From RT:
Bradley Manning for Nobel Peace Prize?

“Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of passing secret materials to Wikileaks, has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

­The nomination was proposed by The Movement of Icelandic Parliament, which asserts that revelations produced by the documents Manning allegedly exposed “have helped to fuel a worldwide discussion about America’s overseas engagements, civilian war casualties, imperialistic manipulations, and rules of engagement.”

RT spoke to one of the members of The Movement, MP Birgitta Jonsdottir.

She said the group “wanted to raise awareness about the situation with Private Bradley Manning, whom way too few people know of.”

“It is extremely important that we honor the whistleblowers of our world,” she said, so people will not be silenced from performing their civic duty “by reporting on crimes, be it corporate, state or military.””

This is big news. Let’s say he won. Would the US still put him in prison? Surely the nomination will bring more attention to his case. I was glad to see the reporter let the activist talk for awhile. I kept expecting him to cut him off but he let him finish his thoughts.

I think this is a lot more admiral a nomination than Obama’s. Nominating a president (and having him win) for the Nobel Peace Prize before he’s even done anything? That was ridiculous. Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks so.

From the Associated Press:
Nobel peace prize jury under investigation
“Nobel Peace Prize officials were facing a formal inquiry over accusations they have drifted away from the prize’s original selection criteria by choosing such winners as President Barack Obama, as the nomination deadline for the 2012 awards closed Wednesday.

The investigation comes after persistent complaints by a Norwegian peace researcher that the original purpose of the prize was to diminish the role of military power in international relations.”

With the war drums beating for Iran currently I don’t think Obama is much interested in diminishing “the role of military power in international relations”.

From this gallery. Those ruffle panties are super cute.

This first one isn’t breaking news but it’s new to me. I saw this posted over on FetLife:
Turn Off The Blue Light
“The Turn Off the Blue Light poster campaign has been designed to challenge the Irish public’s perception of sex workers, to get away from the overly negative or positive images of sex work that are so often seen, and instead show a more balanced, realistic view.”

What a great idea! I too “choose the job that suits my needs”-sex work supports my artistic hippie lifestyle.

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From AVN:
Buck Angel Asks Fans To Buy Girl Scout Cookies
“A YouTube video featuring the ruggedly handsome Buck Angel asking fans and the general population to forgo a boycott of Girl Scout cookies called for by a young girl.

The original YouTube video, which is no longer available, the girl asked people to boycott the Girl Scouts and the organization’s annual cookie sale after the group allowed a 7-year-old transgender girl to join a troop in Colorado.

Angel, a female to male transgender and former Girl Scout, recently posted his own YouTube video, and his response is gaining quite a bit of mainstream attention. News outlets such as the Los Angeles Times and Huffington Post have reported on the debate the original video sparked, as well as publishing Angel’s video.”

Buck’s video is here. Go Buck go! And the Girls Scouts too-very open minded of them.

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From the Free Speech Coalition:
LA City Council Approves Condom Ordinance in 9-1 Vote
“The LA City Council voted this morning, in open session, to approve a mandatory condom ordinance that would require adult productions to comply with condom usage on any adult set requiring a film permit in the Los Angeles City limits. The ordinance was approved 9-1.”

(snip)

Weinstein’s grandstanding on the condom issue is groundless – using provocative language like “epidemic” and quoting statistics that have proven to be inaccurate – Weinstein has politicized the issue of mandatory condom use while alienating the industry he claims to protect. He also has suggested that the City Council add an $85 fee to film permits for adult productions, in order to fund enforcement.”

I think this is more about the morality police trying to shut down pornography films rather than trying to protect performers.

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Stanley Siegel sent me his article via Twitter. I always appreciate readers that send in tips!
Curing Pornophobia
“The great majority of us watch pornography. Nearly 87 percent of men and 76 percent of women reportedly visit adult entertainment sites. In fact, pornography drives the economy of the Internet and our appetite for it has led to Internet innovation.

(snip)

If we learn to identify and understand our fantasies, we can use them to create sexual experiences that are more aligned with our true desires by intentionally choosing partners with whom we are sexually compatible. If we can even go a step further, by decoding what they say about our past, we can use that knowledge to heal the conflicts that originally gave rise to them. Understanding our sexual fantasies is a key to understanding who we are.”

From BoingBoing:
Undercover police had children with activists
“Two undercover police officers secretly fathered children with political campaigners they had been sent to spy on and later disappeared completely from the lives of their offspring, the Guardian can reveal.

In both cases, the children have grown up not knowing that their biological fathers – whom they have not seen in decades – were police officers who had adopted fake identities to infiltrate activist groups. Both men have concealed their true identities from the children’s mothers for many years.”

Whoa man, how fucked up is this? I can’t even think of something snarky to say.

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A SOPA/PIPA update from the EFF:
The Internet Spoke and, Finally, Congress Listened!
“The misguided proponents of the disastrous Internet blacklist bills have blinked. Today, Senator Harry Reid announced he would postpone a cloture vote on PIPA scheduled for next Tuesday, which means, as a practical matter, that the bill is dead for now. Shortly after that announcement, Representative Lamar Smith issued a statement conceding PIPA’s evil House stepsister, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also wasn’t ready for prime time.

