Calblog

Orwell's copyright police state

Check out Sonia Katyal's insightful article on how the biggest threat to privacy rights in the world today stems from the enforcement of overly restrictive intellectual property laws.

Now check out the latest startling developments in that war.

This is an extension of a mind-boggling phenomenon that I witnessed in law school (1996-99). During lectures on Constitutional Law and Evidence, many liberal leaning students would voice objections about invasive surveillance techniques used to fight even the most violent of crimes within poor neighborhoods prone to criminal activities. They claimed that the ends of having less crime did not outweigh the risks of having an all-out police state a la Orwell's 1984.

Yet when these same exact students spoke up in classes for Copyright or Entertainment Law,

there was no amount of privacy or civil liberties that they wouldn't gladly ignore in order to protect the business model of the media companies that they were currently interning at in their legal affairs department.

Question, assuming that there could be reasonable disagreement in terms of balancing interests of privacy vs. law-and-order. What is the first thing that you would think police would use cameras to deter:

A. Murders
B. Rapes
C. Armed Robbery
D. Traffic Infractions
E. Copyright Protections

If you picked D & E, give yourself a prize. That is how sick the priorities of our current legal culture have become.

The priorities of the LAPD are now dictated by big media interests with loads of cash and influence to throw around, just like a bottom-feeding lobbyist in Washington.

[Disclosure # 1: I myself have bought an "unauthorized" copy of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 from the fashion district in downtown L.A. I proudly did it in order to be able to debate the nuances of the film without lining Moore's pockets with more cash. Besides, he said he didn't really mind my doing this.]

[Disclosure # 2: I have long maintained that there is no Constitutional "right of privacy" in any sense of the term except for the specific enumerated rights found in the text. However, I think that some specific and limited forms of privacy rights can be agreed upon by states and passes as legislative policies and laws as long as they are strictly construed and do not conflict with First Amendment freedoms. I don't see any conflict with holding this view and maintaining a stance against police security cameras stationed for the express purpose of enforcing copyright regimens. If someone feels otherwise, I'd be glad to hear their arguments. And yes, I realize that this isn't technically a "privacy" issue since the transactions the cameras are capturing are done in plain view on the public street. But we are talking about privacy in the larger Orwellian "Big Brother" sense here - not the "hidden cameras in the bathroom" sense. One can different views of each notion of privacy in attempting to balance out Free Speech rights and the public good.]

Supreme Court battles - A case of the ends justifying the means?

[ Oops! I managed to have temporarily forgotten my guest blogger password for the Socallawblog where I would normally put this post, so it looks like Calblog will reap a temporary benefit of my wisdom this time around (/playful sarcasm tone off) ]

Despite some wishful thinkers, I continue to maintain that the battle over Supreme Court jurisprudence is lost (regardless of who the future nominees to the Court are).

If we lived in an alternate reality though, Kenneth Anderson has some interesting thoughts about how Constitutional textualists might use the Left's own weapons against them in the legal-culture wars.

Addendum: Although Anderson gives us some good food for thought, he also manages to simultaneously prove my original point when he ultimately confesses, "I think Roe was a bad decision, with spectacularly subpar reasoning, and it would have been better to have left these questions to state legislatures. That said, I regard Roe as settled law..."

Anderson is hardly the only one who feels this way. That is why a textualist revolution in Constitutional Law is a lost cause. (Sorry folks!)

Summer: What I'll Be Watching

As I try to adjust to life after sweeps month, I'm gathering together the premiere dates of the shows that air in the summer months.

My two favorites:

Ghosthunters -- Scifi, July 20 -- I'll never believe they really find anything but the ghosthunters and the matter of fact way they approach it make this show.

Monk -- USA, July 8 -- After a couple of seasons, I thought this show couldn't get better. Then they got rid of the annoying Sharona and I'm loving it all the more.

Other summer runs --

The 4400 -- USA, June 5 -- yes, this Sunday. I'm not sure about this show yet. If there were something else on, I might skip it but it's worth a look to see if any of the promise actually manifests.

