The Reverend Doctor Timothy W. Jensen Should Have Listened To His Grandmother. . .
I have said it before but it bears repeating -
"Some people just don’t know when to quit when they are already miles behind. . ."
For a number of good reasons I am posting my point-by-point re*butt*al of the self-titled Eclectic Cleric's initial comment on my 'Rev. Tim Jensen - Eclectic Cleric Or Klepto Cleric? U*Us Decide. . .' blog post as a brand-spanking new blog post here -
:My Grandmother once warned me never to get into a pissing match with a skunk -- win or lose, you still end up stinking, and the skunk likes it.
Thank you so much for publicly referring to me as a "skunk" Rev. Dr. Tim Jensen. I expect that you are well on your way to losing this "pissing match" and please allow me to remind you that *you* very much started it. . . As noted in this blog post, I quite politely and also quite *privately* suggested/requested that you should provide credit where credit was due about two weeks ago now by submitting a comment to the 'Can You Name This Creature' post on your "moderated" The Eclectic Cleric blog saying -
I don't suppose you would care to give some credit where credit is due Rev. Jensen?
You totally ignored that polite suggestion cum request so, several days later, I somewhat less politely, but every bit as privately, suggested that you might have plagiarized me by somewhat waggishly suggesting that you might want to add -
"plagiarized the dreaded Emerson Avenger"
to the list of things that you have done in your life in a comment submitted to the 'What Have You Done in your Life?' blog post on your 'The Eclectic Cleric' blog.
I said nothing more, and nothing publicly, until *you* publicly berated me in *your* insulting, and I believe more than a little bit defamatory, 'Is it a Phoenix or an "Obama?"' blog post. So just who is the "skunk" who started a very public "pissing match" ever so Reverend Doctor Timothy W. Jensen? I am confident that a good number of people who have read my blog post titled 'Rev. Tim Jensen - Eclectic Cleric Or Klepto Cleric? U*Us Decide. . .' have already determined that you are rather more deserving of being described as a "skunk" in this matter than I am. I am equally confident that most of those people of intelligence and conscience who will read that blog post in the future will agree you are rather more appropriately described as a "skunk" and not just because *you* started this public "pissing match". . . There is no question that you were the first "skunk" to raise a very public "stink" which this blog post is only re*butt*ing. For the record, someone who is aware of this situation has already described you as a "pirate" and they were not referring to the fact that you almost certainly "pirated" the original words and ideas that I expressed in a comment on your "dear friend" Rev. Christine Robinson's 'Purple America' blog post after first presenting those original words and ideas to the public on my StumbleUpon blog over a month ago on November 9th.
:The TRUTH of the matter is that I didn't even see your work until you brought it to my attention, and with the exception the minor detail that at one point we both coincidentally compare the electoral map to the same common cultural icon, my posting is actually quite different from yours, as anyone who reads them will quickly notice.
ROTFLMU*UO! Actually I am very confident that pretty much anyone who reads your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post, and reasonably and responsibly compares it to what I said in my comments on Rev. Christine Robinson's 'Purple America' blog post as well as my StumbleUpon blog post of November 9th 2008 which suggested that this modified electoral map of the United States Of America could be seen as a kind of Rorschach Ink Blot Test and said,
"Kind of looks like the classic image of a Phoenix rising from its ashes to me. . ."
and
"Hopefully it is an auspicious omen."
will quickly notice that your posting "pirates" not just one, but two, and even three. . . of the original and unique words and/or ideas presented in those "electronic communications".
The TRUTH of the matter is that not only did I compare the modified electoral map of the U.S.A. to the "common cultural icon" of a mythical Phoenix bird rising from its ashes but ALSO to a Rorschach Inkblot Test and I ALSO somewhat cautiously suggested that it could "hopefully" be interpreted as an "auspicious omen". Your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post plays off of all three of those original and unique words and ideas, not just one of them, as you try to pretend. . . What I find quite interesting, to say nothing of revealing, ever so "Eclectic" Cleric is how you so disingenuously try to pretend here that there is only one element of "overlap" between my original and unique ideas and your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post when I have already pointed out that there are two and, as I have just shown here, your blog post plays off all three of the *original* and quite *unique* ideas that were shared with the U*U "blogosphere" on Tuesday November 11th, 2008. Be assured that it was not my intention to start yet another Unitarian*Universalist "war of words" with those comments that were "coincidentally" posted to a blog post made on Armistice Day aka Remembrance Day. *You* are the "skunk" who decided to raise a very public "stink". Not me. I am just blowing your stinking "wind" back to you.
