US: For millions, digital TV deadline still is now

13 February 2008

SAN DIEGO - Isidro Diaz surfs channels on his old TV about three hours a night in the trailer he rents for $350 a month. Come Tuesday, his limited choice of programs will be much more limited.

Although the government delayed the mandatory shutdown of analog TV signals by four months to give people with older TVs more time to prepare, that's small comfort to Diaz and other people who live in cities where some broadcasters are switching to all-digital broadcasts Tuesday, as they had originally planned.

Because it is costly to keep broadcasting analog signals, nearly 500 stations said they would make the transition on Tuesday or one of the nearby days, rather than June 12. After last-minute prodding by the Federal Communications Commission, 43 of them backed off. But still there will be an odd patchwork of programming for millions of Americans who rely on analog TV signals.

To deal with the change, they need a digital converter box or a new TV with a digital tuner, or cable or satellite service.

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, a coalition of 200 advocacy groups, has digital TV assistance centers in seven metropolitan areas — Atlanta, Detroit, San Antonio, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Ore., and St. Paul, Minn. — to answer questions, demonstrate converter boxes and sometimes send out house calls.

In San Diego, the nation's eighth-largest city, the ABC, CBS, Fox and CW affiliates plan to end analog broadcasts Tuesday.

Diaz, a 63-year-old Mexican immigrant who was laid off a month ago by a garden nursery that paid $10 an hour, figures he will eventually muster $200 for a digital television; the least expensive model on Best Buy Co.'s Web site costs $130.

He recently shopped at an electronics store for a digital converter box for the $40 used Sony TV he bought from a newspaper classified ad four years ago. But the $60 converter box didn't seem worth it because he can get a new TV for a little more.

Subscribing to cable or satellite TV is out of the question.

"There's no work right now, $40 a month is very difficult," Diaz said while scarfing a dinner of beef tacos at a stand in San Diego's Barrio Logan neighborhood.

The Obama administration sought the delay in the analog TV shutdown after the government ran out of money for the $40 coupons that subsidize digital converter boxes. The program has a waiting list of 4 million coupons; each household can get up to two.

According to research firm MRI, 17.7 percent of Americans live in households with only over-the-air TV. The Nielsen Co. said last week that more than 5.8 million U.S. households, or 5.1 percent of all homes, were not ready for the analog shutdown.

However, officials at stations that plan to make the switch Tuesday believe that the transition will mainly go smoothly, and that the delay will confuse consumers.

"They've had two years to get ready is our feeling," said Larry Patton, general manager of KSWO-TV, an ABC affiliate in Lawton, Okla. "We feel there's always going to be a few people who are going to wake up on the morning of Feb. 17, or June 17, or whenever it is, and not be ready."

Bryan Frye, marketing director at KAKE-TV, the ABC station in Wichita, Kan., said he was half-joking when he described fears about the analog shutdown as "a little like Y2K."

"We are going to pull out all the stops, we are going to have everybody on board, you know, full alert," Frye said. "It is going to happen and everybody is going to go, `Hmmm, OK.'"

In Jackson, Miss., Ashley Lewis, 25, said she has visited an older neighbor several times to help with her digital converter box. Lewis bought a new antenna Thursday for the neighbor, thinking that might make the box work better. In most cases digital signals, which are more efficient, come in better than analog, but some older antennas aren't well suited.

"She can barely walk," Lewis said. "Her knees are so bad sometimes and she is on a fixed income, and I don't think it is fair for elderly people."

A Radio Shack store in Casper, Wyo., where the ABC and CBS stations switch next week, has found that the converter boxes confuse some consumers, said assistant store manager Dorothy Durda.

"Normally, they come in and we draw them a little diagram or whatever of how to do it and that seems to fix their problem for them," Durda said.

Major San Diego stations have twice flashed warnings to TV screens on analog signals, telling anyone who sees the message to call a toll-free number for more information, said Jeff Block, manager of KGTV-TV, an ABC affiliate.