Big Brother -- CBS -- Like the 4400, it provides for interesting viewing as long as there's nothing else in competition with it. I am not sure it's back this season though. There was a casting call back in March but CBS has nothing on their site. Even the archive pages for the previous seasons are gone.

Patterico Dafydd says: No Hillary

His bold prediction:

So I don’t think I’m going as far out on a limb as the AW would indicate by predicting that Hillary Rodham Clinton will not be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008. Or ever, for that matter.

He backs it up with good reasons. He doesn't address the one reason I think she will be the nominee: $$$. She already has a huge amount of money and we haven't gotten started yet.

UPDATE: OK, ok, it wasn't Patterico but his guest blogger Dafydd.

More on the French say No

Daily Pundit on the French rejection of the EU constitution:

It matters not one bit whether France, or any other nation, approves the constitution. Even it it were to be unanimously ratified, it cannot work. Never in history has a governing document of this size, scope, and microscopically sculptured controls lasted long enough to yellow the paper it is printed on. Such documents are either ignored or discarded.

Anonymous sources and National Security

In the case of Apple v. Does, the trial court made an exception for disclosure of a reporter's anonymous source because the "online reporters" published trade secrets. Bloggers worried, the Bear Flag League filed an amicus brief, other bloggers filed an amicus brief, and some mainstream news outlets such as the Associated Press filed their amicus brief also.

Some newspapers don't worry. They publish whatever they want using anonymous sources, even if national security may be involved. The Word Unheard discusses a NYT article which discloses CIA operations transporting terror suspect. After giving incredible detail, the NYT does not disclose the name of their source because he signed a secrecy agreement.

"Online reporters" have to defend themselves because they published product information which had the Confidential warning excised but the New York Times is publishing CIA operations and admitting in the article that he had signed a secrecy agreement.

Veterans Historical Plaza

While I'm publishing pictures of movie sets, SoCalPundit is taking far more interesting pictures of The Veterans Historical Plaza Grand Opening.

War of the Worlds set

We went to Universal Studios today. The backlot tour included a crash site from the upcoming movie War of the Worlds. It is the first time I can recall the tour showing something before the movie has been released.

Pictures:

France turns left, even for France

Captain Ed on the No vote on the EU Constitution:

The far left and far right in France are celebrating tonight on the streets of Paris, delighted in their rejection of the sensible market-based reforms that the rest of Europe wants. They may have won the battle, but that victory will only be temporary, and will consign them to second-tier status in Europe from this point forward.

Traffic

There was a Bear Flag brunch yesterday. Flap has pictures and none of me. Yay!

Talk turned,as it often does with bloggers, to traffic. Traffic in the League varies from 50 a day to about 20,000 a day. I don't know how you move from 50 a day to 20,000 a day but there are some tried and true ways of increasing it significantly.

Visiting and linking to other blogs bring the most immediate results. Nothing will bring someone in more quickly than finding your blog on their referrer logs. If you're really ambitious, doing a roundup is like offering free beer. California Mafia and Right on the Left Beach have both taken the plunge recently.

Please Don't Pick Them

Mayor-Elect Villaraigosa has a blog with a link to the online application for staff and commission positions. Several people, instead of (or perhaps in addition to) applying, have made their plea in the comments.

Party Like It's 1905

Common Craft asks:

What would you be doing right now if we were living 100 years ago and the Internet didn’t exist?

TIme Travel Unlikely

So say the experts.

A traversable wormhole could be used for either travel from one point to another, or from one time to another. Unfortunately, according to the paper, quantum effects are necessary for the construction of stable traversable wormholes. This would cause the wormhole to behave unpredictably; you might not know where (or when) you would come out. Wormholes and time machines cannot be both predictable and stable.

/

Baseball jargon

For some reason, yesterday, Calblog husband revived the phrase "hitting shoes." The Pirates had their hitting shoes on. The Angels had their hitting shoes on. I told him I thought that phrase was 100 years old. He didn't think so.

