Below is a great, and thought provoking, piece by Cindy Sheehan on our growing facist corpo-security state! Comes to us via Al Jazeera.

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from TorrentFreak, written by enigmax on November 26, 2010 

Following on the heels of this week’s domain seizure of a large hiphop file-sharing links forum, it’s clear today that the U.S. Government has been very busy. Without any need for COICA, ICE has just seized the domain of a BitTorrent meta-search engine along with those belonging to other music linking sites and several others which appear to be connected to physical counterfeit goods.

While complex, it’s still possible for U.S. authorities and copyright groups to point at a fully-fledged BitTorrent site with a tracker and say “that’s an infringing site.” When one looks at a site which hosts torrents but operates no tracker, the finger pointing becomes quite a bit more difficult.

When a site has no tracker, carries no torrents, lists no copyright works unless someone searches for them and responds just like Google, accusing it of infringement becomes somewhat of a minefield – unless you’re ICE Homeland Security Investigations that is.

This morning, visitors to the Torrent-Finder.com site are greeted with an ominous graphic which indicates that ICE have seized the site’s domain.

“My domain has been seized without any previous complaint or notice from any court!” the exasperated owner of Torrent-Finder told TorrentFreak this morning.

“I firstly had DNS downtime. While I was contacting GoDaddy I noticed the DNS had changed. Godaddy had no idea what was going on and until now they do not understand the situation and they say it was totally from ICANN,” he explained.

Aside from the fact that domains are being seized seemingly at will, there is a very serious problem with the action against Torrent-Finder. Not only does the site not host or even link to any torrents whatsoever, it actually only returns searches through embedded iframes which display other sites that are not under the control of the Torrent-Finder owner.

Torrent-Finder remains operational through another URL, Torrent-Finder.info, so feel free to check it out for yourself. The layouts of the sites it searches are clearly visible in the results shown.

Yesterday we reported that the domain of hiphop site RapGodFathers had been seized and today we can reveal that they are not on their own. Two other music sites in the same field – OnSmash.com and DaJaz1.com – have fallen to the same fate. But ICE activities don’t end there.

Several other domains also appear to have been seized including 2009jerseys.com, nfljerseysupply.com, throwbackguy.com, cartoon77.com, lifetimereplicas.com, handbag9.com, handbagcom.com and dvdprostore.com.

All seized sites point to the same message.

Domain seizures coming under the much debated ‘censorship bill’ COICA? Who needs it?

Update: Below is an longer list of domains that were apparently seized. Most of the sites relate to counterfeit goods. We assume that the authorities had a proper warrant for these sites (as they had for RapGodFathers yesterday), but were unable to confirm this.

Update: A spokeswoman for ICE confirmed the seizures in the following statement. “ICE office of Homeland Security Investigations executed court-ordered seizure warrants against a number of domain names. As this is an ongoing investigation, there are no additional details available at this time.”

Update: The authorities have revealed further details on “Cyber Monday Crackdown.”

            By Melanie Driscoll

           The recent suicides within the GLBT community have received attention and media coverage nationwide. The coverage has gone as far as celebrities participating in public service announcements. It seems that suddenly Hollywood is concerned about bullying and the dire effects it has. Yet, for years Hollywood has only added to the stigma that nontraditional sexual orientation is a bad thing. In movies gays are stereotyped, shamed, killed, raped or kill themselves. No one has stopped to question how influential films can be, nor how hypocritical it is for certain celebrities to participate in these public service announcements.

             Films subject people to gender normative and teach that men always like sports, women and power. The women are portrayed as humble servants who marry the right man according to society’s standards. The man is usually the provider while the woman stays home and care for the children and home. For centuries this image has been branded into the minds of adults, teens and children. Even cartoons are guilty. Cinderella marries Prince Charming, the perfect man who has power. Ariel also  abandons who she really is so she can marry the prince. She gives up her voice in order to win him. This sends messages to children of every gender that love can only be found with the opposite sex, and  that you must suffer in some way to achieve it. Only the Princess wears the beautiful, flowing gown. The Prince wears a suit and together they hold hands and walk off into the land of happily ever after. These images stick with children as they grow into teens.

