Black & Blue: Another Violent Con

Now I'm certainly not a big fan of Ignatieff but even as a curmudgeonly blogger I have never thought for a moment that he should end up black and blue for holding opinions that I don't support. Perhaps if I were a Conservative Member of Parliament I might hold more violent fantasies. Apparently Garry Breitkreuz, a fanatical gun nut, has decided that Ignatieff's determination to whip his party's vote against abolishing the long gun registry is worthy of a beating. Perhaps it is just that sort of violent tendency that makes a gun registry so important. When less stable members of the population, like Garry Breitkreuz, start wishing violence on others it might be good to know whether he is armed and to what extent.

This whack job insinuates that the Police Chiefs of this nation are on the take and acting in a cult-like manner. Check out this page from the honourable member's site, obsessed much, gun cultist? More than 100 articles feeding the frothing madness of this loon. Any opposition to his unfettered gun craze and you are the devil incarnate, crooked or in need of violent intervention.

Here is the nutter's news release wherein he raves about crooked police chiefs and a load of other nonsense. And here are a few choice quotes:

Pro-registry groups such as the Coalition for Gun Control and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police (CACP) are politically-motivated lobby groups that derive financial support from pro-registry sources.
“Their positions are tainted and suspect in my view, because their endorsement can be bought,” says Breitkreuz.

“His attempt to force members of his caucus to vote against the bill is politically transparent. Imagine demanding eight members of your caucus to suddenly abandon the wishes of their constituents. This leader is a bully who may well be committing political suicide. With tactics like this, I doubt he’ll be missed on either side of the House.”

It’s an act of desperation that insults the intellect of Canadians. His true colours are showing, and if his caucus has any integrity, those colours should be black and blue.

Imagine Mr Breitkreuz, a political party that enforces caucus discipline. I certainly hope that Stephen Harper takes this boob aside and reads him the riot act. The Conservative Party, for better and mostly worst, occupy the government side of the house. It is more than unseemly to have one of these cracked fools going off like this. It diminishes the dignity of the position and the trust placed in an elected member. And it might behoove the constabulary to keep an eye on this sort of individual. His penchant for firepower and obviously short fuse make him a potential risk to public safety and a good candidate for proving the value of the registry.

We register cars, marriages and all manner of services, contracts and licences. Evidently deadly weapons should be exempt from this standard social practice to keep violent, right wing extremists within the government from lashing out. This is our government, salted through with some true winners.

No Blogging Tories...

...were harmed in the packaging of this product. They only served as models.

A Letter From Steve

Huh. Over the last bunch of days I sent out quite a few notes to members of parliament, the leaders of the parties and so forth. As of today I have received one response, from the Prime Minister's Executive Correspondence Officer, one L. A. Lavell. So here are my letter to Steve, the response from his flack and the first draft of what will be my response (yes I will tidy it up, I've already taken out the swearing).

First, here is the letter I sent to the P.M.

Mr. Prime Minister

Sir, as a member of ACTRA, SOCAN and the SAC, I am a creator of intellectual
properties, a stake holder. I am deeply concerned with issues of copyright
as it effects my work and as it effects the audience for my work.

New legislation intended to update Canadian copyright law has been placed on
the Notice Paper for this coming week's session of Parliament. Every
indication points to a piece of legislation that mimics the deeply flawed
and dangerous DMCA enacted in the United States. Industry Minister Jim
Prentice has put this legislation forward with no input from the creative
sector or from Canadian consumers. The path he has chosen is one that has
done great damage to businesses and individuals in the United States. It has
resulted in excess of 20,000 lawsuits and the serial abuse of DMCA takedown
notices. It has criminalized the consumer and harmed artists, all while
solving none of the problems it was intended to address.

I, along with many other Canadian artists, ask you to withdraw this
legislation and reconsider the goals of copyright protections going into the
future. Mr. Prentice's bill places fair use provisions at risk, this will
have a devastating effect on education, culture and business. We have
already seen documentaries being withdrawn from circulation by the NFB due
to the onerous demands of rights renewals. The major Canadian labels have
all joined in condemnation of this anti-consumer legislation. Nettwerk
records, home to Sarah McLachlan, Avril Levigne and Sum 41, has walked away
from the CRIA. Anthem Records home to Rush, has abandoned the CRIA. The
Barenaked Ladies have worked diligently to represent a positive example of
new business models that do not make enemies of their fans. All of these
artists and labels recognize that they must adapt to a changing paradigm in
both delivery and use of their works.