Darned if I can find the origin. Any help would be appreciated.

Buying Exotic Animals

Growing up I had a dog. When I first got married, we had two dogs and a cat. The cat seemed exotic to me.

Over the years, we've had fish, frogs, a turtle, a bunny and the chickens. I like having animals and I was surprised to learn how much I liked the chickens. I started with the idea of one chick. Over the last two years, we have been through eggs and brooders and nesting issues and predator attacks. It's been a unique experience.

So my regular netsurfing has expanded into a variety of exotic animal experiences. Today I came across Anibid, which advertises itself as the only place that allows the auctioning of all kinds of animals. Well, they don't have all kinds available and you have to make sure it's legal to own the animal. Good thing too. I can see the discussion with Calblog husband about that llama I want. As long as there's no llama within reach, he's safe.

John McCain: Media Whore

Once again, we have the senior Senator from Arizona falling all over himself to validate Democratic tactics while maximizing his weekend press profile.

My face will be drawn up in a big toothy grin—fueled by copious amounts of scorn and derision—the day that poser bows out as just another loser in the 2008 primaries.

Back in the day, McCain was a bona fide hero in Vietnam; now he's just a media whore posing—badly—as a United States Senator.

Sunday chickenblogging

We have 6 chickens now at the Calblog house. One's a rooster and has to find a new home before he starts to crow. We'll drive him to Bakersfield and swap him out for another hen.

The Rhode Island Reds are now a year old. Here they are with another rooster that we sent to live in Sacramento. They give us 2 delicious eggs a day.

The 4 newest are below. They're all about 3-4 months old. No eggs yet. Left to right, a black silkie, a Golden Laced Wyandotte, and 3 Easter Eggers. The Easter Egger will eventually lay either a green or blue egg.

I am taking pictures with my Treo now. The image on my laptop screen varies a lot depending on how much light there is otherwise. Let me know how these pictures look to you.

Saturday Night at the Ballgame

We spent the evening at the Angels game with Amanda. Madleine claims to hate baseball and stayed home to have the "house to herself".

The Angels won, 14-1. Since they scored more than 10 runs, we get free wings at Hooters with our ticket today. Amanda is duly appalled that we plan to take her to Hooters.

We got tickets at the last minute and had a better view of the sky at dusk than the game, but the sky view wasn't bad.

These Must be the Last Two

I'm not that old, 40-something (I think it's 43 but I am often wrong), but there's a generation after mine that's become adults now. I remember a lot of things that they weren't alive for.

When I was younger, there were occasional stories of Japanese soldiers holed up in the woods who did not know the war was ended. You'd think, after 20 years, they'd think to ask. Those stories died out.

Until now.

Let the Naming Begin

Bearflaggers Master of None and The Daily Spork are engaged. A la Accidental Verbosity, will they be The Master of Spork or the Daily None?

Open question

Can I install XM radio into my car myself? Answer in the comments. Oh wait, comments are still trashed. Now I know what to do with the night.

UPDATE: Comments are back. There's two hours of my life I'll never have back again. So the new question is:

Is installing XM radio harder or easier than mt-blacklist?

Rosen innocent

NewsMax teased me by saying this trial, of Hillary's former finance director, could derail her 08 presidential bid. However, Rosen was found not guilty.

Russian Lake "Flushed ... Like A Toilet"

"It's pretty scary to even be here. You have to understand, it was like there was a pump somewhere underground. A gaping sinkhole emerged, and everything was flushed down like a toilet ..."

Fight the Future! No information is safe....

Where is Larry Lessig when you need him? Surely he will want to weigh in on this latest outrage.

A federal court has taken the horrible Supreme Court decision in Eldred to its putrid logical conclusion - allowing Congress to take works that have already fallen into the public domain and letting them extend copyright protections in an ex post facto fashion (!!!)

