I’d like to make a suggestion for those of you wishing to honor all veterans - regardless of when they served, where they served, if you agreed or disagreed with with their reason for serving, or even for what country they served:

Treat Veteran’s Day as the day of rememberance it’s intended to be.

There is a reason we create national holidays: to remind us not to forget! To remind us there are people, events and actions more important than ourselves, who have, in some small or large way, contributed to our having if not a better life then at least having the opportunity for a better life than those who came before us. We’re supposed to spend that time with our loved ones, many of whom are undoubtedly veterans, enjoying their company, thanking them for what they’ve done, hearing the stories of their time in service (and that just never gets old), laughing with them and sometimes crying with them, going to the parades and parks and beaches having events that do honor them - not showing up at Macy’s at 5am for another holiday sale.

And yet, every year, I see fewer and fewer businesses honor Veteran’s Day by closing their offices. Yes, banks close (most of them, anyway), the post office closes, state and federal offices close - but few others do. Personally, it angers me no end. It angers me all the more considering WE’RE AT WAR! Could we possibly show less thanks, admiration and respect for our troops right now than by not even being able to take one day out of our lives for them? After all, they’ve taken several years, and in far too many cases - all their years - out of their life for us.

Thanks for listening.

and we seem to be reveling in it.  How horribly sad…and revolting. The blogs, news comment sections, tv pundits, and water-cooler conversations have lit up with gleeful disdain of yet another public figure being ‘caught’ in an affair.  I won’t even get into the Republican vs. Democrat - based glee; it’s more disgusting than I want to know.

First of all - his private life is not the public’s business.  Yeah, yeah, I know…he’s a public figure.  And?!!  We have been beating the crap out of people with that excuse for-ev-er, and mostly to satisfy our own perverse voyeurism and/or so we can feel superior in some bizarre manner.  Enough already - time for the (American) public to grow up a little, stop demanding politicians live their lives on the pedestals on which we place them, so we can throw stones at them until they invariably fall off…at which point we vilify them for not being agile enough to dodge said stones and stay on our pedestals.  I think I just made my head hurt!

We elect people to do a job - not be saints.  At least, that’s what we should be doing.  Now, while everyone might not  agree on how well he’s done that job, obviously a lot of people in South Carolina thought he did them (Congress, as well as Gov) pretty well, since he was re-elected several times, not to mention pushed for a presidential run in 2012. 

It would be such a nice change of pace (snark) if we could manage not to make candidates/politicians feel they had to become some creation of flawless morality in order to get elected.  We have fostered this demand that our public servants must have none of the foibles we possess, and they keep trying to fulfill it…often with personally disasterous consequenses.  How about we knock it off?  Hmm? Few, if any, can live like that, and maintain their sanity for very long.

What happend to Governor Sanford can, and has, happened to millions, and will likely happen to millions more every day.  And too many are ready to crucify him, or demand he resign, or make him the punchline to a bad joke, for what?  For falling in love?  Or for not living up to something others wanted him to be, or decided he should be, in their own definition of what a leader, what a public servant, must be.  Let’s be fair for a second, there’s a big difference between stepping outside of one’s marriage to get laid, and falling in love, and all the gradations inbetween.

There are all sorts of things about what transpired, what caused the affair, who was involved, who was to blame, etc., the public will never know - I hope.  It’s none of our business.  It’s between him, his estranged wife, and his lover.  Period. 

The only part of this that belongs in the public eye, is relative to how Governor Sanford handled the details and procedures of leaving the state - not why he left town, not where he was, and not with whom he spent time. If he was derelict in his responsibility to the safety of the state and its people (and I seriously question the idea no one could get hold of him - obviously they could leave him phone messages, and did.  His not returning a message doesn’t mean he didn’t get it. That’s why we all have voicemail!) then punish him for that, if you feel it’s warranted - but not because he had the effrontery to be human. 

As for my part - I can only say this:

Governor Sanford - 

While I admire your willingness to take full responsibility for the actions of not only yourself, but of everyone remotely involved, I deeply regret the public demand you (or any other public figure) fall on your sword for something that was never the public’s right, nor need, to know in the first place.

I have seen few human beings look so utterly lost and desolate as you did today.  You have some difficult choices and decisions ahead of you.  Remember, life is all too short.  Choose to be the man you want to be, not what others demand.  Choose the life you think will bring you happiness and joy - as this will likely bring the same to those you love - not the life others want you to have or think you should, or must, pursue to fulfill a dream that may not be your own.

I wish you a long and happy life.

General Clark DID NOT impune Senator McCain’s service in any way, shape, or form. In fact - he said Mccain was one of his heros, as well as a hero to millions, for his service. What he did say was simple logic - that McCain’s specific military service does not make him automatically qualified to be commander-in-chief anymore than being able to drive a car qualifies one to race at NASCAR.Furthermore - I ‘ve no doubt he would have made his comments no matter who the presumptive Dem nominee was. The comments have nothing to do with Obama.  And - considering they have nothing to do with Obama, I’m saddened and, frankly, disgusted, that an Obama campaign spokesman would denounce General Clark’s remarks.

There is nothing to denounce. Doing so smacks of political cowardice on the part of the Obama spoksman who issued the statement, at the very least.”

(am officially a fan of cell ophones thatt type!)

First - and I apologize for the length - but I’m going to post the full article (with the author’s permission) by Mark Simon, from last month’s Animation World Magazine.

This legislation would devastate artists of all stripes, and potentially cause havoc for every business with a logo, corporate identity, personal photo, sketch, song, painting, sculpture…and every body who has ever posted any image or written word online - ever.  It would potentially legalize fraud on a massive scale never before seen.

