Open Letter to the Ambassador of the State of Qatar

Superior, Colorado, USA

20 January 2013

Mohamed Bin Abdulla Al-Rumaihi, Ambassador
Embassy of the State of Qatar
2555 M. Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20037-1305

Dear Ambassador,

I write with justice in my head,
I write with all impulse of peace,
In fervent hope of Mohamed
Ibn Al Ajami's release.

Please might we find your magistrate
Well understanding of the fact
That poetry surpasses state,
Liberty trumps Sedition Act.

It will be poets who ensure
The glory of your fine Emir
And even when they do incur
Displeasure, they're his vizier.

I pray you grant your poets space
To work the profit of their mind.
Reconsider this Ajami case,
In which all freedoms are enshrined.

Sincerely,

 

Uche Ogbuji

Mohamed Ibn Al Ajami

[Crossposted]

Copia comment conundrums

Earlier this year I posted an off-hand entry about a scam call I received. I guess it soon got a plum Google spot for the query "Government grants scam" and it's been getting almost one comment a day ever since. Today I came across a comment whose author was requesting permission to use the posting and sibling comments in a book.

I have written a book on Winning Grants, titled "The Grant Authority," which includes a chapter on "Avoiding Grant Scams." It is in final stages of being (self)- published. I want to include comments and complaints about government grant scams on this Copia blog. I think the book's readers will learn alot from them.

How can I get permission to include written comments on this blog site in this book?

I'd never really thought about such a matter before. I e-mailed the correspondent permission, based on Copia's Creative Commons Attribution licensing, but considering he seemed especially interested in the comments, I started wondering. I don't have some warning on the comment form that submitted comments become copyright Copia's owners and all that, as I've seen on some sites. If I really start to think about things I also realize that our moderating comments (strictly to eliminate spam) might leave us liable for what others say. It all makes me wonder whether someone has come up with a helpful (and concise) guide to IP and tort concerns for Webloggers. Of course, I imagine such a read might leave my hair standing on end so starkly that I'd never venture near the 21st century diarist's pen again.

BTW, for a fun battle scene viewed in the cold, claret light of pedantry, inquire as to the correct plural of "conundrum".

[Uche Ogbuji]

via Copia