The powerful lobbying groups that speak for a handful of very large,
offshore corporations are not working for the interest and benefit of
Canadians. Canadian law should never be shaped to benefit foreign cartels
and conglomerates at the expense of Canadian citizens. There is a
groundswell of opposition to this intended legislation. I and many of my
peers are prepared to speak out and work against the locking down of our
technology and culture. We will not stop working against legislation that
breaks technology and impedes culture. To do so would be un-Canadian. This
is not a partisan issue, this is about our heritage and our future.

I hope your government will reconsider the wisdom of following what has
proven to be a deeply flawed path. Please sir, withdraw this legislation and
engage in the responsibility and transparency you promised Canadians.

I look forward to your response on this issue.

Sincerely,
Lindsay Stewart
Kitchener, Ontario

And here is the response I received from L. A. Lavell,

Dear Ms. Stewart:

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to thank you for
your e-mail, in which you raised an issue which falls within the portfolio of
the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry. The Prime Minister always
appreciates receiving correspondence on subjects of importance to Canadians.

Please be assured that the statements you made have been carefully reviewed. I
have taken the liberty of forwarding your e-mail to Minister Prentice, so that
he too may be made aware of your comments. I am certain that the Minister will
give your views every consideration. For more information on the Government's
initiatives, you may wish to visit the Prime Minister's Web site, at
www.pm.gc.ca.

L.A. Lavell
Executive Correspondence Officer
for the Prime Minister's Office
Agent de correspondance
de la haute direction
pour le Cabinet du Premier ministre

Mr. or Ms L. A. Lavell:

Not that it has any particular bearing on the issue at hand but I am not a woman. Yes, it is one of those names, thanks for presuming. As to the content of your note I have a few thoughts, I have a gut feeling that the Prime Minister doesn't give a toss about what is important to Canadians unless those concerns come wrapped in votes or written on cheques.

As for your assurance that my statement has been "carefully reviewed", I'd like to see some evidence of that, thank you very much. A careful review might result in a response to the points raised, a clarification or even a rebuttal. Your so called careful review appears to delve no deeper than to see who you can abdicate your boss's responsibility to. Mr. Prentice has quite distinctly shown that he has no interest in addressing the concerns of Canadians or his constituents. He has refused to answer concerns about the impending legislation. He has admitted that he is acting under pressure from the CEOs of media companies. Which is why I have written to the Prime Minister, L. A. Lavell. But you have taken the liberty to divert my letter away from the attention of Mr. Harper, which I am sure he appreciates even more than receiving correspondence on subjects of importance to Canadians.

You are certain that Minister Prentice will give my views every consideration. Well, there is no need to be telling lies to a citizen. Minister Prentice has shown no inclination to consider the views, opinions or legitimate concerns of Canadians as regards copyright reform legislation. There have been no public consultations, he has rebuffed the concerns of the educational sector, he has ignored Canadian artists and Canadian owned and operated music labels. Minister Prentice has evidently decided that he is employed to serve a small handful of corporate masters from outside of Canada and to please the administration to our south. The repercussions of the legislation he will be tabling before the house will have a long lasting impact on the very fabric of Canadian culture. The continued profitability of a few global conglomerates has taken precedence over the rights, the concerns and the future of Canadian citizens and home grown businesses. That is quite plainly unacceptable.

We are expecting the legislation to be tabled tomorrow, Tuesday, December 11. There are a great many articulate and passionate advocates for fair and reasonable copyright legislation. We are educating our friends and families about what is at stake, we are organizing and spreading the word. There is a storm building and Mr. Prentice and Mr. Harper have done nothing to stem the rising anger of a people who will not lightly allow their rights to be sold off. Anyone that imagines Canadians are a soft people, easy to mold and step over is in for a surprise and a fight. This is not a partisan issue and these concerns cross party lines. We will not stand idly by.

Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming

Jim Prentice, putting consumers first...if first means selling out their interests and rights to a failing business model by enacting a poisoned retread of a failed legislative model. (Image swiped from CBC)

Alright kids. Yellow Jim Prentice has placed his top secret plan to undermine your rights as consumers of information, in its many forms, on the Notice Paper for next weeks session of Parliament. If you sit on your hands, you will have no right to bitch when you wake up to discover that your digital freedoms have been curtailed and that global conglomerates are snooping through your hard drives. You will not be entitled to complain that you can't back-up, copy or move media files that you own. You best not be moping that the cost of education has gone through the ceiling because fair use provisions of copyright law have been sold out to insure the perpetual monetization of Mickey fucking Mouse. Got it?

So here's the deal. Write to your elected representative. Let them know that the rights of Canadians come before the interests of SONY/BMG or Universal or any other monopolistic mega-corporation. Remind your Member of Parliament who they work for be nice, be firm but for fuck sakes get to it. The time is now. If it helps, the following is the text of a letter I just shipped off to the member from my riding:

Dear Ms Redman,

As a working member of ACTRA, SOCAN and SAC, I am deeply concerned with the impending damage about to be done to Canadian copyright law. At risk are fair use provisions, consumer rights and technology businesses and innovators. Canadian stake holders in the arts, education and general population have expressed growing worry over this retrograde move on the part of the government. We have been roundly ignored.

Federal Industry Minister Jim Prentice has put proposed copyright legislation on the Notice Paper for next weeks session of the Parliament. This bill has been created in the absence of consultation with Canadians and actual stake holders. Every indication points to a set of regulations that mimic the deeply flawed DMCA that has seen more than 20,000 anti-consumer lawsuits in the United States, bankrupting families and technology companies.

Mr. Prentice has avoided the legitimate questions of the Canadian public, he has most recently been invited to address the concerns of citizens through CBC's show, 'Search Engine'. The program received more than 250 questions for the minister, an impressive number considering the dry topic area of intellectual property. Mr. Prentice has refused to appear on the program, his office saying that they would give a statement explaining why. No such explanation has been forthcoming.

I implore you to speak out on our behalf. Mr. Prentice is supposed to represent our best interests. It appears he prefers the interests of offshore media conglomerates and cartels. There is a groundswell of action building against this legislation. Please help us to preserve fair use for future generations of Canadians. I look forward to your response and assistance.

Sincerely,
Lindsay Stewart
Kitchener, Ontario

Please feel free to adapt any parts of that letter that will make it easier for you to take action.

Here again are a few links you might like to check:

Canadian DMCA prepare to become a techno-peasant.

A decade long wait for reform if you don't act.

Canada's universities call for moderate reform, Prentice ignores them too.

This will cost you real money from your pocket, for digital goods and services and for hardware, software and media.

The cat who designed the DMCA admits it failed, Jim Prentice's decision, Let's copy it!

What are Canadians asking that Jim Prentice isn't interested in answering?

Dave at the Galloping Beaver is a smart cookie, follow his example: read, learn, act before it's too damn late

Want a bargain? How about pre-broken goods that are illegal to fix? Thanks Jim Prentice, sellout cock noggin!

If you are reading this, then you are online and digitally engaged and this is important to you too. If you do not protect your rights, you will have no rights to protect.

The North and South of Lies and Liars

The most excellent Crooks & Liars has the video of White House propaganda catapultist, Dana Perino, flinging the richest and steamiest of horse shit. When confronted with questions regarding the situation in Pakistan, Perino, with a straight face, took the following position,

"Q: Is it ever reasonable to restrict constitutional freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism?

MS. PERINO: In our opinion, no."

I'm sorry. But that is one of the fattest fucking lies I have ever seen delivered. At that point the gathered reporters should have just got the hell up and left. It is no longer even remotely likely that the Bush administration will deal in good faith. For six years, Bush, Cheney and a chorus line of sinister bastards have made it their mission to subvert, restrict and shred the Constitution of the United States of America at every turn. They have no credibility. They are corruption. FISA, Guantanamo, extraordinary renditions, unlawful combattants cum detainees, massive domestic wiretapping, Blackwater mercenaries, black site prisons, Iraq, Iraq, Iraq, torture, torture, torture, Habeas fuckin' Corpus...hell, there isn't enough left of that noble document to wipe a flea's ass.