The TRUTH of the matter is that, in that you are an active participant in the rather tiny U*U "blogosphere", hold Rev. Christine Robinson amongst your "dear friends", and commented on her iminister blog both prior to and following her 'Purple America' blog post, it is rather unlikely that you didn't even SEE *my* "work" until I brought it to your attention. N'est-ce pas ever so Eclectic Cleric?
What is the TRUTH Rev. Dr. Tim Jensen? Do you, or do you not, have an RSS feed to your "dear friend" Rev. Christine Robinson's iminister blog?
The TRUTH of the matter is that, apparently as part of your effort to Deny and Minimize your apparent unethical behavior, you completely "Ignore" the "minor detail" that the rather small 200px × 135px JPEG image of the electoral map "phoenix" that you used to illustrate your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post is *exactly* the same size as the rather small 200px × 135px thumbnail JPEG image that was posted on Rev. Christine Robinson's 'Purple America' blog post. How do you explain that "coincidence" ever so Eclectic Cleric? How do you explain the fact that you used an image that was originally used to illustrate Rev. Christine Robinson's 'Purple America' blog post without actually seeing my original words and ideas that were closely associated with that image? Please do come back here and offer an *honest* and credible aka believable explanation as to how you managed to do that not so good Reverend Doctor Tim Jimsen.
The TRUTH of the matter is that the mathematical odds that "we both coincidentally compare the electoral map to the same common cultural icon" as a result of pure random chance coincidence are rather high, possibly even astronomically high, especially when one considers the readily verifiable TRUTH that your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post actually plays off of at least TWO, and more like THREE or more. . . of the unique and original words and/or ideas that were previously presented in my "work" and ALSO used a 200×135 pixel JPEG that apparently traces its internet "pedigree" back to your "dear friend" Rev. Christine Robinson's 'Purple America' blog post. . .
:But since all you seem to be looking for is "Credit Where Credit is Due," Congratulations Robin for your insightful observation that the electoral map does indeed resemble a Phoenix. You were brilliant to notice that, if I do say so myself.
Actually all I *was* looking for prior to your insulting, and I believe more than a little bit defamatory, 'Is it a Phoenix or an "Obama?"' blog post that most people of intelligence and conscience will agree *started* this rather public "pissing match" that your Grandmother apparently failed to warn you not to start. . . was indeed "credit where credit is due", or what you have called "a little honest attribution".
I am afraid that I am *now* "looking for" something else that I have yet to see not so good Reverend Doctor Timothy W. Jensen. Your (typically U*U) self-congratulatory, condescending, if not outright contemptuous, sarcasm here will get you, and indeed U*Us, nowhere Rev. Jensen. I never asked you to describe my "observation" as "insightful" or me as "brilliant". All that I *did* quite politely and quite privately ask of you was to *care* to provide some credit where credit was due. Quite evidently you did not *care* to do so.
Au contraire. . .
Everyone can SEE how you finally did *care* to respond to my suggestion/request in your "less than excellent" U*U ministry.
N'est-ce pas Rev. Dr. Jensen?
As someone who has extensively researched the phoenix myth as a result of intuitively, and thus I suppose quite insightfully and even a tad brilliantly, seeing the "phoenix" in the bird-like form of the sun's corona as seen in French astronomer Serge Koutchmy's excellent photograph of the July 1991 total solar eclipse it was neither "insightful" nor particularly "brilliant" for me to compare the modified 2008 electoral map cum Rorschach Inkblot Test, which does indeed look a lot like a bird, to "a Phoenix rising from its ashes". It was second nature for me, especially in light of the fact that this particular electoral map was directly associated with the idea of the United States of America *hopefully* rising like a phoenix from the "ashes" of President George W. Bush's eight year term as President of the U.S.A. following the election of Democratic Party candidate Senator Barack Obama as the next President of the U.S.A.
