Daily Nonsense

• LA Times:  No ban on Sarah Palin drag queens in West Hollywood
• The Harvard Crimson: Law Professor Takes on RIAA
• NPR: The Missed Opportunity Of Sarah Palin
• The Johannesburg Times: We can’t be complacent
• Nolan Chart: Scientologists Assaulting Human Rights Activists
• Wired News:  Obama’s Secret Weapons: Internet, Databases and Psychology 
• Chicago Sun Times: 1 MIL. Early Voters? | ‘I would wait much longer for Obama’

I would have liked to think that McCain, an obvious supporter of Bush and all of his failed policies, could never have had a real chance at the White House.  I would have thought that almost any Democratic candidate could have run, and won.

But poll numbers in the weeks immediately after the Republican National Convention were proving me wrong.  America was being dazzled by the pretty face.  But couldn’t they see the rotten core that pretty face was hiding?

Apparently America has come to her senses.  Uncommitted voters, Hillary-centric Democrats who abandoned ship after the Democratic National Convention and many, many Republicans have started realizing just what an evil, petty and unqualified candidate Palin is.

And not a moment too soon.  As long as the Bush, Cheney, Mukasey triumvirate of evil doesn’t get its way in Ohio, we still have a chance.

Growing Doubts on Palin Take a Toll, Poll Finds

By MICHAEL COOPER and DALIA SUSSMAN
Published: October 30, 2008

A growing number of voters have concluded that Senator John McCain’s running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, is not qualified to be vice president, weighing down the Republican ticket in the last days of the campaign, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

All told, 59 percent of voters surveyed said Ms. Palin was not prepared for the job, up nine percentage points since the beginning of the month. Nearly a third of voters polled said the vice-presidential selection would be a major factor influencing their vote for president, and those voters broadly favor Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee.

And in a possible indication that the choice of Ms. Palin has hurt Mr. McCain’s image, voters said they had much more confidence in Mr. Obama to pick qualified people for his administration than they did in Mr. McCain.

After nearly two years of campaigning, a pair of hotly contested nominating battles, a series of debates and an avalanche of advertisements, the nationwide poll found the contours of the race hardening in the last days before the election on Tuesday. Twelve percent of the voters surveyed said they had already voted. These were among the findings:

• Mr. Obama is maintaining his lead, with 51 percent of likely voters supporting him and 40 percent supporting Mr. McCain in a head-to-head matchup.
• Some perceptions of race are changing, with a marked increase in the number of people who say they believe that white and black people have an equal chance of getting ahead in America today.
• Mr. McCain’s focus on taxes, including his talk about Joe the Plumber, seems to be having some effect, as a growing number of voters now say Mr. McCain would not raise their taxes.
• Eighty-nine percent of people view the economy negatively, and 85 percent think the country is on the wrong track.
• Mr. Obama continues to have a significant advantage on key issues like the economy, health care and the war in Iraq.

The survey found that opinions of Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain had hardened considerably, as 9 out of 10 voters who said they had settled on a candidate said their minds were made up, and a growing number of them called it “extremely important” that their candidate win the election. Roughly half of each candidate’s supporters said they were “scared” of what the other candidate would do if elected. Just 4 percent of voters were undecided, and when they were pressed to say whom they leaned toward, the shape of the race remained essentially the same.

Bolstered by the fiscal crisis and deep concerns about the direction of the country, Mr. Obama has seemed to solidify the support he has gained in recent months. When likely voters were asked whom they would vote for in an expanded field that included several third-party candidates, Mr. Obama got the support of 52 percent of them, Mr. McCain 39 percent, Bob Barr 1 percent, and Ralph Nader 2 percent.

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted Saturday through Wednesday with 1,439 adults nationwide, including 1,308 registered voters. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.

The poll was conducted as a wide range of state polls have shown Mr. Obama, of Illinois, ahead or tied in several crucial contested states, including some traditionally Republican states that Mr. McCain, of Arizona, must carry to win the election.