I miss America. It was the big, brash, loud mouthed character next door that did a lot of stupid and annoying things but for the most part it's heart was in the right place. Now it's the chief exporter of murderous fibs, unchecked gluttony and wanton disregard. It makes me sick inside to see what has become of the "greatest nation on earth" and it makes me furious to see our own petulant, bullshit, new government licking their chops for the opportunity to more closely emulate that coven of villains. How dare a Canadian Prime Minister dismiss the values of this nation when it comes to capital punishment? It is not his job to supplant the democratically resolved position of the people of this nation with his own medieval notions. The out-sourcing of state sanctioned murder is not a Canadian value. It does not speak to getting tough on crime, it merely condones resolving one crime by committing a second crime.

If Stephen Harper is so sanguine about capital punishment then perhaps he'd be perfectly happy with other judicial barbarisms. There is a very small rate of petty theft in Saudi Arabia because the loss of a hand is a severe risk to take. Perhaps, as the Conservatives begin to show their true colours, we can dispense with the pretenses of civility and Stockwell and Steve can institute their own fundamentalist, cracker shari'ah. Spare us the lies and deceptions, quit pretending to the center, the cons are just that, a con. The sooner Canada sees through the smoke and shite steam, the sooner we can return to our values of basic decency and humanity.

Where Is They Now?

Former Federal Reserve Chair, Alan Greenspan, seen here cavorting in one of the sensitive and denuded landscapes he helped fund, is enjoying his retirement. He now divides his time between accepting large sums of money as a "consultant" and scaring the shit out of Wall Street.



Ain't he a scamp?

Current Events in Animal

Iraq war architect and current Chairman of the World Bank, Paul Wolfowitz has been caught with his hand in the nookie jar.



The only question now, is who falls first, Wolfie or Gonzo. There should be a pool.

Images lifted from Dark Roasted Blend, a cornucopia of procrastinator's delight. Who in turn lifted them from either Time is Fun or Diana's.

Pope goes the weasel

From the New York Times:

"Pope Says Catholic Politicians Must Back Church’s Doctrine
By IAN FISHER
Published: March 13, 2007
BOLOGNA, Italy, March 13 — Pope Benedict XVI strongly reasserted Tuesday the church’s opposition to abortion, euthanasia and gay marriage, saying that Roman Catholic politicians were “especially” obligated to defend the church’s stance in their public duties.
“These values are nonnegotiable,” the pope wrote in a 130-page “apostolic exhortation” issued in Rome that represents a distillation of opinion from a worldwide meeting of bishops at the Vatican in 2005."

Call me crazy, but someone's forgetting to render unto Caesar. I'm all for religious tolerance but I absolutely reject this attempt to rule from the pulpit. As a very lapsed Catholic, I see little difference between this "exhortation" and calls for sharia. Both are attempts to usurp the rule of law with the rule of "god". All of history shows us that the rule of god is sorely misused when placed in the hands of men. This amounts to little more than spiritual blackmail.

I'm not at all a fan of Popes. I doubt Christ would have thought much of a bejewelled man in a gown being declared his personal ambassador. I doubt Christ would have approved of a massively powerful, centralized hierarchy taking ownership of his words and message. If His Popishness wants to write laws for nations around the world, I suggest he might drag his cult out of the middle ages and into the 21st century. He's welcome to dictate to the citizens of Popistan but my Canada is off limits.

Nobody's going to hire me to blog their campaign and nothing compels me to tread softly. The Catholic Church has a very long history of dark deeds. The Church has an endless supply of gall, attempting to dictate morals and values. This is the organization that gave the world such hits as the Children's Crusade, Auto de Fe and everyone's favourite, serial pedophiles and associated cover ups.

In the interest of disclosure, my experience with the Church was very negative. I don't much care what uniform you wear, hurting children makes you a sick fuck. I was never diddled but I was repeatedly struck and humiliated by nuns and a teacher in the Catholic school I attended before shifting over to the public system.

Also, in the interest of fairness, the vast majority of Catholics are good and decent people, like my mom. Catholic charities around the world have done and continue to do great works. People of the Catholic faith generally try to do good. Like peoples of every faith. But where power collects, corruption is sure to follow.