After a warning in December, the toll-free number got 359 calls. A warning in January yielded 510 calls.

Diaz didn't call the number but said Tuesday's switch comes as no surprise. The stations he watches have advertised the change for about three months.

He'll still be able to get Spanish-language news broadcasts, which he watches about three hours each weeknight. And he can still enjoy boxing on Saturday nights and soccer matches on weekends. But starting Tuesday he'll have a puny selection of English-language programs.

Diaz said he might browse again for TVs this weekend but isn't sure when he'll buy one.

"I can wait a little longer," he said.

___

On the Net:

http://www.civilrights.org/dtv

___

Commentary:

Digital TV is not what it snowed up to be, with channel’s that are scrambled endlessly here and there that are not watchable or no signal; so what was the importance of the switch?

As to the cost of cable, a converter box, a new television at cost’s ill afforded by most American’s something such as this is more to letting the American public either hear the media propaganda one or two days longer, to ever increasing poor grade programming; to what ever the date maybe for shut-off, to just sitting in the dark with a box full of snow.

What is further the question of who profit’s from the switch, is the consumer the loser which it looks like or is censorship in further swing?

The bottom line, is the programming gremlins or having a run away, the American people are left in the poor man’s dark, does the whole sphere of the television need to be reinvented or shall we go back to the golden age of radio; in the United States.

Children Reading Material is it good for them?

A Palestinian youth holds an Arabic translation of a Harry Potter book at a bookstore in east Jerusalem, on 11 August 2008. Harry Potter and Pinocchio are apparently not welcome in the Jewish sector, at least in their Arabic translations imported from Syria and Lebanon. Arab publisher Salah Abassi told Jewish public radio that authorities ordered him to stop importing certain Arabic-language children's books.

by HRM Deborah

I happened to have made a comment not long ago on my feelings about the Harry Potter books and the fact that I do not approve of these books. As to them being written in Arabic, Hebrew or by chance some language from Mars, it makes no difference.

While I do not believe in censorship or book banning, but I do have a problem is books especially created for children with the subject matters that are condemned by Allah (God); which in this particular case is Witchcraft or Sorcery, to anything associated with this matter; for the simple fact these types of subjects belong more on Satan‘s bookshelf then for good people.

It is well known through not only religious history, but other types, that material such as this causes temptation and at one time, it would isolate the person or person’s that took it upon themselves to learn or practice these types of subjects from Satan.

As for the book of Pinocchio, I actually do not have a problem, because personally I have not found anything really offense in this particular book; what I have found in my little reading of this story was an attempt to teach children to be good, instead of bad children.

While Pinocchio happened to be a childhood favorite of my mother’s and I am sure if she thought it had been harmful; she wouldn’t have let me know of the books existence, I am most assured on this fact.

There is a whole world of books that not only teach good subjects, but are educational and this is what one should think of when putting or allowing books to be put in children’s hands, because a child while they should understand the world around them, have a good education; it is not necessary to teach them the dark sides of life, for in doing this one creates sad or dysfunctional children in numerous ways on the long road and Satan always has an open door.

While my opinion is not just limited to the Jewish people, it should be a practice thorough out Palestine and I say this for the well-being of everyone.

Nevertheless, the foundation a parent or teacher gives to there children, especially reading material; creates the type of adult they will become.

Monks Put Face on China's Tibet problem

A Chinese man walks past a police notice board which reads 'Who took part in March 14 riots, surrender yourself and ask people provide information about the rioters' on display in Lhasa, capital of China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Friday, March 28, 2008.(AP Photo/Andy Wong)

28 March 2008

By CHARLES HUTZLER

China's Tibet problem got a human face this week in images of crying, red-robed monks, giving international concern a new focal point just as Beijing gears up for the arrival of the Olympic torch.

The outburst by 30 monks at Lhasa's holiest shrine dealt a setback to the government's plans to use a three-day trip for foreign reporters to show that protests and deadly anti-Chinese rioting in the Tibetan capital two weeks ago had subsided.

