News & Media
Best… prom… ever…
Wow… just wow… HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Adult performer Dakoda Brookes has a blind date this Saturday at a Los Angeles area high school prom. Brookes, 19, has been set up with an 18-year-old senior named Alex who has never had sex but is bringing a porn star as his date to his school’s biggest event. (source) XBIZ also reports that
Wisconsin Law School Dickeys around with the First Amendment
The latest out of the University of Wisconsin: Sex toy party banned due to someone crying “I’m offended!” I might have expected this out of Texas, but Wisconsin? The Wisconsin Law Students for Reproductive Justice had planned an event called “Sex Toys 101” to promote safe alternatives to sex, educate about sexual health and pleasure, and discuss law concerning sex
Law professor sues his students
Experts watch as professor sues students, Treated like a pariah over false claims of prejudice At first blush, I was about to give the plaintiff an ass-hat award. But, after reading the whole story, I’m more inclined to give it to all parties involved. Professor Richard Peltz, a First Amendment professor at the University of Arkansas appears to have been
One for the "Tort Reformers"
You have got to read this. Turkewitz presents a flawless argument in favor of the American tort system. Punitive Damages: Why America is Different than Europe
Quote of the day
“I think it’s ironic that she charged Gov. Spitzer $2,000 for sex and she wants to charge me 10 million for taking some naked pictures of her.” Girls Gone Wild’s Joe Francis, speaking out about prostitute Ashley Alexandra Dupre’s $10 million lawsuit against him. (source) HT: Wimberly
I BELIEVE tag hits speed bump (rejoice)
It looks like Flori-duh’s latest state-sponsored proselytizing might have “hit a roadblock” (as reported on CNN). The plate design did not make it into a bill sent to Governor Crist on Tuesday. Opponents of the plate said approving it would result in a court challenge because it violated the separation of church and state and gave the appearance the state
Flunkiedom and Mikes Lemonade
Professor Christopher Ratte is a pretty clueless guy. The University of Michigan archeology professor took his son to Comerica park to watch the Detroit Tigers play. Ratte is one of three or four people who haven’t heard of Mikes Hard Lemonade. Ratte is a tenured professor of classical archeology at the University of Michigan, which means that, on a given
"Civil Disobedience Can Start a Revolution"
Scott Greenfield writes one of his most inspiring posts ever — about a gay couple in New York who staged a small act of civil disobedience to try and stare down New York State Senate Majority Leader, Joe Bruno (R-Brunswick). Bruno steadfastly refuses to allow the N.Y. Senate to vote on whether same sex couples should be treated like everyone
Trademark Zombies!!!
Jon Welch reports on a recent GM loss before the TTAB, and reports on an interesting phenomenon — a company that attempts to resurrect abandoned trademarks. See Finding Old “LASALLE” Automobile Mark Abandoned, TTAB Dismisses General Motors’ Opposition for Lack of Priority
Congratulations to George W. Bush!
At least he set some kind of record: Lowest approval rating in the history of the Gallup Poll. USA Today. Here’s what I want to know: Just how abjectly stupid and clueless do you have to be in order to join the 28% of Americans who think that this clown is doing a good job? Hat tip to Quizlaw (which
"Legal Weed" not allowed either…
The International Herald Tribune reports: SACRAMENTO, Calif.: Vaune Dillmann thought the wording on his bottle caps was just a clever play on the name of the Northern California town where he brews his beer — Weed. Federal alcohol regulators thought differently. They have ordered Dillmann to stop selling beer bottles with caps that say “Try Legal Weed.” While reviewing the
Guest Blawgger, Ross Kerr – Is the right to publicity a property right or a publicity right?
A few weeks ago, the District of New Hampshire decided that right of publicity claims were “intellectual property” claims, and thus such claims fell outside Section 230 immunity. See Gimme section 230 shelter – online dating pranks and CDA Immunity. This got me wondering… how would Florida courts look at this issue? I asked my students to analyze it, and
Paul Broun hates our freedom and hates our troops
Forgive the headline, but I just love feeding conservatives neo-cons their own feces. Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga., has proposed H.R. 5821, the so-called “Military Honor and Decency Act” to close a “loophole” in the law that allows nudie magazines to be sold on military bases. Irony alert! If it passes, the people who are fighting the taliban, allegedly to protect
Effective advertising
Warning, this video is likely to be deemed legally obscene in Polk County, Florida. The rest of you watch and laugh. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOXlF1t1ZyI]
A constructive way to deal with offensive anonymous speech
Princeton University students seem to have figured out that the cure for bad speech is good speech, not crybaby censorship or really stupid lawsuits. Maybe they should send Yale the memo. See Fighting Gossip With Graphics
Posner kills PC dead
Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Ill. has a policy that “allows speech in favor of homosexual conduct, but bans speech critical of homosexual conduct,” according to his lawyers. I presume that the policy is a little less radical than that, but nevertheless, we get the point. The school wants to promote diversity, so it prohibits hate speech. A couple
I BELIEVE! (that Edward Bullard is an ass-hat)
State Rep. Ed Bullard (D-Miami) has decided to try and upstage Carey Baker in his quest to be the dumbest legislator in Florida (little do they know that Rhonda Storms has that title locked up). Bullard proposed that Flori-duh become the first state in the union to produce a specialty license tag to explicitly promote a particular (pick your word)
Is Kozinski really that out of touch?
Professor Roger Alford of Pepperdine University recently published a post, Chief Judge Kozinski on the Death of the First Amendment. Either Alford misquoted Kozinski or Kozinski went off the deep end. Alford reports that Kozinski declared that “the First Amendment is dead.” [F]rom my perspective, the essence of his speech was that, in a day when Internet speech is not
Banned in Boston – law books for prisoners
Prison Legal News, a publisher that distributes books dealing with prisoners’ legal rights, has been forced to sue the Massachusetts Department of Corrections for banning its publications from Mass. correctional facilities. The corporation distributed books in Massachusetts prisons until 2003, when a policy was adopted that allowed only approved vendors to send books to prisoners, said Paul Wright, the editor
Lawyer cites cop – I'm with the cop on this one (revised – Humble Pie eaten)
The news and blogs are simmering with the story of Eric Bryant, the Portland, Oregon attorney who saw a cop park his cruiser illegally, and cited the cop with a citizen complaint. “[Officer] Stensgaard walked into the restaurant wearing his police uniform, but did not make any arrests or citations. Instead, he turned his attention to the basketball game on
