When Copyright Goes Bad

When Copyright Goes Bad

Info from the YouTube video page:

A film by Ben Cato Clough and Luke Upchurch.

Suddenly, copyright rules no longer do what they are supposed to do. They have gone bad.

This is a film about how copyright has become one of the most important consumer issues of the digital age; why corporate lobbying risks criminalising the actions of hundreds of thousands of people; and what the future holds for the fight for fairer copyright laws.

When Copyright Goes Bad is an introduction to the renegotiation of copyright and is for anyone interested in how copyright is affecting consumers. It features some of the key players in the copyright debate, including:

Fred Von Lohmann – Electronic Frontier Foundation; Michael Geist – University of Ottawa Law School; Jim Killock – Open Rights Group; and Hank Shocklee – Co-founder of Public Enemy.

For more, visit http://www.A2Knetwork.org/film

Microsoft: Litigate on FAT, and you’ll be the next Unisys

Microsoft: Litigate on FAT, and you’ll be the next Unisys (ZDNet.com)

Remember “Burn All GIFs” from 1999? In 2009, the Open Source mantra of choice could very easily turn into “Destroy all FATs”

The ‘Burn Your GIFs” campaign of 1999 has a follow up and for just as insidious reasons!

Please, take a few minutes to check out this ZDNet.com article and read up on this insidious mess that Microsoft has been pulling on Linux builders and users behind their backs!

This is a major issue and one that needs to be dealt with swiftly by anyone who uses GNU Linux knowingly or unknowingly (such as through your GPS device or smart phone).

We really need to wake up on this issue. Device creators are trying to keep the cost of their devices down to the customer and this is how we and they get paid back!

I get so angry that companies will take advantage of GNU Linux and then bite the very hand that feeds them with double deals under the table with large bully proprietary companies.

It really, really ticks me off.

Remember a certain company that created a Linux Distribution a while back and then turned around and started suing left and right? Making claims that GNU Linux violated their patents?

SCO -vs- IBM (and by extension GNU Linux)

Thank you TomTom for NOT violating the GPL! Thank you also for bringing this dirty little dealing to light! I hope you are eventually vindicated for being true to the GPL and Linux which buttered your bread — unlike some other companies.

The Fed Creates a Crisis and Hampers the Recovery

The Fed Creates a Crisis and Hampers the Recovery (C4L – Campaign For Liberty)

A very easy to understand article on a very tough subject by William L. Anderson, Ph.D. He teaches economics at Frostburg State University in Maryland, and is an adjunct scholar of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He also is a consultant with American Economic Services.

When Ron Paul made eliminating the Federal Reserve System a centerpiece of his presidential primary campaign last year, media pundits and others scratched their heads in amazement. After all, they reasoned, is not the Fed a collection of “conservative, buttoned-down” public officials who are given the mission of providing prosperity?

Indeed, whenever Ben Bernanke and his predecessor, Alan Greenspan, have traveled to Capitol Hill to testify before congressional committees, they are treated as royalty, economic geniuses whose every word is treasured, even if Congress and the press cannot comprehend all of them. If there is any criticism for these men, it is that they have not inflated enough.

However, in watching one exchange last year between Rep. Paul and Bernanke, I was struck not only by the lack of comprehension of economic logic that Bernanke possessed, but also his utterly wrong view of the actions of the Herbert Hoover administration. In response to Rep. Paul’s criticism of the numerous Fed-oriented bailouts, Bernanke quoted Andrew Mellon, Hoover’s secretary of the treasury, who had advocated that the government permit weak businesses to go under in order to “purge the rottenness from our system.”

Much more in the article! Must read.

Disgrace of a Nation – 200,000 Veterans Sleeping on the Streets?!

Did You Know 200,000 Veterans Are Sleeping on the Streets?

America’s promise to “Support the Troops” ends the moment they take off the uniform and try to make the transition to civilian life.

What is this?! People who were damaged by wars in this country (U.S.A) apparently have to wait on appeal for Disability hearings for upwards of 4 to 4 1/2 years?! It is bad enough that they have to wait 6 months for the initial hearing, but at least that is better than the years of wait for an appeal if denied initially.