            Of course once children become teens, their taste in films change. Most teens lose interest in the cartoons they watch religiously as a child. Naturally their interests mature and so they move on to films with real people in them. Since these films feature real actors, these films seem more realistic and have a potent effect on the way teens view the world. Teens are impressionable and look to culture to find some scapegoat from the confusion and angst they feel, as well as a “proper” identity. However, what happens when part of the confusion a teen has is about their gender or sexual orientation? What happens when they look around and see their peers applauding and glorifying fictional character’s like Tony Stark, the Iron Man; a well known womanizer, with power, money and a lavish lifestyle. I understand this movie in particular is based on a comic book, but what about the female main characters in movies? How do you think a confused teenage girl feels when she watches two men fight over the main female character Bella from The Twilight Series? When teen girls see the two boys fighting over Bella, they associate Bella with significant beauty and power. This influences teen girls to strive to be wanted by only men as much as Bella is. Much like when a teen boy watches the prominence Tony Starks has, they too want that attention. Both characters mentioned are fictional ones from books, but when they are featured in popular films, they tend to have more of an impact on the culture. People in general are more apt to watch a film than read a book, especially teens. When the normative is featured in blockbuster hits, sexually confused teens may be inspired to copycat the straight characters.

            Now lets look at the opposite spectrum of films. Instead of displaying gender normative in films, queers and trans are stereotyped. You have the “sissy” gay man who loves fashion and always wants to look fabulous. They are always giving fashion advice and tend to have “fag hags” surrounding them. An example of this would be Nathan Hale’s character in The Bird Cage. These stereotypes were created when films were first produced to make people laugh. They still do make people laugh and to a teen the laughter could be misconstrued as making fun of how “gay” the person is. You also have the stereotype of the man with a six pack, short shorts, bleached hair, and is known to be promiscuous. To openly gay male teens this is an image that perhaps it is how they should act, because it seems the majority of queers in movies look and act this way. This can have a dire effect on a teen’s individuality. Promiscuity is frowned upon in our narrow minded culture. If you add homosexuality into it, it can most certainly scare a teen into keeping their sexuality to themselves because they do not want to be labeled.

Then you have the popular female stereotypes of lesbians. They wear men clothing, have short hair cuts, or a bald head, or have that infamous mullet. They wear combat boots and walk like “a man.” They are called “Butches.” Some people may feel comfortable enough to call themselves this, but in films and images, Butches are not attractive. They don’t shave or wear dresses. There is also the “Lipstick” lesbian. The lesbian who wears dresses, shaves, wears pretty jewelry and only sips from martini glasses. These are the stereotypes that films have featured.  The latter is not criticized as much as the former. In reality the latter is often mistaken as a straight female. To a queer female teen this sends a message that they must look either way because they are queer. Most teens either want to blend in or stand out. If they are openly gay, they want to make a statement. The stereotypes I mention above are commonly known, therefore teens tend to copy the styles to draw attention to themselves. Every teen wants attention and most are rebellious. A woman dressed as a man is not the normative, which would draw attention from their peers. As for the “Lipstick” lesbian, openly gay teens may misconstrue this as true beauty. It also draws attention from both males and females, which in turn gives them a false sense of self esteem. They are wanted by men, but have no interest in them, giving them the power to turn down men and tell them they are gay. They may also think that lesbians want a physically beautiful lover. Society pigeonholes women with images of what they must look like regardless of sexual orientation. For a teen lesbian they may look up to someone like Portia de Rossi, an openly gay lesbian who fulfills the stereotype of a “Lipstick” lesbian. Teens rarely have a clue whom they really are and look to our culture for an idol. Some cannot grasp the concept that they can look however they want and be openly gay. There is also closeted teen lesbians whom decide to look like the “Lipstick” lesbian, so that they are not picked out of a crowd and bullied, because they look like a “normal” girl.

Bisexuals are often stereotyped. I don’t think I need to point out films that feature bisexual women as being a straight man’s wet dream, and by being represented as such, bisexuals and women are objectified. On the opposite side of that, bisexual men are looked at as disgusting and wrong. This is a double standard bisexuals of all genders have endured through out the decades. Trans of any kind are portrayed in films as having a mental problem.

Even in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which personally I love, Dr. Frank-n-Furter appears to be a sadistic, crazed person. However, this film has an aspect that many films do not have. Dr. Frank-n-Furter is a proud Transsexual. That isn’t always the case in films though. Cross dressing was first featured in silent films as another form of comedy. Most teens probably haven’t watched any older movies, so let’s fast forward to films made in the last 20 years featuring Trans. In the movie Dressed To Kill Michael Cane portrays a Transgender murderer. Once again, proving my theory that Trans featured in films are often portrayed as sick individuals. Let us not forget about Silence of The Lambs. This features a murderer who skins women, and is also a cross dresser.

