News & Media
Times Online on Domaining
If you type in “debts.com” for example, you get a site filled with nothing but paid links to other sites. Presumably, this is not what someone going to that page is looking for, but it’s a nice business for the domain owner. It seems peculiar and unjust that so much money could be made by taking advantage of people’s clumsiness
Fox News Porn – Fair Use Orgy!
This is going to be a fun election for intellectual property wonks. We’ve already seen the Clash of the Anti-Hillaristas! Now, Fox News finds itself in a fair use maelstrom. In an effort to criticize the network that brought us eight years of darkness, an anonymous webmaster has created the Fox News Porn website. Apparently the webmaster has detected higher
Obscenity Scholarship
Clay Calvert and Robert Richards call for an end to the obscenity laws.
Land of the Free?
Underdog Blog reports on journalists that the U.S. is holding in captivity.
A good reason to vote for McCain
I’m not sure that I would vote for McCain, but he just got a big boost in the “worthy of the office” department. McCain said that he would never use signing statements. “Never, never, never, never. If I disagree with a law that passed, I’ll veto it.” President Bush has been criticized for frequently using signing statements as he signs
New Hampshire Bill Would Decriminalize Marijuana Possession
The Boston Globe reports that two N.H. state reps have proposed legislation to decriminalize the possession of marijuana in the Granite State. The bill, which is expected to be voted on by the House next month, would make the possession of such quantities a civil violation that would carry a $200 fine instead of a criminal misdemeanor that could result
Ed Stross – Michigan Mural Case Update
I posted on the Ed Stross mural case last night, but hadn’t yet located the decision. Now that I have reviewed it, here is my full analysis. In 2005, artist Ed Stross painted a mural on the outside of his studio that has been described as “a take on Michelangelo’s ‘Creation of Man.’ It depicted Eve with a bare breast
Happy Birthday Janelle
Janelle in Emerald Isle, NC Originally uploaded by jandazza If anyone thinks that I am sarcastic, snarky, funny, witty, or talented at all… ok, fine, maybe that is like 3 people… The point is, I am only version 1.0. My little sister has taken every positive trait I have and improved upon it. She is a brilliant photographer, (More of
While you were diving…
Wow. All I can say is that I was 50 feet below the surface of the ocean on a diving trip in Cabo when this gem broke: State education officials voted to add evolution to the required course work in public schools, but only after a last-minute change depicting Darwin’s seminal work as merely a theory. Bending to pressure from
Baldwin, Florida – Another Day, Another Peckerwood Town Passes Another Dumb Law
A town that is probably a poster-zone for the Mullets Galore website don’t seem to have no cause to be tellin’ nobody how to dress. Nevertheless, Baldwin, Florida is the latest racist peckerwood town to waste its time passing an unconstitutional law against them damn kids and their baggy pants. St. Pete Times story. The new law in this little
No Phat Pink Chicks Blog Prevails
A little cat-fight exploded into a blog-spat, then a lawsuit, which has finally ended with a lesson in First Amendment rights. Reporter, Christy Lochrie filed suit against her former friend, Beth Norby. Norbry’s blog, “No Phat Pink Chicks” has been described as a “scathingly critical blog” aimed at Lochrie. (source). [judge] Gibson denied Lochrie’s plea that Norby stay away from
Campaign finance law and a Daytona strip club
Orlando Sentinel Reports: Sean L. Bishop, 41, is being tried this week on a felony charge and a misdemeanor charge that he had funneled $1,500 through other people to fund the campaigns of City Commissioner Shiela McKay-Vaughan and candidate Paul Zimmerman. The felony is punishable by up to five years in prison. Bishop has pleaded not guilty. The trial, before
Jail time for mural improper – Ed Stross wins!
This posting has been updated here.
Dad wants to cut your penis
Wow… I thought that me and my dad had some blowout fights when I was an adolescent. The guy was so unreasonable. He wanted me to mow the lawn, take out the trash, and go to school. Every male knows the scene — you hit adolescence and decide that in some form, you should challenge the silverback for dominance of
Wikileaks shut down
A federal judge issued an order shutting down the wikileaks.com website. The judge’s order came in a case brought by a Cayman Islands bank which contends in court filings that stolen documents have been provided to Wikileaks by “a disgruntled ex-employee who has engaged in a harassment and terror campaign,” violating both a confidentiality agreement and banking law. The judge
How about a fun option?
David Brooks wrote, in the Atlantic Monthly, about how “the revival of blatant sexism in American culture has many progressive thinkers flummoxed,” in his work “The Return of the Pig.” He rails from a male-feminist perspective against rap music, Maxim magazine, and any other pop culture ox that he can gore. But, his thesis boils down to this: It is
Liberty
“Liberty—the freedom from unwarranted intrusion by government—is as easily lost through insistent nibbles by government officials who seek to do their jobs too well as by those whose purpose it is to oppress; the piranha can be as deadly as the shark.” —United States v. $124,570, 873 F.2d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir. 1989)
Legal issues for "tube sites"
See Lawrence G. Walters, User Generated Content Sites.
A David and Goliath Trademark Battle
I see it all the time. Well-funded trademark bully starts pounding on small business. Small business, if it resists at all, eventually breaks financially. Unethical lawyer on bully’s side goes home and tells his or her kids something about morality, yet fails to choke on the irony. I’m not certain that this case falls into that category, but it might.
On the Northern Illinois Shootings and Compassion
I don’t really write about violence and criminal issues that much, so I’ll defer to Jon Katz’ Underdog Blog on Steven Kazmierczak and the shootings at Northern Illinois University. The most moving part of his post is this: The most powerful way to reduce violence in society is for each person to reach out to others in need. Otherwise, rampant
