The new American business model

chickenguide.jpg

(Via arstechnica)

A well-known American photographer has now sued Getty Images and other related companies—she claims they have been wrongly been selling copyright license for over 18,000 of her photos that she had already donated to the public for free, via the Library of Congress.The photographer, Carol Highsmith, is widely considered to be a modern-day successor to her photographic idols, Frances Benjamin Johnston and Dorothea Lange, who were famous for capturing images of American life in the 19th and 20th centuries, respectively.

Inspired by the fact that Johnston donated her life’s work to the Library of Congress for public use in the 1930s, Highsmith wanted to follow suit and began donating her work "to the public, including copyrights throughout the world," as early as 1988.
According to the lawsuit, Highsmith's gift continues “to the present” as she continues to take new photographs.

[SNIP]

According to the suit, Getty and its affiliates have not only sold unauthorized licenses of Highsmith’s photos, but they have sent threatening letters to people that they believe have infringed the copyright. 

One of those recipients was Highsmith’s own non-profit group, the This is America! Foundation. The copyright enforcement entity, License Compliance Services, demanded $120 in payment. LCS is believed to be connected to Getty Images, which has developed a reputation for aggressively pursuing claimed license fees over alleged afoul publication.

So this is how it works in our "Free Market" system. Basically, it's not wrong to rip people of as long as no one catches you. This is the same shit the "patent trolls" try to pull. They create nothing and then charge people for it.

I hope Getty gets destroyed by this. It couldn't happen to a nicer thief!

Quote for the Day (Get Used to It Division)

“I am America. I am the part you won’t recognize. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky, my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.” - Muhammad Ali

Rest in peace, Muhammad.

Happy Day of Stuffing (Your Face)

(VIA Daily Funnies)

The 2nd Amendment is More Powerful Than the 7th Commandment

People's right to bear arms always seems to be more important than people's right to expect not to be killed. Or that their kids not get killed in school. Andy Borowitz sums it up, as usual.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) – Americans who are opposed to being shot, a constituency that has historically failed to find representation in Washington, are making a new effort to make its controversial ideas heard in the nation’s capital. 

“When you bring up the idea of not wanting to be shot with members of Congress, there’s always been pushback,” Carol Foyler, founder of the lobbying group Americans Opposed to Being Shot, said. “Their reaction has been, basically, ‘Not being shot: who’s going to support something like that?’” 

Foyler, however, believes that the right to not be shot, much like women’s right to vote, the right to same-sex marriage, and other rights that were deemed controversial in their day, may be an idea whose time has finally come. 

“For years, we’ve been talking about the right to not be shot and people have been looking at us like we’re out of our minds,” she said. “But recent polls show that a vast majority of Americans, in fact, do not want to be shot.” 

While Foyler and other anti-being-shot activists believe that Washington may finally be receptive to their radical ideas, Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice-president of the National Rifle Association, is doubtful. “People who don’t want to be shot are a very narrow interest group,” he said.

Good Dog

Keystone Progress Daily Funnies .: Far Left Side, July 26, 2015

Our country has lost its mind and its principles

America uses torture, report confirms. So what values are we protecting? Is it the same ones we are now subverting? Russell Brand nails it again:



How much torture is too much? How about ANY???

Sad "State of Affairs"

I tried to slog through the premiere of "State of Affairs" on the DVR last night, but it was impossible to make it through. I enjoy "The Blacklist" (James Spader is AMAZING in that show), and this one is holding the same time slot for a few months. I watched about a third of it, and it's descent into jingoist pro-unfettered intelligence community powers  finally got to me.

Wrapping oneself in the flag
couldn't get any more literal . . . .

Such propaganda, embodied in "24"'s pro-torture plot lines, is part of what is making the surrender of our freedoms possible. The "ticking time bomb" urgency that says any means can be used to "save lives" (or corporate assets) is morally disgusting and ethically repugnant. Yet "24" style scenarios were presented in Congressional hearings as justification for "enhanced interrogation" techniques like water-boarding. These are fictional (and poorly conceived, however stylish they may look) television shows,
NOT documentaries. Having another show to mine this territory is terrible. We cannot protect the principles of freedom and limits on law enforcement which this country was founded on by forsaking them. And shows like "State of Affairs" soften up the American citizenry for just such an end.

I hope this show dies a quick and merciful death, though not at the hands of the C. I. A. assassins it tries to make heroes out of.

A letter from our nicer neighbors to the North:

(Via Daily Kos)

No big mystery why the right wingnuts and Repuglicans want to cut funds for education. They want a dumb, scared electorate.

American Priorities

(Via Keystone Daily Funnies)

I often think that we react to things like terror in a way that makes things worse, while we ignore things the monied interests and media don't think we can do anything about. Thus priorities are set . . . .

An amazing article: A Cop's Take on Ferguson

This is part of an amazing article from a former police officer at Daily Kos.