"We are like prisoners here. There are soldiers all over the place," the monks shouted as officials tugged at the foreign reporters to leave the Jokhang Temple. The monks called for the return of the Dalai Lama from exile and an end to religious restrictions: "We want freedom."

With the Olympic torch coming to Beijing on Monday, the images of the monks in newspapers and on television the world over have further upset the communist government's plans to use the August games to showcase China as a confident, respected power.

"How many people watching these images in the West will buy China's story?" asked Steve Tsang, a China politics expert at Oxford University. "Instead, what you see are these heroic monks who are risking a lot for their cause. That's something your average Westerner is very sympathetic with."

The Jokhang monks are drawing critical attention to China just as the image of a lone man confronting a tank column came to embody world concerns over the crushing of the Tiananmen democracy movement in 1989.

U.S., British and other diplomats who flew into Lhasa on Friday for their own government-invited tour planned to ask their hosts about the monks. European Union foreign ministers gathering in Slovenia appealed to China to resolve the crisis peacefully.

President Bush and Australia's new prime minister, Kevin Rudd, said Friday they want Chinese leaders to meet with the Dalai Lama — Tibet's exiled but still revered leader — to defuse tensions.

"It is absolutely clear that there are human rights abuses in Tibet," Rudd told reporters after meeting with Bush in Washington.

Beijing does not have a public relations problem on Tibet with its own people. All media in China are state-controlled so most Chinese see the Tibet protests through reports that hew to the government line: lawless rioting aimed at Chinese and instigated by Dalai Lama supporters.

Chinese and foreigners living in China say Internet controls have ramped up, with Tibet reports on Google and Yahoo and other foreign news sites blocked and Tibet-related discussions on domestic chat sites censored.

The Olympics are overwhelmingly popular among Chinese. But the Lhasa protests, which spread to dozens of Tibetan communities across western China in one of the broadest challenges to Chinese rule in decades, have compounded Beijing's problems in rallying international public opinion ahead of the Olympics.

Already Beijing was struggling to counter foreign critics on human rights, media restrictions and China's relations with Sudan, where the Darfur region has been the site of a bloody conflict since 2003.

"They're not quite as skilled with the serve-and-volley as they could and should be. It's a skill they need to learn," said David Wolf, a business communications consultant in Beijing. "The question is: Are they going to learn quickly enough? It's crash course time."

Jitters over the situation in Lhasa were evident Friday — the last day of the foreign reporters' visit — and throughout the government tour.

Police closed lanes in the old Tibetan city leading to a mosque for Friday prayers, allowing only worshippers and residents in. The mosque and many Muslim-owned shops were targeted by rioters, apparently out of resentment for their prominence in business.

Officials took the reporters to interview injured soldiers and Chinese who were attacked or whose businesses were burned during the rioting. All of them had been screened and previously interviewed by state media. Reporters who attempted to report independently were followed.

At the same time, the fact that the trip happened at all was a sign that Beijing wants to appear responsive to international concerns.

Officials accompanying the reporters agreed to a request to interview Tibetans detained for rioting. They also tried to spin Thursday's Jokhang outburst, saying it signaled government tolerance.

"China is more open. You can see that in the Jokhang. The monks told you things that are not identical with the government," said Zhang Lizhong, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official posted to Lhasa to deal with visiting foreigners.

Yet the government also seemed intent on laying blame for the rioting on the Dalai Lama and his supporters without addressing grievances by Tibetans over the influx of Chinese migrants and, as with the Jokhang monks, religious restrictions.

"This incident started on March 10, and everyone knows March 10 is the day in 1959 that the Dalai Lama instigated a rebellion," Drubkang, a lama who heads Tibet's government-backed Buddhist Association, told reporters. "So this was premeditated."

It's a message that's a tough sell for Western publics that tend to see the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama as a spiritual figure of moral authority.

