*what* progress on human rights? -- part two

From today's issue of The Australian:

China forces edits of Australian books

THE Chinese government is stopping the production of Australian books which refer to subjects like the Dalai Lama and the China-Tibet border.

Melbourne publisher Hardie Grant and academic publisher UNSW Press were both advised to remove content from their books being printed in China, Fairfax newspapers report.

A printing company in Guangdong in southern China told the UNSW Press a reference to the "China-Tibet border", included in a biography by Felicity Jack about her great-grandfather Robert Logan Jack, needed to be removed.

After the book was printed the printer sent an email to UNSW Press which said: "Chinese authorities have found sentences within the text which infringe their sovereignty and have refused to grant an export authorisation".

The full story is here.

The obvious comparison is with the reality-distorting shenanigans of Nineteen Eighty-Four, but this sort of crap is really equivalent to book-burning, isn't it? -- the attempt to negate the content of books through destruction.

pds_lit has cause to be snooty

I'm secretly very thrilled (and make sure you don't tell her), but my sweetheart (aka pds_lit) discovered this in her e-mailed AARP Bulletin yesterday:

The Scoop

We asked, you blogged!

Last month, we asked if you had a blog and whether or not you used it to write commentary on the latest vote on the Medicare legislation or encouraged people to take action on important issues. We are glad to report that hundreds of people wrote back and sent us a link to their personal blogs! We were so impressed by the level of innovation and creativity in all of the blogs, but have chosen a few that stood out from the rest. Check out:


carolineleavittville.blogspot.com/


chucksadventures.blogspot.com/


pds-lit.livejournal.com/

I'm hoping she's going to continue to speak to mere proles like me . . .