2012 California Ballot Proposition Endorsements

Once again, Californians will face a daunting list of ballot propositions on this November's electoral ballot.

If you're still not sure how to vote, here are some recommendations from California Congressman Tom McClintock, a Republican with strong libertarian leanings, as reported on the LPLAC [Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County] Yahoo Group:

Prop 30: Your Wallet or Your Kids -- NO

Either approve $36 billion in higher sales and income taxes or else Gov. Brown threatens to shoot the schools. Don't worry, the income taxes are only on the "very wealthy," but it turns out the "very wealthy" include many small businesses filing under sub-chapter S, meaning lower wages, higher prices and fewer jobs. California already has one of the highest overall tax burdens in the country and yet has just approved a budget to spend $8 billion dollars more than it's taking in. Moral of the story: it's the spending stupid.

Prop 31: Rotting Mackerel by Moonlight -- NO

This one shines and stinks. On the shiny side, it moves us toward performance-based budgeting, restores certain powers to the governor to make mid-year spending reductions and requires new spending to be paid for. On the stinky side, it provides a two-year budget cycle that makes fiscal gimmickry all the easier and locks into the Constitution an incredibly anal process for local communities to adopt "Strategic Action Plans" serving such open-ended new age objectives as "community equity" and nudges them into establishing regional governments to push this agenda. The purpose of local governments is to provide basic services, not to pursue utopian four-year plans.

Prop 32: Cutting The Piggies Off From The Trough -- YES

In the "It's About Time" category, this measure would finally prohibit unions, corporations, government contractors, and state and local governments from deducting money from employees' paychecks for political purposes without their express written consent. As Jefferson wrote, "To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." This puts an end to this despotic practice.

Prop 33: Rewarding Responsible Drivers -- YES

Here's a no-brainer: should car insurance companies be allowed to offer a discount to drivers who maintain continuous coverage? No, it's not a trick question. Under California's convoluted law, if you switch auto insurers you can't qualify for the continuous coverage discount. This measure says you can.

Prop 34: Lifetime Room and Board (and Sex-Change Operations, too) for Murderers -- NO

This abolishes the death penalty for first-degree murder. Enough said.

Prop 35: Red Light on Human Trafficking -- YES

Prop 35 greatly expands the definition of "Human Trafficking" (already illegal), and greatly increases existing penalties. The problem is real and growing and needs stronger sanctions, although there are some provisions in Prop 35 that make it ripe for prosecutorial abuse, including limiting the ability of defendants to cross-examine witnesses and broadening the definition of trafficking to include those who never had contact with the victim. On balance, though, the good outweighs the bad.

Prop 36: Gutting Three Strikes -- NO

After many years of rising crime rates, Californians finally struck back with the three-strikes law. It is actually a two-strikes law: after two serious or violent felonies -- in which one has murdered, assaulted, raped, robbed or pillaged his fellow citizens -- he is on notice that any further misconduct will remove him from polite society. Prop 36 would require that the third strike also be a serious or violent crime, giving dangerous criminals yet one more opportunity at atrocity. The Left predicted that "Three Strikes" would have no effect on crime -- in fact, crime rates have plummeted. When it ain't broke, don't try and fix it.

Prop 37: Spit it Out - NO

This is the latest effort of the Nanny Left to tell us what to eat. It requires foods that contain any ingredients resulting from biotechnology advances to carry the scary warning: "GENETICALLY ENGINEERED." There is not a shred of evidence that biotechnology is the least bit dangerous -- it often reduces the need for pesticides. To avoid branding their products with the Scarlet Warning, food processors would have to prove that every scrap and crumb in their fare is devoid of biotechnology or face crushing lawsuits. Grocery prices high enough yet?

Prop 38: Pay More, Get Less - NO

Not to be outdone by Prop. 30, this measure heaps $120 BILLION of new income taxes on those earning more than $7,316 (the new millionaires and billionaires of California's impoverished economy). It's for the schools, of course. No doubt these dollars (which families would just waste on necessities) will be as well spent as the staggering fortune that we're already shoveling into the sclerotic school system.

