David Sasaki

Jeje, Jesus as Hugo Chavez.

"Latino bloggers against Reggaeton."

I'm all ready to pull out my credit card.

• On the Anna Nicole Coverage
  "I would argue that we require journalists to do more than merely mirror or own thoughts and desires, but rather to challenge them and present us with perspectives to which we might not be exposed otherwise."
• Reuters/Second Life » Second Life Sketches: Please stop doing that to the cat
  "Frankly, if it’s on the Internet, you can be certain that sooner or later (and usually sooner) it’ll be used for shagging." [via Ethan]
• Language Log: Garrison Keillor on Indecency
  "Here in the land of the free, freedom won by brave men whose speech was salty and whose interest in women was keen, a man cannot say breast on the radio. How do these people manage to order fried chicken in a restaurant?"
• GOOD Magazine | Goodmagazine - The 51 Best* Magazines Ever
  Nothing grabs online readers like a top 50 list ... I agree with all who says Harpers is missing - it should be in the top 5. [via Georgia]

Tunisphere: How to blog about politics without being censored?

By focusing on specific issues confronting Tunisian society rather than the politicians and government agencies responsible for them, bloggers have found a way to get political without triggering the authoritative government’s internet censors. Samsoum highlights some of the issues that have been discussed so far.

Turkey is Typing…Food and Music

Deborah Ann Dilley takes a break from politics to focus this week on Turkish food and music. Listen to a recommended Turkish podcast while you discover which dessert is rumored to have been made on Noah’s ark.

Saudi Arabia: Government Cracking Down on Bloggers, New Saudi Ambassador to US, and More

While Saudi blog Green Tea discusses a new program by the Saudi Council of Ministers against government corruption, others insist that it is the government behind a recent campaign targeted at four Saudi bloggers. Also, are Saudi lesbians coming out of the closet?

China: Government study tours questioned

As John Kennedy notes, “Chinese teachers go abroad to experience and learn, as do liberal intellectuals like Xiao Shu, even China’s underground religious leaders.” So why then is the Sichuan province so intent on restricting training trips abroad for government leaders? Local blogger Li Hongzhi, translated here by Kennedy, offers his analysis.

Meet Sami Ben Gharbia, Global Voices’ new Advocacy Director

Global Voices is delighted to announce the appointment of Sami Ben Gharbia as Advocacy Director, a position which will allow Global Voices to act as a hub for communication between different anti-censorship and free speech initiatives around the world. Get to know more about Sami, how he developed an interest in free speech, and what his priorities are as Advocacy Director in this interview by Mary Joyce.

Panama: More Deadly Than War

What’s more deadly than war and AIDS? How can expats contribute to their host country? Why will Panamanian-Colombian coffee expert Patricia McCausland be traveling to Beijing, China? Find out in Melissa De Leòn’s dispatch from Panama City.

Roundups

Tenets of Islamic Banking, Albania a week after elections, general strike suspended in Guinea, and much more can be found in today’s Global Roundups.

David Sasaki: wondering why i got chinese food when i've already established many times that i don't like it

Nothing grabs online readers like a top 50 list ... I agree with all who says Harpers is missing - it should be in the top 5. [via Georgia]

David Sasaki: @Brenda: when's your bday?

Five things from 15 19 Global Voices authors. They’re amazing, get to know them.