“Consequently, Catholic politicians and legislators, conscious of their grave responsibility before society, must feel particularly bound, on the basis of a properly formed conscience, to introduce laws inspired by values grounded in human nature,” the pope wrote."

If Pope Benny wants to bind Catholic politicians to dogma, I'm thinking that they should be disqualified from high office in Canada. This is a secular nation made up of a wide variety of people with various beliefs. Canadian politicians are elected to office to serve all of the Canadian public. They are duty bound to honour that public trust. A politician's church should not dictate policy. That is a breach of trust. That is a conflict of interest. The ominous undertone is that failure to bow to doctrine might lead to spiritual repercussions. That is anti-democratic and Canadians deserve better.

The presumption then, is that the Bishops would get to do all of the dirty work of trying to influence politicians with the threat of excommunication. That is no better than extortion and it has no place in a free and democratic society.

Disaster Averted!

The old gray baglady brings welcome news of an international incident defused. In a chilling assault on the sovereignty of a neighbouring state, the insidious Swiss made an armed incursion into Liechtenstani territory. A Swiss infantry unit, armed with assault rifles, marched deep into Liechtenstein, about a mile, before being recalled. The sneaky neutral bastards are claiming that their soldiers had gotten lost and that they had no bullets. Accepted wisdom tells us that bullets don't kill people, people kill people and armed soldiers are even trained to kill people. The chocolatiers' claim to have been the vicitms of a failure of cartography is dubious at best. A nation that prides itself on the creation of animatronic time pieces and vast banking conspiracies can surely afford a compass and a map of its own frontier.

Sources close to Guelph speculate that the Swiss buckled to pressure from American president George W. Bush. It is believed that Mr. Bush used diplomatic back channels to threaten the Swiss with a naval blockade. Were plans being made for a carrier group to steam from the Persian Gulf to Lake Geneva? We may never know and we can be thankful for that lack of knowledge, just as Mr. Bush is thankful for his own lack of knowledge in these troubled times. Though both sides are now downplaying this incident, it is rumoured that Liechtenstein is considering erecting a wall on their border with the Swiss. Some Liechtenstanis view the wall as necessary to curb illegal immigration and further unlawful invasions. The debate within the small nation seems to hinge on the cost of the proposed 4,500 foot tall wall.

As of press time, there are no reports that the Swiss Guard at the Vatican were involved in this incident. Several Popes are reporting that the Guard are not readying for redeployment and do not appear to be in a state of heightened alert readiness, as would be indicated by their changing into battle pantaloons. We'll continue to update this story until we nod off or until the next tawdry, celebrity tramp flashes her pampered underside to the paparazzi.

a river run red

We hear the woeful cries of those that squat and gobble, how we never see the good news from Iraq. They tell us that the media conspires against dear leader's noble cause. That it's freedom we hate and defeat that we crave. With chubby little fingers they point and they snide at every honest question as an attack from inside. Critical thought is for traitors and the truth is a whore, caught sleeping with the enemy in a time of illegal war. With every bit of venom in their snot crusted souls, they spin and they smear and they gild their sweet lies. To dissent is to give comfort, aid and succour to our foes. How dare we not confirm to what they pretend to know?

With fairy tales and yellow cake and never ending war, the pig folk gorge on spilling blood and squeal, they must have more. There can never be a substitute for the self righteous lust for death. Because pure failure is just victory that hasn't been declared. We're there to free those that they vilify, with every conservative breath. So salute the flag, support the troops and turn your backs on the wounded in want of care. Since when did we close the rape rooms, since when did the torture come to an end?

Riverbend alway makes me cry. This is the news we aren't hearing out of Iraq. These are the unvarnished stories from life on the ground in Iraq. Ruin and chaos, loss and fear painted in blood red, ghost white and corpse blue.

the government of new canada

dave at galloping beaver points at this cp globe diagnosis that gives our ailing new government only 60 days to adapt or be broken. the house will vote on wednesday, on a liberal bill that requires the new government to lay out their new plans for meeting new canada's kyoto accord commitments. this could be the iceberg that sinks the hmcs neocanadian. get one of your wetsuits laundered stockboy, there'll be some deckchairs to rearrange.

sandra buckler, stephen harper's work mommy, scored some brown acid and made this trippy assessment,

