Today's Cool News

Feel Free to Borrow from Charlie

You may think of Charlie Manson as an icon of the 60's but America's favorite mass murder conspirator (he didn't kill anyone himself) is living firmly in the modern world of copyright law.

It seems Charlie is putting out another album of desultory music from his studio/cell in Corcoran.  But unlike his previous work, Chuck wants you to share in his creativity... because he's releasing the album under a creative commons license.

From Limewire:

CC is a special license that allows anyone to download, share and mix other people's music as long as they give proper credit. Recently, Nine Inch Nails released their album under a Creative Commons license, and it has been a great success!

Good old Charles Manson of the Tate and LaBianca murders has done the same thing.  His recent album, "One Mind" is licensed in a way that allows anyone to share it with others, remix it and use it for non-commercial uses.

So feel free to mix and slash for Charlie...

Horton Hears a Who Cares?

The one time I met Ted Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, I asked him a rather political question about why kids who read his books when they're young end up borderline illiterate by high school.  He said to me, "You've opened up a whole can of peas there and I would rather not get into it."

That exchange makes more sense to me today in light of the quotes from Ted's widow in this piece about Anti-abortion rights wackos showing up at the premiere of Horton Hears a Who. 

From Kim Masters in Slate:

Your Hollywoodland correspondent attended the glamorous premiere of Horton Hears a Who! last Saturday and was present when protesters started yelling shortly after Horton uttered his famous motto: "A person's a person, no matter how small."

We could not understand what was being shouted and thought perhaps that Seth Rogen or one of the other many vocal talents in the film was expressing love for Dr. Seuss' elephant and his signature line. But as you may have read elsewhere, anti-abortion activists had infiltrated the theater. Afterward, they handed out fliers designed to look like tickets.

None of this sat well with Audrey Geisel, widow of Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel), who attended the screening. So did Karl ZoBell, the lawyer who represents her and who has represented the interests of Dr. Seuss for some 40 years.

(snip)

ZoBell says it would be nice if these people came up with their own material. But if they don't go too far—by copping the illustrations, for example—they can use a line like "A person's a person, no matter how small," even if it wouldn't have pleased Dr. Seuss. And it wouldn't have. The Geisels were opposed to using the Dr. Seuss books for any political agenda.

Some anti-abortion Web sites claim that Audrey is a supporter of Planned Parenthood. ZoBell says he's never discussed the issue of abortion with her and can't confirm that.

Rate Your Cop

The next time you're tooling through Gilbert, Arizona at 4:00 a.m., slow down.  Officer Dave Bush might be lurking around that next cactus.  Depending on your point of view, Officer Bush is a "dickhead", who may look like "Gargamell", but if you're a fellow cop you may find Dave the sort of fellow you would want at your 6 if your booty was in a jam.

How do I know so much about Officer Dave?  He's among the top five officers rated at RateMyCop.com which is now back live on the Internet.  I should also thank the police industry and GoDaddy.com for pointing out this useful site to me.  That's because GoDaddy pulled the plug on the controversial service with no notice to the Culver City company that started it.

Wired News reports:

Visitors to RateMyCop.com on Tuesday were redirected to a GoDaddy page reading, "Oops!!!", which urged the site owner to contact GoDaddy to find out why the company pulled the plug.

RateMyCop founder Gino Sesto says he was given no notice of the suspension. When he called GoDaddy, the company told him that he'd been shut down for "suspicious activity."

When Sesto got a supervisor on the phone, the company changed its story and claimed the site had surpassed its 3 terabyte bandwidth limit, a claim that Sesto says is nonsense. "How can it be overloaded when it only had 80,00 page views today, and 400,000 yesterday?"

(snip)

...the site went live on February 28th. It stores the names and, in some cases, badge numbers of over 140,000 cops in as many as 500 police departments, and allows users to post comments about police they've interacted with, and rate them. The site garnered media interest this week as cops around the country complained that they'd be put at risk if their names were on the internet.

