November 22, 2008
Religious zealots and a few Jews trying to stem the tide of theocracy?
The Texas State Board of Education is thinking about opening the door to teaching creationism in its science classes.
Rabbi Nancy Kasten, of Dallas, said:
Jewish tradition teaches that we serve God through a never-ending process of asking questions and making discoveries about our world … Studying the world using the tools of scientific method…and forming and testing hypotheses, is the way that scientists formulated our current understanding of evolution. This understanding does not conflict with the Jewish view of Creation. While there are still things to discover about how life evolved and continues to evolve, the questions that challenge current understandings are part of the scientific process itself, and should not be categorized as ‘strengths and limitations’ in the interest of raising doubt about widely accepted scientific method and promoting specific religious views. (source)
No Comments » | 
church and state | 
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Posted by marcorandazza
November 21, 2008
Petronius Labs is cooking up a Bob of its own
Seriously, why do you even read
this blog when
Popehat tips you off to awesomness like
THIS.
Ahhh… but fear not dear readers. We will have more awesomeness soon, and then we will CRUSH Popehat! (Ok, just kidding, I wouldn’t want to crush Popehat — we LOVES US Popehat, but the Star Wars Parody got me all worked up).
We are brewing up a new Satyriconista over at Petronius Labs. BOB will be with us soon!
2 Comments | 
blog recommendations, humor | 
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Posted by marcorandazza
November 21, 2008
Darrah, Darrah, Darrah....
Update: Judge John Darrah of the Northern District of Illinois denied Blockshoppers’ motion to dismiss Jones Day’s trademark claims. A quick recap: Blockshopper is a website that reports on real estate transactions. In two reports, Blockshopper deeplinked to two bios of Jones Day’s employees. Jones Day then flipped their shit and filed a five-count trademark complaint. In denying the motion, the Court concludes:
It cannot be said, at this pleadings stage, that Jones Day allegations of confusion are implausible.
Bell Atlantic v. Twombly , cited by Judge Darrah, mandates that some level of substantive sufficiency be present in the complaint. For the life of me, I can’t see anything other than conclusory statements in Jones Day’s complaint. Isn’t this exactly the type of discovery avoidance courts were seeking by moving away from the “no set of facts” standard?
Blockshopper is now faced with an expensive discovery process on a claim that will never fly. Under Jones Day’s analysis (and at least somewhat adopted by Judge Darrah), any deeplinking of a trademark would be trademark infringement.
Even though the ultimate decision will likely not be in their favor, in this case, Jones Day has already won. The losers? Free speech in a digital age.
Earlier coverage by the Satyricon here.
No Comments » | 
First Amendment, ethics, trademark | 
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Posted by Christopher Harbin
November 21, 2008
Baptist minister says that this billboard takes free speech 'too far'
Theists seem to have money to burn — littering our highways with billboards promoting a belief in their magic ghost. However, when the other side of the debate wants to bring its point of view to the marketplace of ideas, the theists wig out.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation put up a billboard in Rancho Cucamonga, California, that said “Imagine No Religion.” The billboard company is now taking down the billboard and refunding the FFRF’s money after the city received more than 90 complaints about the advertisement, according to Rancho Cucamonga Redevelopment Director, Linda Daniels. (source). Daniels is quoted as admitting state action that got the billboard yanked down.
“We contacted the sign company and asked if there was a way to get it removed,” Daniels said. (source)
Whoops.
Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation explained the purpose of the billboard:
“It’s asking people to think,” she said. “We want people to realize you don’t need religion to do good, and that if we didn’t have religion, the world would be less divisive. . . . Think of how many people have been killed in the name of a supernatural being that there has never been any evidence for.” (source)
Judy Rooze, administrator of First Baptist Church of Rancho Cucamonga is quoted as calling the billboard “unsettling.” (source)
“I understand people have freedom of speech, but this is taking it too far,” she said. “It’s very jarring.” (source)
This controversy brings to mind the brilliant line from the movie Quills. When the Marquis De Sade has his writing censored by the local priest, he screams:
Are your convictions so fragile they cannot stand in opposition to mine?
It certainly shows little belief in the strength of one’s superstition religion when one can’t handle a billboard that questions your beliefs.
HT: Jacob Grier via Nobody’s Business
11 Comments | First Amendment, censorship, church and state | Permalink
Posted by marcorandazza
November 21, 2008
Honor the Flag AND buy porn!
Adultland XXX, an adult bookstore in Pulaski Township, Pennsylvania succeeded in its quest to overturn a finding that Adultland violated the Pulaski adult entertainment ordinance by, of all things, remaining open on Flag Day in 2006. See
Boron v. Pulaski Twp., No. 1555 C.D. 2007 (Comm. Ct. PA 2008).
The Pulaski adult entertainment ordinance prohibits “sexually oriented businesses from conducting business on a state recognized holiday.” (Op. at 1). However, the ordinance does not specify what constitutes a “state recognized holiday.” In the absence of such guidance, Police Chief James B. Morris, Jr., suspended Adultland’s business license for being open on Flag Day, a “state recognized holiday,” in violation of Section 18. Apparently Chief Morris’ irony meter was in the shop for repairs.
Since it was Adultland’s second violation of [the ordinance], its license to operate was revoked for twelve months.” (Op. at 2) The first violation was issued in 2005 because Adultland was open on Columbus Day.
The court found that it was unclear what constitutes a “state recognized holiday.” Under one Pennsylvania law, Flag Day is a “holiday,” however so is Arbor Day, as are all Saturdays after 12:00 noon. Additionally, any day “designated for recognition” by the Pennsylvania legislature or even a day proclaimed by the Governor, could also be considered to be “state recognized holidays.”