"It's like trying to say, 'I'm going to pass a motion that says I'm going to change the laws of gravity,"' said Buckler. "Well, how are you going to do that? You can't just say that . . . . Just because you say the sky is green, that doesn't make it so just because you legislate it." - cp/globe & mail

oh dude, have you ever noticed your hands? fingers are so, like, wierd. gosh sandra, have a soda, i think you're freaking out.

what new liberal perfidy is this? expecting our new government to obey a law that fails the oilpatch purity test. piffle and pshaw.

the upshot is that our new canadian government doesn't feel beholden to the law of the land, if it runs counter to ideology and prior interests of the special kind. our nation entered into an international agreement to limit and reduce our emissions of green house gasses, carbons to attempt to reverse or ameliorate the effects of global climate change. that is the will of the canadian people. it appears the the conservatives have no intention of obeying this law, when passed. and pass it will, having easily cleared a first vote with tripartite support.

60 days. what then? well, that's when things get interesting. if harper and his minority government refuse to abide by the law, they can either call an election or be sued on constitutional grounds. should they fail to comply with a court order, then we enter uncharted territory in canadian politics. a coup d'etat, for all intents and purposes and a constitutional crisis. i hope it doesn't come to that. i think it is time for mr. harper to answer to the people. canadians don't much care for autocrats and these tank grown thinkers don't seem to get it. so let's help them get it.

as far as sandra buckler's demented response, it is predicated on the notion that the 6% emissions reduction by 2012 will just wreck everything. we can't do it, there's no way, it's impossible. these cuts would end up "crippling the economy"! so we won't even think about trying until maybe at some indeterminate point in the future. okay? what they aren't saying is that they are some cozy with big petro, profit now, worry later. since they slashed all manner of standing federal environmental initiatives and programs, they have offered nothing but limp slogans and empty promises to act. their policy: when all the fossil fuels run out or become too expensive to extract, then we'll talk. foreward thinking all the way.

they poo poo here and they poo poo there, and the minions, flacks and ministers poo poo everywhere. but a bill that passes both houses and is signed into law by the governor general can't be selectively ignored. canadians will only stand for so much of that poo poo. the economy they are so terrified of crippling is on borrowed time, the carbon rich fun is coming to an end sooner than later. what do these sage souls plan for an economy when big oil runs dry? truth is, they've probably never considered it. it doesn't make the radar. what matters is right now and tomorrow. next week is someone else's problem. the economy they are interested in protecting is called exxon or texaco or shell. frankly, i don't really give a fuck if these barons of industry fall. their survival is far less important than that of my nieces and nephew and their kid's futures.

it appears that the harper economic vision is to burn off our natural resources as fast as possible, with as little control as possible and damn the torpedoes. rumour has it he's an economist. question is, who does he work for? wouldn't seem to be the people of canada. i work with the public and every day people talk about the weather with a bit of dread. this isn't some pie in the sky theory. people sense the shift in their environment, they talk about it and they are worried. harper might be an economist but any doctor will tell you that a condition of permanent, unsustainable growth is cancer. sad that the conservatives have forgotten the meaning of conserve, to keep and husband. our rapacious corporate culture is diseased.

these tweezer heads have neither a vision beyond lunch or a memory beyond the last slight they need to revenge. in the course of only a hundred years, society saw fantastic growth and change. cities were redefined by the private automobile, in a century we paved the earth and drove all over it. the economy went through huge shifts as business empires fell and new empires rose. some of those new empires demand that we not accept the next logical shifts in economic paradigms or social reality. we should continue headlong toward a well marked cliff because they refuse to adapt or change their ways. well fuck that.

we all know that stephen harper stands tall against the scourge of innovation. so it is little surprise that he would turn away from imagining an economy that isn't the one he's beholden to. so fuck him (i won't be getting hired as anyone's campaign blogger). without facing our problems, we can't solve them. our homes are among our largest sources of greenhouse emissions. conservatives pretend to be all about tax cuts and then sell us back our nickels after they've been shined. home heating in canada is, for the time being, an expensive necessity. civil engineering has transformed our cities and dwellings repeatedly over time. where an old industry fails a new one can appear. federal support could help found a massive geothermal home heating industry, with research and development, manufacturing, sales, installation and management sectors. retrofitting the nation with a safe, renewable and intelligent source of warmth and comfort would take years. but those years would be well spent. we would reduce our carbon footprint drastically and our remaining fossil resources would last years longer.

there are a lot of ways to live smarter and still foster a robust economy. one that we can all breathe in. failure to imagine alternatives, failure to innovate, failure to accept change, it all adds up to failure. here's looking at you stephen.

letter to my member of parliament

here is an email i sent to my m.p., karen redman, recently appointed caucus whip of her majesty's loyal opposition. i spoke at some length with ms. redman during the last election, i blogged about that conversation back here.

