Comunicas Venezuela.- With the strong purpose of promoting social communication from the base of society,and in exercise of true freedom of speech, Comunicas Organization has developed training workshops for leaders in community communication.

These workshops aim to strengthen the foundation of volunteers to boost Comunicas Community Media Project.

Leda Santodomingo, recognized venezuelan journalist with over 30 years ofexperience both at home and in the United States, will deliver the first workshop to train leaders in community communication, to develop in Comunicas Cumbres de Curumo (Caracas).

Comunicas Community Media Project

"Let's have an independent media, open and democratic in every community, and we will change our planet" and says Juan Perfetti, general coordinator of  Comunicas Organization

"Communication is the greatest power we have as human beings, our words are more powerful than our weapons, and could afford to make real progress and real democracy if we use the media more democratic and just there, Internet" reaffirms Perfetti.

With the ambitious Comunicas Community Media Project wants to make to have a means of communication in every community in the world, professionally organized, but mainly leveraged by the public. Generating a positive influence to allow the progress of the communities, and thus the world.

Each person is a potential communicator in every community, there lies the strength of the project. Comunicas Organization provides the tools and platform for citizens to congregate and express their communicative power.

About Leda Santodomingo

During her career she has been editor, reporter, host and creator of advertising space and is widely accepted, both in Venezuela and the United States.

"Alerta" on Radio Caracas TV (1989-1993) and "En Exclusiva" on Venevision (1993-1997), both programs produced and conducted by Leda in Venezuela, achieved over 70% of the national audience.

Leda Santosomingo has received numerous awards in Venezuela and the United States, both inside and outside of Chicago, including five Emmy nominations, is the only Latina to have the Emmy Silver Circle, a distinction awarded by the Academy of Sciences and Arts Television reporters the more than 25 years of professional work.

Comunicas.- The co-founder of PayPal is putting his money where his mouth is.

Peter Thiel, 42, is backing up his claims that higher education doesn't prepare students to be successful entrepreneurs by offering 20 kids under 20 up to $100,000 to drop out of school to work on their business ideas.

Thiel calls it "stopping out of school," implying that they can put their formal educations on hold and then go back if and when it's convenient. He's said he'll be accepting applications through the end of the year.

"I do think there are a lot of things people learn in school," he told TechCrunch's Sarah Lacy. "I don't think they learn much about entrepreneurship."

Let's step back and look at Thiel himself. At first glance he's the success story every would-be-Zuckerberg dreams of becoming. He co-founded PayPal at 31 and sold it to eBay after four years for $1.5 billion. He was the first investor in Facebook, earning him another huge pot of cash, and now he runs a venture capital firm and a hedge fund.

Sure, Thiel has a gargantuan amount of personal wealth, made by thinking outside the box. What else does he have? College degrees. The Internet whiz earned a B.A. in Philosophy from Stanford University, followed by a J.D. from Stanford Law School. He's even taught classes at Stanford Law.

Thiel complains that modern-day higher education is more likely to cripple a young person with debt than it is to give them the freedom and the tools to pursue their big ideas. And he's got a point - the price of college is soaring far above the inflation rate, bankrupting many families who want what's best for their children. Paralyzed by fears of monthly debt payments (and, for many, trapped by the fine print of private student loans), many graduates do choose "safe" jobs that pay the bills over riskier start-ups or their own projects.

"You're going to have to take a lot of risks to build the next generation of companies," Thiel told Lacy.

But dismissing higher education as an obsolete way of preparing students for successful lives is ignoring Thiel's own college degrees. Surely his philosophy background helped him create a personal decision-making framework. And a law degree comes in handy when choosing when, where and how to invest. Yes, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg both dropped out of Harvard University to pursue their ideas, and look where they ended up. But as University of California, Berkeley scholar Vivek Wadhwa writes, "To build a business, you need to understand subjects like finance, marketing, intellectual property and corporate law." That initial idea is vital, but it only gets you so far. For most of us, a college degree still means higher earning potential and more financial security.

