The advanced economy and technology of the US returned $4.5 Trillion dollars in Fair Use fees in 2006.  The fair use dollars come from fees paid to copyright holders of intellectual property.  Indeed a knowledge based economy:

The exhaustive report, released today at a briefing on Capitol Hill, quantifies for the first time ever the critical contributions of fair use to the U.S. economy.  The timing proves particularly important as the debates over copyright law in the digital age move increasingly to center stage on Capitol Hill.  As the report summarizes, in the past twenty years as digital technology has increased, so too has the importance of fair use.  With more than $4.5 trillion in revenue generated by fair use dependent industries in 2006, a 31% increase since 2002, fair use industries are directly responsible for more than 18% of U.S. economic growth and nearly 11 million American jobs.  In fact, nearly one out of every eight American jobs is in an industry that benefits from current limitations on copyright.



Stay in school.

Story Link: http://www.ccianet.org/artmanager/publish/news/First-Ever_Economic_Study_Calculates_Dollar_Value_of.shtml

H/T BoingBoing: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/09/13/fair-use-industries.html

Now that's a Presidential Candidate right there.  Those searing eyes, those pouting lips.  Terrorists are shivering in their caves.




Looks like she needs some Malox or a stool softener.

From Gateway Pundit:

http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/

This is a repost from last year and the year before.  Reading over it, I'm glad I wrote this down.  The details have faded over time.

I was sitting in my office at home preparing and coordinating an order for one of my largest customers.  I was on the phone to the manufacturer in Chicago checking on shipping.  My home phone rang but I didn't answer it.  I got everything taken care of with the order and the phone rang again.

I went down the hall and picked up the phone.  My sister was on the other end and simply said in a tear filled voice, "did you see what they are doing to NY?"  I can't remember exactly what I said or anything further from the conversation.  I turned on the TV and witnessed the rerunning of the plane strike.  My office phone rang and I ran down the hall.  My supplier was double checking on the order.  I asked if he was near a TV.  He said they had it on as his wife had just called to let him know.

The morning went really fast.  No sooner had I learned of the event, the Trade Center was gone.  My wife was at work.  I called and wanted her to come home, but she was a social worker dealing with children who needed her more that day than I did.  I spoke with friends across the country.  One in CT was in meetings at work and I gave him a play by play when the towers went down.  He didn't believe me at first.  He said probably just a piece fell off.  His wife is a teacher, and on that day they did not tell the kids what was happening.  They slipped the teachers a note, continued their lessons, and let them out at the end of the day.

I remember calling my grandparents and telling them to stay home.  They said they were going to the bank to get their money out.  My wife called, she had talked to her sister, and said her dad was going to San Francisco out of Boston.  He takes this flight every three weeks.  For about 30 minutes or so, we were scared.  But luckily, he was scheduled on the 9:30 or 9:45 am flight and called us on the way back to his home.

I continued talking to friends and family.  Updating them about the Pentagon and a report flashed that there was another plane headed to DC.  After the crash, I had no idea of the heroism of those passengers.

My dad was in Chicago on business.  After being evacuated from a building they thought was going to be hit, he found a hotel room and confirmed he was alright.  My mom was keeping me updated.  He ended up renting a car along with three other people and drove the 1000 miles or so home.  Colleagues were stuck in Las Vegas at a trade show and also had to drive home.

My wife came home from work.  We sat in front of the TV .  There were no other TV channels other than news.  Most of them defaulted to CNN.  We flipped between all the major news channels.  God Bless America on the capitol steps, Bush gets back to DC, donations and blood, news that a pilot was from the next town over, calm and quiet outside, searching the rubble.  The shock was beginning to wear off.  I remember pacing and cursing.  We went to sleep late. 

Palestinians on that day

Bush's National Address that night

Giuliani's Press Conference that day

It is refreshing to see an article written by a muslim expressing his outrage over the latest cartoon out of Sweden while calling for peaceful protests and boycotts.  I feel his pain.  No one likes to see their religion and/or prophet in a light that offends for whatever reason.  Got it.  The call to act like reasonable adults is something we need to see more of.

Just look at the violent protests and rampages that occurred after the last cartoons. I remember seeing one news report of a violent protest in Afghanistan where the flag of Denmark was burned. Muslims were shown on TV with angry faces, gaping mouths, and were videotaped destroying property.

The newscaster chimed in that the Muslim reaction was 'uncivilised' and 'destructive'. I firmly believe that Muslims had the right to be angry in 2005 as they do now.

But by engaging in unlawful and destructive protests Muslims really set themselves up for looking just like what our enemies call us, 'uncivilised'. It is utterly a self-fulfilling prophecy that all Muslims should be proactive in warding off.

The Muslim reaction over the latest cartoon slur against Muhammad (peace be upon him) should be firm and peaceful. There is no need for violence and it only makes us look bad in the global audience. Muslims should complain to the Swedish Embassy in their respective country and should most assuredly boycott Swedish goods unless a formal apology is received.

If we could just get this first step of peaceful protest down, maybe solutions to other problems wouldn't be so difficult.  Next, perhaps we could resolve the mandatory conversion thing...nice commentary Meehan.  Thank you.