Dear Ms. Redman,

During the last Federal election you knocked on my door in the Victoria School Village. You were gracious enough to engage me in a discussion of several issues. One area of concern I had was with copyright reform. At the time, I addressed the unfortunate propensity of your former colleague Sarmite Bulte to accept funding from multi-national entertainment conglomerates. I was active in lending my voice to those condemning her poor choice of sugar daddies. Conservative Heritage Minister Bev Oda has also sought and accepted large sums of money from major, non-Canadian copyright holders in the entertainment industry. Only a public shaming has stopped yet another fundraiser on her behalf.

In recent months, notable Canadian artists and entertainment companies have spoken out against the excessive and over reaching attempts to cripple Canadain copyright law, scuttle fair use and fair dealing provisions and open the doors to endless litigation against and at the expense of Canadian consumers. Among the casualties are the creators of documentaries. The following link is a chilling and sad tale of abuse. As I am sure you know, the National Film Board of Canada is an organiztion that has won numerous awards around the world. The NFB has developed an international reputation for producing, supporting and maintaining Canadian works that fall outside the mainstream of entertainment. I would go so far as to say that the NFB is a signal repository and bulwark of Canadian heritage and culture.

We as a nation are facing the loss of our documentary heritage as copyright clearance fees and renewals sky rocket in cost. Important works are being locked away, never to be seen again. This is a crime against our nation, our cultures and heritage. I implore you to examine this learned paper and raise your voice in Parliament against this trend that dimishes our great nation.

Canada's lost documentaries.

I realize that copyright is a dry and unexciting area but it is vital. Recently, artists of both humble and international repute have taken a stance against the litigious and extranational interests working to undermine Canada's history of freedom of expression and fair use. The Barenaked Ladies have been champions of this cause. The CRIA, an organization that falsely purports to represent the interests of Canadian artists, has been abandoned by virtually all of this nation's major recording companies. Notably Nettwerk, home to Sarah McLaughlin, Avril Levigne and other high profile Canadian artists has walked out on CRIA. The truth is that CRIA represents the interests of Sony, BMG, Universal Music Group, EMI and the the world's largest and most notorious anti-consumeer conglomerates. Their practice of suing children and families is disturbing. These are the people from whom Bev Oda receives very large cheques. These are the people who are supposed to be regulated by the Heritage Minister. These are the people who are trying to buy legislation in our Parliament.

Canadian law professor Michael Geist has been a key in the battle to protect Canadian law from rapacious interests. I urge you to visit his site, http://www.michaelgeist.ca/. Canadian author Cory Doctorow has also worked tirelessly to document incursions against the reasonable and fair use of copyright material. He is one of the bloggers at http://www.boingboing.net (which offers a treasure trove of fun and interesting articles on all manner of art, invention and culture).

In the interest of disclosure, I am a Canadian creator of original works of music, literature and art. I am a member of SOCAN and ACTRA. As a working artist I see this as a vital issue for the future of Canadian art, artists, culture and education. I sincerely hope that you can find the time to look into these areas, raise the issues in caucus and on the floor of the house.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing your position on these matters.

Yours sincerely,
Lindsay Stewart

i sent this to her offices on december 8, 2006. to date, i have received no response. one of my new hobbies is going to be writing letters to the people that we elected to look after our interests, on our behalf and on our account. i will be posting the text of such letters and i encourage everyone to get involved in this exciting new hobby. i like to call it participatory democracy. when these posts occur, please feel free to copy, alter and personalize the wording for your own letters to parliament. when writing to your elected representatives, always be polite, stress your concerns and ask them to respond. if you blog, post your letters and post their responses, should they decide to write back. i'll be posting resources as i get them organized.

cheers