Brits Consider Ban on Wigs, Dark Sunglasses
June 24, 2008
And you think that I’m making up that headline? Okay, I am making it up, but if the police in Yorkshire are going around asking Pub owners to have patrons remove their headgear, what’s next? You see, the coppers want everyone to remove their hats so the troublemakers in the lot can be easily recognized by all the CCTV cameras. Read more
China Falls Short of Expectations
April 10, 2008
Yeah of course, but what the heck did you expect? China was in the running for the Olympics to get world-wide acceptance. Once the International Olympic Committee (IOC) gave it to them, they got what they wanted. Of course, the IOC said China promised that winning the right to host the Olympics would result in improved human rights for everyone in China. I’m not seeing the cause and effect relationship there at all.
Of course, the corporate sponsors saw a huge market, so they wanted to get into China to sell stuff. I’m wondering how they will feel when their corporate sponsorship of the games in Beijing leads to product boycotts. I definitely see that cause and effect relationship. Read more
Lights Out in Paris - Olympic Torch Stumbles Along
April 7, 2008
Exactly what did the International Olympic Committee think when they chose Beijing as the destination for the 2008 Summer Games? There has been plenty of strange activity in China the past couple of months as the dictator-at-large tries to “clean up” the place.
SI.com is reporting that the Olympic Torch is having quite a tough time today making it through the streets of Paris. As a matter of fact, security gave up quite a few times and just took it onto the bus for a good portion of the route. Read more
FARC - terrorist organization in Columbia
March 9, 2008
Ahh, the wonderful theory that the Associated Press is an unbiased news organization. Hat tip to Jim Taranto, writing Best of the Web for the Wall Street Journal Online. Read more
Castro’s Cuba and Complete Opression
March 6, 2008
I’m quite sick of seeing celebrities cozy up to the likes of Castro and Chavez. Last week, I was wondering what Internet access was like in Cuba. We frequently here about China limiting access to the Net and blocking sites; and even just a week or so ago Pakistan made some DNS changes to block access to YouTube due to an objectionable video that busted the world’s access to YouTube.
It looks like Cuban’s access to the Internet may just be the most oppressive in the world.
Cyber-Rebels in Cuba Defy State’s Limits (Read the full article)
By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.
HAVANA — A growing underground network of young people armed with computer memory sticks, digital cameras and clandestine Internet hookups has been mounting some challenges to the Cuban government in recent months, spreading news that the official state media try to suppress.Last month, students at a prestigious computer science university videotaped an ugly confrontation they had with Ricardo Alarcón, the president of the National Assembly.
Mr. Alarcón seemed flummoxed when students grilled him on why they could not travel abroad, stay at hotels, earn better wages or use search engines like Google. The video spread like wildfire through Havana, passed from person to person, and seriously damaged Mr. Alarcón’s reputation in some circles.
Something similar happened in late January when officials tried to impose a tax on the tips and wages of employees of foreign companies. Workers erupted in jeers and shouts when told about the new tax, a moment caught on a cellphone camera and passed along by memory sticks.
“It passes from flash drive to flash drive,” said Ariel, 33, a computer programmer, who, like almost everyone else interviewed for this article, asked that his last name not be used for fear of political persecution. “This is going to get out of the government’s hands because the technology is moving so rapidly.”
Cuban officials have long limited the public’s access to the Internet and digital videos, tearing down unauthorized satellite dishes and keeping down the number of Internet cafes open to Cubans. Only one Internet cafe remains open in Old Havana, down from three a few years ago.
Hidden in a small room in the depths of the Capitol building, the state-owned cafe charges a third of the average Cuban’s monthly salary — about $5 — to use a computer for an hour. The other two former Internet cafes in central Havana have been converted into “postal services” that let Cubans send e-mail messages over a closed network on the island with no links to the Internet.
“It’s a sort of telegraph service,” said one young man, shrugging as he waited in line to use the computers at a former Internet cafe on O’Reilly Street.
