Bondage Radio

A Decade of Decadence with Winnipeg’s Black & Blue Ball

For Immediate Release

September 21, 2005

October 22, Winnipeg’s Black & Blue Ball will begin its tenth year of Canadian kink. Winnipeg’s Black & Blue Ball is the longest running pansexual event on the Canadian Prairies. The Ball is a uniquely Manitoba style of event where all the kinks come out to play. The Ball includes all sorts of leather folk, swingers, cross dressers, gay/lesbian/bisexual/transsexual/transgendered, and Goths from 18 to 80 years old and from all races, genders and orientations. This Halloween there will be two floors of action with two bars, two dance floors, trade tables (where vendors sell sexually oriented wares) and two public dungeons. There’s always entertainment around midnight.

The Black & Blue Ball is all about local people having fun. The focus is strictly bio-regional – which is to say that the Ball is concerned mainly with people and events within a day’s drive of Winnipeg. When the Black & Blue Ball was founded, there simply were no other fetish events running in Winnipeg, but they changed all that. The Ball has been instrumental in helping many of the local fetish oriented groups form, and it shows in the incredible diversity of people who attend the ball. Over the past decade the Black & Blue Ball has transformed Winnipeg into quite the little hot bed of perversity.

Master Bryan, one of the Ball organizers, muses “We do it to have fun with our friends. We make it our business to reach into the closets of Manitoba, find the lost and isolated, and introduce them to their own culture. It’s quite a lot of fun seeing someone who thought they were the only one like that‚ discover all the other like minded people. Or as they say, reason #142 for loving Winnipeg is the city that plays together stays together.”

On October 22, the fun will take place on both floors of the Osborne Village Inn, 160 Osborne Street. The doors open at 9PM. Tickets are a very affordable $10 advance and $15 at the door. Everyone’s welcome to celebrate a decade of decadence. Check out the Ball’s web site at http://www.blackandblueball.ca or write info@blackandblueball.ca for more information.

Both sides along the gay marriage divide have vowed to continue their fight a day after the state Legislature soundly defeated a proposed constitutional amendment seeking to ban same-sex marriage.

The vote means Massachusetts will remain the only state in the nation to allow same-sex couples to wed — for now.

A year after lawmakers appeared destined to undo a court order that has allowed thousands of same-sex couples to marry since May 17, 2004, the Legislature voted 157-39 against the proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday.

Lawmakers were required to approve it in two consecutive sessions before the proposal could move to the statewide ballot in 2006 for a final decision by voters. The measure, which would have allowed Vermont-style civil unions, won passage by a 105-92 last year.

But the political and social landscape had changed dramatically since then.

Gone was the intensity, the seemingly endless debate and, in some quarters, the taste for stripping away the right to marry for gay and lesbian couples.

“Gay marriage has begun, and life has not changed for the citizens of the commonwealth, with the exception of those who can now marry,” said state Sen. Brian Lees, a Republican who had been a co-sponsor of the amendment. “This amendment which was an appropriate measure or compromise a year ago, is no longer, I feel, a compromise today.”

The moment the vote was announced, cheers erupted from the gay marriage supporters who watched the proceedings from the House chamber’s public gallery.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us, but today we celebrate,” Democrat Sen. Jarrett Barrios, an openly gay lawmaker, told the cheering crowd.

The proposal also was opposed by critics of gay marriage, who want to push for a more restrictive amendment that would ban both gay marriage and civil unions. The earliest that initiative could end up on the ballot is 2008.

“We’re excited. We’re pumped. This is great. This is exactly what we wanted,” said Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute.

The state’s highest court ruled in November 2003 that same-sex couples had a right under the state constitution to marry. Now, more than 6,100 couples gay and lesbian couples have been wed in Massachusetts, though officials have barred out-of-state couples from getting married here.

Within a year of the first Massachusetts marriages, 11 states pushed through constitutional amendments banning gay marriage, joining six others that had done so earlier.

The Connecticut Legislature approved civil unions in April, joining Vermont in creating the designation that creates the same legal rights as marriage without calling it such. Earlier this month, California lawmakers passed a measure legalizing same-sex marriage, though Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has promised to veto it.

Catherine Gross (of FetishAuctioneer.com), Ms. Victoria, and Viola Johnson are sponsoring a fundraiser to help members of the New Orleans leather community. So many have lost everything in the wake of Katrina’s devastating impact, and we want to help them rebuild their lives and communities. While many individuals and organizations are contributing their time, money and support to the relief effort, it is our hope that a concerted group effort will enable us to offer even more to extended members of our leather family who are in desperate need.

