Senator: Bill Prevents Repeat Of Case Involving Adults With Disabilities Locked In Basement
PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Sen. Bob Casey unveiled legislation Monday that he said would close a loophole that may have allowed a woman accused of locking…
Sent from my iPhone
'I Can Tell That We Are Gonna Be Friends': Deaf Children Perform White Stripes Cover
The White Stripes may have disbanded last February, but their music is still making an impact. The band's early-2000s ballad "We're Going To Be Friends"…
Sent from my iPhone
I saw this story on the BBC News iPhone App and thought you should see it.
** Chile seeks US man for 1973 death **
Chile seeks the extradition of US ex-officer Ray Davis over the death of a US reporter killed after the 1973 coup that brought Gen Pinochet to power.
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-15953252 >
** BBC Daily E-mail **
Choose the news and sport headlines you want – when you want them, all in one daily e-mail
< http://www.bbc.co.uk/email >
** Disclaimer **
The BBC is not responsible for the content of this e-mail, and anything written in this e-mail does not necessarily reflect the BBC’s views or opinions. Please note that neither the e-mail address nor name of the sender have been verified.
Sent from my iPhone
Thought you’d be interested in this article: http://on.msnbc.com/vm3Bwo — Got an iPhone or an iPod Touch? Check out the free msnbc.com iPhone experience. Get it now in the App Store.
Sent from my iPhone
This is Luiggi who is falling in love with my wife Connie. He has good sense.
SHOCK: 5-Year-Old Forcibly Bound, Arrested At School
What started as an attempt by the Rio Calaveras Elementary in Stockton, Calif. to change the behavior of a student with ADHD, turned into a…
Sent from my iPhone
|
From MoveOn.org:
As soon as this week, Congress will start debating whether to give the government the power to turn off parts of the Internet. If that sounds like a terrible recipe for abuse of power, that's because it is.
If enacted, a new law would make it so a simple allegation of copyright infringement—with no review process—could lead to the shutdown of sites from YouTube to Wikipedia to MoveOn.org.1 Any website, foreign or U.S.-based, could be wiped out on suspicion and made unavailable to everyone in the world.
For example, if you (or Justin Bieber) wanted to post a video to YouTube of yourself singing a Beatles song, a record company could force the Department of Justice to shut down YouTube. Really.2
But as you may have guessed, Congress didn't come up with this tragically terrible idea on their own. Lobbyists representing Comcast, Pfizer, record and movie companies, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce3 have been pushing Democrats and Republicans to pass bills to allow this new kind of Internet censorship. And they're close to getting their way.
But a small number of Democrats are standing strong and saying "No" to these powerful special interest groups. They need our help.
Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon is one of our champions. He has promised to start a historic filibuster of the Internet Censorship Act where he'll read the names of every person that signs a petition against Internet censorship.4 It's the perfect opportunity for 5 million Internet-connected progressives to visibly add their voice to a Senate debate. The more of us that sign, the stronger this effort to block this terrible law will be.
Click here to add your name and say NO to Internet Censorship.
We know that the Internet's openness, freedom, and lack of censorship are what make it a bastion of infinite possibility, continued innovation, and job creation. Innovative companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Mozilla, and Yahoo have spoken out against this law, saying:
We should not jeopardize a foundational structure that has worked for content owners and Internet companies alike and provides certainty to innovators with new ideas for how people create, find, discuss, and share information lawfully online.5
Internet venture capitalists say that the legislation is "ripe for abuse,"6 and leading law professors reject it because it will "allow the government to block Internet access to websites."7
We condemn censorship overseas when it happens in China or Iran. But today, we need to stand up for freedom of speech on the Internet here at home.
Click here to add your name and say NO to Internet Censorship.
Thanks for all you do.
