Elizabeth Warren: It Gets Better

Marisa DeFranco at 3:30pm on LeftAhead

Mike and I are interviewing US Senate Candidate Marisa DeFranco at 3:30 today on LeftAhead. You can listen live at blogtalkradio.com/lefties starting at 3:30pm, or anytime after 4:30 at LeftAhead.com. There's also a mp3 player for the show on the right-hand column of this blog, and people can catch it at iTunes or some other podcast aggregators.

Why the GOP's going nuts of attacks on Bain

The reason why the GOP is so terrified of Gingrich's attacks on Bain isn't because they're afraid it will stop Romney from winning the nomination (that's a certainty at this point), but rather that they're afraid of seeing Newt put Bain's way of doing business on the table for GOP base voters, in a way Democrats never could.

Bain crushes unions, strips away benefits and ships jobs overseas, buying companies out with hundreds of millions or billions in loans. They then ditches that debt on those stripped-down companies, who can't afford it, leaving many of them out of business or shells of their former selves.

It's bad for America and the elites of the GOP don't want people to hear it, especially their base. Why? Because the elites of the GOP know it, too, but they just don't care.

Walking over the little people to make money is an easy decision for those elites, but not for most Americans. Democrats are already open to the idea that there should be some restrictions on the way companies can do business, but most base GOP voters aren't. If people, especially the GOP's base, understand exactly what companies like Bain does, they'd no more support it than they'd support drug cartels.

SOPA, the death of the internet?

Below is an excellent explanation on the vastness of the problem that SOPA, the "Stop Online Piracy Act," poses for the internet. SOPA is the music and movie industry's attempts to basically kill the internet.

It goes far beyond trying to protect copyrighted material, and descends into "let's kill websites that are competitors." Youtube.com could be shut down if Google were to not take down a single, solitary video that was flagged by the industry within 5 days. A blog could be taken down is a single, solitary commenters quoted too extensively in a single comment. In effect, the internet would become like Cable TV, with megacorporations back to controlling almost all content, from the media, to books, music and film.

Here's a great explanation of how vast this bill goes, not only allowing sites to be targeted, but advertisers, and allowing content owners to seize sites without going through normal court channels, essentially throwing due process out the window.

Here's the comment, plucked from a Techcrunch blog. It should appear as the first comment below the article.

Certainly, the implications could be seen as a turning off of just about any avenue of the internet. The real problem here (addressing questions above) is that DOJ won't be doing the primary enforcement. SOPA grants jurisdiction for aggrieved holders of protected content to bring suit in addition to the DOJ. That means the "creator of the content" -- Metallica, let's just say -- or an agent of the aggrieved -- Metallica's record company -- will have jurisdiction in federal courts in the U.S. to bring suit against those websites that either a) control the location upon which the actual infringer posts the protected content, or b) against advertisers who help those websites continue to operate.

The requirements are that both the website and the advertiser be provided adequate notice of the infringement before suit can commence. That means enough time for the website to take appropriate action (removing the content and blocking the user, most likely), and any advertisers or "enablers" as I like to call them to discontinue business with those offending websites.

The problem is bigger than just the ability to regulate granted to the DoJ. The true problem is that it is giving the media outlets direct means of redress to bring suit not only against websites, many of which are unaware anything wrong is going on, and seek either or both monetary and injunctive relief, but also those advertisers (see facebook, google, etc.) who won't discontinue business with websites which host the offending content. In this light, it is clear that the media companies will now have the ability to sanction any web outlet, or web outlet that serves advertising, without addressing the underlying problem of the user who is doing the "offending" if we can call it that. Huge monetary sanctions against Google for advertising -- the stretches of this power could kill google as we know it (which may have been the underlying intent all along, as fond as they are of Google).
Let's say a commenter posts a link on small blog A to content that infringes on X's copyright. X might not care or know about it. But X's agent, RIAA, does. Someone likes the comment on blog A, and links on Facebook. On an aside, blog A uses Google advertising. The link on Facebook makes it into the internet's mainstream, in whatever way it will. It catches the attention of X's agent RIAA.
At this point, SOPA gives DOJ or the offended party (or her agent) a right to judicial redress by imposing monetary sanctions or achieving injunctive relief (shutting down the page, site, domain). At this point, Blog A, Google, Facebook, and every other site that served as host to the offending content are potentially liable. RIAA can pursue the action by notifying DOJ or by pursuing it individually after notice. In fact, RIAA could, under some circumstances, even TAKE THE DOMAINS of the offending website (under in rem property provisions in the H.R.).

Extrapolate the single instance to what stretches the entire internet, and well...the problem truly is vastly larger than what the DoJ could manage to enforce. That was never the true purpose though, was it?

Elizabeth Warren's Fighting Back

What no one's seemed to mention about Karl Rove's ad

As most probably know, Karl Rove's issued a new ad through his political action hacktion group, American Crossroads, attacking Elizabeth Warren on being too cozy with the banks. Yes, you read that right: the nation's top watchdog of the banks, the very banks bankrolling Rove's ads against Warren, is too cozy with the banking industry. Ha!

