The US midterm election is over and the Democratic party will take control of the US House of Representatives. For the most part this is a good thing. A very good thing. For the most part. But there is a fly or two in the ointment. There always seems to be.
With the change of parties we will be getting new subcommittee chairpersons (the Chairs have great power over what laws get passed)and some are, shall we say, problematic. Like the "Honorable" Howard Berman who represents the district next to Holywood and is sometimes referred to as "the Representative from Disney" because he does the bidding of the movie industry when it come to protecting their "intellectual property." In other words, Berman is in the hip pocket of the copyright fascists.
Mr. Berman, according to the National Journal, can be expected to supportrestrictive copyright and intellectual property laws. Representing the Los Angelos / Hollywood area, Berman will "protect his nearby Hollywood interests by cracking down on piracy and protecting against copyright infringement of TV, music and movie productions." In the past, he has supported legislation allowing copyright owners to "file blocking, redirections, spoofs and decoys" to fight piracy.
Furthermore, according to the independent site opensecrets.org,the top industries contributing to his campaigns are "TV/Music/Movies" and "Lawyers/Law Firms" - the two industries most interested in further expanding copyright. (Copyrightings)
It is not set in stone Berman will take over the Internet and Intellectual Property (IP) Subcommittee -- unless he wants to. He can decide if he wants this subcommittee or another one. If he takes the IP subcommittee (which seems likely to he can continue to rake in the bucks from the movie moguls), then we can anticipate this kind of stuff:
Among Berman's proposed or supported laws were the ability for copyright holders to take vigilante action on those they believed were sharing their content allowing them to hack into your computer, a bill to strip away many fair use protections, a bill to let the entertainment industry use the FBI's seal when going after copyright infringers, a bill to give jail time to those caught file sharing (rather than just fines), a proposal to put people in jail for registering a domain with fake info and has been a big supporter of adding a broadcast flag requirement to consumer electronics. When people point out how any of these things may really cripple the tech industry all for the sake of the much smaller entertainment industry, Berman has responded about how he doesn't much care for "self-pity" from the tech industry (while having no problem at all supporting it from Hollywood). (Techdirt)
It is all the more likely Berman will opt for the IP subcommittee because the alternative is Representative Rick Boucher who is Berman's mirror image, according to Techdirt:
He questioned the entertainment industry on how copy protection schemes may be illegal by blocking someone's legal right to make private copies and for many years has been the leading voice in Congress for why the DMCA needs to be rewritten to take into account the user's point of view. He's also criticized the copyright office for taking the entertainment industry's side on certain issues.
We can expect the entertainment infantry to pressure Berman into the IP slot. And of course he will comply. You don't want to piss of the puppet masters.
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DOH!!!!!
I want Rick Boucher to be frikkin' President. It's too damn bad he won't likely end up as the chair of the IP committee.
Maybe we should take up a collection to bribe Berman not to take the spot.... But, no, we aren't going to be outspent by the starving, being-driven-out-of-business-by-file-sharing moving companies.
-Rob
Politics yes, but is the IP protection of movies and music a public health issue?
Overly restrictive IP laws in fact are a great global public health threat. One of the items that the Busheviks were forcing on Thailand in negotiations for the bilateral Free Trade Agreement was enforcement of US IP laws and drug patents in Thailand. This of course was heavily opposed by the public health sector and AIDS advocates in Thailand as it would halt cheaper medicines reaching those in need, who would probably die at US prices.
(as a side note, the FTA with Thailand has been sidelined for a bit since the tycoon Prime Minister of Thailand faced his own curtailment of executive powers recently.)
Lisa, only if they put a V-chip on the movie and hard core game industry. Nope, this election moved my group of yo-yo's out and put the lefty yo-yo's in. As I said before we cant afford public healthcare and be comptetive, the unemployment rate is 4.2 now, the minimum wage hike will make us less competitive and put more ethnic uneducateds out of work, the living wage initiative will pass in many cities and goat rope the US and then they will blame who? Hey I am not happy the way things came out. I wanted my Reaganites to get in there and knock the Roves out of the way but its not going to be healthy for our business environment. Bad business means no jobs and that is FAR more dangerous than no healthcare. Its okay though, the lefties are in charge and we are going to make sure that the shoe goes onto that foot very, very tight when they do make a decision.
Remember, the total number of votes that changed the election by todays total was less than one million. Its like Clinton when he won calling it "a mandate from the people". Most of the races were decided by less than 25,000 votes on average. Good job by the Democrats on getting the vote out. Yep LIsa, there are the lefties that think that this is a public health issue. I do too. Its going to bring to light that we cant afford it and social security and entitlements any longer. Its going to be the catch issue in the next election. Who in Hell thinks that some kid on an X-box is going to be able to support 12 people on the dole 10 years from now. They are going to tax the living crap out of them and that alone will ensure that inflation is runaway. Good luck to them. The only thing that the Republicans had to offer was the economy this time around. it wasnt enough. It will be a good carrot in two years when the unemployment is rising like a rocket.
