Letter Never Sent

From CounterPunch:

Of course, by the RIAA’s terms, we commit piracy every time we share files on the Internet. That’s what the RIAA wants a bigger CHIP to deal with.

In reality, the RIAA pirated almost all the 400 million CDs sold in America last year, since the people who made the music didn’t get paid for them. But that logic would be lost on the subcommittee, since so few artists make huge campaign contributions and provide tickets to hot shows to the legislators.

This amounts to taxing us to make music more expensive.

If there has been an upsurge in piracy (the RIAA’s only rivals in unreliable statistics are the owners of major league baseball) the main blame goes to exorbitant album prices and the elimination of cheaper alternatives like singles. But the RIAA never takes any blame.

ZDNet’s quote from Rosen’s testimony is ominous: “Piracy is not a private offense. It hurts everyone by diminishing the incentive to invest in the creation of music. It should not, therefore, be viewed as a crime only against [the industry]…but against each of us.”

The most reasonable construction of this statement is that file exchanging is not just a violation of the law but a crime deserving significant punishment. It’s another step on the road to sending people to jail for sharing music.

From here and here:

“In less than four months, then, nine of the world’s top microbiologists were dead. All had been doing research that had connections with the creation and prevention of biological warfare. But there is more to the story.”

• Dr. Don C. Wiley (body found in the Mississippi River)
• Vladimir Pasechnik (body found in his backyard, apparently of stroke)
• Dr. Robert M. Schwartz (found stabbed to death)
• Dr. Benito Que (found comatose in Miami street, later died)
• Dr. Set Van Nguyen (asphyxiation from nitrogen in lab)
• Ivan Glebov and Alexi Brushlinski (killed as a result of ‘bandit attack’)
• Victor Korshunov (massive head trauma)
• Ian Langford (found murdered in home)

According to this article local Austin filmmaker, Richard Linklater, may be directing the film adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly. That would be awesome. Right now I’m reading Dick’s The Eye in the Sky.

I’m curious to see whether or not Minority Report stays true to Dick’s style. We shall see.

I’ve been a little too busy to post lately. Apologies. I’m working on taking some classes this summer and among other things feeling a little sick. I did come across a few interesting things worth posting:

1. Refuseniks provide a glimmer of hope by Faisal Kutty
2. Gore Vidal: Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace Interview by Gary Kamiya
3. Caracas red-handed
   It’s becoming clear the White House and may have helped the Venezuelan coup

4. Details of Sept. 11 Plot Elude U.S. Investigators The only way to thwart terrorism is to enslave all of mankind. Terrorism is nothing but guerrilla warfare against civilians and infrastructure. This will happen more and more as power becomes more concentrated and global and as a reponse to military violence perpetrated by hegemonic powers.
5. IDF admits to vandalism and theft of Palestinian property. Israeli goons destroying computers and ripping off ATM machines.
6. Administration moving to block anti-Syria bill Anti-terror ‘coalition’ rapidly disintegrating, thank God.
7. Judge Rejects Jailing Of Material Witnesses In other words, the government can’t imprison you if you haven’t committed a crime to ensure that you’ll testify for them in front of Grand Jury. Here’s a big Fuck You to the Justice Department.
8. Iraq and U.N. to Talk Today About Weapons Inspectors
9. Libertinism Makes a Comeback in French Clubs