News & Media
NYT Calls for Obama to Live up to Campaign Promise
Obama hasn’t exactly lived up to all of his campaign promises. In fact, he hasn’t done a whole hell of a lot at all. The New York Times calls him out on his failure to put a brick back in the wall between church and state — a wall that his predecessor spent eight years whacking at it with a biblical jackhammer. President Obama promised in his campaign to preserve President George W. Bush’s faith-based initiative aimed at helping social service programs sponsored by religious organizations win federal grants and contracts. He also promised a vitally important change: groups receiving federal money would no longer be allowed to hire employees on the basis of their religion. The idea was to
Immoral or Scandalous Matter?
by Jason Fischer One of the “peculiarities” of U.S. trademark law is that the government has a stick up its collective ass about recognizing trademarks that may be suggestive of dick-and-fart humor. Section 2 of the Lanham Act (the federal statute that creates trademark rights) provides: No trademark by which the goods of the applicant may be distinguished from the goods of others shall be refused registration on the principal register on account of its nature unless it — (a) Consists of or comprises immoral, deceptive, or scandalous matter . . . . 15 U.S.C. § 1052 (2008). Presumably, you can decide for yourself whether the above image is offensive or (as I did) worthy of a snicker or three.
This is COLUMBUS DAY!!!
This is COLUMBUS DAY. I’d like to invite anyone whose name ends with a vowel (Persians excluded) to raise their hands, extend their middle fingers, and flip off the Native Americans, the hippies, and everyone else in the International Association of Crybabies who has a piss and a moan about Christopher Columbus. This is not “indigenous people’s day,” it is not “la dia de la raza” and it isn’t frigging “wear a beret, listen to Joni Mitchell, and wear patchoulli day.” To the “Native Americans” who have a beef with Columbus Day — suck it. First off, it isn’t as though you sprang from the goddamned earth in Foxwoods. You’re immigrants too. You just wandered across ice to get here.
Pig in a Poke
When the judge tells you “no contact” with another person, that means NO FRIGGIN CONTACT! That includes, not surprisingly, a “facebook poke.” A reason that “Social Networking Sites Suck.“
You can Cheat on your Spouse but NOT on your Taxes
Rephrase: you can probably get away with cheating on your spouse, but the IRS will always catch you. Case in point, Mr. Walter Halby who attempted to reduce his tax liability by claiming medical expense deductions for his patronage of prostitutes. Mr. Halby claimed $100,000 in deductions for payments to prostitutes as necessary treatments for medical conditions (sexual addiction and erectile dysfunction). I’m not a doctor so I won’t comment on whether feeding an addiction is a proper course of treatment for any type of addiction, but Mr. Halby failed to take the “treatment” part of the allowable tax deduction for medical expenses into account. Mr. Halby was never diagnosed with a medical condition that needed treatment, nor did a doctor
One Nation "Under God" in Picture Book Form
This is all kinds of awesome. Use the scroll over function. I found this at Shit Planet. That blog brings us the eternal question, which is more amusing? The Legal Satyricon or watching a guy shove his own balls up his own ass?
Hate Crime Legislation
The Moderate Voice has a thoughtful post on why Hate Crime legislation is wrong-headed.
Asshat of the Day: DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse
Woodhouse said: “The Republican Party has thrown in its lot with the terrorists – the Taliban and Hamas this morning – in criticizing the President for receiving the Nobel Peace prize,” DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse told POLITICO. “Republicans cheered when America failed to land the Olympics and now they are criticizing the President of the United States for receiving the Nobel Peace prize – an award he did not seek but that is nonetheless an honor in which every American can take great pride – unless of course you are the Republican Party. (source) Fuck you, Brad Woodhouse. It was bullshit when the conservatives accused their critics of being “un-American” or “disloyal” and the bullshit smells the same when
It's official… The Nobel Prizes have lost all significance
by Jason Fischer Maybe I’m just too young to realize that it’s always been effed up this way, but when I was a kid, I used to think it meant something to hear that someone had won a Nobel Prize. Now it is clearly just a leftist love fest with no real accomplishment value whatsoever. Congratulations, President Obama, on your meaningless award that you got for playing basketball with the boys in the White House instead of bowling giving the world hope. Great Success!! High Five!!
Interview: Marc Randazza advocates for client sued by Glenn Beck
Marc Randazza speaks to Declaring Independence about the case in which Glenn Beck sued his client for creating the satirical website GlennBeckRapedAndMurderedAYoungGirlIn1990.com. Together, Randazza and host Christopher Wilson discuss that the website is a parody aimed at mocking the commentator’s rhetoric, as well as the nature of the case, in which Beck claimed trademark infringement and called for the website to be shut down. Check out Parts 1 & 2 of the interview below for more. Check out more of Randazza Legal Group in the news.
Free Speech Coalition v. Holder —- 18 U.S.C. § 2257 Delendum Est!