:Now, please take all of your credit and brilliance and go play with someone else and leave me alone.
Unfortunately I cannot accede to that request/demand as a result of your insulting and quite defamatory personal attacks on me Rev. Dr. Jensen. Had you responded appropriately to my comparatively civil requests for "credit where credit is due" in a timely manner I could have and would have left you alone, especially since there are no shortage of other "less than excellent" U*U ministers to play with in the "sandbox" but it is a bit late for that now. In foolishly disregarding your Grandmother's good advice you have publicly insulted me and have even defamed me as far as I am concerned, so until the "stink" raised by that "disruptive behavior" is adequately addressed and redressed by you and/or the UUA's department of ministry I will not be leaving you alone, even though I will be playing with a few other less than excellent U*U ministers in the meantime. Didn't I reasonably politely suggest that you do the proverbial "right thing" a while back Rev. Jensen? Quite regrettably you failed or refused to do so, as is clear from what you say in your comments here as well as what you fail or indeed refuse to say in your comments here or anywhere else. . . I just took the opportunity to check my email and see no evidence of you doing the right thing privately so, unless your reality check is in the snail mail, something I have reasonable grounds to fear is not the case, I have to conclude that you have not only failed to do the right thing, but are refusing to do the right thing.
:BTW, copying entire posts of mine on to your web site for whatever reason you choose to do that certainly seems to me to exceed the common understanding of "fair use." Just something you might want to keep in mind in future.
I am quite familiar with what constitutes "fair use" Rev. Dr. Jensen. You are quite right that reproducing *entire* blog posts be may be a bit *too* broad and "liberal" when it comes to the "amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole" but weren't you the guy who recently said,
"I also tend to take a fairly broad and "liberal" view of "fair use;" we are, after all, called upon to Proclaim the Good News, not to copyright it."
ever so Eclectic Cleric?
I do realize that what you so eclectically *chose* to very publicly *Proclaim* in the first salvo of this very public and now rather "stinky" "pissing match" isn't exactly "Good News" but I hope that you will forgive me for being fairly broad and "liberal" in what most people will agree is, in all other respects, eminently "fair" use in quoting your considerably less than Good News for the non-commercial purposes of "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." N'est-ce pas ever so Academic Cleric? After all, it's not like I haven't given you full credit where credit is due, or have failed or refused to provide a little *honest* attribution to your very poorly *chosen* words, is it Reverend Doctor Jensen?
That being said, you have not made "fair use" of my original words and ideas in any sense of the word "fair" and, most regrettably, I find it very hard to believe that the capital 'T' Truth, indeed your all caps "TRUTH". . . is that you didn't even see my work until I brought it to your attention as you publicly claim here. In fact, all readily verifiable TRUTHS considered, perhaps especially this "hard evidence" aka TRUTH, I have more than reasonable grounds to believe that you are LYING when you disingenuously pretend, or even outright Proclaim, that you did not see THIS blog post before so eclectically writing THIS blog post. A lot of circumstantial evidence, and even some "hard evidence", strongly suggests, if not proves beyond any "reasonable doubt", that you had in fact actually SEEN my original work prior to "creating" your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post and did in fact "borrow" it if not "steal" it.
You would have done very well to remember, and responsibly heed. . . your Grandmother's warning never to get into a pissing match with a "skunk" before very publicly starting this "pissing match" with the insulting and defamatory language of your 'Is it a Phoenix or an "Obama?"' blog post. Win or lose, and I have very reasonable grounds to believe, aka fully expect, that you will soon lose this "war of words" (if you have not already been thoroughly "skunked" by now. . .) you are already "stinking" to high heaven Rev. Dr. Jensen with the "stink" of your own original words and ideas presented here and there.