The survey suggested that Mr. Obama’s candidacy — if elected, he would be the first black president — has changed some perceptions of race in America. Nearly two-thirds of those polled said whites and blacks have an equal chance of getting ahead in today’s society, up from the half who said they thought so in July. And while 14 percent still said most people they knew would not vote for a black presidential candidate, the number has dropped considerably since the campaign began.

Mr. McCain’s heavy focus on taxes in the final weeks of the campaign seems to be having some effect, the poll found. Forty-seven percent of voters said Mr. McCain would not raise taxes on people like them, up from just 38 percent who said so two weeks ago. (And 50 percent said they thought Mr. Obama would raise taxes on people like them, while 44 percent said he would not; both numbers are similar to two weeks ago.)

With just days until Americans choose a new president, the survey found them deeply uneasy about the state of their country. Eight-five percent of respondents said the country was pretty seriously off on the wrong track, near the record high recorded earlier this month. A majority said the United States should have stayed out of Iraq. And President Bush’s approval rating remains at 22 percent, tied for the lowest presidential approval rating on record (which was President Harry S. Truman’s rating, recorded by the Gallup Poll in 1952).

Mr. McCain’s renewed efforts to cast himself as the candidate of change have apparently faltered. Sixty-four percent of voters polled said Mr. Obama would bring about real change if elected, while only 39 percent said Mr. McCain would. And despite Mr. McCain’s increased efforts to distance himself from President Bush, a majority still said he would generally continue Mr. Bush’s policies.

Dixie Cromwell, a 36-year-old cosmetologist from Shelby, N.C., who is a Republican, said in a follow-up interview that she had already voted for Mr. Obama.

“I generally vote Republican, but this year I voted Democrat,” she said. “I just don’t feel we can go through any more of the same old thing that we’ve been going through with the Republican Party.”

Mr. Obama’s policies were seen as much more likely to improve the economy, provide health insurance to more people, and scale back military involvement in Iraq than Mr. McCain’s were. But Mr. McCain enjoyed an advantage when it came to questions about which candidate would make a better commander in chief: 47 percent of voters said Mr. McCain was very likely to be an effective commander in chief, compared with 33 percent who said Mr. Obama would be.

While a majority viewed Ms. Palin as unqualified for the vice presidency, roughly three-quarters of voters saw Mr. Obama’s running mate, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, as qualified for the job. The increase in the number of voters who said Ms. Palin was not prepared was driven almost entirely by Republicans and independents.

Over all, views of Ms. Palin were apparently shaped more by ideology and party than by gender. Ms. Palin was viewed as unprepared for the job by about 6 in 10 men and women alike. But 8 in 10 Democrats viewed her as unprepared, as well as more than 6 in 10 independents and 3 in 10 Republicans.

Marjorie Connelly, Megan Thee and Marina Stefan contributed reporting.

[Thanks, NY Times]

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Well, Alaska has certainly been in the news quite a bit recently.  First we’ve got the ethics challenged, book-burning, anti-abortion creationist clogging up the media with her stupid and inane comments as she single-handedly tanks the Republican run for the White House. 

And now we’ve got yet another Republican from Alaska in the news.  Senator Ted Stevens was just found guilty Monday on seven counts of failing to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of gifts and free work on his home in Alaska.  Another corrupt Republican government official.

I’ve heard that party leaders are actually relieved that Sen. Stevens ’stance’ was not an issue in this most recent Republican foible.

Top Republicans call for Sen. Stevens to resign

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has joined other top Republicans in calling for convicted Sen. Ted Stevens to resign.

Earlier on Tuesday both members of the Republican presidential ticket — Sen. John McCain and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — as well as other Republican senators called on Stevens, R-Alaska, to step down.

While campaigning for re-election on Tuesday, McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, told reporters that Stevens should step down immediately, according to McConnell’s spokesman Dom Stewart.