For those of you who make a living performing Shakespeare, please beware. A few rich lobbyists can now take that right away from you by giving monopolies to the Bard's great-great-great-great grandchildren (or whatever media conglomerate that chooses to buy up the rights).

Please God, let them appeal this.

[Note to the plaintiffs' attorneys: Have you considered making the argument of an unconstitutional taking under the 5th Amendment? Admittedly, it would extend the staggeringly inane view that intellectual property is

equivalent to real property. But if authors have a "property right" in their creative works that are copyrighted, then surely my rights in the same property become vested once the work enters the public domain. To take that "property" away from me after the fact without compensation would seem to be a "taking" to me. Just a thought. Not that it will make a difference, mind you. There is no aspect of constitutional law that the legal system will gladly ignore in order to sustain coercive monopolies on information in today's world.]

Out-f***ing-rageous!

Voinovich Pulls An Ed Muskie

George Voinovich: Blubbering ninny. (hat tip Hugh Hewitt Show)

Comments and other MT woes

The comments are trashed. I upgraded to MT 3-something and blacklist needs to be separately upgraded. I paid MT to install the upgrade but they don't install the upgraded blacklist program and that appears to be do it myself. The spam was an immediate flood and I changed over to comment registration but don't seem to have a way for people to register.

I paid MT $60 to do the installation. They encountered an error that they say may cause a problem later but the install is guaranteed for only 7 days. My option is to have a new installation which will take out the entire blog.

I know, I know. Xrlq and SoCal Law Blog told me to use Wordpress. I'd used MT for free for over 2 years now and thought it was time to support the product. Apparently loyalty wasn't the best choice here.

Frisco has a low child population? Inconceivable!

This story about San Francisco's dwindling youth population is no surprise to me. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone really. Having been dealing with San Francisco for the past 3 years I don't know that there is a place in the country more inhospitable to children.

Kids may be "welcome" in words, "It goes to the heart and soul of what I think a city is about — it's about generations, it's about renewal and it's about aspirations," said Newsom, 37. "To me, that's what children represent and that's what families represent and we just can't sit back idly and let it go away," but in actions the city is a pit to live in, looks down on kids, generally opposes family-oriented people, and enacts liberal tax and social policy which tend to be anti-family and anti-growth.

In a number of discussions I've had with people about the imporance of children and family, and new generations, San Franciscans routinely dismiss children and often children are blamed for EVILS such as sprawl, pollution, SUVs. While, Children and Liberalism are not incompatable, they certainly are inhospitable towards each other. That San Francisco might just be starting to notice this, is somewhat astonishing.

FAQ re the Summer Conference

Is it open to everyone?

YES! The 12-1 hour is for League members only to come and say hi to each other. The main event is at 1 pm - food, speakers, etc. do not start until 1 and everyone is invited then.

Who will be there?

The main entry will continue to update the speakers as we confirm them. I have a fair number of maybes but the confirmed speaker list already has enough people that it would be worth the afternoon.

Anyone in office or running for office is invited free. Contact me directly at justenea -at- yahoo.com. It is a good chance for candidates looking to build a base to meet with bloggers.

Bloggers who will attend will be announced closer to the date. I assume people will keep their money in their pocket instead of my pocket for a while more. When space starts getting tight, I will let you know, in a new entry and in an update to the original entry.

Have you thought about . . .?

Maybe but don't assume I have. Ask, suggest, make me an offer I can't refuse. This conference started as a request that brunch be in a new venue.

New insights into old history

Here's a variety of items I've been collecting:

I recently read a fun historical "speculative fiction" book called The Goddess of Sumer. I was interested enough to take advantage of the blogosphere to get an interview with the author. Apparently there are tens of thousands of manuscripts a couple of thousand years older than the Dead Sea Scrolls laying around untranslated with not nearly enough people with the ability to translate them in my lifetime.

An original document written by Archimedes is being recovered with a particle accelerator.