On the Bundy Ranch, armed protesters were violently obstructing law enforcement from performing their duties.  Sniper rifles were pointed at those law enforcement officers. Then those “snipers” openly gloated about how they had the agents in their sights the entire time. And what was the police response?  All out retreat.  Nobody was arrested. No tear gas deployed. No tanks were called in. No Snipers posted in the neighborhood. No rubber bullets fired. Nothing. Police officers in mortal danger met with heavily armed resistance and no one had to answer for it. Could any reasonable person look at scenes coming out of Nevada and say they looked peaceful?

The people who were so quick to cheer the bullies at Bundy Ranch now spew venom at the "thugs" in Ferguson. The racism in this is sickening---and obvious.

Another incredible insight:

As a cop I learned that it’s usually best to wait until you know as much information as possible before you go on the record so I’ll be completely honest;

I don’t know why an unarmed 18 year old was shot multiple times. 

I don't know what that police officer felt in the seconds before he pulled the trigger. 

I don’t know why the Ferguson Police chose to withhold details about this shooting. 

I don’t know why this police chief decided to have SWAT teams on foot patrols. 

I don't know why this police chief deployed Armored Vehicles and Snipers to this area. 

I don’t know why police officers were locking up reporters. 

I don’t know how a community that is 67% black has a police department that is 96% white.

Rather than take responsibility for the slaying of a black child, the authorities attempt to paint him with the "gangster" brush. And the ignorant racists in the media and our country lap it up.

Follow the link and read the whole article. It is a powerful indictment of the brutality and overkill used in this situation. This shit must change!

Biggest Asshole of the Week: Donald Trump

Ebola patient will be brought to the U.S. in a few days - now I know for sure that our leaders are incompetent. KEEP THEM OUT OF HERE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 1, 2014

If only we could keep this asshole out of the United States---but can we at least keep him out of the media?

Father of victim: 'Too many have died'

I have nothing to add, except this man has it exactly right, Time to kick the NRA to the curb and stop sacrificing our children on the alter of the 2nd Amendment,

And not a moment too soon!

Elizabeth Warren's "growing clout could shift the caucus to the left" (via The Political Carnival)

The Hill has a post about Senator Elizabeth Warren's "growing clout" that should make many a Progressive smile and nod. It may even send a thrill up some Democratic legs. Clout coming from the left can do that. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has emerged…

---

Philip Seymour Hoffman: Chasing the Dragon

The outpouring of sadness, anger, and weirdness over the passing on the great actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has shone a bright light on the ugly realities of America's dysfunction around how we deal with (or deny) addiction.  Our love affair with the abusive spouses of booze and drugs is so warped and so distorted that it takes the death of a celebrity to bring it to the forefront.

But there are people who die every day from alcoholism and addiction. They die quiet, lonely deaths, and that is as much a tragedy as when a film star or rock star breathes their last due to these maladies.

Our so-called "drug war" is an impotent and destructive method of responding to the disease of addiction, and like any war it leaves the collateral damage of those it does not help, and often wounds or kills, in its wake. It is a war we are losing with every addict in prison, hospitals, or the cemetery, and to think we can win that war with the same tactics we have always used is insanity.

Hoffman was a talented, brilliant man, but it is not this which I am most stunned and saddened at in his relapse into heroin use and overdose. He amassed over 20 years clean and sober before he succumbed to his illness again, and that is mind boggling. The length of time you amass away from using those substances is no protection against their siren call. And the disease of addiction waits patiently.

As someone who has some experience with addictions myself, I know that I cannot become complacent in my recovery. I have a path that has served me well; total abstinence and service to others. But even that is not enough.

Years ago, a friend of mine who was not a celebrity but who had racked up quite a bit of time clean and sober relapsed around the use of pain medications. He kept trying to get clean again, but, like Hoffman, he kept returning to the demons that were killing him. After a short time, he overdosed alone in his apartment, like Hoffman, but without the fanfare and tributes that a well known actor receives. His death was an important reminder to me of the folly of thinking "this time will be different." I honor him, and Hoffman, by remembering that lesson. Both of them had the same opportunity to get well. Both of them couldn't do it, and the price they paid was their lives. I mourn for both of them as brothers in a struggle that requires vigilance and consistency, and I see them not as failures, but as casualties.

As Philip K. Dick said, some drug users are punished entirely too harshly for what they have done, and yet some of us can pull out of that swan dive before we hit the rocky ground. Some don't. That doesn't make them bad or weak people, it just makes them human.

This is a little creepy . . . .

This is a screen shot from my blog's StatCounter page from a few days ago. It purports to show a visit from "Department of Homeland Security" in "Washington, District of Columbia". The search referral is shown as "encrypted", so I have no idea what brought such attention on my humble little blog.  I really don't even know if it is truly the DHS that originated the search, but that is what the IP Address of this hit on my blog shows.

