The state-socialist model: The public puts up the capital and takes the risk but if the enterprise succeeds the profits are private

The government awards grants to think-tanks, companies, foundations, and universities to undertake research. However the published results of these studies oftentimes end up behind the pay-wall of a privately held for-profit company. Some are beginning to challenge that by boycotting the principal profiteer of this style of the "public pays for but private companies profit from" model.

" 'The government pays me and other scientists to produce work,' say this piece in the Chronicle of High Education, 'and we give it away to private entities,' says Brett S. Abrahams, an assistant professor of genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. 'Then they charge us to read it.' Mr. Abrahams signed the pledge on Tuesday after reading about it on Facebook."

That may all be about to change though. Some of the people doing the research are threatening to boycott Elsevier publishing company, a major player in this scheme and thereby cutting off the oxygen that this scam needs to live. Heh.

Weblog

Not yet but getting there

Feral cat population getting to be a problem in Jackson county (Jackson Citizen-Patriot/MLive)

Professional homophobe and ex-Asst AG Andrew Shirvell sure has a lot of gall (Neal Rubin, Det News)
Shirvell pestered, libeled, defamed, and harassed former UM student body president Christopher Armstrong so long and so relentlessly that it got him fired from his job, banned from the UM campus and sued in federal court. Now the tables have turned and Shirvell wants some privacy for himself. Go figure?

Michigan State Senator wants to legalize bigger more powerful firecrackers in time for July 4th (Lansing State-Journal)
Sen. Rick Jones, a Grand Ledge Republican thinks bigger and louder fireworks are okay. The cops, fire marshals and emergency room doctors aren't so sure.

Female "special operators" now accompanying males on combat missions in Iraq (Darlene Iskra, Battleland blog)
"The women are needed in order to complete the mission. The women help by calming the local women's fears, by guarding them so they cannot attack, and by respecting the local cultural norms with regard to the segregation of women and men. But the women warriors can also kick butt when required, now that they are properly trained." But they have to wear hijabs. Three steps forward one step back.

Ayn Rand briefly summarized in a few pithy sentences (Matt Yglesias/Julian Sanchez, Bloggingheads.tv)

Amazon.com and the People's Republic of California fight it out over internet sales tax issue (Declan McCullough, CNET News)

Copyright troll Righthaven fought to a standstill before the courts (David Kravets, Threat Level blog)
Serves them right the assholes.

Weblog

Food Not Bombs activists arrested for feeding homeless in Orlando, FL city park (Mark Schlueb, Orlando Sentinel)
Hard to figure.

Bad news for the neo-cons, globalists and new-world-order crowd (Pat Buchanan, American Conservative)
Even Republicans are turning against foreign entanglements and military interventions.

Companies and individuals continue to try and copyright the name SEAL Team 6 (SusanAnne Hiller, BigGovernment blog)

weblog

A photo essay about an abandoned island city - Mg Photo Agency
"The feeling of being in some far off post-apocalyptic land is immense. To experience a place where every way you turn is abandoned desolation, immediately overwhelms; you do not need to imagine what it would be like to stand in a once occupied city after a plague, The Bomb, or at the end of time."


Airborne Laser zaps in-flight missile- CNET
A flying Maginot Line. Very expensive, and very impressive too, (in a geez-whiz! kinda way), but largely worthless unless you have it deployed exactly where and when the NorKs, Iran, China, India or Pakistan or whoever else are about to launch a nuke at the U.S.
Secession In The Air - Taki's Magazine
"The secession taking place in America is a secession of the heart—of people who have come to believe the government is 'them', and not 'us'." Heh.
Australian Judge Rules Facts Cannot Be Copyrighted - Slashdot.org/
Regardless of the amount of effort that was spent collecting them.
Why Tenure Harms Education - American Thinker
Backpack-style rifle slings - Gun Slings Direct.com/
What biathlon competitors use to hold their rifles securely while downhill skiing.
Not all fun & games at Olympics - Washington Post
Mob smashes windows in downtown Vancouver shopping area. Friday night too.