OFFICIAL WEB SITE: On October 10-11, 2009, we will gather in Washington DC from all across America to let our elected leaders know that now is the time for full equal rights for LGBT people. We will gather. We will march. And we will leave energized and empowered to do the work that needs to be done in every community across the nation. MORE RELATED: Less than a month after being told by Donald Trump that she can keep her Miss California crown, Carrie Prejean was fired on Wednesday. In a release first obtained by FOXNews.com, K2 Productions, the independent […]
EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: 12 Iranians Killed In Mass Demonstrations That Drew More Than One Million
FLICKR: A man lies the back of a truck after being seriously injured by gunfire in an area where militia were firing shots at a rally supporting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s top opponent on Monday, June 15, 2009. Hundreds of thousands gathered in central Tehran to support Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims there was voting fraud in Friday’s election. The gunfire came from a compound for volunteer militia linked to Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard. (AP Photo) MORE UPDATE: Iran’s powerful Guardian Council says it is ready to hold a recount of disputed votes in Friday’s presidential election. GUARDIAN: At least […]
COUNTER REVOLUTION: 100,000 Flood The Streets Of Tehran To Protest Stolen Election, Demand Change
LOS ANGELES TIMES: Reporting from Tehran — Massive rivers of people defied authorities and poured into Tehran’s Freedom Square today chanting “Death to the dictator!” and “We want our vote back!” in an unprecedented display of civil disobedience and a rebuke to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, reelected president over the weekend amid allegations of rampant voter fraud. The protesters defied Interior Ministry warnings broadcast on state television and radio that anyone showing up would be beaten or worse. They managed to find out about the event and turned out in droves despite a media clampdown that included the shuttering of numerous opposition […]
IRAN: The Counter Revolution Will Be Digitized
[Photo courtesy of TEHRANLIVE.ORG] BBC: All over the world people are monitoring unfolding events in Iran via the internet, where an apparently decisive election victory by the incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being challenged on the streets. Although there are signs the Iranian government is trying to cut some communications with the outside world, citizen journalism appears to be thriving on the web. Here is a selection of popular links, many of which have been written from a particular point of view but – when taken together – provide a wide range of perspectives. MORE GUARDIAN: In days gone by, crushing […]
WAR IS OVER: The Drugs Have Won
NEW YORK TIMES: This year marks the 40th anniversary of President Richard Nixon’s start of the war on drugs, and it now appears that drugs have won.“We’ve spent a trillion dollars prosecuting the war on drugs,” Norm Stamper, a former police chief of Seattle, told me. “What do we have to show for it? Drugs are more readily available, at lower prices and higher levels of potency. It’s a dismal failure.” For that reason, he favors legalization of drugs, perhaps by the equivalent of state liquor stores or registered pharmacists. Other experts favor keeping drug production and sales illegal but […]
RISE: Shit Hits The Fan In Iran
FOREIGN POLICY: Leading Iranian opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi issued a statement warning of “tyranny” Saturday after a tense night in Iran in which state organs proclaimed that incumbent hardline Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won a “landslide” victory by a two-to-one margin, a statistic that defied the belief of many analysts. Voter turnout was an unprecedented 84%. Meantime, reports from western-based Iranians late Saturday said that several people had been arrested in Iran, including the campaign manager for another reformist presidential candidate Mehdi Karoubi, and the brother of former reformist Iranian president Mohammad Khatami, Reza Khatami. Mousavi’s Twitter […]
LIVE AND DIRECT: Faux News From The Faux War
NEW YORK TIMES: CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — It was Sunday night in Baghdad, and President Obama was ordering Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of the American troops here, to shave Stephen Colbert’s head. (Not to give everything away, but the general is not as brutal with an electric razor as one would expect a bald man to be; Mr. Colbert’s hairdresser, on the other hand, has a merciless streak.) War, as things go, is a fairly unironic exercise. Sure, there are endless incongruities to be found and parodied in the speeches about war from politicians, generals and heads of state. […]
AXIS OF EVIL: North Korea Sentences Two Female American Journalists To 12 Years Hard Labor
VOICE OF AMERICA: North Korea’s state news agency says a court has sentenced two female American journalists to 12 years of hard labor. The Korean Central News Agency said Monday that the court found the two women guilty of committing an unspecified “grave crime” and illegally crossing into North Korea. Last Thursday, North Korean state media announced the start of the trial of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for the U.S. media company Current TV. North Korean authorities arrested Lee and Ling in March while they were working on a story near the Chinese-North Korean border. U.S. State Department […]
Sometimes Good Things DO Happen To Good People
As you may have heard, Woodshop Films/Scrapple TV founder Marc Brodzik, our partner in New Media crime, has been awarded a Pew Grant for media art. We could not be more proud or horny. For those unfamiliar with the Big Man, here’s his Pew bio: Marc Brodzik, media arts Born 1967 Marc Brodzik is a documentary filmmaker interested in filming portraits of the common man. In a recent documentary he focuses on small family owned coal mines and the struggles they face to stay in business in today’s market dominated by large corporations. His work has been screened at the […]
NJ State Assembly Approves Medical Marijuana Bill
UPDATE: New Jersey moved closer to allowing chronically ill patients to smoke marijuana to relieve symptoms of pain and nausea. The Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee approved the medical marijuana bill by an 8-1 vote with two abstentions Thursday. New Jersey would become the 14th state with such a law if it passes the Legislature and Gov. Jon Corzine signs it. Corzine has said he would. MORE THE EXAMINER: Just when we thought that New Jersey would be the fourteenth state to ratify laws lifting the ban on medical marijuana, a new obstacle has appeared to slow it down. […]
POTUS IN CAIRO: A New Beginning?
Complete transcript after the jump…
POTUS: Arabian Nights
ASSOCIATED PRESS: President Barack Obama is beginning his latest bid to open a dialogue with the Muslim world by paying a call on Saudi King Abdullah, guardian of Islam’s sacred sites in Mecca and Medina. The monarch of Saudi Arabia plans to greet Obama at Riyadh’s main airport with coffee and ceremony when he arrives Wednesday after an overnight flight from Washington. Saudi Arabia is a stopover en route to Cairo, where Obama is to set deliver a speech that he’s been promising since last year’s election campaign — aiming to set a new tone in America’s often-strained dealings with […]
LIVE AND DIRECT: The Inky Yoo Torture Protest
Photo by PHILLYBITS BY KYLEE MESSNER “Phoo on you, we hate Yoo,” chanted Norman Koener, head member of Philadelphia’s World Can’t Wait chapter. Unfortunately for Koener, a crowd of photographers and Delaware Valley War Veterans were the only ears listening to World Can’t Wait’s pleas to stop torture. Sporting a mask resembling torture lawyer John Yoo, Koener and WCW carried on with their protest against torture and waterboarding demonstration as planned for the National Day Against Torture. Hoping to gain support for prosecution against those responsible for committing torture at, the organization laid their attacks on the U.S. government as […]