You may be a gay-friendly Christian but your religious doctrine is not. Christianity is homophobic, and will always be homophobic, unless you’re planning to rewrite the Bible. So that personified image of religion I posted earlier of a man with his head up his ass is very VERY appropriate.

“… I think the problem in today’s society is that kids don’t realize there are consequences for their actions. And I’m actually studying law so that I may one day be a prosecutor that specializes in juvenile cases.”  

So, let me get this straight. You want to become a prosecutor to punish kids for their actions despite the fact that, in all likelihood, it is not entirely their fault (because most of them are too young to fully appreciate the consequences of their actions) but that doesn’t matter to you, even though you, yourself, have done the exact same thing? 

Wow! 

To follow that logic, you would have thrown your own juvenile ass in jail as a prosecutor - which would have meant that your future prospects of becoming an attorney would be “slim to none” because of your brand new criminal record. Okay. In this one instance, I would agree with you because someone like you should never become an attorney, let alone a prosecutor. 

You’re not just heartless. You’re a fucking moron.

Listen, fucktard, legality is not morality. The law will never be a proper substitute for rearing kids and good parenting. Do you actually think you are teaching kids responsibility? Do you? No, you jackass. What will be doing is teaching kids to hate the law. You will be teaching them that “not getting caught” is better than not doing something illegal. But I guess, given the poor moral support you received from your own parents, you are sadly bereft of this kind of empathy and guidance. 

I know quite a bit about the law, as well as number attorneys and judges personally. Hell, half the prosecutors from the US Attorneys Office were at my house for Super Bowl Sunday in January… so don’t for a minute pretend that as a future prosecutor that you will be serving real justice and the “rightness” of the law because I know better. No. Half your time will be spent being nothing more than another corporate bitch. Yes, corporations make laws through the politicians they support. In other words, don’t try to sell me on the nobility of your job or moral soundness of the law, that somehow you are working for the betterment of society, because I am far too familiar with modern jurisprudence to buy that crap. If you need to lie to yourself, be my guest, but spare me that line of horse hooey.

Now. Let’s talk about specific points of law. This is where your dumb ass needs to pay special attention.

In this specific case (re: Corbin Fisher, et al.), we are talking about copyright infringement, which IS NOT the same thing as stealing. As a future attorney, you need to understand this important difference. When you steal something from someone, you deprive that person of the use of that item. When a teenager, for example, downloaded a copy of a Corbin Fisher video they did not deprive Corbin Fisher of the use of that video that they made. No. Corbin Fisher still has it. So they, in fact, did not steal anything. What they did was infringe upon the sale that Corbin Fisher *MIGHT have made, had it been sold on the open market. I say “might” because there is a legitimate argument that says that had the teenager not been able to download the video illegally, he would not have purchased a legal copy instead - quite likely because he’s not old enough to legally buy one, and also because he doesn’t have sufficient disposable income to afford one. In other words, the teenager not only DID NOT steal anything from Corbin Fisher, it is also possible that he DID NOT deprive Corbin Fisher of any lost revenue either.

This brings me to the overall issue of copyright, which most people (including many attorneys) don’t understand; specifically the basis of copyright and what infringement is and what it is not - and what it has sadly become. This is the part where you will discover that as a prosector you will be, in part, a corporate bitch serving corporate interests - so pay close attention.

Copyright is the legal right that the State (ie. The Government) grants you to exclusively benefit from the sale of copies (hence the term copy-right) of an item you created for a set amount of time. There is no inherent right to sell copies on your own. The sovereign state grants you this right with a provision, that after a specified period time the item that you are selling converts to the public domain. When copyright was originally set up, that period time was less that a human life time (around 28 years) but gradually over time, recording companies began petitioning Congress to extend the length of time and their persistence has paid off. We are now at the point where a copyright almost never expires. (see chart). 

