Fight Big Brother's Tracking YOUR Internet Use -- Stop HR 1981

David Moon of Demand Progress reports:


"A direct assault on Internet users" is what the ACLU is calling it.

Yesterday a U.S. House committee approved HR 1981, a broad new Internet snooping bill. They want to force Internet service providers to keep track of and store their customers' information -- including your name, address, phone number, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, and temporarily-assigned IP addresses.

The American Civil Liberties Union, the American Library Association, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Demand Progress, and 25 other civil liberties and privacy groups have expressed our opposition to this legislation.

Will you join us in opposition by emailing your lawmakers right away? Just click here.

They've shamelessly dubbed it the "Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act," but our staunchest allies in Congress are calling it what it is: an all-encompassing Internet snooping bill.

CNet Reports: Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, who led Democratic opposition to the bill said, " 'It represents a data bank of every digital act by every American' that would 'let us find out where every single American visited Web sites.' "

"The bill is mislabeled," said Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, the senior Democrat on the panel. "This is not protecting children from Internet pornography. It's creating a database for everybody in this country for a lot of other purposes."

Please click here to join the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Consumer Federation of America, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Demand Progress and 25 other civil liberties and privacy groups in opposing this legislation.

Thanks for fighting for Internet freedom.

-- The Demand Progress team

P.S. The bill just passed committee, so it's time to push back hard. Will you please ask your friends to take action too?


Join the effort to protect YOUR internet privacy!

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Fullerton Police Beat Homeless Man -- Kelly Thomas -- to Death

On July 5, 2011, six Fullerton police officers responded to a call that a man appeared to be burglarizing cars. They found Kelly Thomas, a 37-year-old (and 135 pounds) schizophrenic homeless man. The cops then beat him to death.

Upon realizing what they'd done, the cops ran off. By the time an ambulance (and new police officers) arrived, they six guilty cops were gone. (But apparently, the Fullerton P.D. knows who they are -- there's an "internal investigation" going on.)





The six cops left Kelly Thomas in a coma. Thomas died five days later.

Here are before and after shots of Thomas:

This story remained buried for three weeks, until the London Daily Mail reported on it. Then KFI-AM's John and Ken Show picked it up, beginning coverage on July 27, and going all day on it on July 28.

John suggests that if the homeless man were black, the Los Angeles Times would have been more aggressive in its coverage. That this beating is worse than that of Rodney King (who, after all, survived).

In any event, by now the story's gone viral. The best, original source for news on this story appears to be Friends for Fullerton's Future.

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York Entertainment Seeks Family Films

If you're an independent filmmaker with a completed family film on your shelf -- and you're still seeking distribution -- good news! York Entertainment is currently seeking what you have!

YE's president, Tanya York, emails us:


"We are currently looking for 'Family' type films to acquire. If you or any of your colleagues have a finished film that falls under that genre, please let me know ASAP as we're currently finalizing our AFM [American Film Market] line-up."


Tanya York may be contacted at:

York Entertainment
13101 Washington Blvd. Ste 424
Culver City, CA 90066

Tel: 310-684-3628
Fax: 818-647-6677

Ms. York's email: york at yorkentertainment dot com

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All Women's Horror -- 2011 Viscerea Film Festival to Screen July 17th

Los Angeles's 405 freeway is closing this weekend -- Angelinos are calling the expected traffic nightmare Carmageddon -- but that hasn't stopped the all-women nightmares at the Viscera Horror Film Festival, scheduled for this Sunday.

Viscera promises "some of the most creative and original new short horror films made by women today. Some are terrifying, some are pulse pounding, and some are hilarious. All showcase what can be accomplished when twisted, cool, darkside-proud women get down to business."

TIME:

Sunday, July 17, 2011

5 p.m. -- Screenings begin.
8 p.m. -- Back patio "after party."
10 p.m. -- A second "after party at the Rosewood Tavern, 448 North Fairfax Avenue, Los Angeles, Ca 90036, ph: (323) 944-0980

PLACE:

The Silent Movie Theater
611 North Fairfax Avenue
Los Angeles, Ca. 90036
ph: (323) 655-2520

Tickets may be purchased at: Advance tickets

$15 online. $20 at the door.

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Hollywood Hates Arabs

Jack Shaheen, author of Reel Bad Arabs, and host of a documentary version of the book, is now hosting a film series about Hollywood's portrayal of Arab.

The film series runs on Turner Classic Movies throughout July, as part of TCM's Race and Hollywood: Arab Images on Film project. Shaheen joins TCM host Robert Osborne to discuss the featured films and Hollywood's depictions of Arabs and Muslims, from early cinema to the present.

"When colleagues ask whether today's reel Arabs are more stereotypical than yesteryear's" writes Dr. Shaheen, "I can't say the celluloid Arab has changed. He is what he has always been -- the cultural 'other.' Arabs have too often been viewed as backward, barbaric and dangerously different through Hollywood's distorted lens. Unfortunately, these stereotypes are now deeply ingrained in American cinema."



Buy the entire Reel Bad Arabs DVD documentary at Amazon.com.

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