A little but closer to our time is a new blog bringing 1947 LA to life. HT: e-claire

Santorum's Quote

Ugh, I hate the thought of (even minorly) quibbling with a Volokh, but here it goes. Today, Prof. Volokh, posted about Sen. Santorum saying "It's the equivalent of Adolf Hitler in 1942 "I'm in Paris. How dare you invade me. How dare you bomb my city? It's mine." Prof. Volokh proceeds to criticize the equivalence, which I think is not an unfair criticism, making equivalence to mass-murdering dictators is always unwise.

However, Prof. Volokh then says "The precise nature of the equivalence with Hitler, I regret to say, escapes me." I think the precise nature of the equivalence is not with Hitler individually, but would be with any individual who claims protection under a custom which they have abused. The equivalent custom with Hitler is a purported custom not to invade other countries. Hitler having invaded a country now claims protection under this custom not to invade. Note, my impression is that Hitler never claimed such a protection.

Santorum's point I think then is just that claiming the protection of a "redrawn map" is hardly valid after one just redrew the map. Unfortunately, and I think the reason Santorum used Hitler, is how many other invaders are we readily familiar with, I guess he could have said Stalin and Warsaw, or Hirohito and the Philippines, or Milosevic and Kosovo, but all those people were pretty evil in their own right.

Maybe the point is to not make an equivalence with evil people. Which seems fair, but "It's the equivalent of an invader at some point in time after they capture a city saying "I'm in this city. How dare you invade me. How dare you bomb my city? It's mine" doesn't quite have much rhetorical force.

The League Invites You

Preparing for 2006: Bloggers Gaining Access

As the influence of blogs grows, more often bloggers are gathering news directly in addition to commenting on stories from the traditional press. The Bear Flag League is putting together a summer conference on bringing bloggers and newsmakers together.

When: July 17, 2005
1 pm
Special preevent gathering at noon for League Members only

Where: Avery House, Caltech, Pasadena California

Price: $50 includes lunch and midafternoon break

Keynote speaker: Dan Weintraub,
The California Insider

Panels:
Blogs as Part of a Political Campaign
How Blogs Impact Campaigns and Make Policy

Moderated by Scott Schmidt, former Communcations Director, Log Cabin California

Hosted by Calblog, Irish Lass, Local Liberty Blog

Co-hosted by Boi from Troy, The Pirate's Blog

Hosting and co-hosting opportunities still available.

To secure your spot, click the Paypal button or email me.

UPDATES:

The location has been chosen -- Avery House at Caltech.

Confirmed speakers:

Ted Costa, Fair Districts
Allan Hoffenblum, California Targetbook

UPDATE:

Bob Hertzberg, whose blog was the central part of his campaign for LA mayor, will be joining us!

UPDATE: Joseph C. Phillips of the Conservative Brotherhood will be joining us.

EVPs: Fiction is Stranger than Truth

Last night, I heard my first paranormal voice. Was it believable? Sure. Was it impressive? I'm sorry to say it was not. In real life, the dead are apparently as interesting as strangers you might try to talk to on the bus.

To launch the DVD of White Noise, a movie about EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena), Tom and Lisa Butler spoke at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, an historic hotel with a history of ghost stories, about real EVPs.

They are the heads of the American Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena. We heard some of the best recorded examples, heard some samples that had been recorded the night before and, then to top it off, we headed to the Gable-Lombard suite to watch the recording process live.

The hotel itself is gorgeous. With all the events I have attended in Los Angeles, I am surprised I have never been there. Take the photo tour at the website because my Treo pictures do not do it justice. In addition, it has the spooky atmosphere of the Tower of Terror. It alone was worth the trip.

Tom and Lisa Butler look like corporate management. That's what I put in my notes when they walked in. They dressed conservatively in suits. There was none of the atmosphere of New Age mystics burning incense, not that there's anything wrong with that. As it turned out, they had indeed both worked in corporated management in Kansas before turning to this line of work.

They try not to overstate the significance of what they do and they present quite credibly. I am not one for debunking. There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio.

