I can't stand our legal system, but I hate the one you have in China. The system you have is rational but not humane, the system we have is humane but not rational. You said it best, "You pick your values, you pay the price."

This is quite so, and most generously expressed, Abe-V.
The "individual" is not valued as an abstraction out here: and this can make Western hackles rise.
The "collective" is highly valued.
And that is how the government appears: anything that we might think of, individually, as "freedom" is generally an invitation to prison: anything that promotes mass benefit is a good thing.

And, if I may drone on, Abe: I just thought about "I" and "me" and even in the language, the difference is there:I was recently on a business trip to Canada -and apart from trips, I've been a long time out of the white man's world - and I was vaguely amazed at the "I", "me","my" myself" drivellings from people in the next booth at high volume.
Chinese has a word for "I" ("wo") but it's rarely used: in Malay/Indonesian or Thai -you have to choose from a battery of words that immediately define social status/age: there just is no "I" out here -except as a very strong point.

wow that's crazy. I heard that an apartment builfing started this whole SARS thing. Can you amagine that. Two people starting SARS. It has spread really fast. I just hope it doesn't come to California because if it does i am just gonna build an underground shack and stock up on food and movies and never come out