TODAY’S BLOGGERY IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE NUMBER 123

Book-nerd meme via thelastaerie and bedsitter23, and therefore perfect for this blog:

"Page 123 in the Book Closest to You" Meme:

1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

I was surrounded by books when I filled this out, so I just grabbed one from the top of a random stack.

A water-skier skimming across the Pacific on two pieces of yellow-tail sushi means: “I’m free-trade and anti-tariff.” A golfer hitting a ball out of a steaming pit of polenta or couscous advertises: “I’m open to the blandishments of foreign lobbyists.” A golf bag bristling with Tomahawk missiles signifies a cozy relationship with defense contractors.

– Mark Leyner, Tooth Imprints On A Corn Dog

Result!

CONTEXT: Leyner is discussing tattoos as shortcode statements for politicians. I recommend the whole book. Actually, I recommend anything with his name on it. He writes the way I wish I could.

Tattoo you,

This is dF

YR CALL IS IMPORTANT TO US: OBAMA EDITION

Well, I did wonder how long it would be until Obama began to give me worry. Not long, as it happens:

ITEM: The House of Representatives passed a bill Friday that will expand the government's ability to install blanket wiretaps inside the United States. It will also put an end to the lawsuits filed against phone companies for helping the government spy on Americans without getting the necessary court orders.

Barack Obama says he supports the bill.

Oh crap.

His explanation – which sounds a lot like Nancy Pelosi's – is that the bill is a “compromise” that at least puts an end to Bush’s illegal wiretapping (by making illegal something that was already illegal?), and that he’ll fight in the Senate version to drop the provision granting amnesty to the phone companies who broke the law by enabling warrantless wiretaps.

Small comfort, since the White House still got pretty much everything it wanted in the House version. Some compromise.

Still, why not? What’s a few more laws to a president who can’t be bothered to follow them when national security is at stake? And it is ALWAYS at stake. Just ask John McCain. He’d spy on yr phones illegally too, given the chance.

I suspect Obama is only going along with this because in the wake of the primaries, now is not the time to be bucking against the party line. And unfortunately, the Democrat party line on fighting Teh Terrors involves doing exactly what the GOP would do if they were in charge. That way, see, the GOP can’t be all like, “Yr soft on terrors!”, because then the Demos can just go, “I know you are, but what am I?”

Or something.

Well, we’ll see how the Senate deals with it. In the meantime, you may as well just go ahead and assume that yr phone calls, emails, IMs, text messages and whatever will be govt-monitored for quality control purposes.

On the bright side, it does provide me with an excuse to post another favorite George Carlin quote of mine:

A guy who used to be in Washington, knew that his phone was tapped, used to answer, “Fuck Hoover”.

Listen up,

This is dF

WE’RE ALL PIRATES HERE

ITEM [via Threat Level]: Just when you thought the RIAA couldn’t get any weirder, they are now demanding that America’s radio stations pay them license money to play music, because broadcasting music without paying for it is stealing.

As a licensed FCC operator, I am amused by this story for a couple of reasons:

1. This argument is as old as radio itself. The first broadcast stations that played records were sued by everyone from record companies to concert musicians and venue halls on the fear that if you played records for free on the radio, no one would ever buy records or go to concerts, and musicians who played live music on the radio would be out of work. By the 50s, record companies relied so much on radio for promotion that they paid DJs to get them to play records (which was illegal, as it turned out).

2. Actually, broadcasters already pay royalties to songwriters associations like ASCAP, BMI and SECAM. And since many bands and singers today write at least some of their own material, it’s somewhat disingenuous for the RIAA to claim that artists aren’t getting paid for broadcast music.

It’s a silly idea, but worth mentioning because it really is an indicator of just how desperate the RIAA is getting for cash. Digital downloads are the new cash cow, but it’s not as big a cow as CDs, so they’re even turning on the one industry that helped make the music business the giant dinosaur it is. Some argue that it’s only fair, since Webcasters have been held to a double standard for years, but then I never supported the Web radio royalties rule either.

The other reason to post this, of course, is that The Onion broke this story SIX YEARS AGO.




Uncanny!

Mock the future,

This is dF

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EDITED TO ADD [June 26]: The National Association of Broadcasters is fighting back – by playing the Protectionist Patriotism Card. In a new print add, the NAB says that they shouldn't have to pay royalties on records because three of the Big Four are owned by GAWDAMM FOREIGNERS who will suck up American money and export it to Japan or something. Sigh.