Chinese Govt's Brutal Crackdown on Falun Gong Continues

- Police detaining a Falun Gong protester in Beijing, on Oct 1, 2000. Photo by Chien-min Chung/Associated Press.

It has been a decade since the Chinese government began repressing the Falun Gong practitioners.

'In the past year, as many as 8,000 practitioners have been detained, according to experts on human rights, and at least 100 have died in custody. Among them were Yu Zhou, 42, a popular Beijing musician, and Cao Changling, the 77-year-old vice director of a paper plant in Wuhan, whose bruised body was returned to his family by the police last summer just as China was reveling in the glory of the Olympic Games.

In recent months, scores of practitioners have been given long prison terms, including Zhang Xingwu, a retired physics professor from Shandong Province who last week was sentenced to seven years after the police found Falun Gong literature in his apartment, according to family members.

The continued crackdown highlights the difficulty of eradicating a movement whose adherents stubbornly cling to their beliefs, but it also provides a window into the psyche of an authoritarian government that, despite its far-reaching power, remains deeply insecure.

From the outset, the group, which at its peak claimed to have millions of followers around China, insisted that it wanted only legal recognition, not political power. But the country’s top leaders were alarmed by the group’s ability to attract a devoted following from so many citizens.'

Falun Gong remains a toxic subject in China. Few academics will speak about it on the record, and the Internet is scoured clean of information that might be construed as sympathetic to Falun Gong.

For the Falun Gong devotees who practice in secret, the only glimmer of hope has come from a small but growing number of lawyers who have dared to take on their cases. Even if the legal efforts have mostly come to naught, until recently Falun Gong detainees were denied even the right to a lawyer.

Last week, Jiang Yu, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, reiterated the government’s long-held stance that Falun Gong warrants suppression because it emphasizes meditation and the paranormal over modern medicine. “The Falun Gong cult violates human rights by controlling people’s minds,” he said in response to a reporter’s query.

Among experts based outside the country, there is broad consensus that the government’s efforts have not done much to advance its own interests, at least internationally, where it has been dogged by allegations that it uses torture to crush believers into submission.

‘The excesses and the savagery have really lowered the quality of the government and harmed its reputation abroad,” said Jerome Cohen, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an expert on Chinese law. “They’re paying a high price for the cruelty to these people.”

According to Falun Gong followers and Chinese lawyers who take on their cases, that cruelty continues unabated.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/world/asia/28china.html?th&emc=th

What Happened to the Assault Weapon Ban?

It seems the NRA is getting in the way of it, and they're also opposing other reasonable gun control policies. The NRA is known to be one of the most powerful lobbies in America.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/opinion/27Carter.html?th&emc=th

This NYT op-ed was written by the one and only Jimmy Carter, 39th president of the United States of America and 2002 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

While most Americans believe in the right to own weapons, most also believe in "modest restraints like background checks, mandatory registration and brief waiting periods before purchase." Most Americans also favor a ban on assault weapons.

Some statistics on gun violence; "In 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 30,000 people died from firearms, accounting for nearly 20 percent of all injury deaths. In 2005, every nine hours a child or teenager in the United States was killed in a firearm-related accident or suicide."

The NRA is the main foe in this battle to secure an assault weapons ban. The NRA is even "defending criminals’ access to assault weapons and use of ammunition that can penetrate protective clothing worn by police officers on duty."

By the way, don't fuck with J. Carter. As he says, "I have used weapons since I was big enough to carry one, and now own two handguns, four shotguns and three rifles, two with scopes."

Internet in Some Developing Countries Not Profitable

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/technology/start-ups/27global.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Certain internet companies, particularly ones that require large amounts of data transfer and thus bandwidth, including many of the most popular online sites such as Youtube, Facebook, and Myspace, are having trouble finding a balance between profit and idealism. Ideally, most of them agree they would like to have their websites be accessed by all the people around the world, but in reality, developing countries eat up a lot of bandwith and generate very little revenue (I assume because they aren't clicking on ads, which I never do, for that matter, do you?). Some companies, such as Veoh, a video sharing site, have gone so far as to restrict access to their sites in Latin America, Africa, and the Eastern Europe, while others offer 'lite' versions such as Profile Lite (for Myspace) in India.

'This intractable contradiction has become a serious drag on the bottom lines of photo-sharing sites, social networks and video distributors like YouTube. It is also threatening the fervent idealism of Internet entrepreneurs, who hoped to unite the world in a single online village but are increasingly finding that the economics of that vision just do not work.

