for the first person who can explain to me why this is right and ethical and an act you could live with.
You make, about 45 MILLION a year. That's according to your tax return. Sure- some of that is investment income - but it's income. So, essentially you have close to 40 million in expendable income yearly. You know - that stuff that the rest of the world needs to spend on food, gasoline, entertainment, travel, clothes, bills, housing. *I've pulled 5 mill as the number dedicated to taxes **
Yet - you pay the same effective tax rate as someone who makes 70K a year - after they take their deductions if they itemize. And the same rate as someone who makes 40 K a year before or if they do not itemize.
That rate is roughly 14%. Of your Gross.
A person making 45 Million - that works out to be $675,000
Making 70 K - that works out to be $10,500
Making 40 K - that works out to be $ 6000
Who is getting the short end of the stick there?
And this is supposed to be a non-issue in the current GOP Primaries?
Tomorrow we will discuss the "race baiting' by several candidates.
Oh - and the links to keep on top of and complaining about the SOPA and PIPA issues are on the left margin .... go on - be heard!
24 January, 2012
19 January, 2012
Now that the outage is over
Where do you go from here? Because, believe that it's NOT over. SOPA and PIPA are both up for votes by the house and senate - and both are dangerously encroaching on your ability to interact, write, learn, share and even be certain of obtaining multiple viewpoints on any issue.
I suggest that you make a concerted effort to both complain ( loudly and often ) and make your voice heard.
Because, I look at it like this. No one, that is NO ONE should stand for copyright infringement. You should always credit work that isn't your own; I have been known to credit the germination of an idea with the work that spurred it. Perhaps overkill, but I think it makes the experience I am trying to explain clearer.
But - when the whole of us are punished because one person is unable to live by the standards of both legalities and common courtesy, in a forum that tends to promote and popularize the anonymity of it all -then how do you manage to exert the very real influence of peer pressure?
Do you not see that this proposal can engender a series of self-appointed vigilantes who could then cry FOUL with not only the instances of poached content - but even to those who are expressing an interest that is vastly divergent from their own?
And - for those of you who think that cannot happen - what fairyland utopia are you living in for it isn't this US of A that I see. It is happening daily - from the news readers who only present a sound byte to build a story - to the talking heads that do little but shout down opposing voices while promulgating their own skewed take on 'how it should be'. And sadly - more and more - it is ALL becoming like that.
From the "patriot zones" created around the Bush and McCain speaking engagements, meant simply to remove citizens from voicing their outrage with policies and platform, to the 'guarded public events' held by Romney, and the 'staged' questions from the audience at other candidate's events ... you are being managed and presented with a package that is edited, revised and polished for television stories of 90 seconds or less. And you have accepted it as "the norm".
Well - quoting Tom Petty, I won't back down. You need to be cajoled into making a stink about SOPA and PIPA to your senators and congressmen - to actually be heard by the people YOU elected to represent YOUR wishes. I can do that. I can and will take every piece of the law - explain it, define it, push you to see why it's bad.
And together - perhaps - We the People can create enough noise for They that are Elected to Represent to hear.
This is my answer to "what do we do now".
Go here to see the Bill as written: SOPA Bill HR 3261
Go here to find your Congressman: Congressional Directory
Go here to join the Movement: Stop the Wall
I suggest that you make a concerted effort to both complain ( loudly and often ) and make your voice heard.
Because, I look at it like this. No one, that is NO ONE should stand for copyright infringement. You should always credit work that isn't your own; I have been known to credit the germination of an idea with the work that spurred it. Perhaps overkill, but I think it makes the experience I am trying to explain clearer.
But - when the whole of us are punished because one person is unable to live by the standards of both legalities and common courtesy, in a forum that tends to promote and popularize the anonymity of it all -then how do you manage to exert the very real influence of peer pressure?
Do you not see that this proposal can engender a series of self-appointed vigilantes who could then cry FOUL with not only the instances of poached content - but even to those who are expressing an interest that is vastly divergent from their own?
And - for those of you who think that cannot happen - what fairyland utopia are you living in for it isn't this US of A that I see. It is happening daily - from the news readers who only present a sound byte to build a story - to the talking heads that do little but shout down opposing voices while promulgating their own skewed take on 'how it should be'. And sadly - more and more - it is ALL becoming like that.
From the "patriot zones" created around the Bush and McCain speaking engagements, meant simply to remove citizens from voicing their outrage with policies and platform, to the 'guarded public events' held by Romney, and the 'staged' questions from the audience at other candidate's events ... you are being managed and presented with a package that is edited, revised and polished for television stories of 90 seconds or less. And you have accepted it as "the norm".
Well - quoting Tom Petty, I won't back down. You need to be cajoled into making a stink about SOPA and PIPA to your senators and congressmen - to actually be heard by the people YOU elected to represent YOUR wishes. I can do that. I can and will take every piece of the law - explain it, define it, push you to see why it's bad.
And together - perhaps - We the People can create enough noise for They that are Elected to Represent to hear.
This is my answer to "what do we do now".
Go here to see the Bill as written: SOPA Bill HR 3261
Go here to find your Congressman: Congressional Directory
Go here to join the Movement: Stop the Wall
18 January, 2012
Be Careful WHAT you wish for ....
Just last night I was lamenting on my inability to write. More my "not finding anything in my list of things I had started to scribble on that demanded to be heard". I think I used exactly those words.
Then today, 18 January, I went to read one of my favorite bloggers, bubblesdeux.com. You can't read her or any of my others reads on that provider today. It's not because they don't want you- but the site is shut down. Along with several other sites shuttered in protest of two "anti-piracy" bills due to come up for a vote in the Senate and Congress soon: SOPA and PIPA.
