Posted on 11/25/2005 7:40:17 AM PST by ajolympian2004
Churchill to Journalist: Consider Yourself Warned By Grant Crowell, 11/22/2005 1:29:35 PM
Editor's Note: What follows is correspondence from controversial Colorado University Professor Ward Churchill and former University of Hawaii journalist/cartoonist Grant Crowell, who is currently working on a documentary on Ward Churchill. The correspondence below refers to a recent presentation by Churchill at DePaul University in Chicago, at which Churchill banned journalists from entering and covering his speak. Churchill is most known for his attacks on victims of 911 and support for the terrorists who killed them. Classic Churchill is advocating for free speech for himself over everyone else including journalists, as was the case when he recently came to the University of Hawaii.
Ward Churchill to Grant Crowell
Okay, Mr. Walking Eagle, try this:
What I say is copyrighted, just like the work of any other "performer," to be recorded only with my express permission, and subsequently used in any fashion whatsoever only with my explicit consent.
You, for whatever reason(s), seem to have an extraordinarily difficult time wrapping your mind around the simple fact that I am under NO obligation to allow you to record me (or otherwise participate in your various "projects").
Translated, that means the following: although you're obviously entitled to purchase any/all of my CDs, you have NO "entitlement" to record me yourself.
The fact that you had a pocket-sized recording device smuggled into the room where I spoke at DePaul, despite the express prohibition on doing so repeatedly announced by the sponsors, has resulted in you/anyone associated with "Walking Eagle Productions" being permanently barred from recording my talks.
Should "bootleg" recordings of my material turn up in anything you happen to produce -- a "documentary film," for instance -- you may rest assurred that you will be sued on exactly the same grounds as you would were you to use material recorded without authorization at a Dylan or Steve Earle concert.
My attorney, to whom this correspondence in cc'd, has suggested I make the above absolutely clear to you. Therefore, I have. Any further communications in this or related matters will be from him/his associations.
Consider yourself warned,
Ward Churchill
---
Grant Crowell to Ward Churchill
Mr. Churchill,
My name is not “Walking Eagle,” it's Grant Crowell. I presume your white parents would have taught you proper manners to address a person by their actual name, as I have afforded you that courtesy. At least be mindful of the academic title given to you by the state of Colorado and act with civility in mind. You don’t see me monikering you with the title of “Chief Wannabee” or “Wimpy Chicken” or “Burnt Marshmallow” (making oneself brown all over its white skin, while still slimy white on the inside).
First off, let me address your allegations of me “smuggling” in a recording device to your DePaul speaking engagement -- that is simply false. I wasn’t allowed to attend the event, which you ensured. You also ensured that the person you collaborated with for the event, Dr. Harvette Grey of the Cultural Center, would bar the media and order the campus on “high security” mode so neither the public or any protestors of your event would be allowed near it.
The “sponsors” you cited for your speech are also false; the real sponsors were the students. It was the students who have their money taken from them by your friend Dr. Grey to pay for your $5,000 vacation to Chicago. The least you could do is send the students a thank-you card. (Or, if you’re looking for Christmas ideas, a Ward-Churchill muppet.)
Even if this was a private corporate event (maybe that’s your next goal for speaking engagements), I’m free to quote you; you can’t deny that you said these things. On top of that, your speech was paid all with students’ fees, whom you and your comrade Dr. Grey made sure that those students never had any say in the matter. Add the fact that DePaul is funded with government funds and public tax dollars, it’s a clear-cut case of fair use. As long as your paycheck for these speaking events come from student monies and taxpayer monies, then I and anyone else has the right to record your event for documentary purposes and public information. But its dishonarable that you feel compelled to play Scrooge and take money from students who can barely afford tuition and have to work several jobs, all so you can give yourself a vacation from your job the people back in Colorado are still waiting for you to do.
So that I can exercise my responsibilities as a good citizen and everybody can see what their tax dollars are paying for, I will soon feature excerpts of your DePaul speech ... . Just to show you that I’m a nice person, I will email you a transcript of your own speech, if you need some extra cash to support your 3-pack-a-day smoking habit. Perhaps you could package it online with your box set of CDs.
You claim that every word out of your mouth is copyrighted. Well, you may want to sue Webster as well. That’s since you know some English but apparently no actual Indian language. (That’s not only acting like a male diva demagogue, it's called being a poser.)
I, on the other hand, know copyright law very well. So does my attorney, who specializes in copyright law, intellectual property law, entertainment law, and Internet law; he’s not some burnt-out hippie representing another burnt-out hippie. Here’s some free legal advice for you from my attorney, David M. Adler, Esq. & Associates: “Copyright only extends to creative works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression. Speech, in and of itself, is simply not copyrightable.”
I know all the rules about what is fair use and in the public domain online. You, on the other hand, have problems saying the word ‘Google.”
