Comments:

Golly, AG, yer welcome!!!

Comments:

Taxman (aka "Wierdo", aka "Sam"):

Sony was not "supposed" to know that I'm a journalist. However, anybody viewing the video could reasonably be expected to deduce that it was about a news event, featured a newsmaker (Phelps-Roper), and was presented at no charge for public viewing and as a documentation of an actual news event.

Using the third party (YouTube) to present the video is irrelevant inasmuch as Sony/ATV Publishing could just as easily have sent me a terse cease and desist notice.

The fact that the lyrics were offensive is also irrelevant. Sony/ATV Publishing holds copyrights on their own offensive lyrics.

You wrote that "You-Tube probably has a policy where any copyright holder who wishes a video to be removed can request it." Your use of the word "probably" shows that you're guessing - although your guess is correct. But my argument is not with YouTube, it’s with Sony. You seem to have missed that important point.

"Neither You-Tube or Sony," you wrote, "have time to .... judge ... for ... journalistic integrity." This is not about "journalist integrity." The simple fact is that I accurately captured a newsmaker singing a hateful song to the tune of "Hey Jude." I'm not sure which part of "accurately captured" is a violation of journalistic integrity. Neither YouTube nor Sony are in the business of judging "journalistic integrity." Sony's complaint is only about the use of a copyrighted tune, not journalism. Period.

You say the video is "cheap and amaturish” and “looks like it was made by a teenager." All of my videos are "cheap" (made at no cost) and amateurish (which you misspelled; an amateur is one who does something for the love of the subject or action - look it up). Volunteer fire fighters, you know, are amateurs. "Made by a teenager?" There are many talented teenagers out there whose video making capabilities I greatly admire. Why do you hate America's youth?

Comments:

Taxman,
I'm not sure what you mean when you say that my blog does not "rate the same" as a newspaper or broadcaster. In terms of the US Constitution, I am equal to any of them. Your opinion of the quality of my blog is fair game, but my original video of Shirley Phelps-Roper was news. The First Amendment makes no requirements of quality or readership. If you want to say that blogs are not mentioned in the First Amendment, well, neither are broadcasters. While I acknowledge Sony's right to protect its copyrighted material, you have to admit that they're very inconsistent in the way they go about it. I get the feeling you would have shut down Ben Franklin's little newspaper because it wasn't big enough.

Comments:

Sam - See my response in the Oct 19 post "Tea Parties' 'Old' Arguments are Timeless" at http://rogersparkbench.blogspot.com/2009/10/tea-parties-old-arguments-are-timeless.html

Comments:

DP: Please let know <b>which bill</b> you are referring to and I will be happy to find the names of the supporters for you.

Comments:

Thanks John! C'mon, Barry Goldwater lived in Arizona - and he never wore sunglasses?!? I'll see what I can do about The Conscience of a Conservative. Now, John, the next time I see you, you'll be wearing a Goldwater 2012 shirt - right?

Comments:

Ms. Goldwater,
Your own father gave permission to anybody put his face anywhere they want the moment he first became a candidate for any public office. See, your father was a public figure, Ms. Goldwater. Any official photos of him from any of his campaigns are essentially unprotected. They are, in effect, public domain. You should know that, particularly since you were a candidate for the US Senate in 1994. As for the sunglasses, I think he looks fly in them. I doubt that he's rolling over in his grave because of the praise and adoration I have given him. He was a great man.

Comments:

Thanks for that comment, Eric. I think many of us agree with you about the Obama prize. As for Clinton, he certainly did more than Obama has regarding peace (i.e., helping to end the fighting between the Brits and the Irish).

Comments:

Dear Schmuck:
First, nobody is "protesting," as you mistakenly say. Second, This is not about Sarah Palin (not "Pallin," as you incorrectly wrote), it's about Ayers and Obama. Third, I seriously doubt that any ghostwriter that Palin may have employed is a former and proudly unrepentant terrorist bomber. Fourth, it's "sentences," not "sentances" as you wrote, you literary genius. Fifth, "methinks" is not hyphenated, as you incorrectly wrote it. Sixth, and finally, methinks it is you who protests too much, and without actually addressing anything about the Ayers-Obama book fraud. Some advice: If you’re going to make a point, try to focus on the subject matter rather than veering off onto a dark sidestreet.

Comments:

Ah, yet you assumed that it is against the ruled for lifeguards to patrol a pier on a public beach. Tsk tsk tsk. You also assume that you're still in the Old World, and that people do not pronounce your name as "weirdo." That's weird. Excuse me, das ist sehr veeer-d.

Comments:

Uhm... I stand corrected; thanks for the copy editing. Of course, I meant "heroine." By the way, genius, you misspelled "weirdo" three times: Once in your own name and twice in your own email address. We were about to hire you to our editing staff, but we prefer that our editors know how to spell their own names correctly. See: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/weirdo

Comments:

Dear Earl:
Thank you for proving my point. Tell me Earl, do you have any kind words for Sarah Palin or Clarence Thomas?

Comments:

With a name like "Half Jap" you call ME a racist? Okay...

Comments:

Ross - You're a fool. WHY would there be a regulation forbidding lifeguards from guarding the pier? That's gotta be one of the dumbest statements I've ever read. It was, after all, a lifeguard who (finally but too late) pulled the man out of the water. If what you say is true, then that lifeguard violated your imaginary rule. The badly faded, stenciled no-diving symbols are there for feeble minded idiots, not as a substitute for lifeguards. The depth of the water is irrelevant to the fact that the pier is poorly patrolled; after all, they regularly sit in their ridiculous rowboats in water that's only waist high, hundreds of feet from the end of the pier.

Comments:

TH:
Believe it or not, you actually agree with much of what I wrote, but you missed part of the point. People are people, yes. I mourn the loss of that young black man, Derrion Albert. What you say about bad people being in every group (racial, ethnic, etc.) is true, my point is that people like Jesse Jackson Sr and others are wrong to constantly demonize whites by way of exaggerating the actual current impact of the Klan. ("Klan" for Jackson is code for "whitey.") Many, many Black Americans acknowledge the severe problem of blacks killing blacks, moreso than within any other group. That doesn't mean that black people are inferior; it means that there is something wrong with much of their culture. 70-90 percent of black children born to single mothers, for example. The unwillingness by many to "snitch" on killers and drug pushers, for example. I was not talking down on blacks, TH. I was talking down on the Jesse Jacksons who don't address the real problems in preference for passing the buck, and not admitting that more blacks are killed by blacks than are killed by the KKK currently.

Comments:

Thank you, Trpy. Much appreciated.

Comments:

Thanks for writing, Mark.
Please stay in touch, and give us updates about how Broken Saint is doing.