Thoughts on an execution

I really thought I had misread the New York Times article headline last week when it read "China Executes Food & Drug Offical." I thought it was a typo. But no, they actually executed the man for taking bribes to approve substandard medicines. I find it chilling that they won't say how the guy was executed. China sees this as showing the rest of the world that they are serious about being tough on the substandard (and downright lethal) products that have made their way into the trade stream with the US. (By the way, anyone else think this "tainted products from China" bit is an interesting quick fix for the trade deficit? Conspiracy theory, anyone?) China seems not to realize that this just makes them seem, well, completely barbaric. On the other hand, if this is the fate due a government official who's taking bribes, then the same standard perhaps should apply to Jeffrey Skilling, Ken Lay, Scooter Libby and Dick Cheney. This is admittedly appealing.