More on the below subject from the AP is here.

Massachusetts can continue to perform gay marriages whether people like it or not, So says the First Circuit court of Appeals.

In summation:

"The resolution of the same-sex marriage issue by the
judicial branch of the Massachusetts government, subject to
override by the voters through the state constitutional amendment process, does not plausibly constitute a threat to a republican form of government."

Now I don't meant to nit pick, but this kind of case is a hail mary anyway. It was unlikely (in my opinion) that any court would actually want to get into the middle of a debate like this. In fact, I am surprised that they didn't kick this case on a jurisdictional finding. Go figure.

HoustonChronicle.com - Artist wins copyright suit in Barbie case

Ah the wonders of copyright law...can Barbie, for example, ever get out from under that weight of representing everything that is wrong with American consumerism?

I remember reading somewhere that Barbie was first made so that little girls would have a doll that actually had breasts (though no vagina, apparently). Now little girls can learn that breasts have no nipples, women have waists the size of their neck, and (still the same I am afraid), that women have no vaginas. What they do have, however, is thousands of outfits and vehicles and such.

Tom Forsythe has taken this little collection, and basically created some of that fantastic modern art in which that actual art is secondary to the meaning that is manipulated by the artist. There is an example here. In this photography, Barbie was stuffed in a blender and her hair was messed up. Now exactly what that means is open to discussion, but I think it is part of a general unease about the function of beauty in our society.

So is that trademark infringement? Methinks instead it is part of Mattel’s attempts to keep Barbie out of the news, at least in a negative way. They did the same thing with the “I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world” song (the name of which eludes me). This type of stuff is so clearly parody that it is really embarrassing that they are suing. They need to take a lesson from Hormel, the makers of that wonderful whatever food SPAM. You don’t see them suing over people calling their junk email spam. I don’t recall them suing Monty Python. In fact, they have managed to use certain connotations to their advantage.

In summation, bravo to the courts, and a resounding BAH to Mattel.

By the way, because of a comment by a friend of mine that she has actually tried to read this thing occationally, I think I will start making some sporatic posts.

Big news in Death Penalty stuff.

The New York high court has ruled New York's death penalty unconstitutional.


The US Supreme court has ruled that the limitations imposed last year requiring the death penalty to be imposed only by a jury and not by a judge is not retroactive because it was not a "watershed" rule change.

I am still here, just a little bit busy these days.

As an attorney I have to say, if anyone wants to pay me a 23 million retainer or, better yet, flat fee, I would certainly be willing to accept it.

HoustonChronicle.com - Skilling budgets $23 million for defense

Once again the debate of hit lists (though in this case at least there was not actual murder encouraged) on the internet. One should remind these people who are so full of hate that if a junior high kid was caught in school with such a list, he or she would probably get expelled or sent to jail for terrorism. Maybe the Justice department needs to put a little effort and money into these hate sites.

HoustonChronicle.com - Blacklist of patients who've sued taken off Web

Several of the biggest email providers have banded together to sue some of the biggest spammers. Once again a gorilla is attempting to kill the ants in its cage by pinching their heads off. Of course I say that without knowing what the results of this litigation will be. We may well see s slight drop off of the semi-legitimate activities of the spoofers and spamers if the big boys can nail a few. It will hit equilibrium soon, though, and spam will be back. The way the CAN SPAM act is written, they can pretty much spam at will as long as they don't lie. Still, it does feel good to stick it to some folks, and as a lawyer I have to say we legal-eagles love big long complicated lawsuits at hourly rates.
No, the real answer to spam, and file sharing, and everything else on the Internet is going to be technological and informational change, not litigation. Litigation is slow, computers are fast.
HoustonChronicle.com - Internet providers join forces to sue hundreds of spammers

Edward Kennedy has taken the unusual step of suggesting to the members of the 11th court of appeals that one of them should challenge Pryor's recess appointment sua sponte. While that would certainly be unusual and in my view unlikely, it might bring the problem of Rove's end-around strategy into light much faster. In any case, I pity to parties who must consider raising the issue. Letter

It seems that ENRON was not the only company suspected of manipulating prices. I suppose it is not all that surprising given the climate, but this could bring some interesting things to light. HoustonChronicle.com - Feds to indict Reliant subsidiary

I have discovered that there is actually a converter out there to modify the Atom file into a RSS file. Oh how wise I am.

There are so many new things to learn, especially if you are supposed to become some sort of journalist overnight. For one thing, I can't figure out the whole RSS feed thing, at least not with Blogger. Bah.

So how many blogs would a blog spot blog if a blog spot could spot blogs? Or, in otherwords, how much is an online journal of my thoughts and intrigues if I can't be bothered to actually record them? Well, I think I am going to give it one more try.

The Judiciary of Alabama has removed the Ten Commandments Judge from office. It should probably come as no surprise given the way Roy Moore started his political career. He originally made waves by putting the ten commandments up in his courtroom as a district court judge, and based on the controversy got himself elected to the Supreme Court of Alabama, where at midnight he put up another religious monument. When asked to take it down he said he would not. When told to take it down by a federal court, he essentially said he could not follow the law because it would cause him to go against his campaign promise. He then got about as bad a beat down as I could have imagined. Consider this:

His inferior justices overruled him
He was brought to trial by the ethics commission
He was removed from office because at trial he said he would continue to flaunt the laws of the United States of America.

I can tell you I think Roy Moore is now laughing himself to the bank. He came to Houston a while back and spoke at one of the super-churches (think like you see on TV) where he raised buckets of money. He has become an icon for some of the religious right, while others have pointed out that this is suspiciously similar to idolatry. Now it is widely suggested that he will run for governor or senator.

Let me make a suggestion to the people of Alabama. A man who purposefully and intentionally flaunts the laws of this nation, and subsequently is removed from office because of poor moral character should not be your representative.

The Court of the Judiciary Case No. 33 is here

I know I haven't really started writing in this yet, but I just noticed that my self selected google ads are about fantasy art. I can see that the irony I was going for was clearly lost on the search engine.

This post is now resurecting this blog