So China Manipulates Its Currency, Don't We?

I'm not an economist, so I'm a little confused about this.  Obama's pick for Treasury secretary said that China manipulates its currency to keep it low and ensure that it has cheap exports and generate trade surpluses.  Do we not also pursue policies to ensure the value of our own currency is where we want it?  Is the fact that China has a state run economy a surprise to anyone?  This guy really sounds like he's trying to blame China for our own inability to climb out of the recession we're in. 

 

That seems like a cop out to me.  Anything China did to us, we allowed to happen and have only ourselves to blame.

Wow! Evidently No One in China Opposes the Death Penalty

BBC News decided to run a story with some reactions to the recent sentencing of three men to death in China for being involved in a company that sold tainted milk that resulted in the death of six babies. They have reactions from five people (including a British expat), not a single one is opposed to the death penalty. So the notoriously left bent BBC couldn't find a single reaction that offered an opposing viewpoint? This makes me wonder if perhaps they are capitulating to the Chinese government in some way. Especially after reading that the Chinese government has a team of propagandists that flood blogs and news sites to post pro-government comments.

For the record, I do believe the death penalty is justified in some cases and this may have even been one of them, but this is just as bad as if they published only opnions against the death penalty. At best it shows they were too lazy to find an opposing viewpoint, at worst it means they were too scared to to risk their business interests in China by publishing something against the government.