Kudos to Thiel for spotting young inventors the cash they'll need to pursue their ideas. But if he really wants to equip the "next generation of companies" to succeed, he should make sure they know about patents, public relations, principles and personnel. Hmm. Maybe he should send them to college!

"PayPal Co-Founder: I'll Give $100,000 To Teens Who Drop Out Of School"

By Carol Scott / Change

Comunicas.- Both the U.K. and U.S. sell Fanta soda, but don't expect to see identical ingredients on both sides of the pond. The same goes for McDonald's strawberry sundaes and a host of other brightly colored foods. When it comes to food additives, European products are oftentimes way more natural than their American counterparts.

While the U.K.'s orange Fanta soda gets colored with pumpkin and carrot extracts, the American version of the pop gets its shocking hue with the help of Red 40 and Yellow 6. British McDonald's strawberry sundaes derive their red color from actual strawberries, but America's Golden Arches pump their desserts full of Red 40. While folks across the pond get goods naturally colored with fruit and veggie extracts, American consumers consistently chow down on pink, purple, and yellow foods that get their hues from synthetic dyes.

This striking difference in ingredients exists because as America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) fails to regulate producers' use of artificial dyes, Europe's been cracking down on synthetic colors. This past July, European food products containing artificial dyes started carrying labels that read "may have effects on activity and attention in children." "This warning may be the death knell for [artificial] food dyes in Europe, especially for foods commonly eaten by children," Michael Jacobson, executive director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), told Environmental Health Perspectives.

Studies show that phasing out artificial food dyes may be in kids' — and all consumers — best interests. According to a recent report produced by CSPI, the three most heavily used artificial food dyes — Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 — contain cancer-causing compounds. Dyes like Blue 1, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 can cause allergic reactions in people, while other synthetic dyes are linked to hyperactivity in children. What's worse is that since 1955, consumption of artificial food dyes has increased five-fold amongst American consumers.

Despite their potential health risks, synthetic dyes are ubiquitous throughout the food supply. Dyes like Blue 1, Blue 2, Citrus Red 2, Green 3, Orange B, Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, and Yellow 6 appear in everything from fruit snacks to cereals to beverages to vitamins. What's worse is that many of these eye-catching, colored foods are geared towards kids.If the sugar alone in breakfast cereals and fruit snacks doesn't make kids hyperactive, the artificial dyes can certainly get the job done.

"Does Europe Care More About Consumer Safety than America Does?"

By Sarah Parsons / Via Change

Comunicas.- It was revealed earlier this month that Archie Comics had put President Barack Obama and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on the cover of 'Archie' issues #616 and #617. On the first cover we peeked, the two pols are featured looking downright friendly: Obama and Palin share a milkshake, prompting Archie to declare, "Wow, I guess *anything's* possible!" Inside, Obama and Palin get involved with Riverdale High's student government election, in which Archie is running against Reggie.

But, lest you think the comic book is all mush, POLITICO has learned that the company is set to announce two covers on a less bi-partisan theme: Palin and Obama fighting it out.

Archie Comics will announce on Tuesday variant covers on the Obama-Palin theme, with one cover showing Obama poised to clash with Palin in midair, while another — labeled "The Fight for America!" — depicting Obama and Palin sporting boxing gloves, prepped to spar with one other. Obama is dubbed "The Chicago Kid" while Palin gets named "The Thrilla from Wasilla."

Archie Comics co-CEO Jon Goldwater told POLITICO that the company had received so much positive feedback on the first Obama/Palin cover (which made the rounds last week) they decided, why ruin a good thing?

"We sat around and talked and said, 'Holy toledo!' This is something that we should take a look at and bring the president back on the cover for." (He said he just reached out to both the Palin and Obama camps and predicted that "I'm sure that we're going to hear from them" about their comics).

"At the end of the day, President Obama and Sarah Palin completely come from opposite sides, but they both want the same thing: The best interests of the United States. And we figured Riverdale High School was a place they can unite," he said.

Of course, there's a subtle statement being made here by Archie Comics: Sarah Palin is the apparent GOP leader. Why else choose her to counter Obama?