Here you go - it’s long, and there are additional links at the bottom - including to the pdf versions of both the house and senate bills - but it’s vitally important to everyone -so please read it and notify your congress people NOT to pass this!

Mind Your Business: You Will Lose All The Rights to Your Own Art

Mark Simon is mad as hell and, in this month’s “Mind Your Business,” he tells you why you should be too.

April 10, 2008
By Mark Simon

Printable Version

Mark Simon.

As you know, I usually handle the subjects in my articles with a sense of humor. That is not the case this month. I find nothing funny about the new Orphan Works legislation that is before Congress.

In fact, it PISSES ME OFF!

As an artist, you have to read this article or you could lose everything you’ve ever created!

An Orphaned Work is any creative work of art where the artist or copyright owner has released their copyright, whether on purpose, by passage of time, or by lack of proper registration. In the same way that an orphaned child loses the protection of his or her parents, your creative work can become an orphan for others to use without your permission.

If you don’t like to read long articles, you will miss incredibly important information that will affect the rest of your career as an artist. You should at least skip to the end to find the link for a fantastic interview with the Illustrators’ Partnership about how you are about to lose ownership of your own artwork.

Currently, you don’t have to register your artwork to own the copyright. You own a copyright as soon as you create something. International law also supports this. Right now, registration allows you to sue for damages, in addition to fair value.

What makes me so MAD about this new legislation is that it legalizes THEFT! The only people who benefit from this are those who want to make use of our creative works without paying for them and large companies who will run the new private copyright registries.

These registries are companies that you would be forced to pay in order to register every single image, photo, sketch or creative work. It is currently against international law to coerce people to register their work for copyright because there are so many inherent problems with it. But because big business can push through laws in the United States, our country is about to break with the rest of the world, again, and take your rights away.With the tens of millions of photos and pieces of artwork created each year, the bounty for forcing everyone to pay a registration fee would be enormous. We lose our rights and our creations, and someone else makes money at our expense.This includes every sketch, painting, photo, sculpture, drawing, video, song and every other type of creative endeavor. All of it is at risk!

Orphan Works

Or, How You May Lose All the Rights to Every Piece of Art You Have Ever Created!

The Shawn Bently Orphan Works Act has been released to Congress. Below you will find more information, articles and interviews so you know what is going on and what you can do about it.

Audio Interview About Orphan Works Act
On April 5th, 2008, I interviewed Brad Holland of the Illustrator’s Partnership about the Orphan Works bill and how it affects every artist and photographer in the world.

YOU NEED TO LISTEN TO THIS because you are about to lose your copyright protection. Every one of you needs to stand up and be heard in order to protect what we have all created.

Please forward this information to every creative person and group you know. I give permission for this audio file to be copied and transferred and replayed so that everyone may learn about what is going on.

CLICK HERE to DOWNLOAD the MP3 of this interview. E-mail it to others or put it on your iPod.

IT’S HERE!
The 2008 Orphan Works Act has been released to Congress
Click HERE to download the Senate version of the bill,
S 2913 The Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008

Click HERE to download the House version of the bill.
The_Orphan_Works_Act_of_2008.pdf

Orphan Update E-mail Lists
Brad Holland
Illustrator’s Partnership
www.IllustratorsPartnership.org
ipa@twcny.rr.com to get on the Orphan Works e-mail list

IPA Orphan Works Resource page for more info:
http://www.illustratorspartnership.org/01_topics/article.php?searchterm=00185

Govt. Contacts
Contact your Senators, Representatives, Governors and State Legislators:
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

Sample Letter You Can Send
CLICK HERE to download a template (MS Word document) you can customize and fax, mail or e-mail (fax is best) to your Senator, Representative, Governor and State legislator.

Do NOT threaten or curse in any response you send to legislators or supporters of the bill. That will only hurt the cause! Once the bill is back on the floor, we will post information here on when it will be the best time to write letters.

How This Affects Other Artists
Interview with Alex Saviuk, famed Spider-Man comic artist about the Orphan Works bill.
CLICK HERE to download and listen to Alex’s interview.

On May 1, 2008, I posted a new article about the specifics of the Orphan Works Act of 2008.
I give permission for this article to be copied, sent and re-printed. Please help us spread the word.

Don’t Lose The Rights to Your Artistic Creations
Mark Simon
Artist Advocate

Press Release.
Others have said it couldn’t happen. They said Congress and the Senate would never enact a bill that would endanger the rights to our creative works. THEY WERE WRONG!

If you don’t register every photo and work of art in government certified private databases, you are about to give the legal right for anyone to infringe on your copyright.

“The Orphan Works Act of 2008”, (H.R. 5889) and the “Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008” (S.2913), were released to the House of Representatives and the Senate recently. While at first glance the law seems to be a ‘last resort’ for a search for the owner of any photograph, artwork or sculpture, the devil, as they say, is in the details.

An “orphan”, as it relates to this legislation, is an original creative work such as a photograph, graphic image, or sculpture, which is still protected by its term of copyright, but the copyright holder can’t be found. Actually, this bill makes it easy for searchers to pretend it’s hard not to find copyright holders!

REGISTRIES WILL REMOVE YOUR COPYRIGHT PROTECTION!

We cannot just sit back and let this Orphan Works bill pass! As it is written, if it passes we would have to register all of our creative works in all the upcoming private sector registries (those certified by the Copyright office) or risk orphaning all of our work. This means all past, current and future work could be legally used without your permission.

The problem lies in relying on the use of online electronic databases, or registries, to search for the owners of copyrighted works. The registries will employ new softwares to match an image to be searched with the images that are registered and if found will supply the searcher with the artist’s name and contact information.