(snip)

Since undercover officers aren't in the database, and the site has no personal information like home addresses, that fear seems unfounded. Chief Jerry Dyer, president of the California Police Chiefs Association, voices what sounds like a more honest concern: that officers will face  "unfair maligning" by the citizens they serve.

Sesto says police can post comments as well, and a future version of the site will allow them to authenticate themselves to post rebuttals more prominently.  Chief Dyer wants to get legislation passed that would make RateMyCop.com illegal, which, of course, wouldn't pass constitutional muster in any court in America.

(snip)

A GoDaddy spokeswoman says the company can't comment on the RateMyCop takedown due to its privacy policy. Sesto says he's already arranged hosting elsewhere, and hopes to have the site online Tuesday night.

Thanks GoDaddy for bringing this site to my attention.  The site is back up... although it's a little creaky this morning.

Christopher Hitchens, A British Atheist "We Can Believe In!"

As everyone (especially my hero Christopher Hitchens) knows, the first rule of good writing is to "Avoid Cliche's like the Plague."

So that's why I'm so thrilled to see Hitchens today in Slate excoriating the dull-mindedness of what gets our politicians attention these days.

It is cliché, not plagiarism, that is the problem with our stilted, room-temperature political discourse. It used to be that thinking people would say, with at least a shred of pride, that their own convictions would not shrink to fit on a label or on a bumper sticker. But now it seems that the more vapid and vacuous the logo, the more charm (or should that be "charisma"?) it exerts. Take "Yes We Can," for example. It's the sort of thing parents might chant encouragingly to a child slow on the potty-training uptake.

(snip)

Pretty soon, we should be able to get electoral politics down to a basic newspeak that contains perhaps 10 keywords: Dream, Fear, Hope, New, People, We, Change, America, Future, Together. Fishing exclusively from this tiny and stagnant pool of stock expressions, it ought to be possible to drive all thinking people away from the arena and leave matters in the gnarled but capable hands of the professional wordsmiths and manipulators. In the new jargon, certain intelligible ideas would become inexpressible. (How could one state, for example, the famous Burkean principle that many sorts of change ought to be regarded with skepticism?) In a rather poor trade-off for this veto on complexity, many views that are expressible (and "We the People Together Dream of and Hope for New Change in America" would be really quite a long sentence in the latest junk language) will, in turn, be entirely and indeed almost beautifully unintelligible.

Hear! Hear!

Even I Can't Hear What They're Saying at the Drive Thru Window Sometimes

Despite decades of listening to loud heavy metal, I still manage to hear well enough for day to day conversation.  Still, sometimes at the fast-food restaurant drive-thru window, I feel like I'm having a conversation with a noise box instead of a person.

Now imagine the same experience if you're deaf... and have three deaf kids in the car... and you just want a milkshake.

Karen is a Deaf Mom Shares Her World:

After picking my youngest son up from school, we decided to grab some shakes at the local Steak and Shake before heading over to the middle school to pick up Lauren.

I went through the empty drive through and drove past the speaker. After waiting a few minutes at the window, I finally honked the horn and waited some more. After a second honk a few minutes later, a young man appeared.

"Hi! I didn't order back there as I can't hear," I said, pointing to my ear. "I'd like two small shakes, one vanilla and one chocolate."

"You'll have to drive around again so I can take your order through the speaker," the guy said.

"I can't hear back there, so I'll need you to take my order here," I explained.

"No, it's our policy. You'll have to just drive around and tell me your order and then I can take your order."

"I can't use the speaker, which is why I'm at the window giving you my order here!" I started raising my voice a little, as I was getting frustrated at the hoops he was putting me through.

So I told him about the Americans with Disabilities Act and I explained that taking orders through the window is an accommodation that I need because I can't use the speaker to place an order.

So at that point the guy, a manager and trainer, says okay, let me get your shakes right?  Wrong.

