Marvelous example of why we don't need to worry that much about China

Ok, the AXE is trying to blog wirelessly at Las Vegas world's least likely to be on time airport while waiting to depart for the Shire of Ectopia. Glancing at the journal, I saw this bit.  There seems to be some confusion about whether or not to report the incidence of bird flu in rural China. Seems they don't have the memo..."The central government was quite upset from receiving information late from local officials," said the person, who has spoken with officials at the ministry. "They weren't happy."Mao Qunan, spokesman for the Ministry of Health, said there is no sign that provincial authorities are actively suppressing information about confirmed human cases of bird flu. Instead, he said the problem has been that some hospitals haven't been reporting cases of severe pneumonia in which the cause isn't known and could be the deadly strain of avian influenza known as H5N1."The hospitals in the rural areas are not timely," he said, "because they don't realize the cases are very important and need to be reported to the ministry."

Got it. The most paranoid bureaucracy in the world driven by compulsive control freaks and the hospitals in rural China aren't reporting. Now, health care in China is a debacle; still, one does wonder. Especially since they started clinical trials on the vaccine four or so months ago there...

Top down driven, dispute-adverse, risk-avoiding Hobbitacracies -- like China, Dod, DHS, and Republican party do not do well in this world. China is right at the top of the list for good reason.
Although Cheney's office is not far behind...and Cheney in a Mao Jacket is a neat image...