Freedom Of Speech? Not here!

[Colonel Ingus Profile]

Good ole' communist dictatorships. I guess some things never change.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn? Who dat?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5366189/

Here are some excellent quotes as to why they are restraining this 72 year old physician.

The officials have detained Jiang Yanyong, 72, a semi-retired surgeon in the People's Liberation Army, in a room under 24-hour supervision, and they have threatened to keep him until he "changes his thinking" and "raises his level of understanding" about the Tiananmen crackdown.

China's state-controlled media have not reported Jiang's detention, which began June 1. In response to questions submitted by The Washington Post, the government said in a brief statement: "Jiang Yanyong, as a soldier, recently violated the relevant discipline of the military. Based on relevant regulations, the military has been helping and educating him."

But Jiang, who became a national hero last year after blowing the whistle on the government's efforts to hide the SARS outbreak

My God! Thank you Chinese Communist Government for trying to protect the rest of the world from the menace this man represents!

The officials told the family that Jiang, a longtime party member, was being investigated for breaking party discipline, the source said. When the family pressed officials to name which regulations Jiang had violated, one of the officials was quoted by the source as replying: "Not being consistent with the party's Central Committee."

All social system bashing aside I should have titled this thread.

"The Power of A Man Willing to Stand Up For What He Believes" and only quoted this paragraph.

The first time Jiang risked his freedom by challenging the government, during the SARS crisis, the leadership also hesitated. But two weeks after his letter to the Chinese media exposing the SARS coverup was leaked to Time magazine, the party fired the health minister and the mayor of Beijing, dramatically raised its official count of SARS cases and launched a mass campaign to alert the public of the disease and stop it from spreading.

But then I remembered back in '89 watching the live coverage from Tiananmen square

Then, in late February, Jiang sent a letter to the leadership urging them to admit the party's 1989 military assault on student-led, pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square was wrong. While the party has formally acknowledged other errors, including Mao Zedong's destructive Cultural Revolution, it has refused to reevaluate the Tiananmen massacre, in part because doing so might prompt new demands for democratic reform.

I remember watching that live. (I was in the Navy then) I remember that lone student standing in the square in front of the tank column holding it up and demanding reform in a country that Mao Tse Tsung stated was a continuing revolution. I remember turning to my fellow sailors and saying "The second they get those cameras out of there that guy is treadmeat" I am sad to say a day later I turned out to be right.

And it just gets better

In May, hospital officials warned Jiang not to go to the U.S. Embassy to apply for a visa to visit his daughter in California until after June 4, the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, a person close to the family said. But Jiang and his wife had an appointment on June 1 at the embassy for fingerprinting, a requirement for visa applicants in China, and requested a car from the hospital.

That morning, the hospital's driver told them the car had broken down and asked them to step into a van with a different driver, the source said. After a short distance, the van stopped. Suddenly, several men surrounded the vehicle, pulled the couple out and shoved them into an armored vehicle with small windows and iron bars, the source said.

While I respect him, he is not exactly a hero of mine, Mahatma Gandhi probably would have loved this guy.

P.S. as far as the Alexander Solzhenitsyn reference. If you don't know who he is do a little searching.