And yes not so good Reverend Doctor, this alleged "skunk" likes it. . .
"Some people just don’t know when to quit when they are already miles behind. . ."
For a number of good reasons I am posting my point-by-point re*butt*al of the self-titled Eclectic Cleric's initial comment on my 'Rev. Tim Jensen - Eclectic Cleric Or Klepto Cleric? U*Us Decide. . .' blog post as a brand-spanking new blog post here -
:My Grandmother once warned me never to get into a pissing match with a skunk -- win or lose, you still end up stinking, and the skunk likes it.
Thank you so much for publicly referring to me as a "skunk" Rev. Dr. Tim Jensen. I expect that you are well on your way to losing this "pissing match" and please allow me to remind you that *you* very much started it. . . As noted in this blog post, I quite politely and also quite *privately* suggested/requested that you should provide credit where credit was due about two weeks ago now by submitting a comment to the 'Can You Name This Creature' post on your "moderated" The Eclectic Cleric blog saying -
I don't suppose you would care to give some credit where credit is due Rev. Jensen?
You totally ignored that polite suggestion cum request so, several days later, I somewhat less politely, but every bit as privately, suggested that you might have plagiarized me by somewhat waggishly suggesting that you might want to add -
"plagiarized the dreaded Emerson Avenger"
to the list of things that you have done in your life in a comment submitted to the 'What Have You Done in your Life?' blog post on your 'The Eclectic Cleric' blog.
I said nothing more, and nothing publicly, until *you* publicly berated me in *your* insulting, and I believe more than a little bit defamatory, 'Is it a Phoenix or an "Obama?"' blog post. So just who is the "skunk" who started a very public "pissing match" ever so Reverend Doctor Timothy W. Jensen? I am confident that a good number of people who have read my blog post titled 'Rev. Tim Jensen - Eclectic Cleric Or Klepto Cleric? U*Us Decide. . .' have already determined that you are rather more deserving of being described as a "skunk" in this matter than I am. I am equally confident that most of those people of intelligence and conscience who will read that blog post in the future will agree you are rather more appropriately described as a "skunk" and not just because *you* started this public "pissing match". . . There is no question that you were the first "skunk" to raise a very public "stink" which this blog post is only re*butt*ing. For the record, someone who is aware of this situation has already described you as a "pirate" and they were not referring to the fact that you almost certainly "pirated" the original words and ideas that I expressed in a comment on your "dear friend" Rev. Christine Robinson's 'Purple America' blog post after first presenting those original words and ideas to the public on my StumbleUpon blog over a month ago on November 9th.
:The TRUTH of the matter is that I didn't even see your work until you brought it to my attention, and with the exception the minor detail that at one point we both coincidentally compare the electoral map to the same common cultural icon, my posting is actually quite different from yours, as anyone who reads them will quickly notice.
ROTFLMU*UO! Actually I am very confident that pretty much anyone who reads your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post, and reasonably and responsibly compares it to what I said in my comments on Rev. Christine Robinson's 'Purple America' blog post as well as my StumbleUpon blog post of November 9th 2008 which suggested that this modified electoral map of the United States Of America could be seen as a kind of Rorschach Ink Blot Test and said,
"Kind of looks like the classic image of a Phoenix rising from its ashes to me. . ."
and
"Hopefully it is an auspicious omen."
will quickly notice that your posting "pirates" not just one, but two, and even three. . . of the original and unique words and/or ideas presented in those "electronic communications".
The TRUTH of the matter is that not only did I compare the modified electoral map of the U.S.A. to the "common cultural icon" of a mythical Phoenix bird rising from its ashes but ALSO to a Rorschach Inkblot Test and I ALSO somewhat cautiously suggested that it could "hopefully" be interpreted as an "auspicious omen". Your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post plays off of all three of those original and unique words and ideas, not just one of them, as you try to pretend. . . What I find quite interesting, to say nothing of revealing, ever so "Eclectic" Cleric is how you so disingenuously try to pretend here that there is only one element of "overlap" between my original and unique ideas and your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post when I have already pointed out that there are two and, as I have just shown here, your blog post plays off all three of the *original* and quite *unique* ideas that were shared with the U*U "blogosphere" on Tuesday November 11th, 2008. Be assured that it was not my intention to start yet another Unitarian*Universalist "war of words" with those comments that were "coincidentally" posted to a blog post made on Armistice Day aka Remembrance Day. *You* are the "skunk" who decided to raise a very public "stink". Not me. I am just blowing your stinking "wind" back to you.