McConnell is in a tight race with his Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford.

Earlier in the day, McConnell said in a statement that Stevens "will be held accountable so the public trust can be restored."

Sen. John Ensign, the Nevada Republican who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, also issued a strongly worded statement Tuesday.

"I am disappointed to see his career end in disgrace," Ensign said. "Sen. Stevens had his day in court and the jury found he violated the public’s trust — as a result he is properly being held accountable."

[Thanks, CNN]

Jay Leno:   "And financial experts say the economic crisis" has cost the world "$2.8 trillion. … You know, it’s hard for people to visualize how much a trillion dollars" is, so let "me put that in terms you understand: $2.8 trillion" is "enough money to buy Sarah Palin clothes for a year."

Jay Leno:   "I guess there seems to be trouble brewing between…Sarah Palin and John McCain." McCain "aides say that…Palin is ‘going rogue’ and not taking advice or notes from the McCain campaign. … They say it’s hard to keep her from going off script and making statements that hurt the campaign. In fact, it’s gotten so bad, her Secret Service code name now? Joe Biden."

David Letterman:   "Alaska Senator Ted Stevens" has "been convicted on seven counts of fraud" and "corruption," but "Republicans are relieved because at least" the story "didn’t involve an airport men’s room."

David Letterman:   "Alaskan authorities were tipped off" to Steven’s activities "by Russians who’d been watching with binoculars."

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We all know that George W. Bush isn’t the man we elected as president.  But with the manipulation of the results from overseas voters and the residents of Ohio, Bush was determined to be the winner yet again in 2004.

One of the cornerstones of his theft of the office of the president was in Ohio.  Using voting machines which have now proven to be inaccurate, George W. and his puppet-master Dick Cheney were able to prevent more than 350,000 individuals from having their votes count.

350,000 votes was just enough to manipulate the results of the Electoral Congress and assure the continued reign of the true ‘Axis of Evil’.

Hey, guess what?  The Bush-Cheney administration has their eyes set on Ohio voters once again.  Choosing an influential battleground state and manipulating the votes might just be enough to get McCain and the warthog elected.

Bush Undermines Democracy with Attack on 200,000 New Ohio Voters

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted October 27, 2008.

How far will an already politicized Justice Department go to assist Republicans win on November 4?

As the 2008 presidential election heads into its final week, the current president threw a political wild card on table late Friday, when he asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate the status of 200,000 Ohio voters.

George W. Bush’s request, if honored, could be politically explosive. It would remind voters of the Department of Justice’s partisan abuses of power in the scandal surrounding the firing of seven U.S. attorneys in 2006 who did not deliver ‘voter fraud’ convictions.

It could be a big distraction, drawing attention away from issues that call for legitimate DOJ intervention, such as shortages of voting machines in minority precincts in Virginia and Pennsylvania, compared to nearby white precincts. That disparity would violate existing civil rights law.

Or it could interject a complicating dynamic into the already heavily litigated Ohio general election, by adding the Department’s weight to GOP legal claims that pre-emptively question the legitimacy of a close vote count in a key battleground state.

Either way, the Department must choose if it will remain silent or get involved in an action that would go well beyond its historic role of quietly monitoring elections and avoiding messages to voters.

"This is taking the politicization of this to a new level, and the last thing we need is for the elections officials and voters of Ohio to be put in a chaotic situation in the last days before the election," Jon Greenbaum of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, told the Washington Post, reacting to the White House request.

The White House, according to the same Post report, described its actions as a routine referral to a federal agency as requested by a member of Congress, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). Boehner had written to Mukasey early last week but received no response.

The Obama campaign reaction was to send the fourth letter this month to Mukasey urging he ensure the Department does not interfere "to satisfy desperate partisan political demands."

"For the Department now, in response to the intense politics of the moment, to abruptly intercede in the current work of state and local officials would inflict incalculable damage — further and irreparable damage — to your office and to the reputation of senior federal law enforcement," said Robert Bauer, Obama campaign counsel.

