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Obama Picks RIAA's Favorite Lawyer For Top DoJ Post
The Recording Industry of America's favorite courtroom lawyer, Tom Perrelli, who has sued individual file swappers in multiple federal courts, is President-elect Barack Obama's choice for the third in line at the Justice Department. CNet's Declan McCullagh explores the background of the man who won the RIAA's lucrative business for his DC law firm: "An article on his law firm's Web site says that Perrelli represented SoundExchange before the Copyright Royalty Board — and obtained a 250 percent increase in the royalty rate for music played over the Internet by companies like AOL and Yahoo," not to mention Pandora and Radio Paradise. NewYorkCountryLawyer adds, "Certainly this does not bode well for CowboyNeal's being appointed Copyright Czar."
Everyone start defending this decision.
It sickens me how blinded people are by partisan politics.
Why that @#$%^ #$%^&*^&*() &*()_+ @#$%@@@!!!!! son of a #$%^&*^ ^&&^*()( ^& ^&* () *&!!!
He picked their favorite senator as a running mate.
Badass Resumes
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
Between that and this pick, will all the Slashdot Obama koolaid drinkers who thought he was supposedly pro-tech please stand up and be heard now!
I've said all along that the preZ elect is a Trojan horse. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
I'm popping a big bowl of Orville's best right now.
/.
If Chimpy McBushitler had done this, it'd be business as usual on
But now that his O'ness has done it, I'm looking forward to a really entertaining read.
I don't know if you wanna count this as the first chink in the army but the fact is no-one is flawless. Obama is being surrounded by the same assholes that have been driving this country into the ground for decades. No matter how good his intentions may be, he'll believe his trusted advisers and they will believe the lobbyists, cause they just don't know any better.
How we know is more important than what we know.
This was all that "change" those lifer democrats who hailed him as the 2nd Coming were talking about.
The Democrats have always been fairly cozy with the media industries in particular, so it wouldn't surprise me if Obama is likewise fairly cozy with them.
My question is whether the RIAA stuff is the sum of what this lawyer has done with his career, or if there are other achievements, perhaps more noteworthy. It could be that the lawyer in question is indifferent to the RIAA's ideology and was simply representing them in a professional manner. It definitely doesn't make Obama's pick any less questionable and the lawyer any less scummy, but it would at least assuage my fears that the appointee would be pushing the RIAA's agenda from a position of power.
It could be, that like most lawyers, he doesn't actually believe in the RIAA cause and just wants their money. Murderers and rapists need lawyers that just have to be advocates in court and not true believers in their client's innocence. That being said, when you set your expectations higher than the gutter (especially in politics) there is a chance you'll be disappointed.
...plus c'est pareil...
Slashdot headline:
Obama Picks RIAA's Favorite Lawyer For Top DoJ Post
Original headline:
Obama picks RIAA's favorite lawyer for a top Justice post
Quibbling over a single letter might seem pedantic - and /.'s headline is misleading rather than incorrect - but in this case, that's one very important letter. *sigh* The news lately is like a game of blogger's telephone.
and today Sanjay "I just make crap up about Michael Moore" Gupta, and the RIAA golden boy. Obama is surrounding himself with some pretty interesting characters. Not good.
A vote for Obama is a vot for change.
Yea, right. I can't wait.
Doesn't Lawrence Lessig have Obama's ear? Larry? Now's when ya gotta step up and say something.
And while you're at it, please get the dmca repealed. Thanks.
A nation turns its lonely eye to you...
Let's face it, we weren't going to get slam dunks on every appointment. There are so many ex-Clinton people everywhere that it was foolish to think Hiilary Rosen and her crew weren't going to get into the new Executive. But the silver lining is this: RIAA types are allowed into the discussion, but they don't CONTROL the debate or its terms. Allowing all sides at the table is a very different thing from deciding policy and ideology from on high and mandating that ideology all down the chain of command. The new Administration seems willing to include both progressives and moderates at the table. That means that we aren't going to get purely progressive solutions, but it does bode well for getting solutions. Obama seems intent on stopping the gridlock, and if that means allowing in points of view I vehemently disagree with, that 's fine as long as solid, scientifically-backed reasons and evidence are necessary criteria for policy decisions, not blind adherence to dogma.
The parent is not a troll.
He's right on the mark.
Like the tax collectors in the New Testament, one touch by the Messiah and he will repent his evil ways and thereon lead a life of righteousness.
(Yes, it's flamebait. Burn, Baby, BURN!)
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
I'm sure this will do wonders for Obama's standing with his college age voters.
[/sarcasm]
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Some noble attorneys take lower paying positions as public defenders, or take on cases pro bono to help a political cause. However, many (most?) take cases based on the financial benefits to be gained. Mr. Perrelli is paid by the RIAA to represent them, he doesn't represent them because he hates file sharers or technology. And he's done a pretty good job for his clients, so hopefully he will do a good job for his new client, the DoJ.
"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
The sad part is, I think you struck a nerve. If Bush had done it, oh hell yes we'd hear all about how that eeevil Booosh is taking one more step towards total world domination.