Prop 39: Tax Us Before We Hire Again - NO

This is a $1 billion per year tax increase on California businesses to subsidize a whole new generation of Solyndra scams. But remember, businesses don't pay business taxes; they only collect them from employees through lower wages, from consumers through higher prices, or from investors through lower earnings. Prop 39 might be bad news for California's employees, consumers and investors, but it's great news for the Nevada Chamber of Commerce.

Prop 40: Your GOP Donations At Work -- YES

This is a monument to the stupidity of some Republican Party leaders, who spent nearly $2 million of party funds to qualify -- and then drop -- this referendum to overturn the Senate reapportionment because several state senators didn't like their new districts. They had hoped to run in their old seats, but after qualifying the initiative found out they couldn't anyway. A "Yes" vote affirms that the new non-partisan Citizens Redistricting Commission works.

BUT WAIT A MINUTE!

NOT SO FAST!

Los Angeles County Libertarian activist Ted Brown differs with some of McClintock's recommendations. Brown writes:

Prop 34 -- YES on getting rid of the death penalty; the government has no right to kill people, as far as I am concerned.

Prop 35 -- NO on the sex trafficking measure; this will pass with 75% but it still has many bad provisions; our own Cop to Call Girl author, Norma Jean Almodovar, is one of the opponents.

Prop 36 -- YES on modifying 3 strikes, so that the 3rd strike must be a serious or violent one.

Measure B on the L.A. County ballot should be a resounding NO -- especially since my wife and I wrote the argument against it. This measure would force adult film actors to wear condoms.

===================================

2012 Tabloid Witch Award Winners Announced

The 2012 Tabloid Witch Award winning horror films have been announced!

Read all about them at the Hollywood Investigator.

Empire Asks: Why Does Hollywood Love and Promote War?

A new documentary, Empire, examines why Hollywood loves to promote war.

Included are interviews with filmmakers Oliver Stone and Michael Moore.

====================

Big Media Attacks Fair Use -- Three's Company Bullies Playwright David Adjmi

Public Domain and Fair Use are the copyrights of the Little Guy. Big Media Bullies are increasingly attacking those rights.

Most recently, lawyers for the TV sitcom, Three's Company, have threatened playwright David Adjmi, because his newest play -- 3C -- parodies that old show.

Fortunately, playwrights' groups and decent law firms are rallying to defend Adjmi against the mega-rich Hollywood bullies.

Reporting for Playbill (July 18, 2012), Adam Hetrick writes:

Playwright David Adjmi's dark comedy 3C, which takes a page from the 1970s sitcom "Three's Company," has come under fire from lawyers representing DLT Entertainment, the company that owns the popular television series.

According to a report in the New York Times, Adjmi was contacted by Kenyon & Kenyon, the lawyers representing DLT Entertainment, who sent a cease-and-desist letter citing copyright infringement, listing 17 points of similarity between the play and the sitcom. 3C uses a scenario similar to "Three's Company," but explores darker implications of American culture in that time. The now-closed production ran June 6-July 14 at the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

A stage adaptation of "Three's Company" is in the works and DLT felt Adjmi's play was damaging to the property. The series also has a life in syndicated reruns.

The correspondence from the lawyers also stated that the production could not be extended past its July 14 closing date, that no future productions could be performed and the script could not be published. Box office figures were also requested in addition to a written agreement from Adjmi that he would comply with their demands.

Read the rest of Hetrick's report.

========================

Is Seth MacFarlane's Ted Anti-Semitic -- Or Anti-Christian?

Radio's Ken Chiampou (of KFI-AM 640's John and Ken Show) has accused Seth MacFarlane's new film, Ted, of containing anti-Semitic material.

Ken complained about the film's depicting (or laughing about?) Christian children beating up Jewish children on Christmas. Ken made his remarks during his movie review of Ted, which was broadcast on Friday, July 13, 2012.