             There is too much violence that films have demonstrated against the GLBT community. In the movie The Children’s Hour, a 1961 film based on a play of the same name, Audrey Hepburn, and Shirley MacLaine are lovers. When a young girl starts to notice the “abnormal” relationship the two women have, she tells her grandmother and the story starts to circulate. In the end Shirley MacLaine’s character cannot harbor the shame she feels. She hangs herself and Audrey Hepburn finds her dangling from the ceiling. This message is sent to teens in the early 60’s and adults as well, that a person should feel ashamed to love someone of the same sex. This stigma that has influenced future generations.

Then there are the films based on tragic reality. Boys Don’t Cry for example was about Brandon Lee. A female by birth, but a male in his heart. He was raped, beaten and killed by Trans-phobics when he was found out not to be a cis-man. Most know the story of Matthew Shepard. An openly gay man who was tied to a fence, beaten and left to die. His story has been turned into a powerful play and also a movie adaption of the play called The Laramie Project. Then we have the movie Philadelphia. A story inspired by the real life events of Geoffrey Bowers, an attorney who was fired after his partners found out he had AIDS and was a homosexual. He won his case, but died before the jury came to their conclusion. Lastly we have the film Milk, a story about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected into California’s public office. He was an activist within the GLBT community and pushed and won for propositions that protected gays. He was assassinated by Dan White, who was angry that his seat in The San Francisco Board of Supervisors was going to be replaced by someone who was more in line with the diversity of White’s district and The Board’s liberalism. He blamed Milk for the change and shot him five times. Films feature these stories to make people aware of the violence and hate. However, the adaptation of a queer’s and Tran’s tragic ending just turns them into the hapless hero. This sends a message to teens that violence in the real world just happens. They become scared and fearful for their lives.

            Celebrities shouldn’t only speak out when media has pushed issues, nor should they make public service announcements telling queers “It Gets Better.” What they should be doing is taking a closer look at the business they are in, and speak out against Hollywood’s adaptation of the GLBT community. Not all celebrities are guilty of this. Some have come out as being gay, bisexual and queer allies. Some have been featured in documentaries against Hollywood’s endeavors. Some have given speeches during World Wide or National televised events. Others have made musicals against the inequality we face. For these celebrities, I am grateful.

It’s Still the Economy, Stupid! No, Seriously. I Mean It.

(Some Thoughts on the HIV Epidemic, Social Problems, and Capital)

Deric Shannon

I picked up a copy of the International Herald Tribune recently on a flight from Madrid to Paris. My friend and co-conspirator, Abbey, and I have been doing a lot of traveling lately and a free copy of an English-language newspaper is a hot commodity for an hour and a half plane ride, particularly this one since I left the “Marx for Beginners” book I was reading at home! I nestled into my seat, prepared for being a little unsettled—what counts for “news” is usually disturbing as all hell, after all. [Read more →]

Forwarded to us by our comrade Regina… From Negrilstories.ca  This is a long though very thought provoking piece if you were wondering WTF around the Dudus saga so poorly reported or analyzed by our corrupt corporate media channels.

Tivoli Gardens is a manipulation
To create the outrageous situation
For a ‘legitimate’ American invasion

Sugarcane, bauxite, tourism - all locked up tight
Deep, deep oil - now seeing the light
Poverty and oppression - things still not right
Freedom from Babylon - bubbling into sight

Politicians in power - caught in a trap
Reaching for gold - can’t give it back
Jamaica’s new wealth - Babylon wants to tap
Satellite blackmail - no stopping that

 As the Dudus saga plays itself out in Kingston, two of the questions that remain unanswered are ‘why is the United States pushing so hard?’ and ‘why now?’. The world is full of dons and drug lords, not to mention the fact that the American plate is full with wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a billion Muslims who are being encouraged to attack anywhere at anytime. You would think that they had more immediate things to concentrate on.

Yet they continued to poke and push, treating every Jamaican that went through U.S. customs like a criminal, openly questioned the personal honesty of the the Prime Minister Bruce Golding and even suggested that the Jamaican Labor Party were in violation of their mandate to govern Jamaica. In fact, the Americans haven’t even got an Ambassador to Jamaica anymore. Obama has left the position open, a serious diplomatic slap in the face. All of this tension is for the Don of Tivoli Gardens? Something isn’t right. Dudus just isn’t that big of a problem.

