Don't Let Copyright Trolls Steal Our Property Rights ↘
soophelia:
Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether you have the right to sell your stuff on eBay. Do you really own the smartphone or computer you’re using to read this? If you sold your books, would you be breaking the law? A federal court in New York says you would be, even if you legally paid for and bought them.
Once again, big entertainment company lobbyists are fighting us in the courts to ensure their profits are given higher priority than consumer rights. But this time the MPAA and RIAA have the Obama administration on their side — they’ve all filed legal briefs asking the Supreme Court to restrict our right to resell the things we own..
If we lose this fight, practically anybody who wants to resell products they bought — from Macbooks and iPhones to our clothing and textbooks — will have to ask copyright holders for permission first. And they’ll have the right to deny it!
Sign the petition at youvebeenowned.org
I have a ribbon on my site because of this. This is ridiculous and I am tired of Congress wasting its own and our time with pointless legislation that will make daily life more difficult for most people.
As someone with a young family member who has a chronic health condition that prevents her from working, as a person benefiting from Obamacare while I work my way through grad school, and as a woman, I don’t see how anyone could get behind this guy. Let’s not forget that under the old rules, some states allowed insurance companies to define suffering from domestic violence as a pre-existing condition.
❝When we were children, you’d never imagine that you’d get into a right/left argument about the purpose and use of a library. It seems extraordinary to me[…] I really don’t find it a political argument. It’s about equality of opportunity. You know you don’t expect everyone to be as educated as everyone else or have the same achievements but you expect at least to be offered at least some of the opportunities and libraries are the most simple and the most open way to give people access to books.
❝Jeremy Bentham does not have a HOPE poster.
— me, re: classical vs. modern liberalism
Abolition of the death penalty in California is on the state ballot in November.
Connecticut just abolished its death penalty on April 25. To do so in California would be an incredible victory for human rights. With the country’s largest electorate, however, California is a difficult state for campaigning. Please post about this and spread the word so California voters know about the decision they have to make later this year.
Robber Barons and Rebels ↘
Chapter 11 of A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn
The motivation and rhetoric of labor movements in the late nineteenth century sounds eerily familiar after an autumn following the Occupy movement. It’s the same struggle. This chapter is powerful and eye-opening.
![zebablah:
fukaikurai:
thedailywhat:
Dear Ann Coulter of the Day: After Ann Coulter referred to President Obama as a retard in a tweet during Monday night’s presidential debate, Special Olympics athlete and global messenger John Franklin Stephens penned her this open letter:
Dear Ann Coulter, Come on Ms. Coulter, you aren’t dumb and you aren’t shallow. So why are you continually using a word like the R-word as an insult? I’m a 30 year old man with Down syndrome who has struggled with the public’s perception that an intellectual disability means that I am dumb and shallow. I am not either of those things, but I do process information more slowly than the rest of you. In fact it has taken me all day to figure out how to respond to your use of the R-word last night. I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have. Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next. Finally, I wondered if you meant to degrade him as someone who is likely to receive bad health care, live in low grade housing with very little income and still manages to see life as a wonderful gift. Because, Ms. Coulter, that is who we are – and much, much more. After I saw your tweet, I realized you just wanted to belittle the President by linking him to people like me. You assumed that people would understand and accept that being linked to someone like me is an insult and you assumed you could get away with it and still appear on TV. I have to wonder if you considered other hateful words but recoiled from the backlash. Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor. No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much. Come join us someday at Special Olympics. See if you can walk away with your heart unchanged. A friend you haven’t made yet, John Franklin Stephens Global Messenger Special Olympics Virginia
[specialolympicsblog]
this man is my hero
Eloquent, and subtle shade.
My letter would have been:
Dear Ms. Coulter,
YOU BETTA PRAY I DON’T SEE YO PENCIL LOOKING ASS IN THE STREETS, BITCH
Amazing, and far more than she deserved. John Franklin Stephens is definitely a better person than I am, and the kind of person to whom we need to listen.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mceq34XHBY1qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
