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.

The military junta of Myanmar has once again proven it has no place in the modern world, this time by seizing food and medical aid shipments destined for tropical cyclone victims.

Authorities in cyclone-ravaged Myanmar have seized United Nations aid intended for victims of the disaster, a move that "shuts down" future flights from the organization, according to a U.N. World Food Program official.

The organization, which insists on distributing its own relief supplies, said the seizure of two aircraft-loads of food, medcine and equipment, has already hit out at Myanmar's refusal to all access to foreign eis workers.

"This is another example of them actively getting in the way of relief getting to the victims," said Tony Banbury, Asia director of the World Food Program.

Unfortunately, the world community is doing very little about the situation. Government's are willing to send money, food, and medicine, but so far not one single government has said they are willing to make sure it reaches the people who need it. While the Burmese people are dying, leaders are asking China to put pressure on the military leadership. As we know from past experience, this will accomplish absolutely nothing.

In my own opinion, this puts the deaths of tens of thousands of people not just on the shoulders of the military junta, but of the rest of the world's political leaders who refuse to do anything more than talk about it.

MacKenzie Kern grew tired of being stereotyped as a hippy, and decided to do something about it

MacKenzie Kern is a 13 year old student who's got it right. She's tired of people labeling each other, so she's doing something to raise awareness and hopefully help people be a little kinder to each other.

Someone wearing black clothes and dressing in dark makeup is a "goth." Someone wearing brand name clothes such as American Eagle or Aeropostale is a "prep." Someone wearing bright, flamboyant colors is a "scene."

And then there are the "skaters," who ride skateboards, the "jocks," or athletes, the "nerds" and the "emos," or emotionally troubled, says Kern, 13.

"You're stereotyping people just because they dress, act or look a certain way or listen to certain kinds of music," says Kern, who has been called a "hippie" for wearing clothes such as a T-shirt with a peace symbol on the front. "People have labeled me and I've labeled others, which is something I'm not proud of."

That's why Kern has taken a stand against "labelism" and is trying to convince others her age to do the same.

Every day since March 27, she has worn a white belt around her waist in school and out in public. From one end of that belt to the other are signatures, almost all of which have been put there by children ages 12 to 16 who support her stance.

To me, that's a very cool, very unique idea. She could have simply complained about it to her friends, or she could have let it bother her and done nothing at all. Instead, she takes a little bit of initiative and a little bit of creativity, and suddenly her picture and her story are in the newspaper and people are paying attention to what she has to say.

It's too bad not everyone agrees with me, though. It seems there's a few people who have, sadly, decided to try and discourage her.

"I've had both students and teachers tell me I'll never really change anything because most people will go on labeling," she says. "I've even had students who signed my belt tell me they want their signatures removed because they changed their minds. So, I scrubbed off five signatures, which took me back down to 100."

But that won't stop Kern from trying to raise awareness among others her age.

"There are kids who know labelism is wrong, but don't speak out because they're too afraid of not fitting in," she says. "You don't know what kind of pain some kids might be going through in life and then to be labeled on top of that. No one should be made to feel like they're not as good as anyone else just because other people think they fall into a category."

People, especially teachers, who tell a young woman like MacKenzie who's taking some initiative to do some good that they'll never make a difference are exactly what's wrong with our society.

You know, maybe she won't be as successful as she hopes, but at least she's giving it a shot, and if she gets through to even a few people, or even one person, then she's already made a huge difference. Teachers, along with parents, are the building blocks of our society and should always encourage acts of social responsibility.

Hopefully for MacKenzie she won't let their pessimism get her down and she'll keep putting out her wonderful message. There are plenty of us out here who appreciate what she's trying to do.

In fact, consider this blog post my virtual signature on her belt.

Jennifer Moss, aka Earth Friend Jen, on her bike in her hemp thong and pasties. Click to enlarge

Let's say something about the way this world works really bothers you. Something like, oh, the way we treat our planet. You can complain about it and to be proactive you change your own habits, but that's just not enough because it's not drawing attention to the problem. But what do you do?

Well, if you're Jennifer Moss, aka Earth Friend Jen, you take off your clothes and start riding your bike around town.

Cars were whizzing past one of Ojai's busiest corners when Jennifer Moss decided to do a headstand, clad in only a G-string and flower-shaped pasties.

