Orwellian Tweets

It's high time. The North Korean government is using Twitter to get its message out. Short URLs take you to longer stories with some hilarious observations and announcements, For example: "S. Korean Puppet Army's Plan for War Exercise Announced"

http://twitter.com/kcna_dprk

What a planet we live on!

Sarah Palin and Reactionary Politics

While Sarah Palin's resignation may a way to dodge personal and
political scandals, it seems likely that she's positioning herself as an
eventual presidential candidate. Her political strategy fits the “let’s
hope Obama fails” message of Rush Limbaugh and Republican politicians. This posture openly welcomes and may even seek to realize a massive economic collapse and social upheaval for America, seen as a grand opportunity to gain power.

The apparent lack of rational, policy content in right wing rhetoric at
present is, in my view, exactly what the game is about. Republican
demagogues along with radio and TV talk show hosts blather on about
“socialism” and other inflammatory themes, preparing the populace for disaster. If Obama’s policies fail to produce a steady, expeditious
recovery, if the economy continues to sink in ways people find
frightening, if public dissatisfaction swells, then a loose cannon like
Palin could well attract considerable support, precisely because her way of being unhinged matches the gut sense of her heartland audience and the prevailing sentiments of America’s “conservative” corporate media.

There are many examples from the past century in which strategies of
this kind worked supremely well for political extremists. Driven to
desperation, societies sometimes turn to sociopathic leaders able to
focus popular distress, rage and thirst for revenge.

It can’t happen here? Don’t count on it. If the U.S. economy continues
to tank, things could get extremely ugly.

New Chinese Software: protecting youth from objectionable online material

During my recent travels in China, it was fascinating to notice which web sites were censored (Huffington Post, and Americablog, for example) and which were not (BBC, NY Times, etc.)

Rather than embrace the internet as a source of vitality and positive change, the government of China has launched yet another crack down. From now on every computer sold in the country must install a program that will filter out violent and pornographic web sites. Critics of the development suspect it will also be used to censor political content.

As reported by the BBC, Qin Gang, spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, "The purpose of this is to effectively manage harmful material for the public and prevent it from being spread," he said. "The Chinese government pushes forward the healthy development of the internet. But it lawfully manages the internet," he added.

Healthy?

For those who enjoy the names chosen for political initiatives in China, the name chosen for the software is memorable -- "Green Dam Youth Escort".

Sounds like a real innovation to me: an online escort service for young people.