This fundraiser will be in the form of a contest, which will be open to clubs, events and e-mail lists. The group contributing the largest collective donation will win a basket stocked full of erotic goodies from Fetish Auctioneer, valued at $250.00. All funds collected will be split 50/50 between two major leather clubs in New Orleans: Lords of Leather and N.OB.L.E. Both clubs are still attempting to locate all of their members, and they assume, due to the location of their event and/or play spaces, that they have lost everything; in addition, some members of both clubs have lost everything they own. Funds will be distributed by the respective officers of both clubs to those members with the greatest need. The contest will run from September 7, 2005 through October 20, 2005.

Donations will be accepted through a special Pay Pal account. Everyone donating is asked to list their e-mail list name, event name or local club in the “message” section. Totals will be monitored and tallied by Catherine’s assistant, Jen, via an Excel spreadsheet which will be updated daily.

For information about how to make a donation, to see current donations, or to get details on the prize basket being donated by Fetish Auctioneer, visit: http://www.fetishauctioneer.com/nolacharity/nola.htm The winner of the basket will be announced on October 21, 2005, via press release.

Our club brothers and sisters in New Orleans are in need of our help and support, so please help us get the word out by distributing this release to any e-mail lists or other contacts you might have!

Catherine Gross

Http://www.BDSMClasses.com

Http://www.Fetishauctioneer.com

Http://www.SELeatherFest.com

by Kira Cochrane – The possibility of a career in the sex industry has been embraced by a generation of gullible young women, not just as a viable option but a genuinely attractive one, writes Kira Cochrane

Way, way back in the mists of time (oh, say, five or six years ago) polls regularly listed the most popular career options for young women as nursing, teaching or, for the particularly exhibitionist, acting. The world turns quickly, though, and this year a survey of a thousand girls between the ages of 15 and 19 found that 63 per cent aspired to be a glamour model, while 25 per cent plumped for lap dancing. Out were the dependability and possible boredom of care work; in were the seedy glamour and possible stardom of the sex industry.

While these findings at first seemed implausibly extreme, they were quickly backed up by the profiles of this year’s Big Brother participants in Britain. It goes without saying that Big Brother contestants are exhibitionists. But where the UK show’s first participants, in 2000, aspired to be actors or singers (mooning wistfully about the house with their guitars), this year, six of the eight female housemates expressed an interest in glamour modelling or pornography. (Kinga, one of the two exceptions, inadvertently became a porn star anyway by masturbating with a wine bottle in prime time.) In roughly five years, the possibility of a career in the sex industry, whether hard core or soft core, has been embraced by young women and come to be seen as not just a viable option, but a genuinely attractive one. For people who yearn to be recognised, but have no specific talent (in the same poll, 89 per cent of young women said they would rather be a celebrity than achieve something but lack recognition), the sex industry holds out the olive branch of fame.

The most obvious reason for this change of attitude would seem to be the proliferation of pornography. With hard-core porn easily accessible through the internet (33 per cent of internet users regularly view such material) and also being marketed to mobile phones, porn imagery has inevitably become an established part of our culture. And, with this proliferation, the image of those in the sex industry has changed, too. Although the term “porn star” has been in use for decades, it was not until recently that it actually gained some credence and gloss. Had she been working in the 1970s, for instance, it is probable that a porn actress such as Jenna Jameson would have been known only to a smallish population of men, gaining notoriety – like Linda Lovelace – rather than true fame. With the help of home video, however, plus internet and mobile technology, Jameson has become one of the most (in)famous women in Middle America, her 2004 autobiography staying on the New York Times’s bestseller list for a month and a half. Britain offers similar, though slightly tamer, success stories, most notably that of Abi Titmuss. Paradoxically, Titmuss, who began her career as a nurse, came to public attention on the back of rape charges brought against her celebrity boyfriend by another woman. There soon followed tabloid sex revelations. A home-made porn video was stolen from her boyfriend’s house and released over the internet. And then Titmuss threw her hat in with the industry. She has since worked variously as a presenter on a porn channel, author of sex fantasies, and the subject of thousands of nude photographs.

