April Reign

Speak your mind even if your voice shakes

Politics

Censorship or Propaganda?

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Eddie Vedder, lead singer of the rock band Pearl Jam, is using his powerful pipes to call out corporate censorship after an AT&T webcast of the band’s Lollapalooza performance that edited out Vedder’s anti-George Bush musings.

The improvised lyrics in question were sung to the tune of Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”: “George Bush leave this world alone. George Bush find yourself another home.”

AT&T claims this was an error though the circumstances seem suspicious at best.

The first time Vedder sang “George Bush leave this world alone,” the lyrics were transmitted to users on AT&T’s Blue Room Web site. The second two anti-Bush verses were cut.

AT&T is currently using the ‘big boys did it and ran away’ defence. Putting the blame squarely on the firm they hired out editing (aka censoring) responsibilities to.

AT&T employs the firm Davie-Brown Entertainment (DBE) to edit their webcasts for profanity that is not a part of a song’s lyrics, and also for nudity, company spokesman Michael Coe said.

Coe also offered; “We have said repeatedly over and over that we will not block customers’ access to legal content. We’ve said that in front of Congress. We’ve stated it as conditions of our merger with Bell South.”

Who defines legal? This is the same argument that could be used in discussions of other censored internet situations such as that in China and Saudi Arabia. Hardly a ringing endorsement of freedom of speech or access to information.

Tim Carr, a neutrality advocate at the Save the Internet coalition, said AT&T’s censorship is an excellent example of what could go wrong when ISPs control what their users see and hear.

“The censorship of Pearl Jam gives us a clear view of what the problem is: When you allow large Internet providers to also become gatekeepers to content there’s too often a temptation to limit what people get to see,” Carr said.

Interestly, though Save the Internet feels this is an example of what could happen if net neutrality is not respected the rightwing libertarian Media Freedom Project spokesman, Derek Hunter said;
“To say that they’re censoring is ridiculous? It’s propaganda and it seems to be working.”

Pearl Jam has posted the two different versions of the webcast here

In a statement on the site Mike McCready writes;

I can only look to historical figures who are above reproach in my mind, such as Thomas Jefferson “I hope we shall crush…in it’s birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country.” I feel that corporations can still exist without worry of a few words at a rock concert and need not trample upon our constitution for the sake of profit.


I think that horse has already bolted, and not just in America.

Protecting life

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What springs to your mind when you hear this phrase?

Perhaps programs which allow people access to the essentials for living– homes, food access to health care.

Perhaps you think of the bike helmet you bought your child, or your resolve to never drive drunk or tired or otherwise occupied.

Maybe you think of the aid you send to a foster child, or women’s shelter or other hands on charity.

I wonder in your deliberations if you ever consider refusing to fund abortions for poor women.

There has been much ado amongst the “I’m alright jack” and the “woo hoo lets legislate the hoo hoo” over this;

A clause was added to the Hamilton County indigent care levy contract 10 years ago to block the money from being spent on abortions for poor people.

Recently, that change almost was reversed.

Oh dear the horror!! That women would have the choice not to bring more children they can’t afford into the world!

Of course lets not forget that as poor women they shouldn’t be having sex at all. Nope no way, no pleasure for you lady. And that “sweet precious wonderful protected life” in your womb, well don’t get too attached to having it thought of that way because as soon as it’s born it becomes “another goddamn miserable drain on society that my tax dollars have to go to support“.

Right to Life of Greater Cincinnati had sent word of the clause deletion to more than 1,000 people on its e-mail list. It has since sent a follow up e-mail on the reinstatement.

Executive Director Paula Westwood said she was pleased that the clause is back in.

“Our foremost goal is to make sure that life is protected,” she said. “It looks like the language will remain on this, and that is a good thing.”

One can only hope that Ms. Westwood will put as much effort into ensuring that the resulting children are fed and clothed and babysat while their mothers try to support them. Perhaps she can also direct them to counselling for the depression, anger and terror they feel at being forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. No doubt that would not fall under Ms. Westwood’s umbrella of protecting “life”.

“Having a girl is to plant a seed in someone else’s garden.”

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cross posted at Bread and Roses: Front Page

India is proposing to register all women who are pregnant. This ostensibly is being done in order to curb the number of female fetuses being aborted and to help stop the number of female child infanticides.

Currently up to 500,000 female fetuses are being aborted yearly. The preference for boys has “[…]reduced the number of girls per 1,000 boys from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001.” ((http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/07/14/ap3914376.html))

Boys tend to be preferred because they carry on the family name. But families here also fear the financial burden of girls – when it comes time to pay huge traditional dowries to their daughters’ future husbands upon marriage. ((http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2007-03/2007-03-05-voa17.cfm))

Until there is a change in the way females are viewed societally, the attempt to limit abortions will only result in more female children suffering. As they are more likely to be killed at birth and less likely to receive the same care in feeding and medical attention and less likely to receive education.

There are many mitigating circumstances in the law that permit a woman to have an abortion. Rape is one, the inability of an unmarried woman to care for a child is another. Any pregnancy that causes mental anguish to a woman can be legally terminated even against medical advice. The minister ought to be looking at the root cause of female foeticide, not try to enter a personal domain. ((http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=db8deabe-930d-40d9-8f91-c02f151bc8ff&&Headline=Getting+up+close+and+far+too+personal))

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Happy Independence Day

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declaration_of_independence.jpgOn this day in 1776 America declared it’s independence from Britain. No doubt great things were imagined. Indeed some grand things have been done.

On this fourth of July, I wish for my friends and neighbours to the south another Independence Day. One that sees them declare their independence from their current government.

A government that is finding all manner of means to corrupt the very institution’s and regulations put in place to ensure a government for and by the people.

To be a woman in America today must be frightening, as rights and freedoms thought to be “self evident” are rolled back at an appalling rate. Daily we hear stories of reproductive freedoms being attacked. From attacks on abortion rights to refusal to fill or cover birth control prescriptions to refusal to allow suit on unfair and unequal payment practises. The war on women in America proceeds apace even as the government pretends to be fighting for the rights of women in the middle east.
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Immigration Equality

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immigration_equality.gifWomens Enews has an article today on lesbians and the immigration system.

Some things I didn’t know, gay couples are not allowed to sponser each other in the same way that hetrosexual couples are.

One major barrier is U.S. refusal to recognize same-sex relationships for immigration purposes, which means that U.S. lesbians are unable to sponsor foreign partners as hundreds of thousands of heterosexuals do. In 2006 about 27 percent of the total grants of permanent residency were awarded to members of a heterosexual couple.

“If someone is straight and in a relationship, boom-boom-boom and they’re done,” says private attorney Noemi Masliah in New York. “Same-sex partners have to jump through the hoops and find different ways. Or some just give up . . . It’s not fair that a lesbian’s status is employment-based and the other (straight) piece is family-based. I think it’s very sad and very dismal and very unfair.”

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