Help Robert Greenwald

The director of "Outfoxed" and the Wal-mart movie is being invited as a guest on the Colbert Report... and he's asking people to help him prepare for his moment:

http://www.robertgreenwald.org/2006/03/help_me_survive_the_colbert_report.php

Punching At The Sun

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival is going on right now, and I spent all of Saturday watching movies... my favorite so far is "Punching at the Sun," an indie feature by director Tanuj Chopra. It's the story of a young South Asian boy in Queens whose older brother, a legendary street ball player, is shot. The movie was entertaining, touching (I cried!), and well shot. Hopefully, it will make it to theaters as a major release:

http://www.punchingatthesun.com/

-Jean Chen

Blogging for Wal-Mart

From the NY Times:

"Under assault as never before, Wal-Mart is increasingly looking beyond the mainstream media and working directly with bloggers, feeding them exclusive nuggets of news, suggesting topics for postings and even inviting them to visit its corporate headquarters."

Click here for the full article

- Jean Chen

Clampdown

From the Washington Post:

"The Bush administration, seeking to limit leaks of classified information, has launched initiatives targeting journalists and their possible government sources. The efforts include several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws."

Click here for the full story.

Whatever happened to freedom of the press?

- Jean Chen

Ports Deal

Let's talk about the ports.

When news got out last week that a private Arab company was about to take over the management of U.S. ports around the country, all hell broke loose. People were up in arms with the prospect of handing over our national security to enemy terrorists.

C'mon! People need to calm down. Not all Arabs are terrorists. The company is based in the United Arab Emirates -- not Iraq, Iran, or Afghanistan. The whole uproar smacks of racism and creates further divisions between the West and the Middle East. Do people actually believe that all Arabs are untrustworthy terrorists?

If we were having a dispute with France, would we not allow an Italian company to run our ports on the basis that Europeans can't be trusted? I highly doubt it. (Of course, we also have to question why any foreign company should be managing our ports, but that's a whole other discussion.)

And while Republicans in Bush's own party are upset about the deal, Democratic politicians are making a big stink about it as well.

But I wonder how threatened Democrats actually feel about the Arab company. It seems that they are simply seizing an opportunity to attack Bush and point out his hypocrisy. If that is the case, then it's too bad that creating hysteria over Arabs is the price of their attack.

- Jean Chen