] The Supreme Court refused Monday to intervene in a
] lawsuit over the hit song "Rosa Parks" by the
] Grammy-winning musical group OutKast.
]
] The action, taken without comment from the justices,
] means the 90-year-old civil rights figure can go ahead
] with her lawsuit against the band.

not that interesting-- they simply didn't think it was that big of an issue to spend time on. still think she will lose at trial. disclaimer: outkast's lawyer for this case was my professor for copyright.

CNN.com - Supreme Court allows Rosa Parks to sue OutKast - Dec. 8, 2003

] DEAN IN ATLANTA! (34 registered participants)
]
] Fulton County Airport, 39 Aviation Circle
]
] Atlanta, GA
]
] Come meet Governor Howard Dean! Join Georgia for Dean in
] welcoming Howard to Atlanta. Show your support for the
] next President of the United States!
]
] For Directions to Fulton County Airport CLICK HERE
]
] Saturday, December 13, 12:00 PM

Dean for America: Dean in Atlanta

] The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Wednesday over
] whether the federal government should reimburse
] individuals whose sensitive data was disclosed illegally,
] even if no harm can be proven.
]
]
] At issue before the court, according to privacy
] advocates, is how valuable privacy really is.

this'll be a good one to follow

Wired News: How Much Is Privacy Worth?

] Cease and desist letters can make such spurious claims
] and overreaching demands because they are not official
] legal filings and there has been, as yet, little
] accountability for their abuses. Even though recipients
] may have the legal right to engage in the threatened
] activity (in this case the facilitation of free speech),
] those without specialized legal expertise and a solid
] defense fund most non-corporate recipients
] may simply comply with the letter's demands out of
] fear, uncertainty and lack of resources. The Interz0ne
] conference organizers hardly had the time to even react
] to their cease and desist letter, which Blackboard sent
] on the eve of the students scheduled presentation.

A very good analysis. Again, I believe that knowingly sending overboard cease and desist letters should be a crime bearing significant punitive liability. Wealthy entities will continue to chill speech in their interests until this is resolved.

Analysis of the Blackboard Case

] "Judge granted both IBM motions to compel, gave SCO
] thirty days to comply 'with specificity' and suspended
] further discovery. Did not rule on the SCO motion until
] next hearing scheduled for Friday, Jan 23 and 10:00 am.

] So it looks like they have 30 days to finally tell us
] what code they are talking about "with specificity".
] Finally.

GROKLAW: First Report from Grokker Inside Hearing: IBM Wins Both Motions to Compel

] You may recall our post on Monday about a Florida woman
] who was trampled in a mad stampede of people scrambling
] to buy a $30 DVD player at the local Wal-Mart. It was one
] of those stories that perfectly symbolized our nation's
] unhealthy obsession with shopping, right? Well, we might
] be unheathily obsessed with shopping, but there is
] growing evidence that the woman, who is a "frequent
] faller" who has managed to injure herself nine times
] before at various Wal-Marts around Florida, is faking it.
] Over the years she's also filed injury claims against six
] other businesses, as well

Gizmodo : Woman injured in Wal-Mart $30 DVD player stampede might have faked it

Bill O’Reilly had a hard time getting on this list. I mean, if you take away the “wetback” commentary, and the “joke” that a black boys choir was out in the
parking lot stealing hubcaps, and the lawsuit against Al Franken, and the embarassing performance at the C-SPAN Book News conference, and the threatening to beat up the son of a 9/11 victim, and the lying about where he grew up, and the whole Peabody Awards thing, and the false “Fair and Balanced” promise, and the fact that he’s a grade-A asshole that most conservatives don’t like, and the insistence that anyone who doesn’t appear on his show is afraid of him, and the faux-everyman demeanor, and the
continuing jihads against Jesse Jackson, rap music, George Clooney, Al Franken, the United Way, Europe, Hollywood, Bill Moyers, the entire American left, Canada and PepsiCola, AND that he lies constantly about being a conservative...

...well, he still belongs on the list, actually.

Fantastic list. quite funny. references ATHF, Futurama, etc in discusiing these assholes. worth a quick read.

Twenty Most Annoying Conservatives of 2003

] But the key move in the McBride-FUD is his claim that
] proponents of free software and open source software are
] somehow against copyright.
]
] He claims that "GPL is exactly opposite in its effect
] from the 'copyright' laws adopted by the US Congress and
] the European Union"; that "Red Hat has aggressively
] lobbied Congress to eliminate software patents and
] copyrights"; that "the issue is clear: do you support
] copyrights and ownership of intellectual property as
] envisioned by our elected officials in Congress and the
] European Union, or do you support "free" - as in free
] from ownership - intellectual property envisioned by the
] Free Software Foundation, Red Hat and others?"; that "SCO
] argues that the authority of Congress under the U.S.
] Constitution to "promote the Progress of Science and the
] useful arts" inherently includes a profit motive, and
] that protection for this profit motive includes a
] Constitutional dimension"; and that "We believe that the
] "progress of science" is best advanced by vigorously
] protecting the right of authors and inventors to earn a
] profit from their work."
]
] Let's take each of these claims in turn:

Read on. Larry Lessig sure knows how to throw down.

Lawrence Lessig -- attacking darl's 12/4 open letter

] I recently discovered that while it has been (for a
] while) suggested that you open your iPod using a piece of
] plastic, a suitable plastic has been hard to find that
] won't damage the Lucite. The ultimate solution?
]
] Guitar picks! Soft through hard, 3 guitar picks are all
] that are necessary to open an iPod without causing any
] damage to the Lucite.

So, there's a little less to worry about.

iPodlounge | How to open an iPod without scratching it

] In 2000 George W. Bush campaigned across the country
] telling voters: "My opponent trusts government. I trust
] you."
]
] Little wonder that some of his supporters are now
] wondering which candidate won that election.
]
] Federal spending has increased by 23.7 percent since Bush
] took office.

fortunately, 9/11 gave him the justification he'd been praying for. i think the public is starting to tire of that excuse...

The Bush Betrayal (washingtonpost.com)