The home for these photos has been the weekly magazines Nuts and Zoo, recent additions to the market, which sell half a million copies between them, primarily to teenage and twentysomething men. This underlines another crucial change. As porn imagery has broken into the mainstream, any boundaries to its use in entertainment, advertising and marketing – even when the products are aimed specifically at younger teenagers – have gradually become moot. So, for instance, we see full sex and masturbation on Big Brother, a programme that teachers recognise as “must-see” TV for teens. We have competitions in Zoo for the chance to “Win your girlfriend a £4,000 boob job!”. We have a sun-protection safety campaign in which a boy apes the “cumshot”, squirting cream in a girl’s face and urging her to rub it in. These are just the obvious examples. Perhaps more worrying is the subtle way that porn brands have infiltrated the children’s market.

Most prominent of these is Playboy, whose bunny logo became particularly fashionable on women’s clothing in the late 1990s. Since then, the brand has expanded hugely, the logo appearing on everything from watches to chocolates, and now girls’ stationery: pink glittery pencil cases, erasers, notepads. Sold through W H Smith, these branded items have become a bestselling range.

With kids being fed the message that porn is simply a lifestyle and consumer choice like any other, where are the countervailing voices? Back in the 1970s and 1980s, feminists, most notably Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin, drew attention (and scorn) for their anti-porn campaigns, but since then the focus of the media has moved firmly to so-called “sex-positive” feminists such as Camille Paglia and Laura Kipnis, women who define pornography as potentially liberating and egalitarian.

Over the past few decades there has been a huge movement in favour of women’s right to consume porn, and to oppose this in any way is to be deemed a prude. Indeed, I can see no problem with the rising popularity of sex products marketed at grown women. The problem comes about when our attention turns from the consumer to the consumed. In supporting the right for women to watch porn, it is easy to avoid the rights and reality of the women who appear in porn, and this has helped veil the truth of the industry. Hard-core pornography remains physically very dangerous, with sexual disease among participants running at 50 times the average rate, as well as a high risk of injuries as nasty as perforated bowel and choking.

Perhaps even more importantly, there are still huge social and emotional implications for women who work in the sex industry, whether in the harsh world of hard core or the relatively soft-focus glow of glamour modelling.The truth is that porn stars and glamour models remain as reviled as ever, protected while naked on a pedestal, but otherwise refused any respect or attention. Such difficulties can be seen obliquely in the regular pleas of glamour models, including Abi Titmuss and Jodie Marsh, to be taken seriously, to have a chance to show their “real” selves.

The problem is that, however much they trumpet their glowing exam results (Marsh), or their love of Orwell (Titmuss), their career choice will always undermine these efforts. It is probably possible to have a successful career in glamour or porn, but only if you are the exception of the age – like Jenna Jameson in the US or, in Britain, the tough, saleable glamour model Jordan, who a) protects herself by never asking to be taken seriously and b) is on course to retire at 30.

For other participants, the outlook is bleak, the prevalence and visibility of porn rendering the subsequent chances of a significant career for its “stars” pretty low. The truth is that in career terms, although now a first resort for many young women, porn and glamour modelling are still as pointless as ever. A career in the sex industry remains the deadest of all ends.

Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs: 100 years of the best journalism by women, edited by Kira Cochrane and Eleanor Mills, is published by Constable & Robinson (£12.99)

Although the Author of Newsoftheweird.com has links where you can submit your own bizarre story to the site, it comes with a list of the types of stories he will NOT accept because, as he puts it, they are “No Longer Weird”.

Included in this list are staples of Urban Legends and ‘Stupid Criminals’ type TV Shows.

The Most disturbing issue I see in the whole list, is the disclaimer at the top, “The following kinds of stories were formerly weird, but they now occur with such frequency that they must be retired from circulation:“

By Associated Press

DETROIT — One of two men accused of bringing Eastern European women to the United States and forcing them to work as exotic dancers pleaded guilty Thursday to conspiracy charges.

Michail Aronov, 33, a Lithuanian citizen living in the Chicago area, was arrested in February after two Ukrainian women escaped from him and a business partner and told federal agents the men had enslaved them.

Aronov pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit forced labor, immigration violations and money laundering, U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy said in a statement.

As part of his plea agreement, Aronov admitted he and his partners kept the women’s passports, threatened to report them to the government as illegal immigrants if they tried to leave, imposed thousands of dollars in debts on them, and subjected them to threats and violence.

