This artwork, designed for the Divest for Darfur campaign by Nadia Plesner, has drawn the ire of Louis Vuitton's lawyers.

I'll say this much right off the bat... It's going to take a massive investment in charitable organizations for me to ever promote Louis Vuitton on this site. After reading about their lawsuit against an artist trying to raise funds for Darfur refugees, I'm pretty certain I won't have anything worthwhile to say about them.

The story goes like this.. Nadia Plesner is an artist who created the design you see to the left. Her goal is best stated in her own words, so I'll let her speak for herself:

"I wanted to try to portray how distorted it is, how parts of the media prioritize between small and big world news. Even with the terrible genocide going on in Darfur, Paris Hilton is getting most of the attention," she said. "If all it takes to make the front page is a designer bag and a small dog, maybe it's worth trying that for the people who really need attention.

"Everyone knows the image of starving black child, but we've seen it so many times that we don't really respond to it anymore," she said. "It was a test to see how the media reacts if you 'pimp the victim.' I think it worked."

But then come along the lawyers for Louis Vuitton, and suddenly they're sending her a cease and desist letter which, while polite, basically tells her to stop using her own artwork. Now that she's decided to fight them, they're raising the stakes and want more. Lots more.

"Originally, they wanted $7,500," said Designers for Darfur founder Malcom Harris, who's defending Plesner's project. "After she placed the cease-and-desist letter on her Web site, that went up. Every time she uses their name on her Web site she's charged an additional $7,500 a day. So at the current rate, she's being charged $20,000 a day."

What the lawyers for Louis Vuitton are thinking is beyond me. Hopefully, though, Ms. Plesner will win out and Louis Vuitton will see that this accomplishes nothing for them but bad publicity. That's certainly all they're going to get from me.

Most of the time I won't publish just a plain-old press release, but I was just checking my email before going to bed for good when I saw this one. It struck me as important because I made 4 posts today from three different cities, yet there are much more important things to talk about than what happened in the Indiana primary tonight. Things like the genocide taking place in Darfur.

Actor-turned-humanitarian George Clooney met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown on Tuesday to discuss the Sudan genocide crisis.

The Oscar winner visited Brown's official residence in London's Downing Street in his capacity as a United Nations Messenger Of Peace, a post to which he was appointed in January.

Clooney, who talked to Brown ahead of the British premiere of his new movie Leatherheads, emerged from the meeting with the news a "wonderful suggestion" for buying peacekeeping helicopters had been made.

The actor/director then posed for pictures with Brown and his wife Sarah. Brown said, "I am grateful for the leadership George Clooney has shown in drawing attention to this crisis - this is a humanitarian tragedy of colossal proportions and the world must take note and act.

"The U.K. is working with the international community and others to pressure all sides to agree a ceasefire and start peace talks." Clooney has become a leading celebrity advocate for action against genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan after filming a documentary about the ongoing violence and refugee crisis there last year.

He has also set up the Not On Our Watch organisation with his Ocean's Thirteen castmates Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle - to help provide humanitarian aid in the region.

If you'd like to learn more about Darfur or genocide in general, take a few minutes to visit the Genocide Intervention Network.