Today was a big day in DC for music fans, the entertainment industries, the copyright freedom fighters and also interested lawyers (and law students). This morning, the Supreme Court finally heard oral arguments in the much-publicized Grokster case.
This monsterous catfish fell for the infamous chinese basketball trap. Unable to swallow the ball, this crazy fish held on to it untill a fisherman popped the ball with a knife and pulled it out of the fish’s mouth. Follow this link for more pictures.
Supporters of “clean air” and the Patriot Act will be glad to know that the “academic freedom bill” is not too far away from consideration by the House and Senate.
The proposal is a product of an “Academic Bill of Rights” written by David Horowitz, founder of the conservative think tank Students for Academic Freedom. Horowitz says the legislation is necessary to beat back liberal-leaning faculty at colleges and universities. Read Horowitz’s version of the bill.
Jacqueline Marcus, a teacher of philosophy, illustrates what the bill entails:
… it represents a growing threat against the very foundation of scholarly research. The intended goal of this bill is to portray professors as tyrannical monsters who terrorize Republican-conservative students, rendering them into poor, helpless victims under the authority of those, ah yes, Brutal Liberal Dictators!
Indeed, the phrasing of the bill is comical. It turns the essential meaning of “liberal education” upside down: “leftist totalitarianism” by “dictator professors” in university classrooms. How’s this for an Orwellian twist? The bill is titled “The Academic Freedom Bill of Rights,” sponsored by Rep. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala.
…The intended goal of this bill is to allow students the opportunity to express FOXTV lies or misinformation, and their conservative views, in the classroom without teachers getting in the way. If the teachers challenge their Limbaugh or Hannity views, then the teacher will be sued, tarred & feathered and thrown into prison in the name of “Academic Freedom.”
According to Rep. Baxley, under the bill, instructors teaching evolution will also have to teach creationism if a student requests it. A course on the Holocaust also would have to include a section on the belief held by some that there was never a Holocaust. If the teacher does not teach the material, students can sue the institution and have the support of a state law.
You guys have heard me talking about my affection for Okkervil River before. Next week they’re dropping their new LP Black Sheep Boy . You can go here to download two MP3s from the release. They’re both awesome. It’s reminiscent of Neutral Milk Hotel, Old 97s, and Phantom Planet. And like the latter two of those bands, Okkervil River is a band I like, not one I love. It’s not something to get all worked up about. But, nonetheless, Black Sheep Boy is the second release this year that I’ve actually gotten excited about (the first, EP by the Fiery Furnaces, was fucking amazing, as is everything else they’ve released). If you want some more Okkervil River, go here - “Lady Liberty” is my favorite.
I think that Mohsen probably needs one of these:
FOXBlocker is an innovative new product that filters out the FOX News network. Simply screw the filter into the back of your TV and never be exposed to right wing propaganda again (at least through FOX News). Using a proprietary technology, the FOXBlocker works to filter out FOX News from your cable lineup.
Protect yourself and your family, or send one to a misguided right wing friend.
Priced at JUST $8.95, the FOXBlocker is a wonderful way of telling the advertisers at FOX News that you are no longer interested in being exposed to right wing propaganda.
available at FOXblocker.com.
The last time Beck and The Dust Brothers teamed up we got Odelay. The follow up, Guero, will be here this Tuesday. I’ll get you a review within the week.
Radiohead has started on their 7th album.
Here are the standings heading into the Final Four, based on my arbitrary point system. (You get 1 for correctly choosing a team into the Elite Eight, and 2 for correctly choosing a team into the Final Four. You’ll get 4 for correctly choosing the winners of the Semifinals and 8 for correctly choosing the champion.) Italics indicates you correctly guessed that team to make the Elite Eight. Bold indicates you correctly picked that team to make the Final Four. The number in the parentheses is your score from that pick.
Current Standings:
Murder: 5
Manesh: 10
Marsh: 4
ZLindsey: 8
Tonight, 8:00 eastern, ESPN.
Heat and Suns are battling for the NBA’s best record and the home court advantage tie-breaker if they meet in the finals with the same regular season record.
Picture: Statistically, Marion and Shaq are two of the NBA’s top 4 rebounders.
