Archive | July, 2004

Yes, such a thing is possible, even from a non-tax-lawyer’s perspective — see Calarco v. Commissioner, written by my friend and fellow Kozinski clerk (though he clerked in the mid-80s) Judge Mark Holmes. My favorite item was an excerpt from Gulliver’s Travels, which I read many years ago but had long forgotten: The highest tax […]

Todd Seavey writes: Spider-Man 2 co-writer (and Pulitzer winner) Michael Chabon has certainly written about Jew/superhero parallels before, in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, while director/plotter for the films Sam Raimi was raised Orthodox Jewish . . . . Jesse Lansner also adds (though naturally a superhero’s being created by a Jew doesn’t […]

Marty Lederman (SCOTUSBlog) summarizes yesterday’s order.

Someone asked me — is it a copyright infringement to forward off-list (say, to some friends, or to another discussion list) a message that has been posted to a large (say, 200-member) and open-for-subscription discussion list? Here’s a quick analysis. E-mail, like nearly all writing (including things written on a blackboard or a cocktail napkin, […]

1) Y’know, a speech isn’t any less negative just because the convention organizers leak the information that they’re not allowing any negative speeches– or, for that matter, because the speaker tells us that it’s not negative. 2) … but man, can Bill Clinton make you believe that it does. His speech was hardly if at […]

taking nude pictures of yourself and e-mailing them to your boyfriend is a really really bad idea. (Thanks to The Curmudgeonly Clerk for the link.) Unfortunately, I don’t have time to get into the very interesting legal questions raised by the prosecution, but the Clerk has some thoughts on this that are worth checking out.

is constitutionally protected — signs containing dead fetuses are forbidden. Yup, that’s the First Amendment rule that seems to apply in the Eighth Circuit (Missouri, Minnesota, and some neighboring states). The first part of the rule (that nudity on drive-in movie screens is constitutionally protected) has been well-established since 1975, when the Supreme Court struck […]

“Skunk Misery Road,” in Higganum, Connecticut. (Thanks to the here Hartford Courant; and see here for some more Connecticut road names.) UPDATE: Mark Eckenwiler also points to Toad Suck, Arkansas.

Reader Steve Sturm writes, about the Blakely decision, which is leading many lower courts to strike down the Sentencing Guidelines on constitutional grounds: Today’s WaPo editorial calls for the Supreme Court to interupt their vacation and fix the Blakely mess (their characterization). Can the Court issue rulings without a case on which to rule (I […]

The Canadian government that is, apparently under the same anti-hate-speech laws that some on the Left have urged as good examples for the U.S. Here’s what the Washington Post reports: Last week, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission announced that it had approved al-Jazeera, but required cable and satellite distributors to monitor its programs 24 […]

This is not exactly news, but it’s interesting coming from the paper’s own Public Editor. Some excerpts:   Is the New York Times a liberal newspaper? Of course it is.  . . .  I’ll get to the politics-and-policy issues this fall (I want to watch the campaign coverage before I conclude anything), but for now my concern is […]

Can you waive an argument that your oppponent waived an argument? Apparently so, according to this decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In U.S. v. Delgado-Garcia, the court found that the defendants, who were charged with conspiring and attempting to bring illegal aliens into the country, waived most of the […]

I will admit to not being the biggest fan of organized labor. (Threats against one’s life and one’s family as a child will do that to a guy.) Even setting aside my visceral hostility to unions, I was schocked to come across this report (third item) that John Kerry is now opposed to secret ballots […]

When someone asks the author of Slate‘s Kerryisms “Do you have the time?,” does he just say “Yes” and walk on? If someone else says “Yes, it’s five thirty,” does the author condemn the “it’s five thirty” as a “caveat” or “embellishment”? That’s what it looks like if you read the most recent Kerryism. Larry […]

So Peter Parker is explaining to MJ that he’s just like everyone else after all — she doesn’t yet know he’s Spiderman, but he does — and the line he uses is . . . “Punch me, and I bleed.” Where have we heard that before? Are the writers trying to tell us something? Well, […]