Good morning, folks. . and an especial hello and welcome to all the wonderful people stopping by on my book tour for FEARLESS, which kicks off. . well, right now!

I hope that you’ll hit all the stops on the tour and participate completely.  Today, though, I have to stand in support of all the sites that are black in protest of the proposed bills, SOPA and PIPA.

While the intentions of this bill are admirable, the consequences would be grave for everyone.  None of us like piracy.  We understand that Congress is attempting to protect us.  However, SOPA and PIPA would not end piracy; it would seriously cripple legit businesses and discourage job creation and growth.  Seriously, people. . we’re just maybe beginning to see the glimmers of hope in the midst of this economic midnight.  Do we need to intentionally do something that we know is going to extinguish those glimmers?

Some of the biggest sites and businesses on the internet are dark today in protest of the proposed legislation.  And AOL, eBay, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo! have all written a letter to Congress informing our lawmakers of their grave concerns.

If you want to know more about SOPA and PIPA (and you should), and if you want to sign the protest petition (and you should), go here.

I’ll happily see you back here for the rest of the tour.  I’ll catch you on Twitter and chat with you on Facebook. But for today, I’m standing down.