I sat there flabbergasted. I was getting more upset by the minute. All I wanted was the dang shakes! Then another car pulled up behind us.

"Look, if you're not going to take my order, I'm going to file a complaint and let the corporate office know about this."

"Well, I can call the cops on you for disrupting the business and holding up the drive thru."

"You're going to call the cops on me? I'm just trying to get service here!"

"I'm done with you." He abruptly shut the window, threw up his hands and walked away.

She finally gets him back to the window... when he makes it clear he doesn't believe she's deaf.

So I lifted up my hair and showed him my hearing aids. The look on his faced changed a bit. I guess it started to sink in that even though I speak well, I wasn't kidding about being deaf. You would think at that point, he would graciously return to "serve the customer" mode and take my order.

He still didn't. I explained to him that I was going to call the corporate office and let them know that I was being refused service. "Go ahead, call them," he said. "You will need to leave, you are holding up the line."

And he closed the window again.

Steak and Shake, you'll be hearing from me.

As outrageous as this is, to me it's just another example of the evils that have come from our "zero tolerance" world where people don't have to think, they just have to "follow policy."

----------------------------------------

Win $10,000 in Free Gear from Gibson! Believe That?

I've said before in this space that I love having a hobby that exposes me to the music business, but I would never want to have to actually depend on the people you encounter there to make a living.

Here's a case in point.  A hip hop musician with the unlikely (for a musician, it seems to me) name of Tonedeff flew to Chicago on his own dime to compete in the 2006 Lolapalooza Last Band Standing contest where he won.

Note the prize package:

Last Band Standing - Prizes
* A spot on the lineup: an opening slot on a feature stage.
* Artist passes for the entire weekend with access to catering, the artist lounge, and everywhere else bands get to go!
* Rooms for the weekend at the House of Blues Hotel.
* Festival tickets for your friends to see you play.
* $10,000 worth of equipment from our friends at Gibson. (yes, believe it!)
* An interview and in-store performance at Virgin Megastore.
* Band promotion on the homepage of Lollapalooza.com and partner websites.
* Plus countless other Lolla goodies and schwag.

Maybe you don't believe it.  You won't believe Tonedeff's story of long (year and a half now) negotiations by e-mail with a Gibson rep named Don Pitts.

Why didn’t I receive anything? I guess you’d have to ask Don Pitts, Entertainment Liason for GIBSON Guitars. He’s the guy who apparently deals with artist sponsorships and the like. He was the man in charge of this particular situation and who, in my opinion, handled it in an unorganized and sloppy manner.

I would leave phone messages, emails, etc that would take weeks for him to respond to. Finally, I land him on the phone and tells me that he’s ‘inexperienced with how these types of contests run’, and he’s ‘not sure how to go about this’. This conversation would set the tone for the entire ordeal.

But then he starts making statements that bug me. He tells me, “I mean, this is kind of weird, because you know, you DON’T play the guitar or drums.” This definitely rubbed me the wrong way, because I already felt as though he was being unnecessarily difficult to contact and somewhat curt on the phone. So, from that statement, I guess I could gather, that there are some reservations on the Gibson side as to whether they need to accommodate ‘a rapper’ with their gear.

Whatever man, I just wanted what I won fair and square.

A year and a half later, Tonedeff's feelings haven't changed.

It’s been a few months since I even bothered to contact anyone. The last few times I contacted the Lollapalooza folks, they always seem surprised that I hadn’t received anything yet. I’ve realized that it’s basically useless to complain to them anymore, because it’s clear that they’re still dealing with Don Pitts. I’ve even tried calling him myself and no one answers. (Surprise!).

As of right now, I want the entire WORLD to know how horribly this entire situation was handled by Don Pitts @ Gibson. And after all my troubles dealing with his lack of direction and continual roadblocks, I don’t think it would be out of line to ask for $10k in compensation from Gibson. Think about it – I won $10k worth of gear fair and square, but since they refused to give it to me, shouldn’t I be entitled to the same value in cash? ESPECIALLY after the treatment I’ve gotten from their rep?

