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Another Glimmer of Hope: Court Tells FCC Its Rules are Stupid

Though you still can't play George Carlin's "Seven Dirty Words" routine on the radio, you won't get the living shit sued out of you if someone accidentally curses or if one bad word slips by the censors.

We now hold that the FCC’s policy violates the First Amendment because it is unconstitutionally vague, creating a chilling effect that goes far beyond the fleeting expletives at issue here.

Thank fucking god.  The very idea that the FCC could levy a half a million dollar fine against a broadcaster because someone said "shit" is just beyond insanity.  I want my country back, and my country is one that is progressing and improving, not regressing and devolving.

Glimmer of Hope: Orly Taitz Fines Upheld

Appeals court upholds $20,000 in sanctions against birther movement attorney Orly Taitz

California attorney and “birther” proponent Orly Taitz must pay $20,000 in sanctions, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday.
In the two-page decision, the appeals court states that after considering Taitz’ arguments, “we find them unpersuasive and therefore affirm the district court’s sanctions judgment.”
Taitz’ appeal stems from a suit filed on behalf of Capt. Connie Rhodes, who argued in September that Barack Obama’s presidency wasn’t legitimate and that she shouldn’t be deployed. U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land dismissed that suit Sept. 16, telling Taitz that she could face sanctions if she ever again filed a “frivolous” suit in his court. Taitz then filed a motion for emergency stay, and Land gave her two weeks to explain why he shouldn’t sanction her $10,000.

On the deadline, Taitz, who no longer represented the captain, responded with a motion to recuse Land from the case and a request to extend her deadline. Land denied the motions and sanctioned her $20,000. He later ordered the U.S. Attorney’s Office to collect.

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 Here's what I'll never understand:  How can someone as dimwitted and insane as this bat shit crazy woman actually get a law degree?  Is it that easy?  I mean, seriously.  Why the fuck aren't I out there suing Mitch McConnell for being a lizard person?  Why am I not suing pretty much EVERYBODY for not being truly native? 

The McVeighists

I ran into this term being presented as a descriptive of the far-right gun loons: McVeighists. I'll just snag the word's usage from the thread:*

...Makes you wonder if somebody should start the American Security Foundation for Regulating the Militia Well. And we need to start calling them the McVeighists. Posted by Overreach THIS!

...Mercy me! The *REAL* history of militia in Whiskey Rebellion is that a bunch of insurrectionists didn't want to pay a tax. So, like these modern-day McVeighists, they took up arms against the United States government, i.e., a terrorist "militia." The United States used well-regulated troops (*not* seditionist wackaloons) under George Washington, fortunately, to successfully put down the treasonous "militia." ... Posted by Overreach THIS!

The McVeighists is very, very good. As in "There's way right, and then there's McVeigh right."

Or, if that's too subtle: " The McVeighists. Polite society brought to you by the people who blew up a day care center full of kids." Posted by erica

I agree, Erica, that we need to go there. That's who these people are. With their watering the tree of liberty by killing people. Domestic enemy is good, too. Let's try some honesty. "The McVeighists and our other domestic enemies." Posted by Overreach THIS!

*Found in the really excellent comments for this article. Starting with this one (read the whole thread if you have time).

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

I haven't read this book though I applaud the premise which is to use the original text of Pride and Prejudice and adding zombies. Did you know you can't do this kind of thing with Gone With the Wind? The author is long dead but somehow Gone With the Wind is still under full copyright protection.

Copyright law is a farce and must be corrected. Copyright was originally created to protect an author's product for 25 years, a more than reasonable amount of time for the author to produce something else to pay the bills. The very idea that a few distant relatives and a publishing company are still collecting money from the sale of Gone With the Wind is complete and utter lunacy. That book should have gone out of copyright in 1961 but you can still get the living shit sued out of you if you use the print from it in another way.

I've wanted to use Disney songs from the 40's and 50's in my music but this would be a way to insure involuntary payments to Disney Corp. for the rests of my life. Why can't I sample the sounds of my early childhood for music? There is no way I would be hurting any of the musicians or writers that created the soundtrack to Cinderella or Jungle Book but Disney Corp. will hunt you down and murder you (not really, but metaphorically) for even showing an old cartoon as an interlude between acts. If you even suggest the image of Mickey Mouse in a painting they will sue you. They'll probably lose but in the process this corporation can destroy the life of an artist that attempts to stand against them.

It is time to fundamentally change the way we treat corporations in this country. There is no justice or equal treatment under the law if an individual is pitted against a corporation. A corporation, for instance, can afford to string a lawsuit along for decades, just waiting for the litigant to die. And they own our Congress so we're not going to get any help from them. I'm not sure how to fix this other than full on revolution. Which means it's hopeless because Americans don't have the balls to stand up to the status quo.

