meta-roj

today, sami omar al-hussayen was acquitted of all terrorism-related patriot-act-based charges by an idaho jury. this is going to be downplayed, i’m sure, but in light of the california ruling from january, the cracks in the patriot act are getting more and more obvious.

perhaps because there are too many underemployed lawyers in texas, ap is reporting that the texas transportation department has sent 23 cease-and-desist letters to companies that use some variation of the “don’t mess with texas” slogan.

Don’t Mess With Our Slogan, Texas Warns

The slogan was created by an Austin advertising firm in 1986, and made its television premiere during the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 1, 1987.

…

The Transportation Department only recently stepped up enforcement to protect its trademark, registered in 2000.

seems like a pretty big gap to me… and what happened to “don’t mess with texas” between 1986 and 2004? lots [that’s “about 19,200” hits at the moment] only “about 1630” of which include litter.

Don’t Mess With Our Slogan, Texas Warns

“The state of Texas has a lot of money invested in the slogan, and we definitely want people to know it’s a litter prevention message, it’s not a macho message,” said Doris Howdeshell, director of the department’s travel division.

um. ok. if you say so.

after a four-year period of study, an institute of medicine panel, done at the request of the federal drug administration (fda) recommends that the fda be given authority and resources to better-regulate dietary supplements.

Barbara Schneeman of the University of California at Davis, chairwoman of the committee quoted in the washington post

Approximately 29,000 dietary supplements are currently available to the American consumer, and while most are safe, questions have been raised about FDA’s resources to identify and address the occasional problem products. In some cases, data on an ingredient’s safety in humans are scant or nonexistent.

on the other hand, the safety of some ingredients is fairly well-established. this, of course, could mean trouble for people that sell fecally-enhanced herbal supplements from canada.

much information on this latest copyright case is available, and worth some attention.

“It is about freeing our culture from unnecessary and harmful regulation.”

filed march 22, professor lessig has some more….

cnn is reporting that all marriages in benton county, oregon are off until the question of who can get married gets a solid answer.

my take has been an “equal protection under law” position, so i appreciate this approach. even if this is just political maneuvering to avoid the firestorm of lawsuits, it’s a bold statement for equality.

[via metafilter]

reuters has it

let the cracks show…

[text below in case the link goes stale]
(more…)

if the law says terrorism is “the intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence the policy, conduct or activities of the government … through intimidation or coercion” (i believe this is from the virginia statute¹ – the one that was invoked in the trials of the “dc snipers”)

what actions of the state fall into this description?

if the death penalty is justified a “deterrent,” does that make it a murder “intended to intimidate the civilian population” – and is the state then a terrorist organization?

i’ve often said that our judicial system is a barely-adequate and absolutely fallable mechanism for determining the facts of a crime, let alone the intent of the parties to that crime. show me a perfect way to read the heart and mind of a criminal, and then i will consider supporting laws based on intent.

if ashcroft can hack the law, so can i….

¹ virginia code § 18.2-46.4

cnn

Comedian Lenny Bruce was granted a posthumous pardon by Gov. George Pataki Tuesday for a nearly 40-year-old obscenity conviction prompted by a foul-mouthed political commentary.

was heard today in 1953

… and remains one of the best examples of government doing unpopular, but important things.

sometimes, we do get a little better than we deserve. sometimes.

this story may be under-reported, or it may be completely irrelevant in the universe.

google’s fighting to keep trademark police out of adwords. they recently lost a case in france on a similar issue. my gut tells me this could be a big deal, but i just don’t know.