23 Jul 2004
Democrats Defend the Republic, Republicans Defend Democracy

The bill (HR 3313) is a blatently unconstitutional attempt to strip the judiciary of it's power to review. It seems that

a parade of conservative Republican speakers lamented the unbridled power of federal judges to thwart majority will

Here's some news for them: that's the whole point of having a Constitutional republic as opposed to an open democracy. It's designed to protect minority rights from the 'will of the majority'.

Didn't these congresscritters take Civics 101 in high school? Did they sleep through the part about seperation of powers?

Do they understand the 'full faith and credit' clause of the Constitution (Article IV)? That's the part that makes us one nation, under god(s) or not, rather than a mere confederation of 50 soverign statelets.

I honestly wonder if they know what they're doing: trying to use their "social conservative" agenda to gut the Constitution and destroy the Republic.

AP - Stung by a Senate setback on gay marriage, Republicans passed legislation in the House Thursday to prevent federal courts from ordering states to recognize same-sex unions sanctioned elsewhere.

(link) [Yahoo! News - Top Stories]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Microsoft Pockets Patent for Encouraging TV Viewing

The latest candidate for stupid patent of the year. Here's the abstract of US Patent # 6,766,524 - 'System and method for encouraging viewers to watch television programs ' :

Described are methods and apparatus for encouraging viewers to pay attention to television programs, commercials in particular, by offering viewers some incentive to watch. In one embodiment, viewers are notified that they can receive frequent-flier miles for answering one or more simple questions at the conclusion of the commercial. To verify that the viewer paid attention to the commercial, the answer to the question may be based on the content of the commercial. A sponsor might ask, for example, that the viewer identify the name of the sponsor or the color of an announcer's shirt. A correct answer indicates that the viewer watched the commercial, and that the viewer is therefore entitled to some reward. For example, viewers who watch the commercial may be entered in a prize drawing, or may receive prize points, such as frequent-flier miles. In other embodiments, viewers may verify that they watched a given program by selecting an icon or pressing a button on a remote control.

Through its WebTV unit, Microsoft was awarded a patent Tuesday for a system and method for encouraging viewers to watch television programs, such as offering viewers frequent-flier miles for identifying the name of a sponsor or the color of an announcer's shirt.

(link) [Slashdot]

00:00 /Copywrongs | 0 comments | permanent link

Court rejects islanders' appeal

I had, of course, heard of the huge air and naval base on Diego Garcia, but was unaware of it's genesis. This is truely a sordid tale.

As described in this background piece, also from the BBC, the US wanted a base in the Indian Ocean without a "population problem". One uninhabited island, Aldabra, was deemed ideal, but was unfortunately the breeding ground of a rare tortoise. So the people of the Chagos, descendents of escaped slaves and Indian Ocean traders who'd lived on the island for several hundred years, were deemed 'transients', and shipped wholesale to various British possessions in the general vicinity.

The turtles were more important than the people.

And a British Court today just nailed the coffin shut: these people are forever forbidden from going home, or even visiting the graves of the ancestors.

I made a comment the other day about 'law' being entirely different than 'justice'. This illustrates that point perfectly.

A group of people exiled from the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia fail in their bid to return to their homeland.

(link) [BBC News | World | UK Edition]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link

Hundreds sue over deadly nightclub fire

Trial lawyers in action: they've sued Anheuser-Busch, the beer company, for the nightclub fire in Rhode Island. They advertised at the show, after all, which means they had to be negligent ...

More than 200 people affected by a devastating nightclub fire sued the state, club owners and a host of other defendants Thursday, alleging that their carelessness and negligence are to blame for 100 deaths and dozens of injuries.

(link) [CNN]

00:00 /Politics | 0 comments | permanent link