There’s a petition to investigate that Friend of Angelo, Chris Dodd, at whitehouse.gov, that exceeded 30,000 signatures as I was writing this. The petition is a reaction to Chris Dodd having said this on Fox News:
Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake.”
You can’t be more blatant with bribes and threats than this. However, it’s highly unlikely this petition will do any good – looking at this petition service on the White House’s site leaves one with the impression that it’s only been deployed as a PR exercise. Reading the terms makes me wonder if I should raise my hand and ask if I can go to the bathroom, instead of just doing so. And there’s already another petition on there to “Actually take these petitions seriously instead of just using them as an excuse to pretend you are listening.”
Nonetheless, there’s also a campaign demanding Congress return Dodd’s/Hollywood’s dirty money, and they’ve listed the MPAA “Dirty Dozen”:
Below is our list of the MPAA “Dirty Dozen” — the top recipients of the MPAA’s cash (data shows contributions from Q1 2009 to Q2 2011, and comes courtesy of the Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Explorer).
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) – $14,700
Sen. Patrick Leahy (Vt.) – $12,200
Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.) – $7,800
Rep. Howard Berman (Calif.) – $7,500
Sen. Mitch McConnell (Ky.) – $5,500
Sen. Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) – $5,500
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) – $5,000
Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.) – $5,000
Rep. John Boehner (Ohio) – $4,900
Sen. Daniel Inouye (Hawaii) – $4,000
Rep. Colin Peterson (Minn.) - $3,500
Rep. Melvin Watt (N.C.) – $2,500
Public Knowledge issued a statement that sums it up nicely:
“Public Knowledge welcomes constructive dialog with people from all affected sectors about issues surrounding copyright, the state of the movie industry and related concerns. Cybersecurity experts, Internet engineers, venture capitalists, artists, entrepreneurs, human rights advocates, law professors, consumers and public-interest organizations, among others should be included. They were shut out of the process for these bills.
“We suggest that in the meantime, if the MPAA is truly concerned about the jobs of truck drivers and others in the industry, then it can bring its overseas filming back to the U.S. and create more jobs. It could stop holding states hostage for millions of dollars in subsidies that strained state budgets can’t afford while pushing special-interest bills through state legislatures. While that happens, discussions could take place.”
Tags: Chris Dodd, Corporatism, Piracy
