Jezebel: cover ups

The suspicious death of young girl has sparked...

Jessica — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 10:45:00 EDT

The suspicious death of young girl has sparked rioting in southwest China, Reuters reports. 10,000 people attacked government offices in Weng'an county, Guizhou province when the girl's body surfaced in a local river. You see, the government called the death a suicide, but residents believe that the girl was raped and murdered by the relative of a government official. (There are YouTube videos documenting the violence.) According to Reuters, "The girl's family had rejected the authorities' offer of 3,000 yuan ($440) compensation, later upped to 30,000 yuan, and residents had donated money to the family to sue local authorities." Mentions of the incident were recently removed from Chinese websites, as China wants to keep its image as pleasant as possible in the run up to the Beijing Olympics. [Reuters, YouTube]

There Really Aren't Ways In Which They Won't Lie

Megan — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 15:50:00 EDT

Army Specialist Kamisha Block died last summer in what the Army officially characterized as a non-combat incident and told her family was a case of "friendly fire." Well, if by "friendly" they meant "deliberately killed by a fellow soldier that had been abusing her without punishment to date" and by "fire" they meant "shot her five times and then killed himself," then it was an honest assessment of the situation. Otherwise, they just straight out lied to cover up the fact that the Army failed to protect one of its soldiers from domestic abuse and then lied to cover up the end result of their not-benign neglect. [Military Times, Beaumont Examiner, Editor&Publisher]

MagHag

Dodai — Wed, 14 May 2008 13:45:00 EDT

The new issue of Time Out: New York has the cast of Sex And The City on the cover, but with duct tape on their mouths. The copy reads, "Enough already we love 'em, but it's just too much." Hahahaha. Wait, what? As a backlash to the Carrie & Co. coverage, you put Carrie & Co. on your cover? (Click for a larger view) [Time Out New York]