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Last night, GOP presidential candidates debated in South Carolina ahead of Saturday's primary election.
Earlier in the day, candidate and former speaker of the house, Newt Gingrich, got some bad news. His former wife (wife # 2) alleged he approached her about having an "open" marriage. For you youngsters, and open marriage is one in which spouses remain married while, in most cases, the husband was free to screw a mistress or boyfriend.
The first question directed at old Newt involved this alleged affair, and he came unhitched.
You know, it's amazing. This is the piece of shit of a man who presided over the US House of Representatives that drew up articles of impeachment against President Clinton. Why? Clinton had lied about an affair with an intern.
Now, this same piece of shit of a man, Gingrich, has the nerve to be outraged by John King's question?
You know what? I wonder. Was Gingrich envious of Clinton's alleged arrangement with Hillary? Did Newt retaliate against Clinton because wife #2 (with whom he cheated on wife #1) said no? There's your question, King!
And to wife #2, you knew he cheated on wives in the first place. After all, you were there when he cheated on wife #1. You saw Newt hit wife #1, Jacqueline, with a divorce petition while she was fighting cancer. She contested the divorce, and he had the nerve to confront her about it as she recovered from cancer surgery.
Damn, Republicans have short memories. And damn if they have no sense of hypocrisy.
And, Newt doth protest too much.
He is a bad, unrepentant hypocrite. Republicans, run!
--- What was the original American Aurora? The Aurora was a newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache , a grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Aurora was published in Philadelphia, our nation's capitol at the time.
The Aurora was highly critical of what Bache felt was the tyrannous Federalist governments of presidents Washington and Adams.
The result? Adams imprisoned Bache for sedition, where he languished, awaiting trial, until his death from yellow fever at age 29.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
SOPA, PIPA, and Mickey
I love to read original laws, especially those offered by the first few congresses. This tells you just how crazy our laws have gotten with intellectual property. The original congress thought it was reasonable to secure rights to the creator of writings or discoveries for 14 years, with a one-time renewal within six months of the first term expiring. Now, it's 95 years in some cases (thank you Disney and Sonny Bono).
Here is a link to the original Copyright Act of 1790.
http://www.copyright.gov/history/1790act.pdf
See, the problem at the core of the proposed SOPA and PIPA laws is the length of time they secure intellectual rights for their owners/creators, how long these works are held OUT of the public domain.
The Constitutional Convention had a good reason for securing these rights for a term, but not forever. James Madison explained it best in Federalist 43. His explanation seems reasonable to me.
http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa43.htm
Now, about Mickey Mouse. The first time we saw Mickey Mouse on film was in 1928. Under the Copyright Act of 1790, assuming Disney paid its $0.60 for one renewal, this character would have been in the public domain in 1956. Under the most recent act, he remains the property of Disney until 2023. That's 11 years away. Who wants to bet Congress will extent that term of ownership under a new copyright for, oh say 150 years, between now and then? Clearly based on what Mr. Madison wrote, the Constitution's Article 1, Section 8 was never intended to allow for a 95-year term, let alone something onerously longer.
It's time to free the creative spirit and let others benefit from earlier works, to, as the Constitution directs, promote the progress of science and useful arts. It is time to free that creative spirit even if that includes something as seemingly superfluous as the gold-mine character of Mickey Mouse.
--- What was the original American Aurora? The Aurora was a newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache , a grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Aurora was published in Philadelphia, our nation's capitol at the time.
The Aurora was highly critical of what Bache felt was the tyrannous Federalist governments of presidents Washington and Adams.
The result? Adams imprisoned Bache for sedition, where he languished, awaiting trial, until his death from yellow fever at age 29.
Here is a link to the original Copyright Act of 1790.
http://www.copyright.gov/history/1790act.pdf
See, the problem at the core of the proposed SOPA and PIPA laws is the length of time they secure intellectual rights for their owners/creators, how long these works are held OUT of the public domain.
The Constitutional Convention had a good reason for securing these rights for a term, but not forever. James Madison explained it best in Federalist 43. His explanation seems reasonable to me.
http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa43.htm
Now, about Mickey Mouse. The first time we saw Mickey Mouse on film was in 1928. Under the Copyright Act of 1790, assuming Disney paid its $0.60 for one renewal, this character would have been in the public domain in 1956. Under the most recent act, he remains the property of Disney until 2023. That's 11 years away. Who wants to bet Congress will extent that term of ownership under a new copyright for, oh say 150 years, between now and then? Clearly based on what Mr. Madison wrote, the Constitution's Article 1, Section 8 was never intended to allow for a 95-year term, let alone something onerously longer.
It's time to free the creative spirit and let others benefit from earlier works, to, as the Constitution directs, promote the progress of science and useful arts. It is time to free that creative spirit even if that includes something as seemingly superfluous as the gold-mine character of Mickey Mouse.
--- What was the original American Aurora? The Aurora was a newspaper published by Benjamin Franklin Bache , a grandson of Benjamin Franklin. The Aurora was published in Philadelphia, our nation's capitol at the time.
The Aurora was highly critical of what Bache felt was the tyrannous Federalist governments of presidents Washington and Adams.
The result? Adams imprisoned Bache for sedition, where he languished, awaiting trial, until his death from yellow fever at age 29.
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