China’s Version of Uncensored Internet

China’s definition of ‘freedom’ is epitomised in the two excerpts below, both from New York Times:

“For the first time, foreign media will be able to report freely and publish their work freely in China. There will be no censorship on the Internet,” Mr. Rogge told Agence France-Presse just two weeks ago.

That was two weeks ago. A lot can change in commie land in that period. For a regime that has thrived on misinformation, this was obviously going to be a little too difficult to implement. And as one would expect, the commie philosophy has prevailed. Look what actually is happening:

Since the Olympic Village press center opened Friday, reporters have been unable to access scores of Web pages – among them those that discuss Tibetan issues, Taiwanese independence, the violent crackdown on the protests in Tiananmen Square and the Web sites of Amnesty International, the BBC’s Chinese-language news, Radio Free Asia and several Hong Kong newspapers known for their freewheeling political discourse.

What fun!

So much for China’s efforts to use the Olympics to display to the world its changed self.

Lyrics for the moment

Calm your asses down the general screams at ease
You practice no justice I convert no peace – El Moro, Outlandish

What’s in the News?

I was taken aback by this side bar on the Voice of America website today:

Who wants to read the news?

All About Intelligence

Intelligence, as defined by Encylopedia Brittanica:

mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to manipulate one’s environment.

Intelligence, as shown by our ministers after the blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad:

Shivraj Patil
‘Anti-national elements have been trying to create panic among the people of our country. [The] blasts in Ahmadebad seem to be part of the same strategy,’

Narendra Modi
“Terrorists are waging a war against India. We should be prepared for a long battle against terrorism,”

LK Advani
It seems that our anti-terrorist legal framework has loopholes. It also seems that the kind of activities to stop terrorists have not being implemented properly. We have been informing the Prime Minister that our country’s anti-terrorist legal framework is loose.

CPI (M)
Coming soon after the Jaipur blasts, it confirms that terrorist groups are still active.

The mismatch is quite obvious. Our ministers come up with such ‘intelligence’ every time we are bombed. The unfortunate fact is that their intelligence guides our national security plans. It’s no surprise then that terrorists are bombing our cities as and when they like it.

Of course, their intelligence does not stop at that. They also make sure that any reforms directed at checking the situation are appropriately opposed.

Highly placed sources said that in the aftermath of the two incidents in as many days, the Centre will again push for such an agency, in line with the suggestions made by various police reforms panels.

They said efforts should also be made to elicit views of all Chief Ministers, MPs and MLAs for evolving a consensus, but maintained that many states were not very forthcoming.

These police reforms have been suggested more than a year ago. But even after seven bombings, our ministers are yet to come to a consensus on the issue. The reason? These reforms will take away some powers from the state governments in dealing with incidents that have an effect beyond the border of one state.

The intelligence of ministers works only when power over their domains is concerned. But why talk, be worried or be angry about it? Hasn’t this always been the case?

Loving Ekta Kapoor

Google thinks I love Ekta Kapoor. I don’t know how it reached that conclusion, but this is the text ad that appeared on my gmail today.

I don’t mind gmail bots sneaking into my mails and displaying relevant ads, but I do mind ads such as this one. I mean, it’s been a tiring day at the workplace, then the long ride back home…and what do I end up with at the end of the day? Now that’s what I call ad’non’sense. What a shame. I curse the person who made the copy for this text ad and I, from the bottom of my guts, detest the bot that linked this ad to some godforsaken text in my mail. Hope sanity prevails.

The Cats of Hyderabad Zoo

Sunday was spent clicking the inhabitants of the Hyderabad Zoo. The weather was great and the animals decided to come out and have a look at us. I felt blessed.

The cats were the most forthcoming. The Tigers, the most magnificent. Here are a few I clicked.

the beast stares curiously

takes 2

the magnificient

leopard lazying on the rock

that-scary-look

that's my rock

More pics from the Shoot at my Flickr Page