Clearly, they have no intention on doing that either. Which is why everyone’s still in the dark about it. Maybe they thought I’d just “go away”. WRONG. It shouldn’t matter if I rap, played a spoon or did acapella like Bobby McFerrin – They OWE me, PERIOD. I hope the everyone reads this and sees how they tried to weasel their way out of this, and how they tried to play me cause I’m a Hip Hop artist.

So to be fair here, we don't know Gibson's side of the story.  I've emailed a request for comment to both Mr. Pitt's e-mail address and an address listed on a Gibson press contact list. I'll let you Google those addresses yourself.   I'll also let you know what, if anything I hear back.

If this thing catches on, it sure seems like it would be worth it to Gibson to make this right just to eliminate the bad publicity.  Read the comments both here and here to see how the story is already starting to agitate the customer base.

Could Biometrics Save America From the Scourge of Icelandic Shoppers?

You may already be carrying around the national identification card of the future... your body.  While that may sound scary, a national biometrics database will make sure your children aren't threatened by Icelandic shoppers who outstayed their welcome ten years ago.

We start with the national database from the Washington Post:

The FBI is embarking on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad.

Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns are already flowing into FBI systems in a climate-controlled, secure basement here. Next month, the FBI intends to award a 10-year contract that would significantly expand the amount and kinds of biometric information it receives. And in the coming years, law enforcement authorities around the world will be able to rely on iris patterns, face-shape data, scars and perhaps even the unique ways people walk and talk, to solve crimes and identify criminals and terrorists. The FBI will also retain, upon request by employers, the fingerprints of employees who have undergone criminal background checks so the employers can be notified if employees have brushes with the law.

"Bigger. Faster. Better. That's the bottom line," said Thomas E. Bush III, assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, which operates the database from its headquarters in the Appalachian foothills.

The increasing use of biometrics for identification is raising questions about the ability of Americans to avoid unwanted scrutiny. It is drawing criticism from those who worry that people's bodies will become de facto national identification cards. Critics say that such government initiatives should not proceed without proof that the technology really can pick a criminal out of a crowd.

And we're not just talking any criminal.  Why, biometrics could keep us safe from shoppers from Iceland who threaten the very moral fiber of our nation.

From the International Herald-Tribune:

Iceland's government has asked the U.S. ambassador to explain the treatment of an Icelandic tourist who says she was held in shackles before being deported from the United States.

The woman, Erla Osk Arnardottir Lillendahl, 33, was arrested Sunday when she arrived at JFK airport in New York because she had overstayed a U.S. visa more than 10 years earlier.

Lillendahl, 33, had planned to shop and sightsee with friends, but endured instead what she has claimed was the most humiliating experience of her life.

She contended she was interrogated at JFK airport for two days, during which she was not allowed to call relatives. She said she was denied food and drink for part of the time, and was photographed and fingerprinted.

On Monday, Lillendahl claimed, her hands and feet were chained and she was moved to a prison in New Jersey, where she was kept in a cell, interrogated further and denied access to a phone.

She was deported Tuesday, she told reporters and wrote on her Internet blog.

On Thursday, Foreign Minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir told U.S. Ambassador Carol van Voorst that the treatment of Lillendahl was unacceptable.

"In a case such as this, there can be no reason to use shackles" Gisladottir said. "If a government makes a mistake, I think it is reasonable for it to apologize, like anyone else."

Van Voorst has contacted the officials at JFK airport and asked them to provide a report on Lillendahl's case,

And now according to Lillendahl's blog, an apology and lawsuits may be on the way.

"According to news today here in Iceland the Foreign Ministry received a letter from the DHS, where they regret the treatment Erla got, admit it was out of proportion, and that they will review their processes in the light of this incident. We can also thank, Mrs. Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, FM of Iceland, and the U.S. Ambassador in Iceland, Mrs.Carol van Voorst, who is a great representative for her nation. Hopefully these three women have started something, that will improvethe situation for all of us...