I do wonder how this one is gonna get spun, though...
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
Change!
I can't wait to watch all the hardcore supporters roll back expectations, deny all the claims they made about change, and finally blame the system itself for any failures on the chosen ones part.
And the rest of us who maybe had a little hope for change are just going to be disappointed with more "new boss".
You mad
I'm laughing to myself, because anyone who thought there was going to be serious change in DC was only deluding themselves. Now the truth is becoming apparent, Obama is no different then any other politician except he has a greater personal charisma.
It deeply saddens me that you have chosen to appoint Tom Perrelli to be the third in command at the Justice Department.
This is a man who has represented an organization that has hunted down and victimized children and college students using the legal system as a weapon. He has knowingly and willingly attacked America's supply of future skilled labor, and potential doctors, lawyers, scientists, teachers, and more have all been forced to go into debt to pay off what they have been blackmailed out of.
And all of this was not done in the name of profit, but of control. Proof has been shown that the RIAA has done nothing but lose money by attacking their customer base, calling them pirates and thieves, violating their rights, and leveraging out of court settlements out of families who do not believe that they have what it takes to fight this injustice in court.
The man you have chosen for this position is the wrong choice. Please revert this decision. I and others are deeply afraid of what it means to see you appointing him.
Years ago, I wrote Saint Wellstone that I thought it was ridiculous that I could buy a DVD and be a felon for playing it on a linux machine. The reply I got from Saint Wellstone's office said the DMCA was a great thing and he would vote for it again if he had the chance. Just look at where the money comes from.
So, where's the best place to express our collective disappointment?
Does the guy need a senate confirmation for that job or does that only apply to the US AG?
WHat about that website Obama's been running? Does it have a way to mod this guy down?
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
A nation turns its lonely eye to you...
Woo woo woo...
Guess what? Our government is itself a product of the market system. Cities like New York, London, and San Francisco are successful precisely *because* of their enormous governments--they compete for capital, talent, and prestige against cities with small, ineffectual governments that are unable to effectively lure and corral said capital, talent, and prestige. And as goes the city, so go city-states and nations: Somalia, being a libertarian paradise, is a rather unpleasant place to live for non-ideologues. Somalians, those who can, vote with their feet and leave.
Now go suckle Ayn Rand's rotten tits some more and leave the rest of us alone, you stupid fucking Paultards.
One pair of arms is like another
I don't know why or who's to blame,
I'll go with you or with your brother
It's all the same, it's all the same.
This I have learned:
That when the light's out,
No man will burn with special flame,
You'll prove to me before the night's out,
You're all the same, you're all the same.
So do not talk to me of love,
I'm not a fool with starry eyes,
Just put your money in my hand,
And you will get what money buys!
One pair of arms is like another,
I don't know why or who's to blame,
I'll go with you or with your brother
It's all the same, it's all the same.
Why would I start defending this? I don't like it one bit. I don't want someone who will twist the law working for the DoJ, especially not someone using RIAA tactics.
I plan to complain via change.gov and see if Obama will change his mind. If enough of us do that, he might reverse course.
If only it was productive to laugh when people realize their savior is similar to their enemy. I hate politicians.
I spent so many years thinking McCain was not a Politician. But he let his true colors show really early in the Presidential race, which resulted in me losing most respect for him. I still respect the guy for being a POW, no amount of partisanship can take that away from him.
But has Obama succeeded at hiding his true colors for this long? And if he has, then people will still give him the benefit of a doubt even as contrary evidence piles up. It will become the new winning strategy for decades to come. Winner is the guy(or gal) who can act like not a politician the longest.
Here it is. Right there after the first refrain:
The change, it had to come
We knew it all along
We were liberated from the fold, thats all
And the world looks just the same
And history ain't changed
cause the banners, they are flown in the next war
See? Its there TWICE!
That is a whole lotta change, yes sir...
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
So far the only questionable selection that concerns me.
The RIAA have been misusing the DMCA for the longest period of time. The person that drafted the law even admits that the RIAA is abusing the law.
Now we have a lawyer, however intellectual, that has acted utterly un-smart, being appointed from "a lobbying organization"; which are supposed to be an antithesis to the Obama adminstration.
I mean, really, listen to those videos that made it to the net from those lawyers that were part of the RIAA; those that lobbied to convince law enforcement that copying music is contributory to money laundering. And now you have Obama appointing one of those crazies to an important position.
You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
I find your ideas intriguing and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer, preferably on a leash.
WHat about that website Obama's been running? Does it have a way to mod this guy down?
It is very much different than here on Slashdot.
You get moderator points only once every 4 years.
Everyone gets moderator points at the same time.
You only get 1 moderator point.
It lasts only 1 day (half actually).
You get to moderate posts of only 2 posters.
Rest of those 4 years all your posts are automatically moderated as -1 Overrated+Troll, and nobody reads them.