On Friday, the Dalai Lama reiterated that he supported Beijing's holding of the Olympics but decried state media's depiction of the protests, which has dwelled on violence against Chinese.

"The state media's portrayal of the recent events in Tibet, using deceit and distorted images, could sow the seeds of racial tension with unpredictable long-term consequences. This is of grave concern to me," he said in a statement from his base in exile, Dharmsala, India.

To many, the monks' outburst reaffirms what Bush, Rudd and other Western leaders have said — that China should open talks with the Dalai Lama to ease tensions in Tibet. It's a demand Chinese leaders have resisted so far.

"For people, in this case the monks, to disrupt a press conference, it's extremely bold and very unusual," said Rebecca MacKinnon, a journalism professor at Hong Kong University. "It shows how angry people are."

Honesty is the Best Policy

11 March 2008

by HRM Deborah

Something, my father told me years ago about the American media, "only believe a quarter of what you see, hear or read, especially in regards to politics."

This always tended to make me disgusted, that the American media is manipulated so badly, even to go so far as to slander people, speak insults or accuse an honest person of lying.

I am yet to wonder, when the day will change, when honesty is the best policy again?

Just a little interesting finally, since I made a remark about American news, it seems BBC is picking up suit. I must say, I am very ashamed of the British news agency for stepping to a new low, I use to think, they where an impeccable news agency.

A Hand Up

16 February 2008

by HRM Deborah

The overwhelming response not just by individuals, but also by several governments for me to return, I must admit was very overwhelming for me and I thank everyone for their kindness.

The head of the government that did originally have this page shutdown, accusing me of hate and racism, came to an understanding that was never my intention nor to do I believe in such things, but instead to try in the best way I could to help everyone in the world, including them.

It must be understood, I was sent in the best way this government could a formal apology and I will say, I respond with a positive heartfelt response in their behalf.

I will even go further to say, that the fire bombing to my cousin’s store a few weeks ago, while it did make me sad and going so far as to say that the vandalism a few days later. Which to my understanding, did completely shut down the store for good, is not being held against the government, but it is sad that a single person that ordered such a single terrorist act to frighten me and again this government when they found out responded with trying to do the right thing. Again, I say thank you to them.

All the years, that many negative things that have been done to not just myself but my family, while it has made me sad and sometime’s I still shed a tear once in awhile. I have never had animosity against anyone, but always had the hope that everything would get better and I believe in my heart much has and yes, while it still a work in progress, I know one day a common ground will be met where everyone involved will actually appreciate each other and all will be good.

Something, I hope will make people understand me better, is I have always been a positive person even when I do endure extreme conditions, but I never for once had negative thought’s towards anyone. I will say, that often time’s that which did happen, made me understand I wanted it better for other’s because I never for once wanted anyone to ever have to endure my hardship’s. I will even further say it did help me learn more in the need for human compassion.

Furthermore, what come’s to mind, "a hand up brushing someone off is always better, then kicking a person down." I wish we could all in the world, give each other hands up.

Stand For Truth

Assalamu Alaikum Everyone:

I am sorry, I have not been here for such a long time, but I became a victim of a type of censorship, inshaallah one day the world will change and people in certain parts of the world will once again have real freedom of speech.

Please, have patiance for me and keep me in your prayer's for much good is happening these days and I know in my heart the world will be a better place inshaallah where all people can be happy and things like this will be a thing of the past.

Whether, I would return writing or not will be solely by Allah’s grace and not my own, for I have to much love for humanity and in my heart will always do what is right for the benefit of all people.

Just as a reminder, all people have a right to be happy in this life and are not suppose to suffer in any manner, we are suppose to care for and about each other, please never forget to love and respect each other no matter where someone comes from or the fact they may be different from you.

What is wrong with the News?

Editorial

27 October 2007
by HRM Deborah

Especially in our modern time’s the media can sway a person in many different ways by just the opinion or idea within an article; so journalist must be so very conscientious about what they produce.