Having online registries to search for copyright owners is great. Using these registries as a basis for legally orphaning a work is TERRIBLE.

What makes me think the registries will be used to orphan works of art? Three reasons.

One. Page 2 of the Senate Orphan Bill states “sources of copyright ownership information reasonably available to users, including private databases.”

Two. The effective date of this Bill will take effect either (a )on the date at least two private registries are available online or (b) by January 1, 2011, whichever is first. They are tying the bill to when these registries are available online.

Three. People who want to use your work for free now only have to perform a search for you using these registries, which will be ineffective at best, to qualify your work of art as orphaned, giving them FREE use of your art or photo. The private registries will likely be easy and quick, just not very complete.

All someone has to do is search a couple of these registries and if your work doesn’t show as a match (and remember these software aren’t perfect, so you may have registered your work and still not have it show up in the results) it may be considered orphaned and they can use it for free.

REGISTRY ENTRIES WILL BE LIMITED AT BEST

The problem is that very few of the billions of copyrighted images will ever be registered on any of these registries, much less all of them. No artist I know has the time to pull out every work of art, sketch and photo they have ever produced and register them with every upcoming electronic database. Add to that any studio/artist expenses involved, assistants and assumed registration fees, and it’s even less likely much work will make its way into the registries.

EVEN FAMOUS ARTWORK CAN BE STOLEN!

Even famous works of art could be orphaned, making it legal to infringe on copyrighted works. Art is already illegally used all the time, but this new orphan bill will empower and legalize even more infringed use of copyrighted works.

Religious painter Gary Lessord created a painting in 1979 called “The Crucifixion”. According to Lessord, this same piece was used, without permission, by Mel Gibson as the major source of the graphic imagery in his “Passion of the Christ”.

[Figure 02, The Crucifixion by Gary Lessord. Copyright 1979. All Rights Reserved.]

Lessord’s painting was shown internationally in a show sponsored by the Catholic Church. It was exhibited in museums around the country and was featured on the cover of the book “The Many Faces of Christ”, featuring an introduction by Pope John Paul II. In other words, this is a work of art that is known by hundreds of thousands of people and being the ONLY work of art showing Christ wounded in such a way, it should be easy to track down Lessord as the copyright owner.

Under the current copyright laws, if found guilty Gibson and his production company are liable for the infringement.

If the new Orphan Bill passes, all they would have had to do is search two of the registries and if the image doesn’t show up, consider it an orphan and use the work. It won’t matter how popular the piece is if Lessord doesn’t register it in the same digital databases used in their search.

The new Orphan Works Act will orphan even internationally known works of art such as Lessord’s.

Artist Mark McCandlish understands the importance of stopping this legislation. He has had to go after a number of entertainment production companies, such as Lions Gate Productions and the company behind the show JAG, for using his work without his permission. Current copyright law has allowed him to sue and successfully collect large damages from the infringing companies.

“This has GOT TO STOP,” says McCandlish. “It will only get worse—much worse if the Orphan Works legislation passes.”

[Figure 03, Tomcats by Mark McCandlish. Copyright 1991. All Rights Reserved.]

THERE WILL BE NO PENALTY FOR STEALING!

In the new legislation, McCandlish would not have the same ability to sue for statutory damages. The new law will “limit remedies”, thereby removing the expensive penalty for stealing your work. Sure, you will still be able to sue, but you will be limited to the amount. This only empowers those who want to steal our creative works!

This means the most an infringer would have to pay IS WHAT THE INFRINGER FEELS HE SHOULD HAVE PAID IN THE FIRST PLACE! You, the artist, will no longer be entitled to any monetary recovery from the infringement damage, costs or attorney fees, which would often be more than what they could collect. Any betting man wanting to use your art would take these odds and steal your work.

If you don’t think this applies to you, think again. Have you ever taken a photo that is on the internet? Maybe you have photos on a photo sharing service like Flickr, Shutterfly or Snapfish.

Just imagine one of your photos was used by someone else on their site. That happens all the time, but if there is no commercial benefit to them, it’s no big deal. Right? Wrong!

If a designer finds your photo on someone else’s site (making it harder to find you, the true owner) and you haven’t registered it in the online databases, an unsuccessful search on a certified registry will orphan your photo, allowing its use without your permission. You could end up seeing your photo in a national ad campaign, possibly for a product you don’t want to be associated with.

THEY CAN CHANGE YOUR WORK AND COPYRIGHT IT FOR THEMSELVES!

The current copyright law states that only the original artist can create and copyright derivative works (creative work based on an existing image) of their own creation. The new Orphan Works Act will allow anyone to make changes to your work and copyright it under their own name!

Do you want to see what lewd things people can do to your work LEGALLY? You would have no recourse but to watch your creations be altered, sold and potentially ruin the reputation of your work.

Proponents of this Bill say they are protecting the rights of the people to make use of existing creative works if they can’t find the owner. WHAT RIGHTS? Just because you can’t find me, doesn’t give you the right to use my work!

If you were walking down the street and found a car without license plates, would you feel it was your right to steal it, just because it was hard to find the owner? Maybe someone else took off the license plates. That happens to our creative work all the time. People eliminate or crop out our copyright notices. In fact, many of our clients insist we don’t include that information in the first place.

Sure, we can also put digital watermarks on scanned images, but not every piece of art or photograph is only in digital form. Plus, there is an easy work-around to remove digital watermarks as well. (If you don’t know it, I’M not going to tell you!)

You must make yourself heard NOW. This bill must not be allowed to pass!

