Thought of the Day:
via friend of the show Gagarin, we have some good news regarding EU oversight of the ACTA:
The European Parliament today voted today on a resolution that demands transparency in the ACTA negotiations, and that the Commission puts all papers on the table.
The resolution was carried by 633 votes in favour, 13 against, and 16 abstentions.
Sweden’s PiratPartiet elected EU representative & friend-of-the-show, Christian Engström, was speaking in European Parliament plenary yestarday evening before voting on ACTA today:
“At last, the elected representatives in the parliament have sent a strong message. We have shown that we do not accept secrecy. We have shown that we are prepared to stand up for a free internet open to everybody. And we have shown that the European Parliament is not a doormat.
But this is just the beginning. This is a resolution by a virtually unanimous parliament, but it is not formally binding for the Commission. If they want to ignore us, they technically can. Then we will have to fight on.
And once we do get access to the documents, the fight over the content of the agreement will begin in earnest. This was a big win, but it was only a battle. Most of the war remains. But today, we have every reason to be happy.”
Background info:
- Common EU Parliament resolution on ACTA tabled
- ACTA: EU Parliament demands transparency on Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement
- Michael Geist discussing ACTA & DMCA on CBC’s As It Happens
- The ACTA Threat: My Talk on Everything You Need To Know About ACTA, But Didn’t Know To Ask Michael Geist, Thurs.12Nov.09
- Canadian Law Prof Fires Back at U.S. Trade Rep’s Piracy Slap
ACTA Debate from Brian Lehrer Live on Vimeo.
So let’s do something about it locally!
At 5pmMST – Harvey Silvergate joins us to discuss the current trend of government lawyers leveraging the impact of being tried in the Press & the threat of ambient charges, on everyday behaviours & job descriptions: like the societal impacts of doctors fearing to prescribe legitimate pain-management medication to one’s patients.
Harvey A. Silverglate is an attorney based out of Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the co-founder, with Alan Charles Kors, of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), for which he also serves as the current Chairman of the Board of Directors.Harvey holds degrees from Princeton University (‘64) and Harvard Law School (‘67). He is a practicing attorney, specializing in civil liberties litigation, criminal defense, academic freedom, and students’ rights cases. He is Of Counsel to the Boston-based law firm, Zalkind, Rodriguez, Lunt & Duncan LLP.
In addition to his law practice, Silverglate is also a journalist and writer. He is a regular columnist for the Boston Phoenix, writing on politics, law, and civil liberties.
He writes ‘The Free for All‘ blog for the Phoenix with Wendy Kaminer. In addition to his regular column and blog, he also has written columns and op-eds for the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, the National Law Journal, Reason magazine, and other publications. He is the author of the book Three Felonies a Day, which details the extension of vague federal criminal laws into daily conduct that would not be readily seen as criminal.
Silverglate is a member of the board of the Massachuetts chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He has also taught at Harvard Law School, the University of Massachusetts College III (in Boston), and at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School.Three Felonies a Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent, (Encounter Books) focuses on the way in which federal criminal statutes and regulations, since the mid-1980s, have become so vague that the Deptartment of Justice and FBI can all too easily target, prosecute, and even convict people – ordinary professionals – who have no way of knowing that their conduct might be seen as criminal. Every sector of civil society – lawyers, politicians, artists, accountants and academics, to name a few – have been subjected to a justice system that lacks, in many ways, the basic tenets of Justice.
At 6pmMST – Rose Aguilar
Rose Aguilar is an American journalist and political blogger from San Francisco, California. Her new book Red Highways: A Liberal’s Journey into the Heartland is about a six-month road trip she took to the so-called “red states” to interview people about issues they care about and why they vote the way they do (or not). Along the way, she met pro-choice Republicans, an evangelical conservative bishop who now preaches inclusion in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a woman who changed her politics after running a domestic violence shelter in Jackson, Mississippi, a hunter in Montana who is thinking about leaving the conservation movement to fight for gay rights in Montana, and green Republicans.
Aguilar currently hosts Your Call, a daily public affairs radio show on NPR-affiliate KALW-FM 91.7. Your Call features in-depth conversations about everything from the Iraq war and poverty to the environment and the arts.
We will also discuss the research behind her Alternet article Utah Governor Signs Controversial Law Charging Women and Girls With Murder for Miscarriages
… Contrary to media reports last week, the “Criminal Homicide and Abortion Amendments” or HB12, which previously also applied to miscarriages caused by “reckless” acts, was never “withdrawn” by its sponsor, Republican Representative Carl Wimmer (who is crafting similar “model legislation” for other states).
After the governor expressed concern over “possible unintended consequences,” of the legislation as written, Rep. Wimmer swiftly introduced a new version, titled “Criminal Homicide and Abortion Revisions” (HB462), which omitted the word “reckless.” Gov. Herbert signed the new bill and vetoed the old one ….
Aguilar sits on the board of the Women’s Intercultural Network (WIN), a non-profit organization working to connect girls and women across borders. WIN most recently hosted women’s rights activists from Uganda and Afghanistan. Aguilar is a contributor to the book Red State Rebels: Tales of Grassroots Resistance in the Heartland. She also writes for Alternet and offers political analysis for the BBC.
- “Thank you to all who contributed to this absolutely necessary book that tells too-often ignored stories of resistance and rebellion from real people-working class people, indigenous people, people with dirt under their fingernails and rage and sorrow in their hearts, as well as a deep and profound love for the land where they live-who are fighting for their lives, for their communities, and for their landbases against the grinding of the creeping fascism of the corporate state.” — friend-of-the-show Derrick Jensen, author of Endgame.
- “The stakes are high, in the so-called ‘Red States,’ as corporate America, the defense establishment, and an array of minions battle against the biodiversity of ‘the heartland.’ In this book, Joshua Frank and Jeffrey St. Clair skillfully present a diverse set of rebels who defy reckless policies and greedy profiteers. It’s easy to feel enthusiastic gratitude for this collection of stories. Matching the principled stance of the narrators, however, presents a sharp challenge.” —friend-of-the-show, Kathy Kelly, co-coordinator, Voices for Creative Nonviolence
- “No myth is more urgently in need of debunking than the notion that the ‘enlightened’ residents of so-called Blue states are inexorably pitted against the ‘backward’ masses of so-called Red states. Joshua Frank and Jeffrey St. Clair have woven together a collection of gripping stories of these struggles, large and small, that are transforming the political landscape from the bottom up.” —Sharon Smith, author of Subterranean Fire: A History of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States.
- “Those of us who are tired of being laid claim to by right-wing politicians and tut-tutted over by coastal liberals can now brandish a copy of Red State Rebels and declare, ‘This is the real story out here!’” —Stan Cox author of Sick Planet: Corporate Food and Medicine.
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