Wednesday, June 18, 2008

While I'm Sitting Here... Waiting...

Further to Monday’s post about the AP/copyright flap… In what might be a first for EIP, I’m going to link Markos Moulitsas Zúniga with no reservations, qualifications, and/or disparaging remarks:

Lots of blogs are calling for boycotts of AP content. Not me. I'm going to keep using it. I will copy and paste as many words as I feel necessary to make my points and that I feel are within bounds of copyright law (and remember, I've got a JD and specialized in media law, so I know the rules pretty well). And I will keep doing so if I get an AP takedown notice (which I will make a big public show of ignoring). And then, either the AP -- an organization famous for taking its members work without credit -- will either back down and shut the hell up, or we'll have a judge resolve the easiest question of law in the history of copyright jurisprudence.

So Kos has a law degree, eh? I knew that. But I didn’t know he specialized in media law, but that’s neither here nor there. I agree with his approach: keep quoting the AP…consistent with Fair Use… and let ‘em come on down. Seems like the appropriate thing to do.

It’s been noted elsewhere today that this is one of those all-too-rare moments in the ‘sphere where the Left and Right are united on an issue. Everyone agrees the AP is being absolutely stupid, and James Joyner of Outside the Beltway has screen shots of just how stupid they actually are. I’d really be interested in knowing if someone… anyone has plunked money down for the privilege of quoting the AP. I sorta doubt it, yanno?

―:☺:―

One of the recurring themes sounded by ALL of the Democrat candidates during their primaries… and one of my favorite peeves, as well… is the economy is going to Hell in a hand basket. We’re ALL suffering, doncha know. Most of us are unemployed and for those of us who remain employed, well…it’s just a matter of time before our jobs are outsourced to India, China, or Mexico. Hell, the Great Depression (Part Deux) is just around the corner, right?

Wrong.

Ask Americans how the economy is doing, and their answer is stark: It is not just bad, it is run-for-the-hills terrible. Consumer confidence is at its lowest level in almost 30 years. Only 12 percent of Americans think the economy is in good shape. On the Internet, comparisons to the Great Depression are widespread.

But the reality is different. According to most broad measures of how the economy is doing, it's not all that grim.

Soft? You betcha. In recession? Quite possibly. And a crisis in the financial markets has rattled nerves for months now. But so far, the economy is holding up better than it did during the last two recessions in 1990 and 2001. Employers haven't shed as many jobs, the unemployment rate is still relatively low, and gross domestic product has kept rising. Things are nowhere near as bad as they were in the Great Depression, or even during the severe recession of 1982-83. The last time consumers were this miserable, in May 1980, the jobless rate was 7.5 percent and inflation was 14.4 percent. Now those numbers are 5.5 percent and 4.2 percent respectively.

Even the article quoted above (“Why We’re Gloomier Than the Economy” by Neil Irwin in today’s WaPo) only gets it half-right by saying we’re “quite possibly” in a recession. We’re not, if one observes the generally-accepted definition of recession… which is two consecutive quarters of negative growth in GDP. We haven’t quite hit that point, yet. Mr. Irwin goes on to list his reasons why we feel so bad about the country’s economic prospects and cites the real risk of self-fulfilling prophecy… as consumer spending drives the greatest portion of the economy.

I’ll add there’s yet another, greater danger: people will begin to believe what Obama’s saying and…worse yet… that he’ll be able to fix our tired-ass economy (he sez) with Change! and Hope! McCain can’t do the job, coz his Buds in the White House are putting the final touches on “Great Depression, Part Deux” and McCain is nothing but BushCo’s third term, right? That’s the bit that worries me. YMMV, of course.

―:☺:―

So… my new camera body arrived yesterday, my lens is supposed to be delivered today, and the memory card is due to arrive tomorrow. Not a bad delivery sequence, that. If the lens arrives on time, and IF it arrives while I’m not at the dentist (I have another follow-up early this afternoon), I should be able to begin playing with my new toy today. I’ll just take the memory card out of my G5 and drop it into the XTi… and Walla! I’ll look like a photographer!

