Democracy at it's finest

With America's one elections coming up, it is interesting to look at another country that has recently had an election. Quiz time. Do you know who won the presidency of Zimbabwe this week? I'll give you hint. He's been president the last 5 terms, too. If you said Robert Mugabe, you're right. Have a cookie.
The world is in a rightful huff over this turn of events. Mugabe, for his part, is currently en route to an African Union summit where he plans to seek recognition for his "overwhelming" victory. Funny thing about that. He was the only candidate. No, really. He was playing in his sand box with his ball, kicked sand in the face of any kid who came near, and is now bragging about winning his ball game. That he played. Alone. Playing with one's balls by one's self, isn't that called...
Moving on.
But is he really such a bad guy? I mean, come on, he's on his sixth term, he must be doing something right, right? Wrong. Mugabe has been the cause of racial targeting, hyperinflation, political harassment, and voter violence. This is not a man that this country needs in power.
Makes you glad we live in America... where polls are closely watched, voter fraud never occurs, and no single political party can get enough of a hold to rig things...

Oil rage from the past

How the hell did this happen? Ignorance, apathy, and (the greatest weapon) time, that's how. Let me recap for those who have bad short term history memories. 19 years ago there was an oil spill in the Prince William Sound area when a drunken captain of the Exxon Valdez tanker ship ran it aground, spilling 11 MILLION gallons of crude oil into the surrounding wilderness. 5 years later, in 1984, a jury awarded the Sound area (landowners, business owners, etc.) a sum of $5 billion dollars in damages, to be paid out by ExxonMobil, a move many thought would send a striking message to oil companies that they were not untouchable and were accountable for their actions. And most people left it at that. Content that justice had been served. But not ExxonMobil. They took the case back to court. To the top. And what did Americas Highest Court decide? The entity that is supposed to reflect Americas highest ideal of law and justice? They changed the amount needed to be paid to these people whose lives were forever changed. The amount now is $507.5 million. Calculators out people. You know what that is? That's 10.15% of the original amount. Count in inflation for the past 14 years, and it is even less. That is also, approximately, the equivalent of 24 hours worth of petroleum sales.
Oh... a striking message has been made. To the oil companines, your actions may cost you no more than what you take in for a day. To the rest of us, look out. Your land, the land around you, wild life, and your livelihood have a price. One easily added into the oil companies expense books, and forgotten about.

Uncited sensationalism

So there is this video floating around youtube that a friend of mine showed me that showed truly spectacular uncited sensationalism. In it, it focuses on Fox News' coverage on Sen. Obama in the presidential race. And then it shows as other news organizations fall into line and continue to ignore the citation of the issues.

Yesterday I ran a test. I posted a truly sensational story. Cited an article about what sounded like artistic apocalypse. There was some good discussion. But there was something missing. Did anyone catch it? All this talk about a bill, act, whatever... but did anyone ever link to it? I hoped someone would catch me on my lack of citation. Well, that's okay. Want to read the exact wording yourself? You can find it right here. Now, here is what I read here.
The bad news is yes, SOME of the ass-hattery that the writer in the article I linked yesterday IS possible by this bill. However, the good news is this. The way I read it, there is actually far more protection for the artist than was being previously noted. Also, this was simply a matter in the congressional sub-committees. Just like thousands of other items every year.
However, if one were to follow the links to find "all congressional actions", or just follow the link here, we will see that this item is by no means "dead". It was, in fact, voted from sub-committee to full committee. That just means it is waiting for it's turn again. Now, I'm not sure that this will ever make it to bill, or if it does that it will become as horrible a visage as all the hype can sometimes make it sound. But I do know that this is a democracy. It is our responsibility to watch those items that effect us most and take a stand.

I'm not an artist, but...

So I really want to thank a good friend of mine for bringing todays article to my attention. Thanks Rachel, you're always a good source of information for me.

So, as the title says, I don't feel that I'm an artist, but I have a lot of artist friends. They even get together on Friday nights to have "Art Night", a time to hang out, but also to encourage each other to continue to work on their art. So, reading this article did hit close to home. This is for them, this is for you. This is for everyone who doesn't think they are an artist, but are. This is for anyone who posts pictures of family vacations, posts on Deviant Art, or even doodles on a sketch book.

There is a law currently being attempted to be pushed through Congress. This bill would make it so that any piece of art that was not copyrighted would be considered "orphaned" and open to public domain. "But Hatter", you say, "That's how it already is. Good thing all my work is copyrighted as soon as I make it." Ah, my good friend, that brings us to the meat of the bill. This bill would require you to copyright with a registered agency ANY work of art that you have. If it isn't, if you didn't PAY for that copyright, you could easily see that picture of your family standing in front of the Grand Canyon show up in Wal-mart picture frames, used without your permission or payment to you in anyway, and no legal recourse. That art piece you threw up on Deviant Art to get an opinion on? Stolen as a cover for Time Magazine, and nothing you can do about it.

