Friday, 20 April 2012
Why you should care about the TPP
The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement ("TPP") is a free trade agreement currently being negotiated by nine countries: The United States, Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. Although the TPP covers a wide range of issues, this site focuses on the TPP's intellectual property (IP) chapter.
The TPP suffers from a serious lack of transparency, threatens to impose more stringent copyright without public input, and pressures foreign governments to adopt unbalanced laws.
Many of the same special interests that pushed for legislation like SOPA and PIPA have special access to this forum—including privileged access to the text as well as US negotiators.
Excessive copyright rights and enforcement adversely affect that ability of creators to create content, the ability of technology companies to make innovative products, and that ability of users to use content in new ways...
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Living The Language
Australia, which was once home to 200 languages, now suffers from the highest rate of language extinction in the world.
God save the fugn Queen???
1. Oh Susannah
2. Clementine
3. Tom Dula
4. Gallows Pole
5. Get A Job
6. Travel On
7. High Flyin' Bird
8. Jesus' Chariot
9. This Land Is Your Land
10. Wayfarin' Stranger
11. God Save The Queen
2. Clementine
3. Tom Dula
4. Gallows Pole
5. Get A Job
6. Travel On
7. High Flyin' Bird
8. Jesus' Chariot
9. This Land Is Your Land
10. Wayfarin' Stranger
11. God Save The Queen
'Americana' is the first album from Neil Young & Crazy Horse in nearly nine years. Crazy Horse is: Billy Talbot, Ralph Molina, Poncho Sampedro and Neil Young. As you’ll see from the track listing, 'Americana' is collection of classic, American folk songs. In their day, some of these may have been referred to as “protest songs,” “murder ballads,” or campfire-type songs passed down with universal, relatable tales for everyman. Some of these compositions which, like “Tom Dooley” and “Oh Susannah,” were written in the 1800s, while others, like “This Land Is Your Land” (utilizing the original, widely misinterpreted “deleted verses”) and “Get A Job,” are mid-20th-century folk classics. It’s also interesting to note that “God Save The Queen,” Britain’s national anthem, also became the de facto national anthem of sorts before the establishment of The Union as we know it until we came to adopt our very own “The Star Spangled Banner,” which has been recognized for use as early as 1889 and made our official national anthem in 1931. Each of these compositions is very much part of the fabric of our American heritage; the roots of what we think of as “Americana” in cultural terms, using songs as a way of passing along information and documenting our past. What ties these songs together is the fact that while they may represent an America that may no longer exist, the emotions and scenarios behind these songs still resonate with what’s going on in the country today with equal, if not greater impact nearly 200 years later. The lyrics reflect the same concerns and are still remarkably meaningful to a society going through economic and cultural upheaval, especially during an election year. They are just as poignant and powerful today as the day they were written.
♪♫ Levon Helm Band & Wilco - The Weight (Solid Sound Festival 2011)
'Levon was the glue, not just in The Band, but in all of what people think of when they think of North American music. He was a great unifier; a great glue. He unified blues and country, rural and city, and even North and South. Luckily he showed us all the way to keep it together and let it swing.'
- Jeff Tweedy
Levon Helm RIP
"He passed away peacefully at 1:30 this afternoon surrounded by his friends and bandmates," Helm's longtime guitarist Larry Campbell tells Rolling Stone. "All his friends were there, and it seemed like Levon was waiting for them. Ten minutes after they left we sat there and he just faded away. He did it with dignity. It was even two days ago they thought it would happen within hours, but he held on. It seems like he was Levon up to the end, doing it the way he wanted to do it. He loved us, we loved him."
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