Cheryl Contee, who blogs under the name Jill Tubman, talked about rising influence of black political blogs and social media. She also responded to questions from the audience.

The first section of the new documentary NESHOBA: THE PRICE OF FREEDOM, from filmmakers Micki Dickoff and Tony Pagano, is so gut-wrenchingly sorrowful that it's an oddly mixed blessing when, as the movie prog-
resses, it becomes both easier to take and less effective. This may have more to do with the way in which events have played themselves out over the 46 years since the original murders around which the film is organized than with the skill of the filmmakers themselves. Still, had Dickoff and Pagano been able to maintain the passion and immediacy of their first third, they might have ended up with one of the most powerful, ground-breaking documentaries of modern times. (Or perhaps one so upsetting that viewers would squirm and head for an early exit.)

At its best, Tumblr is a sort of modern-day zinemaking. Zines, self-published do-it-yourself magazines (often featuring photos and text cut from other magazines and photocopied) with limited distribution, have always been a part of underground culture, both as a product and as a galvanizing part of the community. As in the zine world, activists and weirdos alike thrive in their Tumblr microcommunities, posting photos of signs that read "Feminism Is for Lovers" or collages of child stars. Blogs have been accused of killing off zines (though they are still being produced), and tumblelogs seem to channel the spirit of zines more so than any long-form blog.

Taser International Inc. is no stranger to lawsuits, but it got zapped with a zinger this time. According to the Las Vegas Sun, the Scottsdale, Arizona manufacturer is getting sued in a taser lawsuit by the family of a Las Vegas doctor who died in 2008. A Nevada Highway Patrol officer allegedly tasered him when he got pulled over on his way to work in Interstate 15 which allegedly caused him to turn blue at the scene and die. He was only 33 years old. The lawsuit serves as another example of what some see as a risk of death posed by taser use in certain situations.

I just set up an automatic backup of all 3000 of my friends' Twitter messages and became able to search through their Twitter history two years into the past with just five minutes of easy clicking. Only two things are required: Dave Winer's new Twitter OPML tool and a Google Reader account.

So the Associated Press is mad and isn’t going to take it anymore. It’s eyeing news aggregators who are stealing a few paragraphs and failing to link to it as an authoritative source.

discover, listen and buy music discussed on the best mp3 blogs

Find here each month the rankings of the most influential blogs of the blogosphere

In response to interest in applying international standards to assess the human rights of Hurricane Katrina victims and make policy recommendations to address their needs, the U.S. Human Rights Network is coordinating a documentation project spearheaded b

Background on the use of the Patriot Act to fight the drug war is here. Much of this is the work of Congressman James Sensenbrenner who has become, in my constitutionally protected opinion, a national menace (read about his five years for passing a joint

NBC News has obtained a secret 400 page Defense Department document that shows how the Pentagon is spying on Americans

via Facing South

Cox says that she chose touch-screen systems because, among other attributes, they had the best chance of reducing the undervote. She was right: In the 2002 election, using the new machines, the undervote rate in Georgia was less than 1 percent.

This online, edited collection explores discursive, visual, social, and other communicative features of weblogs. Essays analyze and critique situated cases and examples drawn from weblogs and weblog communities. Such a project requires a multidisciplinary

In an effort to be more fair and balanced with my news reading, I realize it's not only important to scan Yahoo news but also Google news. Yahoo makes it really easy with their RSS feed generator. Google makes a little more challenging and that's why I ho

Will murmurs turn to outcries? Is the issue of vote fraud and election machine rigging in the recent US Presidential election heating up? In the Guardian, Nov. 5: Group Finds Voting Irregularities in South. Yesterday, the topic was given some space in Har

or the small counties (20,000 or under population) that voted Republican but have high rates of registration for Democrats, I took their voting data from 1996, 2000, 2004. I took down who they voted for, how many votes were recorded for the candidates, an

The winger attempt to redirect blame -- that troops at the facility found it emptied of the explosives when they reached it, post invasion -- have been decisively discredited by the embed reporter travelling with the 101st Airborne Division -- the unit wh

Approximately 25 county voting registrars came to the state Capitol for a hearing Thursday to object to new rules that would empower Secretary of State Nancy Worley to fire them.

via Natalie Davis

A little-noticed provision cleared the House of Representatives last week that would prohibit local, state or federal authorities from requiring any institution or health care professional to provide abortions, pay for them, or make abortion-related refer