News & Media
Bill Caudle
Bill Caudle is the biggest bad ass ever. He enlisted in the army at age 39 because it was the only way he could get his wife covered for her cancer treatment. Bill Caudle, I may never meet you. But if I do, you don’t pay for your own beer — ever.
Grounded and Hounded: a male's tale
By Tatiana von Tauber Society places a lot of pressure on men. Feminist pieces like one by Katherine M. Franke at Columbia Law School add to it. Franke analyzes a recent New York Times article Still on the Job by Making Only Half as Much by Louis Uchittele. In a nutshell, Bryan Lawlor was a captain and current economic times made him a co-pilot. Lawlor’s pay was cut in half and now his wife makes more money. He takes care of the kids more often and had to give up the power marker of masculinity, a motorcycle he finally bought as a gift for himself. As a result, Lawlor feels he’s downgraded not only in pilot status but masculinity as well. A guy works hard,
If you're going to publish a "sucks" site… it should actually criticize the subject
There is a new cybersquatter in town, and he goes by the name of Gu Bei. He registered the domain name . Normally, that would be the kind of thing that this blogger would stick up for, defend, and rail against the mark holder for trying to take down. Not this time. Mr. “Gu Bei” is a serial cybersquatter. He has a huge portfolio of domains that all correspond to the trademarks of famous businesses. One of his games is to create “sucks” sites, but have them refer to… you guessed it…. pay per click pages. Radio Shack took him to task, filing a complaint with WIPO. Mr. Bei, not surprisingly, did not respond, and the panel correctly transferred the
Yes We Cannabis!
Okay, I’ll back off of my criticism of the Obama administration as a do-nothing bunch of slackers. They did something. The department of justice pulled the stick from its ass and figured out that maybe the federal government shouldn’t waste its time or money chasing AIDS patients who smoke pot to relieve their symptoms. The New York Times reports: In a memorandum to federal prosecutors in the 14 states that make some allowance for the use of marijuana for medical purposes, the department said that it was committed to the “efficient and rational use” of its resources and that prosecuting patients and distributors who are in “clear and unambiguous compliance” with state laws did not meet that standard. (source) And
Creepy? Definitely. Proportionality? Not so much.
This is creepy. Creepy in an “only in Flori-duh” way. A guy makes friends with a family (at a Baptist Church). He starts getting a little weird, so they tell him that he can’t come over any more. He breaks into their house so that he can touch the kids’ feet while masturbating. See, I said it was creepy. His sentence? 15 years. Sure, if that was my kid, I’d probably have beaten the guy into a mess so bad that Beatrix Kiddo would have pitied him. Nevertheless, 15 years for whacking it while touching someone’s feet?
Shepard Fairey Lied About Source of HOPE Poster
Apparently Shepard Fairey lied to his lawyers about which photo of Barack Obama formed the basis for his iconic HOPE poster. (source) The sad thing is, it shouldn’t matter. The poster is clearly seems like fair use.
Vagina Mints
“Linger” is a new product… the company describes them as “internal feminine flavoring.” See, get it? The little schematic va jay jay? I have to hand it to them. That is both clever and visually pleasing. Of course, given that it represents a vagina, I wonder how it will fare if they ever try and get it registered as a trademark. See posts on “Immoral and Scandalous” trademarks. Now lets look at the product itself. Here is how the company’s website describes its utility. Linger Internal Feminine Flavoring, was created to flavor the woman in such a manner that is safe and effective, decreases self consciousness, and increases excitement. It improves the length and quality of oral sex between a
Geometric Memetics
Geometric Memetics: When two memes smash into each other, thus creating a meme that expands geometrically. Not to be confused with a super-meme, which is just a really huge meme. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM5Bpz9HA5k]
She's got big tits. So what?
Meghan McCain posted a picture of herself on Twitter that, I guess, failed to cover up her tittehs enough. I know, as a young republican, perhaps she should have worn a burkha. The fallout was absurd, with bloggers and commentators calling McCain a “slut,” and the gentlest commentators saying that she was an “ill-advised young woman for posting that photo.” I know that Gail Dines isn’t about to nominate me as “feminist of the year,” but jesus christ. Leave the girl alone. So she’s got tig ol bitties. Wonderful! There’s nothing in the rulebook that says a girl can’t be an outspoken conservative and look hot. It might be different if McCain (either one of them) campaigned on that fake-assed
Did Josef Stalin Rape and Murder a Young Girl in 1990?