Here is where the problem begins and it is not just propaganda, but people writing article’s that I would not even put in my birdcage for my two bird’s to read, let alone do their business on. It has gotten so bad that I have found alternate means for my bird’s paper that is completely blank; this goes with many of the trivial media that is hitting the press, television news as well as the net.

I will even admit time again on this page you will find what I call filler, like the recent article on chocolate, but at least I tried to make it look more informative and not give people a yawn.

Then you have the hawker’s out their that think they know exactly what is going on and often time's are bias in their view’s especially with the current global condition. Without full knowledge of what it really curtails and so here they go, blah, blah, blah.

Did we learn anything, are we more informed, no, just maybe a little agitated, confused or went on to the next article filled with what did they say when you got to the end.

I realize for our time’s, we are in the worse sort of censorship propaganda dilemma that is far worse then any news black out in the past, but could we at least think better before we write or at least be concerned; the majority of the world is going to need a nap after reading what you wrote.

Year’s ago when I first started writing, one thing I was told is make it interesting, write hard facts and most of all do your homework on all aspects of the article before laying it down on the page, because at one time newspaper’s could go out of business with this type of journalism.

I am sure it is still true today and it would be sad if this happened to one or more of the major news agencies out there striving to get the world to wake up and smell the fresh brewed coffee in the morning over the relaxing glance at the front headlines.

If you wish to criticize and think this editorial is poor, wait until the next time you take a gander at the other news sources out there will their news on gardening, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Better yet, the conflicting reports on the same page about the Middle East; to that armed robbery that happened just two doors from your house.

Lastly, the growing numbers of people that have decided to stop reading or watching the news all together, because it seemed to have became worthless to them. Instead, they would rather tune in and watch, “Desperate Housewives.’”

Western Democracy?

Scared
Wiretapping

Propaganda

Religious Persecution (Islamophobia)

Armed Robbery
Murder

Police State?

Elderly Neglect and Abuse Poverty and Homeless

Iranian President: Independent States Can Solve Int'l Problems by Unity

United Nations, New York, Sept 27, 2007-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran urged world independent states on Wednesday to get united and rise up against bullying powers.

Speaking in a meeting with his Nicaraguan counterpart, Daniel Ortega, on the sidelines of the UN 62nd General Assembly, President Ahmadinejad said, "Through unity and solidarity, we can solve international problems and prevent bullying powers from invading other states."
Noting that there is no freedom in the US, President Ahmadinejad recalled his Tuesday's speech at the Columbia University saying that days before his speech, a media campaign was launched by three US TV channels against his appearance at the university.

Referring to the insulting behavior of the university's president, Lee Bollinger, the Iranian president said since then, many American citizens have been calling up Iran's mission at the UN, apologizing for Bollinger's behavior.

For his part, the Nicaraguan president referred to the recent statements of the French president and foreign minister against Iran calling Paris the "clown of the US circus".

President Ortega stressed that any strike against Iran is considered against the whole world.

On Tehran-Managua relations, President Ortega called for promotion of bilateral cooperation.

Earlier in the day, President Ahmadinejad held a meeting with Indonesian prime minister during which the two discussed expansion of Tehran-Jakarta relations.

US Media Influence - Anti-Iran msg

Homer Simpson's brain scan

1 September 2007

We probe US administration's handling of media over Iran, Japan's press turning on their PM and Homer Simpson's brain.

The Listening Post, Richard Gizbert probes the US administration's handling of the media over Iran. We report on how Japan's press is turning on the Prime Minister after a crushing defeat in the Upper House elections. And in China, Homer Simpson's brain finds its way to the national health pages.

We start in the United States this week, watching Fox News' reportage on Iran. The US administration is using its powerful media allies to pave the way for war with Iran. Fox News and others have been pushing President George Bush's anti-Iran message. However, the US administration's agenda is not going unopposed. We spoke to small independent media outfits like Fox Attacks and Stop the War who believe the media is being manipulated and that we have been here before with Iraq.

