especially if she retains some of the weight in the right places.
Go for it.
May 23rd, 2007 at 10:24 am
“You may take your Chicom loving soliloquies on the historical origins of Hello Kitty elsewhere.
comment by Smantix —”
Speaking of lacking senses of humor…. it is quite possible to be genuinely funny (Buckley, in “The Unmaking of a Mayor”, most anything by Scrappleface’s Scott Ott) and still not betray the sort of knuckle-dragging willful ignorance and rhetorical excesses delightfully pointed out by the left, when caught in obvious factual and logical errors.
It is even possible to disseminate funny sophomoric humor without acting like a sophomore (e.g., Jonah Goldberg). It does seem to be difficult here to acknowledge a dumb statement and comment (Hello Kitty and Chinese exports, etc.) in any sort of self-deprecating manner.
Anyone who has actually visited Shanghai recently understands that whatever dishonest, severe authoritarian, anti-religious, megalomania, rampantly corrupt, etc., characteristics properly describe the Chinese government these days (the above all fit), “Communist” doesn’t really work. In many ways, the EC bureaucrats in Brussels are more communist than the Chinese.
May 23rd, 2007 at 10:41 am
Dammit Smantix, just say you’re sorry for the Hello Kitty gaffe!
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:00 am
There’s more than one reason that Insty shut off the comments on his blog.
May 23rd, 2007 at 11:07 am
Crisis averted! Beijing called, they’re standing down.
Return to DEFCON 2
May 23rd, 2007 at 1:40 pm
Mr. Holmes,
Am I still allowed to “disseminate funny sophomoric humor” WHILE STILL acting like a sophomore?
That’s all I have. I’m off to find Smantix and give him a wedgie…
May 23rd, 2007 at 7:03 pm
And what party does Hu Jintao belong to again? Oh yea, now I remember. So much choice in a single party state. Truly illiberating.
Obviously, communism is practically dead in China! Brilliant observation.
Regardless, the idea of poisonous Chinese products being labeled with a Hello Kitty skull and crossbones just tickled my ribs. Your ribs, however, are not my concern.
Now, in the manner befitting a true Man of The World ™ such as yourself, I will be running over your Tiananmen-like opposition to my reference with the enlightened Shanghai tank of my Closed Comments button.
Dasvedanya, Komrade Kurmudge.