But if you happen to have shitload of money - you can buy yourself golden undemoteable +5 Insightful+Informative posts.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
..that anyone paying the least bit of attention to national politics for the past x years would seriously think that a high roller product out of the chicago mob politics machine would be anything but bought and paid for, a tool in other words. The O is just another professional political actor, there to soothe some grassroots fanatics and spoon feed them want they want to hear, then when it gets down to business, do the same thing any other mob politician would do, sell out to the highest bidder (or kowtow to the strongest blackmailer).
Free markets favor small businesses because they aren't slow and big...they can actually get the job done. Big businesses benefit greatly from a market that makes it difficult to start a new business.
As of my graduation not too long ago (and continued communication with friends from college), my experience is that 99% of college kids will never even hear of this. Most of them don't know what a DRM is and have never heard of the RIAA.
:-(
In a perfect world, this would have repercussions. I don't think most people will ever hear of the issues involved, much less this appointment and its relevance.
A damp basement stagnant with a combination of undeodorized armpits, sour cream and onion chips, and cheetos where a small 15" TV is hooked up to a greasy VHS deck playing reruns of Sailor Moon and Big O. The whole area, whose size is about 110 feet squared, is dimmly lit by a single incandecent bulb but is overpowered by 6 or so glowing CRTs. The floors are littered with montain dew cans but you can find a single can of diet coke which once meant a 400 lb developer or editor was "trying to lose weight".
On one side of the tiny slashdot basement, which shares a corporate overloard of VA Linux (the ficticious business name for the lead editor's mother) are the editors which spend most of their time leeching stories from Arstechnica and Digg. The editor's work process involves taking submissions and fact checking them against wikipedia. Once a submission is fact checked an editor takes the time to deliberately misspells or entirely mangles the summary while at the same time throwing in a missleading link to a sponsor. This process is entirely time consuming usually taking 4-6 hours per submission since editors use 386DX machines with 4-8MB of ram. This can sometimes explain why articles are posted 72 hours after the rest of the world has read and commented on the subject elsewhere.
The other side of the room are the slashdot developers. There is really only about 2 or 3 developers but their obesity problem allows them to get counted twice and get 2 payroll checks. The working day of a developer involves 15 minutes of javascript and perl programming and 4 hour breaks to watch UFO hunters on Sci Fi. On the perl side of the development, most slashdot developers look at how to get every last bit of performance out of their 1 mySQL server running on a 350 mhz G4 Mac by running an SQL query through a loop for about 150000 times. This often explains why it takes 12-16 minutes to submit a comment on the story pages. Being on the forefront of Web 2.0, many (read 2) of their developers push AJAX to the next level by using xmlhttprequest() to download linux ISOs and store them secretly on the page on every page view creating the illusion that slashdot javascript is actually beneficial to their website.
But did we really have a choice that was not going to advance the interests of the copyright lobby against the public?
Watching Congress, and particularly the Senate, there's not even a question there that RIAA and MPAA folks should be the ones to set policy in this country with regard to copyright. I don't recall any fuss on behalf of individuals or the public in the Senate about, for example, the DMCA or PRO-IP (the former signed by a Democrat, the latter signed by a Republican).
The problem is bipartisan, and anybody attempting to reduce it to partisan terms is, at best, simply not informed.
What makes you think it's broken? Just because the results aren't exactly what you like, doesn't mean that the system is horribly broken.
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
So this is where all the Republicans and Paulites on Slashdot hang out!
>>I'm sure this will do wonders for Obama's standing with his college age voters.
Like he cares. The election is over. The voters have served their purpose and now may be safely ignored for at least 20 months.
a rouge leader, viola, dictatorship!
This choice may be horrendous, but I'm still waiting for some sort of reaction somewhere. Posting angry comments on /. won't change a thing. If you're really THAT deceived, do something about it?
Was I American, I'd be very tempted to do so. Ugh, I was hoping this time the promises weren't empty...
You've gotta hand it to Obama -- the guy's really good! It normally takes a few years to achieve this much scandal but he's not even in office and he has corruption (Blogo's relationship to Chief-of-staff Emmanuael, Bill Richardson, David Rubin), controversial chairmanship appointments (such as this one) AND backpedaling on stated policy (withdraw from Iraq), etc.
That's at least one term's worth of scandal squeezed into a month.
Pass the popcorn, this is going to be entertaining in a can't-look-away-from-the-car-crash sort of way.
I can guarantee you that the votes would have been reversed had Obama lost the primary contest and Hillary been the nominee.
The only reason Hillary voted against the FISA bill was because she could (politically).
Obama is a political pragmatist if nothing else. His campaign didn't want to be painted as soft on terra or hamstringing intelligence efforts by the Repubs in the general.
It's still to early to REALLY know what Obama will do as president. We'll just have to wait and see.
I agree that his vote was pretty repugnant, but I have to believe that he KNOWS that immunity for the teclos is wrong. HE WAS A PROFESSOR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW! I have to believe that he felt this was a situation where the ends justify the means...
(But just you know know, I contributed probably a couple hundred dollars to the Obama campaign - until the FISA vote. That night I went to the ACLU's site and saw the headline "Senate passes telco immunity: ACLU sues", and I became a member. I voted Barr in the general. I want a president that respects the constitution with more than just flowery speeches...)
