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SOPA visual petition riles up the ‘geek lobby’ - Arts Post. Posted at 10:40 AM ET, 12/13/2011 Dec 13, 2011 03:40 PM EST TheWashingtonPost When you’re fighting for the entirety of the Internet, a regular petition is not enough. That’s why opponents of SOPA — the Stop Online Piracy Act — are adding to a visual petition that puts a face to the people who will be affected by the bill. (Screenshot, I Work for the Internet) SOPA is a bill that would empower law enforcement to shut down any site that hosts pirated content. Under current law, the sites only have to remove the offending content. On Tuesday, Rep. Still, the “Geek Lobby,” as they’ve been called, are wary of the impact that SOPA will have on the Internet’s freedom — and the impact it could have on their jobs.

Defying the stereotype of the pasty computer nerd, they’re a super-attractive bunch of people, too. SOPA: What does it mean for artists? - Arts Post. Posted at 10:57 AM ET, 11/17/2011 Nov 17, 2011 03:57 PM EST TheWashingtonPost The Stop Online Piracy Act — a bill that aims to curb illegal distribution of music, movies and software — is under attack by users of the Internet’s most popular Web sites, who say that the legislation is tantamount to censorship. The bill puts artists in a tricky place: On one hand, it protects their work. A visitor is seen at the YouTube stand during the annual MIPCOM television program market in Cannes, France, on Oct. 3, 2011.

A quick primer on SOPA from our tech blogger Cecilia Kang: The bill is a companion to the Senate’s “Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act,” (Protect IP), but SOPA goes a step further, with the potential to punish Web companies that host unauthorized copyrighted content such as movies, songs or software. The bill’s supporters include the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America.

The Violence of the Free Market: Globalization Leads to Struggle for Food that Imperils Filipino Poor. Photo Credit: Erika Eichelberger November 25, 2011 | Like this article? Join our email list: Stay up to date with the latest headlines via email. “The weather is unpredictable now,” says Generoso Bicaldo, a farmer, as he sits in the shade of a thatched grass awning.

“It changed. Before, when it rained, it would just rain a couple times, not constantly.” All over this warming planet, from India to Sudan to Peru, farmers are struggling with lower yields and greater uncertainty. I asked Walden Bello, a Philippine congressman, why his country’s economy fails to produce enough staple crops for its teeming masses, when the bulk of its workforce—a full third—is employed in agriculture. At a Mexican restaurant near SUNY Binghamton where he guest lectures, the softspoken and diminutive Bello told me about how structural adjustment in the 1980s, toward the end of the era of dictator Ferdinand Marcos, sparked the “demotion of agriculture.” The result? Evidence of this is everywhere. PROTECT IP Act Breaks the Internet. I am writing to you as a voter in your district. I urge you to vote "no" on cloture for S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act, on Jan. 24th. The PROTECT IP Act is dangerous, ineffective, and short-sighted.

It does not deserve floor consideration. I urge my representative to vote "no" on SOPA, the corresponding House bill. Over coming days you'll be hearing from the many businesses, advocacy organizations, and ordinary Americans who oppose this legislation because of the myriad ways in which it will stifle free speech and innovation. The video above discusses the Senate version of the House's Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). PIPA would give the government new powers to block Americans' access websites that corporations don't like. Ron Paul wins yet another straw poll. So why are the media ignoring him? Ron Paul won another Republican straw poll this weekend, in Illinois this time. Skip to next paragraph Subscribe Today to the Monitor Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS ofThe Christian Science MonitorWeekly Digital Edition It’s starting to become routine for Mr.

Paul, points out The State Column, an online source of state political news: “Paul has consistently demonstrated his ability to rally his supporters to straw polls throughout the nation. Paul took second place in the Ames Straw Poll in August, finishing just 1 percentage point behind Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann. In Illinois Saturday, Paul won 52 percent of the vote – more than neck-and-neck front-runners Mitt Romney and Herman Cain. How does Paul do it – winning state after state in these kinds of contests – while generally being relegated to second-tier or “also ran” status by most pundits and pollsters? On “Fox News Sunday,” he ruled that out. Paul supporters continue to claim media bias against their man. Michele Bachmann wins Ames Straw Poll - Jonathan Martin and Mike Allen.

Ron Paul leading straw polls in number of votes and number of poll wins. Stats from As of 11/07/11, there have been 37 GOP straw polls this year. Approximately 47,123 votes took place in those polls. Ron Paul is clearly getting more votes. 1. Paul 12163, 26% of all votes 2. There are others, but all under 1%. Notes: -It seems that Cain deserves his high status...just a shame the media ignores Paul's lead. How about who won the most straw polls? Going by Olympic weighting, Cain is tied with Paul: 3 points for gold (1st place), 2 points for silver (2nd), 1 point for bronze (3rd): Name 1st / 2nd / 3rd = TOTAL POINTS 1. Notes: -Only eight of these races were big polls (over 1000 voters). I like the overall numbers at the top. Feel free to post these numbers wherever you want. Gay Teen In Canada Commits Suicide After Repeated Bullying.