“I believe in free, open communications,” Dmitry Shapiro, [Veoh]’s chief executive, said. “But these people are so hungry for this content. They sit and they watch and watch and watch. The problem is they are eating up bandwidth, and it’s very difficult to derive revenue from it.”

Internet start-ups that came of age during the Web 2.0 era, roughly from 2004 to the beginning of the recession at the end of 2007, generally subscribed to a widely accepted blueprint: build huge global audiences with a free service, and let advertising pay the bills.

But many of them ran smack into global economic reality. There may be 1.6 billion people in the world with Internet access, but fewer than half of them have incomes high enough to interest major advertisers.

If Web companies “really want to make money, they would shut off all those countries [Latin America, Africa, and parts of the Middle East and Asia]," said Michelangelo Volpi, chief executive of Joost.

“The part of me that wants to change the world says, ‘This is unfair, it shouldn’t be like this,’ ” Mr. Shapiro [of Veoh] said. “On the other hand, from the business side of things, serving videos to the entire world is just not supportable at this time.” '

- an internet cafe(?) in India. photo courtesy of NYT.

BE HAPPY

WISE DOME

DR. J (aka Julius Erving)

Dr. J now + his wife:

How Green is Your Stimulus Package?

http://www.economist.com/daily/news/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13432051&fsrc=nwl

"This week HSBC, a big bank, published a report ranking 17 countries by the green elements of their economic-stimulus packages."

Read the full report here; http://globaldashboard.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/HSBC_Green_New_Deal.pdf

Two US Journalists Jailed in North Korea

'Ms. [Laura] Ling and Ms. [Euna] Lee, reporters for Current TV, a San Francisco-based media venture founded by former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, were arrested by the North Korean military on March 17 on charges of illegally crossing the border from China. They were in China to report the plight of North Korean refugees who fled hunger at home and were living in hiding there.

This was the first reported case in which a U.S. citizen will be indicted and tried in North Korea, South Korean officials said. The North’s criminal code calls for between 5 and 10 years of "education through labor" for people convicted of "hostile acts" against the state.

In a "severe" case, the code allows more than 10 years in labor camp.'

The US government is attempting to secure their release. Current TV does not seem to have made a statement as of yet. Please keep your eyes and ears peeled for updates.

- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/01/world/asia/01korea.html?th&emc=th

Damu - Spare Time (2008)

Free album from Damu.

"Spare Time breaks us off with crispy, sampled drums and intricately chopped to death samples destined to keep heads nodding and mp3 players rumbling until the next release. More than a mere beat snippet compilation, Spare Time presents full length tracks that showcase masterful low pass filtering and phenomenal breakdowns, many of which occur at the very end of the track. Always one to deliver what a beat head really craves, Damu embraces the essence of Hip-Hop by taking us on a sonic sound trip using only a stripped down Akai MPC 2000 and the honed skill of a master craftsman."
- Courtesy of Crate Kings

RZA early production history interview

One last one while were at it. the ASR-10 appears to be RZA's weapon of choice.

"In 1991-1992, Ensoniq put out the ASR-10, and when they did that, that's when i became a master producer. The whole first 100 wu tang songs were made on the ASR-10."

Damu the Fudgemunk - More Producer Interviews

He says he stayed up for three days when he got his first sampler. At 17. He's 24 now.

Madlib, PB Wolf interviews

+ Oh No and DJ Romes

Too bad I don't speak Norwegian. Great interviews though.

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien - Funk Man (The Stimulus Package)

Single off Del's new free album, Funk Man - The Stimulus Package.

Track is called; "Get it right now"

GET IT RIGHT GET IT NOW GET IT RIGHT NOW

Souls of Mischief - Never No More

Off their dope '93 'til Infinity album. A must have.

First Coverage of Military Casket in 18 Years

Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday via an improvised explosive decvice. He was 30 years old, from Virginia, and is survived by his wife.

Interestingly, the Navy Times reported that "no live filming was allowed" at the event, yet we have the AP video right here. Family permission is required for media coverage.

The Navy Times was supportive of the lift of the ban, calling it "an early watershed in the administration of President Barack Obama, a nod in favor of transparency and away from secrecy favored by prior administrations."

More on the matter here;

http://www.navytimes.com/news/2009/04/gns_hero_returns_040609w/

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/04/home-to-dover.html

PS - the LA Times plagiarized the Navy Times with this line; "Almost all of the 4,266 casualties in Iraq and the 668 casualties in Afghanistan through the end of March have come through Dover’s mortuary, military officials said earlier this year." Come on LA Times, step it up.