The problem is that EVP simply isn't that impressive. To link the demonstration to a movie in which EVP was very dramatic only diminishes the effect there is. One cannot hear the EVP while it happens. The samples have to be played back and the voices are heard on the playback (which is why we heard samples recorded the night before instead of the samples we watched being recorded.) They are always short, 1.5-2 seconds and 3-4 words long. They have to be amplified. Even with that, according to the Butlers, who don't overplay their hand, only 1 out of every thousand are easily understood.

When we recorded, the room was silent and the voice-activated recorder did not pick up any of the ambient noise. Then one of the Butlers would ask a question and wait. Sure enough, sometimes the recorder light would flash, recording something we could not hear.

We listened to the samples from the night before. The EVP appears out of nowhere. Silence becomes static white noise which sounds like voices. In one, Tom suggested the first word was "John's". They played it and I thought for sure it said "John's voice." For a brief moment, I was surprised at how clear it was. Then other people called out what they heard -- "John's room", "John's looking." The usual confusion about paranormal phenomena returned.

We heard some of the best samples. They were clear enough for everyone. The Butlers have conducted doubleblind experiments with this sort of communication in which they ask the EVPs to repeat phrases and then have someone else listen to the EVP to see what it says and whether it matches. There's enough evidence to accept the truth of EVPs unless you're just not willing to accept anything outside of your experience. I'm Catholic. I believe the bread and wine turns into the Body and Blood. I don't need much proving of voices on tapes.

The disappointment is that even though the best samples are indeed audible, they don't say anything. The best we heard were "It's Frank", "Please don't come", "Where's Mom?" All this work to talk to the dead and that's all they tell us back. The Butlers report that they ask if there is reincarnation and some of the EVPs answer yes and some answer no. The dead don't know any more than we do.

Audio highlights of the event, including the EVPs, are available in MP3 and Windows Media versions.

For more on White Noise, the movie:

The White Noise of EVPs
Movie Review: White Noise
The Duke Watches "White Noise"

The Coming Legal Superstorm Against Bloggers - Exhibit 9

Exhibit 9 in the Coming Legal Superstorm Against Bloggers.

(R-rated warning: Descriptions of Gary Condit-style kinky sex acts described in the above exhibit.)

Exhibit 8 here (with links to other previous exhibits).

Arrested Development is BACK! For Season 3!

In perhaps the most important news of the century Arrested Development is coming back for a 3rd season! This makes my day! Have I said before how great Arrested is? Oh well I guess I have, but see...it really is one of the funniest shows on.

"My brother wasn’t optimistic it could be done, but I didn’t take 'wasn’t optimistic it could be done' for an answer!"

See also here.

What Newsweek Did Wrong

Mark Whitaker, Newsweek's editor:

"Everybody did what they were supposed to do," he said. "We were dealing with a credible source…. We approached officials for comment…. We fully disclosed the whole chain of events so the public could reach its own conclusions," he said.

"I don't see what we did professionally wrong in this case."

The National Enquirer reports what their sources say all the time and has the reputation for being unreliable.

They did it so they could have the story out before the report.

The National Enquirer prides itself on having a story long before anyone else. They give up a little on reliability in exchange for the scoop.

Usually, their sources are correct.

Same with the National Enquirer. Remember the OJ Simpson trial. MSM trailed the National Enquirer all the time and reported what the National Enquirer had learned. It's the few incorrect stories that get all the attention.

Newsweek doesn't pay for information.

I don't know if the National Enquirer does or has to these days either. It doesn't seem to make a difference though.

What Human Sickness

What profound sickness would cause a human being to lament the execution of this monster?

Hat tip to Michele, who chronicles another monster.

High-Def Freeway Chase!

One of the most intense freeway chases that I have seen in some time just happened. Much of it over 100mph. It ended with some of L.A.'s finest taking out an armed and dangerous scumbag off of our streets. Latest reports are that he is still alive after being shot. If so, he should be thanking his lucky stars.

