] U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said the book "Lies
] and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced
] Look at the Right" is a parody protected by
] the First Amendment.
]
] "There are hard cases and there are easy cases," the
] judge said. "This is an easy case. This case is wholly
] without merit, both factually and legally."

Don't you ever wonder if this whole thing was engineered as a publicity stunt? Maybe Franken is in with fox news.

Judge Denies FOX's Injunction

]
] ASHINGTON, July 29 - The Pentagon office that proposed
] spying electronically on Americans to monitor potential
] terrorists has quickly abandoned an idea in which
] anonymous speculators would have bet on forecasting
] terrorist attacks, assassinations and coups in an online
] futures market.
]
] Senator John W. Warner, the Virginia Republican who heads
] the Senate Armed Services Committee, said today that he
] had conferred with the program's director at the
] Pentagon, ``and we mutually agreed that this thing should
] be stopped."

Someone must have read JB's paper...

Pentagon Abandons Plan for Futures Market on Terror

Advertisements are a form of communication, not mere manipulation: they help make sense of the world. ... Discerning knowledge amid the claims and images makes us all cool-hunters in training.

New Encyclopedia Gives Cool-Hunters a Road Map for Ads

] Their legislation, introduced Wednesday, would punish an
] Internet user who shares even a single file without
] permission from a copyright holder with prison terms of
] up to five years and fines of up to $250,000.

Totally asinine.

House proposal targets file swappers | CNET News.com

The tipping point came when Christie Brinkley named her daughter Sailor.

Where Have All the Lisas Gone?

] The reason these net people get away with all kinds of
] stuff is that they work for no one. They put stuff up
] with no restraints. This, of course, is dangerous, but
] it symbolizes what the Internet is becoming.

Becoming?

] The Internet has become a sewer of slander and libel,
] an unpatrolled polluted waterway, where just about
] anything goes. For example, the guy who raped and
] murdered a 10-year old in Massachusetts says he got
] the idea from the NAMBLA Web site that he accessed from
] the Boston public library. The ACLU's defending NAMBLA
] in that civil lawsuit.

Focus on what you will..

] So which is the bigger threat to America? The big
] companies or the criminals at the computer?
] Interesting question.

Just in case you didn't think O'Reilly was an idiot..

FOXNews.com | O'Really??

jessica wrote:
] Elonka wrote:
] ] jessica wrote:
] ] ] Rattle wrote:
] ] ] ] jessica wrote:
] ] ] ] ] "When cryptography is outlawed only outlaws will have
] ] ] ] privacy"
] ] ] ]
] ] ] ] Lbh ner fb frkl jura lbh'er genafyngvat EBG13.
] ] ]
] ] ] Now you're just making stuff up...
] ] ]
] ] ]
] ] ] Update: *blush* he thinks i'm sexy :)
] ]
] ] Cffg, vg'f abg whfg gur pelcgb (ur arire guvaxf *V'z* frkl
] ] jura V'z penpxvat fghss) (grin)
]
] :) lbh'er evtug, ur gubhtg v jnf frkl ybat orsber v yrnearq gb
] penpx pbqr. :)

Sigh... I guess it could be worse. You folks could be having a thread in Klingon.

MemeStreams gets taken over by leet hax0r d00des.

flynn23 wrote:
] Decius wrote:
] ] This is a complete Super-DMCA page with the text of the laws
]
] ] in various states and detailed information. Who can fight
] this
] ] in Tennessee??
]
] There is currently an effort underway to combat this bill. You
] can find much more information at www.tndigitalfreedom.org
]
] also, there is a meeting on Saturday, April 26th at my house
] to help organize our efforts. Info is available here:
] http://tonyc.com/digitalforum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=20
]
] Feel free to come and bring your concerned friends.

Thank you! You guys kick ass!

RE: Freedom to Tinker: Status of State Super-DMCA Bills

Surely Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) knew this, which explains why he cannily sneaked his own, completely unrelated legislation into the AMBER Act just two days before the vote. Piggybacked onto the act was the Anti-Drug Proliferation Act, a thinly veiled rewrite of legislation that had proved so controversial in 2002 that it failed to pass a single congressional committee. Now, club owners and partyers alike are being subjected to a loosely worded and heavy-handed law that authorities will be able to indiscriminately use to shut down music events at any time they please, assuming they find evidence of drug use. Thanks to Biden's surreptitious efforts, a few glow sticks and a customer or two on Ecstasy could be all it takes to throw a party promoter in jail for 20 years.

Your glow stick could land you in jail

Jeremy wrote:
] Paul Berman writes for the New York Times Magazine on Sayyid
] Qutb.
]
] This is some rather deep reading for a Sunday
] afternoon.

So, the problem with this philosophy is obvious, and I mentioned this to you when I met with you in Boston, and I considered writing about this to the English newspaper in Malaysia when they printed an editorial along these lines when I was there. (I still wonder if that wouldn't have been a good idea.)

When you put God and the king in the same chair the result must be despotism. Because you cannot question God. To question God is to commit heresy. And if God is the king, then you cannot question the king, and so the king may do anything that he wants, and there is nothing that you can do about it, lest you be branded a heretic. It is patently naieve to think that the disciplines of Islam will keep leaders from taking liberties. We have, at this late stage of the game, loads and loads of real experience running states like this and we know exactly what happens. THIS is the lesson of human history, these people are quite correct that you cannot build a philosophy which ignores human nature.

Of course, Mcluhan is the only person that I know of who has ever provided a justification for the duality of western society. Religion, he said, acts as a buffer for progress, as progress is disruptive and therefore tends to be painful for people who lag behind. The duality moves things forward at a pace that people can manage.

That having been said, Empires, no matter how benevolent in their intentions, always end in despotism as well. The problem with empires aren't taxes levied nor can I honestly even reconcile the concept of social self-determination with the idea of forcing people to have a liberal democracy even if they don't want it. The problem is that if the king has overwhelming force, you cannot question the king, lest you wind up dead. Eventually, the king always takes liberties with this power. THIS is the lesson of human history. We have, at this late stage of the game, loads and loads of real experience running states like this and we know exactly what happens. If you can force them to have a liberal democracy you can force them to do all kinds of things. Social self-determination means they aren't being forced.

The "neo-conservatives" as they are now being called, much like the radical Islamists, have allowed their self confidence and conviction to blind them to their flaws.

I continue to feel like I'm standing between poles that I cannot align myself with. I've yet to find anyone in this mess who represents what I would consider a solution that will not end in a bloodbath. Northern Canada is sounding like a nicer destination every day.

RE: The Philosopher of Islamic Terror