The Thomas Family Experience

I contacted my representatives and expressed my opposition to SOPA and PIPA, because these pieces of legislation a) contain language that is broad enough to pose a threat to all information shared on the internet, and thus jeopardize my livelihood, and b) place too much power in the hands of our federal government, to an extent that makes me uncomfortable.

Isakson sent the following response, which I found to be dismissive and condescending.

On Jan 18, 2012, at 12:14 PM, “senator@isakson.senate.gov” wrote:

Dear Mrs. Thomas:

Thank you for contacting me regarding intellectual property theft. I appreciate hearing from you and I appreciate the opportunity to respond.

S.968, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PROTECT IP) Act of 2011, was introduced by Senator Leahy (D-VT) on May 12, 2011, and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. On May 26, 2011, it was reported out of Committee and is currently pending in the Senate. The bill targets websites, particularly those registered outside of the United States, which are “dedicated to infringing activities.” These rogue websites typically offer unauthorized downloading or streaming of copyrighted content or the sale of counterfeit goods including music, movies, and pharmaceutical drugs.

Websites targeted by this bill are foreign owned and outside the reach of U.S. laws despite the fact U.S. intellectual property is being infringed upon and U.S. consumers are the targets. Rogue websites cost American workers jobs and cost businesses millions of dollars in lost revenue. As online technology and commerce advances, we must see to it that injured parties have the ability to stop infringers from profiting from counterfeit products. For example, a victim of infringement will have the authority to file a civil action against the owner or registrant of a rogue site. If an order is granted by the court, third parties will be required to stop processing payments from the infringing sites, therefore, preventing infringers from collecting payments. I will work to ensure that our laws our modernized to protect intellectual property, and will keep your thoughts on this bill in mind should it come before the Senate for a vote.

Thank you again for contacting me. Please visit my webpage at http://isakson.senate.gov/ for more information on the issues important to you and to sign up for my e-newsletter.

Sincerely,
Johnny Isakson
United States Senator

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I would like to point out to Mr. Isakson that I understand the intent of SOPA and PIPA. I respect intellectual property and agree that it should be protected. But these bills are too broad and too flawed to resolve online piracy issues. I’m not at all impressed with his response. I also find it ironic that these morons in D.C. are all partisan all the time until it’s time to deal with this dumb legislation, because the republican Isakson implies that he’s lockstep with Sen. Leahy, the democrat from Vermont who introduced the legislation.

Also, he (or, more realistically, the staffer who copied and pasted this condescension and hit “send”) should have proofread it—I know “our” and “are” happen to be homonyms, but come on, guys. This is basic.

Sigh.

Our kids are big Falcons fans. They go to every home game, and they spend a lot of time at training camp in the summer. They have been so fortunate to meet some of the players, Mike Smith, and even Arthur Blank. 

You may have heard that ESPN’s Rob Parker wrote a scathing article about Atlanta as a sports town. You can read that hot piece of garbage here.  A & C read it and found it offensive from beginning to end. You can read A’s response, an open letter to Rob Parker, immediately below, and C’s response at the bottom.

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Dear Mr. Parker:

You probably remember a certain article you wrote concerning the horrible fan support of Atlanta, which you called Hotlanta. Sorry to burst your bubble, sir, but no one who lives in Atlanta or the state of Georgia calls Atlanta Hotlanta. Only outsiders call it that.

Firstly, towards the beginning of your lovely article, you mention the fact that your article has nothing to do with football. (Um, sorry, correct me if I’m wrong, but if it’s not about the sports teams, why are you writing it?) Apparently, it goes deeper than that. Oh, right. Our sports fans stink. 

Here are some of the things I’ve been doing instead of updating this Tumblr for months on end.

A & C are back in school, and we are juggling soccer, tennis, art lessons, and the general drama associated with middle school girls. 

I am training for a half-marathon in November, which is simultaneously exciting and terrifying. The dog’s arthritis has gotten too bad for him to run with me, which is sad for him and for me. 

For my day job, I am the production coordinator for a new environmental news series for PBS. It is currently airing on several PBS stations around the country. You can watch a preview here: http://youtu.be/gKWPma6Huxw, and you can view the entire broadcast schedule here: http://thisamericanland.org/FrontLines/airtimes.html. If you get a chance to watch it on your local PBS station, please let me know what you think!

I covered the Atlanta Falcons training camp for my very favorite Falcons blog of all time, The Falcoholic, and am going to be a regular contributor to the site. If you have been desperately seeking a retroactive overview of training camp and the Falcons’ last preseason game against Baltimore, this is your lucky day. 

