Tag: politics

Google Says to China, 'If you keep hacking our servers, We will leave China'

I cannot blame them one bit.

We launched Google.cn in January 2006 in the belief that the benefits of increased access to information for people in China and a more open Internet outweighed our discomfort in agreeing to censor some results. At the time we made clear that “we will carefully monitor conditions in China, including new laws and other restrictions on our services. If we determine that we are unable to achieve the objectives outlined we will not hesitate to reconsider our approach to China.”

These attacks and the surveillance they have uncovered–combined with the attempts over the past year to further limit free speech on the web–have led us to conclude that we should review the feasibility of our business operations in China. We have decided we are no longer willing to continue censoring our results on Google.cn, and so over the next few weeks we will be discussing with the Chinese government the basis on which we could operate an unfiltered search engine within the law, if at all. We recognize that this may well mean having to shut down Google.cn, and potentially our offices in China.

The decision to review our business operations in China has been incredibly hard, and we know that it will have potentially far-reaching consequences. We want to make clear that this move was driven by our executives in the United States, without the knowledge or involvement of our employees in China who have worked incredibly hard to make Google.cn the success it is today. We are committed to working responsibly to resolve the very difficult issues raised.

via Official Google Blog: A new approach to China.

Which totally destroys the Conservative Meme that Google is some sort of evil socialist company. In actuality, Google strikes me as being more of a civil libertarian type of a group. Because Google is very big on privacy and has fought in court against privacy invasion; they also support many organizations that fight for privacy. The reason why Google is hammered by the right, is because they refuse to show deference to the American Christian Holidays. The reason they do this is to be fair to all of the faiths and because Google is not solely an American Company, but an international company with people from many faiths and backgrounds. Personally, I would like to see good be a bit more friendlier towards America, it’s Holidays and Customs, but, I do understand their position on the matter.

I personally commend Google’s stance on privacy and I am extremely happy to see Google stand up for the privacy of the people of China, especially those who are fighting against that Communist Government in China.

This is not going to help Coakley's cause

Once again, the Democrats employ thug tactics:

After Coakley finished her answer, she began walking away from the restaurant, and I walked behind her asking why health care industry lobbyists were supporting her at the fundraiser. She didn’t reply.

As I walked down the street, a man who appeared to be associated with the Coakley campaign pushed me into a freestanding metal railing. I ended up on the sidewalk. I was fine. He helped me up from the ground, but kept pushing up against me, blocking my path toward Coakley down the street.

He asked if I was with the media, and I told him I work for THE WEEKLY STANDARD. When I asked him who he worked for he replied, “I work for me.” He demanded to see my credentials, and even though it was a public street, I showed them to him.

I eventually got around him and met up with the attorney general halfway down the block.

“Attorney General, could I ask you a question please?” I said. “We’re done, thanks,” Coakley replied. She walked back toward the restaurant, apparently searching for her car. She remained silent as I (politely) repeated my question.

Coakley staffers told me they didn’t know who the man was who pushed me, though by every indication he was somehow connected to the campaign.

via We Report, We Get Pushed | The Weekly Standard.

There are reports that it is a Democratic Party operative that was working for the campaign. Just more of that plantation politics at work folks. That is what happens when Democrats feel threatened, they lash out and hurt people, been that way for years. How do you think JFK and RFK, MLK ended up dead? The Democratic establishment felt threatened, and when they did, they got rid of them. Been that way for years and will be that way for a long time to come.

Stick a fork in her, I believe Coakley’s campaign is over.

Memeorandum has the roundup.

Updated – Latest News on Haiti Earthquake – As many as 100,000 feared dead

As I reported last night, a 7.0 Earthquake hit Haiti.

Now the death toll and damage tolls are being shown. Reader GWSSDelta told me about a video, that comes via CBS News:

CNN, MSNBC and Fox News all have in depth coverage. Memeorandum has an excellent Blog roundup on the political front.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper is in Haiti now:

No word on death tolls yet; but this does sound very bad. I will have more in a bit.

Update: Here is how you can help with the relief effort, via DIPNote:

For those interested in helping immediately, simply text “HAITI” to “90999” and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill.

Or you can go online to organizations like the Red Cross and Mercy Corps Mercy Corps to make a contribution to the disaster relief efforts.