Any single clause or amendment to a bill can cause an otherwise well-intended law to become devastating to a segment or segments of the population. According to Dan Nichols, who has worked on a number of political campaigns, it can take an average of 7 bills to reverse the total impact of a single bill one it is passed. This means 7 times the effort and money to reverse a bad law - even though it is recognized as a bad law - because there will be many different groups wanting to hold on to the parts of the law that benefit them. It is nearly impossible to completely reverse the effects of a law once it passes. This should make apathy the enemy of anyone who has something to lose by any aspect of a pending bill.

DON’T BE BULLIED INTO GOING ALONG WITH A BAD LAW!

CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATOR:
Go to http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to quickly find the phone number, address, e-mail of every U.S. Senator, U.S. Representative, Governor and State Legislator. Please be polite. Threats only work against us artists. We need to make a professional impression to be taken seriously.

Make yourself be heard. Protect your creations. Every voice counts and so does your right to control your own creations. YOU NEED TO WRITE LETTERS NOW!

We only have a few days to make ourselves heard, as the Senate and House will only allow a short time for comments. Call them, send e-mails and fax letters.

If you don’t prove you care about your work, the Congressmen and Senators who WORK FOR US won’t care either. Show them you care!

For additional info - please go here.

Editorial/Political cartooning takes rare talent…talent I wish I had!  This one was done by a dear friend of mine - Pat Racimora - who I hope will let me post more of them.  

In keeping with Spirit of Christmas, and what Christmas is really about - we wanted to include the link to this song from World War 1 - “Christmas In The Trenches” - sung by John McDermott - and dedicate it to all the men and women serving overseas, away from their loved ones.  We want you to know we thank you for the job you do, and wish you all a safe and very Merry Christmas, and Peace in the coming year. 

Christmas in the Trenches   (John McCutcheon)

My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from Liverpool.
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school.
To Belgium and to Flanders, to Germany to here
I fought for King and country I love dear.
‘Twas Christmas in the trenches, where the frost so bitter hung,
The frozen fields of France were still, no Christmas song was sung
Our families back in England were toasting us that day
Their brave and glorious lads so far away.

I was lying with my messmate on the cold and rocky ground
When across the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound
Says I, “Now listen up, me boys!” each soldier strained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear.
“He’s singing bloody well, you know!” my partner says to me
Soon, one by one, each German voice joined in harmony
The cannons rested silent, the gas clouds rolled no more
As Christmas brought us respite from the war
As soon as they were finished and a reverent pause was spent
“God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” struck up some lads from Kent
The next they sang was “Stille Nacht.” “Tis `Silent Night’,” says I
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky
“There’s someone coming toward us!” the front line sentry cried
All sights were fixed on one long figure trudging from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shown on that plain so bright
As he, bravely, strode unarmed into the night
Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man’s Land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave ‘em hell
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of their own
Young Sanders played his squeezebox and they had a violin
This curious and unlikely band of men

Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more
With sad farewells we each prepared to settle back to war
But the question haunted every heart that lived that wonderous night
“Whose family have I fixed within my sights?”
‘Twas Christmas in the trenches where the frost, so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung
For the walls they’d kept between us to exact the work of war
Had been crumbled and were gone forevermore

My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I, I’ve learned its lessons well
That the ones who call the shots won’t be among the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we’re the same

“Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants.”

Gen. Omar Bradley

And have we progressed since Gen. Bradley made this statement?   Not so much.

What is the matter with all of you? Have you completely lost it? You’re letting the tail wag the dog and paying an obscene amount of money to look like fools who can’t handle employees while you do it. And, sadly, you’ve been doing it for years. You’re supposed to be fairly bright - haven’t you figured out who’s supposed to be running things yet? here’s a hint: not the athletes and actors/singers/other celeb-types!

Had you not created the problems in the first place, I might feel a little sorry for you. But…Michael Vick, Brittany Spears, Lindsay Lohan…just the latest in the passing parade of children you pay ridiculous amounts of money, then sit on the sidelines and watch as these accidents looking for a place to happen, keep happening all over the place.

You know? For all the things the old Hollywood studio system did wrong, one of the things they got right was understanding that, for better or worse, the performers under contract to them were looked up to as role models by the public and they had a responsibility (there’s that word again!) to live up to that job, as part of the price of fame and fortune. Consequently, and with enlightened self-interest, the studios spent a great deal of time and money to make sure their performers became role models - by teaching them to look and act like ladies and gentlemen, if not all the time then at least whenever in public. In fact, part of many a contract included the penalties for misbehaving in public.

Where are the David Nivens, William Powells, and Myrna Loys? Or John Waynes, Sophia Lorens and Audrey Hepburns? They all had their flaws and foibles, no doubt, but they also understood the meaning of the word ‘discretion’. Sophia Loren has more grace and style covered in mud than Brittany Spears could posses if dressed by Edith Head!

We used to teach the same sort of idea in sports, whether it was learned in community athletic associations, junior high and high schools or college; it was called ‘good sportsmanship’. A big part of ‘good sportsmanship’ was behaving as ladies and gentlemen and understanding your behavior reflected not only on yourself, but on your coaches, team mates, schools and communities. It wasn’t long ago that the thought of bringing dishonor to one’s teammates, coach or school, by behaving like a jackass in public, was unthinkable (unless, of course, you were defending the honor of said school, lol).

