Gagging Truth on Google

I knew something was up. The interruptions were too frequent and now my paranoia is confirmed. However, I'm not quite ready to jump into the "zionist inspired policies" rant until more info is available. There are lots of reasons why certain powers wouldn't want Uruknet on line, and lots going on behind the scenes. Flee speach! Flee speach!

GOOGLE GAGGING AGAIN ~~ URUKNET REMOVED COMPLETELY
June 19, 2008 at 7:33 am
One of my Associates, Uruknet.Info, is once again the victim of Google’s zionist inspired polices. Just a month ago, the co-founder of Google was in Israel to ‘celebrate’ its 60 years as an occupying power… he obviously was inspired by his visit as his Company’s policies seem to have shifted even more to the right than they were before his trip.
Uruknet has been hacked, taken of Google News indexing and now, the latest… taken off Google completely. How can this be done? We really don’t know, but we do know that Google has refused to respond to the thousands of requests by readers to reinstate Uruknet on Google News. They came up with a response after weeks only to the site itself where it “reasoned” that Uruknet was “only” an aggregator. All of us know that it is an exceptionally important aggregator, but it is far more than that! It contains original material, has editorial choices and space for commentary and it presents for an international public much material that otherwise would not be translated or disseminated.
Without being listed on Google, as much as we detest Google for its arbitrary blocking that many of us have had to undergo, losing readership in the meantime, we are able to admit that for a news site to not be listed AT ALL on Google means that NO ONE at all findstheir articles on a simple search. This includes archived material. This is something that we find unacceptable and it demands that all of us try to do our best to take action to change this situation as soon as possible. Uruknet serves an important role on the Internet, it is one of the few sites where the truth can be found about the Iraqi War and the occupation of Palestine.
Friends in our Blogging Community are presently discussing plans on how to combat Google’s policies. I will keep you all posted on what those plans are. In the meantime, this post is just to make you aware of the situation in general. If anyone has ideas, please post them in the comments, anything that can help us will be appreciated. You can also email me at the address found in my links (About DesertPeace). I also urge my readers to cross post this message so that a real campaign can get underway to stop censorship at Google.
Thanks.
Mary Rizzo contributed to this post.

http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/google-gagging-again-uruknet-removed-completely/

Give Me Security at What Cost?

Since Benito Berlusconi (sorry, I know his name is Frederick) came back to power, I haven't given myself time to process the horror or what it will mean for the future of Italy. At least Vicenza held up against the lurch to the right. Perhaps the Italian people were constantly berated (via media, which is controlled by, hmmm?) by the fear card, causing them to vote for "stability" over those hoards of immigrants from Africa and the Balkans. But this is about two old buddies, sharing laughs and good times as they push their boots deeper into our backs.
George Bush Lauded By Berlusconi For Time 100
Mark @ 2:43 pm
Time Magazine has published it’s fifth annual list of the World’s Most Influential People. It’s a mixed collection with a few standouts for hilarity.
Rupert Murdoch made the list as a “Builder and Titan,” an honor he shares with Radiohead. Thom Yorke would make a great media mogul, and they could keep the band’s name as their corporate brand. Disney temptress Miley Cyrus is listed in a category where she challenges Tim Russert, the only “journalist” of the group. They are both listed under “Artists and Entertainers.” Which of these Russert is supposed to be, I don’t know. But Russert is apparently quite influential, as he has reportedly had Arianna Huffington banned from promoting her new book, Right Is Wrong, on any NBC program. [my bold]
Also on the list is George W. Bush under “Leaders and Revolutionaries.” I can’t see where he’d place in either group. But the truly creepy aspect of this is that the essay accompanying his inclusion was written by the Italian Murdoch, Sylvio Berlusconi. Berlusconi, media baron and Prime Minister, related his impressions of Bush as a leader who knows that…

“…justice, freedom and democracy can flourish only if there is security.”