You can hear Ken's remarks here.

But is a scene of Christians persecuting Jews anti-Semitic -- or is it anti-Christian?

Christian kids beating up Jewish kids certainly doesn't paint Christians in a positive light.

If a film depicted Jews persecuting Christians, that would certainly be regarded as anti-Semitic. So really, to be logically consistent, if Christians are portrayed as the persecutors, isn't that anti-Christian?

Also, is actor Will Smith a homophobe?

And is the film, Up in the Air, anti-Asian?

===================

Middle Class Is Escaping California

Big government -- ever more taxes, spending, and environmental regulations -- are driving out the middle class from California!

According to a Wall Street Journal report by Allysia Finley (who's thought up yet another way to misspell Alisa):

"California is God's best moment," says Joel Kotkin. "It's the best place in the world to live." Or at least it used to be.

Mr. Kotkin, one of the nation's premier demographers, left his native New York City in 1971 to enroll at the University of California, Berkeley. The state was a far-out paradise for hipsters who had grown up listening to The Mamas & the Papas's iconic "California Dreamin'" and the Beach Boys's "California Girls." But it also attracted young, ambitious people "who had a lot of dreams, wanted to build big companies." Think Intel, Apple and Hewlett-Packard.

Now, however, the Golden State's fastest-growing entity is government and its biggest product is red tape. The first thing that comes to many American minds when you mention California isn't Hollywood or tanned girls on a beach, but Greece. Many progressives in California take that as a compliment since Greeks are ostensibly happier. But as Mr. Kotkin notes, Californians are increasingly pursuing happiness elsewhere.

Nearly four million more people have left the Golden State in the last two decades than have come from other states. This is a sharp reversal from the 1980s, when 100,000 more Americans were settling in California each year than were leaving. According to Mr. Kotkin, most of those leaving are between the ages of 5 and 14 or 34 to 45. In other words, young families.

Read the rest of Finley's article.

=======================

Hollywood's Big Media Is Stealing YOUR Internet

From DemandProgress.org:

Today's the big hearing. We told you that we're beating back Hollywood's attempts to take over the Internet again.

Today's court hearing on the MegaUpload case will decide if Hollywood will be able to use the courts to undermine Cloud storage and social media platforms. Will you help us fight back (again)?

If you haven't yet, please click here to sign on to our legal brief, and make sure the court understands that millions of Internet users will be impacted by the judge's decision.

Whether you've signed or not, please use these links or forward the email below to urge your friends to get involved right away. If you're on Reddit, please post a link to www.theinternetvshollywood.com, or vote up any such links that have already been posted. We need as many people as possible to sign on to the brief so that the judge understands the broad impacts of his decision.

If you're already on Facebook, click here to share with your friends.

If you're already on Twitter, click here to tweet about the campaign: Tweet

For more background, or to forward to your friends, here's the email we sent yesterday:

---

It's us versus THEM again.

Hollywood attorneys are trying to use the courts to circumvent Congress and implement a backdoor SOPA/PIPA scheme.

Fight Back: YOUR FILES ON Google, Dropbox, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, etc. and even your emails are in jeopardy.

We need to make sure the judge understands that his decision will affect millions of people.

Demand Progress is fighting back in the courts and standing up for Internet users. We are taking on the United States and the MPAA. Please click here to support our legal brief -- the court will be hearing the case THIS WEEK.

BACKGROUND: One day after the Internet staged a massive blackout to protest Congress's Internet censorship legislation (SOPA/PIPA), the United States responded by seizing millions of ordinary user files hosted on the popular website Megaupload.com.

With an aim of shutting down Megaupload and other Cloud-based hosting services (like Dropbox, YouTube or even your email provider), the government is trying to claim website operators should face decades in prison for the misdeeds of some of their users.

But while they pursue trumped up criminal charges against the companies' founders, they are shutting down dozens of websites, and leaving ordinary Internet users without any way of retrieving their files.

