meta-roj

maybe not quite all the way to blipverts, but a campaign of one-second ads is coming, with serious financial backing, from ge.

your attention will be subdivided.

old-school music industry accounting meets new-school technology in the courtroom:

Allmans, Cheap Trick sue Sony [mp3.com, 2006.04.27]

The class-action lawsuit claims that the artists’ contracts require Sony to pay its artists about 30 cents out of every 70 cents it gets for digital downloads–out of a total of 99 cents that iTunes charges per song. But the complaint maintains that Sony is only paying artists 4.5 cents for each song.

i know… i know… they have musicians in canada? ’tis true, dear reader, ’tis true. and some of them have some thoughts they would like to share with you, their fans…

We are a growing coalition of Canadian music creators who share the common goal of having our voices heard about the laws and policies that affect our livelihoods.

the concept of having a fema “public relations officer” present to interview the thousands of people housed in fema facilities post-katrina strikes me as… well… “evil empire”ish (to borrow a phrase).

have doubts? a transcript, in part, of an interview with a fema-housed katrina evacuee and an unidentified security guard. the key phrases are: “Yes, you can be interviewed — if they had a FEMA representative with them, but since they don’t and do not have an appointment” and “That’s not his privilege.”

in the united states, rights of free speech and press are both established by the first amendment to the constitution, and louisiana, when last i checked, was still part of the united states (and not some enclave of a foreign land where the us constitution doesn’t seem to reach).

FEMA’s Dirty Little Secret: A Rare Look Inside the Renaissance Village Trailer Park, Home to Over 2,000 Hurricane Katrina Evacuees [democracy now, 2006.04.24]

SECURITY GUARD: Turn it off.

AMY GOODMAN: We were going in the car, and he said, “Please interview me.”

SECURITY GUARD: Yeah, he — he can’t. That’s not his privilege.

AMY GOODMAN: He’s not allowed to talk?

RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: What’s wrong? What’s wrong?

SECURITY GUARD: You can go — get that — you’ve known the deal since —

RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: No, I don’t know the deal. Tell me. What is the deal?

SECURITY GUARD: You can go get interviewed as long as it’s off post. Otherwise, you, like I said, I can call the 800 FEMA number and have them come in —

AMY GOODMAN: You mean, he has to come off of the property?

RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: What is — there’s a problem being interviewed?

SECURITY GUARD: Turn it off.

RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Turn it off, man. I don’t want no problems.

AMY GOODMAN: Okay.

RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: ’Cause I don’t know anything about not being able to be interviewed.

SECURITY GUARD: You — no, you can be interviewed, as long as it’s off the installation.

RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Well, okay, we can move over there.

SECURITY GUARD: Other than that that [inaudible].

RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Okay, we can move over there. ‘Cause I was sitting out here reading my Bible. But I didn’t know anything about — we will not being interviewed, because —

SECURITY GUARD: Yes, you can be interviewed —

RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Okay.

SECURITY GUARD: — if they had a FEMA representative with them, but since they don’t and do not have an appointment —

RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Oh, okay. ‘Cause I know they do it all the time.

SECURITY GUARD: Yes, they have the FEMA public relations officer with them.

RENAISSANCE VILLAGE RESIDENT: Okay, well, I didn’t know.

SECURITY GUARD: I’m not mad at you, Red. You know that.

AMY GOODMAN: As we drove off of Renaissance Village, we were chased by the guards in golf carts, who said they would be taking down our license plate and that we couldn’t return. This was the day after FEMA had ended the free meals that they had been providing to the more than thousand people, anyone who wanted to take advantage of it in Renaissance Village, again, about an hour away from New Orleans in Baker, Louisiana.

updateprevious article on fema trailer park rules here [via metafilter]

don’t speak your mind near foreigners in the united states… you might be arrested.

shouting “president hu, your days are numbered. u.s. president george w. bush, make him stop persecuting falun gong” can apparently get you a federal criminal charge now, scoring you up to six months prison and a $5,000 fine.

it’s a small [plastic] thing, but… new orleans needs lego bricks. lego bricks in new orleans schools needed here.

just a reminder of the things being done in my name… and that you should do something about.

strange fruit: torture and the war on terror

and there is a convenient set of links to do something about it

i don’t do enough. you probably don’t either.

i’m sure i’m breaking lots of stuff. pardon the dust.

civil rights activist, dead at 14 [via]

this came to my attention quite some time ago, but it must have been when i wasn’t feeling bloggy… so i’m making up for it, late to this party. led throwies rock.

led throwies, from the graffiti research lab