Bush appointee Christie rips off Monty Python in NJ gov race

[-Jrabbit]

Appropriately surreal...

Chris Christie Rips Off Monty Python, Risks Copyright Infringement

Chris Christie, the Republican candidate for Governor of New Jersey in Tuesday's knife-edge gubernatorial election, has been called out as a copyright thief. The 47-year-old lawyer, who was controversially appointed by George W. Bush as a U.S. Attorney in 2001 on Karl Rove's recommendation after being a top Bush fund-raiser in the 2000 election, has created an election commercial that steals copyright-protected material from British comedy troupe Monty Python -- without permission or credit.

The official campaign advert -- titled "Deja Vu" -- attacks incumbent New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine by using scenes from a famous skit on the "Monty Python's Flying Circus" TV show that features Michael Palin. The ad is on Christie's official YouTube campaign site, and has already aired on national TV.

But neither Christie -- a lawyer for 22 years -- nor anyone in his campaign bothered to seek any permission for using the copyrighted material in his election spot.

Alerted to the theft of their copyright, members of Monty Python are most unhappy. Michael Palin, who appears in the clip pirated for the advert, is especially displeased that his likeness is being used by the Republican candidate without permission.

"I'm surprised that a former U.S. Attorney isn't aware of his copyright infringement when he uses our material without permission. He's clearly made a terrible mistake. It was the endorsement of Sarah Palin he was after -- not that of Michael Palin."

Monty Python's Terry Jones says that the troupe is strongly considering suing the Republican for his copyright infringement:

"It is totally outrageous that a former US Attorney knows so little about the law that he thinks he can rip off people. On the other hand -- another of Bush's legal appointees was Alberto Gonzales and he didn't seem to know much about the law either...," Jones said.

[snip]

Christie is no stranger to the world of crime. As the New York Times reported on September 23rd this year, Christie has family ties to the notorious Genovese crime family. As a child, he mingled at family parties with Tino "The Greek" Fiumara -- the brother of his aunt's husband -- described by the Times as "a fearsome and ranking member of the Genovese crime family: twice convicted of racketeering, sentenced to 25 years in federal prison, and linked by investigators to several grisly murders, including one in which a victim was strangled with piano wire."

[snip]

Asked what he had learned from his family connection to Tino "The Greek" Fiumara, Christie says: "It just told me that you make bad decisions in life and you wind up paying a price. Really, for most of my life, he spent his life in prison. That teaches you a lot."

Asked in 2007 about the presence of organized crime in his home state -- such as the Genovese mob in which one of his family members is so prominent -- Christie said: "the Mafia is much more prominent on HBO than in New Jersey."

With Monty Python about to sue Christie for his copyright theft, he may have more in common to discuss with Tino "The Greek" Fiumara at his family Thanksgiving this year.

---------
UPDATE, 11:12 p.m.:
Having been exposed for their copyright theft and facing a lawsuit from Monty Python, the Christie campaign moved into damage control mode at high speed on Sunday night to try and limit the political fallout from their illicit action. Within an hour of the story appearing, the Christie commercial using pirated footage of a Monty Python skit was scrubbed from the campaign's website and their separate campaign site on YouTube. The only evidence left was the tell-tale wording on the clip's YouTube page "This video has been removed by the user"

Monty Python captured the video before it was removed. The Christie campaign should now be expecting the Spanish Inquisition...

Can't embed the video, but it's viewable on HuffPost. Linky:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-lewis/chris-christie-rips-off-m_b_341598.html

[Ben Kenobi]

Nobody expects the spanish inquisition!

This is a quality hit piece. Just in time too. The election is on Tuesday and Corzine just happens to be losing despite the fact that Obama is campaigning full time for him.

I love how they make sure to mention "Bush Appointee" Oooh, scary. Bush = Evil.

Oh, and they managed to get a smear in on Palin too. And the trifecta for a hit on Alberto Gonzalez. That was sooo 5 years ago man.

I do hope that Corzine is paying you for this JRabbit.

[Ben Kenobi]

Meanwhile, Jon Corzine's deputy director was arrested for selling ecstacy.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-15/1257035704149320.xml&coll=1

A Paramus man claiming to work for Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election campaign was arrested Friday night on drug charges after police found Ecstasy tablets in his car, authorities said.

A Corzine spokeswoman said the man does not work for either the governor's campaign or the Democratic State Committee.

Jason Shih, 25, was pulled over on Route 17 by East Rutherford police around 11:30 p.m. Friday for allegedly talking on his cell phone. Police found 19 Ecstasy tablets and hundreds of small glassine bags used for distributing drugs, police spokesman Capt. William Schanel said.

Schanel said Shih told police he was an official in Corzine's campaign, and several tickets to today's rally with President Obama at Newark's Prudential Center were found in his car.

"As he's exiting the vehicle, he's stating, "It's not mine,'" Schanel said. "He just said, "I'm assistant deputy director of Gov. Corzine's campaign, and they rented this vehicle for my use.'"

Schanel said the vehicle was rented, but said it is unclear who rented it. He said Shih is not suspected of being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but he was very nervous.

"His hands were shaking," Schanel said.

Corzine campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said Shih's claim is false, adding, "No one has ever heard of this guy."

