badgerbag

Recently the federal government subpoenaed news site Indymedia to try to get the IP addresses of everyone who ever visited the site. They claimed they had the authority for that, and to keep the subpoena secret, so that Indymedia couldn't talk about it. Neither were true.

Because Indymedia follows EFF’s Best Practices for Online Service Providers and does not keep historical IP logs, there was no information for Indymedia to hand over, and the government withdrew the subpoena. However, as the report describes, that wasn’t the end of the tale: Ms. Clair wanted EFF to be able to tell the story of the subpoena and shine a light on the government’s illegal demand, yet the subpoena ordered silence. Under pressure from EFF, the government admitted that the subpoena’s gag order had no legal basis, and ultimately chose not to go to court to try to force Ms. Clair’s silence despite earlier threats to do so.

Off the gimpgirl mailing list:

HEADCASE: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, And Queer (LGBTQ)
Writers and Artists on Mental Illness
Edited by Teresa Theophano, LMSW

Headcase will be an anthology comprised of 15-20 nonfiction pieces by
writers and artists both established and new, exploring the theme of
mental health, mental illness, and mental health care in the lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ)
community. The book is currently being considered for publication by a
major queer press.

The anthology seeks essays, poetry, and comics by queer consumers of
mental health services or queer individuals who have been diagnosed,
but do not identify as patients, with mental illness. Works should
explore the intersection of queerness and mental health and can
include topics such as psychotropics; Gender Identity Disorder and its
acceptance or rejection as a legitimate mental disorder; conventional
v. holistic treatment; experiences in therapy, groups, and/or
institutions; how race and ethnicity, class, sex, gender identity,
age, and disability impact access to treatment; addiction,
self-medicating, and recovery.

Modest compensation provided upon publication to contributors whose
pieces are chosen.

Guidelines:

* Pieces should be between 750 and 1500 words (approximately 3 to
5 double-spaced pages).
* While the deadline for a 2010 publication date has not yet been
established, submitting your piece by December 1, 2009 is recommended.
* Descriptions of pieces in progress are also welcome.
* Submissions should be sent as a Microsoft Word document,
double-spaced, 12 pt. font, Times New Roman font.
* Please provide a brief (100 words or less) bio with your submission

Teresa Theophano is a licensed social worker, out queer mental health
consumer, and the author of Queer Quotes (Beacon Press, 2004).

Please send submissions/project descriptions to her at
headcase_anthology@yahoo.com

Okay so first of all why take the wheelchair with you off the bridge? Hahaha! just sit on the edge and shove yourself off. I get the idea that visually he's going for the image of being a "guy in a wheelchair bungee jumping" which is I guess cool in a way but is certainly played for a cheap laugh. Anyway if it were me I'd get out of the chair and schloop myself off the edge. For once, "wheelchair bound" is true since they strap him tightly (imho not tightly enough since you can see him bouncing off it. )

I did laugh my ass off when he yelled "I can't feel my legs!"

Is Darfur the first Thuraya war

I don't know about the first... But anyway -

"Hierarchical command and control over a dispersed force becomes difficult. "

Yes indeed.

and brilliant comment by Abd al-Wahab Abdalla:

The process you describe is a corollary of commodification and globalization, one of the ways in which a global capitalist system systemically reproduces violence on its periphery. This is frontier capitalism at its extreme, a combination of the latest industrial technologies in the hands of predator capitalists set on accelerated primary accumulation, without the restraints provided by the institutions of state. Once again, Africa gets only the dark side of the dominant global production system.

Ponder & discuss.