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Germany’s Outdated, Wrongheaded Ban on Nazi Books Like ‘Mein Kampf’ - The Atlantic by Heather Horn There’s something deeply distasteful about the news out of Germany this week. It’s not that the latest edition of a British publisher’s excerpts of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf has sold 250,000 copies in just a few days. It’s that the Bavarian state government, which technically owns the copyright, is considering fighting it. Hitler’s ideological dumping ground of an autobiography isn’t technically banned in Germany. But it might as well be. The finance ministry of the state of Bavaria, in the south, holds the copyrights to Mein Kampf and has simply refused to let it be republished. It’s done the same for other Nazi works. This same British publisher, Peter McGee of Albertas Ltd., reprinted parts of Nazi newspapers in 2009 with accompanying historical commentary, and the Bavarian government, holding the copyrights to those papers as well, had police seize the publications.

Germany’s Outdated, Wrongheaded Ban on Nazi Books Like ‘Mein Kampf’ - The Atlantic

by Heather Horn

There’s something deeply distasteful about the news out of Germany this week. It’s not that the latest edition of a British publisher’s excerpts of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf has sold 250,000 copies in just a few days. It’s that the Bavarian state government, which technically owns the copyright, is considering fighting it.

Hitler’s ideological dumping ground of an autobiography isn’t technically banned in Germany. But it might as well be. The finance ministry of the state of Bavaria, in the south, holds the copyrights to Mein Kampf and has simply refused to let it be republished. It’s done the same for other Nazi works. This same British publisher, Peter McGee of Albertas Ltd., reprinted parts of Nazi newspapers in 2009 with accompanying historical commentary, and the Bavarian government, holding the copyrights to those papers as well, had police seize the publications.

The Atlantic

Politicalprof: Print Journalism 101

politicalprof:

Here’s how to keep all that political ‘news’ in perspective…

1. The Wall Street Journal is read by the people who run the country.

2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.

3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country and…

politicalprof
The Nazi Leader Who, in 1937, Became the Oskar Schindler of China - The Atlantic by Iris Chang Perhaps the most fascinating character to emerge from the his­tory of the Rape of Nanking is the German businessman John Rabe. To most of the Chinese in the city, he was a hero, “the living Buddha of Nanking,” the legendary head of the International Safety Zone who saved hundreds of thousands of Chi­nese lives. But to the Japanese, Rabe was a strange and unlikely savior. For he was not only a German national — a citizen of a country allied with Japan — but the leader of the Nazi Party in Nanking.

The Nazi Leader Who, in 1937, Became the Oskar Schindler of China - The Atlantic

by Iris Chang

Perhaps the most fascinating character to emerge from the his­tory of the Rape of Nanking is the German businessman John Rabe. To most of the Chinese in the city, he was a hero, “the living Buddha of Nanking,” the legendary head of the International Safety Zone who saved hundreds of thousands of Chi­nese lives. But to the Japanese, Rabe was a strange and unlikely savior. For he was not only a German national — a citizen of a country allied with Japan — but the leader of the Nazi Party in Nanking.

The Atlantic
thedailywhat: Internet Blackout of the Day: The Great Wikipedia Blackout of 2012 has begun. Reddit, TwitPic, Mozilla, Mojang, and thousands of others will soon follow suit. The Internet is officially on strike! Why? Because the House and Senate are conspiring with the entertainment industry to break the Internet. Make no mistake: SOPA has not been shelved. And a vote on PIPA is just around the corner. Luckily, hundreds of companies, charities, and notable individuals with strong moral character have joined forces to stop these dangerous Big Brother bills from moving forward. The fight is far from over, but hopefully today’s blackout will help bring this important matter to the attention of folks who rely on the Internet for entertainment and education, but have so far remained oblivious to SOPA and PIPA and their harmful consequences. Do your part. Take action. Stop SOPA and PIPA and put an end to threat of Internet censorship. If you absolutely must scab, here are a few useful links:  Five ways to survive the Wikipedia Blackout. Wikipedia Blackout: Survive with these 12 alternatives. #altwiki: A collaborative crowd-sourcing alternative to Wikipedia. How to access Wikipedia during the blackout. [wikipedia.]

thedailywhat:

Internet Blackout of the Day: The Great Wikipedia Blackout of 2012 has begun.

