“What does it say about the college co-ed Susan Fluke [sic] who goes before a congressional committee and essentially says that she must be paid to have sex — what does that make her? It makes her a slut, right? It makes her a prostitute.” — Rush Limbaugh

Lemme get this straight – Rush is taking issue with insurance covering contraceptives and says that would essentially mean that Sandra was being ‘paid to have sex.’

What does that make Rush Limbaugh when he was using insurance to cover those prescription medications he was (cough cough) addicted to?

Methinks Rush is just jealous that Sandra might get paid to have sex while he was just being paid to be the same douche he always is.

First let’s flashback to 2009 – Gilberto Sanchez, the 49-year-old New York man who uploaded a copy of Twentieth Century Fox’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine to MegaUpload in March 2009, did so a full month before it hit theaters. Sanchez — was sentenced December 19, to a year in federal prison. Sanchez went on to promote the digital upload on other websites.

Personally, I think he should have gotten much more time.

Now, consider, for just a moment, what impact this single act had.

Hollywood is Not So Glamorous

If you’ve never been on a movie set during filming or observed what it takes to make a half-hour weekly sitcom, I can assure you, it’s not all glitz and glamour.

In 2002, I had the opportunity to attend a taping of Just Shoot Me staring David Spade, Laura San Giacomo, George Segal, Wendie Malick, and Enrico Colantoni

Going in, thought I’d be there a couple of hours; would see the glamour of Hollywood firsthand, leave and grab some lunch. Quite the contrary. What I encountered was hours, upon hours of take after take. NINE hours to be exact.

That day I developed a new level of respect for entertainers and what they go through to deliver their products to us week after week, film after film. I would imagine other forms of entertainment are somewhat similar, and not quite as glamorous as the world would think.

Who Does Piracy Really Hurt?

The next time you watch a movie or sitcom; the next time you pick up a music CD, take a few minutes to observe the credits. The names and businesses you see listed are the hardworking people who rely on the sales of that product to support their families. It’s not just the big named stars you see walking the Red Carpet, it’s the personal assistants, the gophers, the stagehands, set builders, and so many more who are paid a working wage we could more easily relate to. Take a quick look at the full cast and credits of Slumdog Millionaire, you’ll see what I’m talking about.

Pirating, as far as I’m concerned, can easily be compared to a single act of hacking the bank accounts and stealing the paychecks of all those responsible for developing the product that’s been illegally copied. While on the surface the act of copying and sharing may seem small; but under the surface the destruction spreads like a cancer.  This clown shared tips on how to get a MegaUpload and Rapidshare premium membership for free.

Ironically, he was telling how to pirate from the pirate. Funny, but it’s still not right.

I’ve not one ounce of respect or sympathy for MegaUpload founder Kim Schlitz (aka Kim Dotcom) – Anyone placing vanity plates on their ultra expensive, luxury cars that read: ‘MAFIA’, ‘HACKER’, ‘STONED’, ‘V’ (for Vendetta?), ‘KIM COM’, ‘CEO’ and ‘POLICE’ – well, to me that just oozes of “I know I’m up to no good.”

Protecting Copyrights & Trademarks – Whose Job is it Anyway?

I believe companies, brands and individuals have every right to protect their trademark, copyright and services. They also have every right to file suit against those who purposely, intentionally and willfully steal and distribute their protected materials.  I would think it’s FAR easier for the owner of a copyright or trademark.

Don’t we all get monthly bank statements? Isn’t it our place to make sure our accounts are in order and report stolen debit cards or unauthorized transactions? If companies are losing so much money to piracy – it seems it would be in their best interest to pay a handful of employees or freelancing Internet professionals to serve as gatekeepers or watchdogs to their brand. Kind of like monitoring a bank account.

Mass Internet Censorship

The recent uproar over SOPA and PIPA have captured the eyes and ears of people who hadn’t paid much attention to piracy and it’s impact, and likely wouldn’t have, had the anti-SOPA campaign not made such an “in your face” statement on Wednesday when the Internet went black.

By exposing the potential threats of sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter being shut down; the threat SOPA and PIPA posed was delivered to the front doorstep of all internet users. It became clear that every internet user, big and small, would somehow be affected by Internet Censorship. People listened; the world responded.

Piracy is a Problem Just Like Anything Else

Fact is, piracy is a problem. There are a few high profile websites that cater and pander piracy crimes. Those sites are making big waves, creating choppy waters the rest of us are left to deal with. However, I believe it’s the obligation of our government and the officials WE voted for to protect the voters first, not corporations, publishers, record labels, or brands.

More on the Takedown of MegaUpload

I’ve been caught up in reading the endless stream of news surrounding the MegaUpload takedown. I thought I’d save you time by sharing what I’ve found most interesting.