Banking cartels get HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of our tax dollars without accountability after weeks of deliberation by Congress and GM gets to become a bank to get BILLIONS of that and so many others have received bailouts — yet individual American Veterans who were damaged in some way by the ravages of war are treated like this?!

Oh, the shame! Now THIS is a national disaster of an unprecedented nature.

I am sure this is only the tip of the iceberg. I have heard of many people trying to get Social Security Disability that also have to wait years on appeal for disability hearings and that is bad enough after paying in for this for years – being told it will be there for them if needed, and then they go through hell to get it – if they ever get it!

Or have to go through painful testing at Walter Reed Hospital to determine the ongoing extent of disability year after year for degenerative diseases like my own father had to do – who was also a Veteran (Korean War) but not injured in war. My Daddy, after 14 years active duty and he had considered himself to be a Lifer in the military – a man who loved the military and didn’t want to leave it – was Honorably Discharged for Medical Reasons. The military found out that the rigors of military life was exacerbating a disease that they discovered he had (which was a debilitating disease – deterioration of the nerves and muscles – Charcot Marie Tooth Disease – now it’s considered one of the many variants of CMT) while he was in the military. Years later he was to find out that this dreadful disease was hereditary but no one knew much about at the time he was diagnosed with it.

But to treat our Veterans who were damaged in some way in wars like this is unconscionable!

How can these Veterans be left to slip through the cracks of a stupid bureaucracy like this?!

Well, if as they claim it is ONLY Congress or the President who have the power to change this – if they are the ONLY ones who can make this country do right by it’s hurting Veterans – then we need to call upon the U.S. Congress and this country’s new President-elect Obama to fix this and fix it right away!

I say it’s way past time to fix this injustice.

EDIT: In case others do not read comments for postings, I will link to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans for your perusal where the following information can be found:

Who are homeless veterans?

The U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) says the nation’s homeless veterans are mostly males (4 % are females). The vast majority are single, most come from poor, disadvantaged communities, 45% suffer from mental illness, and half have substance abuse problems. America’s homeless veterans have served in World War II, Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Lebanon, Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), Operation Iraqi Freedom, or the military’s anti-drug cultivation efforts in South America. Forty-seven percent of homeless veterans served during the Vietnam Era. More than 67% served our country for at least three years and 33% were stationed in a war zone.

How many homeless veterans are there?

Although accurate numbers are impossible to come by — no one keeps national records on homeless veterans — the VA estimates that nearly 200,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. And nearly 400,000 experience homelessness over the course of a year. Conservatively, one out of every three homeless men who is sleeping in a doorway, alley or box in our cities and rural communities has put on a uniform and served this country. According to the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness and the Urban Institute, 1999), veterans account for 23% of all homeless people in America.

Homeless veterans face new battle for survival (CNN)

More to think about:

VA Poorly Equipped to Care for Soldiers Injured in Iraq (Opinion piece on Veterans Today)

The VA recognizes the problem and has reached out to states and organizations to help with the needs of Homeless Veterans – Project CHALENG

If someone has an exact quote from the VA that substantiates the claims by all of these and many more articles on news publication sites, please post a comment.

URGENT: Stop the Auto Bailout

Bailout Update

Posted by Matt Hawes on 12/10/08

It looks like a vote on the bailout could be taken in the House between 7 and 8 eastern tonight.  However, it appears to be encountering problems in the Senate.

MSNBC has a copy of the bill available here.

Keep calling and writing (suggested letters are here).  It’s very possible the bill could be rejected in the House if there is widespread uncertainty about its future in the Senate.  Legislators who would otherwise cave to the pressure to vote for the bill may be encouraged to stick to their guns and vote against the bailout.

As if it wasn’t bad enough when the government gave the (minimum) $700 billion dollar bailout of the banking cartels and not requiring proper paper trail on where these funds went or to whom. And before that Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, and more! Believe it or not….including an earlier auto industry bailout.

But now they want to give $23 billion more to the automakers.