Our other story is the souring of relations between Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the country's press. After a crushing defeat in the Upper House elections, the liberal media demanded the Prime Minister’s resignation, while the traditionally supportive conservative newspapers were highly critical of his performance.

When Mr Abe came to power in 2006, he was hailed as the 'princling' and a worthy successor to former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Where Mr Koizumi was charismatic and flamboyant with a knack for speaking in television soundbites, Mr Abe was seen as stiff and sombre and even arrogant in his dealings with the media. His popularity at home was not helped by revelations in the press of a series of ministerial scandals. And abroad Mr Abe's remarks caused outrage in the media when he hinted that World War Two sex slaves had not been coerced by the military.

We spoke to some Japan's major newspapers to get the low down on the breakdown between press and Prime Minister.

In Newsbytes, we report on latest developments into the murder case of Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya. We introduce you to a new online tool that gives details of who is editing Wikipedia's pages. And in China, the national press agency use a picture of Homer Simpson's brain scan to illustrate a science article on multiple sclerosis!

Last but not least, our internet video of the week - President Bush's rendition of U2's anti-war anthem Sunday Bloody Sunday.

“Bush may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but his quips sure make for a good video.” -speedracer77 (Sunday Bloody Sunday by Bush)

Part 1

Part 2

AT&T On Censorship Trail?

AT&T errs in edit of anti-Bush lyrics

10 August 2007

Video

By MICHELLE ROBERTS

SAN ANTONIO - Lyrics performed by Pearl Jam criticizing President Bush should not have been censored from a webcast by AT&T Inc., a company spokesman acknowledged Thursday.

AT&T, through its Blue Room entertainment site, offered a webcast of the band's headlining performance Sunday at Lollapalooza in Chicago. The event was shown with a brief delay so the company could bleep out excessive profanity or nudity.

But monitors hired by AT&T through a vendor went further and cut two lines from a song to the tune of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall." One was "George Bush, leave this world alone" the second time it was sung, and the other was "George Bush find yourself another home," according to the band's Web site.

AT&T spokesman Michael Coe said that the silencing was a mistake and that the company was working with the vendor that produces the webcasts to avoid future misunderstandings. He said AT&T was working to secure the rights to post the entire song — part of a sing-along with the audience — on the Blue Room site.

Blue Room offers live concerts, sports interviews, video game advice and other entertainment content that requires a high-speed Internet connection. Although viewing the content is free, San Antonio-based AT&T uses the site as a way to promote its DSL broadband services.

Besides Pearl Jam's show, AT&T showed 21 other performances ranging from Pete Yorn to G. Love and Special Sauce during the three-day Lollapalooza music festival. Coe said no other complaints have been made about censoring.

Pearl Jam said in a posting on its Web site that in the future, it would work harder to ensure live broadcasts or webcasts are "free from arbitrary edits."

"If a company that is controlling a webcast is cutting out bits of our performance — not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations — fans have little choice but to watch the censored version," they said.

The alternative rock band and Internet advocates were also using the incident to try to draw attention to the prospects of Internet service providers like AT&T deciding to give preferential treatment to content they favor or have deals with, leaving the rest on slower-moving Internet bandwidths.

Jenny Toomey, executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, said that although net neutrality wasn't being violated in this case, it still raises questions about whether AT&T and other service providers can be trusted not to hurt artists.

Internet speeds that depend only on the size of files, not the kind of content that's in them, is a democratizing force, she said.

"We've got to protect that, and artists get that," Toomey said.

AT&T and other providers would like the ability to charge more for transmitting certain kinds of data, like live video, faster or more reliably than other data but have insisted such premium services would help, not hurt, consumers.

Coe said, regardless, the issue of net neutrality is entirely separate from the mistake during the Pearl Jam show.

"This was our own Web site," he noted.