Wont be able to blame Bushevik on that one.
Lisa....Minnesota has an opening for a state epidemiologist as of next month.
Erm, are you sure you wanna use the word 'wanker', its quite rude, besides, this place normally comments on more worthy matters. What gives?
Lisa: Copyright is a barrier to scientific information. Patents and licenses are a barrier to doing science and access. It is about removing barriers. It is not just movies.
Adam: Yes, I deliberately used the word wanker, which is now a common internet term (as in "wanker of the day").
Randy: We'll have to see if the new legislators will reverse some of the terrible things your group did (habeas corpus, wiretapping, gutting of public health because all the money goes up in smoke, etc.). If they don't, we'll replace them with more lefties.
One thing for sure that they'll do is print money. I expect that to happen quite quickly and then the interest rates will go up with the money supply. M2 and M3 will be flush from all of the available money and then about 3 or 4 from the swearing in the bill for that will come due and jobs will start to go...farther offshore.
I dont think its going to be a party and I also think the hundred day honeymoon will be cut short. The estimate now is that we will need 12 dollars for each one actually taken in because of entitlements. Those entitlements will account for every dollar. Even if they cut the entire military budget out, this will still leave them about 4 of those short. Raise taxes? Cant on old people, they only have....entitlements!???
Good luck to the Dems. If they kill the economy in new taxes or let the cuts sunset then the economy falls and with the ability to pay in. The squeeze begins in January. It will be very, very interesting to watch. Healthcare? Forget it. Aint going to happen.
Randy: Obviously I have a different view. Unfortunately I don't think the Dems will do what is needed: raise taxes. We pay very low taxes in the US and get very little for it except for subsidies to Halliburton profits, etc. Your guys sent several hundred billion up in smoke that could have done a lot of good. Now we have to pay for that or our children will have to pay. Thaks a bunch.
We all can afford to pay more for taxes. We're paying it anyway in health insurance premiums and user fees and lost services. But you guys are spooking the cowardly dems so they won't do what is needed, raise taxes substantially. Thanks again.
I always get a big laugh at those who say they are willing to pay more taxes. Guess what! You can pay MORE taxes anytime you want. Just send in some extra cash to the IRS with a little note saying you think they need it. I promise they will be glad to accept anything extra you want to send. What??? That wouldn't be fair for you to pay more and others not to! ... All those who say "they" are willing to pay more generally mean they are willing for all those who make more money than they do to pay more taxes...
David: No, not exactly. The purpose for paying more taxes is to do better things. Your guys take our tax money and send it up in smoke. For that, I withhold taxes. If there are things that are worth doing, we'll have to pay for them, which I will gladly do. This administration wants to take my money and gikve it to their buddies.
Randolph, I don't know whether you're serious or if that is some kind of commentary, about the epidemiologist position?
I do have the statistical background for that kind of work but don't have a degree in it to 'prove' it.
Nyah Lisa. It was just informatory about the state bug doctor leaving. Seems he got P.O'd at an employee and assaulted her physically.
The first one was serious as the IP wankers that were put in are worse than my Republican wankers. We wanted to lead the Chinese to the water trough, now they will be forced to drink it by the unions that gave so much support to the Dems. Thats going to equate to the US becoming less and less competitive which results in fewer jobs. Fewer jobs means fewer "income taxes" because it is indeed based on income. No income, no taxes. The balloon begins to burst and by this time next year you will hear that we are headng down into the toilet. Thus, that makes healthcare even MORE likely not to ever appear and MORE likely to be cut as it was here in Tennessee. Simply couldnt afford it as it took up the entire state budget in overruns against projections in just 12 years. Overruns to the tune of one billion dollars per year. Got to have inflow to have outflow. Revere just thinks that we dont pay enough taxes and we dont get much for what we do pay in. So by paying more in, we will be able to just give it to some deserving soul that didnt produce in society or is too stupid to break the cycle(s). There are a lot of cycles out there and they are reving their engines to get back onto the government dole.
You can kiss research money goodbye too as those entitlements suck more and more each and every year out of the vein. One day it will go dry and sooner than later. Revere isnt wrong in his position, it just doesnt fit the reality that most people in this country dont feel that the government should take their money and give it to someone else. Kind of like imminent domain. We re going to take your property to give it to someone else so they can make more tax money for us. Yeah it is an indirect health issue. Long winded and around the corner but we end up back in the same place.
Revere, I am in the 35% bracket and I have yet to get my subsidy.