So, you might then say to me, "Okay, so what's the big deal, Hatter... that's the way of America, everything gets capitalized on sooner or later." Let me break down some of the more interesting points of the article. Let's say that you, as the average person, take 300 photos a year and upload it to Flickr. Let's say that you have to pay $5 per work to copyright it to a single agency. $1500 to keep those memories SAFE and YOURS. But what if there are three agencies set up? Or ten? Or a hundred. What if someone gets a hold of a piece of your work and files for copyright BEFORE you do... and your own work becomes illegal for you to use?

I know that some of you don't follow any of my links, but I implore, follow this one. Read the whole thing. Protect your rights and your art. If you aren't furious, you should be.

Did you read that wrong?

Ah, good afternoon my readers. This post is for my American readership who, if they are anything like me, don't care about domestic spying at all. *cough* Dot dot dot? What did I just say?
Well, according to an article in Time Magazine, that's exactly what is being claimed. And if you read it, it seems to be saying that only a very few people, mostly civil libertarians, actually feel there is anything wrong with it. However, read the article closely and you'll find a slight problem. There is no citation. Of anything. Ever. Where are these polls? Where do they get their numbers from. I'd like to see what cross section of people they were speaking with, because I know I really care about being spied on.

Well, I'm not the only one, it would seem, to feel this way. Here we have a fine article by Glen Greenwald. He disects the article, picking it apart bit by bit, and showing real, actual citations to the "facts" that Time is trying to back. This article is smart, precise, and exemplary of true journalism. One that checks the facts. Careful, Americans, become too complacent and this sort of 1984 propaganda will become overwhelming before it can be stopped by real and honest journalism.

Something needs to be said.

For those that know me, you know that as much as I try to hide it, I'm a sentimental man. When my best friend got married last May, I cried when I watched the father of the bride cry. When another good friend of mine got married the beginning of this year, I cried. And like everyone else in the world, I cried about the dog. No, the other one. So, when I felt the warm lacrimation as I read this article, I knew something had to be said.

Before I go on, I have a very interest analogy I must put into place. You see, I suppose that I support the War. Why? Well, as I once heard, saying that you support the troups but that you don't support the war is asanine. Would you ever say that you supported a sports team but you wanted them to lose? It's like saying you support the Red Sox, but you are furious that their manager has sent them to play the Yankees, and so you don't support the game. So, if by supporting the troups I support the war. So be it. They need all the support they can get. Because other people aren't giving it to them. Did you read the article? No? STOP! Go back, READ IT!

What the hell has happened to this country? Where we can have legislation in line that will allow our soldiers to be misdiagnosed to the point of death, and their family has no recourse? Why was this allowed?

Once again I blame you, America. Not the politicians. They were just doing what was natural for a politician to do. Like sharks hunting fresh blood. No, I blame the people, for not doing their job. This one falls to our grandparents for not getting incensed by this sort of treatment, but the rest of us do not miss the bullet on it, and I'm just as guilty for not paying attention to what goes on in the government above me.

I hope you support your troups. I do. If you do, DO SOMETHING about it. I think it's time I did.

The state of the theater

When the hell did politics become such a stage show? I mean REALLY PEOPLE! What the hell is this? I know, old news, but I have a lot of blogging to catch up with.
Now first off, I don't want anyone to think that I am targeting Hilary or any of the candidates specifically. This was just the easiest incident to focus on. First off, I'd like to say that I've been in theater since middle school... and I've seen middle schoolers with more convincing performances. And it doesn't stop there.
You want to know why so many people are apathetic when it comes to politics? Because it never matters. Now, I'm sure that someone is going to want to throw out some statistic about some election that was SO CLOSE. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the fact that no matter who we get in the office, it's all crap. Why do I say that? Everyone remember how grading worked in school? Let me give you a refresher course. An A was usually the 100-90 range. A B was between 89 and 80. C's, and let me stress here AVERAGE, was awarded to those who received a 79-70. Those needing improvement, garnering a D, fell between 69 and 60. And what was 59 and below. FAILURE. Now, a C was considered a passing grade, barely, in most schools. Some allowed to eek by with a D, but we'll ignore those for now, because they are the reason American is so poorly educated... and this is not an education blog. So, with that in mind, who was our LAST passing president? That statistic is popular opinion. That is, the number of people in the States that actually think the President is moving us in the right direction. Most of them are falling in the below average range and many fail miserably. Not sure you trust what your fellow Americans believe is the right direction for our country? Well how about checking the historical rankings? Using the same scale as school again, those who have a ranking of 70% would have to have an average ranking, on a scale of 1-42, of 12.6 or better. When was the last time we had one of those?
So, who do I blame? Not the politicians, the voters. Your apathy put the people into power in such away as to collectively bend the country over, grease our ass, and ask for more. Get off you lazy ass and do something about it! That is not just your right but your responsibility as an American. Or perhaps you have already reserved yourself to a different future? God I hope not. And if you have, let me be your Spider.

One last thing people, remember this, when our country was founded is was "For the people, by the people." The PEOPLE are supposed to have the power. So next time YOUR politician is getting a failing grade, let's not reward them by pushing them on through to the next level. Let's put someone in office who will really work for that A.