] Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is used to taking heat
] from other countries when he goes to the Yasukuni Shrine,
] a century-old war memorial seen by many Asians as a dark
] reminder of Japan's militaristic past. But he got an
] unprecedented rebuke at home on Wednesday, when a court
] ruled he had violated the constitution when he paid his
] respects at the shrine after taking office three years
] ago.
]
] In Japan, peace activists and others have challenged the
] practice on legal grounds, arguing it violates a
] constitutionally mandated separation of religion and state.
]
] On Wednesday a district court in the western city of
] Fukuoka ruled Koizumi had done just that because he
] was deemed to have visited in his capacity as a public
] official, not a private citizen.
]
] Koizumi used his title when he signed the shrine's
] visitors book and arrived at the grounds in a government
] car.

[ Always interesting to take a look at other country's politics as well as our own... -k]

Koizumi Shrine Visit Said Unconstitutional

] The Senate dealt a surprising election-year rebuke on
] Wednesday to the White House goal of new tax cuts as it
] narrowly backed a new rule to require at least 60 votes
] to approve any tax cuts in the next five years.
]
] Four Republican senators %u2014 Lincoln Chafee of Rhode
] Island, John McCain of Arizona and Susan Collins and
] Olympia Snowe, both of Maine %u2014 joined Democrats in
] the 51-to-48 vote.

[ Pretty awesome. -k ]

In Rebuff to Bush, Senate Raises Bar for Tax Cuts

] It is, I think, an elementary principle of copyright law
] that an author has no copyright in ideas but only in his
] expression of them. The law of copyright does not give
] him any monopoly in the use of the ideas with which he
] deals or any property in them, even if they are original.
] His copyright is confined to the literary work in which
] he has expressed them. The ideas are public property, the
] literary work is his own.

[ This is the text of a decision from a Canadian supreme court judge in a copyright infringement matter. There's some good stuff in here... the quote above caught me especially... this is something i think people need to remember. Also, I think the judge's definition of "original" makes sense - the work need not be entirely novel, but it does need to be a non-trivial product of skill and judgement. Even though the law it treats is canadian, and thus, not exactly useful to an american, it's a pretty good read. -k

p.s. ryan, there's a citation to the Emory LJ in there...]

CCH Canadian Ltd. v. Law Society of Upper Canada

[A little hope from Andrew Sullivan's mailbag :

] FROM A SOLDIER IN SPECIAL OPS: "Well ... And so it now
] begins. My more liberal friends told me a day like this
] would come, and now I am forced to eat crow. Words cannot
] express the hurt and anger I feel for the man's blatant
] constitutional and moral attack on a segment of our
] population. And for the still wobbly among us, make no
] mistake ... this is an attack... I realized long ago I am
] (was) a Republican solely for foreign affairs. But that's
] not good enough anymore. I've helped feed the Kurds in
] Northern Iraq, I've slept in the mud and rain to enforce
] peace treaties in eastern Europe, seated in 100 percent
] humidity in southeast Asia, and I dodged too many bullets
] and remote controlled bombs in and around Mosul to count.
] But I gladly did this (and will do it again) to protect
] the rights and liberties of ALL Americans, not just those
] of my family.
]
] I voted for this man ... despite what my family said,
] despite how many times I was smeared because I am African
] American and (was) a Republican, despite his joy in being
] an anti-intellectual ... they warned me, they warned me
] and I didn't listen ... and now I am ashamed of myself.
] By all that I hold Holy it will never happen again!"

-k]

www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily Dish

I was just wondering.

And has anyone seen my little puppy? His name is Compassion, and I can't find him anywhere. I'm afraid he may have been put to sleep, but it's also possible he's being detained as an unlawful combatant. There's really no telling; perhaps I'll never know. Regardless, the grave and gathering danger of unleashed Compassion has been contained. For the moment, anyway.

Put in perspective, this is all for the best, because Compassion felt really out of place in a post-9/11 world. Back in 2000, he was a real v^hgo-getter, but has since become a dog that just couldn't hunt.

I'm thinking a Collie is what I need now ...

What Ever Happened to Being a 'Uniter, not a Divider'?

If the law says that the legal incidents of marriage cannot be conferred upon unmarried couples, then how can this "leave the state legislatures free to make their own choices in defining legal arrangements other than marriage?" These two statements, presented right next to eachother by the NYT, seem mutually exclusive. Either Scott McClellan is out of line in his statement to the press, or Bush is lieing.

