70 percent good, minus 77 million dead

R.J. Rummel, author of China's Bloody Century has changed his mind on the number of dead that can be attributed to Mao thanks to two books: Wild Swans: Two Daughters of China by Jung Chang, and Mao: the Unknown Story by Jung Chang and her husband, Jon Halliday.

Rummel is now convinced that the famine of 1958-1961 was intentional, just like Stalin's little agricultural experiment in the Ukraine.

This makes Mao the grand prize winner in the 20th Century mass murderer sweepstakes, with 77 million murders to his credit. Stalin is number two and Hitler, the piker, comes in at number three with over 20 million dead.

Correcting the historical record is all well and good, says Richard TPD.

And still, Mao's creepy portrait looms over us at Tiananmen Square, and his statues adorn every university campus. What an eerie anomaly. But let's not forget, he was 70 percent good.