Campaign finance records do not show any donations from Shih to political candidates in New Jersey. Shih, released on $15,000 bail, is facing multiple drug-related charges, including possession of drugs, possession of drugs in a school zone, intent to distribute drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Shih could not be reached for comment.

Republican candidate Chris Christie declined to comment on the arrest

[Lorizael]

I like how you totally ignore a rather important piece of this article, and also fail to print the headline: Corzine campaign denies connection to man arrested on drug charges.

A Corzine spokeswoman said the man does not work for either the governor's campaign or the Democratic State Committee.

Corzine campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said Shih's claim is false, adding, "No one has ever heard of this guy."

You're a real honest guy, BK.

[Lorizael]

Oh, and as far as this being a quality hit piece, the gist of it is that Republicans are claiming Corzine is trying to revive a 2008 proposal to raise tolls on the turnpike by as much as 800%.

But, according to the New York Times (the source of the quote that started this), this is what Corzine said during the interview:

He said that his plan had been “too big, too fast, at the wrong time,” and that he believed it was rejected because people “don’t want to pay the tolls” and were sensing that “we were in the midst of a recession. We just didn’t know it.”

Later in the interview, Mr. Corzine referred again to the plan, noting that a similar proposal to securitize toll revenues had been enacted successfully in Indiana. “This idea worked,” he said, adding, “So maybe we just need to scale it back.”

Yeah, clearly, he's trying to revive the plan. Christ, BK.

I also like how you completely fail to address the fact that the Republican candidate is clearly stealing copyrighted material and your assumption that anyone who does address it must be as much of a partisan hack as you are. Sheesh. Have you ever actually paid attention to -Jrabbit's politics before?

[-Jrabbit]

So you support IP theft, Ben? Strange position for a writer to take.

Christie is the attorney general and stole copyrighted material, in public. I don't care what his affiliation is; he is either amoral scum, not in control of his campaign, or (since he's a politician, the heavy favorite) both.

[Felch]

Ecstasy is awesome. Recent studies show that it may be useful in treating PTSD. Independent research shows that it's great at getting *****es nekkid.

[Asher]

Nobody expects the spanish inquisition!

This is a quality hit piece.

How the **** is this a hit piece?

Do you know what a hit piece is? Any piece of negative news towards something is not a hit piece...

[Ben Kenobi]

I like how you totally ignore a rather important piece of this article, and also fail to print the headline: Corzine campaign denies connection to man arrested on drug charges.

Well duh. Just because he throws his aide under the bus, doesn't make it so. This is New Jersey we are talking about here. Of course he's going to deny that the fellow was ever associated with him.

[Ben Kenobi]

So you support IP theft, Ben? Strange position for a writer to take.

Actually, I like to be credited, but I don't really care who uses my stuff, provided they put something in it to say where they got it from. Beyond that, I don't care. I have had people use my stuff before, and they've done a pretty good job of not changing stuff, and leaving it as it was. I have at times put stuff under a pseudonym as well, simply because they needed someone to do it, but I didn't really want to get credit for them, and I wanted them to own the material and distribute it as they see fit. The only one who knows that I've written it is them and me.

I'm a firm believer in distributed knowledge. I think it helps a writer to offer his stuff to the public free of charge, especially when they are trying to make a name for themselves. If a publisher wants to make money off selling my stuff, then I have a problem with it, and I'll want money for them to print me.

Christie is the attorney general and stole copyrighted material, in public. I don't care what his affiliation is; he is either amoral scum, not in control of his campaign, or (since he's a politician, the heavy favorite) both.

Monty Python, is what, 30 years old now? I don't support the extension of copyright, and it would help archivists if much of the stuff people are squatting on was released into the public domain. I'm sure Monty Python really cares about helping people on the way up now that they've gotten theirs.

[Ben Kenobi]

Oh, and as far as this being a quality hit piece, the gist of it is that Republicans are claiming Corzine is trying to revive a 2008 proposal to raise tolls on the turnpike by as much as 800%.

JRabbit's article says nothing of the sort. All it was is a smear on Christie, conveniently two days before the election. I'm not buying it.

Later in the interview, Mr. Corzine referred again to the plan, noting that a similar proposal to securitize toll revenues had been enacted successfully in Indiana. “This idea worked,” he said, adding, “So maybe we just need to scale it back.”

Tax 'em long, tax 'em hard. Sounds like a typical Pelosicrat.

I also like how you completely fail to address the fact that the Republican candidate is clearly stealing copyrighted material and your assumption that anyone who does address it must be as much of a partisan hack as you are. Sheesh. Have you ever actually paid attention to -Jrabbit's politics before?

I have, and I know that Monty Python only cares because it's Christie. If Corzine were to do the same, they wouldn't care.

[rah]

and I know that Monty Python only cares because it's Christie. If Corzine were to do the same, they wouldn't care.

As much as I hate to agree with BK, I know he's right on this.

[DaShi]

It still doesn't matter. It's Monty's right to complain about unfair use or not.

[Wezil]

I'd complain if a Republican was using my work for their benefit as well. The taint of association would be enough to make me complain.

[DinoDoc]

It still doesn't matter. It's Monty's right to complain about unfair use or not.

Not ecactly sure you can pick and choose your battles when it comes to protecting an IP. I coulod be wrong though. If someone is more knowledgeable about the law, I would be interested in what they have to say about it though.