Bumped, because someone did something awesome:

Well, like I say, the kids are allright. CNN story. Link via Zack.

Now for some unhappy news. Google KowTows to the Great Firewall of China, taking steps to censor its search results (and presumably all it's other services) for it's Chinese-language version. Leading american corporations continue to prop up a repressive regime in the name of profit.

In light of the fact that China's Communist Party maintains control through a stranglehold on information as much as through brute force (they're a very 21st-Century autocracy), this is also worth noting: the White House is witholding any documentaion of its response to Hurricane Katrina, and will not make time for any staff to testify before Congress. Yeah, because, you know, what your King President did in response to a cataclysmic natural disaster is, like, none of your business. He has the divine right executive priviledge.

Oh well, it's not the end of the world. I was reading last night about young reform-minded people in Iran, how far up shit creek they are. These are people who are my age and younger, being followed around by paramilitary police, getting dragged out of their houses at night and tortured in secret prisons, all just for wanting to be journalists and maybe question the the unquestionability of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Poor bastards.

Though on the other hand: T-Franks says WMD attack == Military Government, which would probably suck ass. That link goes to the wingnuttarific NewsMax, so be forewarned.