The TRUTH of the matter is that, in that you are an active participant in the rather tiny U*U "blogosphere", hold Rev. Christine Robinson amongst your "dear friends", and commented on her iminister blog both prior to and following her 'Purple America' blog post, it is rather unlikely that you didn't even SEE *my* "work" until I brought it to your attention. N'est-ce pas ever so Eclectic Cleric?
What is the TRUTH Rev. Dr. Tim Jensen? Do you, or do you not, have an RSS feed to your "dear friend" Rev. Christine Robinson's iminister blog?
The TRUTH of the matter is that, apparently as part of your effort to Deny and Minimize your apparent unethical behavior, you completely "Ignore" the "minor detail" that the rather small 200px × 135px JPEG image of the electoral map "phoenix" that you used to illustrate your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post is *exactly* the same size as the rather small 200px × 135px thumbnail JPEG image that was posted on Rev. Christine Robinson's 'Purple America' blog post. How do you explain that "coincidence" ever so Eclectic Cleric? How do you explain the fact that you used an image that was originally used to illustrate Rev. Christine Robinson's 'Purple America' blog post without actually seeing my original words and ideas that were closely associated with that image? Please do come back here and offer an *honest* and credible aka believable explanation as to how you managed to do that not so good Reverend Doctor Tim Jimsen.
The TRUTH of the matter is that the mathematical odds that "we both coincidentally compare the electoral map to the same common cultural icon" as a result of pure random chance coincidence are rather high, possibly even astronomically high, especially when one considers the readily verifiable TRUTH that your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post actually plays off of at least TWO, and more like THREE or more. . . of the unique and original words and/or ideas that were previously presented in my "work" and ALSO used a 200×135 pixel JPEG that apparently traces its internet "pedigree" back to your "dear friend" Rev. Christine Robinson's 'Purple America' blog post. . .
:But since all you seem to be looking for is "Credit Where Credit is Due," Congratulations Robin for your insightful observation that the electoral map does indeed resemble a Phoenix. You were brilliant to notice that, if I do say so myself.
Actually all I *was* looking for prior to your insulting, and I believe more than a little bit defamatory, 'Is it a Phoenix or an "Obama?"' blog post that most people of intelligence and conscience will agree *started* this rather public "pissing match" that your Grandmother apparently failed to warn you not to start. . . was indeed "credit where credit is due", or what you have called "a little honest attribution".
I am afraid that I am *now* "looking for" something else that I have yet to see not so good Reverend Doctor Timothy W. Jensen. Your (typically U*U) self-congratulatory, condescending, if not outright contemptuous, sarcasm here will get you, and indeed U*Us, nowhere Rev. Jensen. I never asked you to describe my "observation" as "insightful" or me as "brilliant". All that I *did* quite politely and quite privately ask of you was to *care* to provide some credit where credit was due. Quite evidently you did not *care* to do so.
Au contraire. . .
Everyone can SEE how you finally did *care* to respond to my suggestion/request in your "less than excellent" U*U ministry.
N'est-ce pas Rev. Dr. Jensen?
As someone who has extensively researched the phoenix myth as a result of intuitively, and thus I suppose quite insightfully and even a tad brilliantly, seeing the "phoenix" in the bird-like form of the sun's corona as seen in French astronomer Serge Koutchmy's excellent photograph of the July 1991 total solar eclipse it was neither "insightful" nor particularly "brilliant" for me to compare the modified 2008 electoral map cum Rorschach Inkblot Test, which does indeed look a lot like a bird, to "a Phoenix rising from its ashes". It was second nature for me, especially in light of the fact that this particular electoral map was directly associated with the idea of the United States of America *hopefully* rising like a phoenix from the "ashes" of President George W. Bush's eight year term as President of the U.S.A. following the election of Democratic Party candidate Senator Barack Obama as the next President of the U.S.A.