On Monday, Majority Leader Tom DeLay effectively announced that his morality supersedes the law and even the Constitution. “No legal, constitutional or political argument trumps [the] moral duty of government….”
DeLay said this despite the oath of office he took in which he swore “to support and defend the Constitution” and to “bear true faith and allegiance to the same.”
If, before taking office, DeLay had taken an oath to support and defend his sense of morality and to bear true faith and allegiance to the same, he would be well within his oath. But he didn’t. He took to oath to support a government of laws, not a theocracy.
Is violating your solemny sworn oath of office also moral? I guess this newly fashioned culture of life is more complicated than I realized.
Holy Crap! Check out the vein busting through this guy’s neck! Looks like he’s gettin’ ready to beat some pot-smokin’ blue-state ass.
Ahh, the culture of life.
I haven’t been excited about a network sitcom premiere in probably at least two decades. Yet, tonight, all that changes when
The Office takes center-stage on NBC at 8:30 central. This show should rule. I just saw three episodes of the
British version that it’s based off last night and laughed my arse off. It’s mockumentary at it’s best. I mean, I LOVE mockumentary, and then, when it’s at its best, well, that’s just all the better. Steve Carrell (aka ‘Brick’ in Anchorman) will play the boss (who, by the way, is the biggest douche-bag this world has ever seen) in the Americanized version.
C’mon, men, We all owe it to Brick to watch his new show at least once.
I went to a Sonics game! It was my first pro-basketball game.
Some highlights:
I was almost booted from the arena in the first quarter for poaching my way into a third-row seat at half-court. It was worth it though. The best part was being able to hear teammates bitch each other out after a look-off or a bad shot. Dwight Howard, the Magics 18-year-old stud, was doing most of the bitching. Oh yeah, the Sonics’ girls were pratically giving me a lap dance.
Steve Francis was the most entertaining player to watch, but for bad reasons. Ridnour surely has bruises on his chest from Francis pushing him over and over again. He was constantly bitching at one of the refs. The ref got the last laugh though; he called Francis for a travel on an important play in the fourth quarter. And worst of all, after driving to the basket, missing a tough shot, and not getting a foul call, he kicked a photographer. The NBA only gave him a 3-game suspension and a fine.
As the refs were getting back at Francis, Ray Allen shot the lights out in the second half on his way to 38 points.
Before the game I walked onto the edge of the court and was within arms-length from Grant Hill, Steve Francis, and Ray Allen. The court was so small and even the guards were gigantic. I gave Allen a high-five and told him to win it for me. In the fourth quarter he nailed a three and then pointed to me. Well, maybe not, but still, I had a great time.
Which program do you guys use for RSS reading?
If it’s not better than Jyte, then I don’t want to know about it.
I’ve railed against the Republicans for being unprincipled in the Schiavo matter. That’s not to say, however, that the Democrats are without blame. They were at best just plain absent in the debate and at worst complicit and just as unprincipled as the Republicans in the Schiavo matter.
Why did no Democratic senator vote against the Schiavo bill? The bill was passed by a voice vote in the Senate, without objection. No Democratic senator objected to the Schiavo bill.
Worse yet, why did 47 Democratic representative vote for the Schiavo bill? 102 House Democrats abstained (i.e. they didn’t make it to the vote, in addition to my own Rep. Boozmen) and only 53 voted against.
The Democrats have been spineless, just like they were during the 2004 Presidential elections. And it’s not clear why, considering 63% support removing the feeding tube (only 28% support keeping it in). But this is not a matter of raising your hand to see who favors what. This is about the rule of law. 70% of Americans agree with that (at least, 70% think it inappropriate for Congress to be involved in the state law matter).
Despite the apparent unpopularity of the Schiavo Law, and despite its unprecedented intrusion into states’ rights, I know why the Republicans pushed it through. They’ve figured (and probably correctly) that this will (a) appease their hardcore evangelical base while (b) not upsetting the periphery of the party.
Read the Schaivo Law for yourself. Regardless of the federalism issues, is this what our federal elected representatives should be up to? Note that this is only the third law the 109th Congress has managed to agree on (and note that the second law was also one that gut state law jurisdiction, that in the area of class action lawsuits).