When I was in the 8th grade, playing volleyball for my school, our team was the top in the league, unbeaten for that season. However, during one away game, after our match was over, the JV coach told all of us to stay on the sidelines and support the JV girls. Well, a few of my teammates decided they’d rather watch the boys play football. They were suspended from playing the next game. As it happened, that game was against our toughest rival. With three of our A-string players suspended, we lost, and with that loss we had to share the championship title and trophy with those same tough rivals. It was a bitter pill to swallow. I remember being furious with that coach at the time, while trying to argue my teammates’ case. But, as angry as I was, and as short-sighted as I thought that coach (who wasn’t even our coach - but ours agreed with him and rightly so) was being - he was right. I was wrong. Part of his job, and the job of all the coaches, was teaching us to respect all of our team mates, including and especially the younger ones, by watching their games and showing them our support, helping to build their confidence, rather than by demonstrating how cool we thought we were.

Well, fast forward to the last decade or so and, along with enormous salaries for athletes - especially basketball - has come equally enormous egos and all the problems that go with them, including felonies.

Someone please tell my why you owners and studio heads continue to put up with this crap? Do you think most of the public really wants to emulate, and have their children grow up to emulate the Michael Vicks, Brittany Spears and gangsta-rap flavor of the months? Do you think it’s more cost effective? It isn’t, and if you think it is then you deserve to go bankrupt.

However, I’d rather not see you go bankrupt at some point down the road - I’d rather see you consider some sensible (for everyone) changes:

Instead of giving that basketball phenom a $10 mil signing bonus, how about spending that $10 mil to teach your players to be ladies and gentlemen, teach them how to manage their finances, teach them how to give back to their communities and that that is an admirable thing to do - in short, teach them to actually be the role models people might admire and respect - and respect for something beyond their athletic skill only.

Maybe if you stop treating athletes and performers like high-priced, prima donnas  who can do no wrong, who’s displays of ill temper, poor taste, petulance, narcissism, bad manners, and over-whelming self-involvement and sense of entitlement should not only be excused but lauded - they’ll stop behaving that way.

Maybe they’ll even grow up a little, and maybe we, the public, will too. No, we don’t get a free pass for all of this either.

Now the problem with all of this is that it requires you team owners and studio heads to have some character yourselves, before you can teach it to others.  Bill Walsh had it.  Bear Bryant had it. So did others, who hopefully, are still alive, and still willing to teach the rest of us.  One of the youngest athletes who has it is Tiger Woods - his is a public persona to be admired as a good role model .  And one of the few sports left whose players still seem to understand the concept of ‘good sportsmanship’ is golf… and I don’t even play it!

DM

Normally I’d say, “That’s a rhetorical question.” But, it seems there really are quite a number of people out there - voters - who are having difficulty understanding why other people, especially supporters of other candidates and some members of the media, are talking about the former senator less than favorably.

Well, since the man I would be supporting isn’t currently a candidate, and none of the others candidates of any party are as yet even remotely interesting, I’ll take a stab at answering the Edwards question with us much impartiality as I can muster. The short answer is, when you’re running on the predominantly anti-poverty platform of “Two Americas,” it might be a good idea to a) forgo spending more than $100 bucks a month on personal primping, and b) not charge said primping to your campaign!

So why should what a political candidate chooses to spend for a haircut be an issue, you ask? I agree, it shouldn’t be…except:

• when it’s paid for by the public

• when it demonstrates by its excessiveness that the candidate doesn’t seem to practice what he/she preaches

• when it demonstrates poor judgment

• when it demonstrates such a degree of narcissism that it distracts the voters and media from the candidate’s policies, illustrating a definitive character flaw

• when it demonstrates, by the repetition of the act, either an inability to grasp that voters may find such extravagances objectionable and disingenuous to one’s platform (tin ear), or a lack of concern of such, or both

• when it’s excessive even by most womens’ standards

And just when I thought $400 was obscene, I hear MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson say, today while discussing this very issue, that Edwards also spent something in the neighborhood of $1200 for a similar haircut…because he had to fly to Atlanta to get it. Say what?! Carlson didn’t mention from where Edwards flew. It didn’t matter. How many public servants have you ever heard of flying anywhere simply for a haircut?! If you did - I’m guessing you probably didn’t vote to re-elect them.

June 26, 2007, 11:58PM
Team closer to finding Iwo Jima Marine

By ERIC TALMADGE Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

IWO JIMA, Japan — The U.S. search team looking for the remains of a Marine killed after filming the iconic flag-raising on Iwo Jima has found two possible sites and will recommend a larger team excavate them, officials said Wednesday.

“Our investigation has been very successful,” U.S. Army Major Sean Stinchion told The Associated Press, the only civilian media with the search team that had been surveying and digging on the island for 10 days.

“We found two caves and tunnels. We will recommend a follow-up team be brought in to use heavy equipment,” he said.

He said the team did not find the remains of sergeant William H. Genaust, who filmed the flag-raising nine days before he was killed during combat on the island.

“We are the initial investigation. We surveyed the hill. We will need to return to actually dig for specific remains,” Stinchion said.

The seven-man team, including an anthropologist, focused mainly on surveying Hill 362 A where Genaust was believed to have been killed.

It was the first U.S.-led search on Iwo Jima — one of the fiercest and most symbolic battlegrounds of World War II — in nearly 60 years.

The seven-member team arrived on Iwo Jima on June 17 and began slashing its way through thick, thorny brush on the island’s interior in search of the area where Genaust is believed to have been killed.

A combat photographer with the 28th Marines, Genaust filmed the raising of the flag atop Iwo Jima’s Mount Suribachi on Feb. 23, 1945, standing just feet away from AP photographer Joe Rosenthal as he took the photograph that won a Pulitzer Prize and came to symbolize the war in the Pacific.

Genaust, then 38, died nine days later when he was hit by machine-gun fire as he was helping fellow Marines secure a cave, said Johnnie Webb, a civilian official with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.

Some 88,000 U.S. service members are listed as missing from World War II, and JPAC conducts searches throughout the world to find them.

