(Fellow) Bloggers Beware

Fashion Student Blogger Sues Google for $15M

Rosemary Port.

Rosemary Port launches counter-suit against Google after her identity was released to Liskula Cohen, the model she attacked on the web
By Casey Chance
FIRST POSTED AUGUST 25, 2009

Rosemary Port, the New York blogger whose identity was revealed by Google after she called a Vogue model a "skank", is planning to sue the internet giant for $15 million for defamation.

This is the latest twist in a saga which began when Port had used her anonymous blog 'Skanks of NYC', hosted by Google's blogger.com, to call the Canadian model Liskula Cohen the "skankiest in NYC", an "old hag" and a "psychotic, lying, whoring... skank".

Liskula Cohen.

Cohen, 37, then sought the blogger's identity so she could pursue a defamation case against her. Last week, Google took the unprecedented step of releasing Port's details, something it had initially refused to do.

Port, a 29-year-old fashion student [at FIT], originally defended her actions in court, claiming blogs "serve as a modern-day forum for conveying personal opinions, including invective and ranting", and should not be treated as factual assertions, but her claim was rejected by the judge.
Yesterday Port said that Cohen had "defamed herself" by going to the press. "This has become a public spectacle and a circus that is not my doing," Port told the New York Daily News. "Before her suit, there were probably two hits on my website: one from me looking at it, and one from her looking at it," she added. "That was before it became a spectacle."

Port said that in releasing her IP address, Google had put her on a "silver platter for the press to attack me". Her lawyer Salvatore Strazzullo said Google had breached a legal and ethical obligation to protect her expectation of anonymity. "I'm ready to take this all the way to the Supreme Court," he said.

[http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/52702,news,anonymous-blogger-sues-google-after-being-named-rosemary-port-liskula-cohen-skanks-of-ny]


Can we?

White

(Done Right)



(Gone Wrong)

"Free Your Breasts, Free Your Mind(?)"

"Topless women march in Central Park for right to bare breasts"

By Joe Jackson (no, not that one)
Monday, August 24, 2009

Some were shocked. Others disgusted. But for some, it was the breast day ever!

Dozens of semi-nude women gave the city a Double-D eyeful Sunday when they bared their boobs in Central Park and then marched through the streets. The daring display was part of "National Go-Topless Day" - indeed, there is such a thing - and stunned jaded New Yorkers and wide-eyed tourists alike.

"This is unbelievable - and super," said Dalvin Jan, 21, who rents bicycles for a living on Central Park South. "I'm going to tell my wife to join in."

With Chaka Khan's "I'm Every Woman" blaring from speakers and chants of "free your breasts, free your mind," the troupe of bare-breasted women - and their enthusiastic male supporters - paraded their way along Central Park South.

"We're all here for the same reason - to allow women to be free in the park like men," organizer Sylvie Chabot, 54, of Montreal, told the crowd at a midday rally at Columbus Circle.
Motorists honked their horns in support while bemused tourists took photos from passing tour buses.

"I'm pretty surprised," said Carolyn Meierjugen, 49, of New Jersey, who was taking a horse carriage ride in the park. "If they want to do it, let them do it. I couldn't," she admitted.

Several unhappy onlookers complained to cops who were powerless to intervene.

New York is the only state in the country where women can be topless legally, after a 1992 ruling in the state's highest court. That means any woman can walk around the city at any time with no shirt on.

Among the speakers was Ramona Santorelli, of upstate Rochester, who was the plaintiff in the 1992 case.

"It's not about baring your breasts," she said. "But the true meaning is to normalize women's bodies."

Yesterday's protesters noted that is not always the case.

Artist Jill Coccaro, who goes by the name Phoenix Feeley, tested the New York law in 2005 after cops arrested her for exposing her breasts on Delancey St. She cited the 1992 ruling when cops grabbed her, but was held for 12 hours. She sued. The city later settled for $29,000.

Topless events took place across the country, from Los Angeles to Columbus, Ohio.

Organizers gathered signatures for a petition asking Congress to relax nudity laws, which they plan to hand over on Go-Topless Day next year.

Most passersby were amused by the sight of scores of half-naked people.

"It's nice for them," said unfazed Swedish tourist Birgitta Asplin, 58. "It's the human body - nothing more!"

But others said it was all a very bad idea.

"This is extreme liberalism and why America's in decline," shouted one woman, who said she was a doctor but declined to give her name. "It's degrading to women to tell them to expose their breasts publicly."

"I'm not shocked - we're in New York City," said Lindsay Hall, 28, of Maryland. "But speaking from a woman's perspective, I disagree with them. There's something to be said for modesty," she added.

[http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2009/08/24/2009-08-24_halfnude_women_march_by_park_for_right_to_bare_breasts_ya_cant_top_this.html]

Stylin' and Profilin'

Red

(Done Right)



(Gone Wrong)

Ms. v. Mr.

The man in me thinks Heidi looks pretty hot:

. . . but the woman in me wants to slap her and tell her that she is not Britney Spears (circa:).

Heidi Montag-Pratt will "perform" at the Miss Universe Pageant in the Bahamas (airing August 23, 2009 @ 11pm ET).

What's All The Fuss About?

"By now, Michelle Obama has firmly established her sartorial right to bare arms. But baring thighs may be another matter.

Photographs of the first lady descending the steps of Air Force One in shorts have the media in a sweat. Some are saying Mrs. Obama — on her way to the Grand Canyon for a family vacation — may have revealed too much skin."

[http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5juPX6qdoDzr4A60T7UGmHAMOHrDAD9A6S1I00]