Dare I say plagiarism? Yes, yes I do.
The links to both stories are provided so you can judge for yourself. As an example, though, I am printing the last paragraph of each article. Here's mine:
There is always the argument of the spirit of the law versus the letter of the law.
Which do you follow as an elected official?
In the case of elected officials, the answer is clear: Follow the spirit of the law until you get caught. Then follow the letter of the law.
And here's Mr. McClain's:
But there will always be the argument of the spirit of the law versus the actual letter of the law. Which do you follow as an elected official? In the case of elected officials, the answer is clear:
Whatever fits you best, until of course, you get caught.
The point here is clear: while there are fewer constraints on bloggers than on print and electronic media, we will never become a legitimate source of news and information if there are bloggers who will lift copyrighted and published materials without giving credit to the author.
For the record, I did write to Mr. McClain to ask him to give a credit to me on this, but this request was ignored.
It has been said that character is doing the right thing when no one is looking. The rules don’t change because the media is new. If you steal something and hold it up as your own and don’t think anyone will notice, don’t act surprised when you get caught.
Especially on the Internet.
Article comments
1 - duane
Wow. That's pley-juh-riz-uhm alright. I don't see how some people can sleep at night.
2 - Brad Schader
This may be a blog, but there are copywrites (copyrights?) applied. Blogcritics goes it automatically as do most blogger sites. You may have a case with this.
3 - Vikk Simmons
Plagerism has always been a problem but with today's global internet publishing it's rampant. It doesn't help that so many appear to be growing up with the attitude that everything is fair game rather than fair use. Good luck.