Iwo Jima — inhabited only by a small contingent of Japanese troops — continues to be an open grave.

Though most of the American dead were recovered in 1948, some 250 U.S. troops are still missing from the Iwo Jima campaign. Many were lost at sea, meaning the chances of recovering their remains are slim. But many others died in caves or were buried by explosions.

Japan’s government and military are helping with the search on Iwo Jima, which this month was officially renamed Iwo To — the island’s name before the war.

Japan sent its first search parties to the island in 1952 and others have followed every year since Iwo Jima was returned to Japanese control in 1968. They have recovered sets of 8,595 remains — but, to date, no Americans, said Health Ministry official Nobukazu Iwadate.

The U.S. officially took the tiny volcanic island on March 26, 1945, after 31-day battle that pitted some 100,000 U.S. troops against 21,200 Japanese. Some 6,821 Americans were killed; only 1,033 Japanese survived. Of 82 U.S. Medals of Honor won by Marines in World War II, 26 were won on Iwo Jima.

Genaust paid the ultimate price.

On March 4, 1945, Marines were securing the cave, and are believed to have asked Genaust to use his movie camera to light their way. He volunteered to shine the light in the cave and was killed by enemy fire. The cave was secured after a gunfight, and its entrance sealed.

As a combat photographer, Genaust was trained to use a firearm, and he and another Marine protected the AP photographer as they climbed 546-foot Mount Suribachi. Genaust did not need to use his weapon; under heavy attack, the Japanese did not fire on the three men.

Genaust’s footage also helped prove that the raising — the second one that day — was not staged, as some later claimed. He got no credit for his footage, however, in accordance with Marine Corps policy.

In 1995, a bronze plaque was put atop Suribachi to honor Genaust, who before coming ashore on Iwo Jima fought and was wounded in the battle on the Pacific island of Saipan. An actor portraying him appears in the Clint Eastwood movie “Flags of Our Fathers,” and the annual Sgt. William Genaust Award has been established to honor the best videotape of a Marine Corps related news event.

The search was prompted in large part by information provided to JPAC by Bob Bolus, a Scranton, Pa., businessman who became intrigued by Genaust after reading a Parade magazine story about him two years ago. Using his own money, Bolus put together a team of experts, including an archivist, forensic anthropologist, geologist and surveyor, that was able to pinpoint where Genaust’s remains were likely to be found.

JPAC officials stressed that searchers came to the island hoping to find other remains as well.

“Our motto is ‘until they are home,’” said JPAC spokesman Lt. Col. Mark Brown. “‘No man left behind’ is a promise made to every individual who raises his hand.”

Like Genaust, few of the troops involved in either of the flag-raisings survived the battle.

The last known surviving flag-raiser, Charles W. Lindberg, who helped put up the first flag, died Sunday in the Minneapolis, Minn., suburb of Edinaone. He was 86.

But there remain lingering disputes over the identity of at least one man in the first flag-raising.

A California veteran of Iwo Jima, Raymond Jacobs, has said he believes he is the man with a radio on his back who had usually been identified as Pfc. Gene Marshall, a radio operator with the 5th Marine Division who died in 1987. The other men involved in the raising all have died.

Posted in the Obituaries section of my local paper. Should have been posted to the front page, in my not-so-humble opinion!

Richfield, Minn. (AP)–

Charles W. Lindberg, one of the Marines who raised the first American flag over Iwo Jima during World War II, has died. He was 86.

Lindberg died Sunday at Fairview Southdale hospital in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina, said John Pose, director of the Morris Nilsen Funeral Home in Richfield, which is handling Lindberg’s funeral.

Lindberg spent decades explaining that it was his patrol, not the one captured in the famous Associated Press photograph by Joe Rosenthal, that raised the first flag as U.S. forces fought to take the Japanese island.

On Feb. 23, 1945, Lindberg fired his flame thrower into pillboxes at the base of Mount Suribachi and joined five Marines fighting their way to the top. He was awarded the Silver Star for bravery.

“Two of our men found this big, long pipe there,” he said in 2003. “We tied the flag to it, took it to the highest spot we could find and we raised it.”

“Down below, the troops started to cheer, the ship’s whistles went off, it was just something that you would never forget,” he said. “It didn’t last too long, because the enemy started coming out of the caves.”

The moment was captured by Sgt. Lou Lowery, a photographer from the Marine Corps’ Leatherneck magazine. It was the first time a foreign flag flew on Japanese soil, according to the book “Flags of Our Fathers,” by James Bradley with Ron Powers.

The Houston Chronicle adds:

Three of the men in the first raising never saw their photos. They were among the more than 6,800 U.S. servicemen killed in the five-week battle for the island.

By Lindberg’s account, his commander ordered the first flag replaced and safeguarded because he worried someone would take it as a souvenir. Lindberg was back in combat when six men raised the second, larger flag about four hours later.

Rosenthal’s photo of the second flag-raising became one of the most enduring images of the war and the model for the U.S. Marine Corps memorial in Washington.

Rosenthal, who died last year, always denied accusations that he staged the photo, and he never claimed it depicted the first raising of a flag over the island.

Thank you Uncle Kenny. And thanks Dad - for making sure we knew who he was.

