Joe Szilagyi

Direct link to video in case it’s not working here.

I love that this official CBS News video actually goes back in the Break.com/Failblog.com slow motion “See what happened!!” style for a follow-up. The Internets has now infected mainstream media with it’s very mannerisms. Watch it through the advertisement–it’s worth it.

Click here in case it’s not displaying the video on Facebook.

Yeah, just watch it. “What the hell?” sums it up.

If this commercial had come out when I was a kid, I’d still be traumatized today.

A letter I just sent off to my state senator and representatives. If you’re in Washington state, I suggest you do likewise.

Hello,

Thank you all for your continued hard work and service.

I came across this news story, about the TVW and Dow Constantine situation. If you are unfamiliar with this, I implore you to read the below news article. This is troubling for all Washington state taxpayers.

Background: TVW is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit corporation, not a government agency. It is governed by an independent board of directors. The majority of TVW’s operating cash – approximately $2.5 million per year – comes from the Legislature via a contract-for-service through the Secretary of State. TVW receives more than $11 million per year in the form of in-kind contributions of channel space from Washington’s cable television industry.

The story about TVW and Down Constantine is here: http://publicola.net/?p=17512

Politics aside, I am troubled by the fact that materials produced by money levied from taxes paid for by Washington citizens are being held in some form of “copyright” claim by a private entity like TVW, or anyone else. Many US state governments (and many foreign governments) are moving toward any materials produced by the government being “free”, in the public domain or under what is known as a Creative Commons license, which is increasingly popular year over year.

For example, this is a list of state-level US agencies and some Federal that issue content under Creative Commons:

http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Government_use_of_CC_licenses#United_States

Virginia’s stance is particularly strong:

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?091+ful+CHAP0791

Washington is a leading state in the fields of technology. We have many prominent tech corporations, innumerable technology start-ups, and are known nationally on this stage. The ideals of ‘open sourcing’ and free licensing are a core component of the ethos of many of these corporations. Our state government should at the least be in compliance with what is becoming nationally standard.

What I would like to request is consideration for a bill like the above Virginia one, but with stronger language, that any goods “produced” with tax funding in a fixed form: written text, visual recordings, maps, videos, audio, anything official to come out of Olympia or local government, state and local laws, a random video the City of Spokane may make, etc. be required to be produced and released under a license such as the Creative Commons licensing that simply requires “Attribution”.

This link details the specifics of the licensing I think would be best:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/

Washington state would still ultimately retain ownership of all the content in this scenario, but by law it should be mandatory that any government-funded (in any way) materials should be freely available, with no copyright restriction beyond attribution. I have zero problem with an entity like TVW turning an ultimate profit from what they’re doing, that originated with state dollars. Anyone is welcome to do that–good for TVW for coming up with a successful model. But they, nor anyone else, should have exclusive claim over content *I* paid for.

What I’m upset about is that any organization then leveraging copyright claims to squash what is protected “fair use” of their materials that were paid for by my tax dollars. In the wake of the Constantine fiasco posted about on Publicola, they are now going after a political blogger for reposting the now notorious video on another “video sharing” service, as detailed at this link: http://horsesass.org/?p=21640

Please help Washington state be a leader in the realm of intellectual property law, and allow us to do better than other states, such as Virginia. Please initiate legislation based on the Virginia example above, but with stronger language than the “preference” tone they set. Make it mandatory, to allow Washington state tax payers to always have free access to what we have already paid for with our taxes.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Joseph Szilagyi

You can watch this short video for an answer.

Already all over Facebook and Twitter, but too funny to not post again…

Thanks again, to the President that took our good name and utterly ruined it globally. Thanks again to the complete fools that elected this fool, who was completely and utterly unqualified to run a baseball team (which he failed at) let alone a world superpower. January 20th can’t get here any sooner.

So Andi has me watching reruns of Almost Live!, an comedy show that ran locally in Seattle from the 1980s to the 1990s. It’s got some famous alumni, like Joel McHale, who is now The Soup on E!. This bit kills me. May be not be as funny to folks not living in or from Seattle:

Never forget:

You know, McCain has fought and bled for our country, loves our country. There’s too many questions with Barack Obama and his loyalty to our country and I question that greatly.

Why do they even put this guy on Fox News anymore? Do they honestly believe he’s helping McCain-Palin at this point, or is it some weird Joe Six-Pack anesthetic for some people? Joe the Plumber is the new opiate for the masses?

The Shining:

Sleepless In Seattle:

The Lion King:

Return of the King:

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure:

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory:

Via Dan Savage:

The campaign may be officially over. No, really. This is made of awesome.

Did you know we’ve gone to war with Iran now? No? Didn’t? Neither did I…

I mean… what? 25 seconds of video, in which Palin announces the Republicans winning the White House, then fixing the United States economy, AND “shoring up” the “wars” verus Iraq AND Iran in 100 days.

Wow.

1. I didn’t know we’re at war WITH Iraq. They’re not Germany or North Korea last I heard. Last I heard, we’re fighting insurgents trying to overthrow and destabilize the new Iraqi government.

2. We’re at war with Iran? I guess the “mainstream media” sure sucks for missing that headline.

Thanks Bernie!

Vote wisely, this coming Tuesday.

Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran:

Response to that: “Get a life”:

Joking about 9/11 suicide bombers:

McCain thinks Vladimir Putin is the President of Germany:

Utterly embarrassing montage of astonishing McCain cluelessness and deception:

Vote for change. And this is just a great ad:

Found on the Stranger Slog. It’s simply made of awesome.

For a good view of astounding ignorance, and at the same time to see some wonderful examples of and acceptance of free speech, watch this video, recorded at an Obama rally:

The protester’s chief (and completely wrong) point is laughable–it’s not a good time for a President who may be Muslim to be in the White House as we’re fighting two wars in Muslim nations. Funny–didn’t we elect a Christian President during World War II, when we were fighting two Christian nations in the form of Germany and Italy? I mean, you sort of can’t get more Christian than Italy.

His argument, of course, depends on the idea of Obama himself being Muslim, which he isn’t–his father was Muslim, and when Obama was around 9 years old he lived in Indonesia for a couple of years, and went to–gasp!!–a Muslim-ran school during the time. Which, you know, is expected, when you live for a year or two in a predominantly Muslim nation (correct me if I’m wrong on that, with Indonesia being a Muslim nation). Either way, as pointed out in the video: who cares? We have Freedom of Religion in the United States, we have separation of church and state, and we’re a sectarian nation anyway. Who cares if we have a President who is Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Athiest, or Quaker?