Spoken like a true totalitarian fascist. He is, however, right about Bush, who has shown that he will sacrifice any Constitutional principle, civil liberty, or democratic process, in the pursuit of a false security predicated on fear and lies.
Having Berlusconi pen Bush’s bio for the Time 100 holds a unique significance in light of Berlusconi’s recent electoral successes in Italy. He declared after the election that “We are the new Falange.” The original Falange was the Spanish fascist party of Francisco Franco. [my bold]
Berlusconi’s supporters also hailed the victory of his party’s candidate for mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno, a former neo-fascist youth leader, with Hitlerian straight-arm salutes and chants of “Duce, Duce…”, Mussolini’s version of “Fuhrer.” Bush must be proud to have his friend Berlusconi compose this touching tribute.
http://www.newscorpse.com/ncWP/?p=891

Pay No Attention to Your Feelings

Why Can’t “Lefty” Ideologues Comprehend
China’s Human Rights Failures?
My reaction to this:
CNN MARCH 13 REPORT ON INDIA

Western Media Fabrications regarding the Tibet Riots
Fake Videotape used by CNN, by Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, April 16, 2008

"On the day of the Lhasa Riots (March 14, 2008), there is evidence of media fabrication by CNN,"[...]

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8697

Michel Chossudovsky is an intensely credentialed individual with books published and tenure at a big time Canadian university and a terrific blog, which I read several times a week. However, the hysteria he has displayed over how western media has represented the story of the second Tibetan uprising is disconcerting, to say the least. At times in the past, my inclination has been to grant the professor the benefit of the doubt, for all the above reasons as well as having enjoyed several of his articles at globalreasearch.ca. The difficulty comes in trying to get a handle on what he wants to accomplish vis-à-vis his articles on US/China/Tibet affairs.
It seems the professor has sufficient time to hunt and peck for ulterior motives behind what clearly was the natural development of people deciding to take their smoldering rage and fling it outward, elsewhere, anywhere. There’s just so much occupation and exile a person can tolerate before the idea of death at the hands of ATTEMPTING liberation seems better than daily compliance with being conquered.
CNN broadcasts over televisions and requires visuals to accompany their news reports. But you had to report CNN had no footage, only photographs. Why? “… the Chinese government has refused to allow CNN to even enter Tibet.”
What to do? Like many other news outlets, show footage that is related, if not precise. CNN then picks up the narrative from the reporter in Beijing:

John Vause in Bejing: "And what could be worrying here to Beijing is that these demonstrations are being joined by ordinary Tibetan civilians, lay Tibetans." [my bold]

In his report Mr. Vause declared there was a complete crackdown on transportation, communication, etc. Did the Tibetans do this to themselves? Why does the Chinese government continue to keep Tibet isolated? More pertinent to this discussion, why don’t you, Professor, care about the Tibetans? Perhaps CNN used bad judgment but it would be much more reprehensible if they were presenting an outright falsehood. People don’t expect hard news from CNN. We get the headlines and photos, then we all go to the Internet and read Michel Chossudovsky who tells us we’re idiots for caring about people who’s lives are so controlled their own government absolutely won’t let us look at their daily lives!
The real story here was that Beijing, enraged that their carefully crafted image of harmony was smeared by their own bad behavior, sent the entire nation of Tibet into a virtual prison by cutting them off from all communication. That is the story, Professor Chossudovsky, not the obvious fact that CNN mishandled the story by using the wrong footage. The story began on March 13, when the people of Tibet, within and in exile all over the world rose as one to be heard. And their story was heard and will continue to be heard, despite misinformation and misrepresentation, wherever it comes from.