I’ve charged the camera battery, loaded the bundled software on my PeeSee, and given the owner’s manual the once-over, so I’m basically good to go. I don’t think the learning curve will be all that steep with the new camera. There’s a lot of consistency between the new camera’s controls and menu functions and those on the old one. That’s to be expected, as both cameras are Canons. My old G5 wasn’t exactly a “point-and-shoot,” either. One of the reasons I bought that camera four years ago was its versatility… it has aperture and shutter speed priority modes, plus full manual control of all exposure parameters and focus. It just wasn’t an SLR.

But anyway. Cue up Tom Petty, eh? With Eddie, too!

10 comments:

  1. Screw the AP....but I can see where differnt blogs need it....but I can throw BS/doom and gloom around without their help.

    Can't wait to see the results of the new camera and lens.....go to it!

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  2. I read an article several years ago (I can't remember the name or the author of the article right now) that suggested that 3% of us are what one might consider unemployable. IF (that can be a big word) that's accurate, then 5.5% unemployment is not as bad as it sounds.

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  3. I say if you give credit of the source and quote what your saying, then your ok. That's what we were taught in English class, anyway.

    Have fun with the new toy! Hope the lens arrives today.

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  4. And I do agree with Jenny (on both subjects :)

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  5. Do you think that the MSM plays up the "bad economy" story hoping to sway the public opinion in favor of the Dems (the Bash Bush thing)?

    I think I will leave the AP war to bigger bloggers - and Kos is probably right. It is like my friend who was having trouble with the IRS - they were threatening to come get her assets. She told them to come on - that if she had anything worth taking, they were welcome to it.

    Show us the pics!

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  6. Pat sez: Can't wait to see the results of the new camera and lens.....go to it!

    I might go out tonight and try some night shots downtown. Or I might not. Just depends...

    I hear ya bout throwing doom and gloom around, Pat. I read your post today. ;-)

    Amy sez: I read an article several years ago (I can't remember the name or the author of the article right now) that suggested that 3% of us are what one might consider unemployable. IF (that can be a big word) that's accurate, then 5.5% unemployment is not as bad as it sounds.

    According to most talking-head economists I've seen over the last few years, unemployment at or below 5% is considered "full employment." They must have read the same books/articles... or had the same teachers... as you, Amy.

    Thanks, Jenny. I've put the thing aside to watch the news, for now.

    Dawn: You and me both!

    Lou sez: Do you think that the MSM plays up the "bad economy" story hoping to sway the public opinion in favor of the Dems (the Bash Bush thing)?

    MOST definitely, with certain exceptions (like the folks at CNBC and most of the Foxes).

    I agree with ya about the blogger/AP thing. I'm pretty sure the AP won't bother with us small-fry. And your friend has a LOT of class. And brass!

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  7. Markos Moulitsas Zúniga is a moron, and that is the nicest thing I can say about him.

    Sorry ... when I hear his name, I lose all subjectivity and even forget the topic.

    I DIDN'T know he was a lawyer!!!

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  8. Sharon sez: Markos Moulitsas Zúniga is a moron, and that is the nicest thing I can say about him.

    That IS being kind, Sharon. Still and even, he's done pretty well for a moron, no? But yeah: He's the moonbat's moonbat, Blogger Division.

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  9. Buck, I am on the same Freq as you with regards to the MSM repeating doom and gloom in hopes of tilting the attitude of the general public. When that "Bush Lied" crap started and no one from the Bush administration stood up and challenged the asertion I knew He was doomed bo be painted as a liar and that everyone on the Left would use that as proof that the war in Iraq was a bad thing. Of course it got traction and that is all you hear now when the left opens it's Yap.

    I see that happening with Economic news, its always the negative side of things. That news 10 or so days ago about the jobless rate going up by 300K jobs grabbed a lot of news yet the overall rate was still in that range considered Full Employment - and the fact not reported is that these "new" jobless people were mainly students out of school looking for work.

    So, beware of the mantra from the Left. The MSM will repeat it like it was gospel all in hopes of getting their chosen candidate into the White House.

    BT: Jimmy T Sends.

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  10. Whatever the employment stats are these days - I see a lot of high paying jobs on employment sites -

    http://www.realmatch.com
    http://www.monster.com
    http://www.simplyhired.com

    I dont see how the stats match the market at all.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.