–Daniel, Garlin, Elena, Stefanie, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "House Version of Rogue Websites Bill Adds DMCA Bypass, Penalties for DNS Workarounds," Public Knowledge, October 26, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268060&id=33343-19465149-ViQGpgx&t=5
2. "Why Is Justin Bieber So Hackin Mad?" SaveTheInternet.com, November 2, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268061&id=33343-19465149-ViQGpgx&t=6
3. "Five things to know about SOPA," The Washington Post, November 16, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268062&id=33343-19465149-ViQGpgx&t=7
4. "Wyden to read petition names during copyright filibuster," The Hill, November 21, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268065&id=33343-19465149-ViQGpgx&t=8
5. "SOPA opposition from tech heavyweights Google, Facebook," CBS News, November 17, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268063&id=33343-19465149-ViQGpgx&t=9
6. "The PROTECT IP Act Will Slow Startup Innovation," Union Square Ventures, June 23, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268064&id=33343-19465149-ViQGpgx&t=10
7. "Law Professors' Letter on SOPA," Electronic Frontier Foundation, November 15, 2011
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=268067&id=33343-19465149-ViQGpgx&t=11
"President Theodore Roosevelt said, "No country can be strong whose people are poor and sick.""
See "Don't Repeal America's Health Care LIfeline" by LZ Granderson.
I want to quote three terrific paragraphs from a 2009 article on national politics and disability in The New Atlantis by Ari Ne’eman:
“The disability-rights movement and modern liberalism define equality of opportunity similarly: that a person have an equal chance to access the full scope of what society has to offer, regardless of his starting position in life or particular characteristics. (This is distinct from equality of outcome, which would mandate that every person have equal success in acquiring what life has to offer.) Insurance mandates preventing discrimination on the basis of specific disability categories are a good example of equality of opportunity. Others include the non-discrimination provisions and “reasonable accommodation” component of the ADA, which requires employers to take non-burdensome measures, such as installing ramps, to permit the employment of qualified workers with disabilities. Similarly, the “least restrictive environment” provision of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which mandates the inclusion of students with disabilities in school wherever possible, is another example of where liberals and the disability-rights movement are on the same page. In terms of policy initiatives involving funding and regulation, the left has been a good friend to disability-rights advocates.
But despite these areas of cooperation, disability rights is not a central concern of the liberal movement; disability is simply not important enough to rank alongside sex, race, class, and the other categories championed by the left. “Diversity initiatives” usually mention disability in passing, if at all. The protestors at “social justice” marches and rallies typically do not show up when grassroots disability-rights groups work to fight against discrimination in housing or in favor of legislation.”
What’s more, there is a great gulf separating modern liberalism and the disability-rights movement on euthanasia, assisted suicide, selective abortion, and other issues connected to bioethics and the new eugenics. Disability-rights advocates feel betrayed by the efforts of the ACLU to support such cases as Elizabeth Bouvia’s, a 1983 lawsuit brought by a twenty-six-year-old woman with cerebral palsy who wanted a hospital to cooperate in her starvation. A similar feeling existed among many disability-rights advocates during the Terri Schiavo case, particularly when cost was raised as an argument against maintaining the feeding tube that continued her life. When talking about the equality of other minority communities, when had cost ever been a primary concern for the liberal movement? When looking at the growing “progressive” support for assisted suicide, many proponents of disability rights see a liberal movement that, while willing to support funding and regulatory initiatives aimed at inclusion, still envisions a world where people with disabilities do not exist.”
Ne’eman’s assessment of the general “place” of disability advocates remains as true today as it was just after the 2008 election–save for one principle difference: people with disabilities are joining the Occupy movement. In essence, the public spaces inhabited by OWS (which are generally accessible) and the populist message of the 99 per centers has created a logical point of penetration for people with disabilities. All of which leads me to this–that OWS is the first inclusive progressive action we’ve seen in these United States for quite some time. By inclusive I mean that it’s not a single issue movement which is generally the primary characteristic of American liberalism, and the principle reason that PWDs are so often left out of liberal rhetoric.
Planet of the Blind 