Peon's Place

This is a huge victory to everyone who uses the internet, whether it be surfing, blogging, or running your own business.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid postponed a showdown vote in his chamber on the Protect Intellectual Property Act, or PIPA for short, that had been scheduled for January 24th. Lamar Smith, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, followed suit, saying his panel would delay action on similar legislation called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, until there is wider agreement on the legislation.  Read the rest of this entry » Anti-Piracy Bills SOPA &#...

Wikipedia goes black tonight to protest SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act). Both are looking to be passed through Congress to give the government control of what we do on the internet, what websites we access, and who can view that access at any time.

The Stop Online Piracy Act, considered the broader of the two bills, will not be introduced in the House, according to a statement from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who has co-authored an alternative proposal to SOPA called the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act. “Majority Leader [Eric Cantor (R-Va.)] has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote,” Issa said in a news release.

View the Wikipedia statement regarding it’s blackout in 12 hours:  Read the rest of this entry » Wikipedia blacks out

When I was 15-16, I worked at Great America. It was the year the Drop Zone was put in, and I worked at several games booths directly across from the entryway. We got free rides nearly every morning when we were done setting up the games stuff, before the park opened. Fun times, I tell ya, especially as a kid’s first job. Plus, being paid 75-cents over minimum wage, we were rolling in the riches! (sort of =p)

After several transitions from Marriot’s to Paramont’s to California’s, Great America has been sold to the San Francisco 49ers for $70 million. An NFL team getting involved in theme parks? It sounds perfectly reasonable, since the 49ers training facility lies right next to the park, and the Niners will be based out of Santa Clara somewhere around 2015. I suppose Great America can no longer sue the 49ers now, right? I just hope the Oakland Raiders keep their mittens off.  Read the rest of this entry » Great America, home of th...

With the slogan, “Topless equal rights for all or none,” Gotopless.org is summoned men across America to cover their chests yesterday in the name of equal rights. For the fourth consecutive year, the U.S.-based organization will stage a national Go Topless Day protest to proclaim a woman’s constitutional right to go bare-chested in public. During the protest, while participating women go bare, male participants will cover their chests with bikini tops or bras to proclaim equal rights for both genders. “It’s no more ridiculous than women having to wear tops at all time in this double-standard, topless battle that’s being waged in public and in the courts,” said Nadine Gary, president of Gotopless(.org). For Rael, spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement and founder of Gotopless(.org), the equation is simple: “As long as men can go topless, either women should have the same constitutional right or men should also be forced to wear something that hides their chests.”

So, what are your thoughts?  Read the rest of this entry » Happy “Go Topless&#...

Thank goodness, too, because I was getting tired of seeing freeloading drivers in the high-occupancy lane just because they purchased a specific vehicle during a specific time period. You’re no more carpooling than I am, why do I need to sit in horrendous bay area traffic?

My largest gripe lies within 3 lane freeways; one lane is dedicated to carpoolers, or those with the stickers; one lane contains nothing but big rigs who go 15-20 MPH slower than the rest of the traffic and literally leave a football field worth of space between them, and the middle lane contains normal commuters, going to and from work so they can pay their taxes.

The Mercury News parking lot yesterday held an event for drivers to mourn their past 6 years of free carpool lane rides. Good grief. View the video:  Read the rest of this entry » And the carpool lane empt...

Former Miss USA Susie Castillo said that she recently posted an emotional video about an airport pat-down she received that she equates with being molested because she believes “there has to be a better way.”

“What’s next? How far are we going to let this go? Are rectal exams in our future?” Castillo told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira. Castillo said that she flies frequently for work but that the pat-down she received at Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport was completely different than one she had received earlier in Los Angeles. ”These procedures are supposed to be textbook,” Castillo said. “Because of the huge discrepancy in both pat-downs, that’s why I chose to speak out.”

Castillo, who filed a complaint with the Transportation Security Administration, also spoke with a TSA supervisor. She said that the supervisor told her that the reason the pat-downs were so different was because a lot of the agents are uncomfortable touching passengers.

