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China Environment Ministry Calls Itself One of Four Worst Departments In World

hackingbear writes "According to the Telegraph, 'Zhou Shengxian was quoted by state media as saying: "I've heard that there are four major embarrassing departments in the world and that China's ministry of environmental protection is one of them." Mr Zhou, an economist and veteran Communist Party member, blamed his ministry's malfunctions on "overlapping" remits, which confused the agency's role in handling issues such as carbon emissions and water monitoring. The minister made no mention of the other three most embarrassing departments but Chinese micro-bloggers were quick to weigh in with their suggestions.' Those suggestions including the navy of China's landlocked neighbour, Mongolia, Taiwan's foreign ministry, and China's petitioning department where officials are tasked with hearing and acting on the grievances of ordinary Chinese but can't handle/solve anything. Perhaps Zhou's department should be applauded for its honesty. What are your list of the other three most embarrassing departments in our world?"

32 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Door was left wide open there by DJ+Jones · · Score: 5, Funny

    Slashdot's User Interface Design Department

    1. Re:Door was left wide open there by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      Are you kidding? Yahoo. Case closed.

    2. Re:Door was left wide open there by Kjella · · Score: 2

      They'd have to have one first, I heard a wild rumor that they had one in the 90s but I think it's just an urban legend. If they once did I'm pretty sure they got laid off before I joined.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  2. My list by g0bshiTe · · Score: 2

    DMV would be number ONE!

    --
    I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
    1. Re:My list by i+kan+reed · · Score: 2

      I haven't physically had to enter a DMV since I got my license years ago. I handle everything necessary through online systems. I won't have to be back in one till my license picture is invalid.

    2. Re:My list by Russ1642 · · Score: 2

      I moved from BC to Alberta over a decade ago. In BC there were DMV offices that were run by the Patty and Selma's of the world. Here in Alberta they have privately run registries. Wow, what a difference it makes. In and out in under five minutes. Nobody growling at you. It's great.

    3. Re:My list by egamma · · Score: 2

      Are you claiming that superstition and white-male supremacy are not compelling? They sure seem to move ignorant, bigoted voters.

      ...because superstition and white-male supremacy are the reason that Obama won the past two elections? I'm not sure I follow. Or are you saying that you yourself are ignorant, and bigoted against white males, and that's why you voted for Obama?

    4. Re:My list by dk20 · · Score: 2

      Come to Ontario. We have both the old school government "patty and Selma" and new "privatized" ones.
      We also had "service kiosks" where you could get ripped off for your $75 license plate sticker without being spoken to in a condescending way by someone making twice what you do for sitting at that desk.
      The Kiosk use to actually charge you a $1 "convenience fee" for saving the government money by not using their resources (only government could do something like this, most places would offer a discount for doing it yourself).
      Anyhow the kiosks were closed due to "security concerns".
      Now your choices are:
      - to hit and miss (selma or a private org)
      - do it online.
      Since the government site is so terribly designed they take about the same amount of time. It is SERIOUSLY bad. You go there and enter your postal code. It then takes you to new page to validate this and select the address which matches you code. You then go back to the main page to continue adding your address.

  3. LOL ... by gstoddart · · Score: 2

    Wow, a landlocked navy and a complaints department that can't do anything.

    Glad to see that China suffers under the same bureaucratic crap as the rest of the world. Possibly even more.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:LOL ... by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Insightful

      (Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region (some kind of province) in China.)

      What China officially calls an "autonomous region" has little bearing on reality.

      Tibet is, according to that designation, an Autonomous Region -- and in practice, there's no autonomy whatsoever from the Chinese government.

      Just because it's part of official propaganda doesn't mean you should take it on face value.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    2. Re:LOL ... by osu-neko · · Score: 2

      Just because it's part of official propaganda doesn't mean you should take it on face value.

      They weren't. They were pointing out that the Mongolia being referred to in the story is the independent country that's not a part of China, and making the distinction between the two Mongolias without getting bogged down in a discussion of internal Chinese politics that would be utterly irrelevant to the point being made.

      --
      "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  4. For those to lazy to read the article by schneidafunk · · Score: 2

    I found this paragraph particularly fascinating:

    "The environment minister's admission came as a new study claimed that severe air pollution in northern China had slashed life expectancies there by more than five years compared to the south, potentially robbing 500 million Chinese of a total of 2.5 billion years of life"

    --
    Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75. -Benjamin Franklin
    1. Re:For those to lazy to read the article by TheRon6 · · Score: 4, Funny

      How appalling! Has anyone reported this to China's Petitioning Depart-... oh wait.

