Tuesday, February 15, 2005

"I'm Not Threatening...It's the World That's Threatening"

OK...so the original quote is, "I'm not crazy...it's the world that's crazy," but this seemed more appropriate.

Last Saturday evening, I was the lucky recipient of one of the famous letters by the "Lorton Family's Little Newsletter," better known to most in Northeast Oklahoma as the Tulsa World. Click here to see a .jpg version of the actual document.

If you think this type of threat wasn't taken with a great big, [GULP!], than you don't know what they pay a city councilor in Tulsa, OK gets paid (see story below).

The thing that is most interesting isn't that the World has decided to protect what they view to be copyrighted material, but rather the timing of their inquiry. Some of you may still want to cling to your illusions that our paper of record is the unbiased and free press formed by your hours of watching "Lou Grant" rather than doing your homework. However, this paper is locally owned and quite willing to use its influence to make or destroy those in our community the Lorton's like or detest, in that order.

To send this letter right in advance of the deadline for the filing of the recall petitions convinces this public servant (complete with Target logo on the back of all of my suits and sweaters) that our morning paper wants to hamstring our ability to comment on their obvious bias.

If that wasn't the case, don't you think our friends at the Coalition for Responsible Government would have been sent a similar letter for their blatant use of unquestionably copyrighted World material that was used in the now infamous Tulsa Tribunal? Click here for examples. The photo alone is directly from the World's website.

If that isn't enough to convince you, then how about the CfRG's own website that is comprised almost exclusively by World articles copied and pasted onto pages that reside on CfRG's own web server? Click here and view their sins [but be prepared to have your innocence sullied].

The only way to explain CfRG's blatant use of World content (and they can't claim they are directing readers to the World's own free site) is if they have blanket permission by the paper to use all of the content. If that is the case, what does that say about their objectivity on the issue? Remember, they've claimed they don't support the recall in principle [I'd provide a link to the column where they made that claim, but it might get me sued, and I like my house and dogs].

Bottom line, folks. This is a sordid little network for sordid little people and they will use their sordid little threats to protect their sordid little network.

Bloggers of The World unite! You have nothing to lose but those assets not protected by bankruptcy laws!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Channel 6 seems to indicated the recall petition filed today includes four of the city councilors. It is also on their web page. Is there any readers that can inform us if it is true that it includes also the two Afro-Americans on the council that also represents our step children citizens in the northern part of the city?

Anonymous said...

Looked up the registration on the Coalition For Responsible Government website. Here's the info it returned:

Domain ID:D105495120-LROR
Domain Name:COALITIONFORRESPONSIBLEGOVERNMENT.ORG
Created On:29-Dec-2004 16:46:03 UTC
Expiration Date:29-Dec-2005 16:46:03 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Tucows Inc. (R11-LROR)
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:tu9IxWAJRzggrP1N
Registrant Name:James Burdge
Registrant Organization:James Burdge
Registrant Street1:7170 S Braden Ave
Registrant Street2:Ste 193
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Tulsa
Registrant State/Province:OK
Registrant Postal Code:74136
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.9184963818
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:com@tcxl.net
Admin ID:tu9IxWAJRzggrP1N
Admin Name:James Burdge
Admin Organization:James Burdge
Admin Street1:7170 S Braden Ave
Admin Street2:Ste 193
Admin Street3:
Admin City:Tulsa
Admin State/Province:OK
Admin Postal Code:74136
Admin Country:US
Admin Phone:+1.9184963818
Admin Phone Ext.:
Admin FAX:
Admin FAX Ext.:
Admin Email:com@tcxl.net
Tech ID:tuihxYwyf7XtRpK0
Tech Name:System Administrator
Tech Organization:Lunarpages
Tech Street1:14730 Beach Blvd.
Tech Street2:102
Tech Street3:
Tech City:La Mirada
Tech State/Province:California
Tech Postal Code:90638
Tech Country:US
Tech Phone:+1.7145218150
Tech Phone Ext.:
Tech FAX:
Tech FAX Ext.:
Tech Email:hostmaster@lunarpages.com
Name Server:NS4.LUNARPAGES.COM
Name Server:NS5.LUNARPAGES.COM
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:
Name Server:

----------------------

Wondered who this James Burdge was so Googled and found this:

J.L. Burdge and Associates - Member: American Association of Political Consultants per:

http://www.theaapc.org/content/membership/2002/member_profile.asp?id=2098

And, this:

CampaignGuide. Not All Elections End on Election Day. Jim L. Burdge,

6/2/2004. ... A case in point is a recent election for a City Council seat in Tulsa, Oklahoma. ...

https://www.completecampaigns.com/ article.asp?articleid=20 - 16k -

-------
Appears Mr. Burdge runs campaigns for several of our Council members. Even some who are ostesibly on the Medlock side of issues.

Anonymous said...

I'm hearing those wierd screaming sounds coming from the Whirled, et al like the sounds from the metal man as he attempts to swim in a tank of molten metal at the end of 'Terminator'.

Sean said...

As long as you attribute where you got the information from the rag posing as a newspaper cannot do squat. It's called "fair use". You can quote and criticize all you want, as long as you don't try to take credit for their work.

Google copyright law and you'll get the skinny.

Anonymous said...

Councilor Medlock,
Please resign from the city council..... and RUN FOR MAYOR!!!

I, for one would be MORE THAN GLAD to vote for you! Tulsa needs people with integrity to run it!

We need to rid this city of the "good old boy" network that has for so long corrupted this city that I USED to proudly say was my home. We need somebody that isn't afraid to speak the truth! Somebody that isn't afraid to stand up for what's right, (please KFAQ, Mr Delgiorno, don't sue me for using that phrase.)

We need MORE people like you and Councilor Mautino, and ( I am SO SORRY I cannot remember the other brave councilor from the north side of town), but we need more people of this type of integrity running our city!

MEDLOCK FOR MAYOR!!!! PLEASE!!!

Anonymous said...

Seems odd that a NEWSPAPER would be worried about people reading their paper without express written permission... MY KID took an article to school the other day for "Current Events"... I had no idea that we stood a chance of being sued for using their material to improve my kids grades...It seems as though if they sue you then they have no choice but to sue children that cut out articles for Current Events...

Anonymous said...

You have little to worry about...you are NOT the ones in trouble.

It's that company which runs out millions of square feet of recycling material. They should just run it off the rolls and straight into the dumper. Like T.P.

Anonymous said...

I enjoyed the "smear" article for its entertainment value.(http://www.chrismedlock.com/images/tulsa-tribunal-pg-4.jpg)

Anyone know what "smurking" is?

I think Councilor Medlock is *getting* smurked...

What a lame shot anyways. A picture from an off moment is easy to distort into something it is not. It's childish and petty to do things like this, and reminds me of a middle school stunt more than anything else.

I learn more about Councilor Medlock's opposition through garbage like this then I do watching the council meetings.