China Rising To Mediocrity

Maybe Fat Axl was onto something when he took the better part of an eon to finally release "Chinese Democracy". Much hoopla has been made over China's rapidly developing economy and rising middle class. It seems some of the laborers want a piece of the pie as well. A scene from the protest at the Nerf Factory in Guangdong Province [USA Today]:

The workers battled security guards, turned over a police car, smashed the headlights of police motorcycles and forced their way through the factory's front gate, Guo said. They went on a rampage in the plant's offices, damaging 10 computers, the company said.

The account was confirmed Wednesday by several of the 200 or so jobless laborers peacefully milling around the street in front of the four-story factory complex covered in soot-stained white and green tiles. Small groups of workers inside the factory pressed against glass windows and stared at the crowd below. When their shift ended, they flooded into the streets and mixed with the angry workers.

And another protest the following week in Beijing[AP]:

About 300 taxi drivers went on strike in a southern Chinese city, smashing cars and demanding a crackdown on unlicensed taxis in the latest protest against illegal taxi competition in China.

Meh. Once China has hordes of people demanding big-screen TVs and government money for the mortgages they couldn't pay, you'll know that true democracy has finally taken place.