Farfour is in an Israeli Prison

"The show had drawn complaints from Israeli watchdog groups."

3 July 2007

by Housewife4Palestine

How ironic that Farfour is not a martyr in the sense that he is dead, but far worse he is in an Israeli prisoner, which was the cliffhanger towards the ending of the program.

The real martyr in this last episode was the Grandfather, because he was murdered by the Israeli’s, who I am yet to wonder is because they knew that the Grandfather had the document’s and the key to the city the Israeli’s call Tel Aviv; that the true owner was the family of Farfour.

While the last episode of the program was very well produced in that it showed an excerpt towards just one element in the life of what it is like towards the sorrow and frustration of being a Palestinian. While some people expressed they thought their was an understanding of accusation’s towards hate, which is farthest from the Palestinian heart; for like I mentioned it is sorrow and frustration to be put in a situation of so little dignity by and oppressor.

Moving on, there is documented proof of this type of situation happening towards Palestinians and towards the end showing the names of two famous martyr’s in the struggle, it not renewed anything that the average child may see on a daily basis in Palestinian.

Whether, some people wish to open their eye’s or not, children see to often the torture and death of their family and classmates, the raids in the middle of the night where people are dragged from their home’s to be put in prison, shot in the street’s or far worse never to be seen again.

As far as Farfour not relinquishing the document or key even as the Israeli interrogator began beating him is commendable, for the simple fact no one has the right to be forced to do something they know is not right. Nor is one grain of sand in Palestine for sale, we have never had the "for sale" sign out; as far as I know.

Myself, I shed a few little tears because it brought back memories of different event’s that happened towards my own family and how they became refugee’s in a world that at time’s has been very harsh to them. I still remember the tears and anguish, when another family member in some form or other became another martyr in a life they did not ask for.

As for the program, being pulled because of outside pressure’s, Israel and their allies can make all the accusations they want, but the truth will always be they did not like the program because it showed them in a real light that they have tried so hard to suppress to the outside world.

No one should ever be forced into the misery and these types of hardships towards anyone and while the Israeli’s as well as their allies continue to break international laws. To even the point, of so far getting away with them, they are and should always be known as criminal’s and even far worse to the Palestinian people. For if it was not so, their would be peace in the land known as Palestine, with harmony at it’s breast.

Finally, for anyone to truly understand the Israeli/Palestinian conflict must look with open eye’s to both side’s of this conflict to understand the real scope of this situation. Not just one side and say this is so.

Further Reading:

Who Really Murdered Farfour?

Who Really Murdered Farfour?

Farfour, no longer among the living.

30 June 2oo7

by Housewife4Palestine

While it is interesting that this derogatory story began from what I found from the Israeli news, YNetNews.com; it makes more of a wonder, of how Farfur really became another martyr in Occupied Palestine.

Using the word terrorist towards anyone you are in opposition with, is becoming an over used word, especially the West as well as the Israeli's that keep coining this word; it is starting to have the focus turned in a negative light towards them, like never before. For the inception of the word, “Terrorist” in modern terminology came from the West.

Especially when the "Tomorrow's Pioneers," in it's inception was mistranslated to defame the character of the program. While I may not have agreed to the reference of an MK-47, the program was retooled; but it would have been doomed anyway, unless it came from an Israeli or Western affiliate station.

Furthermore, what makes this whole scenario more interesting is the timing, when a portion of Fatah, Israel as well as the West wish the extermination of a portion of the Palestinian people that just happened to be with the Islamic Resistance group of Hamas. So did these people, take it out on a defenseless mouse or should we just chock up another one, for censorship?

Further Reading:

Speaker focuses on terrorist media

Farfour is in an Israeli Prison

Thank you Daily Kos!

Click HERE for the "Classic Laurel and Hardy Dance"

It's been a whole week since the 'tar and feathering' of our dear colleague Benjamin Heine at Daily Kos. The fuss has more or less died down after days of postings throughout the Web, on Blogs, on News sites, on almost every progressive site throughout the world.

