The Justice Department has sided with the RIAI in its lawsuit against Minnesotan Jammie Thomas, the woman who made 24 songs she downloaded available to other consumers. Here's what the Justice Department's brief, filed yesterday, says: "Copyrights are of great value, not just to their owners, but to the American public as well. Congress has recognized this value from the first days of the Republic. The federal copyright statute has consistently included special provisions to ensure significant monetary awards in copyright infringement suits that will make copyright owners whole and deter further infringement." Jammie has been slammed and jammed...
You might recall that the penalty for this 'crime' is $222,222 for songs worth $24 on iTunes. Jammie claims that the fine is "oppressive and objectively unreasonable. It therefore necessarily violates Supreme Court precedent, which prohibits fines that are so severe and oppressive as to be wholly disproportionate to the offense or obviously unreasonable." Or in other words, there's no way in hell I'm paying that fine, honey...
There's lots of lawyer-speak being spewed, for and against Jammie Thomas. Let's give Jammie a chance to state her case in plain English: http://youtube.com/watch?v=VE4NpGim4Vo . $222,222 does sound a bit excessive, don't you think???
10 Timeline Memories:
- 1908] One is the luckiest number: The University of Pittsburgh Panthers are the first college football team to put numbers on their jerseys. Larry George takes us on a tour of the Pittsburgh campus: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4s8jXRjnpNY&feature=related . When I was program director at KQV, I could see the Pittsburgh tower through my apartment window. The school is located in a section called Oakland...
- 1933] Drinks are on Utah: National Prohibition ends when Utah becomes the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment to the Constitution, repealing the 18th Amendment...
- 1955] Wedding Bells: The American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations merge to form the AFL-CIO...
- 1969] Exposed: Life Magazine reports the My Lai Massacre. You know what followed...
- 1978] Oh Venus: Pioneer Venus I orbits the planet and beams back the first pictures of Venus...
- 1991] Unhappy trails: Richard Speck who murdered 8 student nurses in Chicago in 1966, dies from a heart attack in prison at 50. Why couldn't this have happened in 1965???
- 1994] Aye of Newt: Republicans choose Newt Gingrich to be the first GOP speaker of the House in four decades...
- 1996] Greenspanning the globe: Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan sends everyone scratching their heads after his famous "irrational exuberance" speech about the stock market and whether or not if was overvalued...
- 1998] Like father, like son: James P. Hoffa becomes the head of the Teamsters union, 23 years after daddy headed the same union...
- 2002] Takes a licking but keeps on ticking: At Sen. Strom Thurmond's 100th birthday celebration, Trent Lott praises the senator's stand for segregation during his 1948 presidential campaign. An uproar leads to Lott's resignation from Senate leadership. Thurmond lived another year...
Music Memories:
- 1956] Premiered on this date: Alan Freed's movie, "Rock, Rock, Rock" starring Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers, Johnny Burnette, LaVern Baker, the Flamingoes and Moonglows. Tuesday Weld's singing voice was dubbed in by Connie Francis. Cut one of this video clip contains the trailer: http://youtube.com/watch?v=X6Po_zTbgms&feature=related ...
- 1965] Number One on this date: "Turn, Turn, Turn" - Byrds...1975] "Fly Robin Fly" - Silver Convention (original title: "Run Rabbit Run")...1985] "Broken Wings" - Mr. Mister: http://youtube.com/watch?v=aWyeVfuolT4 (Richard Page and Steve George, members of the band, wrote this song in 20 minutes)...
- 1968] Morphing musical chairs: Graham Nash leaves the Hollies and announces the formation of "Crosby, Stills and Nash", 3 days later...
Commentary:
Congratulations to Jerry Crowley (WCBS, WAXQ-FM, WNCN-FM), the new Vice President/General Manager of WOR effective January 1, 2008. Jerry spent the last 13 years as VP/Director of Sales at WOR and the WOR Radio Network. Jennifer Buckley is promoted to Director of Sales and Gregory Bilotta to Local Sales Manager...Congratulations to Doug Flutie, one of 13 new College Football Hall of Fame members, inducted last night at the Waldorf-Astoria, along with Joe Paterno (who missed last year's induction) and Ahmad Rashad...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Frankie Muniz (22), Andy Kim (55), Morgan Brittany (56), Jim Plunkett (60), Jim Messina (60), J.J. Cale (69) seen here jamming with Eric Clapton: http://youtube.com/watch?v=VRfdO2gsqt0 and Richard Wayne Penniman a.k.a. Little Richard (75) and still rockin': http://youtube.com/watch?v=Mcxej1zJKTo ...
Timeline Countdown: Happy Hanukah, 18 days until winter, 20 shopping days until Christmas, 26 nights until New Year's Eve and 31 days until the NFL Wild Card Playoffs...
