Obama Nominates RIAA Lawyer For Solicitor General 463
Xiph1980 writes "President Barack Obama on Monday nominated former Recording Industry Association of America lawyer Donald Verrilli Jr. to serve as the nation's solicitor general. The solicitor general is charged with defending the government before the Supreme Court, and files friend-of-the court briefs in cases in which the government believes there is a significant legal issue. The office also determines which cases it would bring to the Supreme Court for review. Verrilli is best known for leading the recording industry's legal charge against music- and movie-sharing site Grokster. That 2003 case ultimately led to Grokster's demise when the US Supreme Court sided with the RIAA's verdict."
Don't worry big media, the fix is in (Score:5, Interesting)
I can understand the argument that he wants the most vicious shark in the tank to be his attack dog. I might could even buy the argument that this WASN'T just another in a long line of examples of Obama prostrating himself before his Hollywood and entertainment industry patrons. But, it seems to me that he could have found an attack dog that was just as vicious who didn't come with RIAA baggage. To hire someone whose such an obvious enemy of much of the online community and such a lapdog of the entertainment industry seems specifically designed to send a message to his patrons that he's definitely in their pocket. It's the judicial equivalent of Eddie Cicotte hitting the first batter in the 1919 World Series [wikipedia.org].
Re:Why has Obama suddenly turned pro-business? (Score:4, Interesting)
If you think that Rachel Maddow doesn't hit Obama for this stuff all the time, then you're just as blindly partisan as you claim other people to be. Characters like Keith Olbermann, Arianna Huffington, and Bill Maher have been giving Obama shit since be got elected - from hiring much of Clinton's economic team with their heavy ties to the financial industry, to his backdoor meetings with healthcare providers promising not to bargain for lower bulk rates if they would support the reform bill.
See, the funny part about all of this is that people like Glenn Beck think that Obama is a socialist, an evil plant of the far-left set out to destroy all American values, but then they turn right around and accusing him of being in the pocket of big business without the least bit of irony. The guy is a centrist, and he's clearly positioning himself to work with the Republican Congress to try and get some compromises and get some things accomplished over the next two-year period - much to the chagrin of his Rachel-Maddow-watching supporters.
Re:Don't worry big media, the fix is in (Score:5, Interesting)
What is funny, is that you think there is substantial difference between (D) and (R), to the point of thinking one is less dangerous than the other. The problem is that both are extremely dangerous to Liberty, just in different areas. You may not care about what liberties the (D) are taking away, but I do. I'm equally concerned with the Liberties that the (R) are talking away.
When you overlook the deficiencies of one group (D) because you fear the deficiencies of the other (R), you're equal to those you despise on the other side, who do the exact same things in reverse.
Lets look at the TSA under Obama and his leadership, which is, as far as I'm concerned 10 times worse than anything Bush did, not that Bush wasn't dangerous (he was). The real danger is that Obama is only 1/2 though is first term, and has potentially six more years to screw with us. Bush is no longer here, and no longer scares me.
By Focusing on how horrible Bush was, while ignoring that Obama has for all intents and purposes kept Bush Era rules around and even extended them, does us all a great disservice.
Suffice it to say, Obama scares me more than Bush does. And if he doesn't scare you more than Bush you're living in a delusion. One last point, I love how people think Bush was an idiot, while simultaneously thinking he is brilliantly evil and draconian. I see the left making the same mistake with Palin, while ignoring how stupid Pelosi / Reed seem to be at times. NONE of these people are stupid, they are all just Evil.
To Flip a saying I use occasionally: Any sufficient level of malice is indistinguishable from incompetence.
Re:yes it does (Score:4, Interesting)
What's the difference between the Chicago Mafia and the MafiAA again?
The Chicago Mafia's power to extort was limited to Chicago.
Not after we elected its Don to the Oval Office.
The Corrupt Two Party System (Score:2, Interesting)
Those of you that vote D just to keep the R's out or R just to keep the D's out have fallen for one of the biggest scams ever in the history of this country. Take a look at the ridiculous abuses of your civil rights that continue daily with no end in sight. 9/11 got the ball rolling under the R's but the D's have not done a darn thing to curb those abuses: TSA, warrant-less wiretapping, throwing people in jail for asserting their rights . . . the list goes on and on.
The current systems main purpose is to perpetuate itself. Not to help you in any way shape or form. If you receive some benefit from your vote this is a collateral coincidence and not the intent of the electorate.
For the vast majority of candidates running for public office, when you elect a D or an R to office, you are just picking a particular flavor of lies and erosion of your rights. You are not making this country into a better place. You are helping to perpetuate a system that has been co-opted by special interests and legalized bribery.
Why doesn't the FBI get sanctioned for warrant-less wire tapping of American citizens?
Why is the TSA permitted to continue to operate as it does even though it's been proven time and time again that it's procedures and methods are woefully ineffective?
and so on and so on.
Wake up and smell the corrupt system.
There is a restaurant that I like to frequent. It's a casual place and they have a number of humorous signs posted on the walls. My favorite is:
"If voting made a difference it would be illegal"
It's a joke but like all good humor it's the bit of truth behind it that makes it truly funny.
Yes it's possible that you are "throwing" your vote away when you vote for someone outside the two parties. But at least you are not helping to feed the machine that doesn't give a hoot about you and your rights.
Vote for someone/something else. When enough people do so, the system WILL change.