Please click here to sign on as a supporter of our legal brief: The judge will be hearing the case THIS WEEK, and we need to make sure he understands that his ruling affects millions of us.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak called the case against Megaupload a "threat to innovation". Wozniak likened the Megaupload site to a highway and those who shared pirated movies and songs to speeding motorists.

"You don't just shut down the whole street because somebody is speeding," he said.

Numerous laws on the books already give copyright holders plenty of avenues to stop actual infringement, but that's not enough to satisfy Hollywood's lawyers and lobbyists.

And get this: The prosecutor in the case, Neil MacBride, previously served as the Anti-Piracy Vice President of the Business Software Alliance, where he represented the intellectual property interests of countless multinational corporations.

Now Hollywood's lobbyists, represented by the Motion Picture Association of America, want him to make it nearly impossible for ordinary Internet users to get their property back.

Please click here to sign on to our legal brief, and make sure the courts understand that millions of Internet users will be impacted by the judge's decision.

And please use these links or forward this email to urge your friends to get involved right away -- we need as many people as possible to sign on to the brief so that the judge understands the broad impacts of his decision.

If you're already on Facebook, click here to share with your friends.

If you're already on Twitter, click here to tweet about the campaign: Tweet

One last thing -- Demand Progress's small, dedicated, under-paid staff relies on the generosity of members like you to support our work. Will you click here to chip in $5 or $10? Or you can become a Demand Progress monthly sustainer by clicking here. Thank you!

==================

Los Angeles Police Are Tracking YOUR License Plate

Big Brother is watching wherever you drive -- using a vast computerized network that tracks license plates on streets and highways!

That's the shocking news according to Jon Campbell, who writes in the L.A. Weekly (June 21, 2012):

Using a vast and automatic electronic tracking system that is all but unknown to the California public, on the day of Robles' murder, police in Los Angeles County cities had made a detailed record of the alleged getaway vehicle's movements.

The information came complete with GPS coordinates — even photographs.

In a situation evoking the hit movie Minority Report, the suspects were being watched even before they were considered suspects.

L.A. Weekly has learned that more than two dozen law enforcement agencies in Los Angeles County are using hundreds of these "automatic license plate recognition" devices (LPRs) — units about the size of a paperback book, usually mounted atop police cruisers — to devour data on every car that catches their electronic eye.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department and the Los Angeles Police Department are two of the biggest gatherers of automatic license plate recognition information. Local police agencies have logged more than 160 million data points — a massive database of the movements of millions of drivers in Southern California.

Each data point represents a car and its exact whereabouts at a given time. Police have already conducted, on average, some 22 scans for every one of the 7,014,131 vehicles registered in L.A. County. Because it's random, some cars are scanned numerous times, others never.

Read the rest of Campbell's startling report!

======================

How YOU Can Protect Internet Free Speech

Josh King, reporting for Gigacom.com ("How to Protect Free Speech, June 16, 2012):

The Stop Online Piracy Act may have been shut down at the eleventh hour, but free speech on the Internet continues to come under attack. In addition to "son-of-SOPA" (which we will surely see in the coming year, under a different name), the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and a host of proposed regulations at the state level have taken aim at the open Internet.

In response to these threats, the Internet Defense League is launching in the coming weeks. Building on the efforts that brought SOPA to a screeching halt, the league aims to fight against bad laws and restrictions on online expression, wherever they may arise.

As general counsel for Avvo, a social media startup that offers an expert-only Q&A forum and profiles and ratings of lawyers, doctors and dentists in the U.S., I've seen firsthand how those with the means to do so will exploit any opening possible to try to silence speech they do not like. I've responded to hundreds of lawsuit threats and lawsuits against Avvo on grounds ranging from privacy to commercial misappropriation to unfair competition to copyright or trademark infringement — all for activity that is soundly protected by the First Amendment.

The takeaway is simple: any attempt to regulate speech online — whether in service of "stopping piracy" or "defending against cyberattack" — must be ruthlessly interrogated for how it will be abused. Because it will be abused. Those with censorious impulses will push the four corners of the law as far as possible to silence speech they don't like.

