"And that is why, personally, I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin," Wahl said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Wahl told Anderson Cooper that staffers at Russia Today were forced to whitewash the coverage of the international crisis in the Ukraine.
"RT is not about the truth; it's about promoting a Putinist agenda," Wahl told CNN. "And I can tell you firsthand, it's about bashing America."
Russia Today is funded by the Russian government. Wahl is an American journalist. She was formerly employed in the RT Washington bureau.
All five people who hit my website in a day probably won't be disappointed enough to call their Congressman," admitted Johnson, a software consultant for a Tampa firm. "But Wikipedia has enough clout that they can get everyone involved."
SOPA and PIPA is an government overreach of the internet supported by people like Ruport Murdoch. Media moguls such as Murdoch would benefit from the government. An internet provider could decide to take any web site off its search engine under the claim that site is hosting pirated content. No proof is needed on the part of Google. Fortunately, Google is against the current forms of the SOPA and PIPA bills.
The legislation is unenforcibly. I cannot image Twitter and Facebook going through millions of updates looking for pirated content to delete. It is not possible. This is legislation created by members of Congress who have no understanding of just how vast and complex the internet is.
I have decided to withdraw my support for the Protect IP Act. Furthermore, I encourage Senator Reid to abandon his plan to rush the bill to the floor. Instead, we should take more time to address the concerns raised by all sides, and come up with new legislation that addresses internet piracy while protecting free and open access to the internet.
Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) and Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.) have dropped their support for SOPA.
When the going gets tough politicians fold. Rubio, Terry and Quayle have not suddenly become fans of free speech. They are scared of voter backlash against the bills. Politicians want campaign donations from movie and music corporations. Campaign dollars don't mean a thing if they cannot get re-elected.
Side note: Rubio, Terry and Quayle are suppose to be less government conservatives. Internet piracy is already illegal. How is it conservative to make unenforcable laws that could have a financially negative impact on Google, Pay Pal and MSN conservative? The answer is it isn't. The wise thing to do is hire more federal government employees to enforce the anti-piracy laws that are already in place.
Andrew Rasiej, chairman of the New York Tech Meetup, told the New York Daily News that not only would SOPA and PIPA open the door to censorship of the Internet, but the laws would also have negative effects on the ability of the U.S. to remain a leader in the global tech industry.
"Because a new innovation by a start-up could be interpreted by a judge unfamiliar with how the technology works as infringing on copyright, investors and entrepreneurs would be discouraged from moving forward with a start-up due to a significantly increased risk of legal entanglement," Rasiej told the New York Daily News. "This in turn would dampen job creation and future opportunities for New Yorkers and Americans as a whole."
Schumer and Gillibrand are the co-sponsors of PIPA.
The Young Turks on Ruport Murdoch's support of SOPA.
Update: Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg posted why he is against SOPA and PIPA.
The internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world. We can't let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the internet's development. Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the internet. The world today needs political leaders who are pro-internet. We have been working with many of these folks for months on better alternatives to these current proposals. I encourage you to learn more about these issues and tell your congressmen that you want them to be pro-internet. You can read more about our views here: https://www.facebook.com/FacebookDC?sk=app_329139750453932.
There are some people angry that Zuckerberg didn't shut down Facebook for the day like Wikipedia. However, that is an inside the internet story.
Obama campaign just sent out an anti-SOPA fundraising email. #bandwagoning
President Obama wouldn't send out that email unless it was safe to oppose SOPA. It's official. People hate SOPA and PIPA. Politicians are running away from this legislation.
Illegal piracy should be punished, but I have serious concerns with SOPA and PIPA. We need to deal with piracy without chilling the innovation, diversity, and free exchange of ideas that define the Internet and have shaped our increasingly interconnected world.
Update:Daily Kos has a SOPA petition you can send to your Senator.
On Saturday, the White House announced that the Obama administration will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet.
As Congress works to address the very real issue of online piracy, we must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity—and we must not inhibit innovation by businesses large and small.
Online piracy hurts our economy, threatens middle-class jobs, and undermines the work of some of our most creative companies and entrepreneurs. The President has called on all parties to work together to find solutions that address the problem of online piracy while remaining true to our values.
Update Video of State of Sunshine blogger Jom Johnson being interviewed on Action News.
Joe the Plumber is milking his 15 minutes of fame, as a bogus reporter covering the Gaza Strip conflict. What troubled me is Samuel Wurzelbacher voiced approval of media censorship.
"I'll be honest with you," Wurzelbacher said in his video analysis. "I don't think journalists should be anywhere [around] war. I mean, you guys report where our troops are at. You report what's happening day to day. You make a big deal out of it. I-I think it's asinine. You know, I liked back in World War I and World War II when you'd go to the theater and you'd see your troops on, you know, the screen and everyone would be real excited and happy for 'em."
Didn't know he was that old. He continued: "Now everyone's got an opinion and wants to downer -- and down soldiers. You know, American soldiers or Israeli soldiers. I think media should be abolished from, uh, you know, reporting. You know, war is hell. And if you're gonna sit there and say, 'Well, look at this atrocity,' well, you don't know the whole story behind it half the time, so I think the media should have no business in it."
We can make fun of Wurzelbacher barely being able to articulate. We can make fun of Wurzelbacher's hypocrisy of saying journalists should not be allowed in war zones. However, Wurzelbacher feels he should have the right to go to Israel as a journalist. None of that matters since Wurzelbacher is not important.
Wurzelbacher voiced mainstream conservative opinion about the media. Wurzelbacher and the GOP base want the media shut down. They are able to rationalize Fox News, the National Review, and Washington Times is not part of the media. That is disingenuous thinking.
"Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government..." Thomas Jefferson said. "I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter." A government without the fourth estate will abuse power. There is a reason Richard Nixon didn't want the Watergate tapes to be released. Nixon knew the American people would hear audio of a hateful man engaged in criminal activity. Nixon would have been allowed to keep his plumbers working, if it wasn't for the Washington Post.
Wurzelbacher is under false impression that information will not come out of war zones. Omar al-Bashir has kept journalists and the United Nations out of Darfur. That hasn't stopped the flow of information about the genocide.
Austin Bay and Jay Rosen had an interesting debate about the media's coverage of the White House message on the Iraq war. Bay is a conservative and Iraq war veteran. Bay wished the media was more sympathetic to the Bush administration's Iraq strategy. Even Bay conceded the White House did a horrible job with their message.
Here’s a good reason: America must win the War On Terror, and the poisoned White House—national press relationship harms that effort. History will judge the Bush Administration’s prosecution of the War On Terror. A key strategic issue for the current White House—perhaps a determinative issue for historians—will be its success or failure in getting subsequent administrations to sustain the political and economic development policies that truly winning the War On Terror will entail.
Good PR is important. The press and President Bush could both agree the current economy is fantastic. That doesn't mean the public will believe the message. Newspapers are dying because corporations are more concerned with profits than reporting. Corporate CEOs would rather fill news pages with Paris Hilton and AP stories than develop good beat reporters. Bush had high approval ratings and wasn't able to deliver on "Mission Accomplished" or WMDs. The President lost his credibility on Iraq. You can sell a newspaper or political spin. That doesn't mean anyone is going to buy.