Bauer’s "further" damage was a reference to media leaks by FBI officials confirming it was investigating ACORN, a low-income advocacy group, for voter registration issues. That disclosure violated Department rules and Bauer asked Mukasey to instruct a special prosecutor in the U.S. attorney firing scandal to investigate the leak. Like Beohner’s request, Mukasey also did not respond to Bauer’s request.

The Real Issue

At issue in the White House pressure tactics is how the GOP may be able to contest the vote count if the results are close.

Republicans in several battleground states have sought to challenge the validity of hundreds of thousands of voter registrations using a gray area of federal election law and error-prone databases.

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) instructs states to use Social Security and driver’s license databases to verify voter registrations, but leaves it up to states how to specifically do that. In Ohio, for example, the Secretary of State, Democrat Jennifer Brunner, has issued for local officials to follow.

The absence of specific federal guidelines on using the Social Security and state motor vehicle databases to verify registrations is compounded by another factor: the fact that these records, especially Social Security data, have error rates as high as 28.5 percent when used for verifying voter registrations.

These factors are behind the GOP’s assertions that key battleground states like Ohio and Pennsylvania are facing major ballot security crises that threaten the legitimacy of the vote.

In various lawsuits, the GOP has argued that registrations that did not match these databases be segregated and treated as a separate class of voters. The GOP said these voters should receive provisional ballots, which would have to be verified before being counted.

But, so far, most state and federal courts have rejected the GOP’s legal arguments. Late last week, a Wisconsin court told that state’s attorney general, a McCain campaign co-chair, that he did not have the authority to sue on this issue. Moreover, in Ohio, the GOP’s lawsuit went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it sided with Brunner. The Ohio secretary of state, a former judge, said her office had met HAVA’s requirements by promulgating its own procedures to verify voter registrations.

Soon after the Supreme Court ruling, several Republican House members started lobbying the Justice Department to intervene. At the same time, Brunner issued new directives — which have the force of law — telling Ohio’s 88 county election boards they count not bar anyone from voting because of ‘no-match’ voter registration issues.

The White House then asked the Justice Department to intervene after Brunner’s latest directives.

[Thanks, AlterNet]

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Someone once accused Barack Obama of being an elitist.  And I, in my heart of hearts, agreed with them.  A recap for those few people who don’t know about Barack’s educational background – A graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he served as president of the Harvard Law Review.

Harvard. Law. School.  as well as the president of the Harvard Law Review, Yep, he’s one of the elite I’d say.

Let’s look at Sarah Palin for a moment, her educational accomplishments include semesters at community colleges and after 5 years of college and degree hopping she finally graduated in 1987 with a degree in communications-journalism.  I don’t even know what that means!  Is she qualified to be a weather girl on a local TV station?  I do know that is a far cry from President of the Harvard Law Review.

But, Diva Sarah Palin not only thinks she’s good enough to be Vice President, but she actually believes that she can single-handedly drive the failing and flailing Republican ticket to victory while ignoring the advice from both the McCain campaign and the Republican National Committee.

I guess the adage "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing" holds true in this case.

Party at war as Palin ‘goes rogue’
Geoff Elliott, Washington correspondent | October 27, 2008

DAMAGING recriminations between aides to John McCain and Sarah Palin, who is being accused of "going rogue", are spilling out into public view.

Reflecting a bitterly divided campaign going into the final week of the presidential race, unnamed campaign insiders are starting to speak out in a traditional Washington game of "precriminations", where blame starts to be apportioned in the face of a likely defeat.

Ms Palin is making it obvious she is unhappy how she has been handled by her campaign staff – particularly that she has been shielded from any unscheduled interaction with journalists.

US media outlets yesterday were reporting open hostility from aides close to both candidates, some calling Ms Palin a "diva" in what will be an even more heated blame game after November 4 should Senator McCain lose.