Following Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 108-109 (1972), the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania wrote, ”an enactment that requires men of common intelligence to guess at its meaning violates due process.” (Op. at 9). Since the ordinance contains such a lack of precision, it was rendered unconstitutionally vague.
HT: Quizlaw
5 Comments | Adult Entertainment Law | Permalink
Posted by marcorandazza
November 21, 2008
In a sad testament to the immediacy of the Internet, 19-year-old Abraham K. Biggs committed suicide live on the web-broadcasting site Justin.tv.
Biggs overdosed on pills while on camera and appeared to be breathing for hours until watchers realized he might be serious, at which point they alerted the police. The video kept running until police and EMTs broke Biggs’ door down and blocked the camera’s view
While this is a disturbing and sad situation, hopefully the knee-jerk censorship goons reel in their impulse to gate the tubes. Hopefully those who watched this poor guy’s last moments know what animals they really are.
No Comments » | First Amendment, internet law | Permalink
Posted by Christopher Harbin
November 21, 2008
Can the Bill of Rights trust this man to honor his oath of office? His past suggests that the answer is a resounding 'no'
Obama’s pick for Attorney General seems to be Eric Holder, a former Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton Administration. AVN’s Mark Kernes
reports that Holder does not have a good track record on First Amendment issues.
In 1998, Holder wrote a memo to all 94 U.S. Attorneys:
“As you are aware within the past few years there has been increasing concern about the distribution of obscenity and child pornography both by traditional purveyors of “adult material” and in particular by those who distribute such material over the Internet. As a result of this unprecedented growth, I wish to remind you of the Department’s policies and priorities in the prosecution of federal obscenity cases… Thus, priority should be given to cases involving large-scale distributors who realize substantial income from multistate operations and cases in which there is evidence of organized crime involvement. However, prosecution of cases involving relatively small distributors can have a deterrent effect and would dispel any notion that obscenity distributors are insulated from prosecution if their operations fail to exceed a predetermined size or if they fragment their business into small-scale operations… In particular, priority also should be given to large-scale distributors of obscenity over the Internet. Because of the nature of the Internet and the availability of agents trained in conducting criminal investigations in cyberspace, investigation and prosecution of Internet obscenity is particularly suitable for federal resources.” (primary source)
Kernes reports that a letter from Holder to Paul McGeady, the founder of Morality in Media, is even more troubling. This letter “references a meeting apparently attended by Holder, McGeady and representatives of various religio-conservative pro-censorship groups:” (source)
“I appreciated having the opportunity to meet with you recently to discuss the prosecution of obscenity cases,” Holder wrote. “Your commitment to this important issue is commendable, and I fully share your concerns about the distribution of obscenity and child pornography, whether it is over the Internet or by more traditional purveyors of such material. I encourage you, and the other organizations with whom I met, to continue working closely with the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section of the Department of Justice as we work aggressively to address this troubling problem. Based on the many insightful comments and observations made by representatives of the various groups who attended our recent meeting, I determined that it was appropriate for me to send a memorandum to all United States Attorneys reminding them of the Department’s policies.” (source - primary source unavailable)
No Comments » | Adult Entertainment Law, First Amendment, censorship, obscenity | Permalink
Posted by marcorandazza
November 21, 2008
Councilwoman Laura Von Harten of Beaufort County, South Carolina is in a little hot water after admitting that she would oppose a Catholic Church’s zoning request due to her opposition to Catholic Church policies.
During a Land Management Committee discussion over whether to allow St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church in greater Bluffton to expand through a zoning change, Von Harten called the Catholic Church policy barring women from serving as priests “an affront to my dignity and all of womankind.” She also objected to the church’s anti-abortion positions.
Von Harten, who doesn’t sit on the committee, said she would oppose the zoning change when it came to the full council because of the church’s positions. (source)
Von Harten later apologized and agreed to abstain from any votes on the zoning issue and admitted that her “personal opinions are obviously going to get in the way of me making a fair decision.”
While South Carolina Catholics have every right to bristle at Von Harten’s statements, we must admire her candor. I frequently see politicians carefully dance around the fact that they are making their decisions based on religious doctrine, yet they will never admit that they are trying to push their governing body toward theocracy. For example, I have yet to hear a Southern Baptist City Councilor abstain from a vote on adult entertainment zoning with the admission that they can’t make a rational or Constitutionally-principled decision because of their personal superstitions.
No Comments » | church and state | Permalink
Posted by marcorandazza
November 21, 2008
Jon Katz reminds us:
Barack Obama did not seem to speak much, if at all, about First Amendment protection during the campaign. However, he did talk repeatedly about change. Mr. Obama, it is time to change the decades long tradition of FCCensorship and prudery. (source)
I think that a great “change” would be to send Kevin Martin and Deborah Taylor Tate to Guantanamo Bay to rot in their own feces for 10 years. That ought to be penance enough for the damage they have done to the Constitution during their tenure as FCC commissioners.
No Comments » | Civil Liberties, censorship, politics | Permalink
Posted by marcorandazza
November 21, 2008
YipYip Martian Waits for his Agent to Call
The PC police have ruined most of our childhood favorites. Bugs Bunny is censored now as “racist,” the Road Runner is “too violent,” and the Cookie Monster eats
celery!
If you are an old fart sitting around wondering, “what is this world coming to when you can’t even show an ACME anvil falling on a coyote’s head”? then you’ll love this:
The 8 Most Underrated Muppets
HT: Bob Berger
3 Comments | culture | Permalink
Posted by marcorandazza
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