By Radar Staff Only weeks after a 14-year-old openly gay boy in Buffalo, New York committed suicide after enduring repeated bullying from his classmates, it’s happened again — this time in Canada. Jamie Hubley, a 15-year-old boy from Ottawa, committed suicide on Friday, authorities say. Just as Jamey Rodemeyer did in Buffalo, Hubley, a high school sophomore, documented his troubled life, including his overwhelming depression in a heartbreaking blog, called “You Can’t Break… When You’re Already Broken,” reports the Ottawa Citizen. PHOTOS: Stars Who Have Come Out As Gay In his blog, he spoke of his despair of being the only openly gay student at his school.

He also talked of suicide and made numerous references to and posted photos of self harm and cutting. Hubley entered his last post on Friday, the day he killed himself. Im a casualty of love. Well, Im tired of life really. First Id like to mention my friends Nancy, Abby, Colleen, jemma, and Kasia Being sad is sad : /. Il fly away. Dan Kloeffler: Out for Good. For better or worse, family has a way of putting life in perspective.

When stories started popping up about me coming out on television, one of my sisters was quick to state the obvious and bring me back to reality. "Why all this attention? It's not like you're Oprah or anything. " True. (But a guy can dream, can't he?) Here's the back-story: As I was filling in on ABC World News Now, I complimented Zachary Quinto's "coming out" and joked that I would consider dating him. Clearly, name recognition didn't spark the attention. I know some people think those comments, regardless of sexuality, don't belong in a newscast. So why'd I do it? Like a lot of people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, I knew pretty early that I was "different" from everybody else.

To be clear, I had a tremendously supportive family. Throughout high school, I hid from reality, dating girls and knocking down rumors that I was gay. It wasn't until college that I'd finally had enough of the battle. Video - Breaking News Videos. The Price of Hate. Make It Better | Make it Better Project. Collaborative Calendar Are you doing something awesome in your town or your school to Make It Better? Submit it to the national Make It Better Project calendar! Inspire others and get inspired by checking out events that youth and adults are holding all over the country to Make It Better for LGBT youth.

Make It Better Semester Students should be able to take more than the summer off from bullying, so GSA Network activated youth over the summer to build up resources to make it better during back-to-school season and all year round. The Make It Better Summer Camp(aign) connected LGBT and allied youth all over the country to resources, ideas, and each other through weekly online camp sessions. Those sessions were recorded and are now available as video trainings for your GSA! Need resources? Write a Letter, Make It Better Share your story and you can make it better for today’s high school students -- whether you graduated last year or 30 years ago! For Youth For Adults Events Calendar. Gay Activists Demand Repeal of School’s Neutrality Policy – Blogs, Education.

Gay Activists Demand Repeal of School’s Neutrality Policy by Candi Cushman We’ve written before how homosexual activist groups have promoted a “homophobia scale” that tells students that even “tolerance” and “acceptance” is not good enough. Nothing short of “admiration” will do. (View the homophobia scale here.) And now you can see that agenda playing out in our public school system. Case in point: A Minnesota school district policy requiring educators to maintain a neutral tone on controversial homosexuality topics has drawn the ire of advocacy groups. But that’s not good enough for gay activists and left wing groups—nothing short of overt promotion will do.

But the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is publicly supporting the school’s policy, saying the threats against the district “have no basis in law.” First of all, the policy does not ban teachers from discussing the topic—so calling it a gag policy is factually wrong. Print. U.S. school district sued over gay ‘neutrality’ policy. Some schools promote a gay-positive environment, while others (for example, religion-based institutions) may not support gay rights.

But one school district is drawing flack for its gay “neutrality” policy. Last month, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Centre sued Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin school district, on behalf of five current and former students, who say they were harassed due to their sexual orientation, reports Jezebel. Another lesbian student filed a companion lawsuit against the district last week. According to the newer suit, the middle-school student was called “faggot” and “dyke,” and was punched in the stomach, but teachers and administrators did nothing to protect her after she reported the bullying. While district officials say they have implemented anti-bullying policies, they say schools must maintain a “neutral” stance on sexual-orientation issues to avoid offending area-residents who are divided on the gay-rights debate. Gays Remain Minority Most Targeted by Hate Crimes. Four teenagers commit suicide in a three-week span after being bullied, taunted or outed as homosexuals.

Seven students — at least four of whom had endured anti-gay bullying — kill themselves over the course of a year in a single Minnesota school district. In New York, 10 suspects are arrested for torturing three gay victims. In Covington, Ky., a series of violent anti-gay attacks shock a trendy neighborhood. In Vonore, Tenn., a lesbian couple’s home, its garage spray-painted with “Queers,” is burned to the ground.

A rash of attacks hits Washington, D.C. And in Michigan, a prosecutor harasses a local gay rights student leader for months. All of this is only a sampling of the anti-gay attacks occurring around the nation, most of it drawn from just the last few months. But that’s not the way a hard core of the anti-gay religious right sees it. What’s more, bullying is only the beginning of the violence experienced by gays in American society. This was not always so. How is that? Bc video: Feds investigate alleged bulling of gay teens in Minn.