This is why when people ask me what party I’m with, I hesitate to repond. I, like most others I think, have actual, substantive values. The Democrats and the Republicans have only one: poltical expediency.
Okay, that’s my last rant on the Schiavo matter.
Here’s what happens when you apply the ridiculously overly-simplistic Republican party ideology to the Terri Schiavo matter:
“You’re either with us or against us.” Either you support a “culture of life” or you support “terrorism.” Allowing Schaivo to die is “medical terrorism.” There is no two ways about it.
You may, of course, wonder what this culture of life exactly entails.
And here’s the culture you’ll get. Schiavo’s parents have filed a motion to divorce her from her husband. Protesters at the hospice have suggested that the husband should be starved and the judge should be beaten. On the Senate floor, Frist has challenged the husband’s right to make the decision because he has “a girlfriend.” What about the judge’s confidence in the husband’s account of Schiavo’s stated wishes? Unless Schiavo “had specifically written instructions in her hand and with her signature,” scoffs DeLay, “I don’t care what her husband says.” This from an out-of-state congressman who got his legal training in campaign-finance creativity and his medical training in pest control.
Ok, everybody has ‘em. Those sites that you check everyday, even if you’ve only got a few minutes online. Murder’s already given us his:
JttM, Gmail, and the ‘Fork [and Slate]
Here are mine (in order): JttM, LS-Ultimate, Engadget, Gmail, and Slate. Honorable mentions go to Yahoo most emailed, arts and letters, and slashdot.
What are everybody elses (please include a link if it’s not already linked on JttM)?
This Schiavo case has got me unusually worked up. Reading this Slate article made me even angrier. I expect crap from Congress, but the Republicans have been so unprincipled in this matter, that it is nearly intolerable. Despite some people’s misgivings about Slate, if you haven’t already read it, I highly recommend doing so.
Schaivo’s case has been hijacked by politicians with an incoherent agenda. As for Schiavo herself, I cannot imagine a more undignified life and possible death.
Wired has an interesting article on Wikipedia. I’ve been intrigued by this project ever since I first heard about it. When I first clicked that ‘edit this’ link I was both elated and horrified to see that I really could make any changes I wanted and they would take effect without any review, consideration or aproval. I wouldn’t trust an average american to tell me who Dick Cheney is much less to edit his encyclopedia entry!
Read the rest of this entry »
[My (perhaps unhealthy) obsession with FOX News continues in this, the third in the series on new about news.]
Only one news channel takes an otherwise orindary traffic altercation and turns it into a political dispute. Only one news channel casts that dispute in a us-versus-them mentality. Only one: FOX News Channel. [video from Media Matters]
A George Bush bumper sticker “may” have triggered an incident of road rage. Of course, the purported victim “may” have flipped off the purported agressor. And FOX News “may” have fabricated a graphic to simulate the agressor’s handmade sign.
It’s strange that this is news.
When I was first building JttM, I wasn’t sure if it should have catagories. I decided that it might be nice to, for example, use the catagories to find music recomendations. I probably catagorize my posts to less effect than some of you, but I think even when they are well used, they do not appear to serve any real purpose other than amusement. I’m not suggesting that amusement is not a worthy purpose, but typically, blogs have catagories to help organise the content. I’m curious; does anyone actually use them for organization (e.g. do you ever browse JttM by catagory)?
While we’re on the subject of catagories, you may have noticed that this ‘Ask JttM’ post is also filed under ‘Administrative.’ the reason is that I have a second, more administrative question: Should we add or subtract any catagories? I thought about removing the more amusement-oriented catagories (i.e. ‘Cool’ and ‘Scary’). Or maybe adding even more (e.g. ‘Stupid’ or ‘Stoopid’ or ‘Stooopid’). I was thinking that since we seem to discuss computers, mp3 players, etc. there should maybe be a ‘Technology’ or ‘Personal Tech’ catagory. It seems like there should be a ‘Philosophy’ in there but I guess it would go largely unused. Oh and I was thinking of changing ‘Law’ to ‘Jurisprudence’ a la Slate, for erudition purposes. any thoughts?