Aronov faces up to 30 years in prison and a $750,000 fine. He also agreed to forfeit more than $537,000 to the government. A sentencing date had not be schedule Thursday, and Aronov remained in custody.

Murphy said Aronov had also agreed to cooperate with prosecutors investigating others linked to the case.

Aleksandr Maksimenko, 25, was arrested with Aronov and awaits trial.

Authorities have said at least four women brought from the Ukraine were forced to work 12-hour days as exotic dancers at a Detroit topless bar. The women were placed in protective custody after Aronov and Maksimenko were arrested.

September 8, 2005, 9:58 PM EDT

Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.

Associated Press

SANTA ANA, Calif. – A lesbian student claims in a lawsuit that Garden Grove school officials suspended her several times and forced her to temporarily transfer to another campus because she refused their orders to stop hugging and kissing her girlfriend on school grounds.

In the federal court lawsuit filed Wednesday, 17-year-old Charlene Nguon also alleges that a school principal told her parents of her sexual orientation and disciplined her while allowing similar behavior by heterosexual couples.

Her behavior was not prohibited in the school handbook, she claims.

“It was horrible. I was discriminated against by the administrators,” said Nguon, who is represented by the ACLU and filed the suit with her mother and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network club.

Alan Trudell, a spokesman for the Garden Grove Unified School District said that “the district does not engage in discriminatory practices.” He declined further comment, saying officials had not seen the lawsuit.

Nguon alleges that her grades, once straight A’s, fell after she was forced last March to transfer from Santiago High School to Bolsa Grande High School – a move that increased her commute from a short walk to a 4 1/2-mile bike ride.

“Unfortunately, for Principal Ben Wolf and other staff at Santiago High, all of Charlene’s accomplishments and exemplary qualities are overshadowed by one fact: that she is a lesbian,” the lawsuit alleges.

Wolf and other district officials, through Trudell, declined to comment.

Nguon has been allowed to return to Santiago High for the current school year.

The suit seeks unspecified damages, an admission that the district violated Nguon’s civil rights and a policy change preventing officials from disciplining students because of their sexual orientation.

© 2005 AP Wire and wire service sources. All Rights Reserved.

Safe place to look for Hurricane Katrina Information

Helping Victims of Hurricane Katrina: Your Guide to Giving Wisely

In the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Americans are opening their hearts and wallets to help the affected communities in the Gulf Coast. The federal government is advising that the best way to provide immediate assistance is to donate money directly to established national relief organizations with the experience and means to deliver aid.

If you’re thinking about the best ways to provide help to those affected by the Hurricane, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, has these tips to help you give wisely:

* Donate to recognized charities you have given to before. Watch out for charities that have sprung up overnight. They may be well-meaning, but lack the infrastructure to provide assistance. And be wary of charities with names that sound like familiar, or nationally known organizations. Some phony charities use names that sound or look like those of respected, legitimate organizations.
* Give directly to the charity, not the solicitors for the charity. That’s because solicitors take a portion of the proceeds to cover their costs, which leaves less for victim assistance.
* Do not give out personal or financial information — including your Social Security number or credit card and bank account numbers — to anyone who solicits a contribution from you. Scam artists use this information to commit fraud against you.
* Check out any charities before you donate. Contact the Better Business Bureau’s Wise Giving Alliance at www.give.org.
* Don’t give or send cash. For security and tax record purposes, contribute by check or credit card. Write the official name of the charity on your check. You can contribute safely online through national charities like www.redcross.org/donate.
* Ask for identification if you’re approached in person. Many states require paid fund-raisers to identify themselves as such and to name the charity for which they’re soliciting.

Charity Checklist
Consider the following precautions to ensure that your donation dollars benefit the people and organizations you want to help. They’re good practices whether you’re contacted by an organization’s employees, volunteers or professional fund-raisers, soliciting donations by phone, mail or in person.

* Ask for written information about the charity, including name, address and telephone number. A legitimate charity or fund-raiser will give you information about the charity’s mission, how your donation will be used and proof that your contribution is tax deductible.

* Check out the charity’s financial information. For many organizations, this information can be found online at www.guidestar.org or at GuideStar, 427 Scotland Street, Williamsburg, VA 23185; 757-229-4631.

* Ask for identification. The Telemarketing Sales Rule requires for-profit fund-raisers to disclose the name of the charity requesting the donation. Many states require paid fund-raisers to identify themselves as such and to name the charity for which they’re soliciting. If the solicitor refuses to tell you, hang up and report it to law enforcement officials.