"From my view point, she does represent the Republican Party right now," said Goldwater. "She's out front and center and there is no other dynamic candidate that we can see here at Archie that basically represents the Republican Party. ... No one else occurred to us, actually."

By Patrick Gavin / Via Politico

Comunicas.- This Saturday, diners will gather at The Brooklyn Kitchen to savor an $85, four-course, prix-fixe dinner. As the New York Daily News reports, they won't sample pork loin or kobe beef or grilled salmon or any of the usual foodie fare. Rather, they'll eat an assortment of dishes featuring bugs (yes, as in insects), such as sauteed mealworms with yucca in a garlic and chipotle sauce.

The Brooklyn Kitchen isn't alone in serving up insects. According to the Wall Street Journal, across America, a small class of consumers are starting to embrace entomophagy, or bug-eating. In 1998, David George Gordon published the Eat-a-Bug Cookbook, which contains recipes on how to prepare various kinds of creepy crawlers. Rhode Island's David Gracer owns a company that sells processed, edible crickets. Actress Salma Hayek recently appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman and described her penchant for ant eggs and grasshoppers. And as I recently wrote on Change.org, Arnold van Huis, a consultant to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), recently touted bugs as a nutritious and environmentally friendly meal.

Of course, other countries embraced insects as food long ago, with folks in Latin America and Asia regularly snacking on locusts and even scorpions. And they may be onto something: Bugs are not only high in protein — they're low in fat, carry extremely low carbon footprints, and are cheap to produce. They possess all the traits necessary to become the next sustainable superfood.

Meat's impact on the environment is well-documented, with livestock production creating about 18 percent of the globe's greenhouse gas emissions. Even fruits and veggies typically take a lot of resources — like water, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and mechanized farm equipment — to produce. Bugs are naturally plentiful, and raising them as a food source would only require minimal resources. Plus, some insects like locusts are notorious agricultural pests. Eating them would reduce the need for environmentally degrading chemical pesticides.

Not only do bugs tread lightly (or in some cases, fly lightly), they're a cheap and nutritious food source. Bugs boast high amounts of protein and low amounts of fat. Perhaps America's obesity epidemic wouldn't be at such massive proportions (literally) if more folks took up entomophagy.

Granted, most consumers would need to get over that ick factor associated with crunching on caterpillars. Just thinking about a cricket leg brushing up against my tongue triggers my gag reflex. But if bugs boast the sustainable foodie traits experts claim they do, I'm willing to take a bite in the name of saving the planet and eating healthy. Plus, cover anything in garlic and chipotle sauce, and it's dinner to me.

"Want Cheap, Eco-Friendly, Healthy Fare? Try Eating Bugs"

By Sarah Parsons / Via Change

Comunicas.- Most folks are angry with BP for the Gulf oil spill. But Brad Pitt could be the most angry of all (at least publicly).

In Spike Lee's new documentary, "If God Is Willing And Da Creek Don't Rise," which premiere's Monday night on HBO, the actor talks about those responsible for the crisis and says, "I was never for the death penalty before — I am willing to look at it again."

The spill hits home for Pitt, who, along with his partner, actress Angelina Jolie, owns a home in New Orleans and whose Make It Right project has been working to build affordable, design-conscious homes in the region since Hurricane Katrina.

Vía Politico

Comunicas.- When I think of Archie Comics, my mind is instantly taken back to a time in America when my parents went to school, when Rock 'n Roll was just getting started, when everyone had to walk uphill both ways to get anywhere, and a soda cost a nickel. But it's also not an image of America that is necessarily reflective of the political and social struggles that many folks face.

That's why it's pretty interesting and somewhat ground-breaking that Archie Comics is about to introduce their first openly gay character, a blue-eyed, blond-haired teenage boy named Kevin Keller. Announced in April 2010, the issue with Keller's first appearance, Veronica #202, is slated to ship in the coming days, and be available to the public on September 1.

And that couldn't make the writer and illustrator of the book, Dan Parent, happier. Parent spoke with Bill Radford at The Gazette, and he noted that Archie's introduction of a gay character has little to do with wanting to be provocative, but more to do with wanting to reflect the reality that teenagers and pre-teens experience. There are gay kids in their classrooms, and there ought to be gay kids in their comics.