I’m trying to remember the last time a copyrighted item actually entered the public domain? It’s been several years. This deal between you as the creator and the government has been effectively eroded away. This is corporate interests at work. Greed. And what’s even more alarming is that the people who own copyrights are not the creators or the artists but the production companies. In other words, this modern legal basis of copyright mostly benefits corporations now, not the people that copyright was originally intended to benefit. It doesn’t serve the creators and artists because they are often maneuvered into selling or trading away their copyrights for royalties as a part of their recording or performance contracts. Nor does it serve the public interests because almost nothing enters the public domain anymore. And this is what I mean when I said, if you are prosecuting copyright infringement, don’t pretend you are serving the public interest because you are not. You may be on the government payroll as a persecutor but make no mistake, you will be a corporate bitch, serving their interests, pure and simple. You will not be serving justice, you will not be teaching kids responsible behavior, and you will not be serving the public good. You will be serving the interests of money.

It should also be noted that there is another factor at play here and one that is central the problem we are facing, a problem that has everything to do with digital technology. It has always be presumed that recoding and media companies provided an essential role in the market place, a role that gave them a legitimate basis to acquire and own copyrights but digital technology has made it possible to go without their services. In other words, these types of corporations are no long essential to create and deliver music and video to the public. This is a new but critical point to consider. Now that corporations are no long economically essential, should they still be allowed to own and control copyrights? You can read my article on the topic here: “The web and digital technology has changed the fundamental basis of the recording and broadcast industries, challenging the perspicacity of harsh copyright law.” 

Though you are correct that although porn is still illegal in the US and that prosecution of companies like Corbin Fisher are extremely remote, that wasn’t the point I was trying to make. The question isn’t whether or not a porn company will be prosecuted for making porn (based on its illegality) but on whether a porn company can sue for a product that is illegally created. I want to know, does a business that is essentially involved in an illegal activity have the legal grounds to sue for assets created out of that illegal activity? I don’t believe you can sue for illegal gains but we will know very soon. I will have a response to this question from the US Department of Justice in the next few days and I will publish that legal opinion here on my Tumblr blog and elsewhere on the web.

And lastly, when a low-life moral scum like you decides to write me with a serious stance on something, especially something legal, at least do me the favor of knowing what the fuck you are talking about so I don’t have to go through such a retardedly long dissertation on the subject. I have far better things to do with my time. Thank you.

Capitalism is an economic system. Democracy is a political system. Never confuse the two. One is about the trade of goods and services, the other about how communities should manage themselves.

I cannot explain economic theory in a single post but suffice it to say that socialism is a horrible economic system for the simple reason that it attempts artificially set prices for the trade of goods and services, whereas capitalism believes that the people buying and selling the goods and services should set the prices. Capitalism does not attempt to artificially manipulate market forces, but rather lets the market run itself, which is why it works.

The problem is that Capitalism doesn’t have a heart. Unfettered and unregulated capitalism over time will end in monopolistic control of market sectors through the elimination of competition. The moral of the story. Capitalism does what it does. Owners of companies try to win by controlling all the marbles by eliminating or absorbing all the competition. In the end, there can be only one. If this happens, it is a failure of democracy not capitalism. Democracy fails to properly control capitalism and prevent it from eliminating healthy competition. 

What is happening in the US and in many parts of the economically developed world is that capitalism is successfully undermining the control democracy (ie the government) has over capitalism (ie. corporations). Corporations are buying more and more real political power, resting it away from the people. In essence, democracies are being morphed into oligarchies because capitalistic entities are exercising more and more influence over who gets elected and who doesn’t.

If you think about it. Capitalism (ie. Corporations) sees Democracy (ie. Governments) as its ultimate competitor, a roadblock that needs to be removed. What better way to remove this roadblock than to buy it?

Economics. Man, too many people DO NOT have a clue about economics. School. They really need to teach this shit in school again.

Can we just be honest? Our only real concern in the Middle East is oil and Jews. Jews because we’ve got a lot rich American Jews pushing for Israel’s dominance but that’s religious prejudice and hatred. That’s it. Jews and oil. That’s all it’s ever been.