It was also mentioned in the news, that several American laywers have contacted Erla encouraging her and offered their help to sue the US government..."

See, that's what happens when you start giving Guantanamo prisoners access to lawyers.  The next thing you know, the Icelandic shopping cabaal will think it has Constitutional rights too.  Sheesh.

Democracy Doesn't Guarantee Freedom

One of the President's more hare-brained schemes was the idea that bringing Democracy to the MIddle East would make everyone "just get along."

In fact, in many parts of the region, giving power to the people may mean less freedom, not more.

From al-Jadid:

Proponents of democracy have long championed its guarantee of individual liberties and civil rights as proof of its legitimacy. In 2003, democracy’s promises were used, along with other reasons, by the United States as a justification for overthrowing Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq. The Bush Administration was eager to support elections in Iraq and the Palestinian Territories and happy to see the same process occur in places like Bahrain. The administration embraced the neoconservative assumption that the region’s instability lies in the absence of democratic practices. The outcome of these elections, however, disappointed many in the West, for it showed that free elections do not necessarily ensure genuinely democratic governments. As recent developments in Bahrain have shown, those voted into power under the banner of electoral democracy have sometimes pursued clearly undemocratic policies, including restrictions on freedom of political and artistic expression. 

(snip)

The paradox of electoral democracy in the Middle East was succinctly expressed in a June 6 International Herald Tribune article. “There is democracy, but there are no freedoms,” said a man on a Beirut street, according to Michael Slackman of the Tribune. “It is that view that seems to be spreading, one that has confused the process of elections with the principles of democracy,” commented Slackman.

The Tribune article implies that there is more to democracy than elections. What has been missing from all of the talks about democracy in the Middle East is dialogue concerning minorities’ rights and how they can be protected from the tyranny of the majority, as well as individuals’ rights, such as the rights of Marcel Khalife and Qassem Haddad to share their musical and literary works with the people of Bahrain and the Arab world at large. Perhaps most important is the necessity for an informed citizenry, a condition that must precede elections. Yet, such a condition is unattainable and meaningless in the absence of freedom.

Why Don't People Have a Right to be Wrong?

I was always taught the way to deal with someone who says ridiculous things is to expose their errors, not to shut them up.

Obviously many people on the Left don't get that.  They think if you say something stupid, they're justified in acting stupid themselves.

The latest example, "tolerant" people protest a Free Speech debate at Oxford because it included a couple of buffoons from the Far Right.

From the BBC:

BNP leader Nick Griffin and controversial historian David Irving were invited to talk about free speech.

Thirty protesters pushed their way into the debating chamber to stage a protest about the inclusion of the two men.

Earlier, 500 people held a sit-down demonstration outside the gates of the building but the debate eventually began about one-and-a-half hours late.

(snip)

The president of the Oxford Union Debating Society, Luke Tryl, told the BBC he was disappointed by the actions of those who tried to stop the event going ahead.

"The way to take fascism on is through debate and that's how we're going to defeat them," he said.

"David Irving came across looking pathetic. He looked weak. The flaws in his arguments about free speech were exposed and I'm pleased that that happened."

For and against

Martin Mcluskey, from the Oxford University Students' Union, was among those protesting against the inclusion of Mr Irving and Mr Griffin.

He said: "What we are doing here tonight at the Oxford Union is putting them on a platform that will give them legitimacy and credibility.

"It is as if we are saying that we agree with what they are saying and that we think it is valid."

But participant Ms Atkins said controversial views should not be silenced but exposed.

"When you say that the majority view is always right I think that is a deeply dangerous and disturbing thing to say.

"I am not for a moment saying that I agree with David Irving or Nick Griffin but I am saying that once you start having truth by democracy you risk silencing some of the most important prophets we have ever had."

Bully for Ms. Atkins... that's a great line about "Truth by Democracy"