Condi: "No, dear, you're wrong."

Let's hear it for YouTube and citizen journalism.

Thanks to Stanford students practicing journalism and asking about torture of prisoners, former Sec of State Condi Rice had a near meltdown moment ON VIDEO -- just before a campus dinner. She claimed she didn't authorize brutalizing prisoners, but just conveyed the authorization. Echoing Richard Nixon, she argued that if President Bush authorized it, then "by definition" it did not violate the Convention against Torture that our government has signed.

The video helped spark Stanford alumni from 1960s antiwar generation -- gathered for a campus reunion this weekend -- to publicly call for the prosecution or Rice, who is currently on Stanford's faculty.

You got censored

Steph M on Internet censorship in Australia:

What do a dentist, an owner of a dog kennel, a school cafeteria food provider and a US astrology site have in common? They all operate websites that have all fallen victim to Australia’s new Internet censorship laws.

Australia has joined the ranks of many countries that have decided to implement mandatory Internet censorship. The only problem is, their filtering system is far from perfect, and innocent people are having their businesses blocked under the new regulations.

Rural America needs broadband

Videos of rural Southerners from different walks of life asking the government to step in and help folks get broadband.

How to write a proposal...

Much how-to info all over the Net on drafting a prospectus for business start-up or a proposal seeking grants.

Video of Izzy Awards

Video of acceptance speeches from Glenn Greenwald and Amy Goodman

Grassroots local watchdog...

...journalism projects blooming, according to Prof. Dave Westphal writing in Online Journalism Review.

One of the most successful local online nonprofit news ops is Voice of San Diego.

Saving Journalism -- Where Should $ Go?

Every week brings new proposals to save newspapers or investigative reporting. In Bailout for Media Moguls? (a critique of the recent John Nichols/Bob McChesney article in The Nation), indy media trailblazer DeeDee Halleck argues that support and subsidies need to go to independents and grassroots/local content providers, not big media corporations. Similarly, Tracy Van Slyke of The Media Consortium argues on the British Guardian website that any federal endowment for investigative journalism must include independent journalists and outlets, not just corporate media.