It’s a never ending story it seems.
Freedom of speech is already a sharp two sided sword in Western countries.
But in Asia and the Middle East you don’t have it.
Simple as that.

When you are a blogger and one with a critical mind at that, you can easily get into trouble.

This time it’s a young man from Burma, who reported during the uprising in 2007 via his blog.

A Burmese blogger has been sentenced to 20 years in jail for posting a cartoon of the military leader Than Shwe.

Nay Phone Latt was arrested in January; the sentence delivered on Monday included 15 years for offences under the Electronics Act, two years for “creating public alarm” and three and a half years for offences under the Video Act, his mother said.

Full article on BBC

And he’s not the only one. And not only in Burma.

I was actually going to post about yesterday & the Goulash cookout (don’t worry, I’ll post it eventually).
But a recent blog comment made me change my mind.
I don’t think I have laughed that hard today, so it’s maybe worth sharing.

On my blog post a female in Kuwait Mr Single Love wrote:

I am single doctor working in kuwait and I saw your profile and become intereseted in you so if u r female residing in kuwait interested in meeting young man for frienship,marriage,love,romance or any other relation send me what is ur age?nationality?location? in a message to xxx @yahoo.com

My answer:

Thank you, dear single love.
If you would have managed to go to my profile page, you would have seen that I am happily married.
But thanks for asking anyway.

Gifts & Cards by NicoleB Photography

Sunday again.
Time flies.
Behrad asked last week if only he feels that way.
Nope.
And it’s getting “worse", I think, the older I get.
I always thought people tell tales when they say that. But that’s how it is.

Anyhow.

Today is Goulash day at the lake. It’s cloudy and a bit rainy out there, so we will see if that’s still a go or a no go.
Floyd will go fishing anyway, at least for a few hours.
I will take my manual and my Photo book to read up on white balance manual settings. Maybe I can give some more Information to the new assignment.

Fishing fun - Let’s team up by Gifts & Cards by NicoleB Photography

Btw. did you know that on NaNloPoMo you can win prizes at the end of the month?
No?
Go check it out!
You can still join & have fun there too

This year’s the first time I sponsored a prize too.
A $ 15,- gift Voucher for my (or another) zazzle gallery.
Depending on when the prizes are drawn I might be able to add another $ 5,- with a coupon code I still have lying around here.
Or you might be able to get free shipping.

No matter what - I sure wish you a wonderful Sunday!

Dubai, 14 April (AKI) - Thousands of websites in the United Arab Emirates were blocked on Monday, according to an email statement sent by DU, one of the country’s major Internet service providers, to all its users.

The list of websites that have been blocked does not only include anti-Islam sites or those that are deemed morally inappropriate, but also various information sites such as the Arab Times.

Full article on AKI

A well-known Saudi blogger, Fuad Ahmed al Foran, was jailed last December for criticising the government in Riyadh in his blog and a Bahraini blogger and human rights activist, Abdullah Mohsen, was also recently arrested.

What is going on?
There’s a long article in todays Arab Times about this as well.