      --
      Does this rag smell like chloroform to you?
  5. In totally unrelated news.... by sasquatch989 · · Score: 2

    Zhou Shengxian was found dead by what Chinese officials are claiming is suicide

    1. Re:In totally unrelated news.... by sasquatch989 · · Score: 2

      If they are using ip addresses of 344.13.1003.86 then yes

  6. Easy by Antipater · · Score: 5, Funny

    The US Departments of Commerce, Education and the -- what's the third one there? Let's see. ... OK. So Commerce, Education and the -- ... The third worst department I think -- I would have to say it's the Education, the ... Commerce and -- let's see -- I can't. The third one, I can't. Sorry. Oops.

    --
    Everything is better with chainsaws.
    1. Re:Easy by dkleinsc · · Score: 2

      For those missing the joke: original

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  7. Most embarrassing department in the world by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    That would have to be the United Nations. A black hole when it comes to funds. A lot of pomp and circumstance, but very little action.

    1. Re:Most embarrassing department in the world by Teancum · · Score: 2

      Is there any provision in the charter for adding/removing permanent security council members?

      Yes, and it has happened. On Oct. 25, 1971, Taiwan was kicked out of the security council and replaced with the People's Republic of China.

      Technically all that happened is that the "People's Republic of China" with the representatives from Beijing were recognized as the legitimate government and the "Republic of China" representatives from Taipei were ignored as merely provincial leaders (aka like a state governor's representative). It wasn't a real change of membership.

      The Soviet Union has been pushing for this for some time, and when America gave in to the idea, the UK basically rubber stamping the US decision, it was up to France to make the final veto to make the change. France decided to side with the Soviet Union (not much of a surprise at that even) so the change happened. The rest of the General Assembly wasn't even going to object too strongly with all of the rest of the permanent members going along with this idea, and nobody was going to stand up to keeping the "Republic of China" as the "lawful" government of the whole of China.

      The whole notion was that China was such a large country that it simply needed to be one of those big guys, and at the end of World War II the leadership of China was still up in the air with Chiang Kai-shek's government nominally still recognized as the official government of the whole country, even when they ended up retreating to Taiwan after a bloody civil war against the communists. I'll note that even today both Chinese governments claim to be the lawful government of the whole of China, both claiming that Taiwan is merely one of the provinces of the much larger country. That the "Republic of China" really only effectively controls Taiwan and that the "People's Republic of China" is powerless to act as a government on Taiwan or enforce laws there is irrelevant.

      Essentially, all that happened in 1971 is that the UN finally recognized that a coup d'état took place in China and that the current government was in fact the communists. It wasn't really changing membership, but rather governments of one country or rather just recognizing the government of that country. It was also silly to recognize the government as the one only controlling 5% of the population of that country and ignoring the other 95%.

  8. What About the Ministry of Censorship? by eldavojohn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What are your list of the other three most embarrassing departments in our world?

    Surely the Environmental Ministry cannot be as harmful as the Chinese Ministry preventing this quote from being carried in Xinhua, China Daily or any major news source in China?

    Tell me about the uproar that must have erupted from North of the Huai River when it was announced that the lack of environmental compliance has reduced life expectancy on average by five years in the northern half of China. Show me the state sponsored news source that ran that story. Go ahead, compare that article with with this one. The latter makes it sound like it was second hand smoke as the primary source of limited life spans. It's like reading two completely different health reports!

    Solve your censorship problem and you will solve a lot of your other problems. Just be prepared to see high turnover in your leadership -- something that has been needed for a very long time in China.

    --
    My work here is dung.
  9. Good news for *your* agency! by Black+Parrot · · Score: 2

    The chances of being in the bottom ten just decreased by 10%.

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    Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
  10. The USDA, All the Way by Schlemphfer · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Such an easy question. The USDA totally caters to huge corporate interests like Monsanto and Smithfield, helping to ensure that America's food supply is dominated by sugary junk food, GMO crops, and the cruelest factory farmed meat and egg products imaginable. And don't even get me started about the sham that is American's meat inspection system. Nearly everything that's wrong with the Standard American Diet can be traced directly to USDA policies, that sell out the interests of consumers, the environment, and farmed animals at every turn.

    If the USDA doesn't deserve a spot on the list of the world's four worst government departments, I don't know what agency does.

    --
    I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
  11. British Department of Health by seanellis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...currently headed by a Health Minister who is doing his best to sell off as much as possible, close A&E departments, believes in funding homeopathy as a treatment using taxpayers' money, and who co-wrote a book describing the NHS as a "sixty year old mistake".

  12. *sigh* only 3? by dwpro · · Score: 4, Interesting

    DHS (Department of Homeland Security) - inept, invasive, expensive, and superfluous.
    SEC (Security and Exchange Commission) - inept, impotent, and irrelevant. That or exceedingly corrupt.
    DEA (Drug enforcement Administration) - ridiculous drug scheduling, over the top enforcement based on this poor scheduling, and representative of some of the most fixable problems we choose to litigate and prosecute rather than try and solve.