It is depressingly common to see the mere threat of a lawsuit cause a withering of speech online. It's vitally important that we recognize and call out the certainty that even well-intentioned laws that impact expression will be used as a bludgeon against the open expression of information and ideas online. In addition to opposing SOPA and its ilk, here are three areas where companies can take a stand to protect free speech on the Internet.

Read the rest of King's important article:

===================================

Ray Bradbury, A Writer's Writer

I discovered Ray Bradbury in a trash can. On my way home from grammar school, I saw that someone had discarded some yellowed, worn 1970s paperbacks. I salvaged all the true ghost stories and horror fiction anthologies. One Berkeley paperback contained Bradbury's "The Small Assassin," the tale of a mentally mature infant who plots his mother's murder. (Think of The Family Guy's Stewie.)

People forget that Bradbury, known for his science fiction, was also a horror writer. With "The Small Assassin," I became a lifelong Bradbury fan, whatever his story's genre.

I first met Bradbury in 1992, at a Malibu, California book-signing. (His, not mine). He loved my trash can story. One would expect the author of Fahrenheit 451 to rejoice at people rescuing any books from landfills, incinerators, or recyclers.

Read the rest of the article in the Hollywood Investigator.

======================================

Actors Union Erased Dr. Who Episodes -- Forever Detroying TV History

The BBC destroyed the master videotapes to dozens of Dr. Who TV episodes because Equity (the British actors union) feared that TV "repeats" would compete with new TV programming -- and thus reduce the number of jobs for actors.

According to Daniel J. Flynn of the American Conservative (May 16, 2012):

Actors' guilds, state television, and mindless bureaucracy combined to do what enemies like the Master, the Cybermen, and even the Daleks never could: exterminate the Doctor. Arriving in 1963, at the peak of automation fears, "Doctor Who" became a casualty of labor's Luddite preoccupation with machine replacements. Britain's actors' guild, the nation's last purely closed shop, prohibited more than one re-broadcast of any program, lest its members lose work to on-screen facsimiles of themselves. The musicians' union and other trade guilds imposed similar restrictions. So '70s-era employees of the state broadcasting behemoth, imagining neither a world without a closed shop nor one with the VCR, trashed, lost, and wiped all of the series's '60s-era masters. The Doctor, like so many of that decade’s characters, was there but can’t much remember the 1960s.

This shocking example of how a labor union, in a misguided attempt to destroy competition, instead forever destroyed episodes from a classic TV show, is also reported in Wikipedia:

The actors' union Equity had actively fought against the introduction of TV recording since it originally became a practical proposition in the 1950s. Prior to the development of workable television recording, if a broadcaster wished to repeat a programme (usually a one-off play), the actors would be re-hired for an additional fee to perform it again live. Equity's concern was that if broadcasters were able to record the original performances, they would be able to repeat them indefinitely, which would cut down on the levels of new production and threaten the livelihoods of its members. Although Equity could not prevent recording altogether, it was able to stipulate that recordings could only be repeated a set number of times within a specific timeframe, and the fees payable for further use beyond that were deliberately so high that broadcasters would consider it unjustifiable to spend so much money repeating an old programme rather than making a new one. Consequently, recordings whose repeat rights had expired were considered to be of no further economic use to the broadcasters.

Because of these misguided labor practices -- similar to how today's actors unions support Big Media's expansion of copyright -- many of these classic TV episodes remain unavailable for viewing, though a few "lost episodes" have been found.

==================================

Is Actor Will Smith a Homophobe?

When a male reporter kissed actor Will Smith on the cheek -- and kept on kissing him, ever more intimately -- Smith shoved the reporter away in obvious disgust.

Is Smith's action homophobic? Some bloggers and tweeters say Yes!

The Hollywood Investigator says No! Smith's action does not make him a homophobe.

