Congressman Wants YouTube Video Covered Up 884
Hugh Pickens writes "Wisconsin Republicans claim that no one else can republish a video of United States Representative Sean Duffy (R-WI) complaining about how he is 'struggling' to get by on his $174,000 salary without their permission, even though they originally released the video on YouTube for the whole world to see. Now the GOP is trying to take legal action to stop anyone else from republishing the video. The tape caused a stir for Duffy, a first-term conservative best known for his past as a reality TV show star on MTV's The Real World after Democrats flagged the comments about his taxpayer-funded salary, which is nearly three times the median income in Wisconsin, and criticisms began to flow Duffy's way. Here's a one-minute clip, excerpted from roughly 45 minutes of video of the public Duffy townhall, that the Polk County GOP doesn't want anyone to see."
some day (Score:2, Informative)
the mostly lower middle class tea party types will understanding that declaring war on the poor and passing laws that reward the rich will actually damage this country far more than the social programs, high taxes, and labor unions they hate. let us hope this is not a third world country when they realize that
If I recall correctly... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:If I recall correctly... (Score:5, Informative)
Nope. Copyright still belongs to the person who made the recording. (The Zapruder film, for instance, which showed the assassination of President Kennedy is owned by the Zapruder family.) However, there is a pretty good case for fair use in this case, especially since this Duffy video is being used for news reporting/commentary purposes.
Re:some day (Score:2, Informative)
Some day, people will learn what "First World Country [wikipedia.org]" actually means.
Oh, wait, no, that's also asking too much, isn't it?
Re:Ah, the Republican Party ... (Score:5, Informative)
... champion of traditional American values like free speech and personal responsibility!
The difference between the Democrats and Republicans - In a nutshell:
When the Democrats do something stupid, it's because it's expected from the diverse, working class roots they largely come from.
When the Republicans do something stupid, they deny it happened at all and is a liberal conspiracy.
Re:Ah, the Republican Party ... (Score:5, Informative)
Well, it allowed me to keep my daughter on my (from work) health insurance even though she's graduated high school... So, I'm in favor.
Re:republicans (Score:5, Informative)
Let's just drop that old saw right now. Taxing them more heavily isn't going to FIX anything and it'll actually make things worse.
Agreed. Why, if GE would've had to pay even a dime of federal taxes this year, the repercussions would've been dire for us all. Dire, I tell you!
Re:Ah, the Republican Party ... (Score:5, Informative)
...as it has done for the past decade, as it was in my employer's case.
Re:7 kids? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Ah, the Republican Party ... (Score:5, Informative)
no your insurance premiums went up because your insurance company is ran by greedy assholes.
Re:Ah, the Republican Party ... (Score:5, Informative)
I know my rates were going up and coverage was getting going down long before Obama took office. In fact it nearly doubled about 5 years ago.
Do you actually believe that if it were repealed immediately your premiums would drop by 20%?
Not a chance, your coverage would drop to previous levels, but your premiums certainly wouldn't go down.
Correction (Score:4, Informative)
In my second paragraph above, it should read, "You could argue that if there had not been the Social Security trust fund (and yes, it's an actual trust fund with actual value) the federal deficit would be much much higher."
I apologize for the error. I get all worked up when I see this kind of Right-wing corporatist bullshit and it sometimes causes me to type too fast.
Out of contextish (Score:3, Informative)
The guy isn't saying hes struggling on his 174k salary, the guy just started getting this level of pay, and if you watch the video hes saying hes only had one paycheck at this salary so far and hes still got alot of debt and what not from his education/family situation. He says once he gets more paychecks he'll probably be doing alot better.
Can we not do the same type of stupid out of context/deliberate misinterpretation slanderous crap that everyone with a brain is already really tired of?
People talking about hypocrisy and integrity about this story are just as bad as the people they are complaining about.
Re:Ah, the Republican Party ... (Score:4, Informative)
While I personally think Corporations should only have to pay taxes on profits from goods produced overseas, I must agree somewhat with the previous poster. GE paid no federal taxes. None. Nada. Zip. This was in fact mentioned on Fox News as well as CNN and others. It is a fact. Now I'm sure their employees pay taxes and I can't speak to what they pay in State or Local taxes but for federal it was a big zero. Don't know about the tax credit thing however.
Re:Ah, the Republican Party ... (Score:5, Informative)
Yes. Tax rates from 1900 to date is one dataset. GDP during the same period is another dataset. Employment rates are a third.
Those are my sources. Both are extremely easy to find. You will notice a slight lag of GDP behind the changes in tax law, because GDP is responding to those changes in tax law.
I'll let you overlay the graphs yourself, because if I send you to the place where someone has done the work for you, you will say "Oh, those graphs were made by liberals as a way of disregarding the data. If you do it yourself, you won't be able to claim that it's invalid because of the ideology of the economist who put them together. But try it. It works as I describe.