The idea that outside interests have manipulated the situation for a long time begins to form when you question the truth of what we are being told. For two years now Dudus has had an excellent run, controlling the docks in Kingston (on Tivoli Gardens turf, and the true value of the constituency) with his buddies running the government. He has grown more powerful than ever before, with so much money that he doesn’t have to rely on politicians for anything. In the old days back in the 1970’s, when the street gangs were first created by the political parties, they had to get their weapons and cash from the JLP or the PNP, but since the cocaine business showed up, that relationship has slowly turned full circle. Now the politicians need the gangs to control the vote, but the gangs don’t need the politicians for support. They have become an independent power. [Read more →]

A great piece and a MUST READ of why as Queers we cannot hand over increasing power of our bodies, lives and essence to the [Tyranny of the] State.  There is no liberation from such efforts. 

From our comrades over at blackandpink.org

Many liberal, and even self-proclaimed progressive, organizations are fighting for “hate crimes” legislation nationally and state-by-state. The Senate just voted in favor of the “Matthew Shepard Bill”. Challenges and critiques are made over and over again by queer/trans/gender non-conforming folks, people of color, low-income/poor folks, and others most impacted by the many tentacles of the prison industrial complex, yet the campaigns continue on. This document is intended to be a bullet point compilation of materials put out by the following organizations (in no particular order): Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Audre Lorde Project, FIERCE, Queers for Economic Justice, Peter Cicchino Youth Project, Denver Chapter of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, Denver on Fire, and the article “Sanesha Stewart, Lawrence King, and why hate crimes legislation won’t help” by jack. The intention behind this document is to present a somewhat simplified critique that can inspire a desire for more information.

If a particular crime is deemed a hate crime by the state, the supposed perpetrator is automatically subject to a higher mandatory minimum sentence. For example, a crime that would carry a sentence of five years can be “enhanced” to eight years.
Plain and simple, hate crimes legislation increases the power and strength of the prison system by detaining more people for longer periods of time. [Read more →]

A recent article in the Vancouver Courier talks about a pharmacy opening up that caters specifically to Woman born Woman.  It is constructive to note that a number of years earlier the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled that the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter did not breach the Human Rights Code when it refused to allow Kimberly Nixon, a person who did not have the life experience of being treated as a woman, to train as a volunteer peer counselor.

It is interesting that around the same time as the BC Supreme Court decision, I and my partner were working with the Ct Coalition Against Domestic Violence to open up the Ct Women’s DV Shelters to transwomen, independent of their operative status but based solely on their identity. [Read more →]

In framing the title/subject of this piece it is not my intent to spell out a detailed critical analysis of an LGBTQ movement in this brief essay, though rather, as best as I can from my perspective, initiate a framework for such an analysis and most importantly hopefully engender a collaborative dialogue on this subject.

The basic premise of this analysis frames itself around the value and effectiveness of a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (add your own other labels) community to rally around the implicit connotation of a full LGBTQ equality movement.  Is this a movement to secure full equality for all diverse genders and sexualities? Is this a movement demanding true sexual and gender revolution or simply sexual and gender reforms?  Is this a movement that truly represents all peoples and diversities within the LGBTQ communities? Or is this a movement to assure full equality within the heterosexual framework of western culture?

I hear many times and from many people that yes the LGBT Equality movement stands for full and diverse equality.  Sadly after many years as a minority trans activist working within this LGBTQ equality movement, I have come to learn that the answer for me is no.  From my perspective, it is by no stretch of the imagination an LGBTQ equality movement in the sense of any true revolutionary movement. [Read more →]

 Full text can be found at IllVox

Reclaiming Choice for Native Women

By Jessica Yee, Racialicious

June 22, 2009 – 8:00am

I am Native. And I’m pro-choice. Many people seem to think this is an oxymoron – but to me, it makes perfect sense. I have unraveled much of the oppression I was forced to swallow and internalize over the years, which obstructed my ability to wholly see that concepts of “choice” and having “options” in our sexual and reproductive lives are really not new things at all. Moreover, I am entitled to advocate for choice from within my culture, which has always valued women’s choices and decision-making.  First and second wave feminism did not “give” my people reproductive rights; in fact those of us in Native communities had them a long time ago. And how “pro-choice” identities play out in our communities now probably looks a lot different than what most people think. [Read the rest here]

A great short by Pinky (pinkyshow.org) titled: Banked into Submission: The Globalizationalist’s Guide to Developing Poverty.  Click here to see the many other creative pieces from the pinky show.

