ARTICLE: "Parents' Grief Turns to Rage at Chinese Officials," by Andrew Jacobs, New York Times, 28 May 2008, p. A1.

Stunning pic: CCP boss of Mianzhu, kneeling in street, eyes downcast, in front of mothers holding pics of dead kids, pointing at the faces and screaming at him. He is begging them to abandon their protests, and seems to be failing.

Article says angry parents are lashing out over fact that gov buildings and nearby elite schools withstood quake while their kids die in poorly built public schools.

The usual caution about confronting party bosses evaporates ...

This is not just about the quake, but about people getting used to making more demands over perceived injustices. People start living better and then start expecting more. When they work their asses off to get ahead and then see how elites do better for no good reason, then they get mad and the gloves come off. People's sense of the new minimum standard is everything when it comes to reforms and change: they say to themselves, "Nobody should have to endure this" and whammo! The new minimum standard for decency is undeniable.

And with every perceptible rise in that public-defined new minimum standard, the party's arbitrary power weakens and its responsibility to deliver on heightened expectations grows.

Increasingly, the quake creates a fault line between a pre-disaster and post-disaster China.

With all due disrespect to misguided Sharon Stone, China is getting what it deserves ... not with this tragedy but as a result of it: a more demanding public and a more responsive Party.