The State Department Operations Center has set up the following number for Americans seeking information about family members in Haiti: 1-888-407-4747. We’ll provide more details and opportunities to help as we learn more. To stay up-to-date, follow us on state.gov.

Update #2: The Anchoress Reports a list of Relief Organizations helping: (H/T Malkin)

Catholic Relief Services
United Methodist Committee on Relief
The Red Cross
Salvation Army
Providence in Haiti
American Jewish World Service
Lutheran World Relief
Cross International
World Vision
International Orthodox Christian Charities

Ya’ll know what to do. 😀

Update #3: As Always, our awesome Military is “on it!” Military Times is reporting:

The aircraft carrier Carl Vinson was rerouted Wednesday to support humanitarian relief efforts in Haiti, according to U.S. Southern Command. The carrier is expected to arrive off the coast of Haiti Thursday.

The command confirmed additional Navy ships are underway to Haiti, but did not specify what vessels would be going.

The command, based in Miami, also deployed a team of 30 people to Haiti to work with U.S. Embassy personnel as well as Haitian, U.N. and international officials to assess the situation and facilitate follow-on U.S. military support, according to the press release. The team includes military engineers, operational planners, a command and control group and communication specialists. They will arrive in Haiti today on two C-130 Hercules aircraft.

Elements of the Air Force 1st Special Operations Wing were deploying to the international airport at Port-au-Prince to provide air traffic control capability and airfield operations. They are expected to arrive in Haiti on Wednesday afternoon.

Early Wednesday morning, Coast Guard helicopters evacuated four critically injured U.S. Embassy staff to hospital at Naval Station Guantanamo, Cuba, for further treatment.

A U.S. P-3 Orion from the Forward Operating Location at Comalapa, El Salvador, also conducted aerial reconnaissance of the affected area.

SouthCom has supported 14 major relief missions in the region since 2005, including assistance to Haiti in September 2008. During that mission, forces from the amphibious assault ship Kearsarge and other units airlifted 3.3 million pounds of aid to communities that were devastated by a succession of major storms.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Haitian people and all those affected by this devastating earthquake,” said Army Col. James Marshall, SouthCom spokesman.

Vinson and its crew of approximately 3,200 sailors left Norfolk on Tuesday en route to their new homeport in San Diego. The carrier, which is commanded by Capt. Bruce Lindsey, was joined by Carrier Air Wing 17 and the cruisers Lake Champlain and Bunker Hill. As flagship of the newly established Carrier Strike Group 1, Vinson was to provide maritime security as it circumnavigates South America and provide humanitarian assistance or disaster relief, if required.

The call came fewer than 24 hours later.

Major Kudos on our Armed Forces for being ready for the call; wherever it might be from. Good Job men!

Update #4: The Daily Caller is linking to a story in the Daily Mail in the U.K. that as many as 100,000 are feared dead.

It is times like these, when I do wish that my Ham Radio Station was Operational… 🙁

Fox News also gives the background as to why this happened. Simply put, the earth is just old.

Update #5: The Anchoress links in. Thank you! 😀

Update #6: ….and of course, the Stupidity of the Christian Right Starts.

Update #7: Man, 2 two days and about 5K viewers later and I realize, I have the Country misspelled in the headline! D’oh! 🙄

Michelle Malkin gets it wrong

I hate to be the one to do this; but, seeing she’s not answering my e-mail.

Michelle Malkin royally screws one up.

She links to this story here, about a container of PETN getting punctured with the comment of:

Okay, how does this just happen?

However, if you actually click to the website and look, you will see this:

Morehead City Mayor Jerry Jones says a forklift operator accidentally punctured at least one container filled with PETN, forcing the port to shut down.

Has Malkin corrected the damn story? No. 🙄

Do not misunderstand me here, I am all for the reporting and exposing of Islamic Jihad. But, I am not for the stoking of irrational fear and that is what Malkin is doing here; she’s feeding a damned talking point.

My feeling is, either report factual information and responsible enough to post updated info, or don’t bother posting at all.

Michelle is better than this; but yet, she does it anyway. It is quite disgusting. Color me unimpressed.

Countdown to Malkin-bots calling me a racist, sexist, and whatever else in 5….4….3…2…