A. Huffington & YouTube Cower to Israeli Power?

Thanks to LibHom and Ten Percent blogs for drawing my attention to yet another example of Israeli power in the US... or at least that is the appearance.

As you might know, Max Blumenthal's video, “Feeling The Hate In Jerusalem,” has been censored by the Huffington Post and YouTube. If you have not raised your voice on this, you should do so below... the right wing always raises it's voice.

Maybe the "fuck" and "nigger" words, coming out of mouths of Israeli youths in response to Obama's Cairo speech, was too much for these establishment media outlets (Yea, Huff Post and YouTube have been captured by the establishment... they are acting conservatively).

But, as usual, the censorship is drawing more attention to a video that it might otherwise.

Read more at Max Blumenthal's Blog.

Psssst... Do Something

E-mail YouTube at press@youtube.com AND use this e-mail form to sign a petition sponsored by Jewish Voices for Peace (a bunch of self-hating Jews ;-).

Contact the Huffington Post.

Sarah Palin: Attempted Library Censorship

According to a female resident of Wasilla, Alaska who wishes to remain anonymous writes:

While Sarah was Mayor of Wasilla she tried to fire our highly respected City Librarian because the Librarian refused to consider removing from the library some books that Sarah wanted removed. City residents rallied to the defense of the City Librarian and against Palin's attempt at out-and-out censorship, so Palin backed down and withdrew her termination letter. People who fought her attempt to oust the Librarian are on her enemies list to this day.

The New York Times corroborated the attempted firing, as does Shannyn Moore, an Anchorage-based radio talk show host, as revealed in an interview of Ms. Moore by DemocracyNow'a Amy Goodman:

AMY GOODMAN: I was just looking at a New York Times piece, “Palin’s Start in Alaska: Not Politics as Usual.” Wasilla, about, what, 7,000, 8,000 people. And it says, “Shortly after becoming mayor [1996], former city officials and Wasilla residents said, Ms. Palin approached the town librarian about the possibility of banning some books, though she never followed through and it was unclear which books or passages were in question.”

“The librarian... pledged to ‘resist all efforts at censorship.’” Palin then fired Ms. [Mary Ellen] Emmons shortly after taking office but changed course when residents made a strong show of support.

SHANNYN MOORE: Yeah, that was—that wasn’t a statewide issue but certainly came up during the campaign with—when she was running for governor, and this whole censorship and this fundamentalism. I mean, when you’re running for mayor in a town in Alaska and one of your platform issues as a nonpartisan mayor is your pro-life stance, that tells you a lot about the town you’re in. And it is a pretty fundamentalist type of town, and—you know, and that plays very well in those towns. You know, this sort of censorship, this sort of “vote for me is a vote for Jesus,” it’s very George Bushian, and it’s very Sarah Palin.

This revelation will hit people in different ways. Some will react negatively to the fundamentalist Christian implications. Others will react mostly to Palin's willingness to censor information that doesn't fit her views. But, those who know of Palin's track record of firing people might be most disturbed by her penchant to abuse power and surround herself with loyalists.

More:

Boston Herald, Palin asked Wasilla librarian about censoring books, September 4, 2008.

Sources:

Personal e-mail correspondence with resident of Wasilla.

DemocracyNow, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Accepts GOP Nomination, September 4, 2008.

Media Censorship in Iraq

U.S. authorities confiscated an AP Television News videotape that contained scenes of the wounded being evacuated. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Scott Bleichwehl told the AP the government of Iraq had made it illegal to photograph or videotape the aftermath of bombings or other attacks.

Sources:

Associated Press, Polish ambassador hurt in Iraq bombing, BUSHRA JUHI, October 3, 2007.