]
] Microsoft, has lost the first round of its legal battle
] over its ownership of the word 'windows'. It was a key
] point in its trademark battle with the Linux distributor
] Lindows.

[ Ah, the pitfalls of choosing a generic word to be your trademark... -k]

Microsoft doesn't own the word 'windows' judge rules

] "I just got out of the hearing. The outcome is Judge
] Wells will be issuing an order within the next week. She
] wanted to take her decision under advisement.
]
] "Some quick observations. Mr. Marriott argued for the
] side of IBM again and Mr. Weiss argued for SCO. Counsel
] were in chambers for 28-30 minutes. IBM stated that SCO
] had not complied with the Judge's order for discovery.
] SCO has said they have and now want their motions
] granted. Darl was not in attendance."

The suspense is killing me!

Judge to Issue Order in a Week: IBM Says SCO Didn't Comply

]
] Since Darl McBride compares SCO to the RIAA, perhaps he
] should take note of something that just happened in the
] current appeal of the Morpheus and Grokster case. One of
] the three judges told the RIAA attorney to stop using
] "abusive language", such as calling file-trading
] "piracy".

Wow!

Judge Tells RIAA Attorney: 'Stop Using Abusive Language, Like Calling File Sharing 'Piracy''

Asked about which party would be better at a number of issues facing the nation, the public said, among other things :
] Controlling government spending:
]
] Democrats 31
] Republicans 33
]
] Dealing with taxes:
]
] Democrats 35%
] Republicans 37
]
] Dealing with foreign policy:
]
] Democrats 29%
] Republicans 43
]
] Promoting strong moral values:
]
] Democrats 23%
] Republicans 45

[ now, my politics are pretty obvious, but even putting that aside, how in gods name can anyone say that the republicans are better at controlling government spending? You may believe that the spending was justified, or even beneficial in the long term (though I don't agree), but you simply cannot say that republicans have been about fiscal restrait... it's simply not true. Also, there's a mild contradiction in this data in which people say that dems would be better at reducing the deficit while at the same time being worse at controlling gov't spending...
As for foreign policy... leaving out any questions of the *justification* of the Iraq war, the handling of it was pretty shoddy. It strikes me as incredible that so many people think the republicans have done well on foreign policy. Aside from telling the rest of the world to fuck off while we prove what massive cojones we have, what FP successes have we had? I guess people like arrogance.
I'll leave the "moral values" part as an exercise, except to say that espousing a set of morals or ideals (particularly religous ones) is not the same as actually living by them.

On the plus side, more prople thought dems would succeed with things like the deficit, environment, health care, energy policy and education. If this race turns out to be about the economy and health care more than the war in Iraq (as the Dem. Primaries seem to indicate) the dems may have a chance, even with Kerry. -k]

Daily Kos || How the parties fare on the issues

] Fast forward to the days before IA: Trippi's "cell phone
] rings. It's his pollster, Paul Maslin, who not only has
] bleak news out of Iowa -- but bleak news out of New
] Hampshire. Trippi hangs up and stares out the window. His
] phone rings again. "WHAT? Aw, fuck. I hate this business.
] This fucking sucks. Okay, thanks." He hangs up. "They're
] robocalling our ones," he moans. "He has just gotten a
] report from the field that Dean "ones" are getting
] bombarded with computer-generated phone calls telling
] them to make sure to caucus for Dean-then giving them the
] wrong address."

[ circumstantial evidence points to John Kerry being the perpetrator of this activity, but of course, there's nothing solid. As far as i've seen this hasn't broken out of the blogs yet, but if it does, and actual proof is found, there's gonna be a fricking shitstorm. There were some seriously filthy politics ("Dean's married to a JEW!" type stuff among the rest) going on in Iowa and NH. Whether it was just some overzealous and misguided tools or an actual campaign remains to be seen. ]-k

Daily Kos || Who is robo-calling against Dean?

Barlow's argument is similar to one I offered Rattle after Iowa: that the Dems have lost the election because doing so is preferable to loosing control of their party to Dean's new infrastructure. Rattle countered that he thought Dean might have intentionally flamed out and is in the process of handing the infrastructure he built off to the old heart of the party. I'm still not sure which one of us is right.