Rezwan - “My first cultural shock going back to Dhaka was that I got bullied by my friends for using tissues to clean my nose. Pocket tissue culture became popular later in Bangladesh.”	Tharum Bun - “Starting this year, I set it out to do more with photography. I want to master my ancient film camera, Nikon F75. To tell you the truth, even my younger brother is more skillful than me when it comes to taking great pictures.”
Aparna Ray - “I honestly think it’s a sin To expect that people be thin With goodies galore Staying slim is a chore So let’s junk those diets in the bin!”	Rebecca MacKinnon - “Art class was always my favorite thing in school. I used to be pretty good at drawing, and especially loved doing faces. I stopped drawing sometime in high school. Maybe some day.. when I actually have free time….”
Ndesanjo Macha - “When I was going to college at the University of Dar Es Salaam, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, I had a sticker on my door, which said: the future president. It was not a joke. I plan on becoming the first dreadlocked president in the world.”	Ethan Zuckerman - “I’d be very happy as a 1950s New England housewife. My hero growing up was my maternal grandmother, who was an absolute dynamo, working full-time into her 60s as well as mothering and grandmothering a brood of children.”
Neha Viswanathan - “I learnt my 2 multiplication table thanks to a complex system my mother invented to help me survive bullying. My mother taught me that for every slap I got, I was to give two back. Therefore, for two slaps, I had to give 4 back, and so forth. This is how I mastered the multiplication table for 2.”	Kamla Bhatt - “While in grad school I had a favorite hobby - reading people’s palms (this was in keeping with the exotic theme that I was from India and rode on elephants. What was astounding was that one of my grad teachers wanted to know how come I was fluent in English?). I read up a couple of books on palmistry and fudged the rest or as I like to say, “Made an educated guess.”
Ory Okolloh - “I hate driving. Very much. In fact, if I had my druthers I’d be perfectly happy to be chauffeured around for the rest of my life. This doesn’t really fit in with my control-freak personality. Perhaps it’s because driving doesn’t inspire a sense of control in me like it does for most people.”	Mong Palatino - “I was an Altar Boy in our community for seven years. I was a very religious kid. I read the bible, I prayed the rosary, I went to church everyday after school. I enjoyed the Friday mass in Quiapo and Wednesday mass in Baclaran. I was a bible quiz champion. By the way, I was named after a Saint.”
Maurina - “I once won the award for Best Actor in a secondary school historical stage drama, based on the true story involving the forced cession of Labuan (back then a part of Brunei) to the British when the current Sultan of Brunei was under pressure from the British armed navy surrounding the Brunei waters, threatening to attack. Note that I won Best Actor, not actress.”	LuisCarlos Diaz - “I chew on my nails. It’s not because I’m nervous or anything rational,, but it remains incomprehensible. It’s not the force of custom or the imitation of familiar conduct. It’s more like excitement or extra time. Still, it keeps me neat and tidy.”
Jen Brea - “In my brief life, I have been a Baptist, a Roman Catholic, a Scientologist and almost a Jew, a Mormon, and a Seventh Day Adventist.  I missed the Buddhist/Hindu phase (that was in the seventies).  I think I might have been Pentecostal in utero…”	Nicholas Laughlin - “My favourite constellation is Orion. Anywhere in the world, if I can spot him in the sky above, I feel a little more at home … I have often contemplated getting a tiny tattoo of Orion, a pattern of minute inked stars on my inner left forearm, just below my elbow; only my absolute intolerance of physical pain has stopped me.”
Sameer Padania - “I asked my father to post a letter I had written to Jim’ll Fix It asking to be taken round the Batman suit factory. Jim never fixed it for me, and to this day, I suspect that my father never posted the letter.”	Sami Ben Gharbia - “In early 1998, I was arrested and interrogated by the State Security about my activities and travels. When I realized that this was just the beginning of a cycle of harassment and persecutions – since I was summoned to appear before the Interior Ministry – I fled Tunisia to Libya, and then to Africa and the Middle-East and finally to The Netherlands where I’ve applied for asylum.”
Jacky Peng - “I feel my parents’ experiences are interesting. They grew up in Indonesia. When the first anti-Chinese wave struck Indonesia in 1960’s, they decided to move back China, to serve their motherland, leaving many other relatives and friends behind. It was relatives and friends who help me come to Singapore.”	Rachel Rawlins - “I once made love to a spy in his office in his country’s embassy beneath the presidential portrait, was locked in overnight so his servants wouldn’t tell his absent wife of his infidelity on her return from a trip abroad and spent several interesting hours going through the contents of his desk by torch-light.”
John Kennedy - “When I was nine I lied in court and sent some people to prison for a very long time. I then ran away from home and haven’t stopped running since.”

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