If You Have A Mac U Might be One of 600K Infected } Here is How You Find Out

Even if you don't find Flashback Trojan on your Mac, make sure you install the latest Apple security update for Java.

• There are two areas of your hard drive that need to be checked for nasty files
• To check if your Mac is infected, you can download the scripts hosted by CloudApp
• If infected, you will need to go to the F-Secure's website and follow the instructions

(Mashable) -- According to a report Thursday, more than 600,000 Macs could be infected with the nasty Flashback Trojan.

We've already detailed how to check your Mac to see if you're infected -- but that requires some command line code, and we know that not all users are comfortable doing that. Now we've gone one step further and wrapped those commands into two AppleScripts.

Why two? Well, there are actually two areas of your hard drive that need to be checked for nasty files. These files simply run the terminal commands and let users know if they have anything to worry about. They aren't the most beautiful creations, but they do the job.

You can download the scripts here (hosted by CloudApp). After unzipping, simply double-click on "trojan-check" and "trojan-check-2." If you get an image that looks like the image at left (click to enlarge it), you're in the clear.

If either of the scripts reports something other than "does not exist," go to F-Secure's website and follow theirremoval instructions.

Even if you aren't infected, make sure you install the latest Apple security update for Java to fix the vulnerability that allowed this nasty exploit to exist in the first place.

Did you find yourself infected? Let us know in the comments.

Study } The Roots of The Disease of Homophobia

 Acceptance of gays and lesbians has never been higher, but anti-gay bias still exists. A new study suggests intense hostility toward homosexuals may be linked to a repressed same-sex attraction, combined with an authoritarian upbringing.

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  AP
  Justin Aaberg hanged himself in his room in July 2010. His friends told his mother he'd been a frequent target of bullies mocking his sexual orientation.

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AP

(Justin Aaberg hanged himself in his room in July 2010. His friends told his mother he'd been a frequent target of bullies mocking his sexual orientation.)

Though such factors are not the only cause of homophobia, the findings suggest those "who have a discrepancy within themselves about their expressed vs. unconscious sexual attraction find gay and lesbian people more threatening and are more likely to express prejudice and discrimination toward them," saysUniversity of Rochester psychology professor Richard Ryan, co-author of the study, which is published in the April Journalof Personality and Social Psychology. Also an author is Netta Weinstein of the University of Essex, England.

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The blocking of unconscious desires by adopting an opposite view is a well-known psychoanalytic concept, suggested by Freud and others. The new study uses "modern methods that allow us to more reliably peer into these less explicitly available parts of peoples' psyches and see what's arising," Ryan says.

Among those methods: studies that measure discrepancies between what people say about their sexual orientation and how they react during split-second timed tasks. Study subjects — four groups of about 160 college students each, in the USA and Germany — also rated the attractiveness of people in same-sex or opposite-sex photos and answered questions about the type of parenting they experienced growing up, from authoritarian to democratic, as well as homophobia at home.

Researchers also measured homophobia — both overt, as expressed in questionnaires on social policy and beliefs, and unconscious, as revealed in word-completion tasks.

The findings suggest participants with accepting parents were more in touch with their innate sexual orientation. But, Ryan says, "if you come from a controlling home where your parents do have negative attitudes toward gays and lesbians, you're even more likely to suppress same-sex attraction and more likely to have this discrepancy that leads to having homophobia and feeling threatened."

Some in the field are skeptical.

Psychology professor Gregory Herek of the University of California-Davis has done extensive research on anti-gay bias and violence, and he says measuring unconscious same-sex attraction is "incredibly difficult."

"This study is asking the right questions," Herek says, but "it's a pretty big leap to say it's revealing sexual orientation."

Psychiatrist T. Byram Karasu of Montefiore Medical Center in New York has similar concerns. The suggestion that parents play a role in homophobia fails to address the importance of "identifying with the authoritarian parent" and then taking that oppression "and projecting it outward. The study skips the self-oppression part," he says.

Ryan says the study may help explain the personal dynamics behind some bullying and hate crimes directed at gays and sheds light on high-profile cases in which public figures who have expressed anti-gay views have been caught engaging in same-sex sexual acts.

"Some people who are threatened by gays and lesbians and are most vociferous in their opposition to them are suffering internally themselves," he says.

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Mat Christian Underwear and other stuffff!

With the exception of the vids which I downloaded from utube the story comes straight from  .homorazzi.com

Based on recent activity, and if you didn’t know any better, you’d think Andrew Christian’s main objective is to produce viral videos than sell boxers and briefs. The underwear brand has been pumping out videos featuring hot shirtless models on a regular basis. Whether they’re squirting water guns, having pillow fights, or splashing around at a pool party, the AC models always look sexy as hell. The company sure knows how to pick the hottest studs to fill out their underwear.