Why?

"Headstands are good for you!" she said, beaming, as she pulled a yellow smiley-face pillow out of her bicycle's small trailer. With athletic grace, Ojai's "Pastie Lady," a self-described social artist and environmental activist, quickly pulled her legs up to salute her adopted hometown.

There's a couple places near where I live where I can imagine somebody doing something like this, although we don't exactly have the weather for it year 'round like Southern California does. But even in Ojai, a self-professed liberal, artsy town, people can get a little uptight when it comes to anything resembling nudity.

Jen has unfortunately been arrested twice, in spite of the fact that her nipples are covered with pasties and she's wearing a thong (albeit with fake pubic hair poking through).

Here's a short video of what Jen thinks about her most recent arrest.

I've got admit, I like her spirit, and think she's found a great way to draw people's attention to a huge problem. And all those people that think she's a nutter? Perhaps if they could stop worrying about a little skin for a few minutes they might have time to think about the problems she's trying to point out.

Here's another video of Jen being arrested by L.A. police, but since it could be considered not safe for work, click here to view it.

Something I don't often talk about but firmly believe is that art plays a very important role in society, no matter what that society is. Art, of any form, is everywhere we look. Regardless of social class, ethnicity, geography, there is always a form of art or three that we as individuals can relate to.

Art can be a great tool for bridging social and political divides if we take the time to look at it, listen to it, and hear the message the artist is trying to express.

Personally, while I'm a fan of multiple forms of art, my favorite is probably photography. I've dabbled in it myself a little, but more importantly I have a great appreciation of anyone who can look through a tiny little hole in a camera and see something beautiful.

So as part of this site, I'm going to begin featuring various pieces of art that I find both beautiful and meaningful. Sometimes this will be political art, other times landscape photography, and once in a while maybe even erotic art. Whatever it is that I post, the point will be to draw attention to subjects that can help make our planet earth a better community.

Expect the first such post either later today or tomorrow.

It's amazing what a good nine hours of sleep will do for a person. I felt so good when I woke up this morning that I even decided to forego my usual pot of coffee. That's unusual for me, although I did decide to turn on Morning Joe on MSNBC this morning, only to want to turn it right back off again.

Why?

Because I really don't care if New York Governor Elliott Spitzer was using a high-priced prostitute. His wife should care, his children should care, but the Feds and the press really shouldn't care.

A lot of people probably won't agree with me on this one, but the rights of sex workers (and their patrons) are very much an issue of social justice. I think prostitution should be legalized, but perhaps regulated because of the public health risks, and that other than preventing the spread of disease, the government needs to get out of legislating the sexual morals of consenting adults.

This deal with Elliott Spitzer is just another reason why I think it's asinine. First of all, I'm not entirely certain why the federal government is involved in the investigation of a prostitution ring, unless there are corruption charges in there somewhere. But to run a person out of office, as is likely to happen with New York's governor, because he visited a prostitute is absolutely ridiculous.

Yes, you could say he broke the law, but as I said, what he did should not be against the law. Now his wife may have the right to give him a swift kick in the nuts, but prosecutors should lay off, and the courts should begin to find reasons why outlawing prostitution is unconstitutional.

I don't touch on a lot of LGBT issues here, but as someone who believes firmly in social justice, there are going to be times when I feel it's necessary to point out the lack of shame some people have when it comes to their hatred for people in the gay community.

One such person is this idiot state representative from Oklahoma, who though she was talking to a crowd of about 50 people and nobody would hear her ranting about the evils of homosexuality. Unfortunately for her, somebody recorded her speech, and the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund put it up on the YouTube.

I don't know what her name is, as the folks at Victory Fund didn't want to make her a hero in the anti-gay crowd. I can see their point, but if I find out who she is I'll definitely call her out. I have no problem pointing fingers at those who promote hate, even if they think nobody is listening.

I mean, the lady flat out equated homosexuality with terrorism and (oh my!) Islam. That right there should be enough to tell you what she believes in. But she also said the gay agenda is pushing for early childhood education so that 2 year olds can be indoctrinated into the homosexual lifestyle.

Yeah, it's that bad. Watch it for yourself. via Feministe

UPDATE: Her name is Sally Kern. Feel free to call and email her to let her know how disgusted you are.