On a local level QWB is quite a little phenomenon. We’ve had some startling successes and the character of the organization has remained uniquely positive since before we even took up the banner. As an amateur organizer, one thing I know is that success needs to be capitalized upon, otherwise the point becomes somewhat academic, though certainly not without value. So I have some arguments I’d like to make in favor of some directions for QWB to move in; I apologize in advance for making declarative statements, that’s just how I write oftentimes, and should be read as only my opinion and totally open to criticism.
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I truly do not know how anyone at this point in time cannot be in utter disgust at the extent of capitalistic greed, corruption and manipulation,  by Corporate Executives, Politicians and Lobbyists, that has been coerced upon 90% of the US population.  I have a bumper sticker that has been on my car for years and it states simply:  The Earth can No Longer Afford the Rich!  This statement was true many years ago and today it must be a mandatory demand of the worker.

I have been keeping track of headline snippets for awhile now and thought I would share a snapshot of Corporate Greed and Worker abuse with you.  All one needs to do is look at some statistics and the headlines over the last few months:  Feel free to add yours!

Harvard Business Report Feb 2009:  Executives pay relative to workers’ shrank between 1945 and 1974, but only because the rank and file gained leverage through the rise of unions.  However, the decline of unions in the 1970s and the subsequent decline of regulation, offered opportunities for aggressive management and hand in hand the pay of the CEOs at the largest US companies went from 35 times the average worker’s salary to 71 times.  It ballooned to 300 times at the end of the 1990s!

Executive Excess 2008 by United for a Fair Economy: S&P 500 CEOs in 2007, averaged $10.5 million, 344 times the pay of the typical US workers, while the 50 hedge and private equity fund managers averaged $588 million each, more than 19,000 times as much as typical US workers earned.  Average US taxpayers subsidized excessive executive compensation by more then $20 billion last year via a variety of tax and accounting loopholes.  The $20 billion for America’s CEO’s is more than double what the federal government spent last year on educating America’s most vulnerable - children with disabilities.

February 2009:  An overlooked advantage of CEO pay: taxes. Whether you love or hate the structure of America’s tax [Read more →]

Take a visit on over at Rowland’s site, “By Any Means Necessary,” to read one of the best postings on Rick Warren. Rowland’s post “No Bigots At The Inauguration,” begins, “I really hate to say “I told you so,” often because it seems to relate to something that is not so positive, but, unfortunately, this seems to be another case of “I told you so.” Despite the illusions of some people on the “left” about him, this past week President-elect Barack Obama has continued down the path he has cut that demonstrates his ultimate faithfulness to the politics of the ruling-class in the United States. He has done this with every single one of his post-election decisions, beginning with his choice of cabinet officials and now continuing with his announcement that the right-wing evangelical pastor Rick Warren will be his choice for delivering the invocation at the presidential inauguration ceremony on Jan. 20, 2009.”  The full posting can be read by clicking HERE.

Another posting follows. [Read more →]

We’re living through some extraordinary times, the likes of which many of us have been predicting for some time now, but I doubt any of us were prepared for. In Greece the insurrectory anarchists have managed to turn their habitual rioting into something that is quickly spiraling out of control, sweeping up a broad cross section of Greek society including students and workers who have occupied their universities and the offices of their unions’ bureaucracies. And while it will probably not result in a meaningful social revolution, let alone a lasting abolition of capitalism, it is an uprising that cannot be diminished in its significance as taking place in a country that has been one of the earliest and hardest hit in the new global economic depression.

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Many thanks to People of Faith for sending this essay along to QWB. 

“How the Right-Wing Grinches Stole Christmas - The Co-Opted Gospel”
By Daniel C.Maguire

A devout atheist friend of mine often commented: “Wouldn’t it be something if Christians really believed what they say they believe - that the poor are their prime concern and that ending poverty is their mission!” My friend, warming to his topic, would continue his thought along these lines: The Bible says that the Christian gospel is ‘good news to the poor’ (Luke 4:18), that ‘the poverty of the poor is their ruin’ (Proverbs 10:15), and therefore ‘there shall be no poor among you’ (Deut 15:4) because the poor are the apple of God’s eye. (Ps. 72:14)

“If they believed that,” my friend would say, “Christians would be a stupendously powerful lobby for the poor, and no politician would dare neglect ‘the least among us.’ [Read more →]