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    South America


    February 08, 2007

    The security systems for the One Laptop per Child computer are quite brilliant:

    Beyond cyberthreats, the XO laptop will have an anti-theft system designed to render stolen laptops useless. Each XO is assigned a "lease," secured by cryptography, that allows it to operate for a limited period of time. The laptop connects to the internet daily and checks in with a country-specific server to see if it's been reported stolen. If not, the lease is extended another few weeks.

    If the lease expires, the XO's internet connectivity is turned off, and shortly thereafter the whole computer becomes a brick. In the case of an area without internet connectivity, a local school can extend the lease from its own server by Wi-Fi or with a USB dongle.



    January 15, 2007

    Chavez Seeks Authority to Rule Venezuela by Decree

    Per an op-ed piece in the LA Times by Alexandra Starr, Hugo Chavez is:

    Per Starr:

    Given his tight grip on all branches of the government, his wish is likely to be granted.



    January 05, 2007

    MSM Bias Exposed via Hugo Chavez Test

    Last Friday, in a post titled "Maybe This will get the MSM to Stop Giving Chavez a Free Ride," I speculated that the love-fest between mainstream media and Hugo Chavez would come to an abrupt halt now that Chavez had attacked MSM by shutting down his country's second-largest  TV station as a result of that station's opposition to him.

    I documented the pre-existing lovefest MSM had shown for Chavez via listing the most recent Google News headlines for him - which came out before the news that he was shutting down that station. As I said last week of those headlines:

    Can you believe how favorable all these headlines are? "Create unified party" ... "popular origin" ... "backs Ecuador" ... "demands apology from US ambassador" (those rotten US ambassadors! how dare they assert drug traffic is up in Venezuela!) ... "person of the year poll" ... "Archbishop" ... even, "Let's now make friends with Venezuela!"

    (Click here for a saved copy of last week's search.)

    Yes, last week there was a headline, "Archbishop Hugo Chavez?" Now it's a week later. Has the tenor of the headlines changed? Let's look at today's most recent headlines, which came after the news that Chavez was shutting down that opposition TV station. 

    (Click here for a saved copy of this week's search.)

    You'd think they were writing about an entirely different person! Look how pejorative the headlines are now: "selection of a political newcomer as his new vice president" ... "abruptly fires his vice president" ... "plans one grand socialist party, led by him" ... "double-digit inflation" ... "turning stomachs" ... "Iran, Syria, North Korea and Venezuela under Hugo Chavez" ... and now, all of a sudden, Chavez is associated with GWB: "The shared political stylings of George W. Bush and Hugo Chavez"!   Since MSM now dislikes Chavez, they can at least use him to tar GWB.

    This documents that MSM's slant on the topics they cover can turn around on a dime. Once they saw themselves being threatened, all of a sudden the headlines changed.  All of a sudden now, Chavez is a bad leader, someone who should be opposed, as opposed to last week, when Chavez was someone who should be supported by all right-thinking people who have been brainwashed by drinking the MSM cool-aid.  



    December 29, 2006

    Maybe This will get the MSM to Stop Giving Chavez a Free Ride

    A Google News search for "Hugo Chavez" turns up headlines that have an undeniably favorable ring. Here are all the headlines from the first page of the search, as of 9:27am this morning Pacific Time ... except for the most recent headline ... which may change things:

    (Click here for a saved copy of the search.)

    Can you believe how favorable all these headlines are? "Create unified party" ... "popular origin" ... "backs Ecuador" ... "demands apology from US ambassador" (those rotten US ambassadors! how dare they assert drug traffic is up in Venezuela!) ... "person of the year poll" ... "Archbishop" ... even, "Let's now make friends with Venezuela!"

    But all that may change now. Because the latest headline is:

    Now that they themselves are being threatened, MSM may start to notice what a danger to the Western world Chavez is.



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