CHINA BLASTS GOOGLE

BEIJING (Reuters) - China’s Internet watchdog condemned the Chinese-language version of Google on Thursday for “disseminating pornographic and vulgar information.” The China Internet Illegal Information Reporting Center said it had complained twice to Google about the “pornographic and vulgar links” available through its search engine (www.google.cn).

Nick Kristof, NY Times On Internet Censorship in China: -
Tear down this cyberwall.

If President Obama wants to support democratic movements on a shoestring, he should support an “Internet freedom initiative” pending in Congress. This would include $50 million in the appropriations bill for these censorship-evasion technologies. The 21st-century equivalent of the Berlin wall is a cyberbarrier, and we can help puncture it.

Mr. Zhou, the son of a Chinese army general, said that he and his colleagues began to develop such software after the 1999 Chinese government crackdown on Falun Gong (which the authorities denounce as a cult). One result was a free software called Freegate, small enough to carry on a flash drive. It takes a surfer to an overseas server that changes I.P. addresses every second or so, too quickly for a government to block it, and then from there to a banned site.
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TV WEEK: Carradine Pal Thinks ‘Lady Boys’ Killed Actor; Retired FBI Agent Agrees

A friend and associate of the late David Carradine believes the movie and TV star was murdered by gender-bender prostitutes known as Lady Boys.

LETTERS ON MY LETTER TO COLBERT: These were posted at TV WEEK

Jenny: Every episode of the Colbert Report to date HAS been a USO show for misinformed Americans! Stephen did the troops and us a great service with these shows, and talked much more about getting them home safe then even a glimmer of recruiting. This weekend I passed a convoy of soldiers in tanks rolling through Yucca Valley, CA and because of Stephen I felt more affinity for them then I had at any time in the course of this sad, indulgent, wrong-headed war. ….

Oh, come ON.

Cat Ballou: Colbert was there under the auspices of the USO, to entertain the troops. Of course he didn’t get into the big issues of the war and why the U.S. is still there. In case you hadn’t noticed, he deals with the more pointed issues rather a lot on his show already. And give him a chance; he might deal with them more now that he’s back.

As for the idea that his week there will have upped recruitment numbers - that’s laughable. If more college-educated kids are joining the military, it’s because of the economy cratering, not because a guy who gets, max, about 1.5 million viewers per night spent a week in Iraq.

brenlm: And by the way, yes, the lyrics to that Army song are disturbing. But so’s your country’s national anthem. “Bombs bursting in air” anyone? What next, no more Star Spangled Banner at baseball games?

Are you forgetting that Jane Fonda’s visit did more harm than good to our fighting men?

Steve in LA: According to who?
Nixon?
Right Wing Politicians?
Conservative Presidential Candidates?
Bloviating Right-Wing Talk Show idiots?
According to who?

Danny was referring to the 1971 FTA (”Free the Army”) Tour of Asian US military bases. A wonderful documentary made of the tour was just re-released last year on DVD. Details here…

http://www.sirnosir.com/FTA.html

I’ve seen it and own a DVD copy.

In the film, Fonda and Sutherland and troupe are very entertaining AND at the same time very upfront and direct with their audiences about their opposition to the US War on Vietnam and their reasons for their opposition.

And what really blows me away is how upfront and open their military audiences (yes, they played to audiences packed with soldiers, sailors, and marines) are about their own opposition to the war they were involved in and DID’T WANT to be part of. There are off-stage interviews with anti-war US soldiers that are eye-opening.

See the film. Inform yourselves. THAT’S what actual opposition to an imperial war looks and sounds like….

Twitter Users Heckle Hoekstra En Masse | via tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com on 6/18/09

Twitter Users Heckle Hoekstra En Mass By Eric Kleefeld - June 17, 2009, 6:01PM

Earlier today, Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) put up this astonishing post on Twitter, likening the oppression of the Iranian people to the plight of House Republicans:

Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House. In the hours since, the Twitter community has responded — with massive heckling. Here’s just a small sample of some of the best ones:

ArjunJaikumar @petehoekstra i spilled some lukewarm coffee on myself just now, which is somewhat analogous to being boiled in oil

chrisbaskind @petehoekstra My neighbor stopped me to talk today. Now I know what it is like to be questioned by the Basij!

luckbfern @petehoekstra I stand in solidarity with the oppressed rich white men of Repub Party in the House. #GOPfail Allah Akbar!

NEWS DISSECTOR RADIO

And more. You can hear my thursday morning radio show today on progressiveradionetwork.com right here.

Comments welcome: Write: dissector@mediachannel.org

Thats my blog today and for the week. Have a great weekend.