Probably not, but I have seen no documents to disprove these charges. On the other hand, Stalin’s grandson filed a defamation suit because people said bad things about his grandpa. How do you say “asshat” in Russian?
Retarded Paparazzi law signed
I’m not shocked that Arnold Schwarzenegger is governor. I’m just surprised that it wasn’t Flori-duh that elected him. The Governator signed an anti-paparazzi bill to permit lawsuits against media outlets if they pay for and make use of photos taken by paparazzi. Brilliant. Since 30 annoying fucking rich people don’t want their picture taken, unless it is on their terms, the rest of us get to watch the First Amendment get whittled down. I got a few words for the whiny celebrities. You rushed to the spotlight. Don’t bitch when it burns your eyes. A better law would have given celebrities immunity from civil suits if they kick the crap out of paparazzi. Or better yet, anyone who buys a
"We did this for the show?"
Douche: (noun): A moron who thinks that a six year old is a good person to rely upon when pulling a national hoax. See also, people who should be punched in the dick again and again for hours. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI6UONWCq7A]
New Rule: When your name is a meme, you've got to be ridiculous.
I honestly had to do some fact checking when I found out that there was someone named Orly Taitz. I really had to check snopes when I saw was a frigging nutbag she is. She filed a lawsuit on behalf of a soldier who didn’t want her representing him, she’s the legal face of the “birther” movement, and after being told to stop filing frivolous claims, she immediately filed a motion for reconsideration. (source) The judge didn’t have much of a sense of humor about it (nor should he have). He slapped her with a $20,000 fine. The judge’s order is fun reading. I dunno, I can think of a few lawyers out there who are just as clueless. Okay,
Cybersquatter gets his Comeuppance
Cybersquatters often either hide offshore, or they claim to be offshore, or they claim that they don’t have any money — ergo they are “judgment proof.” Well, Marc Trachtenberg, the domain law equivalent of Mr. T, just kicked a cybersquatters’s ass. The squatter decided that he would rather not pay the $120,00 judgment. Since he believed that he was outside the reach of the U.S. courts, he just ignored it. Trachtenberg loaded up the van and brought a plan together — he foreclosed on the cybersquatter’s domain name portfolio. Judgment Debtor Luis Zavala (“Zavala”) and any and each of his agents, servants, employees, registrars, registry, and attorneys, and those persons enabling or in active concert or participation with Zavala shall
Noonan v. Staples – the bad law remains, but Noonan Loses
We previously reported on Noonan v. Staples, and the bad appellate decision in that case. It turns out that Mr. Noonan lost his libel case anyhow once it got to the jury. Accordingly, Mr. Noonan left us with a terrible decision but got nothing for his trouble.
Alma Mater Report
University of Massachusetts might get a law school. Meh. At least they are going to possibly acquire an existing unaccredited law school, rather than open yet another one. I think they would do the public a greater service if they acquired it and then bulldozed it, along with three or four other schools. Either that, or let it remain unaccredited (its grads can take the Mass. Bar), and devoted to public interest lawyering only. On the other end of I-95, The University of Florida is tops for lowest tuition for an LLM in Tax. And Georgetown… umm… sent me another alumni donation solicitation letter. When I needed financial aid, those pricks gave me a 9.9% loan. I offer the same
Palinland Hates the First Amendment
I spent a summer in Alaska and loved it. I saw no indication of a people who would be dumb enough to elect Sarah Palin. I guess I didn’t pay attention. There is a prosecutor there who doesn’t care that the Supreme Court has already ruled that non-obscene “child porn” that does not depict real children is protected by the First Amendment. See Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, 535 U.S. 234 (2002). He wants to make it illegal to produce or possess mere cartoons that depict children in sexual activity. (source)
Boston Globe Editorial on U.S. v. Stevens
The Boston Globe’s editorial staff has weighed in on U.S. v. Stevens. No big surprise that a newspaper thinks that we ought to preserve the First Amendment.
