BLAG

I'm probably the last person on the internet to have seen this clip. But it's absolutely great. Stephen Colbert hosts a show on Comedy Central, a cable comedy channel in the usa. In the show he parodies right wing commentators like Bill O'Reilly of Fox News. He was invited to speak at the White House Correspondents' dinner in Washington in April. I don't know what Bush was expecting but I doubt it was anything like this:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-869183917758574879

If you have trouble with the video, it's flash (my bad), then you can access the transcript here:

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/stephencolbert/a/colbertbush.htm

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Ed LaBonte

Sounds like /somebody's/ behind the times ;)

Well, yeah, I plead guilty... I posted it for other slow people like myself. ;)

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Ed LaBonte

I found it very funny...

Since I am not from the US, it is absolutely amazing for me to realize how permissive the US culture is !!!! In America Latina, this simply could not happen !!! The comic would be shot, or at least impeached to go on with his show !

You guys in the US has an amazing freedom of speech, I hope you enjoy it...

We are trying to enjoy it while it lasts.

Of course, you're right. But censorship happens in a different way here. This clip wasn't aired on any tv station (as far as I know). It became quite the hit on the Internet. But the big media conglomerates control what gets on tv. I don't even think Comedy Central aired it, and they own the Colbert Report.

It was great, though. The media (along with Tony Blair) have been Bush's lapdogs. It was great to see someone with some public exposure take him on.

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Ed LaBonte

This is peanuts !!! In the rest of the world, except maybe for some European nations, the comic would be found misteriously dead within a week !!!

Just analyse what happened to that ex-KGB agent who spoke against Vladimir Putin in London...

Such a freedom of speech is just unheard of in most of the planet...

Right, you're free to speak, you're just not free to be heard.

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Ed LaBonte

Ed, I think you are not realzing the huge difference it makes between such a country as yours, and the rest of the world...

As not being free to be heard, you and me heard it, so it proves that with nowaday's medias of comunication (internet), this statement is no longer true.

I understand that, since you americans are so used to this way of life, you now take it for granted. I also understand that there are plenty of manipulation going on... I just saw the "Loose Change 2" video, and it made me wonder about the good ol' US of A...

I am strongly opposed to the DR-CAFTA, which is a "Free-Trade" treaty between the heavily subsidized USA and our third-world nation... I really resent the american governement for that, and I also resent even more the dominican governement to accept the bribes and shut up...

However, back to the subject. Face it : you enjoy the best freedom of speech of the world (except for maybe some scandinavian countries).

That combined with the blogs, the photo/video-cell-phones, the YouTube-like videos on the net... It gives you the freedom to speak, AND the freedom to be heard !

Friendly yours...

And Holland, and Great Britain, and Canada, and Australia, France, etc, etc. It's true of all the large western industrial countries. In those countries the ruling class is a lot more secure in its power than in poorer countries, like the Dominican Republic. It's a lot cheaper and easier to buy control than to impose it by force. But I'm sure they would be more than willing to use force if necessary. There are elements within the Republican Party that are ready right now. Fortunately, for now, they are not the majority.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to say that we don't have it better than people in the third world. Of course we do. I live in the richest country in the world. But the dynamics in any Capitalist country are ultimately the same. Power ultimately is held to those with money...


But that's true of you also. You have access to the internet and can say what you want. The internet's great! :-)

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Ed LaBonte

yeah... I should do more with that tool... I use it everyday for myself, but never really got involved in politics... Down here it is more like generalized corruption : you get into politics to get rich quick... Nowadays, if you're in any kind of power, it's a good way to get a monthly pay-check from the drug-lords to keep a blind-eye on their activity...

Blogging about that has to be well anonymized !!! If I was to publish a blog with names and stuff, I would use some proxy to hide my IP...

In the mean-time, here I am fixing PC's around, and hangin'out in a couple of forums...

A couple of points: the "roast" that Colbert spoke at is the Correspondent's Dinner and has a long tradition going for many years where they bring in a comedian to make fun of the president. Colbert just went a bit further than people usually do. In a previous year, this was where Bush did his skit where he jokingly ran around the White House looking for Saddam's supposed WMD...

There have been plenty of people thrown in jail for protesting/speaking out against Bush (see the 1,000s jailed at the republican national convention, for example). The US government has also shot plenty of journalists (and dropped bombs on their news headquarters), but this is usually /outside/ of the US.

Reporters Without Borders does an annual press freedom index. The US is currently ranked #53:
http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=639

The US is heading further away from being a free country, and very quickly...

-Jeff

I am absolutely totally amazed that we (the Dominican Republic) are doing BETTER that the USA : the DR is #52, while the USA is #56 !!!

There must be a mistake...

It is simply impossible when knowing the reality down here...

I am wondering on what are Reporters sans Frnitières basing their study. I know they are a serious organisation, but this simply doesn't reflect the facts...

Well, you can read the report itself, which is on their site.