Category: Freedom

Google Does Good

Some recent news about that massive search engine Google. The company has announced that it has joined a US lobbying group, the ODF Alliance, that supports the Open Document file format. Open Document is a Free (as in free speech) document format, an alternative to the standard Microsoftâ„¢ .doc format. It is nice because it allows for a more accessible document than propriety software formats.

Having Google throw it’s weight behind supporting ODF will hopefully have a positive impact on the adoption of the open file format. ODF is also supported by Sun Microsystems, IBM and Novell, among others.

Google has also decided that they want to try to save the world with their vast wealth through their charitable organization Google.org. Wired has a nice interview with the man who is in charge of this billion dollar initiative from Google.

Google makes Adsense, which we use here at ThingsAreGood.

1000’s of Ethiopians Emmigrate to Israel

Israel Coat of Arms
In 1984 and again in 1991, the IDF air-lifted thousands of Ethiopian jews to Israel under the Law of Return. Called Falashas (strangers) by their neighbors but more properly known as Beta Israel, the immigrants were secretly flown out of famine and rebellion to the Holy Land.

Today in Ethiopia, there is a group of people called the Falash Mora. They are the christian descendants of ethiopian jews who converted out of fear of persecution. They are returning to Isreal now in a much slower process than their relatives the Beta Israel, the Canadian Jewish News reports. The Falash Mora are able to return because of family reunification laws in Israel.

These people will be leaving their dirt-floored huts and their $1US/day jobs for life in the only true liberal democracy in the middle east. It will be a difficult adjustment, but the Israeli ministry of Immigrant Absorption is on the job.

Many of the Falash Mora have converted back to Judaism. They are seen to practise the faith with a strong piety not seen amongst many jews. The chief Rabbi in Israel has declared them as jews, because they originally converted out of fear and persecution.

As with almost everything that occurs in the middle east, the immigrations are controversial. They are certainly taxing on Israel, and as the process drags on, it becomes less and less clear who are really jews and who have taken up the mantle in order to gain entry to Israel.

Kuwaiti Election: Mixed Results

Kuwait just had its first election that women could run and vote in, which is more than a little late. Better late than never I guess. Not only did women get the vote (and were 57% of the electorate), the people of Kuwait has send a clear message to their government by electing reformists. There has been some corruption in the government and the reformists want to change that.

“By electing reformist candidates, the voters have sent a clear message to the government that they want change in Kuwaiti society, our correspondent says.”

Students Breach Great Firewall of China!

The great firewall of China is an internet firewall which blocks people living in China from viewing certain websites and content on the internet. For example, if you type in Falun Gong in a search engine (a religious group banned in China) it will not show any content. This is very obviously censorship and completely unfair to peoples human rights and freedom of education and lifestyle. So this is what led students from Caimbridge University to try and crack it. And they have! Not only that but they have managed to then use the firewall to launch denial-of-service attacks against specific IP adresses in China. This means that they can even deny access to sites by the Chinese government!

This furthers my own belief that rules of any kind are essentially made to be broken. Especially ones that inhibit people from living free thinking, and fulfilling lives. And on that note, this day being the 4th of July “freedom and independance” celebration in the United States, it seems suiting to end with a quote.

“Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” ~Abraham Lincoln

Gitmo a No-Go With Supreme Court-o

Today the U.S. Supreme Court released their decision on the constitutional validity of military tribunals held for prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. The challenge was put forth specifically with respect to the case of one detainee, Salim Hamdan, but the court’s ruling has widespread implications for how similar cases will be handled in the future. From the article:

“We conclude that the military commission convened to try (Salim Ahmed) Hamdan lacks power to proceed because its structure and procedures violate” the international agreement that covers treatment of prisoners of war, as well as U.S. military laws, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the court majority in the 5-3 decision.

Earlier this month, Bush said that he wants to get rid of the Gitmo, but Washington bigwigs were reportedly waiting to see the outcome of this case. Now that it’s here, is it possible that we might begin to see some positive reform? Stay tuned.