Interesting Stuff # 68

‘Kinder and gentler’ warmaking may itself go on trial in the haditha matter

No one disputes the notion that if the Marines committed atrocities they should be severely punished. But the New Media will not sit idly by and watch US Marines get railroaded so that the brass can make a problem go away. And that in turn may well expose and highlight some difficult questions about the kind of complex, hair-splitting, warmaking the US has been doing in Iraq.

Iraq War Vet Fighting The Good Fight At Home

Vince Micco is an Iraq War veteran still fighting for the troops by taking on five-term Liberal Democrat opponent, Steve Rothman, in New Jersey's 9th District.
"I'm an Iraq war veteran, and it really bothers me the way the war is being portrayed by the president's critics," said Micco, a former Army sergeant who was a counterintelligence specialist in Iraq and an Army reservist for nine years.
"I am running because the American people can and should be proud of what we're accomplishing in Iraq, and throughout the Middle East," Micco said.
Today, Rothman is bragging on his site about having voted against funding for the troops.
Today, Congressman Rothman voted against a $94.5 billion emergency supplemental spending bill, most of which would directly fund President Bush's ongoing war in Iraq.
But Micco is going to need help. Running against a five term incumbent can be hard enough, running in the 9th District can be challenging in and of itself.

Venezuelan Press Assault

groundbreaking academic study

Illegal Hiring Is Rarely Penalized

The Bush administration, which is vowing to crack down on U.S. companies that hire illegal workers, virtually abandoned such employer sanctions before it began pushing to overhaul U.S. immigration laws last year, government statistics show.

exclusive dispatch from the biennial meeting of the Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly meeting in Birmingham, Alabama

China censorship: Yahoo, Google and Microsoft compared

If Yahoo! is going to keep on like this, they might as well just change the name of their Chinese service to that of their Chinese partner Alibaba, which now runs Yahoo! China anyway. Then at least they'd be a bit more honest with Chinese users about what they really are.
More seriously though, the biggest concern is that according to my sources in the industry, Google and MSN are feeling a lot of pressure from Chinese authorities to be just like Yahoo! China. Employees of certain competitors do not hesitate to tattle on Google and MSN in order to gain competitive advantage. So the point is this: Unless companies band together and push back against Chinese government censorship pressure, it's going to become a very rapid race to the bottom.

Israel will cooperate with int'l probe on Gaza blast 'five minutes after similar probe on Qassam fire on Sderot is concluded'

Note this beach scene description at Meryl's:
...Gaza beach, just to the south of Beit Lahiya beach, the scene of an explosion last Friday that killed seven family members and orphaned 11-year-old Ghalia Huda, was yesterday bustling with daytrippers.
Kids frolicked seemingly free of fears of more shells. Some peddled chocolates to passers-by...
...But as a boy ran through the sand to launch his kite, a more sinister launching took place behind him.
Out of the sand dunes burst a Qassam rocket, soaring skywards towards Israel through a brilliant blue sky.
The children froze in their tracks and looked for their parents. Some started to run, the ghosts of the week before still fresh in their minds. A mother called out to them and their panic quickly stopped.
“She said the Israelis won’t send their bombs again,” a small girl said before scampering back to her sandcastle...