rational geekery

George W. Bush stated in his latest State of the Union Address that “Every step toward freedom in the world makes our country safer — so we will act boldly in freedom’s cause.” So imagine my surprise when I read this story in today’s Seattle Times: -

In an apparent reversal of decades of U.S. practice, recent federal Office of Foreign Assets Control regulations bar American companies from publishing works by dissident writers in countries under sanction unless they first obtain U.S. government approval.

The restriction, condemned by critics as a violation of the First Amendment, means that books and other works banned by some totalitarian regimes cannot be published freely in the United States.

So should we assume that Bush’s commitment to support dissident networks, is indeed, meaningless rhetoric?