See - the upshot of these laws is that they are M-15's being used where a flyswatter is much more appropriate. Like most, I despise plagiarism - and I am not one who uses ( or used really ) the multitude of "free share" sites that passed about content that one person sweated and cried over in creating on a site like Napster. I believe that people should be credited for their work, and where there is money to be made - paid.
But, like many things this Senate and Congress decide to enact, there are serious concerns as to who is their "information guru". And, how much of the issue do they really understand? From my vantage point, like many things, this law is far too broad in scope as written, and far too non-specific in its working. When any moron with a wild hair across his ass can point and scream "violation" ( much like the robot with the vacuum hose arms waving and shouting Danger Will Robinson! Danger! Danger! ) this particular law, should it pass the 'legislative follies' and become law, will be just as effective in a real sense - and not nearly as quotable.
Who am I to contest or complain? Let's see. I am a long term resident of these United States. Fully versed in the thought that I will not have some random moron decide what I can read, see, buy, speak on or even look into. The web is my entertainment and a door to social interaction, it gives me facts and news and lets me connect with friends and family. It has become my encyclopaedia in multiple volumes - with endless options for sourcing and differing degress of veracity that all can and do combine to keep me amused, informed, confused, laughing, crying but most of all, connected to information and opinions. This law threatens to remove that ability by punishing not those who choose to use content that is not their own, but the website on which they post the non-credited content.
Like the million dollars in fines to the college students, teens and tweens who got caught up in the Napster stings and suits ( still ongoing, mind ) - this bill goes too far. Go ahead - read it: THE REAL BILL http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.3261:
Read the information about the bill ( there is tons out there - good and bad). Note that there are good, bad and moronic comments ( some best written by those for whom a muzzle should be required daywear ) - but people CAN have a say AND you can read it. I'm not so sure that will be the case should this law pass.
But- after reading the law, and looking around - you can decide for yourself. If you favour an entire site being shut down for one person's inability or unwillingness to credit content is machine gunning a fly. Collateral damages everywhere, and the price, like with all collateral damage - far too high.
Want to be heard? It's easy actually. Go to your local Senator and Congressman. Use the time you would be reading on these shut down sites on the web today to make phone calls. FLOOD their switchboard. Email them. Repeatedly. I repeat: flood the congressional and senatorial switchboards and servers with your voice.
Senators and Congressmen are YOUR voice in government. They are the voice that speaks for you . You Elected them for their promise to WORK FOR YOU. CALL IN YOUR MARKER. Demand that they listen to you and NOT pass this Lobbyist created and driven bill.
Go to https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/ for an easy link for email.
Then today, 18 January, I went to read one of my favorite bloggers, bubblesdeux.com. You can't read her or any of my others reads on that provider today. It's not because they don't want you- but the site is shut down. Along with several other sites shuttered in protest of two "anti-piracy" bills due to come up for a vote in the Senate and Congress soon: SOPA and PIPA.
See - the upshot of these laws is that they are M-15's being used where a flyswatter is much more appropriate. Like most, I despise plagiarism - and I am not one who uses ( or used really ) the multitude of "free share" sites that passed about content that one person sweated and cried over in creating on a site like Napster. I believe that people should be credited for their work, and where there is money to be made - paid.
But, like many things this Senate and Congress decide to enact, there are serious concerns as to who is their "information guru". And, how much of the issue do they really understand? From my vantage point, like many things, this law is far too broad in scope as written, and far too non-specific in its working. When any moron with a wild hair across his ass can point and scream "violation" ( much like the robot with the vacuum hose arms waving and shouting Danger Will Robinson! Danger! Danger! ) this particular law, should it pass the 'legislative follies' and become law, will be just as effective in a real sense - and not nearly as quotable.
Who am I to contest or complain? Let's see. I am a long term resident of these United States. Fully versed in the thought that I will not have some random moron decide what I can read, see, buy, speak on or even look into. The web is my entertainment and a door to social interaction, it gives me facts and news and lets me connect with friends and family. It has become my encyclopaedia in multiple volumes - with endless options for sourcing and differing degress of veracity that all can and do combine to keep me amused, informed, confused, laughing, crying but most of all, connected to information and opinions. This law threatens to remove that ability by punishing not those who choose to use content that is not their own, but the website on which they post the non-credited content.
Like the million dollars in fines to the college students, teens and tweens who got caught up in the Napster stings and suits ( still ongoing, mind ) - this bill goes too far. Go ahead - read it: THE REAL BILL http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.3261:
Read the information about the bill ( there is tons out there - good and bad). Note that there are good, bad and moronic comments ( some best written by those for whom a muzzle should be required daywear ) - but people CAN have a say AND you can read it. I'm not so sure that will be the case should this law pass.
But- after reading the law, and looking around - you can decide for yourself. If you favour an entire site being shut down for one person's inability or unwillingness to credit content is machine gunning a fly. Collateral damages everywhere, and the price, like with all collateral damage - far too high.
Want to be heard? It's easy actually. Go to your local Senator and Congressman. Use the time you would be reading on these shut down sites on the web today to make phone calls. FLOOD their switchboard. Email them. Repeatedly. I repeat: flood the congressional and senatorial switchboards and servers with your voice.
Senators and Congressmen are YOUR voice in government. They are the voice that speaks for you . You Elected them for their promise to WORK FOR YOU. CALL IN YOUR MARKER. Demand that they listen to you and NOT pass this Lobbyist created and driven bill.
Go to https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/ for an easy link for email.
PLEASE!
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