(passing on important information...)

This could pass today

Phone, fax, email these Congresspeople immediately

Free fax services:
[link]
[link]
[link]


DELAHUNT Phone: (202) 225-3111 Fax (202) 225-5658
Phone: (617) 770-3700 Fax: (617) 770-2984

CONYERS Phone: (202) 225-5126 Fax: (202) 225-0072
Phone: (313) 961-5670 Fax: (313) 226-2085

NADLER Phone: (202) 225-5635 Fax: (202) 225-6923
Phone: (212) 367-7350 Fax: (212) 367-7356

BERMAN Phone: (202) 225-4695 Fax: (202) 225-3196
Phone: (818) 994-7200 Fax: (818) 994-1050

PELOSI AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4965 Fax: (202) 225-8259
Phone: (415) 556-4862 Fax: (415) 861-1670          

HOYER steny.hoyer@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4131 Fax: (202) 225-4300
Phone: (301) 474-0119 Fax: (301) 474-4697

· Artists cannot monitor tens or hundreds of thousands of images every day to see if somebody somewhere has infringed their work.

· An unsuccessful search for a property owner should not be a license to steal.

· Artists should not have to digitize their life's work at their own expense to comply with a law they don't want or need.

· The loss of exclusive rights would undermine contractual agreements with clients.

· Small business owners should not be forced to subsidize the business models of Big Internet firms.

Tell lawmakers to prevent passage of this bill until it can be subjected to an open, informed and transparent public examination.

Tell them this is no way to re-write copyright law.

Tell them it will affect millions of rights holders worldwide.

Tell them you would support a true orphan works bill, but this is not it.

Tell them to to consider the amendments presented by the Illustrators' Partnership, Artists Rights Society and Advertising Photographers of America  
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"FROM: THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP OF AMERICA
TO: ALL ILLUSTRATORS/ARTISTS

Letter you can send: [link]

Orphan Works: The Devil's Own Day
Never Too Busy to Pass Special
Interest Legislation 9.28.08

As lawmakers struggled Friday to clean up the mess on Wall Street, sponsors of the Orphan Works Act passed more special interest legislation. Their bill would force copyright holders to subsidize giant copyright databases run by giant internet firms.

Like the companies now needing billion dollar bailouts, these copyright registries - which would theoretically contain the entire copyright wealth of the US - would presumably be 'too big to fail.' Yet it's our wealth, not theirs, the scheme would risk.

Small business owners didn't ask for this legislation. We don't want it and we don't need it. Our opposition numbers have been growing daily. So Friday, the bill's sponsors reached for the hotline.

What is Hotlining?

Critics of hotlining say 'that lawmakers are essentially signing off on legislation neither they nor their staff have ever read.'

'In order for a bill to be hotlined, the Senate Majority Leader and Minority Leader must agree to pass it by unanimous consent, without a roll-call vote. The two leaders then inform Members of this agreement using special hotlines installed in each office and give Members a specified amount of time to object - in some cases as little as 15 minutes. If no objection is registered, the bill is passed.'
- Roll Call, Sept 17, 2007

In other words, a Senate bill can pass by 'unanimous consent' even if some Senators don't know about it.

The Devil's Own Day

Senators Leahy and Hatch hotlined the Orphan Works Act twice last summer. Each time came at the end of a day, at the end of a week, near the end of a legislative session. Each time lawmakers were distracted by other issues and other plans. Each time artists rallied quickly and each time a Senator put a hold on the bill.

Friday the Senators found a new opportunity.

With lawmakers struggling to package a 700 billion dollar bailout to avert a worldwide economic meltdown, with the rest of the country focused on Presidential debates, with Washington in chaos and Congressional phone lines jammed, they hotlined an amended bill. On short notice, even the legislative aides we could reach by phone said they didn't have time to read it. And so, while we were rushing to get out a second email blast to artists, the bill passed by "unanimous consent" - in other words, by default.

What better way to pass a bill that was drafted in secret than to pass it while nobody's looking?

Since Friday, artists have been conducting bitter post mortems on their blogs. That's understandable, but it's not time yet.

'When Sherman arrived at Grant's headquarters later that evening, he found the general - broken sword and all - chewing on a soggy cigar in the rain, which had begun soaking the battlefield.

'Well, Grant,' Sherman said to his friend, 'we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?'

'Yes,' replied Grant, 'lick 'em tomorrow, though.'

The Senate passed their bill Friday, but the House hasn't. There's still time to write, phone and fax your congressional representatives. Tell them not to let the House Judiciary Committee fold their bill and adopt the Senate's.

Tell Congress to protect the private property of small businesses. Lick 'em tomorrow.

- Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, for the Board of the Illustrators' Partnership
(Quote from 'The Devil's Own Day,' by Christopher Allen, January 2000 America's Civil War Magazine)

TAKE ACTION: EMAIL CONGRESS TONIGHT! Tell the House Judiciary Committee not to adopt the Senate version!

We've supplied a special letter for this purpose: [link]

Please post or forward this message immediately to any interested party."

(you can look up your representatives offices and use faxzero.com to send 2 free faxes a day, which may not get as buried as emails)

I cannot do free art or requests. Commissions are available though. Please note me or read my
information on commissions and note me.

DO NOT REPOST MY ART TO PHOTOBUCKET, other photosharing sites or anywhere else without my permission.