KABC Channel 7 gave great coverage with their new High Definition video cams that allowed them to really zoom in with great detail as the car's tire disintegrated into mush. It really allows them to smoothly zoom tightly inside the car windows with great detail even though the helicopter is flying way above the scene. You could see the driver light up his pipe, try to use his cel phone, and drive 100MPH all at the same time.

High Def video freeway chases are going to be quite intense. I admit to having no shame on this - sign me up for more! Thanks KABC!

The Tyranny of Trademark Law Part 2 (Trademarks and the Internet)

New law review article by Uli Widmaier nails the problem with today's mutant trademark law. It's long, but its a must read for anyone interested in free speech issues.

This is one of those rare law review articles that deserves to be read and quoted at length by the federal judiciary in its trademark opinions. Let's hope it gets some traction.

Hat tip: Trademark blog.

Hilary Rosen's Hypocricy (and why Arianna Huffignton's blogging friends need to get with the program)

Note to Richard Bradley:

Thank you for saving me the time to have to respond to Hilary Rosen's ridiculous blog post. You said exactly what was on my mind (apart from calling Rosen a jack-booted copyright Stalinist. If you want more info on Rosen inspired silliness, check out my previous rants on the tyranny of today's copyright laws).

One quick bit of advice though. If you are going to be a blogger on that new site you contribute to, be sure to LINK to the other blog post you are commenting on. How else will readers even know what you are talking about? Do you expect them to take the time to search the entire Internet for Hillary Rosen's post?

This advice applies to all the novice blogger friends of Ariana: Always try to link to the sources you mention. Linking is the lifeblood of blogging. Links are what make blogs a truly informative medium. Links keep you honest. People want to know that you aren't taking quotes or information out of context when you criticize things.

Without links that allow the reader to educate themselves with primary source documents, you're just another schmuck with an opinion. And trust me, nobody will care. Even if you happen to a freind of Arianna Huffington's. Or rather, especially if you are a friend of Arriana Huffington's....

Bill Maher: A Sick, Sick Individual

Bill Maher has been certifiably despicable for some time, but I had no idea how very sick the guy really was.

(Hat tip Hugh Hewitt, who opines: "Bill Maher: Still Rotten. Still not funny. ...")

Assorted Tidbits of Blog News

Vespa, maker of the scooter, is hiring 4 bloggers but will not controil the blog content.

Law firm sponsored blawgs are the next trend. Pumilia & Adamec, LLP has always sponsored this blawg. See sidebar for their paid for link.

There's now a Buzz Marketing with Blogs for Dummies book.

Ah Doctors...

Aren't you glad that Medicine knows that miracles are impossible. I mean too bad about that whole Schiavo thing right?

Barry 'Roids HazMat Alert

Chris is all over the story.

And if that's not enough, word has it eBay yanked a six-figure al-Qaeda bid on Barry 'Roids' knee juice. :-P

Fare Thee Well

Yesterday, a young private training in preparation for Afghanistan was killed by live fire. Every death is mourned by someone. This death is mourned by DeoDuce. We join her.

You Don't Have to Live Like a Refugee

Taking off and hopping a Greyhound bus has long been a way out of certain unmanageable situations. Sure it is incredibly cruel to those left behind and the world is rife with stories of, for example, children whose fathers just left.

In Georgia though, they think that it is a criminal act that could result in charges. Consider this:

1. The bogus tale of a kidnapping came out after the search costs were incurred, was told to authorities other than those in Georgia, and lasted no more than a few hours in which the authorities did little more than question her about the tale.

2. Nothing she did invited the search. In fact, despite the press attention to cases like this one, dozens and probably hundreds of people disappear every day without a search like this one.

3. It doesn't matter if she knew of the search. Is this the new paradigm: someone goes missing and we launch a highly publicized, rather expensive search so that they either have to reappear or pay the tab? I give it about two weeks before abusive husbands figure out how to game the system to track down their fleeing victims.

I don';t know why Jennifer ran. I am willing to bet that there were several options better than running. However, I think she had every right to go.