The Free Speech Coalition has filed its long-awaited complaint seeking to have 18 U.S.C. § 2257 declared unconstitutional. The Background – The War on Sex Social conservatives on both the right and left take great delight in attempting to carve out an erotic speech exception to the First Amendment. The far right thinks that their imaginary friend knows what is best for us – and that is that we shouldn’t have access to erotic materials. The far left is just as bad – believing that they know how to bring us to utopia, and banning erotica is a cobblestone in that road. Neither have any respect for the First Amendment. (For a great discussion of the issue of erophobia, see
Not every crucifix should be a thorn in an atheist's eye.
You don’t need to read this blawg for very long to figure out that I, for one, am a rabid atheist. I have little tolerance for those who try and push their superstitious agenda on to others by hijacking the instrumentalities of the state. I am even more concerned about it when it is done by those who want to push a set of superstitions built around a story of a magic space zombie jew. I am a proud member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. But sometimes I just shake my head when I see the cases taken up by my free-thought brothers and sisters. In a current case before the Supreme Court, the ACLU brought a suit against
Buy This Book
I don’t plug products on this blawg very often. However, my little sister wrote a book called Go Tweet Yourself: 365 Reasons Why Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and Other Social Networking Sites Suck. Flip Twitter the bird. Tell Facebook to f#@% off. Lose it on LinkedIn. Somewhere between the advent of Facebook and launching Twitter to the masses, the Internet betrayed us. It allowed pages to be viewed by job interviewers, newsfeeds to be flooded by Aunt Julie, and for constant tweets about what color socks that random girl from the study group is going to wear today. This book is the hilarious reply all that says: enough is enough. We don’t want to see the pictures from your business trip
United States v. Stevens Oral Arguments
From the sounds of the on-the-ground reports I am getting, it seems that United States v. Stevens is looking good for those of us on the side of Free Speech. Only Alito seems skeptical of the free speech arguments. Sotomayor seemed to strongly challenge the government’s position, and Scalia seemed to be reviving his prior free speech theories as articulated in R.A.V. v. City of St. Paul. A great play-by-play of the arguments is here. The Court was hearing argument in United States v. Stevens, a challenge to the law brought by Robert Stevens, who was prosecuted for making dogfighting videos — even though he claimed they were documentaries that did not foster or endorse illegal dogfighting. For Chief Justice
Hysterical Erotophobes Freak Out Over Bikini Clad Baristas
Some people in Clearview, WA are losing their minds over a cafe whose servers wear bikinis at work. “These girls are basically stripping for tips,” pastor and organizer Shahram Hadian told a crowd of about a 100 Tuesday night at the Clearview Foursquare Church. Speakers one after the other recounted experiences with bikini espresso huts and questioned why police and politicians hadn’t done more. One organizer, Terri Stecher, read a long list of invited politicians and wondered why none, with the exception of representatives from the Snohomish County sheriff and County Councilman Mike Cooper’s office, had shown. (source) Funny enough, it sounds like Hadian is getting his fill of jollies watching the show: Hadian also said he is frustrated the
Wrentham, MA Considers Adult Entertainment Zoning Regulations
Its nice to see a reporter get the coverage right: Municipal zoning bylaws may limit such uses, but cities and towns can’t completely prohibit them. A municipality that does not provide certain locations within the community where adult uses may reasonably operate is essentially denying that form of free speech, and they could locate where non-adult businesses, such as retail and restaurants, are allowed to open. (source)
Was a Contract Formed?
Jennifer suggests a cute idea for Halloween. Natalia will go as Tinkerbell. Jennifer will be Wendy. I should be Peter Pan. This is appropriate for many reasons. I laugh and say “yes, that sounds adorable.” Then, I see Jennifer with a grin that seems just a tad over-sized. “God damn it! You are gonna make me wear green tights, aren’t you? No deal,” I said. Two lawyers in the car say “nope, you made a contract. We are witnesses to it. You can’t back out.” I’m not seeing how there could have been detrimental reliance on my gratuitous promise to perform — especially since the span between the acceptance and the repudiation was only about 30 seconds. I need a
The Only Thing on Twitter Worth Reading
Twitter is stupid. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it until it goes the hell away (or at least evolves into something worthwhile). That said, Shit My Dad Says is frigging awesome. Twitter should just shut down all the other twitter accounts and sell ads on this guy’s feed.
Unethical or just plain stupid? A "thin DMCA letter"
Ralph Lauren makes its first stupid move — photoshopping a model so that she looks like something you’d get a blowjob from in Roswell, New Mexico. That’s dumb move number one. So then a few blogs pick up the picture, making fun of it, including BoingBoing. Ralph Lauren then hires an attorney to write this silly DMCA notice. (courtesy of craphound). For the uninitiated, a web host will usually remove something from its servers in response to a DMCA notice. Not this time. Hilarity ensues as BoingBoing’s web host not only refuses to comply, but BoingBoing opens up the Streisand Effect whup ass. [I]nstead of responding to their legal threat by suppressing our criticism of their marketing images, we’re gonna
Sometimes Negativity is Just So Funny
Even when it is directed at me. I simply can’t stop laughing at this comment someone made about me in the Boston Herald: Randazza is well known around the North Shore as a slimy liberal incompetent moonbat home-schooled moron lawyer. Good luck to him. (source) I liked this one too: he has a face that you just want to whip apples at (Randazza that is) (source)