Dueling Press Releases

It's a mixed bag, a tossed salad, as it were of radio operatics ("ga ga"'s been done) as our heroine, Randi gets tossed overboard for using her First Amendment (are you with me, Rev. Billy?) righteous voice to say what she (gassssp) t h i n k s ! But she's found a new home, joining the equally impressive and funny Mike Malloy on Nova M.
But now, at least for a month, those of us without access to Nova M can ring them bells with.............Richard Belzer on Air America! [conspiracy, anyone?]
Air America to Feature Celebrity Drive-Time Guest Hosts-Richard Belzer Kicks Off Series Starting Monday April 14 during the 3-6 - Beginning Monday April 14, Air American Radio will present a month-long series of celebrities who guest host all week during the 3-6 PM ET period.
The programs launch with noted comedian, author and actor Richard Belzer, well-known for his work as Det. John Munch on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and numerous other movie and TV roles. Belzer will be joined by special guests to be announced, bringing an entertaining, fast-paced and engaging afternoon listening experience to Air America Radio audiences nationwide all next week.
and from Nova M Radio...
Randi Rhodes is the #1 rated progressive talk radio host in the nation.
Nova M CEO John Manzo says, “I just can’t stop smiling - Randi is simply the biggest and the best. Randi Rhodes and Mike Malloy under one roof – talk about TALENT!”
Randi Rhodes adds, “With Manzo at helm of Nova M, I am truly going to work for the best of the best. He is radio elite…and I am too . I’m home, I’m home, I’m home!”
“The Randi Rhodes Show” will air live Mon-Fri from 3-6pm Eastern on The Nova M Radio Network.
ABOUT RANDI RHODES
Randi Rhodes is a radio pioneer who put Progressive Talk Radio on the national stage when everyone told her it could not be done. This Brooklyn native became a national talk radio hero to millions when in 2004 she left South Florida radio, where she had the #1 ranked talk show in her market, for national syndication. Randi started her radio odyssey quite modestly by playing ‘classic country’ in a storefront studio in Seminole, TX but today holds the mantle of the #1 progressive talk show host in the nation. Randi is impeccably researched and infectiously funny, she starred in the HBO documentary “Left of the Dial”, is listed in Talkers Magazine’s “Heavy Hundred” and is probably watching C-SPAN right now.
http://www.novamradio.com/
Good luck, Randi. You are a working class hero. Rock on!

Tibet Repression Affects Journalists

The Bejing Olympics are developing into something quite different from a sporting event. These two articles reveal a China that is neither flattering nor worthy of hosting the Olympics. First, AP News covers how goon squads and intimidation techniques being used on reporters:
Foreign Media in China Threatened,
Harassed Over Tibet Coverage
CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, AP News, Apr 07, 2008
Western reporters in China have received harassing phone calls, e-mails and text messages, some with death threats, supposedly from ordinary Chinese complaining about alleged bias in coverage of recent anti-Chinese protests in Tibet.
The harassment began two weeks ago and was largely targeted at foreign television broadcasters, CNN in particular. But the campaign broadened in recent days after the mobile phone numbers and other contact information for reporters from The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today were posted on several Web sites, including a military affairs chat site.
[...] Spokesmen for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the government's State Council Information Office and the national police ministry did not respond to telephone calls and faxed questions Monday seeking comment about the threats.
[...] The complaints against foreign media come just four months before 30,000 journalists from around the world come to Beijing for an Olympics meant to feature a more open, modern China.
[...] Contact information for reporters from the AP, Wall Street Journal and USA Today was posted online after they were among a group of foreign media taken by the Chinese government to Lhasa to report on conditions two weeks after the violent protests.
The Web sites listed the reporters as those who "fabricated untrue news about Tibet." Neither the Web sites nor government officials have cited specific criticisms about the reports.
http://wiredispatch.com/news/?id=117878
This one is from Reporters Without Borders' Annual Report on China:
China - Annual report 2008
Area: 9,598,050 sq. km.
Population: 1,315,844,000.
Language: Mandarin.
Head of state: Hu Jintao.
An icy blast blew on press freedom in China ahead of the 17th Communist Party Congress in Beijing in October. Journalists were forced to put out official propaganda, while cyber-censors stalked the Net. Despite the introduction of more favourable rules in January, nearly 180 foreign press correspondents were arrested or harassed in 2007.
Reporters Without Borders representatives met for the first time Chinese officials in Beijing at the start of the year, including the deputy information minister. The authorities said they were ready to reconsider the cases of journalists and Internet-users currently in prison, including Zhao Yan, who worked for the New York Times and was sentenced to three years in prison on the basis of false accusations. But they did not keep their promises. Zhao Yan was released in September having served his full sentence. And all the other promises came to nothing. At the end of the year, the authorities refused to grant visas to five representatives of Reporters Without Borders who wanted to travel to Beijing.
[...] Police began arresting dissidents and bloggers calling for improved human rights ahead of the staging of the Olympics. The best known of these “Olympics’ prisoners” is rights activist, Hu Jia, who was arrested at his Beijing home on 27 December. Police produced an arrest warrant accusing him of “inciting subversion of state power”. His wife, the blogger, Zeng Jinyan, and their young daughter got their home surrounded by scores of police. The couple are activists for the environment and the rights of Aids patients and political prisoners and were pushing at the limits of free expression in China by posting sensitive news on their blogs.
Chinese contributors to foreign-based news websites also found themselves singled out for harassment. At least three contributors to US-based news site Boxun are currently in prison. Police arrested one Boxun correspondent Sun Lin, also known under the pen-name Jie Mu, in Nanjing, eastern China on 30 May 2007 after he exposed abuse of power, including in videos posted on the site. Another regular Boxun correspondent, Huang Jinqiu, has been in prison since 2003 after being sentenced to 12 years for “subversion of state power” in eastern Jiangsu province. And in August 2007, cyber-dissident and blogger He Weihua was forcibly admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Hunan in southern China. His family said it was linked to articles published on his blog www.boxun.com/hero/hewh/. Before being released in February 2008, Li Changqing, who had written several articles for the same US-based site, was jailed for three years by a court in Fuzhou, Fujian province in the south-east for circulating “alarmist news”.
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25650

