Dear Jiang Yu and Liu Jianchao

Dear Jiang Yu and Liu Jianchao,

I hear that you are Chinese Foreign Ministry spokespersons who are demanding an apology from CNN because of something commentator Jack Cafferty said. A Reuters article by Lindsay Beck says,

Cafferty had said the United States imported Chinese-made “junk with the lead paint on them and the poisoned pet food,” adding: “They’re basically the same bunch of goons and thugs they’ve been for the last 50 years.”

You should know that in this country our news and entertainment organizations are independent of the government and can pretty much say whatever they want, so when you lodged a “formal complaint,” whatever that means, it didn’t really accomplish anything.

Also, regarding the following,

“Those in the field of journalism should abide by their morals. They don’t have the privilege to rail against or slander other people or other governments,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement.

Again, you should know that in this country we don’t have a concept of slandering the government.

Also, when it comes to slander, truth is an absolute defense, and you did send us poisoned goods, and you are a bunch of goons and thugs.

To summarize: Bite me.

Sincerely,

Mark Draughn, Chicago, 2008