Enemy Combatant
Friday, August 22, 2003
Poor Fox News -- so "fair and balanced" -- yet so clueless, evidently, about the reach of the First Amendment . . .
Wednesday, August 13, 2003
This whole Al Franken-Fox News dustup reminds me of Groucho Marx's response to Warner Bros.' threats to enjoin his movie, "A Night In Casablanca" because it incorporated the title to their Bogart-Bacall movie. Here's part of Groucho's letter:
http://www.chillingeffects.org/resource.cgi?ResourceID=31
You claim that you own Casablanca and that no one else can use that name without permission. What about ìWarner Brothersî? Do you own that too? You probably have the right to use the name Warner, but what about the name Brothers? Professionally, we were brothers long before you were. We were touring the sticks as the Marx Brothers when Vitaphone was still a gleam in the inventorís eye, and even before there had been other brothersóthe Smith Brothers; the Brothers Karamazov; Dan Brothers, an outfielder with Detroit; and ìBrother, Can You Spare a Dime?î (This was originally ìBrothers, Can You Spare a Dime?î but this was spreading a dime pretty thin, so they threw out one brother, gave all the money to the other one, and whittled it down to ìBrother, Can You Spare a Dime?î)
Sometimes utter ridicule can provide a pretty thorough legal defense to an ill-advised trademark infringement claim . . .
Tuesday, August 12, 2003
Well, I was commenting to my wife, that the California gubernatorial recall is shaping up to be a circus sideshow, what with the strongman, the midget, the floozy, . . .
. . . everything but the bearded lady.
. . . to which my wife replied, "I guess Arianna waxes."
Monday, August 11, 2003
Goddamn it! This kind of misleading headline really pisses me off:
Poll: Schwarzenegger would beat Davis
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Aug. 10, 2003 †|† LOS ANGELES (AP) -- California voters would take away Gov. Gray Davis' job and give it to actor Arnold Schwarzenegger if the Oct. 7 recall election were held immediately, a poll found Saturday.
What they mean is, if the recall were held today, Gray Davis might not make the 50%-+-one votes he needs to hold his seat. Whereas the Viennese musclehead might pull 20-25% in the circus sideshow free-for-all that will follow.
Which means -- under the new might-makes-right, any-justification-will-do rules the GOP (and, evidently, their corporate media lickspittles) operate under, Ahnuld "beats" the guy with double his votes . . .
. . . sounds like the 2000 election, only more so, doesn't it?