In an emotional video posted last week on YouTube, Castillo complained about her treatment at the Dallas airport, saying a TSA agent touched her “vagina” four times during a pat-down.

Read the rest of this entry » Is the TSA going over-boa...

President Barack Obama has made it official for the United States – The U.S. is releasing 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve as part of an international effort to make up for disruption in Libya’s oil production, a decision aimed at increasing supply ahead of the nation’s summer driving season.

“We’re heading into a period in which demand for oil tends to be at its highest,” a senior administration official told reporters. “This release is intended to address that increasing demand.” The move drew immediate condemnation from Republicans and business interests opposed to tapping the emergency reserve for anything other than a critical cut-off of oil. ”The Strategic Petroleum Reserve was designed for energy emergencies, not political convenience. Releasing our reserves to calm the market is emblematic of an administration whose energy policy is irrational and counter-productive,” said Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., head of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. ”The Obama administration’s decision to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is ill-advised and not the signal the markets need,” said Karen Harbert, president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Energy Institute. ”Our reserve is intended to address true emergencies, not politically inconvenient high prices. With U.S. crude oil production expected to decrease by 90 million barrels in the next year, the administration should instead focus on increasing domestic production to improve our energy security, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and create thousands of jobs,” she said in a statement.

Read the rest of this entry » Gas prices will soon plum...

A Canadian Roman Catholic bishop pleaded guilty Wednesday to importing child pornography, prompting the Vatican to say it, too, would impose disciplinary measures.

Bishop Raymond Lahey, 70, entered the plea in an Ottawa courtroom, a rare case of high ranking Canadian Church official facing charges over sexual misconduct. The Vatican said Wednesday that with Lahey’s criminal trial now over, the church will now impose its own disciplinary or penal measures against him. ”The Catholic Church condemns sexual exploitation in all its forms, especially when perpetrated against minors,” said a statement from the Vatican’s press office, adding “the Holy See will continue to follow the canonical procedures in effect for such cases, which will result in the imposition of the appropriate disciplinary or penal measures.”

Read the rest of this entry » Catholic Priest + pornogr...

Exxon earned nearly $11 billion in the first quarter, a performance that will likely land it in the center of the national debate over high gasoline prices. Wait, what? Yes, that’s right. The world’s largest publicly traded company on Thursday reported net income of $10.65 billion, or $2.14 per share, in the first three months of the year. That compares with $6.3 billion, or 1.33 per share. Revenue increased 26 percent to $114 billion.

The results surpassed Wall Street estimates of $2.04 per share on sales of $112.6 billion, according to FactSet. The quarter was Exxon’s best since earning a record-setting $14.83 billion in 2008′s third quarter. It comes at a time when some drivers are paying $4 or more for gas and President Obama is threatening the oil industry’s multibillion-dollar tax subsidies.

Read the rest of this entry » Exxon sets record earning...

I first saw  this story from another site. Everything about Debrahlee Lorenzana is hot. Even her name sizzles. At five-foot-six and 125 pounds, with soft eyes and flawless bronze skin, she is J.Lo curves meets Jessica Simpson rack meets Audrey Hepburn elegance, a head-turning beauty.

In many ways, the story of her life has been about getting attention from men, both the wanted and the unwanted kind. But when she got fired last summer from her job as a banker at a Citibank branch in Midtown, her bosses cited her work performance, she got even hotter. She sued Citigroup, claiming that she was fired solely because her bosses thought she was too hot.

This is the way Debbie Lorenzana tells it: Her bosses told her they couldn’t concentrate on their work because her appearance was too distracting. They ordered her to stop wearing turtlenecks. She was also forbidden to wear pencil skirts, three-inch heels, or fitted business suits. Lorenzana, a 33-year-old single mom, pointed out female colleagues whose clothing was far more revealing than hers: “They said their body shapes were different from mine, and I drew too much attention,” she says. As Lorenzana’s lawsuit puts it, her bosses told her that “as a result of the shape of her figure, such clothes were purportedly ‘too distracting’ for her male colleagues and supervisors to bear.”

Read the rest of this entry » Too hot to work?