News of the Day (June 7)

Chen Yonglin talks about Communist espionage and the Long Arm of Lawlessness in Canada: The former Communist consular official who defected to Australia in 2005 "brought with him a portfolio of Chinese documents" (Toronto Star, h/t Between Heaven and Earth) detailing Communist China's espionage network in Australia, and in particular its targeting of exiled dissidents and other anti-Communists (dubbed "The Long Arm of Lawlessness" by yours truly). Chen further " says that Canada likely has a comparable amount (of Communist spying) within its borders" (Globe and Mail, h/t BH&E).

Concerns about safety in Communist exports spread to toys, makeup, pottery, and ATVs: Numerous health officials are growing concerned about high levels of lead in "toys, makeup, glazed pottery and other products" (World Net Daily) exported from Communist China. In Iowa, lead poisoning is such a concern "that the Iowa Department of Public Health is working on writing a new law to require mandatory testing of those entering school for the first time." Meanwhile, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued several warnings against the Kazuma Meerkat 50 Youth All-Terrain Vehicle, which "has no front brakes, no parking brake and is missing a neutral indicator" (Washington Times). The vehicle also "can be started in gear and the owner's manual does not contain complete information on its operation and maintenance." These are merely the latest concerns about harmful exports from Communist China.

New York City Comptroller proposes to get Yahoo! out of dictatorships: This Tuesday, William Thompson - whose job as NYC Comptroller includes running municipal pension funds - will offer to Yahoo! stockholders Proposal #6, "which directs the Internet search giant to stop its snitching and censorship practices demanded by 'authoritarian foreign governments' - Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam" (National Review Online - The Corner). The Yahoo! leadership is not happy with the idea. Thompson made a similar attempt to change Google policy last month (sadly, it failed).

Taiwan loses Costa Rica: The Central American nation has long been a diplomatic ally of the island democracy - until yesterday (BBC). There is great worry that several other Latin American nations may follow suit after the Communists allegedly offered "an astronomical (financial) figure" to persuade Costa Rica.

Lee Teng-hui visits his late brother's resting place: Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, but since Mr. Democracy's brother was conscripted into the Japanese Army during World War II (Taiwan was under Japanese occupation then), and since the resting place is Yasukuni, the Communists are trying to make political hay out of it (BBC).

Russia says the collapse of the Beijing surrender is our fault: Scroll down past to the "Some anju links" section to see One Free Korea's take on this continuing debacle.

More news from "another China province": Stalinist North Korea test-fires some more missiles (BBC, CNN, and One Free Korea). A mass anti-Stalinist march in Seoul draws the leading lights from the opposition Grand National Party (Daily NK); the GNP's policy on SNK is revealed, and except for the name, it's a mild improvement over the current dovish government (Daily NK). Speaking of the dovish South Korean government, One Free Korea notices its unwillingness to acknowledge the Stalinist North as a likely source of the methamphetamine wave hitting South Korea right now.

Tiananmen reference gets a into Communist newspaper; censor didn't know what it was: Those who do not learn history are condemned to - accidentally reveal it to everyone else? That was the new lesson delivered by a twenty-something censor in Chengdu, who received this classified advertisement for her approval: "Paying tribute to the strong mothers of June 4 victims" (MSNBC). Being too young to know what "June 4" meant (and with the Communists never teaching her anything about the date), the censor believed it referred to a mining accident and allowed the ad to be printed in the Chengdu Evening News.

Human rights activist sentenced in Beijing; family and lawyer still know nothing about it: The cadres were so determined to send Hua Huiqi to jail that they refused to let his family or his attorney into the courtroom for the sentence (Epoch Times). Hua was arrested for "accompanying his mother who tried to hand-deliver materials of complaint letters to representatives of the 'two conferences (i.e. the National People's Congress and the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference).'" His mother is serving a two-year jail term.

Inflation hitting basic food products in Communist China: Bacon and egg prices in particular are soaring (Newsweek).