And this is again beyond the $700 billion (plus the trillians projected for that) for the banking cartel’s bailout.

And the auto makers that apparently will just keep doing many of the bad business practices that put them where they are today. And could still quite likely go bankrupt at a later date after they riffle through the bailout funds provided by our taxpayer dollars! Oh, and what about AIG’s bailout rework to get even more money?

Do you think we should continue to bailout every company that cries ‘we’re falling and we can’t get up … at least not by ourselves” routine?

All these bailouts are simply prolonging the inevitable. Eventually, we will have to deal with the reasons for this collapse and the longer we put it off, I really believe it will only get worse and take even more down with it.

There are still some people that really think that bailing out the ‘wealthy’ will work? They really need to get their head out of the sand and get a reality check. This country has never bailed out those that REALLY needed it, so what makes people think bailing out the ‘wealthy’ who were bad managers will work, eh? Oh, and rewarding them by taking money from those that did do well, or at least didn’t go bankrupt, and likely doing things right — by taking their money to give to those who failed miserably so they can continue to fail miserably at our expense!?

Besides does anyone think the auto industry will do any better this time around with yet another band aid fix? They are not fixing what’s wrong, they just want more money to throw at the symptoms instead of taking care of the real problem.

Check out CampaignForLiberty.com for more information and the following videos of Ron Paul on Neil Cavuto: An anthology – dealing with these bailouts.

I have some words for you from our Founding Fathers regarding ‘redistribution of wealth:’

“When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” — Benjamin Franklin

This is a really sad time in our country which began when they instituted The Fed and Income Tax in 1913. Isn’t it amazing that less than 100 years after the institution of these two things (The Fed and Income Tax) a major collapse has happened .. yet again. And would have happened sooner and not quite so big if ‘natural’ corrections had been allowed to occur. And they have been trying to say that The Fed was NOT responsible for ‘recovering’ from the last Depression. What a load of horse hockey.

Read your history and pay close attention to the dates of things. And don’t go by today’s numbers in the stock market. Even during the Great Depression, there were ups and downs. And even Bernanke in a speech that is well documented admitted that The Fed caused the Great Depression and that was back in 2002!

Also check out some of the articles at Mises.org on Austrian Economics. Here’s a good place to start, “The New Deal and the Great Duration.”

Who makes out during these times – you know the Great Depressions, major recessions, and collapses? Just ask yourself that. Because there were those who did/do just fine … many of these actually made out/are making out pretty darn well.

And if you are wondering why we shouldn’t be giving away our children’s and grand children’s future …

How Bad Could It Get?

In “What Goes Up”, I discussed the law of booms and busts. A big boom with easy credit leads to a big bust.

The question is, given the boom we had between 2001-2007, how bad a bust might we have?

Real Estate

Well, in the greatest financial crash of all time – the crash of the 1340s in Italy, which brought on a new dark Age – real estate prices fell by 50 percent by 1349 in Florence when boom became bust.

How does that compare to 2001-2007? The price of Southern California homes is already down 41%, Southern California hasn’t fallen as fast as some other areas, and we’re nowhere near the bottom of the market.

Moreover, the bubble was not confined to the U.S. There was a worldwide bubble in real estate.

Indeed, the Economist magazine wrote in 2005 that the worldwide boom in residential real estate prices in this decade was “the biggest bubble in history“. The Economist noted that – at that time – the total value of residential property in developed countries rose by more than $30 trillion, to $70 trillion, over the past five years – an increase equal to the combined GDPs of those nations.

Housing bubbles are now bursting in China, France, Spain, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, and many other regions.

Much more in the article.

EDIT: Added How Bad Can it Get? from George Washignton’s Blog?

The Truth About Bailouts (Peter Schiff)

The Truth About Bailouts
by Peter Schiff
November 24, 2008

As the Federal bailout bonanza prepares to spread beyond the mortgage and financial sectors to fill Detroit’s depleted coffers, few economic or policy analysts have spared a thought for the destitution of the U.S. government itself. Put simply, our government doesn’t have enough spare cash to bail out a lemonade stand let alone a bloated and failing industry that is losing tens of billions of dollars per month. Washington can only offer funds that it has borrowed from abroad or printed. Unfortunately, the nation is in the grips of a delusion that money derived from these sources has the power to heal. But history has clearly shown that borrowed or printed money only has the power to destroy.