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/8/2/2339885/atlanta-falcons-training-camp

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/8/9/2353369/atlanta-falcons-training-camp-position-battles-edition

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/8/12/2359213/falcons-training-camp-photos

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/8/16/2366492/atlanta-falcons-training-camp-update

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/8/22/2377323/the-last-day-of-training-camp

http://www.thefalcoholic.com/2011/9/2/2401509/preseason-is-finally-over

I will try to do a better job of posting updates, but I make no promises, because I am realistic about my inconsistencies.

I am not remotely impressed with the breakdown of labor negotiations between the NFL and the NFLPA. 

I was generally in support of the perspective of the players’ union until it became abundantly clear to me that they never had any intention of trying to get a deal done. 

I never supported the avarice of the owners and the league, and my worst suspicions about that group has now been confirmed as well.

Who loses in this massive fail of alleged effort toward reconciliation? I do. You do. All of us who love this game, yet are not fortunate enough (emphasis on fortunate) to play it, own a team, or be paid to be involved with it at a high level. At the end of the day, Roger Goodell, DeMaurice Smith, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, and the rest of the jackholes involved with this sham of a process are still millionaires, whether the players are on the field come fall racking up more millions, or sitting at home enjoying the millions they already have. I’ll be the one sitting at home waiting for my season ticket refund check, fuming and furious because there’s no football.

The players are quick to remind us of the low-level players who make the league minimum per year, which was $310,000 per year in 2010. How many typical NFL fans bring home that kind of bank each year? Give me a break. The lowest paid player in the league is paid ridiculous amounts of money from the perspective of an average American. I don’t have a problem with the amount of money the players are paid, and I want to see the players get a fair deal based on overall profit for the league. Realistically, without the players, there is no football. But, now that the legal process has been initiated, and the players union has decertified, I’m pretty much over the arrogance of everybody involved in the process.

I don’t want to hear Roddy White’s sad, sad tale of having to pay $2,600 per month for COBRA insurance. We pay almost $1,000 per month for our health insurance through my husband’s job, and to say we don’t even approach Roddy’s income is a gigantic understatement. I love Roddy, but he’s not winning anyone over by whining about money. I don’t want to hear Drew Brees say much of anything, but to insist that the NFLPA is doing everything they can for former and future players when, in reality, rookie pay scale and benefits for retired players seem to be afterthoughts, obviously second to the major issue of compensation for current players and the possibility of an 18-game season. News flash, NFL players. Your fans aren’t idiots. We understand the process. We love the game, and we support you guys, but we’re normal people with normal incomes, and our patience is waning with all the woe-is-me drama.

I used to be a huge baseball fan, back in the day. I read all of the box scores every day, and watched as many Indians games as I could. On any given day, I could have told you what was happening in each American League division, who was leading each and by how many games, as well as details about the performance of every single Tribe player. Then the players went on strike in 1994, and this lockout is bringing to the surface all of the negative feelings I developed toward the players and the leadership in Major League Baseball that prompted me to give up on the sport altogether. 

Anyone who knows me knows that my affection for football borders on the obsessive. I love NFL football. I live, eat, sleep and breathe it during the season, and it occupies a fair amount of my time throughout much of the offseason. I drive my non-football-following friends insane with my constant football talk. I don’t want to turn my back on football, but if they don’t get this thing worked out, I fear that I will not have any patience left for it.

I keep hearing these guys say that they’re working toward the best outcome for the fans, but their actions are inconsistent with their words. Their actions tell me that neither side ever had any intention of coming to a workable agreement, and that a lockout was always in the cards. It should be no surprise that any optimism I had about seeing a new CBA in place in the near future has completely disappeared.

I don’t want to see sad sack Roger Goodell insisting that they’re going to get this done for the fans anymore. I don’t want to see DeMaurice Smith walking around in his jaunty cap with his inexplicable cadre of bodyguards anymore. I don’t want to hear any more whining about Judge Doty and his bias toward the players. I don’t want to hear the NFL blaming the NFLPA anymore, and I don’t want to hear the NFLPA blaming the NFL, either. I am tired of the he said/they said ridiculousness. This is a bunch of grown men, and they need to put on their big boy pants and work this thing out, now. 

A has been getting an alarming volume of emails from a specific boy. She’s pretty and smart and has a good sense of humor, so it was really only a matter of time, but I’m not prepared for this with a 12 year old child.

The great thing about it, though, is that these awkward, and I do mean awkward, missives are forever preserved in digital format. As I read through them (her emails all come into my inbox. She’s fully aware of this. My kids know there’s no such thing as a ‘right to privacy’ for minors living in my house, and they’re better kids because of it) I can’t help but be glad that my similar communications from my pre-teen years haven’t been preserved for posterity. A’s, however, will be. Hopefully there will come a day when she can laugh at them as heartily as I have today.