Firstly, I am not an American, so please forgive me for any mistakes that I am about to make here.
From the outside looking in, at least to myself, it appeared to be more a case of who could amass, and consequently spend, the greater amount of political donations.
I could be wrong here, and I am perfectly willing to accept that, but that is how it appeared to be to me.
Political donations, or more accurately "bribes," (because that is what they are, regardless of what your government tells you) are used during the campaign to pay for speech writers, spin doctors, and also to pay off the media so that they are cast in a favourable light.
Then once the vote has been carried out, and the winner decided, all of those people who have donated substantial amounts of money to the campaign, then start demanding their dues. After all it was they who ensured victory, therefore they should be rewarded for their assistance.
$712M (Banking on becoming President) dollars was spent on the Obama campaign, and you can rest assured that very very VERY little of that was given by your average citizen. So once again, the corporations have elected a president, and now they want something in return.
I know that democracy is "government for the people, by the people," and I believe that that is what the intention was. However in recent times it has wavered from that ideal, and we are all having our freedoms stripped by our governments on the behest of the corporations (lobbyists, etc) who financially support the campaigns of the political parties.
I am not stubborn. I am right!
I can't think of any other president who has been so hounded with criticism before they even take office - including much-hated Bush.
Is it a new trend of accountability for our chief executive? Is it mere racism? I don't know.
But if we're going to be harsher on Obama than we ever were on Bush then it's a bit unfair to say that he's "no different than any other politician". He obviously inspires higher expectations than anyone else. No one batted an eye when Bush, Clinton, Bush Sr., Reagan, Carter, etc. appointed pro-industry people. But when Obama does it it's some kind of massive betrayal.
If you thought Obama was going to be a left-wing radical then you were watching too much Fox News. He's a left-leaning moderate who behaves like a left-leaning moderate. No surprise here.
I'm not defending his choice, but all you nutjobs who are saying "see, he's evil!" need to step back, take a deep breath, and realize that that only people calling Obama "The One" are Oprah (who didn't intend any messianic overtones) and right-wingers trying to cast him as a radical. The rest of us know that he's a politician who represents an incremental improvement over his predecessors but who in no way is going to lead a Bolshevik-style revolution and rewrite the fundamentals of this country.
Hope for Change!
He couldn't describe his Change. Here it comes, but oddly it's already rooted here.
...this is why i voted Nader.
Obama is the most qualified U.S. President ever. He is the best, the brightest, the smartest, and the most good looking. Not only do I defend Obama's choice, I commend him for his outstanding skill and excellent judgment in appointing this very intelligent, talented, superb, and all around very respectable individual for this important post. Kudos to Obama.
See how politics works now?
All right, I'll defend Obama. This really sucks but he's still the right man to be President.
It's pretty darned inconceivable that he was ever going to agree with us on everything. This particular issue is going to be a difficult one for us to win, even with reasonably enlightened political officials. Don't forget that NOBODY voted against DMCA.
I still feel wonderful that Obama's going into office rather than McCain. And you can't seriously believe that McCain was going to help us on electronic freedom issues.
I do hope that EFF, Lessig, etc. raise a platform on this issue that we can help them with.
I'll be in DC, and in front of some politicians and their staffers, next week. I'll be sure to put in a word about this. But that's going to be the first word, not the last.
Bruce
Bruce Perens.
tm
Support TBI Research: http://www.raisinhope.org
I saw this a lot with our fairly recent election in australia and im seeing it here now on slashdot.
The people that vote for 'the messiah' aren't necessarily convinced they are voting for a solution to every problem they ever had..they might just be voting for a guy who finally seems to agree with their way of thinking and might do some good things with the country. Its ok to get excited about that isnt it? I was when we were getting rid of our ultra conservative party in favor of the sortve liberal one here. Obamas probably pretty busy, give him some time to sort out his shit.
dont you people have any faith in anything at all?
that is all
America is now closed due to aids. Yes we can.
I hope y'all are happy. History has a funny way of recording things. Something tells me that in 80 years, Bush will be remembered as being a better president than Obama.
I think alot of people are forgetting that lawyers are lawyers. They are paid to represent and fight whatever battle if someone throws enough money at them, regardless of their personal views on the case, much like mercenaries. I think Obama knows this being a Law Professor, so I'm personally not too worried about this appointment and don't see what the big deal is.
He's at least third worse by my count. Imagine the world right if Ron Paul was President, trying to destroy the Federal Reserve at the exact moment that it is the only thing standing between us and the second Great Depression.
fuck
-Lod
So if you appear to be guilty before the trial, you get a rubbish lawyer, a poor defense, and justice is served!
Thanks for clearing that up.
Interestingly, Lawrence Lessig returns to Harvard Law just a few weeks before Harvard Law dean Elena Kagan is nominated for Solicitor General. How many more will Obama take into his administration?
So was this the change we need? The one everyone was hoping for?
Liberty in your lifetime
> The simple fact that this particular lawyer has had at least one of
> the judges recommend sanctions speaks volumes about just what kind
> of morals they have.
