The Frustrated Bunny

Technology. Science. Politics. Geek. Etc.

Category: Politics

Politics

Evidence mounts of political motivation behind Komen’s defunding of Planned Parenthood

In case you had doubts as to whether or not Komen for the Cure’s withdrawal of funding from Planned Parenthood was motivated by far-right social politics, add this to the evidence: Around the same time as the funding policy update was being rolled out late last year,  Komen released a statement (PDF) emphasizing that it does not and has never provided funding for cancer research using embryonic stem cells. The statement says that Komen will only fund researching using stem cells “derived without creating a human embryo or destroying a human embryo.” While embryonic stem cell research may or may...

Politics

That awkward moment when Komen for the Cure pulls funding from one of the largest providers of breast cancer screenings

In case you missed it, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has halted its partnership with Planned Parenthood, citing a change in their grant eligibility policies. Since 2005, Komen has provided grants to Planned Parenthood affiliates to fund breast screenings and mammograms for low-income and uninsured women. From the looks of things, here’s how it went down: Komen very recently instituted a new policy that prohibits them from providing funding to organizations under federal/state/local investigation. As far as I can tell, this happened AFTER Republicans in Congress launched a VERY politically-motivated “investigation” into whether Planned Parenthood used federal funds for...

Politics / Technology

Internet blackout post-mortem: Who still supports SOPA/PIPA? Who went dark? Did it help?

In the last day my search engine traffic has been divided into three categories: 1) Why is [Wikipedia/Google/some other site] blacked out? 2) Which sites are blacked out today? 3) Which politicians support SOPA? The first one, admittedly, I was trolling for, and I got it. The second one, I had a partial list, but I’m not sure anyone had a truly complete list since more and more sites were going dark all day. SOPA Strike, created by AmericanCensorship.org, has probably the most complete list of sites that participated in some kind of protest, whether they went completely dark like...

Politics / Technology

Learning about SOPA (and PIPA): A multimedia approach

I’ve been saying for a couple weeks that I’d make a nice, comprehensive post about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act (PIPA). The great thing about being a procrastinator about writing about popular topics is that by the time you get around to it, others have done it as well or better, and you can just create a “best of” compilation. So that’s kind of what I’m doing. Plenty of companies, organizations, and blogs have dedicated today to protesting these bills in various ways. Many, like Wikipedia, Reddit, Craigslist, WordPress, and others...

Politics / Technology

Why is Wikipedia blacked out? (A complete idiot’s guide)

Wikipedia (and other sites) are blacked out today to protest two bills in Congress, SOPA and PIPA. If passed, these laws could cause sites like Wikipedia, YouTube, Tumblr, and even Google to be blacked out FOREVER in the U.S. They want you to contact your senators and representatives and tell them to OPPOSE the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate. SOPA and PIPA could CENSOR the internet in America JUST LIKE it is censored in CHINA and IRAN.