Ronald Reagan On Torture

Gosh, he thought it was so wrong he signed a treaty against it, making it the law of the land. Who knew Reagan was a weak-kneed liberal?

It's About Us, Not Them

We signed the Geneva Conventions. That makes the Geneva Conventions the law of this land. We signed the international treaty against torture. That makes it the law of this land. We are a nation of laws, right?

I keep hearing the argument that "if our boys had been captured by Al Qaeda they could have expected worse." That is completely beside the point. We decided that we were not going to torture. We made it the law and those that violated that law are criminals.

There is also the (mindbogglingly doubtful) idea that we somehow gained useful information by waterboarding a detainee 183 times in a month. That's not interrogation. It's not questioning. It's torture for the sake of torture.

The techniques recently revealed in the "torture memos" so far are the same as those used by the Khmer Rouge to force confessions out of prisoners. We're supposed to be getting "actionable intelligence" out of these people, not forced confessions of guilt. What kind of evil, drooling idiots order this kind of treatment?

Kop Busters

Proving yet again the endemic corruption and disregard for the Constitution or law of any kind by our nation's police force. The Odessa, Texas police force is apparently driving around scanning houses with infrared calendars which the Supreme Court deemed unconstitutional.

KopBusters rented a house in Odessa, Texas and began growing two small Christmas trees under a grow light similar to those used for growing marijuana. When faced with a suspected marijuana grow, the police usually use illegal FLIR cameras and/or lie on the search warrant affidavit claiming they have probable cause to raid the house. Instead of conducting a proper investigation which usually leads to no probable cause, the Kops lie on the affidavit claiming a confidential informant saw the plants and/or the police could smell marijuana coming from the suspected house.

The trap was set and less than 24 hours later, the Odessa narcotics unit raided the house only to find KopBuster’s attorney waiting under a system of complex gadgetry and spy cameras that streamed online to the KopBuster’s secret mobile office nearby.

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so amazing. here’s why the cops were definitely up to no good: “There was nothing illegal going on the bait house, just two evergreen trees and some grow lamps. There was no probable cause. So a couple of questions come up. First, how did the cops get turned on to the house in the first place? Cooper suspects they were using thermal imaging equipment to detect the grow lamps, a practice the Supreme Court has said is illegal. The second question is, what probable cause did the police put on the affidavit to get a judge to sign off on a search warrant? If there was nothing illegal going on in the house, it’s difficult to conceive of a scenario where either the police or one of their informants didn’t lie to get a warrant.”

this is interesting in part because arguments that police are doing illegal drug raids are usually raised by people who were raided and found to have illegal drugs, who don’t make great spokespeople for why the police shouldn’t be allowed to do this kind of thing. (boingboing)

Thanks to JM for the heads up.

Copywrite and Patent Law

The fabulous radio program On the Media has an excellent segment this week on the patent and copywrite law in this country.

What's Wrong With America: Prison Industrial Complex

We throw people in jail for social problems: Drugs, prostitution, and sex crimes. Those people in prison are forced to do labor that benefits a small group of Republican benefactors. Prison labor undercuts the labor of Americans outside the prison system. Ultimately, we should never profit from our penal system. If society deems it necessary to take someone's freedom, society should pay for that, not profit from it. Anything else begs abuse and I believe our current system of "justice" feeds the giant business that builds, staffs, and fills more and more prisons.

By the way, I believe the same people that are "privatizing" our prison system are the main forces behind attempting to "privatize" our schools.

Art, Nuisance, or DANGER?

You would think that driving an artcar would make you a police magnet, but in my experience and in the experience of almost everyone I've talked to, police won't hassle you just because they feel like, unlike being a black male in a car with big wheels. In Louisville a missing taillight on one of those will get you pulled over by two or more cop cars and a dog will run back and forth over your custom seats while you sit on your hands on the sidewalk. I've seen it happen several times. I've had a few cops ask me questions about my old truck that sported a voodoo theme, but only out of curiosity, and none have done more than give a questioning look at my car. I guess maybe since we're so aware of our extra lights, etc. we go to great lengths to make sure we're also legal.

But in the city of Austin, Texas, a pair of restaurants is up against the LAW for using artcars for planters in front of their shops. They demolished an old car and then had it painted by local artists. They filled it with dirt and planted cactus in it.



I had always thought of Austin as particularly progressive but apparently they have some politicians with sticks up their asses there as well. The restaurants have been repeatedly ticketed for violating a junked car statute. It has worked its way up the courts and is being fought on a First Amendment basis. Good luck to them!