Politics As Usual

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by taxwonk
I thought all your men used rohypnol. Except the ones too drunk to need drugging.

That was so not predictable.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Don't make me a pirate:

Posted by [url=http://blogs.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/001535.php]Fred von Lohmann[/ur;]The most remarkable testimony at last week's DMCRA hearings was that of former Congressman Allan Swift.

Swift was testifying as a private citizen, as a "home recordist." Basically, he's been making "mix tapes" for 54 years:

• In that time, I have given friends many tapes, cassettes and now CDs containing "programs" I have created from my own collection of LPs and CDs. In that time, I have never made a straight duplicate of a record for anyone. If they ask me to, I tell them politely how easy is it to buy it on the Internet. In that time I have never charged a person a penny - even for the cost of the raw cassette or CD blank. It is just my hobby.

As a copyright lawyer, I know that copyright has a complicated relationship with "home taping." But Swift's testimony tells us how the law ought to be. No member of the committee dared to call him a pirate (with the notable exception of Rep. Mary Bono, who appears not to have learned much since announcing that we should enact a copyright term of "forever less one day").

Perhaps it's time we all focus more on the fans, the people who actually make the entertainment industry possible. For them, we need a copyright law that lives up to Swift's simple statement of common sense:

• When I buy a CD or a DVD, that content should be wholly mine to do with as I please as long as I am in no way selling its contents or profiting from it. ... Present law is predicated on the assumption that consumers will rip-off copyright holders. The vast majority are innocent of that assumption, but all are treated as guilty.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Peter Cook, via Crooked Timber, refutes intelligent design:

• Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling: Well, I’d like to say I believed in God, of course, but I’m afraid that, as a thinking person … there are two very good reasons why I simply can’t. … A — Wasps. Can’t see the point of a wasp, can you? And B — caviar. I mean really, what is the point of having caviar locked away inside sturgeon? So inaccessible. I’m sure if there were a real God he’d have arranged for caviar to just sort of toddle over to your house on a pair of little legs in a self-opening jar.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by baltassoc
On a slightly more civil level, the judicial nomination problem is the same thing: the Democrats started it by refusing to confirm Reagan's (wingnut) appointee Bork, then the Republicans had to exact revenge when Clinton started appointing judges, and now Democrats have to respond in kind with Bush.

It's all pretty childish, but it avoids real issues.

This is a particularly interesting piece on the way the Senate works, and offers a theory about why nominations have been so tortured lately.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
This is a particularly interesting piece on the way the Senate works, and offers a theory about why nominations have been so tortured lately.

rememeber: Ty says interesting=intellectual honesty on theorder of a Sam post

to give you the condensed version, here's the summary

The good news is that the Senate is an adaptable institution, and the current climate was created by deliberate choices by Senator Frist, who, like the president, seems to think he's some kind of CEO. Those choices can be undone, and probably will be.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
rememeber: Ty says interesting=intellectual honesty on theorder of a Sam post

to give you the condensed version, here's the summary

The good news is that the Senate is an adaptable institution, and the current climate was created by deliberate choices by Senator Frist, who, like the president, seems to think he's some kind of CEO. Those choices can be undone, and probably will be.

That's not the summary, those are the last two sentences. A fairer summary of what comes before would be: Although everyone thinks that individual Senators have lots of power, they really don't, and broader political changes have made the leadership more powerful than it used to be.

That's a little like saying that the summary of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals is that the Pistons lost -- a description that fails to capture all of the exciting basketball action before Miller hits that 3.

[sgtclub]

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editor...l?id=110005118

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sgtclub
http://www.opinionjournal.com/editor...l?id=110005118

The observation that the conventions are little more than week-long advertisements is spot on. They are not news, and should not be covered as such.

The suggestion that Kerry would be abusing the rules by waiting to accept his nomination at the same time that Bush does is a little strained, though.

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone Slothrop
The observation that the conventions are little more than week-long advertisements is spot on. They are not news, and should not be covered as such.

The suggestion that Kerry would be abusing the rules by waiting to accept his nomination at the same time that Bush does is a little strained, though.

Why is it strained? Terry planned the convention early to shore up more matching funds. Now that this will no longer benefit them, they want to change the rules of the game.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Why is it strained? Terry planned the convention early to shore up more matching funds. Now that this will no longer benefit them, they want to change the rules of the game.

They planned to do the Dem convention at the normal time. Then the GOP decided to push their convention late, which would (1) let them exploit the 9/11 anniversary, back when this was going to help them, and (2) obtain a relative financial advantage. By delaying acceptance, Kerry is simply eliminating (2). And he's not "changing the rules," he's making move to take better advantage of the rules as they are. It's just gamesmanship.

If the brilliant insight of the piece is that adopting rules encourages gamesmanship, wow. That shouldn't be news to anyone after the first three days of law school.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Then the GOP decided to push their convention late, which would (1) let them exploit the 9/11 anniversary, back when this was going to help them,

I've already had 2 wins on this one!
sitting presidents have conventions late august to early Sept. bush in 04 will end within 2 days of the end of the Clinton '96 convention. you see conspiracy everywhere Ty. It is really sad.

42-4

[Gin Rummy]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Why is it strained? Terry planned the convention early to shore up more matching funds. Now that this will no longer benefit them, they want to change the rules of the game.

McAuliffe and his handlers have hijacked the already decrepit democrat party and are using it to destroy a once hallowed American election tradition.

Not unlike 4 years ago, when after 220 plus years of gracious electorally motivated peaceful transfers of power, the Gorons tried to use the media idiots to steal the 2000 election.

At the end of the day JFKerry shows the true whoring colors that motivated him to sucker a rich republican widow in her time of grief to get at her dead republican husband's fortune, by putting money ahead of America. No surprise, seeing as he doesn't stand for anything anyway.

[SlaveNoMore]

Gin Rummy
McAuliffe and his handlers have hijacked the already decrepit democrat party and are using it to destroy a once hallowed American election tradition.

You forgot to add this nugget:

The Dems will hold off the nomination as long as possible, and once it becomes clear that JFK is unelectable, they will pull a "Torricelli" and substitute Senator Rodham at the last minute.

Thus throwing a wrench into the works and preventing the GOP barrage reminding the country of what a shrew she is and how successful she is with cattle futures.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I've already had 2 wins on this one!

I made 2 points, and you responded only to the first. Claiming a victory is a little like the Pistons claiming a victory after the first quarter on Saturday. My first point was just a cheap dig.

Also, you can't get the facts straight.

sitting presidents have conventions late august to early Sept.

Wrong. No sitting president has ever had a convention drag into September, and the 2004 GOP convention will be later than any for an incumbent in the last 3+ decades.

Year/Opening Date of Incumbent's Convention
1996/August 26
1992/August 17
1984/August 20
1980/August 11
1976/August 16
1972/August 21

bush in 04 will end within 2 days of the end of the Clinton '96 convention.

You must be using the same math they use in Bush budgets. The 1996 Democratic convention ended on August 29. The GOP convention this year will end on September 2. Note also that the '96 convention was an outlier -- most incumbents have had their conventions earlier. It is refreshing to see you hold Clinton up as a model of probity -- someone who wouldn't game the system for political advantage, eh? I take it that was your point?

you see conspiracy everywhere Ty. It is really sad.

You've got to stop talking about conspiracies -- it's creeping me out. eta: You, too, club? What is it with you guys and "conspiracy theories"? BTW, read the Gin Rummy post about who Kerry married.....


etft

[sgtclub]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
you see conspiracy everywhere Ty. It is really sad.

42-4

It's not his fault, he reads too many moorian blogs.