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This was originally a comment in an article here at S/N that was posted a couple of days ago. Since I'm a little late posting it, I'll repeat it here.
The article was about a pop songwriter being sued by the late Marvin Gaye's estate for copyright infringement. The greedsters lost the case, thankfully. BUT,
Those Marvin Gaye songs wouldn't be under copyright any more and this case could never have come to trial had it not been for Sony Bono and a corrupt judicial system.
The rich pop singer Sony Bono got himself elected to the US Senate and made a lot of friends there before suffering a rich man's death at the hands of a skiing accident most could never afford. So for the poor dead talentless pop singer, they raised the copyright length from 20 years, extendable another twenty with proper paperwork and a twenty dollar fee as previously, to the author's life plus ninety five years, ninety five if done for a corporation, without any copyright paperwork at all unless it gets to court.
Since the constitution allows copyrights and patents for limited times anybody with two functioning brain calls can't possibly believe that a century past the author's lifetime ("The Congress shall have Power To...promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;") is in any way constitutional. A lifetime plus a century is logically and reasonably unlimited.
I thought the law was passed as a result of bribery, but when folks tell me all congressman are crooked, I say it's almost statistically impossible that 535 people would ALL be corrupt. Then I realized, they don't have to be corrupt. 535 cowards fearful of losing an election are easy prey for the likes of the Music And Film Association of America (MAFIAA). "Nice campaign, be a shame if anything happened to it. You know I'm a good citizen who gives you and your opponent both fifty million buck campaign contribution. Be a shame if he got a hundred million and you got nothing." Too bad none of those 535 have the courage to outlaw "contributing" to more than one candidate in any given race. It should be a felony with mandatory prison time.
But they can't extort the Supreme Court like that. They face no election and hold office until they retire or die. It's been shown publicly that Clarence Thomas broke every ethical rule the judicial system has, Except that the rules don't apply to the Supreme Court! Since the other eight refuse to enact a code of ethics, I must assume all nine are as God damned dirty as Thomas.
That not only explains "Limited means whatever congress says it means" but why Citizens United ruled that a corporation is a person (who can't go to prison or be executed for any crime, only fined).
America's slide into fascism is well underway. As you're aware, under fascism, business runs government. Under communism, government runs business. I don't see a lot of difference, both require dictatorships. I'm just glad I'm old enough to miss the end of this shit show, I won't exist thirty years from now.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 10, @04:17AM (1 child)
What could possibly make you think there is any "courage" in this business? Why do you think these people sign up for this? Because they're "courageous"? Please... pull the other one
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday May 16, @06:22PM
You can't be in politics without gaining enemies, and your job is the easiest in the world to lose and in today's environment, might send a husband or some staffers to the hospital if you're a Democrat (First Pelosi's husband, then last week a Democratic congressman's staffers beaten by a thug with a baseball bat).
My great nephew just graduated college and thought of going into politics, and my sister and nephew talked him out of it. "Everybody hates politicians."
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday May 10, @02:14PM (1 child)
I'm guessing the FBI need to assign some people to look into "They face no election and hold office until they retire or die." because they are the most likely to be corrupted.
I'm with you: a lot of people are shit. Shit needs to be looked after. Shit needs to be replaced.
Why can't we have better people on this planet?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Informative) by mcgrew on Tuesday May 16, @06:28PM
"They face no election and hold office until they retire or die." because they are the most likely to be corrupted.
That describes Illinois' former Speaker of the House. Very rich, tiny district by Chicago where all the streets are always free of potholes and the sidewalks and everything else are in excellent shape and he never ever faced an opponent. I'm pretty sure he'll be joining some former governors who became federal prisoners after leaving office.
But I still don't think power corrupts. I think power attracts the already corrupt (see: George Santos) and the easily corrupted.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday May 10, @03:53PM
The guys' name was Sonny Bono. "Sony" is a giant corporation that very likely benefits greatly from the aforementioned obscene copyright terms.
Answer now is don't give in; aim for a new tomorrow.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Spook brat on Wednesday May 10, @04:22PM (1 child)
You won't be surprised that this exact argument has already reached the Supreme Court and got rejected. [wikipedia.org]
That decision was the one that made me turn cynical about any results from the Supreme Court being truly in the interest of the people as opposed to special interests.
Travel the galaxy! Meet fascinating life forms... And kill them [schlockmercenary.com]
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday May 16, @06:30PM
I guess they expect people to live 95 years past their death? That's logic? Yes, I read Lessig's book.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday May 10, @05:42PM (2 children)
It isn't possible to assign blame for the current state of affairs, without including Disney in the picture. Walt Disney, and his company, invested untold millions, possibly billions, into extending copyright law. They are front and center in every copyright issue. They are happy to remain in the background, whenever possible, allowing MPAA etc to take credit, but Disney pumps money into "protecting" their "intellectual property" at every opportunity.
Yeah, Bonehead was bad, but he was pretty much a tool. It's Disney who used the tool.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday May 10, @05:43PM
Ooops, forgot the link: https://thepalaw.com/copyright/how-did-disney-influence-us-copyright-law/ [thepalaw.com]
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Tuesday May 16, @06:32PM
They are indeed complicit, of course. The Bono Act was often derisively called "The Steamboat Willie Protection Act." But I'm convinced that SCOTUS is crooked as a dog's leg.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 3, Insightful) by istartedi on Thursday May 11, @10:14PM
D F-minor G A, that's basically what they tried to copyright I think.
As someone who's been learning guitar for about a year, this was interesting in ways that it would not have been otherwise.
You can see the similarities by pulling up charts for Let's Get it On [ultimate-guitar.com] and Thinking Out Loud [ultimate-guitar.com], the two songs in question.
You can also listen to them on YouTube of course.
Yes, they do sound similar in some ways; but it's probably no more similar than any two songs that use 12-bar blues, a very well known chord progression that I really need to practice...
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday May 20, @11:55PM
While I don't think it's material to your journal, that's not Fascism or Communism. Ultimately, Fascism is the philosophy that the State is utterly supreme - society and those businesses are just tools to empower the state. The real difference between Fascism and 20th Century Communism is that Fascism will allow you to own stuff - but it's a right given and taken away at the whim of the State. Communism is even more obsessive about its control of people - nobody even has even the feeble fiction of ownership of property.
As far as business is concerned, the fascist business can be quite powerful, as an important cog in the machine and due to connections and ability to grant favors to the ruling elite. That can give them access to incredible resources. But they will still lose instantly in any conflict with the State.
Meanwhile a business in a Communist society is part of the state and offices in such businesses are often stepping stones to government and Party positions with great power. They can't conflict with the State because they are the State (all such conflicts are naturally internal). And they have similar access to incredible resources.