To say this is disconcerting is an understatement. Does the DHS really spend its time and energy checking out blogs such as mine, and if so what for? Is it random, or did something I published (maybe my Thanksgiving pictures?) draw the interest of DHS? Was it an official visit, or was a DHS employee just checking out my blog for personal reasons?

It's a mystery. I feel like I'm used to Google and Microsoft sending their rots to my site (those searches also frequently show up), but this is a little creepier. If anyone has some insight as to what is going on here I'd appreciate being enlightened.

I remember during the late sixties joking with friends I was chatting on the phone with when there was a click that we were "being listened to." Are those days really making a comeback in this digital age, and if so, are we supposed to be alright with it?

'Cause really, I'm not . . . . .

Our Thanksgiving

Well, our Thanksgiving went splendidly. Our Daughter and Grand Daughter joined us, and we had a wonderful (and early) dinner with all the fix-ins.

A 16 pound bird, cage and hormone free.

My Grand Daughter is a wee bit leery of the flutes we used for the sparkling grape juice.

The groaning board.

I am quite conscious that on this day we commemorate a time when our ancestors were saved from starvation by the indigenous people who they then proceeded to wipe of the face of the Earth, and that seems a stupid thing to give thanks for. But my family's presence is a blessing, and for that I am grateful.

Quote for the Day (Gone But Not Forgotten Division)

"The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance."
 - Carl Sagan

"Even bat shit insane has its own rules . . . ."

Hostage negotiation with the Republicans, Daily Show style.

The Tea Party can just BAG IT!

I will weigh on the bat shit madness that seems to be infecting the Republican/Tea-bagger Party right now, though I have been avoiding it to protect my own sanity . . . .

When a child is learning about danger in the early years, there are time when they burn their fingers on the stove or whack their finger on the moving fan blade, and it serves as a learning experience. The pain serves to teach them not to touch that anymore, more so than the (usually ignored) warnings of a parent.

Via www.onecraftymother.com/

With the Pee Tardy---er, I mean TEA-Party folks, that's not going to doing it. Like with the sequester, or cuts to food stamps, they stick someone else's fingers on the hot burner, hold them there, and say "I don't feel a thing!" They are trying now to put the fingers of our elderly, poor, and veterans to the burner to prove that they still don't feel any pain. Or at least, they don't feel YOUR pain.

I feel like such an old fart when I start any sentence with "I remember is used to be . . . ", but right now it seems appropriate. It wasn't always like this, There was a time when people cared more about their neighbor, whether they knew them or not. If someone was suffering or their house was broken into, it was expected that publicly financed police or emergency responders would assist the victim. When soldiers came back from a war or people retired after a life of hard work, the got medical care and financial aid---because they are citizens and have earned those things. And we were all willing to pay our fair share to see that those things could be done.

Now, increasingly, Ted Cruz and his ilk are saying we can't afford these things. We can afford endless wars and a prison-industrial state, but we can't afford to help those in need. If you fall on hard times or get sick, you are on your own, buddy boy. Their philosophy has been rejected by the American people, but that is not enough for them. He has said: ". . . my prayer to God is that His will be done. As it will be.” Apparently, he knows better than anyone else what God's will is, as he forces us to the abyss through bullying and extortion.

Any God who would reward greed, intimidation, and power seeking and punish those who have done everything they were supposed to do can kiss my ass. And so can Ted Cruz.

Seasonal transition

The birdhaus is not closed---just on a hiatus from posting. The idiocy of our politics has been too enraging to get on a soap box over, unless I want to risk a stroke. But, even though our "leaders" (and I use the term loosely) can't seem to get anything done, nature continues to work its wonders.

Autumn is definitely here, and a quick stroll through the backyard shows the seasonal process:

There are still quite a few flowers about, such as this begonia right outside our front door . . . .

. . . and this rose, reaching for some afternoon sunshine. 

This cotoneaster, a member of the rose family, is breaking out in berries.

The fuchsias, of course, are very late bloomers.

It has been a dry summer and fall so far, and the water lilies in the pond on the property are resting on the muddy bottom. I hope it rains this winter . . . .

We did get quite a few blackberries this year, but as you can see, they are done.

It looks like our landlord's orchard is producing some apples, though.

This is the view from the lower part of our backyard, close to the orchard. Our clothesline is in the middle of the picture, with our exercise/studio cabin to the left. 

This princess plant, which I helped my wife transplant about a year ago, is a riot of blossoms right now.

Our hydrangea is also full of flowers.

A last holdout strawberry.

Going . . . .

. . . going . . . .

. . . gone!

And finally, one of the yellow begonias that still is blooming.

Autumn has always been one of my favorite times of the year, and around our place, it is quite lovely. The perfect distraction from the insanity in the world.