See this past post for more on the media-ban lift; http://curiousspencer.blogspot.com/2009/02/defense-chief-lifts-ban-on-pictures-of.html

AmeriCorps volunteer base tripled, other congressional happenings

courtesy of congress.org's megavote;

The Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act - Vote Passed (79-19, 1 Not Voting)

'The Senate passed this national service bill which would increase the number of AmeriCorps volunteers from 75,000 to 250,000 and designate September 11 as a national day of service and remembrance.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/24/opinion/24tue4.html?th&emc=th

"Essentially, the measure is an expansion of AmeriCorps, the existing domestic service program. It would increase the number of full-time and part-time service volunteers to 250,000 from 75,000 and create new programs focused on special areas like strengthening schools, improving health care for low-income communities, boosting energy efficiency and cleaning up parks.

Volunteers receive minimal living expenses and a modest educational stipend after their year of service. The bill raises the stipend to $5,350, the same as a Pell Grant. Special fellowships would be available for people 55 and older, as well as summer positions for middle- and high-school students. In tribute to victims of the 2001 terrorist attacks, Sept. 11 would be designated a day of service and remembrance.

In all, the measure would cost about $6 billion over the next five years — a sound investment in the nation’s future. Once the Senate acts, reconciling details in the two bills should not be hard."

Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 - Vote Passed (285-140, 6 Not Voting)

The House agreed to the Senate amendments to H.R. 146, sending this package of public lands, national parks and water development legislation to the president.

Federal Budget

The House and the Senate will be working on the budget this week, so be sure to call in and voice your opinions. Comment and let me know how it goes if you do.

Easier Access to Morning After Pill

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/opinion/25wed2.html?th&emc=th

'A federal judge in New York has added his weight to contentions that the Bush administration delayed easy, nonprescription access to the morning-after pill for political and ideological reasons, not from a desire to protect the public’s health. Judge Edward R. Korman wisely ordered the Food and Drug Administration to make the pill available without prescription to women as young as 17 and to consider approving it for girls of any age, as major medical groups have long advocated.

Judge Korman lays out in detail the continuous efforts by the Bush administration to prevent easy access to the pill by requiring a prescription, contrary to prevailing medical opinion. The World Health Organization and a slew of American health groups had urged that the pill be made available without prescription and without age restrictions, and virtually all major industrialized nations did so years ago.

It was only after the Senate threatened to hold up confirmation of a new F.D.A. commissioner in 2006 that the agency finally approved sales without prescription to women 18 and over, provided the drugs were kept behind the counter.

The harder question is whether to remove all age and other restrictions, potentially allowing children as young as 11 or 12 to take the drug without medical supervision.'

Eco-Police

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/nyregion/26ecocops.html?pagewanted=1&th&emc=th

'As a member of a small force of police officers whose sole focus is enforcing environmental laws, Officer Stevens carries a gun and handcuffs and can haul a suspect off to jail. These environmental conservation officers number barely 20 in New York City, out of about 300 around the state, but issue about 2,000 summonses for violations and criminal charges annually.

Created in 1880, when they were known as “game protectors” and watched over game and fish, these eco-police officers are now part of the State Department of Environmental Conservation and have become more prominent in recent years as public consciousness about the role of pollution in global warming has grown. They now answer complaints and respond to dispatchers’ calls in addition to carrying out spot inspections and longer investigations.

Environmental complaints in the city almost tripled in 2007 — to 621 a year from 226 in 2006 — and criminal summonses more than doubled, from 993 to more than 2,000. The numbers stayed high last year, with more than 1,700 summonses and 600 complaints, the major said.'

New York Eliminates Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Drug Crimes

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/nyregion/26rockefeller.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

'The deal would repeal many of the mandatory minimum prison sentences now in place for lower-level drug felons, giving judges the authority to send first-time nonviolent offenders to treatment instead of prison.The plan would also expand drug treatment programs and widen the reach of drug courts at a cost of at least $50 million.

The agreement, which requires approval in the Assembly and the Senate, would allow some drug offenders who are currently in prison to apply to have their sentences commuted. It was not clear on Wednesday how many current prisoners would be eligible to apply. Mr. Paterson has pushed to have fewer prisoners than legislative leaders would prefer.

Under the plan, judges would have the authority to send first-time nonviolent offenders in all but the most serious drug offenses — known as A-level drug felonies — to treatment. As a condition of being sent to treatment, offenders would have to plead guilty. If they did not successfully complete treatment, their case would go back before a judge, who would again have the option of imposing a prison sentence.

