
The advantages arising from a system of copyright are obvious. It is desirable that we should have a supply of good books; we cannot have such a supply unless men of letters are liberally remunerated; and the least objectionable way of remunerating them is by means of copyright. You cannot depend for literary instruction and amusement on the leisure of men occupied in the pursuits of active life. Such men may occasionally produce compositions of great merit. But you must not look to such men for works which require deep meditation and long research. Works of that kind you can expect only from persons who make literature the business of their lives... It is then on men whose profession is literature, and whose private means are not ample, that you must rely for a supply of valuable books. Such men must be remunerated for their literary labour. And there are only two ways in which they can be remunerated. One of those ways is patronage; the other is copyright.He goes on to oppose, rightly, the extension of copyright many years after the author's demise. But for those who think copyright is "just wrong", that's the straightforward and correct response.
There have been times in which men of letters looked, not to the public, but to the government, or to a few great men, for the reward of their exertions... I can conceive no system more fatal to the integrity and independence of literary men than one under which they should be taught to look for their daily bread to the favour of ministers and nobles. I can conceive no system more certain to turn those minds which are formed by nature to be the blessings and ornaments of our species into public scandals and pests.
We have, then, only one resource left. We must betake ourselves to copyright, be the inconveniences of copyright what they may.
The junta have of course done far viler things than this, but something about this story gives me the creeps in a way the other things (in this specific way) don't. This action doesn't resonate with the history of 20th century totalitarianism, riddled though that is with tales of shot messengers and spooks hung out to dry. These betrayals at least had reasons of state behind them.Update: Sorry, but I just had to include this bit from Kos. I literally spewed diet coke out of my nose. Rupert Murdoch has brass balls.
This is different. It smells of ancient Rome. It smells of decadence, of whim and spite indulged at the expense of the safety of the state. It's the sort of thing that was done to Belissarius.

"We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there... We need people in the streets, banging pots and pans and demanding, 'Stop it, now!'"Molly Ivins, rest in peace. I can think of no one who's earned it more. The rest of us, we'll have to go on working for it.
"So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was."I miss her already. Dammit.
Gas prices may have bottomedOf course not. Prices heading back up three days after the election, when they fell for months leading up to it? Pure coincidence.
Analysts dismiss conspiracy theories