The argument that energizes the pro-Detroit camp is that the government should extend the same courtesy to the rank and file auto workers that it lavished upon the fat cats of Wall Street. While two wrongs certainly do not make a right, the fact remains that the Wall Street firms are still floundering despite the bailouts. What’s worse, the money spent was either printed or borrowed from abroad. Both options are destructive to America.

Much more in the article. Well worth the read. Peter Schiff is the one who called this collapse before anyone else, if I remember correctly. You can find many of his videos on YouTube, like this one “Peter Schiff Was Right 2006-2007.”

Have you been to the grocery store lately? I don’t think the high prices are just here in VA. The grocery store is a scary place to go right now.

Maybe it is time to take a look at Surviving the Economy, he?

Memorial Day…

To all the Veterans of all the wars, including my Dad, who was in the Army during the Korean War (and especially today, because my Dad passed away on this date May 26th, in 2005), I say, “Thank you” for all you’ve done for our country.

Many gave much more than others, their very lives. Others suffered great personal, emotional, spiritual, and physical tragedy due to their times in the wars.

We can not allow the stupidity of this war to turn this country sour on our Veterans again. It was a travesty when the Vietnam war ended and that happened and I felt so embarrassed and humiliated for this country’s behavior concerning their Veterans when they came home.

I remember when I was 16 and was in an bad accident and spent some time at the hospital in Valley Forge where some of those brave souls were coming home from the Vietnam War. Many missing limbs and going through rehabilitation while I was in rehabilitation as well learning to walk again. My heart went out to them. I knew what I had been through, and it was nothing compared to the horrors of war.

In the Vietnam war and in this war. Veterans are caught between a rock and a hard place, I think, even worse than the rest of us are in so many ways.

God bless you all and thank you for your service to your country. Regardless of who put them there, or why, that’s the role each serviceman and servicewomen is living out and I thank them for that…it’s not an easy road to follow. Especially for those in areas of battle and potential battle every day. And those who have been through hell and back as war tends to do to people.

Here’s a couple articles to think about. I read them and just went Wow!

Salute to Veterans – Ron Paul – 2008 – Texas Straight Talk – www.house.gov/paul/tst/:

Most of my efforts on Capitol Hill are focused on reducing the federal government’s size and scope, but I make an exception for a very important group of people. Our nation’s men and women in uniform commit a selfless act of patriotism when they take up arms in defense of our country. As a veteran myself, I salute all those currently serving, or who have served in our armed forces. Our nation owes them a debt of gratitude for their sacrifices, their courage, their time away from friends and family, and the dangers they undertake. This Memorial Day we honor our soldiers and vets, we remember those who never came home, or who have since passed on. Above all, we acknowledge our respect for all who have served in the military.

War Immemorial Day – No Peace for Militarized U.S. – by Bill Quigley – CommonDreams.org:

Memorial Day is not actually a day to pray for U.S. troops who died in action but rather a day set aside by Congress to pray for peace. The 1950 Joint Resolution of Congress which created Memorial Day says: “Requesting the President to issue a proclamation designating May 30, Memorial Day, as a day for a Nation-wide prayer for peace.” (64 Stat.158).

Much more in these articles! They are both on my must read list.

I have been out of sorts all day today, and I didn’t realize why, till my “baby sister” Deb called and mentioned the anniversary of Daddy’s passing today in a voice message and asking how I was doing today, and letting me know that their family was going out on a friend’s boat today.

I knew this day was coming. Realized it was only two days away, the day before yesterday. I think that subconsciously, I even realized it had arrived and that was why I have been out of sorts and feeling so down today.

Daddy, I love you and miss you so much!

EDIT: Added two articles and a quote from each. Thanks Kurt for sending these two articles to me.