An email from Ensign Media

Got this this morning:

:: Using your photo in our film


Dear Mr. Jala:

I am writing to let you know that I am interested in using
one of your photos posted on Flickr.com for an upcoming
project titled A DVD Advent Calendar. According to the web
site, you participate in Creative Commons and offer an
attribution license.

Could you please verify that this is still correct and also
provide the exact wording for how you would like to be
credited in our work? The photo we are interested in is of
King Wenceslas' statue in Bohemia.

Thank you for contributing to the Flickr.com website and
for sharing your creative talents with artists worldwide.
We are a small family based company and could not do what
we do without photographers such as you who make their
works available through programs such as Flickr.com.
Again, thank you.

Sincerely,

Tom Dallis
Ensign Media

(My reply:)

Mr. Dallis:

Thank you for contacting me. You may use the King Wenceslas photo for your project. Please provide the following credit: "King Wenceslas photo courtesy of Fred Jala."

Please let me know how I can order a copy of the completed DVD. Good luck with your project!

Fred Jala

Open Letter to the US Media

From Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, via Atrios:

1. The vast majority of Hispanics/Latinos in the U.S. (75 percent of us) were born and raised here, including many of us who have roots here that predate the arrival of the pilgrims.

2. "Immigrant" is not synonymous with "Latino" and the media should stop pretending they mean the same thing.

3. The CNN analyst who said today "Keep in mind, Latino voters are LEGAL immigrants, not illegal immigrants" should be FIRED for sloppy thinking. MOST LATINOS ARE NOT IMMIGRANTS AT ALL, PINCHE CABRON.

4. Immigrants to contemporary USA come from EVERYWHERE. There are, for instance, 100,000 Nigerians in Houston, and tens of thousands of ILLEGAL Irish in Boston. If this debate is truly about immigration, as opposed to racist portrayals of Latinos, please curb your coverage to be more responsible.

Immigration (and the anti-immigration backlash we're witnessing now) is a topic that strikes close to home for me, being one myself. While she's talking about Latinos specifically, I think this applies to all of us-if one small group can whip up a strawman opponent and create this environment of fear, backed by the government and media, what would stop them from going after anyone else who ticked them off? Homosexuals, liberals, alfalfa farmers, you're all on notice...

Dave Neiwert's blog documents and dissects the far right's nuttery much more eloquently than I ever could.