A Return, A Bill and A Gas Out

Well holy hell, I've been away for a bit. I'd love nothing else than to tell some fantastic story about my rock-and-roll stardom becoming a reality, and my music taking me to all ends of the globe, where I made audiences foam at the mouth in sonic aniticipation, all while being lustily chased by lovely ladies who want nothing more than to screw my ever-loving brains out. Sadly, this is only partly the case. Hopefully the full dream will be realized soon. Now, where did we leave off...? Ah yes... me being angry.

Congress has a bill in committee right now that is looking to strengthen the grip of Hollywood on the balls (and ovaries) of the American citizenry. Dubbed the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2006, this wonderful bit ammends the DMCA in various ways, mostly changing small bits of language. One wonderous addition would make it a federal crime to simply attempt copyright infringement. Even if you fail at this task, you still could be sentenced up to 10 years in jail. For each "offense". Now, while it's true that charges exist for attempted murder, or attempted arson, I've never heard of a charge like "attempted copyright infringement". It almost sounds like being ticketed for "attempted speeding". I have yet to pour through the entire bill (although section 17 sets up a new unit in the FBI for investigating copyright infringement), but I will soon. It looks like another wonderful attempt by the **AA to continue terrorizing the American public for their own failed business model. You can find a link to the bill here [Link], or check the end of this article. Here also is a list of the Congress-critters in Washington [Link]. Please call their office and register your disapproval with this bill. E-mails only langour in their respective inboxes, while phone-calls have to be at least heard to be ignored. I'll be calling my Senators when I'm through here.

I've been receiving an e-mail which dictates the starting of a "Gas War". If you have not had this lovely bit of pablum, allow me to lay out a brief synopsis. "If we boycott purchasing gasoline from Exxon/Mobil, the largest oil company in the States, they will be forced to lower prices, as demand is decreasing. Purchase your gas anywhere but from Exxon/Mobil held companies." Now then... everyone take a breath. Ahh yes. How the hell does that make any sense at all? Look, oil (and petrol) is a commodity driven almost exclusively by supply and demand. If demand slackens everywhere, then supply goes up and prices come down. The opposite is also true. However, with this plan, you are doing neither. You are simply shifting demand from one portion of the market to the other, creating an artificial shortage in that portion of the market, and an artificial surplus in the other. In other words, non-Exxon/Mobil companies will be faced with a shortage of oil as consumers flock to them like the salmon of Capistrano. They will then raise prices due to their dwindling supply. There are two things that could happen next. One, the (deceivingly) low prices of Exxon/Mobil stations will lure customers back. (The prices wouldn't actually have lowered any, they would just seem low against the artificially inflated prices of other stations.) In the second situation, Exxon/Mobil would sell their supply of oil to the non-Exxon/Mobil companies for an inflated price. Since the other companies are making money hand-over-fist due to the protest, they wouldn't mind paying the inflated price, and raise prices at the pump to compensate. This could conceivably keep going, but the low price of (pre-protest) Exxon/Mobil gas would eventually lure customers back, resulting in nothing but putting more money in Big Oil's pocket. So, in conclusion, the only way to lower oil prices at this point is to use less of it. Less demand = more supply. More supply = lower prices (generally). We could also stop pissing off oil-producing countries, but that still won't alleviate the problem entirely. Alternate fuel research needs to be stepped up and cars which are *much* more fuel-effecient need to be introduced. No "arm-chair" activism is going to help win this fight. So, in conclusion, stop sending me these e-mails. The only serve to further my drinking hobby.

-Doc

Links

The Bill Hollywood Cartels Don't Want You To See
http://ipaction.org/blog/2006/04/bill-hollywood-cartels-dont-want-you_24.html

Congress Readies Broad New Digital Copyright Bill
http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6064016.html?part=rss&tag=6064016&subj=news

Draft of the Intellectual Property Protection Act of 2006
http://ipaction.org/media/Draft_DOJ_IP_bill.pdf

U.S. Code on Criminal Infringement of Copyright
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode18/usc_sec_18_00002319----000-.html