[ both. neither. for one, i don't think the dems have lost anything. i think even john kerry has a shot at beating W. i think, like it or not, the democratic core is being forced to absorb some of the fundamentals that Dean/Trippi brought to bear. It was a case of convergence... blogging was a meme on the edge of expanding into the public conciousness, and i think Dean's catalyzing nature, and the resulting political dialouges, actually helped propel that beyond the brink. DailyKOS was on the cover of USA today last month... that's something. No democratic campaign will be run, from now on, without a blog, online donations, and if they're smart, tools for organizing and mobilizing their support base.
i definitely don't believe dean flamed out on purpose... (or that he's totally out of it yet, though it'd take a miracle). if i thought he was that sort of person, i wouldn't have supported him. I think, despite the eventual outcome, people are going to view his campaign as a turning point in politics... something approaching the actual meaning of grassroots organization. i think commentators will look back and see, certainly, tactical errors, but they will also see a man who raised a hell of a lot of money in little tiny blocks, and that's the kind of "of the people" that i think will continue to be appealing.
perhaps i'm overly hopeful... the party needs to be shaken up after the bush-apologist, spineless, self-serving manner in which it has been run recently. If nothing else, Dean has offered a compelling vision of how it *could* work (even if it doesn't this time) and i think there are enough progressives to make that happen.

as for extracting bulk mind-share from the tv-sphere to the blogosphere... i think it'll happen, eventually, but i wouldn't be comfortable with a prediction. Even online, entrenched interests still wield too much power, too many people are still unwilling to analyze the speech on a blog for themselves, so they turn to CNN who they feel can be implicitly trusted as "right". that'll change, someday, but not soon i think. ]-k

BarlowFriendz: The Counter-Revolution Has Been Televised

This is an interesting exploration of a possible cause for Kerry's rise and dean's fall in the past few weeks, essentially saying that Kerry appeals more to people who were initially for the war, but have since felt misled and unjustified. Dean's "have always been against the war" may be right and admirable in retrospect, but it also makes people feel like morons, and that causes a disconnect. So, those people say, "Well, here's a guy, a Senator even, who got duped just like i did." Kerry makes them feel better about themselves, so he's a more comfortable candidate. I guess i can understand that, but i'd hope that people would vote on elements more substantive than their own past chagrin.

I don't buy the Kerry "Electability" meme either. As many of the posts in the linked thread say, he doesn't have the force of conviction, or the record to back his statements. He *feels* wishy-washy. Ultimately, he's not gonna win any debates against Bush on the war, and i don't think his economic standpoints are catalyzing enough to make a difference. So what are the presidential debates going to be about?

I have a bad feeling that come this time next year, people are gonna be feeling this meme in a bad way :

] Dated Dean
]
] Married Kerry
]
] Woke up with Bush

Daily Kos || Dean and the real buyer's remorse

] Dean needed the Zogby and this SUSA poll to fuel the
] media "Dean is closing in fast" theme. Drudge has it
] splashed all over his homepage. AP and Reuters both have
] big headline stories with the Zogby poll.
]
]
] And whether it's based on reality or not is beside the
] point. Most polls show Kerry comfortably ahead. Zogby and
] SUSA -- two of the least respected polls in polling
] circles (unfairly so, imho) -- may very well be outliers.
] But given the media need for ratings, creating an
] exciting NH photo finish is imperative. And it may be a
] self-fulfilling prophecy. Demoralized Dean supporters are
] newly energized. Voters who tuned out Dean after the
] Rebel Yell may now be willing to give him another look.

we shall see, i guess. maybe the media can help now in roughly equal proportion to the hurt it inflicted last week. doubt it, but every bit helps.

I don't think dean has to win NH to stay in this, but he does need a decent second place... like, within 5 points at most i think. anything outside that and Kerry's meteoric rise will probably continue, and he'll probably get some fundage from those who were holding out to give to the most likely candidate, instead of "wasting" money on the early primary contenders. Dean's still got a lot of cash, and more infrastructure in the Feb 3 states, so a good second in NH should be enough to regain some momentum.

It'll be interesting.

Daily Kos :: NH Poll info

] Dean has not expressed any regrets. "There were 3,500
] screaming kids in that room who'd worked their hearts out
] for me in Iowa, all of them waving an American flag," he
] said. "I thought I owed it to them to buck up their
] spirits and I was pleased that I did."
]
] Goldman said Dean needed to stop explaining himself and
] start tuning in to what America was saying.
]
] "What he needs to do is to start laughing at himself
] instead of defending himself. Americans don't like
] candidates filled with rage," he said.

and that about sums it up. i agree with the satement about how to rebound from this. Don't get overly defensive about it, and maybe even express contrition (not that *I* think it's necessary, but everyone else on the earth seems to think so). Something that indicates he may have been over the top monday night, but that the passion of his campaign shouldn't be used against him. Passion is a good thing, most of the time.

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage

] SCO earlier this month sent a letter to the 535 members
] of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate from
] company President and CEO Darl McBride, raising concerns
] about open-source software and its General Public License
] (GPL), the company confirmed on Wednesday.

Yikes!

[yeah, SCO seems to be totally grasping at straws now. Tomorrow (today maybe?) is the day of reckoning when the court determines if SCO actually complied with the discovery motions as ordered. It seems likely that they have not done so, and that they're due for a serious smackdown. or at least, we'd like to hope that's the case. -k]

SCO Goes to Washington in Linux Battle