A very reassuring post from Matthew Yglesias on Laura Tyson’s convention discussion of Kerry on trade. Relatedly, see his post at the Prospect’s convention blog (“We still need to know which advisors will have Kerry’s ear if he gets into the White House. So far, most indications I’ve seen indicate that the free traders have […]
Archive | July, 2004
JibJab SoSue:
The pretty funny Bush/Kerry parody with the “This Land Is Your Land”-based lyrics (from JibJab.com) has drawn a complaint from the owners of the “This Land Is Your Land” copyright. The copyright owners have a pretty good case. If JibJab were making fun of the song, then the cartoon would likely be a fair use. […]
Week in the Life of a Defense Attorney:
If you’re a law student interested in practicing criminal law, you should be reading Ken Lammers’ CrimLaw blog. In particular, read the regular “Week in the Life of a Criminal Defense Attorney” posts, where Ken goes day-by-day through his week. There’s a new one up today; check it out.
Deconstructing claims about the Patriot Act:
Over at Marginal Revolution, Alex Tabarrok has a post suggesting that the Patriot Act is a bad law because it has been used to do some dumb things. Here is the post, which was recently Instalinked: Yeah, I feel much safer nowThe USA Patriot Act has so far been used to fine PayPal $10 million […]
Jurisdiction-stripping:
Several people e-mailed me to ask whether HR 3133, which was just passed by the House, is constitutional. The bill would provide that: No court created by Act of Congress shall have any jurisdiction, and the Supreme Court shall have no appellate jurisdiction, to hear or decide any question pertaining to the interpretation of, or […]
Extortion and the Internet:
Newsweek has an interesting story about extortionists threatening to knock down online gambling web sites unless they pay the extortionists a fee to “fix the problem.” (Hat Tip: Vice Squad) This is a small part of a bigger trend; Internet extortion is an international growth business. Thanks to the Internet, anyone located anywhere in the […]
Canada firearms registry story:
This isn’t really news, but I just ran across a seemingly pretty impartial article on this in an impartial magazine (Baseline, which appears to be a business magazine) about this. The subhead (available in the PDF version, which requires registration): A national computerized firearm registry in Canada was supposed to cost taxpayers $2 million. Instead, […]
Spam is annoying,
but so is Spam-blocking software that saves hassle for the recipient at the expense of burdening the sender — especially when the recipient has asked the sender to do him a favor. I just tried to reply to a message that someone at a prominent foundation sent me, asking me for free advice related to […]
NPR’s Scott Simon on Michael Moore:
Michael Moore has won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and may win an Oscar for the kind of work that got Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Jack [Kelley] fired. . . . Some journalists and critics have acted as if his wrenching of facts is no more serious than a movie continuity […]
Max Boot on the CIA:
I’m not sure whether his point is right, but it seems quite plausible, and worth passing along. The whole piece is here, but here’s the opening paragraph: If you want to know what’s wrong with the CIA — and these days who doesn’t? — start with the fact that it’s almost 60 years old. How […]
Prediction:
Ramesh Ponnuru e-mails, referring to Slate’s Kerryisms: What will Slate’s take on the speech Thursday night be? “I accept your nomination. Vote for me for president.” Sounds like par for the course for that column . . . . And, yes, that is what a politician should say if his only goal were to say […]
Libertarianism and Foreign Policy (long):
In my post Libertartarians on War, I raise the question of what Libertarianism as a political philosophy tells us, if anything, about foreign policy apart from the side constraint that individual rights should be respected when pursuing any foreign policy. I noted that my intent was not to debate the war in Iraq but to […]
Man raised by chickens?
Thanks to GeekPress for the pointer.
Death and DVDs:
GeekPress reports: Prosecutors in Alaska have filed the first-ever charge of second-degree murder because the suspect was allegedly watching a DVD while driving his vehicle instead of watching the road, which then led to his striking and killing the driver of another vehicle. The movie he is accused of watching is “Road Trip”. The post […]
It’s a fearsome weapon of war against the capitalists and a valuable trademark:
There really should be nothing inherently odd or amusing about this (hey, business is business) — and yet somehow there is: “We see a great number of products which are named after Kalashnikov, my name,” said Mikhail Kalashnikov, the weapon’s original designer. “They are buying Kalashnikovs from other countries.” Thanks to Dan Gifford for the […]