Someone should add this tidbit, with linked evidence, to the guy's Wikipedia article, no? His article reads like a press release right now.
Oh, but for some mod points right now! I grew up in DC... suffice it to say that I generally agree with you. :-\
Cheers,
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
"When you vote, the choice is always between a douche and a turd" [South Park series 8, episode 8]
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities. - Voltaire
And a President's first responsibility is to the US Constitution. But that didn't stop Obama from voting yes on the FISA Reform Bill.
Does it surprise anyone that a politician willing to put politics above the constitution would choose as a DoJ appointee a lawyer who puts client above the court?
I'm still cautiously hopeful for the Obama presidency, but I do not have high expectations. I have yet to see a high level politician put the good of the people above the good of the government. I hope he surprises me, but I don't expect him to.
"Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
... but having grown up in DC, all too close to the stench of the halls of power, and all too cognizant of the squalor prevalent mere blocks away, I am far too cynical to really expect that this might be the case.
May I be proved wrong.
"What in the name of Fats Waller is that?"
"A four-foot prune."
Would take care of his buddies at Coca-Cola if he were to become president?
This "Bush was an oil guy, so he looks out for oil guys" meme is so mindless. These oil people were Bush's competitors for crissakes!
Oh, and Cheney:
1) Have job that pays millions
2) Give it up to earn $200K as VP, be vilified as Darth Vader
3) Profit???
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
Obama had the most liberal voting record in the US Senate according to just about every metric, and got an "F" rating from the NRA. And you, as a gun owner, actually thought he might be on your side? I can see gun grabbers thinking he is great, but there is this search tool known as "Google."
Slashdot "libertarians": Small government for me, big government for those I disagree with. -1, I disagree with you
... that Obama was not the Electoral Messiah and will not change anything significantly for the better. He's one of the same club of Good Old Boys as GWB and John McCain now, regardless of his skin color or where and how he grew up. He is part of the controlling power structure that wants to preserve its control, both for itself and the hands that feed it. Mark my words, there will be more disappointments like this for those people delusional enough to buy into campaign bullshit.
Go ahead, mod me down you Obama-lovers... you know you must to preserve the delusion a little bit longer.
(Disclaimer: I am not a Democrat. Unfortunately for the conspiracy nuts, neither am I a Republican nor a Libertarian (*puke*) nor a Green nor a Constitutionalist nor even an Independent... I'm an independent with a lower-case "i". Groupthink disgusts me and I'm immune to it because of a neurological "disorder". I do happen to be Caucasian, though.)
Dear Americans,
You didn't like RIAA abusing the Law to make profits out of filesharers by suing families, kids and dead people. You ask for a change. You've got it.
Now RIAA makes the law. God bless america.
(Not that voting the other candidate would have help, but a least you would expect it from a Republican... Anyway that's nice to know that you have a kind of security: either party you vote won't make your interests).
It's quite amazing that this story should come as a surprise considering that the USA is a police state par excellence.
It's time to shake the delusions that you live in a free society and take back YOUR power.
Electing a man, even an obama man, isn't the path to freedom. It's just another guy to be emperor for the next few years.
Alter the system. Go back to the roots. Take back your rights from those usurpers who usurped them.
Say no to government in all it's evil and vile forms.
Say no to state sponsored terrorism in your country.
this is posted by kdawson. You really expected it to be impartial? The guy only posts anti-copyright anti-content producer, pro-piracy bullshit.
Its like digg, but pretending to be for grown-ups.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2994
Good Luck.
No.
They said he was a lot better than Bush.
... guess.
Hint: starts with 'O'
this is why I didnt vote for Obama. His first signs of having zero interest in bringing positive change was when he boldly lied about his position on the wiretapping and telecoms. He claimed up until the day of the bill being signed that he would not sign it and that the telecoms should be punished.
When it came down to it, he voted in favor of their immunity.
That's when he lost my vote.
I didnt vote democrat or republican either.
There are two important things in politics:
1) Money
2) And I forgot what the second one was...
The Tao that can be named is not the Tao
Where is your "change" now, bitches?!??! Looking more and more "hope"less every day isn't it?
I thought it was obvious that Lawyers and litigation was a favorite of liberal politicians? That coupled with the love-affair that Hollywood and the Entertainment Business has with the president elect, this really should come as no surprise. If you vote for a rockstar, don't be surprised when the rockstar's legal team joins him on the ticket. (Shrug.)
http://www.beanleafpress.com
The economy was already reeling from the dot-com crash. 9/11 was an excuse to spin-up the military machine. Without the war, the recession would have been much worse.
The military is,after all, the biggest welfare program in the USA.
Of course, those bills still need to be paid. Have lots of kids and hope they fall in a bad tax bracket.
I'd rather you do it wrong, than for me to have to do it at all.
The politicians aren't the ones who end up in the furnaces. It's whatever minority can be used as scapegoats.
No good deed goes unpunished. - Avon, Blake's 7
"For Obama, 47 percent of money raised has come from individuals who have donated $200 or less, while 27 percent has come from persons who have donated $2,300 or more."
http://www.factcheck.org/askfactcheck/what_is_the_average_size_of_obamas.html
good grief! noooooo.........
