Here's a little bit from the book Robert Leston and I have just completed, Beyond the Blogosphere: Information and Its Children.  It will appear from Praeger in December:

In movies, in music, and in other areas, copyright has limited the intellectual commons, and the “intellectual commons contains the raw materials that people use to create works” (Henry Mitchell, The Intellectual Commons, xi-xii). When it is constrained, creation is restrained, which is doubly unfortunate, given the fact that there is no scarcity when the raw material is—or should be—infinitely reproducible. What copyright has done is to create boundaries where none existed or, as some would argue, need to exist. Though there may be justification for boundaries of some nature, the fact remains: copyright as practiced today, whether it is meant to or not, constrains creativity. Many owners of copyright may argue otherwise, that copyright enables creativity, but the evidence says otherwise. Certainly, the beneficiaries of copyright are rarely the actual creators.

First posted September 26, 2011 - 15:02, worth seeing again - standingup

Nouriel Roubini, who repeatedly issued warnings about the coming crash of the economy in 2008, is back in the news again. And what he has to say is far from upbeat. Forget Greece - it's Italy and Spain that everyone should be paying close attention to. 

It was all so avoidable. A little look back at history and the year 1931...but alas, no. 

"....One should never underestimate the power of greed, stupidity or ignorance, and narrow (unenlightened), short-term self-interest to distort decision making....."

Risk of depression is ‘huge’, Roubini warns
By Taimur Ahmad, Emerging Markets, September 23, 2011

The odds have risen sharply this week of a fresh financial crisis that will plunge the global economy into a major depression, as policymakers fall far short of the radical measures needed to address the fast approaching storm, economist Nouriel Roubini warned yesterday.

More details in the interview published by the magazine.

Interview with Nouriel Roubini
Emerging Markets, September 23, 2011

The signs from policymakers are not encouraging. Germany’s finance minister was reported to have said that the G20 was largely in agreement that a fiscal stimulus is simply not needed now. What do you make of that?

That’s nonsense. The IMF has it right. [IMF managing director] Christine Lagarde has it right. If everybody does fiscal austerity at a time when private demand is falling again you’re going to have another global depression. We’re going to make exactly the same mistake like during the Great Depression, when we took away the fiscal stimulus too soon. That is a huge risk right now.

Good times. Good times.

Pace yourself friends.  Make the jump»

This document was accepted by the NYC General Assembly on september 29, 2011

As we gather together in solidarity to express a feeling of mass injustice, we must not lose sight of what brought us together. We write so that all people who feel wronged by the corporate forces of the world can know that we are your allies.

As one people, united, we acknowledge the reality: that the future of the human race requires the cooperation of its members; that our system must protect our rights, and upon corruption of that system, it is up to the individuals to protect their own rights, and those of their neighbors; that a democratic government derives its just power from the people, but corporations do not seek consent to extract wealth from the people and the Earth; and that no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power. We come to you at a time when corporations, which place profit over people, self-interest over justice, and oppression over equality, run our governments. We have peaceably assembled here, as is our right, to let these facts be known. Make the jump»

No trial, no jury, no evidence ever presented. The rule of law in the USA is dead. Get in line and cheer this... And pay no notice to the fact that you may very well be next without Habeas Corpus to protect you. Make the jump»

My horror at state-sponsored killing has rendered me unable to write on the topic since the state of Georgia murdered Troy Davis just a little more than a week ago.  Instead, let me recount a story my father used to tell, about "The Land of Perfect Justice," for those who believe justice was served by his execution: Make the jump»

YEAH, THANKS FOR THAT…
At a ceremony in Boston, the president of the Japan-America Society of New Hampshire was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette. The honor was in recognition of the man’s efforts to promote “friendly Japan-US relations by raising awareness of the 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth,” whatever that is.

Reassuring absolutely no one, newly installed Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa labeled himself an “amateur” when it comes to national security issues.

Meanwhile, the new justice minister “expressed reluctance” about enforcing the death penalty.

An advisory council reporting to the culture minister recommended that Japan nominate Mt Fuji and the city of Kamakura as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

One year after the Akatsuki planetary probe failed in its attempt to enter the orbit of Venus, JAXA says the spacecraft may be capable of making another try in 2015.

This is a whitehouse.gov petition asking President Obama's Administration to recognize the protest movement, #OccupyWallStreet. .

Go to WhiteHouse.gov and sign the petition. http://wh.gov/gPv

-----

we petition the obama administration to:

Mr.Obama, this is a petition for you to publicly recognize, whether in a live speech, or in one of your weekly youtube addresses, the #occupywallstreet movement that is currently taking place in NYC.

These men and women are trying to send a message to their fellow Americans and to the world- the big banks and the super-rich, who is "buying out congress", are the primary drivers of the ongoing recession.