    --
    Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
  13. Worst department is pretty clear to me by dkleinsc · · Score: 2

    The US SEC. Their utter failure to do their jobs wrecked the entire planet's economy. I mean, as bad as the Chinese are, they haven't managed anything quite that spectacular.

    --
    I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
  14. Re:The editing department of Slashdot by osu-neko · · Score: 2

    Does such a department even exist?

    Of course it does. One does not accidentally create a headline so well fine tuned to misrepresent the contents of a story or contradict its conclusions. It requires careful editing...

    --
    "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  15. Seriously? Education? by bussdriver · · Score: 2

    You need to read more. The Dept. of Education? It is a political punching bag and not much more. Dept of Commerce? They are just redundant, as most the government works for the forces of commerce.

    The worst isn't a static thing:

    FEMA wins for 2006. (you don't need department in your name)

    Interior Department. Especially before the BP oil spill (and it's no better today.) They are captured by the industries.

    TSA. EVERYBODY complains about the TSA and their illusion of security since it's inception- and more so since they became pedophiles.

    FCC: A public resource management dept beating a dead horse when LITERALLY millions said to STOP media consolidation. Not many years passed and here we are again... but without public comment.

    FDA. Captured by industry, must be near the worst of the captured (or undemocratic, you pick.) You have to prove many people died to take something off the market; NOT prove it is safe before putting it on the market. They also don't even test things but let the corps do the testing-- EVEN when people died... There was a recent news story on just that common practice. Unfit shit used to be sold to the world at their risk, but now we accept more risk... the EU can test it out on us, unless it's cheap then it can go to Africa...

    NSA. it's in the news. Effective? yes. worst by another measure.

    The State Dept. could be considered the worst depending on what you mean by worst... effectiveness? no, they are most effective. evil? Worlds biggest corporate lobbyist... In that case they'd be near the top all the time. They task things to other depts too, set policies - they make decisions that make others look bad.

    The Military / Pentagon Depts since WW2 when it changed from the "Dept of War" to "Dept of Defense" and ever since. "military intelligence" is a wide spread joke! Losing billions in their budgets every year... multiple overlapping sub-depts / branches... etc. Not to mention the corruption...

    CIA. It's charter is solely about processing information for decision makers but it deviated so far one could say it is the worst - because it doesn't follow it's job description. Plus they also made some big mistakes in recent history (or just took the blame.)

    IRS: Always resented. People will imagine new ways to hate them.

    1. Re:Seriously? Education? by Teancum · · Score: 2

      In fairness to the Department of Commerce, they actually earn money for the U.S. federal government from taxes that they personally collect. Indeed the U.S. Navy was originally a part of that department and then spun off into its own department, later to merge with the "War Department" to form the "Department of Defense". That is also why the U.S. Coast Guard was a part of that same department until the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (IMHO one of the least effective departments of the U.S. federal government and singularly incapable of doing its job).

      That some of those businesses paying taxes to Commerce Department agents may also be engaged in bribes shouldn't be a shock: it is a government agency. Of course there are bribes and influence peddling in the form of other bribes (called "campaign contributions") to the right people.

      The big thing under the Commerce Department other than customs agents is the FAA, who also act as the traffic cops of the airspace above America as well as nominally regulate and monitor aircraft manufacturers as well as regulate launching private commercial spacecraft.

      BTW, I agree with you on FEMA. The one other even more useless agency is the Selective Service. It is the one agency that purposely spends money on things that are not wanted, and if its services were ever needed would likely be completely replaced by another agency. I swear its continued existence is only due to bureaucratic inertia alone, and if the agency was disbanded it wouldn't even be missed by the people in that agency. I doubt they'd even notice it was disbanded.

  16. Re:Intentionally poor regulation is worse than non by g0bshiTe · · Score: 2

    Next time I grope someone and they ask why I'll say "cause you're an incompetent boob".

    --
    I am Bennett Haselton! I am Bennett Haselton!
  17. Re:The editing department of Slashdot by Dishevel · · Score: 2

    Of course it does. One does not accidentally create a headline so well fine tuned to misrepresent the contents of a story or contradict its conclusions. It requires careful editing...

    So they are real pros. Just like NBC, Fox, MSNBC, and CNN.

    --
    Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
  18. Oh please by Bruce66423 · · Score: 2

    Given that the Stafford Hospital scandal occurred in a public sector hospital, there's no rational reason for assuming that the public sector will provide better health care than private contractors. The core value of the NHS is high quality health care that is free to the patient. The rest is decoration. And of course given that most GPs surgeries are privately owned by the GPs, most NHS care is already private.

  19. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms by Quila · · Score: 2

    They've done nothing to promote any of those three things.