This crap about democracy is a load of ideological butt floss. It’s the specious cover we use to defend military invasions of a country. If our concerns were really about democracy and social freedom, we would have been behind Tunisia and Egypt at the very first sign of protests for regime change.

Let’s see how well that holds up when Saudi Arabia falls off the edge into full revolution. Oh yes, that entire show is going to be worth the entire price of admission. I’m going to enjoy every minute watching you lawyers-turned-politicians squirm out there on the dance floor.

We’ve spent an obscene about of money, billions and billions of dollars on two wars in the Middle East, all in an effort to install democratic governments in both Iraq and Afghanistan, with the idea that they would serve as models for the region, and with the hope that they would spread to the rest of the Arab world. The pathetic irony, of course, is that once democratic revolutions began to spring up in the region, the US found itself wholly unprepared for it - perhaps the result, I hazard to suggest, of not being able read our own diplomatic cables, the cables that Wikileaks has so generously made available to the American public and the world-at-large.

The truth is none of our foreign policy experts had a clue about what was going to happen (in much the same way that financial professionals were unable to see the financial meltdown coming). This obvious shortcoming is painfully evident by your woefully inadequate response to what had occurred in both Tunisia and Egypt. I fear your administration’s feckless talents could have unfortunate ramifications for us in the future but that chapter has yet to be written.

The simple fact remains, what we Americans wanted to happen so badly in the Middle East is actually happening and you guys are sitting around like a bunch catatonic talking heads. I apologize, that’s a bit unfair. You’ve been busy trying to shove a corrupt government down the Afghans throats and vetoing a UN resolution against Israel’s illegal land grab. And what noble efforts those are, by the way.

Yes, a touch of sarcasm there. It’s how I retain my humor when addressing equivocating lawyers. But I digress.

In light of your many shortcomings, and as someone who also voted for you, I have one last question. How does one go about electing a REAL progressive president in the US and not an imposter because I sincerely want to know? The Democrats are unable to accomplish this seemingly insurmountable task. As someone who knows the ropes, perhaps you can enlighten those of us who’d prefer to elect a progressive-leaning president with real balls.

Mahalo.

For the select group of truly unconscionable barbaric people out there who will kill a small furry mammal simply to demonstrate some shallow form of superiority which provides them with some psycho-sexual thrill; plus those who will hack to death and senselessly slaughter a group of dolphins they’ve purposefully trapped in a cove, these people who would commit acts of such vile cruelty without any remorse, are the reason I would like to bring back a very old but uniquely suitable form of social rehabilitation and atonement.

THE SLOW BURN

Popular throughout much of Europe in the Middle Ages, it combined the benefit of social work with the task of issuing a public service announcement. It even gave the kids something to throw rocks at. I call it the the “slow burn”. Instead of burning someone atop of a large collection of wood, incinerating them in a giant raging fire which makes a great visual spectacle - especially at night - but it often lasts less than an hour. A slow burn let’s you stretch this process out. What took 30 minutes will last 4 days and sometimes up to 10, depending on the level of experience and talent of the roasters you have on hand. 

Essentially, you slow cook the individual over a long period of time, thereby extending the searing, relentless agony experienced by the individual undergoing rehabilitation while extending the time the public can enjoyed and appreciate social work being done in their community. The method also has the unique advantage of giving the person who is being burnt a real chance to experience the other side of cruelty and enough time for that once-in-a-lifetime memory to really sink in. And with a 100% track record of souls that were successfully cleansed, it’s hard to beat.

So what say you? Shall we resurrect a tried and true method of social reform and improvement? I heard a yes? Excellent.

Not to worry. I know how to get the ball rolling. A few of you think I’m joking… aren’t you cute? I do have some resources and a couple major power connects. You’d be surprised what can be worked out these days given some planning and the proper amount of discretion. So… let’s get some names people. What are we waiting for?