If a man was to grab and kiss a random woman (who didn't even know him), and she shoved him away, the woman would not be considered a heterophobe. Indeed, feminists would say that the man had criminally assaulted the woman.

Yet some "progressives" advocate a double standard. Women have a sacred right to say no to a man, but men must allow other men to grab and kiss them, else they are homophobic.

We support Will Smith's right to his own bodily integrity. It's his body, his right to decide who touches it.

===================================

Distributor Seeking "Completed Family Films"

York Entertainment is currently seeking "completed family films."

According to York Entertainment president Tanya York, in an email to the Hollywood Investigator: "Our buyers network and territory reps are reporting that there's a high demand for 'family' genre films worldwide, so if you have a completed family film (or know someone that does) please submit it to us.

"Submission forms and information can be found at YorkEntertainment.com."

============================

Priscilla Leona Interviews Screenwriter Justin Samuels

Last June, the Hollywood Investigator reported that screenwriter Justin Samuels was suing Creative Artists Agency and the William Morris Agency for racial and sexual discrimination.

Since then Samuels has continued writing. His latest novels include Mother of Witches and Macchu Picchu As a journalist, he's covered the Occupy Wall Street movement, which is one of the topics of his blog.

Priscilla Leona recently interviewed Samuels on her radio show. The young writer discussed "How to get your first book published" and "How to sell your book online."

Why Celebrities Should NOT "Shut up and sing!"

Talk radio motormouth Laura Ingraham's silly soundbite -- "Shut up and sing!" -- conveys an attitude shared by many on the Lunatic Right.

Imgraham is suggesting that Hollywood entertainers should entertain -- and leave politics to the experts. Like, presumably, Laura Ingraham.

But it's a hypocritical soundbite. Even an idiotic, offensive, and anti-American soundbite.

Now the Hollywood Investigator's Mimi Brickmeyer explains why!

===========================

You Need an Agent to Get an Agent

It's a well known Catch-22. In Hollywood, no producer or studio will read a screenplay unless an agent submits it. But you can't find an agent unless producers and studios are already interested in you.

Now one high-powered Hollywood talent agency has upped the ante -- They refuse to read a screenplay unless it's submitted by an agent!

Read the shocking details in this special Hollywood Investigator report!

===============================

Short Film Contest: Political Satire Wanted

SeeFlik.com is seeking comedic films about the 2012 Race for the White House.

Any short satirical video -- animations, skits, music videos, whatever -- welcome "as long as it's funny."

"The Republican primaries offer a tremendous amount of material, and there are plenty of other sideshows in the political sphere to parody. The edgier the better, so rock the boat, it's the best way to get noticed."

The 1st Place film will win $1000. Four runner-up film will each get $500. Winners to be determined by a panel of judges.

Details at: See Flik.

===================================

Los Angeles Libertarian Promotes 9/11 Truth Film: Operation Terror

Ted Brown, who currently serves as Secretary of the Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County, submits the following event notice:

"Is there another explanation for what happened on Sept. 11, 2001? Art Olivier thinks so.

"Art was a city council member and mayor of Bellflower, and later was the Libertarian Party candidate for Vice President (2000) and for Governor of California (2006). He has now become a filmmaker. His new film is called Operation Terror and will soon be out on DVD.

"Art will speaking to the upcoming Region 63 (Foothills) Libertarian meeting about making the film, what it's about, and why he thinks the 'official' explanation of those tragic events leaves a lot of questions.



Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Time: 7:00 p.m. for dinner & conversation; 8:00 p.m. for the program

Location: Panera Bread Restaurant, 3521 E. Foothill Blvd, in Pasadena (west of Rosemead Blvd, at the west end of the Hastings Ranch Shopping Center)"

=================================

Viscera Film Festival Seeks Bone Donors, Feb 25th

In association with Cella Art Gallery, Femme Fatale Art Show, and City of Hope, the Viscera Film Festival will be rolling out the bloody carpet in North Hollywood, California on February 25th to host a charity bone marrow swab registration to cap off their 2012 celebration of Women in Horror Recognition Month.