This has resulted in an increase in the readership for all involved in the 'rallying of troops' to Ben's defense. It has also resulted in many other sites, truly democratic ones, to add links of our blogs onto their sites.

To this I say, Thank you Daily Kos! May you continue to stew in your bitterness and continue to expose yourselves as the true non-Democrats that you are.

-----------> This post originally appeared on DesertPeace

Thank you very much fellow's!

Attacked by American Censorship

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
— The first article of the Bill of Rights

February 19, 2007

Commentary

by Housewife4Palestine

Recently I firmly believe and other’s have expressed the same conclusion, that I was being put under attack towards the growing problem of American censorship.

While I do not fall under the guidelines of such censorship, I found it appalling that anyone would attempt to advice me what I can or can not write towards this blog page.

I have never believed in any form of censorship nor yellow journalism but to the contrary, I have always been a stanch advocate of freedom of speech .

The article that was attacked was called, Their Greatest Fear," which is in regards to the NewWorld order alliance between the Zionist and the American’s for global domination.

While this article was hailed as one of the finest editorials to come about towards the true issue facing the world, the woman from Anne’s letter’s and Right to Return Ring of blogs spoke differently. She not only insulted me but appeared to be dictating what I may write about. Like I must have the American media approval to what I write, if she is correct in her association with the American media.

“Anne ,” claims to be Pro-Palestine and have some understanding of Islam, which from the manner she wrote me I not only question her loyalty to the Palestinian cause, but her lack of etiquette within Islam. She came across as more of a Patriotic American sheep then anything else.

I did set out to publish her comments under the article she attacked but better judgment and advice I came to the observation that this kind of derogatory attack did not need to appear unless it was not to discredit me, but show the foolish nature the censorship has taken.

When I asked questions to what this woman had slandered towards me numerous others, beside’s those who are true Pro-Palestinian blogger’s agreed with my assumption.

I came across the following information on the pressured censorship in America since the falsified “War on Terror” is occurring.

Following is some very interesting entries towards the new American censorship:

Introduction

Censorship exists to some extent in all modern countries, including the U.S.A., the U.K., Germany, France, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. However, it is worse in some countries than in others. A government which censors the information available to its people, other than in a state of national emergency (e.g., a sudden attack by a hostile military force) is a government which seeks to keep the people in a state of ignorance, and should not complain if the people have no loyalty to it.

Censorship and the "War on Terrorism"

In response to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon President George W. Bush announced a "war on terrorism" and told the American people that they have to sacrifice their civil liberties in support of his "war", which most people seem willing, sheep-like, to do. A tidal wave of jingoism has engulfed the U.S., and any criticism of the President or the U.S. is deemed "unpatriotic" and is often punished by loss of employment.

But a war requires an identifiable enemy. A war is a war between two or more opposing sides. A "war" in which one side is invisible, such as this "war on terrorism", is a fantasy — a pretext to restrict civil liberties, to impose censorship and to engage in other activities not acceptable in a democratic society in peacetime.

David Cole: A Matter of Rights

James Bacque: History and Forgetting

John Pilger: War for Truth

Dwight F. Reynolds: Which War Are You Watching? — The View from Spain

America no longer has a "free press" in the true meaning of the term, for in America one is not free to express criticism of the war or of the Bush regime.

Mary Louise: Operation Mockingbird: CIA Media Manipulation

Personally, I have come to the conclusion that the media is not only influenced by the CIA ..... the media is the CIA. Many Americans think of their supposedly free press as a watchdog on government, mainly because the press itself shamelessly promotes that myth. One of the first tenets for the control of a population is to control all sources of information the population receives and mostly because of the pervasive CIA and Operation Mockingbird, the mainstream American Press is a controlled multi-national corporate/government megaphone. They are up to their eyeballs in dirty deeds and there will never be an end to the corruption that prevails unless the CIA is abolished.