For their new clip, Andrew Christian decided to pay tribute to one of their favorite artists, Neon Hitch. The creative team assembled a dynamic line-up of talent and sex appeal to dance and lip-sync to her latest single, “F*ck U Betta“. These performers have been featured in videos and tours with Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Kylie Minogue, Kelly Rowland and Christina Aguilera. A couple of the more notable dancers are Haus of Gaga dancer, Michael Silas, and “So You Think You Can Dance” Season 5 first runner-up Brandon Bryant. Check out the two and six others booty drop, grind, flex and seduce in the clip below. Be prepared to take a cold shower afterward.

Andrew Christian Underwear Models Do Neon Hitch

Just in case you were wondering what the original music video for Neon Hitch’s track looked like, I’ve embedded it below. What did you think of Andrew Christian’s tribute? Sound off below.

Neon Hitch “F*ck U Betta” Music Video

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Is the tide turning regarding African Americans’ attitudes toward homosexuality?

 

   I found it interesting in our interview with Democrats Earl Jones and Marcus Brandon this week that both men readily expressed opposition to the proposed anti-gay marriage amendment in North Carolina

Brandon is an openly gay state House member whom Jones wants to unseat in the 60th District. Both men are black.

Their district is majority black.

This matters because African Americans traditionally have been especially conservative on the issue of gay rights, an attitude largely rooted in the black church.

In fact, the black vote was instrumental in the passage of California anti-gay marriage amendment in 2008. One exit poll placed it at 70 percent. Later analysis suggested the number may have been only 57 to 59 percent. But that’s still solid support and some black clergy helped lead the charge.

In 2008 and 2009, a Pew Forum poll found that 62 percent of African Americans opposed gay marriage in 2008 and 2009. By 2010, the number dropped to 59 percent but was still greater than white opposition to gay marriage, which polled at 46 percent in 2010.

Jones characterized the law as “a distraction and a nonissue” and went so far as to say he support repeal of the current state law against gay marriage.

Added Brandon: “The marriage amendment serves exactly no purpose.”

Black voters and the black community traditionally has turned a cold shoulder toward gay rights because it has viewed homosexuality as sinful and forbidden by the Bible.

So what happens in 2012? The Rev. William Barber, head of the state NAACP, has proclaimed his opposition to the marriage amendment and the NAACP’s opposition.

Barber won’t go so far as to say he supports gay marriage. But he did write in a 2011 op-ed: “The NAACP strongly urges you to reject the so-called same sex amendment and any other present or future proposals of constitutional amendments that would permanently deprive any person in our great state of his or her inalienable rights.”

In an ironic way, the politics of the North Carolina amendment may have helped to stoke black opposition.

Barber also wrote: “Our research shows that today shadowy money with connections to ultraconservative think-tanks and millionaires are financing a cynical move to trick some North Carolina voters in next year’s election by trying to place a state constitutional amendment on the issue of ‘Same Sex Marriage’ on the presidential election ballot. The Family Research Council has reportedly paid for radio ads, targeting both African American and White legislators who have large African American constituencies. The millionaires who fund these election tricks could care less about who marries whom. But they invest their money in issues that will affect who votes for whom.”

Posted by Allen Johnson 

Nebraska U Gives Ron Brown/Homophobe license to Attack LGBT Athletes

 2 

by Cyd Zeigler jr..

 

Two weeks after calling for the firing of anti-gay Nebraska assistant football coach Ron Brown, many voices have joined the chorus. Athlete Ally’s change.org petitionhas received over 1,000 signatures from people concerned with the intolerant direction Brown is leading the Cornhuskers; An openly gay member of the Lincoln Board of Education has called for his firing; And the local media in Nebraska has brought the issue of Brown’s anti-gay discrimination to light.

Despite all of that, the University of Nebraska has given Ron Brown license to continue building a hostile environment for LGBT athletes on the school’s football team. University Chancellor Harvey Perlman refuses to take any action other than wagging his finger at Brown, simply saying:

I am personally offended by the comments of Coach Brown with regard to gays and lesbians. Whether intended to do so or not, they reflect poorly on the university, on our athletic programs, and I am certain they cause pain and discomfort among a valued and productive segment of our community.

Think about that. The Chancellor of the school admits that this state employee causes pain to gay students and athletes, yet won’t act. Maybe Perlman needs a refresher of his school’s own non-discrimination policy:

One aspect of this commitment is to foster a climate of inclusion and mutual support that will enhance our ability to achieve our overall goals….

How can the chancellor of the school possibly claim to administer the university’s non-discrimination policy while at the same time doing nothing to curtail a high-profile coach of the school’s highest-profile program causing “pain and discomfort” for gay students? How on earth does causing pain “foster a climate of inclusion and mutual support”?

It doesn’t.

Unfortunately, the University doesn’t care.