District attorneys have resisted an overhaul of the state’s drug sentencing laws, arguing that the system in place has led to lower drug crime rates and allowed more drug criminals to enter treatment. “The prison population is going down and public safety has improved, and I’d hate to do anything that would upset either of those trends,” said Michael C. Green, the district attorney of Monroe County, which includes Rochester.

Since [2004], the Assembly, which is dominated by Democrats, has routinely passed legislation that repealed mandatory minimum sentences for many drug crimes. But the bills always failed to get past the Senate, which was controlled by Republicans until January.

The deal comes as the state is facing a $16 billion budget deficit for the coming fiscal year. And finding the money needed to pay for drug addiction programs, which could reach near $80 million, will prove difficult, those involved in the negotiations said.

But in the long run, the changes are expected to save money because sending offenders to treatment is less expensive than spending $45,000 a year to keep them confined.'

Picturesque Green Lawns Are An Ecological Nightmare

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/opinion/22op-classic.html?th&emc=th

In 1991, Michael Pollan wrote an op-ed in the New York Times urging then president George HW Bush to tear up the white house lawn. Mr. Pollan then recommends the lawn be replaced with an orchard, a meadow, wetlands, or a vegetable garden. What is interesting is that Mr. Pollan is more interested in getting rid of the lawn then in planting, say, a vegetable garden, as the Obamas have now begun to do.

'Beginning in the 19th century, at the urging of such landscape designer-reformers as Frederick Law Olmsted and Andrew Jackson Downing, we took down our old-world walls and hedges (which they had declared to be "selfish" and "undemocratic") and spread an uninterrupted green carpet of turfgrass across our yards, down our streets, along our highways and, by and by, across the entire continent. Front lawns, we decided, would unite us, and, ever since, their maintenance has been regarded as an important ritual of consensus in America, even a civic obligation. Indeed, the citizen who neglects to vote is sooner tolerated -- and far more common -- than the citizen who neglects to mow: in hundreds of communities the failure to mow is punishable by fines.

[The lawn] carries an absurd and, today, unsupportable environmental price tag. In our quest for the perfect lawn, we waste vast quantities of water and energy, human as well as petrochemical. (The total annual amount of time spent mowing lawns in America comes to 30 hours for every man, woman, and child.) Acre for acre, the American lawn receives four times as much chemical pesticide as any U.S. farmland.

The lawn is a symbol of everything that's wrong with our relationship to the land. Lawns require pampering because we ask them to thrive where they do not belong. Turfgrasses are not native to America, yet we have insisted on spreading them from the Chesapeake watershed to the deserts of California without the slightest regard for local geography. Imposed upon the land with the help of our technology, lawns encourage us in the dangerous belief that we can always bend nature to our will. They may bespeak democratic sentiments toward our neighbors, but with respect to nature the politics of lawns are totalitarian.'

My family got rid of our lawn several years ago and not only does our yard look more interesting but I certainly appreciate not having to bring out the mower every other week. So talk to your family and try and get rid of your lawn. Maybe also talk to your local town board and remove punishments for not mowing / try to provide incentives for gardens instead of lawns.

Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/dining/20garden.html?th&emc=th

Digging for the garden began yesterday (Friday March 20th). This will be the first vegetable garden at the white house since Eleanor Roosevelt's Victory Garden during WWII.

'While the organic garden will provide food for the first family’s meals and formal dinners, its most important role, Mrs. Obama said, will be to educate children about healthful, locally grown fruit and vegetables at a time when obesity and diabetes have become a national concern.

“My hope,” the first lady said in an interview in her East Wing office, “is that through children, they will begin to educate their families and that will, in turn, begin to educate our communities.”

Whether there would be a White House garden had become more than a matter of landscaping. The question had taken on political and environmental symbolism, with the Obamas lobbied for months by advocates who believe that growing more food locally, and organically, can lead to more healthful eating and reduce reliance on huge industrial farms that use more oil for transportation and chemicals for fertilizer.

The plots will be in raised beds fertilized with White House compost, crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand. Ladybugs and praying mantises will help control harmful bugs.

For urban dwellers who have no backyards, the country’s one million community gardens can also play an important role, Mrs. Obama said.

But the first lady emphasized that she did not want people to feel guilty if they did not have the time for a garden: there are still many changes they can make.

“You can begin in your own cupboard,” she said, “by eliminating processed food, trying to cook a meal a little more often, trying to incorporate more fruits and vegetables.” '