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.
I picked up on that, too... perhaps the people booking him at these Universities should change their promotions from "A Speech by" to "A Performance by"
Even Hannity -- who in the past told students to turn the other cheek and now screw up the Grade Point Average by taking on these Profs, is saying to record them and send to him, Rush, Media, and they will start to take them on publically.
"Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —
(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;
(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors."
"Tyranny of Liberal Academia" ping list:
Actually, you're wrong:
LOL!!!
Get him Mr. Crowell!! This should be interesting : )
"Consider yourself warned,
Ward Churchill"
Hey! WC!...
Consider yourself b*tch-slapped!
This documentary is going to be goooood!
That has nothing to do with the rights to record (copy) and distribute a speech or performance or written work or atristic work.
First thing, my compliments to Grant Crowell. Good stroke.
Unfortunately, I don't think Churchill will see so much as a moment's discomfort if the lib establishment at CU has anything to say about it. They've spent the last year in an all-out "hunker down like a jackass in a hailstorm and wait until it all blows over" mode, poke their heads out only to pontificate on academic freedom, etc, etc and generally act like a bunch of cats scratching sand over a pile of excrement. Only problem is that this situation has gone light years past the point that damage control or denial are going to have much effect.
Every time I (Colorado BS Engineering 1972)hear Churchill running his alligator mouth anymore, I ponder the erasure of that item from my resume to go along with that Alumni Association membership renewal that went in the trash in August......and I don't think I'm alone.
When are Trey and Matt going to give Ward the South Park treatment?
Don't believe it, fine.
If you write a book, give a lecture, paint a picture etc... you own it. The rights are yours and you have the right to llow copy and distribution or not.
After it is distributed or copied, others who have the copies can excerpt or use it in part for certain purposes under fair use.
It is the same law that does not let us post full articles here from a number of sources.
I think the irony is more interesting. This law Chruchill is using is to protect ownersip and property rights. As a big lefty communist type it is the sort of thing Churchill would ostensibly not respect. In fact the people he condemned who were killed in the WTC were condemned by him for availing themselves or our laws that protect ownership rights so that people can make money from things they own.
It's like big anti-gun advocates like Rosie O'Donnell or Diane feisntesin who are against the right to own guns but then avail themselves or the rights in our laws to have armed bodyguards.
The Congress shall have Power ... To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries (United States Constitution, Article I, Section 8)
Not another green frog puppet!
Now there is an idea. They ought to do another movie for the big screen on that one. What a GREAT idea!!!
kudos to Grant Crowell, that warmed the very cockles of my heart reading that.
Every time I (Colorado BS Engineering 1960), think of what CU has become, I vow to give nothing to CU and more to conservative institutions like Hillsdale College.
You are not alone
Churchill ping!
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