It's silly and the polar opposite of Rove's first ad attacking Warren, linking her to the Occupy movement, but the thing that no one seems to be talking about is the fact that this is the exact tactic Karl Rove has always employed: attacking an opponent's strengths.

People have been scoffing at the new ad, laughing at it even, but it's no sillier than when Rove went after a war veteran in the Senate, Max Cleland, who lost both of his legs and one of his arms in battle, and tried to call him un-American, unpatriotic and not tough on defense. It was absurd, but because it was so absurd, few took it too seriously -- until Max Cleland, national hero, lost his reelection.

That's why it's so important for us to take the new tactic seriously and ensure people know Warren's record and how sleazy Rove and his group are in their manipulation. If there's any one thing people need to know about Warren, it's that she's going to go after the banks and try to make America work for its people, instead of just the lobbyists and CEOs. So, it's time to go forth and spread the message.

Of #OccupyBoston, Mooninites and #Sinkgate

The Boston Police Department's theft of #OccupyBoston's kitchen sink (sigh... the jokes just write themselves) is really just the latest in police overreaction in a long series of Boston Police are-you-kidding-me? overreactions. My friend put it well when she wrote on Facebook,

"okay, the occupiers probably shouldnt have blocked the police van. but, in their defense, the police PROBABLY SHOULD BE SPENDING THEIR TIME ON SOMETHING OTHER THAN A SINK. jussssst sayin'."

And I'm not even so sure they were wrong to block the van for the limited amount of time that they did. After all, they're living indefinitely protesting there, and dishes need cleaning.

So, how bad are the cops? Be it trying to arm every Tom, Dick and Harry in the force with military grade semi-automatic weapons, under the guise of 'preventing terrorism,' or essentially shutting down Boston because of a cartoon movie viral media campaign, it's clear the old fogies of the Boston Police and the status quo's forces that be just don't get what motivates or entertains anyone with a living pulse who thinks life's worth living.

When you think of it, there really are a lot of similarities between what happened when the Mooninites rocketed our city -- by being hung up on a couple walls to market a movie -- and #OccupyTogether movement itself.

Whether it's people wanting to amuse themselves with entertaining adult cartoons, or creating a positive atmosphere of freedom to fight for our rights to have a slice of the American Dream, it's all about people carving out a place for themselves.

And seemingly every time it happens, the elites of the world miss the 'joke,' metaphorical or otherwise.

So, in that regard, the Boston Police stealing the kitchen sink is emblematic with what's wrong with the city, government and mainstream society at large. It's the silly and serious merging all at once, crossing the poli-pop streams, amounting to something that's laughably stupid and insulting all at the same time.

They call the protesters dirty hippies, but as the protesters gain steam, they strip away their ability to stay clean, hoping normal people watching this stuff on the local news won't know any better.

Meanwhile, the protesters are nonviolent, peaceful and fighting for the rights of every American who's ever known what it's like to worry about putting food on the table, paying rent, finding a job or having adequate (or any) health care. The police are getting spooked by ghosts that just aren't there.

These politicians, corporate powers and police officers doing their dirty work don't respect or understand younger people and those struggling to find their way in this life, and they aren't even trying.

If it doesn't fit in with what's gone on in the past, like having a one day march instead of a long-term assembly, having a job instead of desperately looking for one in the midst of a job crisis for those out of work, or using viral marketing instead of paying millions for expensive ads, the old world not only doesn't understand it, but sees it as a threat and attacks it.

This time, far from attacking some stupid viral marketing campaign, we are the Mooninites -- and we're working with a political, corporate and police establishment that has yet to realize life has past them by.

According to Globe, Menino "supports" #OccupyBoston -- even as he tries to evict them

I don't know where to begin with this article.

Mayor Thomas Menino, who has previously expressed support for the Occupy movement, tells WCVB-TV (http://bit.ly/uwJs97) that he wants to have the legal tools to have dozens of tents in Dewey Square Park removed.

The fact that they suggest Menino's supported the movement is bizarre, in the extreme. Ordering police to mass-arrest protesters isn't "supporting" them.Telling protesters that Civil Disobedience has no place in Boston isn't "supporting" the protesters. About the only thing you can say about Menino's support is at least he hasn't allowed the BPD to give any Iraqi veterans brain injuries, like in Oakland, though even in that case, veterans in Boston were injured due to needless police brutality.

Menino's been somewhat constrained from lashing out at the Occupy movement in Dewey Square by popular opinion and the movement's strength, but let's not kid ourselves here, he's been wanting to get rid of them for quite a while now.

Want to see how much Menino "supports" the protesters and movement? Just watch this segment from WCVB's "On the Record," starting at about 2:50. It's a mutual sneer-fest. He (and they) hate the Occupy movement. Menino even goes on to compare Occupy Boston to the Tea Party -- and gives praise to the Tea Party!

So, Boston Globe, this online story is officially the ranks of Fake News.