:Now, please take all of your credit and brilliance and go play with someone else and leave me alone.
Unfortunately I cannot accede to that request/demand as a result of your insulting and quite defamatory personal attacks on me Rev. Dr. Jensen. Had you responded appropriately to my comparatively civil requests for "credit where credit is due" in a timely manner I could have and would have left you alone, especially since there are no shortage of other "less than excellent" U*U ministers to play with in the "sandbox" but it is a bit late for that now. In foolishly disregarding your Grandmother's good advice you have publicly insulted me and have even defamed me as far as I am concerned, so until the "stink" raised by that "disruptive behavior" is adequately addressed and redressed by you and/or the UUA's department of ministry I will not be leaving you alone, even though I will be playing with a few other less than excellent U*U ministers in the meantime. Didn't I reasonably politely suggest that you do the proverbial "right thing" a while back Rev. Jensen? Quite regrettably you failed or refused to do so, as is clear from what you say in your comments here as well as what you fail or indeed refuse to say in your comments here or anywhere else. . . I just took the opportunity to check my email and see no evidence of you doing the right thing privately so, unless your reality check is in the snail mail, something I have reasonable grounds to fear is not the case, I have to conclude that you have not only failed to do the right thing, but are refusing to do the right thing.
:BTW, copying entire posts of mine on to your web site for whatever reason you choose to do that certainly seems to me to exceed the common understanding of "fair use." Just something you might want to keep in mind in future.
I am quite familiar with what constitutes "fair use" Rev. Dr. Jensen. You are quite right that reproducing *entire* blog posts be may be a bit *too* broad and "liberal" when it comes to the "amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole" but weren't you the guy who recently said,
"I also tend to take a fairly broad and "liberal" view of "fair use;" we are, after all, called upon to Proclaim the Good News, not to copyright it."
ever so Eclectic Cleric?
I do realize that what you so eclectically *chose* to very publicly *Proclaim* in the first salvo of this very public and now rather "stinky" "pissing match" isn't exactly "Good News" but I hope that you will forgive me for being fairly broad and "liberal" in what most people will agree is, in all other respects, eminently "fair" use in quoting your considerably less than Good News for the non-commercial purposes of "criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research." N'est-ce pas ever so Academic Cleric? After all, it's not like I haven't given you full credit where credit is due, or have failed or refused to provide a little *honest* attribution to your very poorly *chosen* words, is it Reverend Doctor Jensen?
That being said, you have not made "fair use" of my original words and ideas in any sense of the word "fair" and, most regrettably, I find it very hard to believe that the capital 'T' Truth, indeed your all caps "TRUTH". . . is that you didn't even see my work until I brought it to your attention as you publicly claim here. In fact, all readily verifiable TRUTHS considered, perhaps especially this "hard evidence" aka TRUTH, I have more than reasonable grounds to believe that you are LYING when you disingenuously pretend, or even outright Proclaim, that you did not see THIS blog post before so eclectically writing THIS blog post. A lot of circumstantial evidence, and even some "hard evidence", strongly suggests, if not proves beyond any "reasonable doubt", that you had in fact actually SEEN my original work prior to "creating" your 'Can You Name This Creature?' blog post and did in fact "borrow" it if not "steal" it.
You would have done very well to remember, and responsibly heed. . . your Grandmother's warning never to get into a pissing match with a "skunk" before very publicly starting this "pissing match" with the insulting and defamatory language of your 'Is it a Phoenix or an "Obama?"' blog post. Win or lose, and I have very reasonable grounds to believe, aka fully expect, that you will soon lose this "war of words" (if you have not already been thoroughly "skunked" by now. . .) you are already "stinking" to high heaven Rev. Dr. Jensen with the "stink" of your own original words and ideas presented here and there.
And yes not so good Reverend Doctor, this alleged "skunk" likes it. . .
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