Slashdot Mirror
Congressmen Condemn Companies for China Policies
koweja writes "Members of Congress have taken the step of criticizing various IT companies for their international policies. This includes Google and Microsoft, for what they call 'bowing to Beijing' and 'putting profits before American principles of free speech'. Most of the specific incidents have been covered on Slashdot already. Yahoo and MS countered by pointing out that event censored network access 'enabled far wider access to independent sources of information for hundreds of millions of individuals in China and elsewhere' than not entering China."
Well we just confirmed two SCOTUS justices who said explicitly in their confirmation hearings that they don't recognize international law, so I think we are definiately fixing that problem. As both Roberts and Alito recently pointed out, once you recognize international law, you get to pick and choose which laws you like and dislike as a judge, which is ridiculous.
German law (article 130 of the German penal code) bans a great deal of internet sites dealing with historic revisionism, especially sites which arrive at the conclusion that the holocaust itself (holocaust meaning the systematic executions in the death camps) never happened or if it did happen then not in the numbers and dimensions which are found in the "official" schoolbooks. Sites that have been banned on Google Germany include sites such as http://www.stormfront.org/ and http://www.zundelsite.org/ etc. to name a few.
I agree with you. Based on what I've read, capitalism is morphing into something similar to fascism or communism. I would suggest people check out the books:
...as well as videos by Alex Jones at archive.org or infowars.com.
_When Corporations Rule the World_
_The Best Democracy Money Can Buy_
Now in 2006, politicians are spending quicker than ever and the amount of debt China holds has gone up a bit
So for politicians rambling on about how US corporations are falling into line to please the Chinese, the fact that in order to keep these loans coming in the Government must be friendly to this communist country and still not recognize the democratic Taiwan.
There are bigger structural problems in the USA right now - an alarming statistic is that the average american household has $8k - $10k in credit card debt. This is incredible.
Google's response.
My apologies if this has been posted already.
"Supreme executive power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some farcical aquatic ceremony!"
1. Grant China Most Favored Nation trading status.
2. Bend over backwards to ensure that US/China meetings are not harmed by any silly protests about Tibet (or Xinjiang, or anywhere else...)
3. Move manufacturing to China.
4. Deal with annoying 'pandering to China to make a short-term buck' image, by freaking out at US companies who obey local laws.
5. Profit! Actually, profit at every step!
Didn't need the ??? this time, cause it's all kind of straightforward.
Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
Interestingly Wired is reporting 'Bush Keeps Privacy Posts Vacant.'
From the article:
"The powerful Office of the Director of National Intelligence, created by the Intelligence Reform Act, must have a civil liberties protection officer who is charged with ensuring that the "use of technologies sustain, and do not erode, privacy protections," according to the law. But the White House has yet to nominate anyone for the job..."
Further:
"Congress, too, has been slacking in the privacy arena. A five-member Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board mandated by law in 2004 remains in limbo as board members await congressional confirmation. The board is supposed to report to Congress yearly and oversee antiterrorism policies."
It would appear Congress and the Oval Office aren't shy of directing their ire outward while failing to adequately protect the values they pretend to hold so dear to their electorate.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
Suppose you're a librarian and an FBI agent shows up and wants to know the complete list of books and websites this particular Muslim patron looked at. They don't have a court's warrant, but you still have to comply, of course. You're outraged, you want to scream, you want to protest, you want to blog, you want to write a letter to the editor, you want to call your congressman! Oops, nope, can't talk about that, sorry, it's illegal. That's freedom of speech for you, in these United States of America.
The same is true for bank employees, by the way, and everyone working with financial records, including casinos, pawn shops, U.S. Postal Office, car dealerships etc.