[ Actually, the wording is subtle, i think. It doesn't seem to forbid states from passing laws which confer the "status or legal incidents thereof" on gay couples, simply that they can't *requre* that such rights be conferred. In other words it says "No one can categorically define gay couples as equal to straight couples, even if they happen to recieve the same benefits."

To me, it's an equal rights under the law issue, and possibly a church and state issue (since so many people define marriage based on a religious interpretation).

More than both of those things, it's a political issue. Bush wants to guarantee that the polls are filled with riled up ultra religious conservatives this november -- he wants to force the democratic rival into taking the opposing stand so that swing voters turn to Bush over this one, divisive, critical issue (for them). It's so controversial that the economy, Iraq, Bush's service record, the environment, etc. will be page 2 news as much as possible. The only hope is that it gets the left fired up enough to shake off their collective laziness and bring their young asses to the polls instead of sleeping through class. So much wrong in washington right now... -k]

Congress Is Urged to Begin Process to Amend Constitution

[ It may be too late for this, but maybe not... tell Nader you think he should sit this one out (if you agree, of course) -- this link is to a flash movie with some info at the end. -k]

ralphdontrun.net

] President Bush took advantage of the Congressional recess
] today to bypass Senate Democrats and install Alabama's
] attorney general, William H. Pryor, on a federal appeals
] court that oversees three Southern states.
]
] The president named Mr. Pryor, who has gained prominence as an
] outspoken opponent of legalized abortion and as an advocate for a
] greater Christian influence in government, to the United States Court
] of Appeals for the 11th Circuit.

Well, this pisses me off.

There is, at first glance, an extreme hypocrisy in telling the Iraqi governing council that you are a methodist, and that you would like to be able to practice your religion in their country, while on the other hand appointing a fundamentalist from Alabama, whose track record clearly shows that he is opposed to freedom of religion, to a federal appeals court in your own country. The only way to resolve this inconsistency is to accept that Bush doesn't actually believe in freedom of religion. He believes in the propagation of the Christian faith, and he sees freedom of religion in the middle east as a stepping stone toward achieving that goal.

[hear-hear. Someone should tell right wingers that wanting the world to be free from religions other than your own isn't the same as freedom of religion.

and don't get me started on how *not* *at* *all* *christian* most fundamentalist "christians" actually are. If i was into the concept of hell, i'd reckon on there being a special place there for motherfuckers who pay lip service to jesus and then act in greedy, hateful, and inhuman ways that jesus would find deplorable. -k]

Bush Seats Judicial Nominee That Senate Democrats Blocked

] The poll, taken Feb. 16-17, indicates that if the
] election were held today, Kerry would be chosen by 55% of
] likely voters, compared to 43% for Bush. In the last
] polling, Feb. 6-8, Bush held a 49-48 advantage.

Do people prefer the Dems right now simply because they've been seeing them a lot on Television, or is something sustainable going on here?

[ I think it's mostly a media induced bubble that causes the 12% difference, but i think it's realistic that Kerry is favored over Bush as of now. If you look at the approval ratings right now, the very best (for Bush) shows him with a 58/40 Approve/Disapprove... and that's ABC/WP's consistently higher approval numbers. The average i took over 11 polls puts the margin around 9%, with an average of 5% non-commitals. That means Bush is easily in crossover territory given the MOE's. Every one of those polls shows his numbers going DOWN too, so we could be seeing a majority disapproval before long (Zogby, admitedly the most left-leaning of the polls, shows 49/50 right now).

I realize polls can't be the be-all end-all, but i think the bubble is sustainable as long as dems are smart and hammer away on the most critical and indefensible things Bush (and his administration) has done, and quickly move past blustery non-issues. I think W is going to have a very hard time defending his economic stances, and that's where we need to press.

I especially can't wait to see a campaign ad with Bush's "I'm a uniter, not a divider!" line, followed by a few of the choicest examples of just how divided this nation is right now. We must demolish him. -k]

USATODAY.com - Top Democrats lead Bush in poll

] John Kerry lined up the support of campaign dropout
] Wesley Clark on Thursday, hoping to pre-empt any move by
] his remaining Democratic presidential rivals to sneak up
] on him in next week's Wisconsin primary.

[ Well that's that. unless the clark supporters are specifically anti-kerry, or the kerry supporters are specifically anti-clark, this thing is over. At least Clark waited one full day after dropping out before getting in line like a good Democrat drone. -k]

Wesley Clark to endorse Democratic front-runner John Kerry