Daily Archives: March 11, 2005

Police Questioning Sgrena

Mypetjawa (the Jawa Report) is still on top of the Sgrena story. Apparently she’s still being questioned by Italian police. That may or may not indicate that they are looking at her as a suspect. But they should be looking at her. If her statements to the Italian police are like the statements she’s made to the press, it’s likely she’s lied to authorities. That’s not good.

Recall that Martha Stewart didn’t go to the big house (ok it was more like a nice Cape Cod with a wrap-around porch) for insider trading. She was convicted of lying to authorities in the course of an insider trading investigation. Of course Martha was an evil business person not an innocent communist propagandist.

Online Coalition for Free Speech

The Captain is an original signatory to the Online Coalition.
From his post:

You can also sign onto the Online Coalition. Go to the website and register to add your voices in defense of the blogosphere and the First Amendment. We may be conservatives and liberals, centrists and radicals, but we’re all Americans — and no one tells us that we have to keep our mouths shut about politics. We’ll be glad to have you on board.

Join the Coalition today! Sign the letter!

New Star Wars Movie Not for Kids??!!

Apparently the new Star Wars movie will not be suitable for young children. That’s just great! My five year old son’s room is littered with Star Wars toys, posters, even underwear. He’s defined the importance of this spring as the season of his birthday, Easter, and the new Star Wars movie.

Lucas admits that the movie is too dark for young children, but says that he is happy with the product. Hellooooo….Mr. Lucas……remember us, your customers. I’m glad you find the movie so artistically fulfilling, but isn’t the point of making these movies to provide a product that your faithful audience wants to see?

I know this isn’t earth shattering stuff here, but I know one little guy who’s going to be disappointed with the rug being pulled out from under him.
Hat tip: Outside the Beltway

Iran's Dan Rather

Take a look at the rise in the blogosphere and the reasons for its success. Much has been written about it including an extensive book by Hugh Hewitt (I must admit I haven’t read it yet- please don’t shun me) but when you get right down to it, the blogosphere rose because it filled a void.

Prior to discovering the blogosphere, we would watch the Sunday morning news shows in search of real political news and debate where both sides were truly represented. Too often the two sides of the debate were the far left and the moderate left, with the right excluded. Our views were not being covered. Personally, I would spend Sunday mornings arguing with the T.V., expressing my opinions to an inanimate object, while my sweet wife would pat me on the back saying “that’s O.K. dear.” Then came the blogosphere, and in an instant all that changed. Suddenly there was this forum which provided a nearly seamless exchange of unfiltered news and ideas, and unlike the T.V., it allowed us to participate. Notwithstanding the fact that we are living in a Western democracy and we are supposed to be “free”, it was liberating.

Now consider the young Iranian. I say young, because most of them are. Unlike North America’s aging population, Iran’s “boom” generation is under 30 – a technically savvy, computer driven group. Consider how the feelings of emancipation described above must pale in comparison to a young Iranian living in a mullahcracy discovering the blogosphere for the first time. Of course, I may be suffering from a bit of ethnocentrism – judging other peoples cultures by the standards of my own. I’m sure most liberals would make the condescending argument that the Iranians are not “us” and “we” can’t presume that the blogosphere would have any sort of liberating influence on the Arab world. But we’ve heard that before haven’t we.

Here’s a quote by Afshin Molavi, a writer who’s extensively covered Iranian political developments over the years from within Iran:

It?s increasingly apparent that Iran?s young are tuning out a preachy government for an alternative world of personal Web logs (Persian is the third most commonly used language on the Internet, after English and Chinese), private parties, movies, study, and dreams of emigrating to the West. These disenchanted ?children of the revolution? make up the bulk of Iran?s population, 70 percent of which is under 30. Too young to remember the anti-American sentiment of the ?70s, they share little of their parents? ideology. While young Iranians of an earlier generation once revered Che Guevara and romanticized guerrilla movements, students on today?s college campuses tend to shun politics and embrace practical goals such as getting a job or admission into a foreign graduate school.

And then there’s this nugget:

Meanwhile, Iranian intellectuals are quietly rediscovering American authors and embracing values familiar to any American civics student?separation of church and state, an independent judiciary and a strong presidency.

With the rise of the blogosphere amidst the pent up, unexpressed appreciation of American values, its only a matter of time before Iranian bloggers take down their own Dan Rather or Eason Jordan. But I suspect that they will have their sights set a little higher than an anchorman or news executive.

mm-5