He lied to me, there is no change. Every pick is the same old same old. Now this one? Remember the post is department of "Justice", how has this lawyer server "Justice". Is it "justice" to charge some 90 year old lady 250,000, because a neighbor kid hopped on her wifi and download 10 songs. Admit it, we were all fooled, if I could do it again I would pick McCain and probably at least 10% of you would too. The only ones who wouldn't are so gone it is silly. I am so fuming now, one pick after the other. How are they different than what Hillary woudl have chosen, except she would have had the brains not to pick this one.
Obama had the most liberal voting record in the US Senate according to just about every metric
See, that I just don't buy. It makes a good soundbite but are you really going to tell me that Obama has a more liberal voting record than the self-described socialist? More liberal than Russ Feingold? These types of soundbites don't really contribute anything to the political discourse and I tend to tune them out.
and got an "F" rating from the NRA. And you, as a gun owner, actually thought he might be on your side?
I wasn't a gun owner until a friend of mine pointed out the hypocrisy in my position of shouting at the top of my lungs (1st amendment) on just about every issue while not bothering to exercise my 2nd amendment rights. My main motivation for getting a gun at this point is to exercise that right (rights not exercised will eventually cease to be rights). This also stuck out in my mind as a pretty compelling argument for gun ownership and reminded me of events in our own country where the police did nothing while innocent people were being murdered.
For what it's worth I'm now a convert to gun rights and will be doing my utmost to speak in favor of this issue and vote it at the ballot box in the future. I'm also going to try and bring some friends into the shooting sports. What else can you do?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Obama is a total corporate hooker. He selected a monsanto poster child for department of agriculture. An RIAA poster boy for the copyright courts. A lying talking head for surgeon general. Every cabinet position is basically filled with a corporate criminal with a long history of doing everything possible bad for people and families, and good for corporate bottom lines. The only reason the 5 media companies that run every tv station, book publisher, and newspaper (viacom, aol/time, bertelsmann, disney, news corp) picked him as president is exactly that.
He's already totally bent over for the oil companies, and that was a major part of his campaign!!!
Both parties (D & R) are completely contrary to the will of the people, and are actively promoting prescription meds and media lies to keep the populace too stupid to realize whats going on. They are ruining human lives, families, and also destroying the environment we rely on to survive, while feeding us cancerous toxins and dumbing down our schools.
It's been this way since they killed JFK. It's been all down hill and anti-everything good in the world since that day to this, and will be till Americans arm themselves and take the power back with violence.
But it will never happen because the corporations have made us all too stupid, lazy, sick, and comfortable to even realize what the fuck is going on.
Buy a gun and set fire to something corporate. There's really no alternatives left.
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
...that you voted for that bastard.
...of the DMCA, MPAA, RIAA, and the Hollywood/Entertainment Industry complex.
But I doubt hardly anybody here has the courage and strength to pull it off.
And that strategy would only take one year.
For one solid year:
Of course, the vast majority does not have the guts or the willpower to comply with any of this, but if a nationwide concerted effort could be sustained for just one single year, it would impact the evil entertainment machine irreversably in our favor.
Yes, I admit my fix fails at grammar. Sorry, where's the edit post feature!? Yar
-Stu
Well there was a Supreme Court case that upheld private gun rights, so I don't think we'll have to worry until new Supreme Court justices are appointed. If Obama gets to appoint new SC justices, then they might have a chance at ramming threw more onerous gun control laws.
And New York, Chicago, DC, etc, are all now saying, "Fuck the Supreme Court of the United States. How dare those bastards have the gall to think they can try to tell us what we can and cannot do. Fuck them."
You see, those govts abide only by the Constitution, Federal Laws and Supreme Court decisions, when it pleases them to do so, and only when it benefits them, but whenever it opposes their tyrannical desires, they consider the Constitution and SCOTUS to have zero authority over them.
Yes, I'm sure an armed mob of half-trained civilians would have solved columbine SO much better than the police.
So I'm missing your point.
From Wikipedia:
"In 1997, Perrelli left Jenner & Block to join the Department of Justice and served as counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno. He subsequently rose to Deputy Assistant Attorney General, supervising the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division, which represents virtually every federal agency in complex civil litigation. In that role, Perrelli led a staff of 100 attorneys charged with defending the constitutionality of federal statutes, defending federal agency action and regulations, representing the diplomatic and national security interests of the United States in courts of law, and conducting significant Title VII, personnel and social security litigation.
Perrelli also supervised the Justice Department's Tobacco Litigation Team in its litigation against the major cigarette manufacturers. In addition, he played a leading role on significant policy issues ranging from medical records privacy and the use of adjusted figures in the census to Indian gaming and legal ethics."
"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
Seriously, this is the real world after all.
The prez is always going to be eyebrow deep in mire and will be forced to do unpopular and ugly things to perpetuate the interests of the nation, but most importantly, he has some intellect and character this go-round.
He's not going to fix your problems. He's just going to steer the ship while looking out a little further towards the horizon, for what that's worth.
