$2 Million Parking Ticket?

What if your child or grandchild got hit with a $2 Million parking ticket? Would you think that is excessive? So would I. Yet it is the punishment the jury decided on in a recent court case for something that I believe is fair use. Here is the letter I wrote to my senators and representative.

Can you imaging paying $2 million for a parking ticket? In my mind this is what has happened today in a trial in Minnesota. A Woman has been fined $2 million for non-commercial sharing of music. If this same penalty were applied to all shared music, it would result in a fine of $400 Trillion. Let me repeat that number: $400 Trillion. How is there any sanity in this kind of award? However, even though the damages were excessively high, the industry felt an award almost twice as high was appropriate.

You represent Virginia. It is your duty to stop this nonsense. Non-commercial sharing is far different than commercial piracy, and should be treated as such. Sharing songs should not carry a penalty similar to a parking ticket, not a penalty similar to murder, especially when the music industry has yet to prove they are damaged.

Please hold hearings on non-commercial file sharing, and call the music industry to task for this gross abuse of justice. Also, please support and/or sponsor legislation that gives a sane penalty for non-commercial sharing, commensurate with the 79 cent price of the file.

Second set of letters to United States Legislators

I have once again written to my US legislators. Once again, I hand delivered to my representative, and used the online forms for my senators. I hope everyone else is writing to their elected representatives as well.

I sent different letters to my Senators who are republican, and my representative who is Democrat. It just so happened that partisan politics helped my arguments, as opponents have been Democrats in the Senate, and Republicans in the house.

Once again, I would encourage everyone to write to their legislators and other elected officials. This is much, much more important than newspaper comments. We have to reach the actual decision makers.

Honorable Representative G:

I am writing you to express my concern over Civil Rights violations that appear to be happening in the aftermath of the Eldorado raid in Texas. However, I am not the only one, as the Texas ACLU and many national commentators and journalists from both parties have condemned the Civil Rights violations.

As you may recall, the raid was started by a hate crime – false reporting of child abuse for the specific intention of religious persecution. Since that time there have been other hate crimes throughout Texas, such as threats of violence against Mormons, anti-Mormon graffiti, vandalism of Mormon homes, and teachers in Texas public schools spreading anti-Mormon propaganda. Thus, the wildfire of hate crimes has spread far beyond the initial match, with even U. S. Representative Kay Granger (R-Texas) directly supporting religious discrimination in an official request.

Such an intolerant atmosphere makes the protections of the Bill of Rights even more important, as violations of rights are most likely to happen to unpopular people. In Nazi Germany it was the Gypsies and Jews who were first persecuted, and a similar pattern seems to be emerging here. Parents need a federal Bill of Rights to protect them from unreasonable seizure of their children without due process of law. As one of your constituents, I would appreciate it if you would do the following:

1- Sponsor a resolution in the House reprimanding Representative Granger for advocating religious preference in government contracts. The resolution should also call for an end to religious bigotry, and call for supporting first amendment rights for unpopular religions.

2- Start a Parent's Bill of Rights that protects families from unreasonable seizure of children, especially when anonymous reports may be given due to religious bigotry, racism, or political gain. (Note that the Texas CPS seizes a much higher rate of Latino than Caucasian children.)

Thank you very much for your consideration,

xxxx

I changed "Representative Granger" to "Senator Reid," included more about citizens of Arizona being subject to religious persecution, and deleted a line about Texas CPS seizing Latino children for the letter to the Senators.

I am writing you to express my concern over Civil Rights violations that appear to be happening in the aftermath of the Eldorado raid in Texas. However, I am not the only one, as the Texas ACLU and many national commentators and journalists from both parties have condemned the Civil Rights violations.

As you may recall, the raid was started by a hate crime – false reporting of child abuse for the specific intention of religious persecution. Since that time there have been other hate crimes throughout Texas, such as threats of violence against Mormons, anti-Mormon graffiti, vandalism of Mormon homes, and teachers in Texas public schools spreading anti-Mormon propaganda. Thus, the wildfire of hate crimes has spread far beyond the initial match, with even U. S. Senator Harry Reid (D-Nevada) directly supporting religious discrimination against Arizona citizens.

Such an intolerant atmosphere makes the protections of the Bill of Rights even more important, as violations of rights are most likely to happen to unpopular people. In Nazi Germany it was the Gypsies and Jews who were first persecuted, and a similar pattern seems to be emerging here. Parents need a federal Bill of Rights to protect them from unreasonable seizure of their children without due process of law. As one of your constituents, I would appreciate it if you would do the following:

1- Sponsor a resolution in the House reprimanding Senator Reid for advocating religious intolerance of Arizona citizens. The resolution should also call for an end to religious bigotry, and call for supporting first amendment rights for unpopular religions.

2- Start a Parent's Bill of Rights that protects families from unreasonable seizure of children, especially when anonymous reports may be given due to religious bigotry, racism, or political gain.

Thank you very much for your consideration,

xxxx

Letter to my Senators and Congressmen

I sent the following to Senators Kyl and McCain through electronic submission, and delivered a signed copy directly to my local representative, Raul Grijalva:

April 17, 2008


Honorable Representative Grijalva:


I am very concerned about constitutional violations in the recent raid on the FLDS compound in Eldorado, Texas. Texas has a long history of “Jim Crow” laws and religious persecution, raising the possibility of a systematically corrupt state legal system. For example, though Arizona authorities checked the same charges and found them to be without merit, Texas authorities acted without first performing due diligence. Reports on the raid indicate the parents have been denied constitutionally guaranteed due process, have had their rights of free speech suppressed, have been illegally stripped of parental rights, and have been subject to unlawful search and seizure.


These violations happened to a small and unpopular group, but it is exactly these types of situations in which constitutional protections are needed. Nazi Germany also started with the persecution of small and unpopular groups such Jews and Gypsies. Such erosion of liberty when laws are used as tools of intolerance affects everyone. I would encourage you to take the following emergency actions:


1- Encourage the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice to officially examine the actions of the state, and determine whether the civil rights of the parents were violated, and whether religious discrimination has played a role in the proceedings.


2- Hold Congressional Hearings on the raids, requiring accountability of the Texas authorities.


Thank you very much for your consideration,

xxxxx

I encourage you to write your own letters to your own congressional representatives.