"My daughter is that age, she's 16. I see in her high school that there are a lot of openly gay kids. It's not even like a big deal," Parent said, dropping the obligatory "like" that consumes the vocabulary of many a teenager (hey, it was me too at one point). "We're trying to show that Riverdale is contemporary, and that it is a diverse and accepting place ... At some point, you have to address these subjects."

So how about it? When I was growing up, all I had to crush on was Fred from the animated version of Scooby Doo. Might Kevin Keller take his place?

Back in April, when the Kevin Keller character was first announced, Change.org's Nathan Tabak pointed out that this was a pretty big to do.

"For decades now, LGBT activists have sought better representation of LGBT characters and issues in the media. Yet children's media have been almost completely exempt from these demands," Tabak wrote. Archie Comics, to some extent, turns that trend on its head, and makes visible an LGBT character that young folks who are 10, 11, 12, 13 years old or beyond might be able to identify with, at least in some form.

Now the question will become just what kind of storyline this gay character will be given, and whether or not he'll make more than just a one or two-off appearance. As has been teased, Kevin Keller will play a new gay teen in town who is open with most of his classmates, but becomes somewhat of a teenage crush for long-time character Veronica (who doesn't know he's gay). Sheesh, I can think of a really sweet high school prom date I had who might be able to relate.

Meanwhile, Parent says the character is there for the long haul.

"We had to be careful that it didn't come off as a stunt," Parent said, adding that Keller will be around in Archie's world for some time.

Good. Archie Comics may sound square to a lot of people ... but they're proving with this move that this isn't your 1950s version what might be America's most beloved comic book series.

"The Countdown To Archie Comics' First Gay Character"

By Michael Jones / Via Change

Comunicas.- California same-sex couples looking to get married: start your engines, and get ready to head down to your local city hall or church to tie the knot. That's because Judge Vaughn Walker, who last week declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional, has lifted the stay on the case, meaning that California is yet again in the marriage equality business.

UPDATE: Judge Vaughn Walker's ruling (available at the end of this post) says that same-sex couples won't be able to officially get married until August 18, 2010. The stay has been lifted, but won't take effect for another six days.

Scores of couples lined up at San Francisco's courthouse, as well as in Los Angeles and other cities throughout California, hoping that Judge Walker would lift the stay. Officials in San Francisco and Los Angeles even allowed same-sex couples to fill out marriage paperwork ahead of time, in anticipation of Judge Walker's decision.

Evan Wolfson from Freedom to Marry praised Judge Walker's decision, announcing that same-sex marriage will be returning to California.

"We are witnessing a growing consensus in America that loving and committed same-sex couples deserve the same respect and the same rights as everyone else," Wolfson said. "Americans on all sides of the aisle, from Laura Bush to Bill Clinton, have embraced the reality that the freedom to marry helps families, while hurting no one.  As same-sex couples in California today celebrate their love, commitment, and equal protection under the law, a majority of Californians and a majority of Americans support their right to marry."

Judge Walker announced last night that his decision on whether the stay on the case would be lifted would come down today, teasing activists for more than three hours as Twitter pages were refreshed and ustream video coverage focused on activists outside the San Francisco courthouse. Tour buses drove past the courthouse with crowds chanting their support for marriage equality, while same-sex couples on the ground anxiously waited for those magical words: the stay has been lifted; please go ahead and get married. Turns out they'll have to wait until August 18 to do so.

Several California officials, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown, had previously announced their support for allowing same-sex marriages to begin immediately in California. Officials in California were no doubt ready and raring to go. Defendants in the case can now appeal (and will appeal) to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and they could issue another hold on this case.

Reports on the ground, including from Change.org's own Meghan Nesbitt, described a truly anxiety-filled scene. Gay couples lined up waiting to hear the decision, while straight couples were allowed to waltz into the courthouse and get married. The image of that type of separation should be enough to move even the hardest of hearts to support marriage equality.

