Democrats Appoint RIAA Shill For Convention

An anonymous reader sends us to Boing Boing for a report that "the Director of Communications for the RIAA, Jenni Engebretsen, has been appointed Deputy CEO for Public Affairs for the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Denver." The DNC site has the official press release. Cory Doctorow notes that the RIAA is the most hated "corporation" in America, having beaten out Halliburton and Wal-Mart for the honor, and writes for the DNC's attention, "This represents a potential shear with the left-wing blogosphere."

Comments

So does this mean

[Anonymous Coward]

That when I vote Republican, they'll sue my neighbor and her kids?

I just entered a maddox-like rage...

[Jeian]

... at the mention of the term "blogosphere".

Re:I just entered a maddox-like rage...

[AdmiralWeirdbeard]

FUCK. THE. BLOGOSPHERE.
There. I said it.
It had to be said.

What a self important bunch of wankers. Nothing about the concept of a blog is derserving of its own ism or sphere. Its just a website. Ever hear about what's happening in the Shoppingsiteosphere? Or the OnlineNewsosphere?
No.
You know why? because those particular areas of the Internets are created and staffed by professionals, who dont need to go around inventing self-aggrandizing titles for themselves.
The ability so sign up for a Blogger account and blabber on about whatever the fuck you want in no way designates you as worthy of buzzword-creation rights. Fuck off and give the rest of us a break. Isnt there a coffee shop you should be posing at with your MacBook Pro or something? I think there is.

And before all you /.'ers who link to your blog in you sig mod me down, which you're going to do, clearly and deservedly. Think about it a second. You want people to read your stuff, right? thats all well and good, but is your own specialness worth elevating some inane documenting of some asshat's daily lives to the same level as decent writing, literature, or real journalism? I certainly the fuck dont think so.

So there's my .02
Now feel free to continue modding me down as flamebait or troll because i cussed at you, and because you're *really* that special.

Wow

[C_Kode]

Can you say, "I'M DUMB AS A STUMP" (Yes; in all caps)

I'm a political party needing the general population to vote for me, but I'm going to have the most hated company by the general population represent my party by letting them running the show.

Lets just tattoo a giant "L" on their forehead...

Re:Wow

[ArcherB]

Although I would hope that there would be more democrats than republicans who would support consumer rights over corporate profits, I don't expect to see any progressive entertainment legislation anytime soon, if ever. There is just too much influence in our fourth branch of government to enact any meaningful change. Meet the new boss... same as the old boss.

Am I the only one that notices when an anti-republican or anti-Bush article is posted, most of the replies focus on how evil Republicans/Bush/Rove are, but when an anti-democrat article is linked, the closest thing to criticism is "both parties suck!"

I'm getting jaded with gov't and politics...

[Astro Dr Dave]

Unsurprising; both parties are in the pockets of corporate interests, anyway. I hope there is a backlash over this.

Shill?

[Profane MuthaFucka]

I do not think that word means what the author of that blurb thinks it means.

They didn't hire a shill. They just hired someone who used to work for the RIAA. Big deal. The Pope used to work for Hitler too, but it's not relevant work experience.

Re:Shill?

[Swift Kick]

What a delightfully interesting comment.

Using that line of reasoning, one could then say the same about Cheney and Haliburton's past relationship when he became a part of the administration:

"He's not a Haliburton guy. He just used to work for them. Big Deal."

Your comment is actually not that uncommon. You will see similar comments whenever there's any hint that a person affiliated with a political organization has a less-than-acceptable prior 'relationship record'.
However, you'll see a lot more leniency when the comments are being made about someone in the democrat/leftist/liberal camp.

Now you understand the double standard that exists in general when reporting political relationships depending on which political party you're referring to at the time.

not to late

[Lumpy]

to vote libertarian.

you know the Lib party is pretty sound once you get past the "smoke pot" platform. and honestly I firmly believe that because they push that platform so hard is why nobody even thinks of jumping ship from republican or democrat to Libertarian.

I personally like their ideals and goals, and for the most part they do make sense in every aspect if you sit and listen to them.

too bad 90% of americans are baying sheep that are to cowardly to vote for a 3rd party.

Just Ask Howard Dean

[Slashdot Parent]

Just ask Howard Dean how much influence the "left-wing blogosphere" wields in terms of getting their darling elected.

Re:Article is flamebait

[twd]

Hitler would have said that, if he had had a blog.

Re:They suck, yeah.

[morgan_greywolf]

This sucks, but what are we going to do? Vote Republican?
No thanks.

It might interest you to know that there are more than 70 political parties in the United States.

Re:I stopped reading

[Slashdot Parent]

I stopped reading when I saw "blogosphere"...

"Blogosphere" was the last word in the writeup, so you stopped reading at the last word.

Way to stick it to the man.

Re:When will people learn

[Captain Splendid]

Democrats!=liberal. The sooner everybody realizes this, the sooner we can actually have a liberal party in the US.

Re:could this affect the /. crowd?

[GMFTatsujin]

I'd say, "Let's have a Slashdot poll," but I'm afraid I'd wake up in 2009 to find Cowboy Neal laughing his ass off from behind the podium ...

How many butterflies would I have to stomp on to keep that from happening?

Re:They suck, yeah.

[fossa]

And yet, you control but a single, insignificant vote. What have you got to lose? We can't even count accurately enough for a single vote to be significant should a large election come down to it.

Re:What did you expect?

[pallmall1]

Birds of a feather...