Reddit, TwitPic, Mozilla, Mojang, and thousands of others will soon follow suit. The Internet is officially on strike! Why? Because the House and Senate are conspiring with the entertainment industry to break the Internet.

Make no mistake: SOPA has not been shelved. And a vote on PIPA is just around the corner. Luckily, hundreds of companies, charities, and notable individuals with strong moral character have joined forces to stop these dangerous Big Brother bills from moving forward.

The fight is far from over, but hopefully today’s blackout will help bring this important matter to the attention of folks who rely on the Internet for entertainment and education, but have so far remained oblivious to SOPA and PIPA and their harmful consequences.

Do your part. Take action. Stop SOPA and PIPA and put an end to threat of Internet censorship.

If you absolutely must scab, here are a few useful links: 

  • #altwiki: A collaborative crowd-sourcing alternative to Wikipedia.

[wikipedia.]

thedailywhat

Shaolin Temple Photo Essay by Tomasz Gudzowaty

In the seventies, the martial art of Kung Fu became a pop-culture phenomenon due to the cult TV series of the same name. The show’s main character, a fugitive monk from the Shaolin monastery, finds himself in the western world. From that time forward, Kung Fu and Shaolin have been associated with that media icon of a warrior-monk of extraordinary ability. But for the Buddhists, Shaolin remains a cradle of one of the most significant forms of the religion called Chan; a discipline that values spiritual self-improvement through meditation over prayers and ceremonies. Introduced in the 5th century AD by the Indian monk Bodhidharma, the principles of contemplation and martial arts, present in the daily life of monks, are regarded as a remedy for physical weakness and indolence. Despite the vicissitudes of history, the monastic tradition survived until Mao’s Cultural Revolution, when the Shaolin temple was officially closed. But the formal organization, with a prior as leader, remained untouched, and in the eighties the temple was re-opened as a training center and tourist attraction. Students of karate, judo, and tai box often refuse to recognize Kung Fu as a martial art due to its theatricality and testing of one’s own resistance instead of the opponent’s. In a way, this is true. Training in Kung Fu is mostly done without an opponent, as it was never meant to kill, and the poetic names of the moves implies that it is more of meditation than a fight. However, the only difference between breaking a clay jug and smashing a human skull with one’s bare hands is consciousness of will. Despite the commercialization, Kung Fu retains a mystical character closer to a monastic discipline than to the performances of modern gladiators.

gudzowaty.com
AP opens full news bureau in North Korea Associated Press President Tom Curley, right, shakes hands with Korean Central News Agency President Kim Pyong Ho after signing an agreement to open a new AP office in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday Jan. 16, 2012. The AP opened its newest bureau in North Korea, making it the first international news organization with a full time presence to cover news from North Korea in words, pictures, and video. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

AP opens full news bureau in North Korea

Associated Press President Tom Curley, right, shakes hands with Korean Central News Agency President Kim Pyong Ho after signing an agreement to open a new AP office in Pyongyang, North Korea on Monday Jan. 16, 2012. The AP opened its newest bureau in North Korea, making it the first international news organization with a full time presence to cover news from North Korea in words, pictures, and video. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

hosted.ap.org
False Flag | Foreign Policy by Mark Perry | January 13, 2012 Buried deep in the archives of America’s intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush’s administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives — what is commonly referred to as a “false flag” operation.

False Flag | Foreign Policy

by Mark Perry | January 13, 2012

Buried deep in the archives of America’s intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush’s administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives — what is commonly referred to as a “false flag” operation.

foreignpolicy.com
Really, Newt Gingrich?  I guess the President of the United States should only speak American. BBC News - Mitt Romney lambasted in attack ad for speaking French Quelle horreur! Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has been skewered in a new political attack ad - for speaking French. The ad, released by rival Newt Gingrich, seeks to draw unflattering parallels between Mr Romney and another Massachusetts politician, John Kerry. Entitled The French Connection, it features a clip of Mr Romney talking in French when he ran the Winter Olympics.

Really, Newt Gingrich? 

I guess the President of the United States should only speak American.

BBC News - Mitt Romney lambasted in attack ad for speaking French

Quelle horreur! Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney has been skewered in a new political attack ad - for speaking French.

The ad, released by rival Newt Gingrich, seeks to draw unflattering parallels between Mr Romney and another Massachusetts politician, John Kerry.

Entitled The French Connection, it features a clip of Mr Romney talking in French when he ran the Winter Olympics.

BBC