But thankfully, starting on August 18, gay couples don't have to wait any longer.

By Michael Jones / Via Change

Comunicas.- His future at CNN in question since a recent string of weak ratings became a symbol for the network’s struggle to find its way in an increasingly ideologically divided cable landscape, Larry King, host of the longest-running continuously hosted show on a single network, announced Tuesday evening that he is hanging up his “nightly suspenders.”

King, 76, and CNN/US President Jon Klein made the announcement after weeks of tabloid reports about King’s possible successor at CNN’s 9 p.m. timeslot, which “Larry King Live” has occupied for 25 years.

“I’m incredibly proud that we recently made the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest running show with the same host in the same time slot,” King wrote on his blog. “With this chapter closing I’m looking forward to the future and what my next chapter will bring, but for now it’s time to hang up my nightly suspenders.”

Kiein said that King would remain “a beloved part of the CNN family” and continue to host periodic specials.

In May, he scored his lowest ratings in 20 years, lagging far Rachel Maddow on MSNBC and Sean Hannity on Fox News. The ratings bounced back a bit in June, growing 28 percent on the previous month, according to Nielsen data released Tuesday. But the movement to replace King was already well under way, according to a New York Times report last month.

King said he'd be in the interviewer's chair until "maximum November," and, when asked who'd he'd like to succeed him said: "I can't be objective because I don't know his interest in politics, but Ryan Seacrest. He's curious, he's interesting, he's likeable. If he has a great interest in politics, I'd recommend him."

Known for his trademark non-confrontational conversations with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Bob Woodward, King did more than 40,000 interviews over the course of his career, according to CNN. But in the media-saturated age of 24/7 cable news and Twitter, his interviews occasionally lacked a sense of timeliness. He was criticized for putting Mick Jagger on the air, for example, during a recent primary night.

The early favorite for King’s replacement was Katie Couric, whose contract at CBS runs out in May of next year. But the New York Post reported yesterday, citing unnamed sources, that she has turned down the job.

The current favorite is Piers Morgan, the former British tabloid editor turned reality TV star on “Britain’s Got Talent” and its American offshoot, “America’s Got Talent.” The British press ran a series of stories last week claiming he was about to sign a contract to take over King’s slot in the fall.

Via Politico

Comunicas.- If you want to see the desperate measures lack of health insurance can drive people to, look no further than Kathy Myers, who actually shot herself in a misguided bid to get care.

Like 1.2 million of her fellow Michigan residents, Myers, 41, doesn't have health insurance. Over a month ago, she hurt her right shoulder playing with her dogs in the backyard. Her 80 pound golden lab yanked its leash a bit too hard while playing with her chihuahuas and injured her rotator cuff.

A pretty routine injury, except the unemployed Niles woman, who recently lost her job at a hazardous-waste removal company, had no insurance and couldn't afford to pay a specialist. So even though she described the pain as constant and unbearable, she couldn't get the injury treated. When she showed up at the emergency room, she was told doctors couldn't do anything unless she was in imminent danger.

So Myers took her inlaws' gun and shot herself in the shoulder. "They said it would have to be life-threatening or imminent danger for them to do anything, so I was making it be imminent danger that something had to be done," she told local TV station WSBT.

"I have no suicide wish," she went on. "My life sucks right now but I want to live. I've got lots to live for and there's more good than bad in everything in my life, so that's not what it was about at all…I just want to take the pain away."

The kicker is, though, that Myers still hasn't had her original injury treated. ER doctors treated the gunshot wound, but didn't do surgery to fix the rotator cuff, and released her from the hospital hours later, still in pain. She's hoping the publicity around her case might help her find a doctor to offer her affordable treatment, but she might also face criminal charges for illegally discharging a weapon inside city limits.

Myers' case may be the first  - that we know of - of an uninsured person shooting herself in hopes of getting treatment, but she's far from the only one of those 1.2 million uninsured Michiganders dealing with untreated illness or injury. And as her case shows, no, they can't just go to the emergency room.

"Uninsured Woman Shoots Herself to Get Health Care"

By Erin Durkin  / Via Change