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China Earth

China Environment Ministry Calls Itself One of Four Worst Departments In World 126

Posted by Soulskill from the america-disappointed-in-its-inability-to-sweep-the-series dept.
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?"
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China Environment Ministry Calls Itself One of Four Worst Departments In World More

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

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  • Door was left wide open there (Score:5, Funny)

    by DJ Jones ( 997846 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:15PM (#44228225) Homepage
    Slashdot's User Interface Design Department

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Are you kidding? Yahoo. Case closed.

    • /.'s poll editorial board. [ducks]

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )

      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.

  • My list (Score:3)

    by g0bshiTe ( 596213 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:15PM (#44228229)
    DMV would be number ONE!

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      No, its the Obama administration.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sosume ( 680416 )

        If you think the US is bad, try the EU..
        1) The EU 'leadership', fail in so many ways it isn't funny
        2) The NSA, for obvious reasons
        3) The Chinese Environment dept, for obvious reasons
        4) Slashdot's editors department, for obvious reasons

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward
        If your side had anything compelling to say, maybe they would have won that election.

    • 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.

      • 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.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dk20 ( 914954 )
          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 f

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Trepidity ( 597 )

      If your local DMV has an online appointment system, it's way better than it used to be with the old show-up-and-wait system. Was in and out within 15 minutes last time.

      • Mine does, but the one time I was there it wasn't any better. If you have an appointment, you show up and wait for an hour in one line. If you don't, you show up and wait for an hour in a different line.

  • In the end, greed ends humanity. Biblical or something.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by osu-neko ( 2604 )

      In the end, greed ends humanity. Biblical or something.

      Yes, this gets predicted every day going back to the invention of language. Alas, it never happens. We continue to lurch and stumble forward into the future like the large group of incompetent boobs that we are...

  • LOL ... (Score:3)

    by gstoddart ( 321705 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:18PM (#44228273) Homepage

    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.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by xaxa ( 988988 )

      Mongolia is not China, it's the country to the north of China.

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

      • Re:LOL ... (Score:4, Insightful)

        by gstoddart ( 321705 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @03:02PM (#44228883) Homepage

        (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.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by osu-neko ( 2604 )

          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.

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

      Not much a complaints department can do about a landlocked navy. They should contact the Department of Canal Construction or the Department of Scrap Metal Recycling.

    • Re: (Score:2, Redundant)

      by jd.schmidt ( 919212 )

      Ha, China literally invented bureaucratic gridlock, they got it shortly after the invention of paper. China has a long an proud history of bureaucracy that the rest of the world is trying to emulate. Franks Kafka was a noob by comparison. But we are catching up.

      • In some ways I think they were considerably more advanced. A government controlled by eunuchs? I can think of plenty of government officials who ought to be castrated right off the top of my head.

    • Bureaucratic crap... (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      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.

      Actually I expect great achievements in the field of bureaucratic crap from the Chinese. They practically invented bureaucracy so they should have at least a couple of thousand years of experience with red tape production over bureaucratic novices like us here in the west whose ancestors (as my Chinese friends never tire of pointing out) continued to live in wooden huts and dress in animal hides for many centuries after the Chinese had built a high tech civilisation. We really must do more to close this cap

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kjella ( 173770 )

      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.

      If it's China's equivalent of "the right of the people...to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." that may be a feature, not a bug.

    • Irrelevant that Mongolia has no navy? Probably. Who needs facts on the internet?
  • all the ministries own you.

  • For those to lazy to read the article (Score:3)

    by schneidafunk ( 795759 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:19PM (#44228289)
    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"
  • Zhou Shengxian was found dead by what Chinese officials are claiming is suicide

  • Easy (Score:5, Funny)

    by Antipater ( 2053064 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:22PM (#44228319)
    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.

    • For those missing the joke: original [youtube.com]

    • 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

      • Good grief. The joke was explained to you in the post just above yours [slashdot.org], and you still whooshed.

        • I start the post BEFORE it was modded funny and before the above post. Does everybody write their posts externally and paste them it quickly or what?? a phone call or two and... whatever.

      • wooooooooosh

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Teancum ( 67324 )

        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

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

        I'd posit their aren't all that effective either.

  • Most embarrassing department in the world (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    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.

    • 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.

      Flawed from day 1, by organizing it with 5 permanent members, some of whom don't like each other at all, and each holding unilateral veto power over *anything*. Small marvel that it hasn't changed the world.

      The only surprise is that any other countries joined in the first place.

      BTW, it isn't an agency.

  • The Congress. While not strictly a Department, it sure as shit is embarrassing.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Teancum ( 67324 )

      The Congress. While not strictly a Department, it sure as shit is embarrassing.

      By design. Congress is supposed to be slow, inefficient, and prone to never make decisions except in rare circumstances. That they've designed the rest of the federal government to be worse than Congress is more that they started with a bad model in the first place.

  • What About the Ministry of Censorship? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by eldavojohn ( 898314 ) * <eldavojohn@noSpAM.gmail.com> on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:27PM (#44228399) Journal

    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 [telegraph.co.uk] 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 [xinhuanet.com]. 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.

    • 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.

      Interesting point here... I think a lot of people aren't up to speed on current politics in China; leadership used to be for life, but is now for a set period with mandatory retirement. The result is that this generation has seen significantly more movement in the meritocracy than ever before, and a notable decrease in cronyism and general corruption. Still a long way to go, but it's a start -- and surprisingly, improving censorship has been more of a slow-forming result than a cause.

    • 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?
      [...]
      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.

      Let me guess which ministry you are referring to...

      Ah, must be the U.S. Department of Education. Since it obvious doesn't teach you Chinese and consequently causing you unable to
      read this same news in Chinese news [sina.com.cn] and make up false conclusion.

  • Good news for *your* agency! (Score:3)

    by Black Parrot ( 19622 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:39PM (#44228563)

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

  • The USDA, All the Way (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Schlemphfer ( 556732 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:47PM (#44228649) Homepage

    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.

  • British Department of Health (Score:5, Interesting)

    by seanellis ( 302682 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:49PM (#44228673) Homepage Journal

    ...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".

    • 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.

  • *sigh* only 3? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dwpro ( 520418 ) <dgeller777@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:52PM (#44228723)

    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.

  • This one [drinkaware.ie] would be embarrassed but it can't remember what it idid last night.

  • Worst department is pretty clear to me (Score:3)

    by dkleinsc ( 563838 ) on Tuesday July 09, 2013 @02:54PM (#44228753) Homepage

    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.

  • cant be all that bad, there must be thousands of departments of anything out there not admitting they have a problem
  • The US Congress is useless for anything other than a waste of time and money.

  • Would be one ... for the other two:
    US patent office
    FIFA

  • The entire European Commission seems eligible to me, but it was not the most active offender in the building of current EU crisis. All European Union governments seems also good picks. And we should not forget the European Central Bank.

  • Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (Score:3)

    by Quila ( 201335 ) on Wednesday July 10, 2013 @12:09PM (#44239709)

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

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