Barbara Baier, an openly gay member of the Lincoln Board of Education, tried to open eyes to the power of the university’s inaction in a well-articulated letter to the university:

I am not one for strong words, but in the case of the University of Nebraska, hypocrisy is an institutionalized value as regards LGBT students and their fair and legal right to access a tax subsidized postsecondary education.  This hypocrisy is exemplified by the longstanding and persistent anti-LGBT behavior and bullying tactics of Coach Ron Brown.

I hope that you seriously consider your responsibility in allowing and, by your inaction, endorsement of his behavior toward LGBT students and the entire LGBT community.  If I felt threatened by Coach Brown by simply attending a function at UNL’s Champion’s Club, then what do LGBT student athletes feel in your athletics program?  How do they feel attending your many campuses and classrooms?  How do LGBT faculty and staff feel?  Does maintaining a climate of hate further your academic mission or diminish it?

The message from the University of Nebraska is clear: The inclusion of sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policy is a sham, carries no weight, and is simply there on paper to appease a powerless minority at the school.

One aspect of Brown’s particular brand of anti-gay discrimination pulls the wool over people’s eyes. It’s the smile he offers while advocating for discrimination against gay people. Baier called it out brilliantly in her letter:

When some people seek to camouflage their hatred under the cloak of their faith, their professed religious beliefs should not shield them from the consequences of their actions.

Brown’s response to Baier last week was a glaring example of hishatred cloaked under the love of faith:

I’m not meaning to harm anybody. I’m quoting the scriptures. I’ll be praying for her, for her to see the reality of what the Lord is saying in the Bible.

He doesn’t want to harm her, he just wants to convert her away from who she is at her core. That ought to help build the university’s “climate of inclusion and mutual support,” right?

This double-speak is what makes Brown so dangerous for LGBT athletes. In an interview with Lincoln-based radio station KILN (hat tip to Aksarbent), Brown responded to my previous column. He painted himself as someone who opposes what he called “evil” discrimination against gay people:

Discrimination against them in the evil sense? Should they be harassed? Should they be fired on the spot if they’re doing good work because they’re gay? Absolutely not. I don’t believe in that at all. Should they be beat up? Should they be talked about? Should they be teased and ridiculed? Absolutely not.

Sounds inclusive, right? Not so fast. While opposing “evil” discrimination, he endorsed discrimination in general, as though some discrimination is good and some is bad:

Now, in terms of the use of the word discrimination in the sense of being able to have discretion and wisdom, acknowledging a belief system that one holds to, particularly due to my relationship with Jesus Christ, absolutely. There’s no question. … So in Omaha, for example, when I spoke at the ordinance, in opposing the ordinance to have homosexuals as a protected class, I absolutely stand by that. … As a protected class, in terms of receiving certain rights and benefits as African Americans were and other groups, women for example, who were clearly oppressed throughout history? No, not at all. And I stand on that.

I take Brown at his word: He would never condone assaulting or killing someone because they are gay. He also says he doesn’t think someone should be fired because they are gay…even though he fought against an ordinance that said exactly that. Still, I’ll take him at his word.

But there are lots of things you can do to someone short of beating them or firing them. He could give them less playing time. He could undermine their chances on the team. He could harm their mental well-being by continually telling them they are wrong, sinful and an abomination.

And there is no reason to believe Brown does not do these things. In fact, Brown says he approves of lesser kinds of discrimination against gay people that is driven by “discretion and wisdom, acknowledging a belief system” like his that equates gay people to thieves and drug-abusers. He has also made it clear is he in football at Nebraska to “bring honor and glory to god.”

The University of Nebraska’s non-discrimination policy does not differentiate between various forms of discrimination. It focuses on fostering “a climate of inclusion and mutual support.” None of Brown’s support for discrimination accomplishes that.

In his KLIN interview, Brown concluded with this little gem:

If you don’t believe in the bible, if you don’t believe what the scriptures say that it is truly accurately the word of god, then of course you may not buy into that. But if you do, Like I and many others who follow Jesus Christ, you would have to stand on the word of God.

You would have to ignore pesky non-discrimination policies. You would have to put your own personal belief in the word of God above all else. You would have to limit the power of the “homosexual agenda.” You don’t have an option here. It’s not as though you can weigh the consequences and then decide. In Brown’s words,  “You would have to stand on the word of God.”

The university continues to turn a blind eye.

Brown has said he will not stop. He will not change course. He will continue to advocate for anti-gay discrimination and preach his bigotry-based brand of Christianity. He motivates his followers with the calls for him to stop advocating for discrimination.  He has given the proverbial middle finger to the school and to the gay community, and he will not stop because his actions are ordained by God.

So far, the University of Nebraska has said they will do nothing to stop or curtail him. For the sake of the under-served LGBT students and athletes at the University of Nebraska, that must change.

Nebraska athletic department spokesperson Keith Mann offered no further comment for this story.

You can sign Athlete Ally’s change.org petition to fire coach Ron Brown. Also, visit Aksarbent for more on Ron Brown.