TresSugar

Iran Considers Death Penalty for Bloggers, Russia Jails One

CitizenSugar — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:00:42 -0700

The beauty of the Internet is getting to say exactly what you want in a public forum, right?(Well that and stalking ex-boyfriends and shopping at work, but I digress.) The ability to speak one's mind in bytes and blips has landed one blogger with a jail sentence for extremism. A Russian man who called the local police “scum” and calling for the clean-up of the force he blogged that the police should be burned in the town square twice a day. For this posting, was convicted of “inciting hatred or enmity” and given a one-year suspended sentence.

Free speech activists said the ruling is creating a dangerous precedent: “This was an absolutely unjustified verdict ... This verdict means it will be impossible to make rude comments about anybody.” News of the sentence permeated Russian blogs yesterday leading some to say, "I don't know now if I should be writing here or not." For his part, new Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said he prizes free speech and that Russia should use a light touch when policing the Internet. That's not the case in Iran. To see what's happening there, read more.

In Iran, they have a somewhat different interpretation to "light touch" - the death penalty. Their parliament is debating a bill that would call for death for anyone “...establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption. . .” Though the government itself will decide what would constitute “promoting corruption." Among other death sentence crimes in Iran are apostasy (leaving a religion, in this case Islam), prostitution, rape and armed robbery.

No word on the world's reaction to the ultimate crime against blogging - starting one and then never posting again.

Is cyberspace the next battleground for free speech? Can speech on the Internet be protected as a vital outlet for those in countries with state-controlled media or oppressive governments?

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Funny Man Al Franken's Campaign Flummoxed by Blogger

CitizenSugar — Sat, 03 May 2008 09:00:52 -0700

Al Franken, former SNL funny man turned face of Air America is the Senate candidate running for election in Minnesota, interested in discussing problems that concern his constituents. You know the good issues like jobs, health care, and the environment. Enter the blogosphere. Oops. Unfortunately for the Franken campaign, what he's now being forced to discuss is his failure to pay his income taxes on time. To the tune of $70,000 in 17 different states.

Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb started the blog MinnesotaDemocratsExposed and scooped the mainstream media to out Franken's suspicious bookkeeping and calls Franken “mean spirited and un-Minnesotan” candidate behind a “desperate and ridiculous” campaign. Franken says of the blog, "when people talk about the right wing noise machine, that's what it is." Brodkorb says, "I do think it has some influence right now, but that's never what I sat down to do. This was always about a political junkie looking for an outlet."

Franken is taking on Republican incumbent Senator Norm Coleman.

But, Al - if it's true, how is it noise?

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Grab Bag: Jerk Sends His Ex's Nudie Pics as Xmas Card

TresSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:30:00 -0700

Man sends ex's naked pics as his Christmas card. - The Frisky
Busty lady buys bra, finds enclosed note asking her out. Oh, brother! - Lemondrop
On judges forcing women to give birth in jail. - Double X
Slutty pirate panties: a new low. - Em & Lo
Uber-realistic vulva-portrait jewelry. NSFW! - Etsy
Is fear keeping you from finding love? - Your Tango
Is it weird to be jealous of your single friends? - Glamour
Egyptian blogger wanted to find out what all the "artificial hymen you can buy online" fuss was about. - Jezebel
Cat versus sea monster. (Cat's way cuter!) - Urlesque

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Bad For Women? Online Name-Calling and Lawsuits

TresSugar — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:30:00 -0700

This is one of the most childish stories I've read in a while.

Rosemary Port, who used to blog anonymously for "Skanks in NYC," riled up a fellow fashionista, model Liskula Cohen, by calling her an "old hag," a "ho," a "skank," and a "lying psychotic whore." (You can't say Port doesn't know how to hurl insults!)

Why is there bad blood between the women? They hang out in the same fashion circles - Port is a Fashion Institute of Technology student, Liskula a model - and apparently Liskula badmouthed Port to an ex-boyfriend once. (How old are these people, you ask? Port is 29 and Liskula is 37.)

Cohen claims the site hurt her reputation and pressured Google to reveal the "Skanks in NYC" writer. (Now, Port is suing Google for $15 million for invasion of privacy.) "By going to the press," says Port, "she defamed herself. Before her suit, there were probably two hits on my Web site: One from me looking at it, and one from her looking at it."

I'm pretty embarrassed for both of them and order a time out during which they both should retreat to a corner and sit until they can behave. What do you think - are these two too old for this nonsense?

