Second child allowed

The Chinese government has said that parents who lost a child in the earthquake can apply to the government for permission to have another child. I've been surprised by how open China's government has been following the earthquake, but it's still a tyranny as this decision shows.

According to the policy, local governments can levy steep fines on couples who have more than one child; the children of those who defy the rules are sometimes denied government benefits, including access to a free education.

The committee announced Monday that if a couple's legally born child was killed in the earthquake, an illegal child under 18 years could be registered as a legal replacement. If the dead child was illegal, it said the family would no longer be responsible for outstanding fines, although parents would not be reimbursed for penalties already paid.

The one-child policy is an obscenity and this ham-fisted attempt to help grieving parents is an obscenity piled on obscenity.

It serves as a reminder that although we in the west have issues with our governments the people of China have far bigger problems with theirs.