Dan writes "I have no idea where these thoughts are leading:
Where we have today is the Hands-On Generation. People use technology to control their lives. They use computers to decide what they want to read and where and when. The choices of music -- and the media by which its enjoyed -- is unprecedented. We've moved from once-a-week Don Kirschner's Rock Concert, to MTV, to a choice of daily live rock performance on Letterman or Leno. Cable television, the VCR and DVD have utterly blown up the movie distribution industry. Tivo is already changing the way networks program. Cell phones and pagers let us shift time and place; is it possible to watch an old TV cop show that hinges on someone finding a pay phone without snickering?" ...check the rest at [Over the Edge]
I don't know what he's getting at exactly, but I like the looseness of the ideas. Not every expression has to have round edges and be packaged in child-proof containers. Reading riffs like this sometimes helps me understand the world better for reasons that I can't explain....
5:28:01 PM
"Years before he won his fight against the Pledge of Allegiance in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Michael A. Newdow lost a similar bid in Florida. The 11th Circuit affirmed a Florida district court's 1998 dismissal of Newdow's challenge to the pledge. The district court dismissed his suit for lack of standing and failure to state a cause of action." via [Law.com]
Interesting. Apparently, Newdow sued in Florida, but lacked standing because his daughter wasn't in school (hence the "lack of standing" I suppose). But here are some more interesting facts:
In 1998, Newdow, styling himself "Rev. Dr.," sued President Bill Clinton, Congress, the Broward County School District, and Florida's Congressional delegation to have "under God" removed from the pledge, and to bar the Broward County schools from reciting the pledge until the language was removed. The pledge's language, Newdow claimed, violated both the Free Exercise Clause and the establishment clause of the First Amendment. At the time, Newdow was an ordained minister in the Universal Life Church, which claims that "the true and eternal bonds of righteousness and virtue stem from the reason rather than mythology." That mythology includes "trust in any God."
Oh well, even though it makes Newdow look bad, it is really irrelevant to the ruling. Often, it takes someone out of step with the norm to challenge something that is legally wrong. And like I said, I think that the Pledge ruling is based on established precedent. Let's just see what happens in either the Ninth Circuit (if en banc review is granted), or in the US Supreme Court, if it winds up there.
A self-described 'hactivist' group has claimed victory in a court case against the Ford Motor Company. via [Morons Dot Org]
Apparently the parties agreed to a dismissal of their lawsuit. I don't know more than that, but I pass it along because Linking has been a hot topic lately.
12:24:50 PM