Say What? Writer on Actresses Past Their "Expiration Date"

TresSugar — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Okay, let’s be honest: Drew Barrymore was never really all that hot. In fact, hot was never the appropriate adjective for her. She was cute as a little kid in E.T. and sometimes adorable in her twenties, and now…well, now she’s just another talking chubby face attached to a chubby body that should know better than to be projected on a giant movie screen.

- Blogger Nathan Bloch from Spike.com in a post entitled The Top 10 Actresses Past Their Expiration Date. Bloch is not all sexism and nastiness, though - he will grant that once upon a time, 20 years ago, Sarah Jessica Parker was "halfway decent."

Dominican Republic Bans Abortion, No Exceptions

TresSugar — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0700

As support for legal access to abortion in the US drops (with only 47 percent of Americans thinking it should be legal), the Dominican Republican has decided to go one better: they want to constitutionally ban the procedure altogether.

With support for the Catholic Church and the country's Catholic population, lawmakers recently ratified an amendment that makes it illegal for women to terminate pregnancy in all cases. Abortion is now constitutionally forbidden even if the mother or fetus's life is at risk. And there is no exception for incest or rape.

It is very taboo to discuss abortion in the Dominican Republic, but some bloggers are speaking out against the new amendment. One such blogger writes:

A string of hypocrisy, and those that think they voted for life, when a woman needs to abort because her life is in danger and they do not, THE WOMAN AND THE FETUS DIES. What ignorance! Death will now be 2 for 1 in the Dominican Republic.

Could you imagine something like this happening in the US?

The Tale of Two Tents: Bloggers and the Traditional Media

LibertySugar — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 13:00:53 -0700

In Denver we got a chance to check out both the blogger tent set up by Google, YouTube, Digg and DailyKos, as well as the traditional media tent set up right outside the Pepsi Center. And believe me, these two tents could not have been more different.

Over in the Google tent bloggers and laptops crowded together at long tables or comfy couches set up in a tent kept dark to make up for the lack of air conditioning. The gang of new media gave off the vibe that it was there to crash the party - only 150 of the 500 bloggers, who paid $100 for space in the Big Tent, had official DNC credentials,

Over at the traditional media tent, publications like the Washington Post had about 60 staffers each, stationed in makeshift offices, complete with ample desk space, air conditioning, and fancy computers. But don't worry - both media headquarters had plenty of flat screens and an abundance of food.

Google will be back with its Big Tent next week at RNC. To see video of a real-life blogger, and more pictures, read more.

View 10 Photos ›

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Briefing Book! Mom Blogger in Gaza Shares Tales

LibertySugar — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:00:20 -0800

Blogging From Gaza: Laila El-Haddad is a Palestinian journalist, mother, and a blogger who is sharing her take of what's happening on the ground in Gaza. - Good
It's Only Billions: A recap of 2008's biggest scandals in the world of finance and business. - Huffington Post
Looking Ahead: It's never too soon to wonder who will challenge Obama in 2012? - Donklephant
Inauguration: Still more reasons to boot Rick Warren from the inauguration. - Slate

Tweeting Your Miscarriage or Abortion: Good For Women?

TresSugar — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:00:00 -0700

When Penelope Trunk, a blogger who shares almost every detail of her life over the Internet, had a miscarriage, she decided to tweet about it. She wrote:

I'm in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there's a f**ked-up 3-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin.

Writer KJ Dell'Antonia over at Double X thinks Trunk did women a favor with this TMI tweet. She reasons that Trunk should not give her miscarriage, or would-be abortion, different treatment than other events that happen to her. In fact, Dell'Antonia thinks all women should be more open to talking about these issues because pretending that they never happen reserves "a special layer or shame and condemnation for the bodily functions that happen only to women."

So Dell'Antonia says: "go ahead, tweet your abortion" because it's good for womankind. Do you agree?

Do Shows Like Gossip Girl Accurately Reflect College Life?

TresSugar — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:30:19 -0700

In an article in the New York Post today, real-life NYU students respond to Gossip Girl's depiction of NYU freshman orientation. What do they think of the show's fictional keg parties on rooftops, characters requesting who they want to room with to the Housing Office, and the notion that NYU is cheaper than Yale? (Here's a Buzz recap of this week's goings-on to refresh your memories!)

Although one blogger gives the thumbs up to the show's reference to an "Art & the World" class he actually took his freshman year at Tisch, another one disses the idea of a rooftop party. "Don't the writers know," he snipes, "that in NYU housing we're forbidden to peek outside of our windows for the slight chance that we might kill ourselves?"

Do shows like Gossip Girl and Greek reflect college experience (fairly) accurately or is it all just fun and fantasy?