Uh, what? Not seeing a huge connection other than national parks. It mostly sounds like a contract dispute. Are they carrying out an armed occupation of the (formerly) Ahwanee?
Um… that is the most random thing ever. And I’d say they’re worse since you know, they’re breaking the law while threatening to use violence if anyone tries to stop them. Maybe if DNC sent over a hundred armed thugs to prevent people from using the buildings you might have a comparison.
I think a private corporation being able to somehow copyright “public” buildings in a national park and then charging $45M for the use of their names is pretty slimey. And sending lawyers is much worse than armed thugs. :)
But yea, no guns, no dildos being sent their way and no requests for power bars.
Have you looked at the contracts between the company and the Park Service? Is there an IP/copyright ownership clause? Do you know who came up with the names and what efforts were made to promote those names? It’s not like they’re claiming ownership of the buildings—they’re claiming ownership of the name.
Just because its Yosemite doesn’t make the company wrong, per se.
Let’s say Hilton won the contract and put a Hilton in Yosemite. When they lose the contract and leave, should Yosemite be able to keep calling the hotel the Hilton at Yosemite? Maybe, maybe not, depending on the terms of their agreement.
Basically, it depends on the facts.
When DNC lost the contract (to Aramark I think) they announced to the NPS that they owned the names. While this was headed for court I think the recent announcement by the NPS that they would just change the names was the same as agreeing that DNC did in effect own the names somehow. I would imagine a lot of future contracts may be re-written based on this.
And where are the armed militia members threatening violence if the feds try to remove them or collect money they owe? I don’t see how these two events are in any way related.
Okay, so it doesn’t really “fit” here, but I didn’t want to start another thread for it.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s shitty, but most companies do shitty things to make money if they can get away with it. Also, you equated the two and somehow implied the company was the worse party.
First of all, you can’t “copyright” a name. It’s a trademark.
And it’s not a mountain or a monument or a lake, which belong to the public. It’s just a hotel, and the right to its name properly belongs to the people who built it. Those people are gone, but DNC bought the rights from them. So if they want to use the trademark for some other purpose, then fine with me. I’m sure the NPS can think of an even better name. Maybe “Willis Tower”.
Anyway, back on the topic of the Oregon militia:
With friends like these, who needs enemies? No, really, these friends seem like a serious threat.
They need to stop calling them Oregon militants. They’re militants in Oregon, as in physically here. Whatever local militia we have, last I checked, is not there. It make it sounds like these groups have something to do with Oregon and none of them do. You don’t even hear about the Hammonds anymore.
The Hammonds are actually the ones that look the best coming out of this whole thing. They did whatever they did, but they’re willing to accept the consequences and not get involved in the drama.
Sadly, if I understand our local news at all… I think the Hammods are not going to be able to lease the Fed lands anymore for their cattle. The ranchers are selling their cattle to maybe four companies which just push prices down so low they’re forced to have huge herds or leave the market, which is why so many need the federal land, and they’re serving out a min sentence despite the judge in the case thinking it was too harsh.
Not that I am surprised, but none of the important stuff like this is coming out… just the Oregon Militia (that are not from Oregon) are running around causing a fuss about giving lands back to the states, which probably can’t afford to manage them, instead of bringing to light the state of the beef industry and what ranchers are faced with today.
I’m not a practicing Mormon but my family is and I was raised that way. There’s no connection that I’ve heard of or hinted at, other than they’re idiots who happen to be Mormon. That last part was news to me, so if this were some Mormon vs. Government deal or angle, I would have probably heard about it from the usual suspects.
Just one person’s observation, so take that for what you will.
Yeah, leave the Mormons alone. It’s not like we’re talking about idiots who happen to be Muslim.
The first arrest has happened: One of the Ya’ll Queda guys stole a Fish & Wildlife Service trucks from the compound and drove it to a nearby Safeway, where he was arrested for “unauthorized use of a motor vehicle”. Two of the vehicles were recovered at the Safeway, but only one arrest was made.
Oregon State Police arrested Kenneth Medenbach, 62, outside a Safeway in Burns and recovered two U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service vehicles reported stolen from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the refuge occupied by an armed group for nearly two weeks, police said.
Re: the Mormon stuff, it is strongly denounced by the church, but some members of the original group do follow a separatist sect of Mormonism.
Interesting, but (of course) not mainstream Mormonism here.
Ironically, Medenbach (the guy who was arrested) actually is from Oregon.
This would be interesting as a means by which to highlight the erroneous aspect of suggesting that all Muslims could be judged by the actions of a few, except for the fact that the folks who hate Muslims would be more likely to just condemn all Mormons.
Guess they’re not having that Friday meeting then.