A group of file-sharing activists is practicing a little civil disobedience of its own in order to bring the documentary series Eyes on the Prize to a wider audience. As Wired News first reported, Eyes on the Prize, the 14-part series chronicling the civil rights movement, can no longer be broadcast on television and has never been released on DVD because of copyright restrictions.

Eyes on the Prize Hits P2P

The decision by PBS caused a ripple across the nation yesterday. Terry McAuliffe, the Democratic National Committee chairman, charged in a statement that the secretary is “confined to a very narrow and selfish agenda if her first action in office is to threaten an American institution like PBS. While America’s schools are crumbling and our students are falling behind in basic skills, Republicans in Washington are too busy pursuing an intolerant agenda to try to solve the real problems.”

Fallout from ‘Postcards’ decision

At least 19 Iraqis and one U.S. Marine were killed Thursday as insurgents clashed with U.S. troops and blew up a schools and other buildings slated to serve as polling places, pre-election violence that followed the deadliest day for U.S. troops since the war’s start. Another U.S. soldier died in an accident.

Iraq insurgents attack U.S. troops, polls

So positive was the feedback from the broadcast that the project instantly became the cornerstone of Rodgers’ We Are Family Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes diversity, understanding and multiculturalism. In March, a revised version of the video will resurface when it is sent to 61,000 U.S. elementary schools as part of a campaign designed to demonstrate to children “the importance of togetherness,” while keeping an eye out for those who are “victims of intolerance.” Message to the We Are Family Foundation: Consider yourself the latest victim. Last week, Christian conservatives launched an attack on the video, specifically targeting SpongeBob Sqaurepants, Nickelodeon’s bright yellow superstar who for six years has captivated kids (and grownups) from his modest pineapple digs under the sea.

Short of a perverse aversion to seafood, why on earth would these men carry such an ample supply of venom for the Spongester? Perhaps it’s because SpongeBob occasionally holds hands with Patrick, his starfish buddy, or that the show itself has reportedly become something of a fad among gay adults (sort of like an aquatic Judy Garland).
I didn’t realize that any male who has a male as a best friend and occasionally holds his hand is now gay… I sure hope those Christian conservatives keep their sons as far away from other boys as possible until after they are married!

Cartoon madness

In a supersized world, where big is small, huge is medium and enormous is large — well, meet the monster. The Hardees Monster Thickburger: An over-the-top bacon cheeseburger. You got all four major food groups. You got beef, pork, mayonnaise and butter. “You got everything … yeah,” said Hardee’s CEO Andy Puzder. That packs 1,420 calories and 107 grams of fat.
Apparently Hardees is hoping that the makers of Super Size Me will target them next…

Man Vs. Monster Thickburger

If individual investment accounts become an integral part of Social Security, as President Bush is proposing, what will happen to workers who become disabled before they retire? Will they be allowed to draw on the savings in their retirement accounts? Will their standard Social Security benefits be increased to make up for the fact that because they have worked fewer years, their personal accounts are likely to be smaller than those of retirees? If they do receive higher benefits, will they have to forfeit their investment savings? These are among the dozens of questions posed in a report issued on Wednesday by the National Academy of Social Insurance, a private, nonpartisan organization of academics and government officials who specialize in issues like Social Security, Medicare and unemployment compensation.

Bush Plan Poses Tough ‘Safety Net’ Questions

For example, an experiment that would raise concerns, he said, is genetically engineering mice to produce human sperm and eggs, then doing in vitro fertilization to produce a child whose parents are a pair of mice.
Okay – now that’s just WEIRD!

Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy

The film also challenges other accepted articles of faith in the so-called war on terror, and documents that much of what we have been told about a centralized, international terrorist threat “is a fantasy that has been exaggerated and distorted by politicans. It is a dark illusion that has spread unquestioned through governments around the world, the security services and the international media
What? The Bush administration making people deathly afraid of something that didn’t actually exist in order to achieve personal objectives? I find that VERY hard to believe!

The Power of Nightmares

For the first time, Human Rights Watch has issued a report that harshly criticizes a single industry in the United States, concluding that the nation’s meat packing industry has such bad working conditions that it violates basic human and worker rights. In a report issued today, Human Rights Watch, often echoing Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle,” found that jobs in many beef, pork and poultry plants were so dangerous that the industry violated international agreements promising a safe workplace.
This is what happens when high school students don’t have to read The Jungle anymore… history repeats itself…

Meat Packing Industry Criticized on Human Rights Grounds

Monsanto Co.’s “seed police” snared soy farmer Homan McFarling in 1999, and the company is demanding he pay it hundreds of thousands of dollars for alleged technology piracy. McFarling’s sin? He saved seed from one harvest and replanted it the following season, a revered and ancient agricultural practice.
I think Monsanto should have to pay royalties to the farmers who, over the past few thousand years, selectively bred the seeds that Monsanto modified…

Monsanto Suing Farmers Over Piracy Issues