Air America is a Big Fucking Whore!

Liberals cannot take a joke. Clearly, the censors at Air America were more concerned they might lose corporate funding than growing their audience. Just watch the video and you'll see the crowd was intensly responsive. As for use of the "fuck" word, Randi's a veteran, what the hell did they expect?!!! I'd just like to know where this happened, the context, etc.
From The Huffington Post:
Air America host Randi Rhodes called both Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton "whores" in a recent appearance, seen below. Rhodes, who hosts a weekday radio show on Air America, said to the cheering crowd, "What a whore Geraldine Ferraro is! She's such a fucking whore!" She then proceeded to say, "Hillary is a big fucking whore, too" to a mixed audience reaction. "You know why she's a big fucking whore? Because her deal is always, 'Read the fine print, asshole!'"
Watch:

Imprisoned Journalists Can't Report

I'm providing the complete report from The Raw Story about the what every presidential candidate must address: the continuing attack on journalists and abandoning John Ashcroft's "memo" which essentially eliminated the Freedom of Informaton Act:
AP president: US arrests journalist in Iraq to 'control' information
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Wednesday March 19, 2008
Associated Press president Tom Curley says his news organization does not buy the government's argument that one of its photographers arrested in Iraq was working on behalf of the enemy, and he alleged the US is rounding up journalists in an attempt to control information.
"To say the least, we see things very differently," Curley commented dryly, regarding photographer Bilal Hussein, who was arrested two years ago and remains in military custody.
Noting that at least a dozen other Iraqi photographers have been detained or arrested, Curley stated, "It's impossible not to conclude that the words and pictures these journalists produced were considered unhelpful to the war effort and that their arrests would have served a broader strategy of information control."
Curley also called on journalists to demand that all the presidential candidates make a commitment to reversing a directive issued by Attorney General John Ashcroft shortly after September 11 that radically restricted the scope of the Freedom of Information Act.
Ashcroft's memo stated, "When you carefully consider FOIA requests and decide to withhold records, in whole or in part, you can be assured that the Department of Justice will defend your decisions unless they lack a sound legal basis or present an unwarranted risk of adverse impact on the ability of other agencies to protect other important records."
Curley told the National Press Club, "When a matter of public policy poses a straight-up choice between the public's rights of access to government and a government effort to infringe or even narrow those rights, journalists cannot pretend to be disinterested observers."
"This is the moment to make it clear to all the presidential candidates how important reversal of the Ashcroft directive is to us and to the people," Curley continued. "We need to ask the candidates at every opportunity ... whether they are willing to appoint an attorney general willing to follow the spirit as well as the letter of the law that protects the people's right to know what their government is doing."
This video is from The Associated Press, broadcast March 18, 2008
Please go to the link below to see the video tape of Mr. Curley’s statement to the National Press:
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/AP_President_chide