No doubt. And all we ever hear from the democrats is "Bush is syping ... Bush is eavesdropping .. Bush is monitoring financial transactions ..," ad nauseum. And now, when the democrats sell out to the RIAA -- who want the legal right to impersonate people to obtain personal information in order to extort money, the RIAA that spies on people and whose members condone the use of rootkits to bug personal computers, the RIAA that wants to control all means of distributing any audio content in any form -- what will we hear from the two-faced hypocrites that claim to be the defenders of free speech and personal privacy?

Not a fucking thing.

Re:What did you expect?

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad the truth gets modded down. Senator Fritz Hollings, aka Senator Disney, is a Democrat.

The DMCA was signed into law by Bill Clinton, a Democrat.

There's a tax on blank CD media in Canada - passed by liberals.

You'd think the self-professed "smart people"* who vote for "smart candidates"** would realize this. But they don't, because they're nothing more than sheep being led to slaughter.



* who are actually just stupid liberals who have less intelligence than a mildly retarded squirrel
** dumbasses like John Kerry (C+!) and Al Gore (flunked out)

Re:They suck, yeah.

[goldspider]

Guess what? They won't ever have a chance of winning if nobody votes for them.

Thanks for being part of the problem.

Re:Wait... What?

[Deagol]

Wait, so you're advocating the libertarian party... and you don't even believe people have the right to use whatever recreational drugs they want? It just seems like if you're going to be pro-personal freedom, the War on Drugs would be the first thing you'd want to get rid of, not the last.

Yes, but the poster's point was that a pro-drug stance shouldn't be the first thing to tout while on the stump. There are many more "pro-personal freedom" stances that are far more palatable to liberals and conservatives alike than "free the weed, dude".

Re:What did you expect?

[jmorris42]

> Birds of a feather...

The original poster got modded troll but there is truth in it. The Democrats need the net crazies like Kos and Moveon. But they equally need the big sacks of filthy cash that they can raise from Hollywierd and drug addled rock stars. They are betting that dealing in the RIAA will bring in enough cold hard cash to offset the negative effects from some disgruntled netheads. After all, what are they going to do, vote for a Republican? They might donate less, but who cares when you have huge sacks of money and when the race gets serious does anyone really believe Kos & Co. won't be fired up and frothing at the mouth to destroy "Evil Republicans!"?

Same sort of cold calculation that makes both parties pay lots of lip service to core groups but dis em in their quest for the magical middle. Rove totally broke with that in '04 and by concentrating more on getting his base out pulled out a win, but 'everyone' realizes now that stategy is dangerous and probably won't work too many times.

So now we all go back to courting the 'middle.' And by middle it is generally understood we mean the clueless nitwits who know nothing about politics, policy, issues or any of that stuff. No, they want telegenic, charismatic people who talk in platitudes. So we on the road to getting an Empty Suit vs. a TV star.

Re:They suck, yeah.

[ComputerizedYoga]

Wasn't it Clinton who signed the DMCA into law? And remember those awful things he tried to do to crypto? Key escrow and whatnot?

The democrats are just as much panderers to corporate interests and net stupidity as the republicans are. No more, no less. Both parties are drifting, and it's not right or left, it's just downhill.

Free speech is neither a right-wing nor a left-wing value. It's simply a value.

Re:What did you expect?

[Anonymous Coward]

Amen, friend. Anyone with a bit of patriotism and American sprit left in them should VOTE LIBERTARIAN!

Re:Article is flamebait

[UbuntuDupe]

And it's off
01 Sept 39_____posted by: Adolf

Well, our tanks rolled into Poland today, and let me tell you, it went even better than I thought it would. Got a bunch of military stuff to handle tonight, so I can't post much for a few days, but it let me just say, I expect a lot more Vaterland and a lot less Juden, if you know what I mean ;-)

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Perhaps we should have given him Luxembourg too... posted at Peace with Honor

Big Democrats are VERY Pro-Big Media

[algae]

A while back, I complained to my Senator, Diane Feinstein about how the Broadcast flag would cut into time-shifting and other fair use rights, and that it was basically corporate welfare to preserve a flagging industry in the face of a changing environment. Here's the response I got:

Thank you for writing to me about the digital broadcast flag. I appreciate hearing from you.

I feel strongly that we must prevent the theft of copyrighted works, and that includes digital television (DTV) programming. As we move forward in the digital age, it is increasingly easy for unauthorized copies of copyrighted works to be made and illegally distributed. Over-the-air digital content is the easiest to pirate.

As we contemplate the use of new technologies to protect copyrighted works, we must pay careful attention to ensure that a balance is struck between competitive protections and individual consumer interests. It is important to allow for the continued fair use of copyrighted material, even while we seek to stop unauthorized reproductions from being illegally distributed outside the home and over the Internet.

Again, thank you for writing. Please know that as the Senate considers legislation of the broadcast flag, I will be sure to keep your views in mind.

Diane Feinstein is what I call a DINO - Democrat in Name Only. She's pro-drug war, pro big media, anti-consumer rights, and is a socially conservative fiscal liberal. Her and Joe Lieberman give progressives a bad name.

fuck em all.

[Pojut]

When are you people going to wake up? We aren't republican or democrats, we are Americans. Instead, we split ourselves along an arbitrary party line that single handedly fucks up EVERYTHING.

It is my strong belief that we need to abolish the two-party system as it stands. maybe if we stopped putting letters after people's names, the masses would listen to what they have to actually say, rather than what "side" they say they are on.

Fuck that. Fuck all of you who vote republican OR democrat.

What you have done to our country disgusts me.

Re:What did you expect?

[malkir]

To reiterate, the fact that the Democrats are way way better than Republicans doesn't excuse this kind of shit. "The fact" haha. I'm sure glad you're not a stereotypical elitist democrat.