G.I. Joe was just a toy, wasn't he?

Wow.... I never knew this.... (oh and Snopes has nothing on this, one way or another..)

ReviewJournal.com - Opinion - VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: G.I. Joe was just a toy, wasn't he? [This Post Continues after the jump...]

The Video Prince Doesn't Want You to See

ABC News: The Video Prince Doesn't Want You to See

THIS is the sort of thing that has to STOP. Prince sung "Let's Go Crazy" and then he actually did go Crazy. The DCMA should make it automatically a crime to falsely demand a take down. But hopefully they will win in their civil case, and win BIG enough to make them think twice before issuing such a bogus take down notice.

If we don't stop things now they will develop technology where your home video camera will "refuse" to record if it hears a copyrighted work being played in the background. You think I'm exaggerating? try connecting a DVD player to your TV/VCR combo set. The TV automatically detects that a "copyrighted DVD" is being played and messes up the picture even if you are just watching it. They prevent you from watching it because it "might" be recorded (as if copying a DVD to VHS is anything anyone would waist there time doing these days..!). Recording devices MUST follow this ridiculous scheme. And the music/movie industry will only increase their control if we let them.

Here's the "offending" video...



more here... [This Post Continues after the jump...]

One in five pregnancies ends in abortion

This is truly a sad statistic...
42 million children killed in 2003 alone...
and 48% of them were "unsafe"...
..........unless your the child in which case 100% of them were "unsafe"....

One in five pregnancies ends in abortion: study [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Muslims Leaders Warn Pope Survival of World is at Stake

Interesting, I'm going to have to read the whole thing.

But Muslims typically portray themselves as victims of religious persecution even when we attack them (like in Iraq and Afghanistan) for other reasons. I hope this letter addresses that America has legitimate issues with groups that happened to be Muslim.

FOXNews.com - Muslims Leaders Warn Pope 'Survival of World' at Stake - International News | News of the World | Middle East News | Europe News [This Post Continues after the jump...]

For RIAA, a black eye comes with the job

Poor Poor RIAA... it's a thankless job..but they actually think someone has to do it...

For RIAA, a black eye comes with the job | CNET News.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]

RIAA wins key victory

It's a sad day when sharing a 99 cent song (From iTunes, and overpriced even at 99 cents) can result in a fine of over $9000. Did 9000 people REALLY download it from her instead of buying it? Would it still be available for download even without her sharing it?

But the useless "middle men" music industry has to protect it's cash cow (while pretending to protect artist and song writers). If it were a real artist sueing the lady I might feel different, but I doubt any artist, song writer, or singer will see a cent of the $220,000 fine she must pay. The lawyers and the "industry" will take it all.

RIAA wins key victory; accused file sharer must pay $220,000 | Tech news blog - CNET News.com


Also

Why the RIAA should have won (though the fine was too high)

Think about the fine for one moment. Did you ever make a "favorites" tape back in high school and give it to some... that'll cost you $9000 per song on the tape. Heck, even loaning the CD would be the same as "making a copyrighted song available" because the person could have copied it to tape.

I think the high fines were meant to be for people that were PROFITING from copyright violation. People that copy CDs and sell them on the street or a flea markets for a few bucks should have a high fine to balance the potential profit. But sharing two CD's worth of songs should not cost you the same as your house. I seriously think she would have a case on appeal that this is an "excessive fine" in violation of the 8th amendment.

Until the digital age, copying something was expensive and would not be done on a large scale unless the copies could be sold. Photocopying an entire book was (and is) more expensive than buying the book itself. Setting up a printing press to run a lot of copies would require a lot of capital, so people doing were probably selling the copies and thus a large fine is reasonable. But today copying is so easy and causal that people do it with no profit motive, so the fine should not be this high. To me copyright law as always been about protecting the right of authors (and only the author) to PROFIT from their works. Anything done without profiting from it should be allowed.

And before you think I'm being silly, realize that according to the RIAA copying your songs from your CD to your MP3 player is copyright violation, so multiply the songs on your iPod by $9000 and see if you think that is an acceptable fine. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Originalism and the Supreme Court

Great Article.... but it's out right scary that Clinton might get to nominate 4 Supreme Court Justices.

The Federalist Society » Publications - Wall Street Journal Op-ed by Steven G. Calabresi [This Post Continues after the jump...]

School Keeps Christmas, Halloween; Adds Ramadan

cbs2chicago.com - School Keeps Christmas, Halloween; Adds Ramadan

This sounds like a good outcome. Freedom OF religion is very different from freedom FROM religion. Many people believe removing all references to religion is somehow "Neutral" it isn't. [This Post Continues after the jump...]

Do we need NASA?

I'm Still reading it, but wanted to post it....

Do we need NASA? | CNET News.com [This Post Continues after the jump...]