Unfortunately, they are largely being ignored by the media in the United States due to the "small size" of the protests. Note that "small size" has not deterred Fox, CNN and other US news channels/newspapers from covering, and even putting on the front page, Tea Party and other far right protests, some of which have had as little as 100 people (#occupywallst varies from 500-3000)

  Make the jump»

From what I'm able to tell, the organized protest movement that began a sustained encampment in Lower Manhattan's Zuccotti Park (aka Liberty Park) under the banner of #OccupyWallStreet, is filling the classic script presaged by Gil Scott-Heron.

Of course, the owners of the commercial broadcast media responsible for keeping the wheels of American commerce spinning so favorably and so fast, in their direction, probably don't see so much editorial room in their broadcast day for news about the protests against the investment banks that have done so much damage to the world's finanicial markets.

So, of oourse, in full irony, I refer you to Current TV and Keith Olbermann's chat with Michael Moore to help make that point, you know that they know.

Make the jump»

So, how much of the Wall Street protest does anyone get piping through their commercial advertisement sustained broadcasting?

The Guardian piece, "Occupy Wall Street - the protestors speak," seems one of the few reports I have encountered that gives substantial coverage of what the protestors have to say.

Make the jump»

Want to avoid controversy yet continue to style yourself as a journalist?  Use "he said/she said," the surefire way of removing yourself from the debate while retaining a sense of personal gravitas!  Yes, kids, "he said/she said" can save you the trouble of real reporting, for it ties perfectly into the here-today-and-gone-tomorrow news cycle.  All that will remain is another entry on your resume!  So try it today and you will appear serious, keep your topic opaque, and your employer happy.

Jay Rosen, who has valiantly tried to push journalism into a position where it sees responsibility to its readers as the number one consideration--and has been doing so for over twenty years, has renewed his push to rid the profession of "he said/she said" 'reporting.'  Make the jump»

AND THE WINNER IS…
A Japanese director named Takahisa Zeze won an Innovation Award at the Montreal World Film Festival and captivated the crowd when he started his acceptance speech with the words, “I am Japanese. Are you doing good?”

Another attending Japanese filmmaker in Montreal, Masato Harada, was doing pretty well as his movie Chronicle of My Mother took the Special Grand Prix.

In the wake of entertainer Shinsuke Shimada’s abrupt retirement from his TV career over ties to the yakuza, one top police official noted in The Yomiuri Shimbun, “It seems many showbiz types’ first interaction with crime groups comes when they ask the gangs to solve problems for them, such as collecting unpaid appearance fees or breaking off relationships with members of the opposite sex.”

Former Japan soccer coach Zico has a new gig after the Brazilian legend was named coach of Iraq’s national team.

Meanwhile, the unfortunately named Dunga, another former Brazilian soccer star who, like Zico, once played in the J. League, was also reported to be getting a new job.
Dunga was set to take the helm of a club team in Qatar.

Wall Street and the big banks owe $1.5 trillion for the bailout (at least).  The Super Congress needs to cut $1.5 trillion over ten years.  Get the money from Wall Street and cancel the Super Congress.  Problem solved. Make the jump»

I'm posting a recent clip of Senator Sanders comments to the Senate regarding the choices made on energy projects by elected representatives. The Senator argues, on evidence, that any decision by his peers chooses the winners and losers, what is important is that the option was a wise one.


My point is simple: Senator Sanders is the wisest choice, let's clone him!

  Make the jump»

From Brandon Friedman (@BrandonF) via Twitter, about 11:30 pm EST:

If you watch the Ancestry.com TV ads, you always see people who find wonderful, redeeming stories about their families.What they don’t prepare you for is that you also find the names and dollar values of the people your family used to own.

Warren 24 years old, yellow color, $1,500; Mease a man 28 yrs old, black color, $1,400;Nettie 20 yrs old, black color, and her children, $1,700; Sarah 17 yrs old and her children, $750; India 52 yrs old black color, $350.

No idea what became of them.

Those are sobering thoughts that harken back to a darker part of our national heritage - a part that we have not left fully behind, when slavery and indentured servitude were used to build the nation on the backs of others. Make the jump»

Recently, I posted a response to Steven Brill's piece for Reuters, "The School Reform Deniers" on my personal blog (it was reposted by Raging Chicken Press a few days ago).  In it, I call into question what he claims as his journalistic impartiality and also question what he resorts to calling "facts."  In the latest issue of The New York Review of Books, Diane Ravitch reviews Brill's Class Warfare: Inside the Fight to Fix America's Schools in an article entitled "School 'Reform': A Failing Grade."  Not only is she even harsher on Brill than I am, but she fills in a great deal of background.