* Call the charity. Find out if the organization is aware of the solicitation and has authorized the use of its name. If not, you may be dealing with a scam artist.

* Check with local recipients. If giving to local organizations is important to you, make sure they will benefit from your generosity. If a charity tells you that your dollars will support a local organization, such as a fire department, police department or hospital, call the organization to verify the claim.

* Watch out for similar sounding names. Some phony charities use names that closely resemble those of respected, legitimate organizations. If you notice a small difference from the name of the charity you intend to deal with, call the organization you know to check it out.

* Know the difference between “tax exempt” and “tax deductible.” Tax exempt means the organization doesn’t have to pay taxes. Tax deductible means you can deduct your contribution on your federal income tax return. Even if an organization is tax exempt, your contribution may not be tax deductible. If a tax deduction is important to you, ask for a receipt showing the amount of your contribution and stating that it is tax deductible.

Beware of organizations that use meaningless terms to suggest they are tax exempt charities. For example, the fact that an organization has a “tax I.D. number” doesn’t mean it is a charity; every nonprofit and for-profit organization must have a tax I.D. number. And an invoice that tells you to “keep this receipt for your records” doesn’t mean that your donation is tax deductible or that the organization is tax exempt.

* Be skeptical if someone thanks you for a pledge you don’t remember making. If you have any doubts about whether you’ve made a pledge or previously contributed, check your records. Be on the alert for invoices claiming you’ve made a pledge. Some unscrupulous solicitors use this approach to get your money.

* Ask how your donation will be distributed. How much will go to the program you want to support (as opposed to other programs of the nonprofit), and how much will cover the charity’s administrative and telemarketing costs?

* Refuse high pressure appeals. Legitimate fund-raisers won’t push you to give on the spot.

* Be wary of charities offering to send a courier or overnight delivery service to collect your donation immediately.

* Consider the costs. When buying merchandise or tickets for special events, or when receiving “free” goods in exchange for giving, remember that these items cost money and generally are paid for out of your contribution. Although this can be an effective fund-raising tool, less money may be available for the charity.

* Be wary of guaranteed sweepstakes winnings in exchange for a contribution. According to law, you never have to donate anything to be eligible to win.

* Avoid cash gifts. Cash can be lost or stolen. For security and tax record purposes, it’s best to pay by check.

Charity Check-Up
Many charities use your donations wisely. Others may spend much of your contribution on administrative expenses or more fund-raising efforts. Some may misrepresent their fund-raising intentions or solicit for phony causes.

Before you open your checkbook, check out the charity you’re considering with these organizations:

BBB Wise Giving Alliance
4200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 800
Arlington, VA 22203
(703) 276-0100
www.give.org

American Institute of Philanthropy
3450 Lake Shore Dr., Suite 2802 E
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 529-2300
www.charitywatch.org

GuideStar
427 Scotland Street
Williamsburg, VA 23185
(757) 229-4631
www.guidestar.org

Your Local Charity Registration Office
Most states require charities to be registered or licensed by the state. Check with your state Attorney General’s office or Secretary of State. You can find a list of state charity regulators at the National Association of State Charity Officials Web site — www.nasconet.org.

Many smaller, newer or local charities may not be rated by the organizations listed here. Some fraternal organizations, such as police and fire groups may not be rated at all. If the charity seeking your donation is not listed or rated, follow the precautions listed under Charity Checklist to help you determine whether an organization deserves your donation dollars.

Where to Complain
If you believe an organization may not be operating for charitable purposes, is making misleading solicitations or is ignoring requests to be placed on a “do not call” list, contact your state Attorney General, your local consumer protection office or the Federal Trade Commission.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

written by: Archeia FC to Arch Angel
09/01/05

Sometimes the smallest gesture or the seemingly insignificant contribution makes all the difference in the world. So if you find that you have a bit to share or would like to…here are some organizations that are accepting donations on behalf of the survivors of Katrina…please note that you should indicate that you want your donation to go to these survivors…

American Red Cross www.eew-redcorss.org
Network for Good www.networkforgood.org
Habitat for Humanity www.habitat.org
North Shore Animal League America www.nsalamerica.org
Federal Emergency Management Agency www.fema.gov

All of these organizations are reputable and safe.

Remember that the gift of help you give will come back to you one day!

May we all have good thoughts and wishes for a successful end to this trying incident