DON’T READ THIS !! YOU WERE WARNED !!
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart lampooned a recent hearing on torture in which the microphones of several witnesses – including HRF’s Deborah Pearlstein – were turned off by the Chairman because he did not like what they were saying about the U.S. and torture.
After cutting off a number of speakers, the chairman “literally took his gavel and went home,” Jon Stewart said in disbelief. “We are officially being governed by children.” Watch the Daily Show clip by clicking here. HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST CENSORED BY CONGRESS
. Visit the link below to ask your Member of Congress to support an independent inquiry. HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST INDEPENDENT INQUIRY
What Deborah Pearlstein tried to say – but couldn’t – was that an independent, bipartisan commission is essential to ensuring that further abuse and torture does not take place in U.S. detention facilities. (She also wanted to thank the committee for its consideration.)
To date, the investigations into U.S. interrogation practices have been woefully inadequate. With the number of individuals in U.S. custody worldwide having increased to nearly 12,000, it is more urgent than ever for the government to make some critical policy changes and ensure an end to torture.
Write Congress TODAY and help stop further abuse in America’s name. HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST WRITE TO CONGRESS.
An independent commission is not only critical to restoring America’s commitment to protecting basic human rights, but also is an increasingly urgent requirement to promote U.S. national security.
Sincerely,
Jill Savitt
Communications Director
Human Rights First
DON’T READ THIS !!
Don’t read this. This didn’t happen. This was just a glitch. It is not true that Congress turned off the mikes so as not to hear the testimony.
Go to sleep, children. All is well in Bush land. There is not big bad boogeyman. There are no witches, either.
There is no censorship of the news in America. The White House did not plant an ex call-boy in its press corps. The Bush Administration never bought a journalist in its life.
No US journalist was ever ordered not to report on the illegality of the war in Iraq. No US journalist was ever ordered to doctor casualty numbers of the war in Iraq, thus “fixing facts to suit the policy.” No journalist was ever ordered to change the truth in the reporting of the news of the war in Iraq to bolster support for an illegal criminal war. No journalist ever reported what the Pentagon said were numbers of attacks when those numbers had been doctored to make it look like the US was winning.
Google never censored the news either. Google is a Good Blue company. Google does not censor the news in China, Australia or Saudi Arablia. Google does not censor the news in the US. Google does not answer to Michelle Malkin, Google does not favor right wing blogs in it’s news listing. Google is the best cooles bluest truest company there is. Google is your friend.
Don’t worry. Censorship may have happened during the McCatthy era but it is not happening now. Not in the US, not in Congress, and not at dKos. Go to sleep children, all is well in Bushland.
AND WHATEVER YOU DO, DON’T READ THIS !!!
Censorship can be explicit, as in laws passed to prevent information being published or propagated (as in Australia, or Saudi Arabiawhere certain Internet pages are not permitted entry), or it can be implicit, taking the form of intimidation by government or even by popular censure, where people are afraid to express or support certain opinions for fear of losing their lives, or their jobs, position in society, or in academia, their academic credibility. In this latter form it is similar to McCarthyismThese two forms (explicit and implicit) can be generalized to represent laws and government authority (explicit) and social forces or social persuasion (implicit).
During wartime, censorship is carried out with the intention of preventing the release of information that might be advantageous to the enemy Typically it involves obfuscation of times or locations, or delaying the release of information (e.g. the objective of an operation) until it is of no possible use to enemy forces. Mention of weapons and equipment (especially if newly introduced) is another favourite area for censorship. The moral issues here are somewhat different as release of the information carries a high risk of increased casualties among one’s own forces and possibly loss of the overall conflict.
Censorship is regarded as a typical feature of dictatorships and other authoritarian political systems. Democratic nations usually have far less institutionalized censorship, and instead tout the importance of freedom of speech
Some thinkers understand censorship to include other attempts to suppress points of view or ideas such as negative propaganda, media manipulation, spin, disinformation, or “free speech zones” (ghettoizing or containing speech). These methods, collectively, tend to work by disseminating misleading information or by preventing other ideas from obtaining a receptive audience
Wilipedia Encyclopedia
Goodnight, kids.