This is great news, and it is a direct result of this week’s mass protests. Together, we reminded the U.S. Congress who it works for. EFF alone helped users send more than 1,000,000 emails to Congress, and countless more came from other organizations. Web traffic briefly brought down some Senate websites. 162 million people visited Wikipedia and 8 million looked up their representatives’ phone numbers. Google received more than 7 million signatures on its petition. Everyone who wrote, called, and visited their Senators and Representatives this week sent a message that laws affecting the Internet can’t be made in a backroom by insiders bearing campaign cash.”

As the article rightfully points out this fight is not over. If you haven’t already I encourage you to join the EFF.

How has the movie industry reacted? By openly threatening the politicians they are buying.

From TechDirt:
MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren’t Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought
“Reinforcing the fact that Chris Dodd really does not get what’s happening, and showing just how disgustingly corrupt the MPAA relationship is with politicians, Chris Dodd went on Fox News to explicitly threaten politicians who accept MPAA campaign donations that they’d better pass Hollywood’s favorite legislation… or else:

“Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake,”

This certainly follows what many people assumed was happening, and fits with the anonymous comments from studio execs that they will stop contributing to Obama, but to be so blatant about this kind of corruption and money-for-laws politics in the face of an extremely angry public is a really, really, really tone deaf response from Dodd.”

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From RAW Story:
Nancy Keenan decries Republican ‘war on women’
“On the the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan declared that 2011 was the year of the “War on Women.”

“In the more than 30 years I’ve spent defending a woman’s right to choose, I can’t recall a time when politicians have been more out of touch with our nation’s values and priorities,” Keenan wrote in at op-ed at The Huffington Post.

Legislation aimed at restricting or eliminating women’s access to abortion abounded in 2011, thanks in part to the 2010 elections where Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives along with a number of state legislatures.”

The abortion issue always riles me up. It’s 2012 and we still haven’t moved past this? How can we ever get prostitution decriminalized if we’re still fighting over abortion? And how can we ever evolve and reform our electoral system if woman are still fighting for control of their wombs?

I love this and have had several of these lines said to me. I’d love to see a sequel with Shit Clients Say To Sexworkers.

My other fave videos in this meme:
Shit Yogis Say
Shit New Age Girls Say
Shit New Age Guys Say

Tomorrow many internet sites will go black to protest the SOPA bill. I don’t know how to turn my domain black so I’ll most likely skip blogging or put up a black square.

From SOPA Strike:
“On Jan 24th, Congress will vote to pass internet censorship in the Senate, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed. We need to kill the bill - PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House - to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity. We need internet companies to follow Reddit’s lead and stand up for the web, as we internet users are doing every day.”

What’s so bad about this bill? Here’s a video to start you off:
PROTECT IP / SOPA Act Breaks the Internet

Wikipedia’s going black in a few hours but here’s their link about this protest:
Wikipedia:SOPA initiative/Take action

Last month I went to Albuquerque, NM for a Red Umbrella Day event. I blogged about it some here and here. The event combined a Slut Walk with the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers.

I was tempted to dress up in a slutty costume-I love dressing up for protests. But December in Albuquerque is not warm weather so I went with warm clothes. I’m glad I did because no one else was dressed up either. Maybe the next Slut Walk I go to will be at a warmer time so I can wear my planned costume of a fishnet bodystocking and heels.

Roughly two dozen gathered for our event. Compared to bigger cities our group was small but that’s ok because every year our group grows a bit bigger. Before marching we gathered to make signs. Good signs are essential for a march. Ours said-My Consent Counts, Only “Yes” Means Yes, Rapists Cause Rape, Consent Is Sexy, Find The West Mesa Killer, My Clothes Can’t Consent. We walked down Central St. which is one of Albuquerque’s busiest streets. Central was also a symbolic choice because part of the street is known as the “War Zone” where many of the victims of the West Mesa Killer worked as street prostitutes.

We marched several blocks to gather at a local club that let us use a secluded room in back. While walking we came up with several chants, many of which repeated the messages on our signs. My favorite was “One two three four, we support sluts and whores”.

Once we arrived at the club we gathered in the back to read the list of fallen sex workers. Slips of papers with victims’ names were passed around the room. This is one of the hardest parts of Red Umbrella Day. Holding those slips of paper in my hand I wonder about the slain workers. Who were they? What was their story? We lit candles as we read aloud the victims’ names.

Our group was a diverse bunch-there were women and men, sex workers and non-sex workers, straight, gay and kinksters joined together for the night. As a sex worker myself I was particularly moved that so many people from different paths of life joined together to support us.

After all the names were read we held a moment of silence for all the sex worker victims that have not been identified. Then we invited the group to share their feelings. The space felt safe and non-judgmental. Several participants talked about being sexually assaulted, one person speaking about the assault for the first time. I was touched that we provided a safe and loving environment where these experiences could be shared. I felt a sense of community that night and walked away feeling renewed hope for both the sex worker and slut walk movements.

From this gallery.