Great point. Following from that and off-topic, it just made me think: in English, I guess the definite article is implicit.
So how would languages without an indefinite article make this same suggestion/distinction? It seems kind of important to distinguish "Comrade Stalin made top general disappear" -- "Stalin made a top general disappear" vs "Stalin made the top general disappear"
Linguists/Rooskies?
Change, from bad, to worse. That man isn't even in office yet and he's already making bad choices. Lets see if the chosen one's followers will accept responsibility for electing him or quietly disavow him. I can't count the number of people that had the local paper frame with the big title CHANGE as the head line. Now out of 12 friends who had it proudly displayed, none have it up anymore. One appointment after another and the truth comes out. We never had a choice when it came to change, we were given two crooks to choose from and didn't have the balls as a nation to pick a third party.
We get the government we deserve, and we deserve little if anything anymore..
Real change starts in the mirror and we as a nation are cowards, more concerned about picking a winner then voting our hearts.
Don't blame me, I voted Constitutional this year.
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
Since the game of guilt by association is over for Obama, let's play a game of guilt by appointment! Oh no he's appointed people we don't like! Boooh!!
You just got troll'd!
Since there isn't a "-1, stupid" you were well modded.
The only difference between Democrats and Republicans is which corporations they choose to support in the corporate's efforts to screw the American populace. Look at Illinois Governor Rod Pottymouth (D) and US President George Dufus (R). Both are political hacks, far from statesmen, who appointed incompetent cronies to top positions in their respective governments. Blago has shown himself to be the more dishonest of the two, or at least, more prone to being caught.
That said, so far (until this appointment) IMO Obama's choices have been sound. Third in line at the Justice Dept is a lot better than first in line at any department.
And since the guy's a lawyer, and lawyers are supposed to represent their clients to the best of their ability, perhaps this guy was just doing his job even though he didn't like it. And maybe he wasn't all that gung-ho about it, which perhaps is why the RIAA hasn't won a single case (discounting all the extorted money they got from settlements).
At least he's third and not first in line, and even if he were first, he's GOT to be better than "torture is legal" Gonzales.
I'm still disappointed in this pick, but like I said, it could have been worse. He could have appointed him Attorney General. Hell, he could have appointed Cary Sherman.
Free Martian Whores!
In what respect is this choice *in* the perspective of the proverbial 'change' that Os^Hbama advertised? I see nothing but 'old boys', at least coming from the established lobbying areas of the USA government. No unknowns, no `small` people, no 'differing' people. No change at all from my perspective. It's just another side of the same dollar.
I hate to point out the obvious, but he's RIAA's favourite lawyer, not RIAA's favourite lobbyist. That means he doesn't necessarily give two shits about RIAA and its "cause", nor does he have a conflict of interest. If being RIAA's favourite lawyer means anything, it's that he's a good lawyer.
You just got troll'd!
Yes, I'm sure an armed mob of half-trained civilians would have solved columbine SO much better than the police.
Most gun owners wouldn't advocate trying to "solve" problems like Columbine. They would advocate for the victims of an attack such as that to have had the ability to defend themselves. Columbine is a unique situation since most of the victims were underage but imagine if one of the VA Tech victims (or a teacher at Columbine) had been armed and able to defend themselves instead of waiting to be murdered?
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Do you have any references, or even verifiable assertions, to back that up?
I'd say its safer to chalk it up to a mistake rather than make this into some sort of witch hunt.
But witch hunts are more fun! I got my torch and my pitchfork and everything! :(
Look everyone, nobody could confuse the words armor and army in their mind while rushing to type a post before their boss comes around the corner! He's a racist, burn him!!!
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
Obama is wonderful. He's taken an unethical lawyer and made an honorable public servant out of him. Why are you against honorable public service?
-Loyal
I aim to misbehave.
I know millions of people breathed as sigh of relief on the night of November 4th, 2008, thinking that with the election of Obama, somehow the world would be come a safer and freer place. (At the same time that another few million people were stocking up on guns, mind you)
Face it: those millions are going to be very disappointed.
Whether you're one of the Disappointed, or one of the ones buying guns while there's still a 2nd amendment, you might want to check the link in my .sig
Part of the Second American Revolution!
...Republicans, I'm always surprised at the eagerness with which Republican Party office-holders and bureaucrats rush to turn the wish-lists of the RIAA and MPAA into law.
...imagine Jack Thompson was tapped for that position...?
Now that you voted him in...you must love who he's picking.
I would guess that in Wikipedia the balance of power would be more even than in most other places. If the guy's staffer starts a sanitizing edit war, there's the whole arbitration process, etc., which is set up for this kind of situation.
I'm not claiming that the change will necessarily be accepted in the end, but if no one tries, for sure nothing will happen.
She is not a power-driven career politician. Most of the nominees had been working on their political career for decades, constantly maneuvering and making the connections to attain more power. Obama and Clinton are perfect examples of this. For Palin politics is more something she fell into out of necessity because she wanted to change things for the better in her town. Holding office was the best way to do it, and thinks kind of ran from there.