Megaupload.com Gets Hit by Mega Piracy Indictment; Hackers Attack Feds, Entertainment Industry

Downfall: Photos Of MegaUpload Founder’s Valuable Cars Getting Seized – Notice the giraffe’s shown in the second photo – toward the upper left. Seriously! smh

The Mega empire: Details of the MegaUpload indictment

Alleged Crimes: criminal copyright infringement and racketeering. The full indictment posted online.

Images and story behind renowned German hacker, playboy, Megavideo titan Kim Schlitz, a.k.a. Kimble, Kim Dotcom – known to the moral world as Sleaze ball Extraordinaire. Grab a barf-bag, you’ll want one handy.

More on the history of Kim Schlitz, previous crimes, and a lovely picture of his chubby face and middle finger to boot.

Got an opinion on MegaUpload? SOPA? Piracy? Leave a comment, I’d love to hear what you have to say.

In a Livorno port authority recording, Francesco Schettino, 52, stated he was trying to coordinate the evacuation from the safety of a lifeboat. Apparently he’d tripped and fallen into the vessel and was unaware that some of his passengers had lost their lives.

I mean absolutely no disrespect to the passengers who’ve been traumatized and certainly not to those who lost their lives and their families. But…

When I heard this cockamamie excuse, my immediate thought was…

A captain of a wrecked cruise ship saying he abandoned ship by accident having slipped and fallen safely into a lifeboat is almost as believable as a husband saying he cheated by accident when he slipped and fell on a naked woman.

I would think his odds would have been greater for hitting 2 or 3 national lotteries simultaneously than it would be for him to fall safely into a lifeboat. Where are the witnesses who can verify his claims? What’s next? The lifeboat was the only one empty at the time of his fall?

I dun think so Lucy!

Lately I’ve been noticing a trend in picture tagging on the Facebook accounts of my kids. Granted my kids are technically “adults” at the ripe age of 18 but many of their friends are not.

The other day I was talking to my kids when a very unsavory picture appeared on the wall of one of my boys. A teen girl had been tagged in a photo that was extremely sexually explicit.

I can’t believe how stupid kids are today! Sure, I know our world has become so desensitized to such images – but somehow we have to make these kids realize that anything and everything they do online is going in a permanent archive that can be viewed by future employers, colleges, potential girlfriends/boyfriends, spouses and their families.

It all seems fun and cool right now, but what these kids aren’t realizing is passing on, tagging, sharing these kinds of photos could pose an even bigger problem.

Have they stopped to think the images could be illegal? Are the participants in the photos underage?

I would encourage ALL parents to check your kids Facebook account – set their image tagging options to require authorization before those images EVER make it to their wall.

This can easily be done using the following steps:

• Click Privacy Settings
• Check the CUSTOM Setting
• EDIT SETTINGS under the “How tags work” option
• There are FIVE options – Mine are set as — On, Off, Friends, Off and Off

Facebook provides a fun and FREE service. I could easily see this sort of behavior forcing the hands of Facebook to take their service to a paid service – an age restricted service that’s actually enforced and more.

As with anything – a few stupid kids making extremely poor choices is putting everyone else at risk of losing out on something enjoyable.

There’s got to be some way, some movement that people can join together in to help eliminate or at the very least, minimize this sort of activity.  But what?

Any ideas?

Joe Paterno – Jerry Sandusky – Penn State – This FLIP has your name written all over it!

Penn State University’s Joe Paterno has announced that he will retire at the end of the season after 45 years as head football coach according to CNN.

The resignation comes after a child sex abuse scandal in which one of Paterno’s former top assistants, Jerry Sandusky, has been charged with seven counts of "involuntary deviant sexual intercourse." One of those cases allegedly occurred in the shower of the Penn State locker room.

A graduate assistant reported that incident to Paterno, who alerted the school’s athletic director but did not talk to criminal authorities. Paterno has not been charged in the case, but he faced widespread calls to resign for not fulfilling his moral responsibility.

Paterno has the most career victories of any coach in major college football history with 409 wins. His contract was set to expire at the end of the year.

Now maybe I’m in the wrong frame of thinking here, and perhaps this is a simple fact that Paterno is morally bankrupt, but I’m thinking he knew about these crimes – covered them up – ignored them for the most part – shouldn’t that be punishable in some way?

Allowing this sub-human scum to have a retirement is like a reward!

As a mom with two high school students, if my kids were even thinking about looking in the direction of Penn State, I’d refuse! I’d rather them attend a local community college then to give Penn State another dime!

What do you think? Should Joe Paterno be allowed a retirement?