…if for no other reason than their Index. Here’s June’s: http://harpers.org/archive/2007/06/page/0015

HARPER’S INDEX

• Percentage change since 2000 in the number of Americans living at less than half the federal poverty line: +32

• Factor by which uninsured children in U.S. hospitals are more likely to die of their injuries than are insured children: 2

• Chances that a large U.S. metropolitan area has seen its homicide rate increase since 2004 : 7 in 10

• Rank of New Orleans among cities with the highest per-capita murder rate last year: 1

• Rank of Houston and Atlanta, respectively, among U.S. cities with the most Fortune 500 headquarters: 2, 3

• Number of the sixteen states of the South where more than 25 percent of adults are clinically obese: 12

• Number of all other states where this is true: 5

• Number of states in 1990 and 2005, respectively, where more than 14 percent of adults were clinically obese: 0, 50

• Ratio in 1985 of the number of new homes with two or fewer bedrooms to the number with four or more: 4:3

• Ratio today: 1:3

• Minimum number of copies sold of Flipping Houses for Dummies since its publication last year: 17,000

• Chance that the buyer of a U.S. home in 2006 now has “negative equity,” i.e., the debt on the home exceeds its value: 1 in 6

• Percentage of CEOs of S&P 500 companies whose homes are at least 10,000 square feet or sit on more than ten acres: 13

• Average percentage by which growth in their companies’ stock prices lagged behind that of CEOs with smaller homes: 7

• Percentage of white-collar Americans who brought work with them on vacation in 1995 : 23

• Percentage last year: 43

• Percentage change since 1900 in Americans’ average amount of leisure time: 0

• Percentage of U.S. households that will have a Nintendo Wii by 2011, according to Merrill Lynch: 30

• Portion of all Internet traffic today that is file sharing of music, films, and videos: 2/3

• Percentage change since 1990 in worldwide demand for newsprint: +18

• Percentage change in North America: -26

• Minimum number of different books sold in the U.S. last year, as tracked by Nielsen BookScan: 1,446,000

• Number of these that sold fewer than 99 copies: 1,123,000

• Number that sold more than 100,000: 483

• Days after the DVD release of Borat that it became the top item shipped to Kazakhstan by Amazon.co.uk : 4

• Percentage of British Muslims aged 16 to 24 who advocate death for Muslims who convert to another faith: 36

• Percentage who say they “admire organizations like al-Qaeda that are prepared to fight the West” : 13

• Number of months that mud has been erupting from the ground in eastern Java, Indonesia: 10

• Amount that is currently emerging per day, in gallons: 36,900,000

• Number of recent computer models that a team of climate experts studied to assess Arctic warming: 15

• Number of the models that showed the North Pole having ice-free summers by 2100: 7

• Grant that NASA has given an Arizona astronomer to study how to block solar rays with a cloud of small spacecraft: $70,000

• Number of two-foot-wide spacecraft he says would be required: 16,000,000,000,000

• Chance that a watt of U.S. nuclear energy is generated in part by material from former Soviet warheads: 1 in 2

• Number of UFO sightings in France since 1950, according to newly released French government documents: 1,650

• Portion of these sightings that France has classified as inexplicable: 1/4

• Cost, from a California company, for a headset that can control a video game with brain waves: $50

• Number of different moods it can read, in order to select an appropriate MP3 plavlist : 3

• Amount that Lockheed Martin has spent so far on Polecat, a new unmanned stealth aircraft: $27,000,000

• Date on which the only prototype crashed when the self-destruct mode was accidentally activated: 12/18/06
  

Figures cited are the latest available as of April 2007. Sources are listed on page 94.
“Harper’s Index” is a registered trademark.
HARPER’S INDEX 13

Today, VoteVets.org launched its second of three ads. There’s a common theme to these ads - that despite President Bush’s comments to the contrary, he does not listen to his commanders on the ground - and that’s an enormous problem. Civilian control of the military is one thing - civilian deafness due to arrogance is quite another…and it’s getting our troops, and Iraqi civilians, killed and maimed daily, not to mention blowing the Hell out of one of the cradles of civilization. (Yes. I’m still pissed about the looting of the museum in Baghdad!)

This second ad features Maj. General Paul Eaton (ret.), whose most recent operational assignment was Commanding General of the command charged with reestablishing Iraqi Security Forces 2003-2004, where he built the command and established the structure and infrastructure for the Iraqi Armed Forces. (re: votevets.org)

The first ad featured Maj. General John Batiste (ret.), who resigned from the Army in order to speak out about the failed strategies the Bush Administration has for Iraq. These strategies are breaking our armed forces, who are doing everything they can to prop up a fatally flawed plan.

Maj. General Batiste’s (ret.) final assignment in the Army was commanding general of the 1st Infantry Division from August 2002-June 2005. During this timeframe, the “Big Red One” conducted successful peace enforcement operations in Kosovo and combat operations in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II. In Iraq, the division was deployed to north-central Iraq from February 2004 until February 2005 and included 22,000 soldiers from active and reserve component units from throughout the United States. (re: votevets.org)

I’m telling you about the final assignments of these two men for obvious reasons - they know what the hell they’re talking about when they tell you Bush doesn’t listen to his commanding generals on the ground. They were two of those generals! So, it behooves us to do what our president repeatedly fails to do: listen,learn and react accordingly.

These videos are targeting several key members of Congress, who are finally demonstrating an ability, at long last, to listen and learn from these commanders who have been in Iraq leading our troops and tried repeatedly to tell the President what’s going on, as well as to the only General who fought and won a war without losing a single American life. Next week, they will air a third ad featuring that particular general - General Wesley K. Clark (ret.), and I’ll post it here.

It’s about damn time everyone in Congress listens. You can help nudge them in the right direction too. Here’s how:

1. Click the StopIranWar.com picture to the right. It’ll take you to the www.stopIranWar.com, where you can sign a petition asking both the President and Congress to listen and think before they escalate us right into another war, with a far better equiped and trained army than Iraq ever had.