So you see Mr. Churchill, it's very silly of you to talk about suing me for “bootleg recordings” and lecturing me on copyright infringement. Not to mention, your track record is a big fat zero. There’s already a large amount of audio and some video clips of your speeches online, even whole sections of transcripts there. Yet you haven’t gone after a single one of the large group of people you’ve threatened with a lawsuit who’ve done far more than I have with bringing your real work to the public: this includes PirateBallerina.com, C-SPAN Caplis & Silverman, Frontpage.com, Little Green Footballs, Men's Wear Daily, WorldNetDaily, the Rocky Mountain News, Fox News Channel, et cetera et cetera. You even threaten lawsuits against people’s own free speech you don’t like, including your own family members such as your sister-in-law, Rhonda Kelly (whom I had the honor of interviewing for the documentary).
You’re guilty of the very thing you accuse others of. In case you haven’t been told by your attorney, let me remind you that you’re under investigation by your own school for copyright thievery and plagiarism. (Who can forget you getting caught by CBS News for stealing a real artist’s work, tracing over it and selling it to someone else as your own.)
Your entire academic history is based on misuing copyrighted work from others; not only from authors and scholars who say you stole from them and quote them completely the opposite of what they actually say, but even from other Web site owners, including from the PirateBallerina.com Web site. You claim an atmosphere of McCarthyism, yet I’m sure when the CU Inquiry board hauls you in one last time and announces the final decision on your fate, it is them who will be asking if you have no decency.
For someone who postures and preens on a stage where you can dictate the conversation and no one else is allowed to speak, it's a shame you’re too apprehensive to meet with me man-to-man, much less debate me on free speech (or for that matter, any university scholar opposed to you). Your excuse is that you consider me a “facist cartoonist on par with Joseph Goebbels” and Nazi Propagandist Julius Streicher. Not only is this completely over the top (considering that I actually had relatives who were murdered in the Jewish Holocaust), and not only an unhealthy fetish you’ve had a long time with Nazis, but its also a complete change from back in February when you bragged to a cheering crowd that you would debate anyone on free speech, even if they had “nazi proclivities.” You would now rather take the safe, protected route -- sell your books and CDs and do solo speaking engagements, while denying that you ever made a promise to do a debate.
Put your money where your mouth is, Ward. Let's have a neutral party decide on this … .
If I can show you proof, television footage and all, that you agreed to do a debate on free speech with someone earlier this year, then you must keep your word and do a public debate with me in Colorado by the end of this year -- for no speaking fee. If I don’t show you proof in one week of your agreement, or if the arbitrator finds that proof unacceptable by that time, then I will personally write you a check for your standard speaking fee, issue you a public apology to be reprinted in a local newspaper, and you can use the money to take a vacation anywhere you like. Say the word and I’ll send you the agreement. (Heck, I’ll even take a DNA test to prove my own heritage.)
Mr. Ward Leroy Churchill, show some integrity and keep the one simple promise which you’ve based your entire livelihood on -- agree to a debate. You may not be an Indian, but try to be a man. Take the coward route and sue me, and I’ll give you a lesson on what the First Amendment is really about.
Warm regards,
Grant Crowell
Grant Crowell, a University of Hawaii graduate, worked as a cartoonist at Ka Leo O Hawaii, the University of Hawaii student newspaper.
Doesn't Michael Moore make a living using the speeches and comments of public and private people in documentaries??
Hilarious.
People such as this POS have gotten so used to being able to say anything they want without fear of challenge, they have no idea how to react when it happens. Look at how this pitiful fool resorts to baseless threats and rhetoric intended to make him look as if he actually knows what he's talking about only to be shown up for the totally empty, intellectually vacant blowhard he truly is.
LOL! Perfect.
It's Copyright law.
Ostensibly Moore uses fair use clips.
He may go beyond fair use and violate copyright. To address that one of the people whose clip has been used would have to sue Moore claiimng copyright violation.
No. He isn't..
Beautiful reply! I wonder what's taking CU so long to formally bring up the charges and kick this charlatan off the faculty ...
For a moment I was almost impressed by the letter from "Big Chief With No Indian Blood", then I saw 'Steve Earle Concert'.
Okay, Mr. Walking Eagle, try this:
What I say is copyrighted, just like the work of any other "performer," to be recorded only with my express permission, and subsequently used in any fashion whatsoever only with my explicit consent.
AHHHH, Ward. actually it's not if you say it in a public forum.
"like the work of any other "performer,"
Well at least he's not claiming to be an educator any longer.
Well done Grant Crowell.
People such as this POS have gotten so used to being able to say anything they want without fear of challenge
Memories. They're such a wonderful thing.
That was then....this is now.
Like you (I'm sure) I've used the phrase "Actually the truth about that is....."
And then watch the blank stare, followed by sputtering on the other persons part.
Excellent
Awesome - and from a UH grad and a journalist no less. Wish we could pump out a few more of those. Maybe we'd finally see some changes in our idiot legislature.
No.
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