Salt of the Earth

Appreciations to Marx and Coca-Cola blogger for posting Salt of the Earth video . Made in 1954 by blacklisted filmmakers .

Not just about a miners strike but also about racism and sexism .

Salt of the Earth is based on a 1950 strike by zinc miners in Silver City, New Mexico. Against a backdrop of social injustice, a riveting family drama is played out by the characters of Ramon and Esperanza Quintero, a Mexican-American miner and his wife. In the course of the strike, Ramon and Esperanza find their roles reversed: an injunction against the male strikers moves the women to take over the picket line, leaving the men to domestic duties. The women evolve from men's subordinates into their allies and equals.

Football politics

According to the BBC , Arsenal managing director Keith Edelman is "relaxed" about Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov's interest in the club. Usmanov's investment company Red and White Holdings Limited (RAWHL) owns nearly a quarter of the club's shares.

Well , he shouldn't be relaxed . He should be worried . Very worried . As should all Gunners supporters .

Craig Murray , the ex- UK diplomat , has had his blog censored when Usmanov decided he didn't quite like the truth being told about his past and ordered in the lawyers to intimidate Craig Muray's web-site host .

Apparently, Usmanov doesn't like Murray accusing him of being a Vicious Thug, Criminal, Racketeer, Heroin Trafficker and Accused Rapist....that Usmanov is just a criminal whose gangster connections with one of the World's most corrupt regimes got him out of jail....that Usmanov's present role as chairman of Gazprom is to handle Gazprom's bribery and sleaze on the international arena on behalf of Putin , and the use of gas supply cuts as a threat to uncooperative Russian satellite states.

The censored biographical article can be found here

Cyber Censors

The Internet as not such a liberating experience for some .

A human rights group in the US is suing Yahoo for alleged complicity in rights abuses and acts of torture in China. The World Organization for Human Rights says Yahoo's sharing of information with the Chinese government has led to the arrests of writers and dissidents. One journalist cited in the case was tracked down and jailed for 10 years for subversion after Yahoo passed on his e-mail and IP address to officials.

The human rights group has brought the case in San Francisco on behalf of the journalist, Shi Tao, and another named Wang Xiaoning. The men's defence lawyer said Yahoo should have asked the Chinese government why it wanted information about the two men before handing it over. He said Yahoo had failed to live up to its ethical responsibilities . Shi Tao was jailed for posting comments critical of government corruption on the web.

Yahoo is not the only internet company accused of collaborating with Chinese authorities. Rivals Google freely admit to blocking politically sensitive items on their China website. Whole websites - including media sources - are eliminated from Yahoo and Google in China. De-listed sites are skipped over when the search engine trawls the web for results.

Regardless of the defence of their actions that search providers try and present , the simple fact is - cash - China has potential for massive profit and that is sufficient motive for Yahoo and Google to co-operate with the Chinese dictatorship .