2. StopIranWar.com (which is a joint project of VoteVets.org and General Clark), is also asking people to call or write these members of Congress who are the targets of the current ads. A different member will be featured each week. This is a great grassroots effort by General Clark’s volunteers - please give them a hand with it by going to http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/12090 and reading the following posted by Susan Meara:

WE ARE GOING TO GIVE THIS CAMPAIGN A BOOST WITH A GRASSROOTS PHONE AND EMAIL BLITZ!

Some of our elected officials are going to be treated to a SPECIAL DAY
when they will be showered with attention for the purpose of delivering a message. By joining us, you can help MAKE THEIR DAY!
They need to know that people are paying attention to what they’re doing.

The message is this:

Do not support the Presidents failed policy!
A MILITARY ONLY STRATEGY WILL NOT WORK IN IRAQ.
We need POLITICAL help from the Maliki government, and REGIONAL DIPLOMACY with Iraq’s neighbors, including IRAN.
Please support diplomatic & political efforts–we owe this to our troops.

(It doesn’t matter if you live in a different state or district. They know you can provide support for their opponents in the next election if they continue to defy the will of the American people!)

Today’s Special Day belongs to…SENATOR JOHN WARNER of Virginia!
(tomorrow or the next day is okay too)

CALL:
Washington office: (202) 224-2023
TOLL FREE NUMBERS (ask the operator for Senator Warner’s office):
800-828-0498, 800-459-1887 or 800-614-2803

EMAIL: You can also use the online contact form to send this message to Senator Warner in email instead of calling.

http://www.senate.gov/~warner/contact/contactme.cfm

From ArmyMom08’s Diary on Dailykos today…(thanks for doing this ArmyMom08!!) 

MariaWells has also posted multiple polls on this subject here.  Please vote in them.  Then order buttons from her and Ice, to give out while you gather signatures.  Um remember…signature first, then they get the button ;-)  No trick, no cookie.

Last week, deadmessengers posted a diary called “Do Petitions Work? Wes Clark Thinks They Can” (linked - for those who missed it), and in the course of the conversation, a great question was asked:  

Why have so few Kossacks signed the stopIranWar petition (a joint effort of Wes Clark and VoteVets), given the number of posts about the subject, and the warm welcome General Clark and Jon Soltz always receive when they’re here?

• ArmyMom08’s diary :: ::

Some possible answers to this question were identified in the Do Petitions Work? diary  ( including the “Watch list” comment).  So, we thought we’d follow up on that and ask Kossacks all over, why they haven’t signed it.

Sorry for the short diary but we really do appreciate your answers to this.

Note:  at a commenter’s request, I added one additional question…it’s the first one.

During a recent Diary by General Wesley Clark, a longtime supporter (Roseba) asked the following:

Will Bush listen or care? (4+ / 0-)
Is there any reason to believe that an outcry from the American people, from congress, even from his own advisors, would make a difference?

General Clark responded with the following:

Bush (55+ / 0-)
Sure, he’ll listen. He is a politician. He reads polls. He worries about his legacy. But he won’t like it. He wants to be viewed as imperturbable. Nobody is. So if we build enough of a groundswell, if we concentrate not just on democrats but on republicans, we CAN sway this policy.

by Wes Clark on Thu Feb 22, 2007 at 10:37:51 AM PDT

Not only do petitons work, but they are one of the oldest forms of civil & political persuasion and leverage.  They’ve been around as long we’ve had forms of governments.  

But to make them truly effective is sometimes a matter of simple math - meaning everyones’ help is needed.  Everyone’s voice must be heard, as evidenced by their signature on this petition.  

deadmessengers’s diary :: ::

Sometimes it’s also a matter of remembering this is not a Republican issue or a Democrats issue - it’s an American issue.  It concerns all of us, whether we want it to or not.

Why it matters:

We have loved ones fighting a war - whether you believe that war is just or not - they are there, doing as their Commander-in-Chief has ordered… A Commander-in-Chief who has never gone to a soldier’s funeral, a Commander-in-Chief who cares so little for the lives of the men and women he has ordered to war that he refuses to allow even their countrymen to honor their sacrifice by bearing witness to their flag-draped coffins as they return home for the last time.

You have the ability to help stop another war - even if you don’t think you can - by doing something as simple and quick as adding your name to a list of people; a list of mothers, fathers, husbands, wives, children, brothers and sisters, friends and lovers who don’t want to bear the loss of another soul they love.

I can guarantee you doing nothing will never change the course of history.  I can’t guarantee you doing something will, but it might, and might is all the chance any of us ever get - and sometimes that’s enough.

Please - add your voice.  Sign the petition today.

dKos Diary by General Wesley Clark
stopIranWar.com - Please Sign The Petition

This is an excellent example of some of the best writing by Wes Clark supporters! Please go over to CCN and read all of this piece by Dan Juma, then look around and register to join the many conversations happening there 24 hours a day, everyday.

"Understanding Islam"

By Dan Juma

CAVEAT: I’m not a Muslim myself, so don’t expect me to necessarily defend it. I’m just trying explain it

I. What is Islam, anyway?
What is most surprising to Americans about Islam is probably how close the religion is to Christianity, amounting almost to a form of Christianity itself.

Islam cannot be understood outside of its birth in the Judeo-Christian milieu. Indeed that milieu might better be termed the Judeo-Christian-Islamic milieu. All three of these religions, as well as smaller Middle Eastern religions such as the Mandeans, worship the same God. This is the ancient God El, famously worshiped by Abram (later Abraham) under the priesthood of Melchizedek, King of Salem (Genesis 14:18). The word "El" simply meant "God" in ancient Semitic, and "Allah" literally means "the god" in Arabic.

Read all of it here