She is not beholden to party. She has made her career exposing the corruption of those in her own party and then taking their place in office. She is a perfect complement to McCain to start the cleanup of Washington corruption.
This is the EXACT opposite of Obama, who is his party's lapdog. Generally in this country the Democratic party is owned by the entertainment industry, among others. This appointment is Obama doing the bidding of his masters at the behest of those who control the purse strings. It is the equivalent of Bush putting those with oil interests in charge of energy-related policy.
I'm going to buy a couple of dozen Sony CDs tonight.
Doing otherwise is racist.
http://change.gov/page/content/contact/
...and as Hollywood is Big Business, Republicans are also pro-Hollywood.
...if you were a complete moron who's trying to have his own set of facts to back up his opinions.
It normally takes a few years to achieve this much scandal but he's not even in office and he has corruption (Blogo's relationship to Chief-of-staff Emmanuael
Ah, the "associations" bullshit again. Emanuel was a prominent congressman from Illinois - and Blago was the governor of Illinois. OF COURSE there will have been times when they have talked. Even Fox says there was only one conversation between them on the subject of Obama's replacement to the Senate.
Bill Richardson
Withdrew his name for consideration as he came under investigation. What's your point?
David Rubin
Who donated money to Richardson in an alleged pay-to-play scheme...which is Obama's fault how, exactly?
AND backpedaling on stated policy (withdraw from Iraq), etc.
Just how stupid are you, really? Obama's position on Iraq has been nothing but consistent: a flexible withdrawl over the course of 16 months.
If you want to bitch about Obama, there are plenty of substantive criticisms to make - his FISA flip flop, having his head up Israel's ass, picking the bigoted Rick Warren to be a part of his inauguration - without having to make dumb shit up.
That was a short honeymoon; Obama is not even elected yet and it is over.
"Despise" the rich? How does that goes with giving indirect of DOJ to a human right abusing, corrupt, cares about nothing Corporation which just keeps extorting money out of random people just for their own good? Thanks a lot asshole.
To those that think the president is the end all be all, read the constitution.
His mandate is over the military and approving or denying congressional bills.
It was president Bush who issued hundreds of signing statements when he signed bills. And he also the president who believes in the Unitary executive theory, giving all the power to the president. His actions speak quite loudly.
This is not the first or only time they have blamed Bush for failures that were actually someone elses responsibility.
He wanted all the power he gets all the blame.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
and less freedom.
Come now, there's no need to bring the 2004 election into this, leave it in the past where it belongs.
History repeats itself.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
The only thing that can fix our country is education. For instance, a good start might be educating everyone about why democracy [lexrex.com] is evil, and not something that we want more of.
To use Winston Churchill's quote, "democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others". And anarchy won't work either.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
The Democrats have always been fairly cozy with the media industries in particular, so it wouldn't surprise me if Obama is likewise fairly cozy with them.
It was a Republican dominated FCC board that allowed mass media to increase it's ownership in local media from 35% to 45%.
My question is whether the RIAA stuff is the sum of what this lawyer has done with his career, or if there are other achievements, perhaps more noteworthy
And it's a good question. Wiki has a page on Thomas J. Perrelli but there's not much there. Here's more, what I found interesting was that the entertainment industry contributed $7,669,442 to the Obama campaign. The American Prospect has more as well.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
I don't think it's the public at large that's going after tobacco companies but a vocal minority.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Isn't everything the government does ultimately due to pressure from one vocal minority or another?
Yeap, like the copyright extension.
Government takes action when a vocal minority convinces them something will benefit the public at large.
But they don't benefit the public sometimes, should as copyright extensions. All they benefited was copyright holders.
The public at large rarely speaks with one voice.
On the invasion of Iraq the majority did speak with one voice, against the invasion. But it happened anyway. That's one reason I prefer small government, small government may not have had the resources to support the invasion.
Falcon
PS, I used copyright extensions because of another discussion I'm having about copyrights.
Should there be a Law?
If the president and constitution are in conflict (torture, warrantless searches, etc) which one do you side with? Even if you don't think the president has done anything unconstitutional since you swore your oath, which one comes first?
[Begin Rant Here]
While Obama dose seem to have made a bad choice for a DOJ representative, it's quite encouraging to note that he has put a pro-net-neutrality guy up for the FCC's top spot.
http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/01/13/obama-fcc.html
It ticks me off to no end, those who run into a speed bump and act like they've been hit by a roadside bomb. ;-), it's only natural that IP takes a back seat for the moment being.
Besides, cut the guy some slack, he has a very full agenda. There's not one topic that he hasn't promised direct action on, so he has to prioritize! The economy, Iraq, National Security and getting that old man smell out of the oval office are probably the most pressing maters at hand to him right now
I for one am just glad that reinstating net-neutrality's on his shortlist:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/29/obama-promises-to-reinsta_n_70317.html
Four (maybe 8) years are a long time, and your already drawing conclusions on him at -1 week. I know that hope is an unfamiliar emotion to you tin-foil-hat-wearing cellar dweller's, but don't give up on it *this* easy. :-P