by Maitri
on March 1, 2005
“Extraordinary rendition,” indeed. We’re sending North American citizens (of Arab descent) off to Arab countries; in other words, we are turning on our own and outsourcing our dirty work. It’s called torture and Bob Herbert proclaims it in a great NYT opinion article. I’m going to save the full text somewhere before this article, like all others, get lost in the Only If You Have Money And Give It To Us Can You See This archives.
President Bush spent much of last week lecturing other nations about freedom, democracy and the rule of law. It was a breathtaking display of chutzpah. He seemed to me like a judge who starves his children and then sits on the bench to hear child abuse cases. In Brussels Mr. Bush said he planned to remind Russian President Vladimir Putin that democracies are based on, among other things, “the rule of law and the respect for human rights and human dignity.”
… A Massachusetts congressman, Edward Markey, has taken the eminently sensible step of introducing legislation that would ban this utterly reprehensible practice. In a speech on the floor of the House, Mr. Markey, a Democrat, said: “Torture is morally repugnant whether we do it or whether we ask another country to do it for us. It is morally wrong whether it is captured on film or whether it goes on behind closed doors unannounced to the American people.”
… the [office of the Speaker of the House] does not understand this issue, and has not even bothered to take it seriously.
Please support Markey’s bill and make it see daylight. It is our moral responsibility to follow the golden rule and to take care of all of our fellow human beings. Looking at others as collateral damage is a very inhumane thought process, regardless of culture, religion or background. It WILL be you some day, somehow, some time, some life.
by Maitri
on February 25, 2005
Legendary host of the classical music program Adventures In Good Music, Karl Haas, died earlier this month. This is a note I received from Eric R. regarding the loss:
I’m sorry that Hunter S. Thompson’s death has made you so sad; I forget that you liked him. I heard something very sad today too. I logged onto the local NPR playlist to note some music I heard yesterday and learned that Karl Haas died earlier this month. Apparently they have been replaying Adventures in Good Music archival material and I missed the depressing news.
Our networks will regale us endlessly with Paris Hilton’s expandable/slammable twat and Howard Stern broadcasting through his anus but not an overt word about one of the few truly innovative Disc Jockeys in America who, for over 30 years, used the medium for something other than mouth farts for the masses.
Haas was heir to the best of the Occidental spirit, and truly made it our own with all the leisurely charm of a culture now decidedly alien to the general public, and apparently relegated to pockets and byways sheltering bravely from the obscene roar of hunched moron satyrs in seemingly endless droves who drag ham-fisted knuckles through the same dreary, uncouth spectacle day-in/day-out.
Being an animal never got you so far. But even the apes have manners, and some of them are even nice … just ask good ol’ Jane and poor Diane.
Time to turn it up and be the next generations’ legends, people.
by Maitri
on February 24, 2005
Richard Stallman (Mr. GNU) recently wrote a piece on the term “intellectual property.” His opinion is that the term itself should be done away with as it represents only one side of the argument, which views global intellectual culture as property. He suggests no replacement term at all because “a different name could eliminate the bias, but won’t address the term’s deeper problem: overgeneralization. There is no such unified thing as ‘intellectual property’. It is a mirage, which appears to have a coherent existence only because the term suggests it does.” [Full paper: Did You Say “Intellectual Property”? It’s a Seductive Mirage]
Indeed, how do we represent the true nature of the battle between those who want to make money from indefinitely copyrighting works (publishing / record industry Sith lords and their government lackeys) and the people who want to protect the public domain (bad-ass Jedi knights – Ewoks need not apply)?
This is a suggestion I posted to the Union for the Public Domain bulletin board this morning:
As Wiley says in today’s comics page, “It’s all about semantics. You call it a drinking problem. I call it a reality exit strategy.”
I agree with Stallman in that a way to take back the argument is to change its one-sided terms. The words that are used to posit an issue offer a lot to or detract from that issue in terms of connotation. I would much rather call “it” what it is, a book, music, art, etc. rather than “intellectual property” and discuss each on an individual basis. For one, using the term “intellectual property” makes the property value of the media more important than the media itself.
So, guess what. Reclaim the argument. Those who want to stop calling it IP should do so and put forth future arguments on their own terms. The others can continue to refer to it as IP if they wish, because that’s probably how they see the material. Once that is done, we can go back to fighting the growing legions of interests who want to keep intellectual culture out of the hands of as many people as possible.
What do you think?
by Maitri
on February 24, 2005
Ha! Thank goodness the family and friends are cool enough not to turn his death into a major-network, tear-jerker mockery.
Gonzo’s ashes ‘to be blasted from cannon’
Be your crazy self all over the universe, Hunter. We’ll miss you.
by Maitri
on February 23, 2005
Here is a list of the works of Ilona Sekacz. S/he wrote music for the cinematic version of P.D. James’s A Certain Justice … for some reason, a part of the music popped into my head again a long time after I saw that show.