Many people have life-threatening illnesses that require a bone marrow transplant for a cure. Finding a matching marrow donor is not always easy, or even possible. There aren't enough viable donors registered. Currently, only two out of ten of those suffering from leukemia, lymphoma and other life-threatening diseases ever get the treatment that could save their lives.

You can help change that.

The Be The Match Registry at City of Hope is working diligently to diversify their Registry of bone marrow donors to help more patients find lifesaving bone marrow matches. When you join the Be The Match Marrow Registry, you can save a life.

Every day thousands of patients need a life-saving transplant and are in search of a donor. With only 30% finding a suitable donor within their family, the remaining 70% must reach out to unrelated donors whose tissue type matches. Even with the Registry of millions, there are still patients waiting and hoping to find that match.

That's where you can help. Come to the Viscera Marrow Event and be swabbed and registered by City of Hope. You could save a life.

This event is FREE but please RSVP to either the Facebook event page or stacy at viscerafilmfestival dot com.

There'll be a very special screening of Ingrid Pitt: Beyond the Forest. This was the last project Hammer horror icon Ingrid Pitt made, narrating her own story for a short animated film by an 11-year-old boy, Perry Chen, under the mentorship of cartoonist Bill Plympton.

Marrow will also provide a carpet walk, food, open bar, femme fatale-inspired art, and a screening of horror films by women.

Place:

Cella Art Gallery
1135 Weddington St
North Hollywood, CA 91601

Date: Saturday, Feb 25th

Time: 6 p.m. to (roughly) 10 p.m.

================================

Oliver Stone Favors Ron Paul Over Barak Obama

Politically progressive filmmaker Oliver Stone favors libertarian Republican Ron Paul over Barak Obama for president!

Speaking to Ed Rampell of Rock Celler magazine, Stone explained:


Rock Celler: In Our History you ask if there's "a potential wild card in an internal economic collapse of the empire"? Is America an empire? And if so, do you foresee the fall of the empire?

Stone: Yes. Yes, both. I don't think it's a wild card, I think it's a given. There's no way that we can continue this spending spree. In fact, I think in many ways the most interesting candidate -- I'd even vote for him if he was running against Obama -- is Ron Paul. Because he's the only one of anybody who's saying anything intelligent about the future of the world.

How do we go on being who we are? We have an identity crisis here. But as long as we keep running this fantasy through our minds that we can dominate history, it's not a wild card, it's a given!


Read the entire interview.

Oliver Stone's praise for Ron Paul is yet another example of Paul's strong appeal to progressives, artists, and youth.

===============================================

Hollywood Invented Piracy

The Pirate Bay issued this thought-provoking press release [on January 18, 2012]:


"Over a century ago Thomas Edison got the patent for a device which would 'do for the eye what the phonograph does for the ear'. He called it the Kinetoscope. He was not only amongst the first to record video, he was also the first person to own the copyright to a motion picture.

"Because of Edison's patents for the motion pictures, it was close to financially impossible to create motion pictures in the North American east coast. The movie studios therefore relocated to California, and founded what we today call Hollywood. The reason was mostly because there was no patent.

"There was also no copyright to speak of, so the studios could copy old stories and make movies out of them -- like Fantasia, one of Disney's biggest hits ever.

"So, the whole basis of this industry, that today is screaming about losing control over immaterial rights, is that they circumvented immaterial rights. They copied (or put in their terminology: 'stole') other people's creative works, without paying for it. They did it in order to make a huge profit.

"Today, they're all successful and most of the studios are on the Fortune 500 list of the richest companies in the world. Congratulations -- it's all based on being able to re-use other people's creative works. And today they hold the rights to what other people create.

"If you want to get something released, you have to abide [by] their rules. The ones they created after circumventing other people's rules.

"The reason they are always complaining about 'pirates' today is simple. We’ve done what they did."


Read the entire press release.

Also read the Hollywood Investigator's special report on how Big Media is stealing YOUR copyrights!

=======================================