How could anyone take Feinstein at her word ever again?  Does she care about the troops?  She wants to bring them home, care for them, and make life pretty.  On her website, she states her goals on Iraq:

Iraq: U.S. forces were sent to Iraq as liberators. But conditions have changed. Today, our forces are caught in the crossfire of bloody sectarian violence. The time has come to declare that our time has come - and gone - in Iraq. That is why I believe that we should put an expiration date (December 31, 2007) on the authorizatoin of the President's use of force in Iraq, redefine the mission in Iraq, and require the President to return to Congress if he wishes to renew the resolution.

But when she brings them home as Bin Laden wishes, they won't have to worry about $4 billion in extra healthcare they could have used, they can relax in a glitzy PARK.

It's time to throw the trash out.  $4 Billion!  Can you possibly believe the arrogance of this...person.

Thank you to Senator Jim DeMint for e-mailing me the story.

Abbas says that there may be no peace concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict if someone (the US) doesn't come up with a plan. 

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas warned Wednesday that a US-sponsored international peace conference planned for November could fail if no plan for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was devised ahead of the meeting.

Following closed-door talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman, Abbas told state-run Jordan Television that the proposed conference "lacked clarity."

What a waste of time and energy.  No "deal" will ever be good enough.  Abbas is just a checkpoint mishap away from being attacked and we will be back to normal.  And if Big Ben gets in...ohhh boy.

The top of your head is removed, placed in a fridge, the fridge fails, and your head goes bad.  You are paid $4,100 for your inconvenience.  Unlucky.

BERLIN (Reuters) - A German court has awarded 3,000 euros ($4,100) in damages to a man who had to have the top of his skull replaced with plastic because of a faulty hospital fridge.

Doctors removed the top of the man's head and put it in cold storage while they operated on his brain, the court in the western city of Koblenz said Tuesday.

Because the refrigerator was defective, the section of skull was not kept cool enough and could not be reattached. Doctors replaced the bone with a plastic prosthesis.

Must have been some pretty crappy lawyers on this guy's side.

"The experts consulted by the court concluded the new skull roof was better than the original," a court spokesman said.

wow...

Screaming and crying children.  Shut up!  I don't care if you're offended obeying the TSA to keep would be terrorists off of planes.  Man up!

But, but, my religion.  Shut up.  Grow up and act like you're an adult.  Make a choice:fly under the rules or don't.  No one cares which you choose. 

And double the "Shut up kids" for the Palestinians.  Marching and complaining about the same damn things for 60 years, shut up.  It's like a Katrina victim still blaming Bush for their house not being built in 2040.  Do ya think they will still be waiting????

If you lived forever (unless you are somehow separated from your head) would you have any teeth left after 100 or 200 years?



And men without teeth do not get hot chicks movie after movie (after movie).

I bleep you not.


British forces have denied rumours that they released a plague of ferocious badgers into the Iraqi city of Basra.

Word spread among the populace that UK troops had introduced strange man-eating, bear-like beasts into the area to sow panic.

The rumours spread because the animals had appeared near the British base at Basra airport.

Of course they have been there for a couple decades, but I wouldn't put anything past those dry witted tea drinkers.  Before passing too much giggle over the stupidity, I don't think this rises to the level of the Spying Squirrels. 

Here's some fireworks:

In this case they are focusing on kids.  In their amazing ground breaking study, children who didn't exercise tended to be fatter than kids who did.  Someone makes a living doing this?

University of Bristol researchers used special techniques to measure the fat mass and activity-related energy expenditure of 5,500 children.

The results showed consistently that the less active children were, the greater their fat mass. This effect was stronger in boys than in girls. The statistical association between fat mass and low activity levels was greater for moderate and vigorous activity than for total activity, the study found.

Professional athletes have also been confirmed to be in better physical shape than 37 year-old single men still living with their parents with a monthly video game allowance of $600.

Source

Thailand has decided to allow generics to be made of an Abbott AIDS medication.  While this will/would be an obvious savings to the Thai government health program, they had to pull Abbott's patent on the product in order to move toward such savings.  So, no big deal.  Screw a company for the common good right.

Abbott had a different reaction to subsidizing the health care system and whorehouses in Thailand. 

Abbott has withdrawn applications in Thailand to register a new formulation of the HIV-fighting drug Kaletra, the painkiller Brufen, an antibiotic called Abbotic, the blood-clotting medicine Clivarine, arthritis drug Humira, high-blood pressure medication Tarka, and kidney disease drug Zemplar.

Since the decision, protests and boycotts of Abbott's products have occurred throughout Thailand.  Which is comical in itself.  They have to have the drugs (for cheap), but if they can't afford them they don't want them.  Isn't that the same choice they had before?

Imagine if Abbott would have agreed to this nonsense.  A precedent would have been established that any "poor" nation can subsidize their health care systems and brothels on the backs of pharmaceutical and other health care providers.  Sort of what socialists want to do to the US health care system. 

Thailand would have a better case if Abbott did nothing for those who cannot afford their medications.  In the US, those who cannot afford Abbott medications usually qualify to get the medications for free.  I can only assume that Thailand (unless socialized health care screwed it up) gets the same type of help.  Don't read Thai, but from what I can gather, they have a similar program.  They also have spent 100 million US$ over the past three years helping poor and developing countries in the fight against AIDS.

So to Thailand...if you want to lower the cost of dealing with the 500,000 people with AIDS in your country, close the whorehouses and use the generic and/or less expensive AIDS drugs.  There are plenty of them, and they usually work just as well. 

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