"She’s lost confidence in most of the people on the plane," said a senior Republican quoted by the website Politico yesterday, adding that Ms Palin had already begun to "go rogue" in some of her public pronouncements on the campaign trail. CNN reported similar comments.

Politico cited four Republicans close to Ms Palin as saying she had grown frustrated by advice given to her by campaign handlers, whom supporters blame for a series of public relations gaffes.

As The Australian reported last week, Ms Palin has in the past two weeks noticeably distanced herself on several occasions from Senator McCain, a move many regard as her attempt to establish her own identity and a possible run for the White House in 2012 if Democratic contender Barack Obama wins on Tuesday week.

CNN reported a Palin associate saying the candidate was simply trying to "bust free" of what she believes was a damaging and mismanaged rollout.

Polls continue to indicate that Senator McCain needs a stunning reversal in the last week of the campaign to win.

While one AP poll last week had him in a dead heat with Senator Obama, most polls show the 47-year-old Illinois senator with a six- to 10-point lead. And he is ahead in enough battleground states that media networks across the US are projecting a comfortable win for Senator Obama in the electoral college tally should the polling hold true.

It makes reports of the internal spats in the McCain camp all the more damaging as Senator McCain looks to ride the race home with a consistent message focusing on Senator Obama’s relative lack of experience and a left-liberal economic agenda.

But reports indicate Ms Palin may continue to make headlines in the final days of the campaign as she appears increasingly willing to disregard advisers’ orders and speak out on her own.

Politico reported the Alaska Governor’s supporters were accusing McCain campaign strategists of already attempting to pin the blame on Ms Palin for the failure of the campaign.

It later quoted advisers to Senator McCain reacting angrily to the report, branding Ms Palin a "diva". The McCain sources said Ms Palin had repeatedly gone "off-message" recently, suggesting she appeared to be looking out for herself.

Ms Palin has also been taking some heat over the $US150,000 ($220,000) spent on her wardrobe since late August, undermining her appeal as a down-to-earth working "hockey mum".

Campaigning in Iowa yesterday, noting the chill in the air, she said: "It reminded me a lot of Alaska, so I put my warm jacket on, and it is my own jacket. It doesn’t belong to anybody else."

[Thanks, The Australian News]

Wow!  150,000 dollars!

$150,000.00 of Republican donations going to clothe the pit bull.  Wow………  I’ll say it again, WOW!

Albert Einstein once said “If most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies… It would be a sad situation if the wrapper were better than the meat wrapped inside it.” .  And in this case I would say that the wrapper around Palin is much, much better than the ‘meat’.

Or, to put it another way, there is a proverb that says “A pretty face and fine clothes do not make character” and as we race toward the November 4 finish line we see that Sarah Palin is characterless indeed.

As to the last statement in the article below, that the clothes will go to charity after the campaign, I don’t believe that for an instant.  For someone who has lied and stolen in the past to give up all the swanky clothes would be unbearable for her.

Ethics campaigners cry foul over Palin shopping spree

17 hours ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Political ethics campaigners lodged a formal complaint Thursday over the 150,000 dollars the Republican Party spent to dress vice presidential hopeful Sarah Palin in fashionable new clothes.

In a submission to the Federal Election Commission, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington alleged that the shopping spree was a violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act by Palin, the Republican National Committee and RNC "operatives".

"It is ridiculous that the RNC would spend 150,000 dollars to outfit a vice presidential nominee and her family at any time," said the group’s executive director Melanie Sloan on its website (www.citizensforethics.org).

"But it is more outrageous given the dire financial straights of so many Americans and the state of our economy."

With the November 4 election less than a fortnight away, it emerged Wednesday that the Republicans splashed out for Palin — the moose-hunting governor of Alaska and self-described "hockey mom" — after John McCain picked her as his running mate.

The Politico website said chic designer outfits from such top-end retailers as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, plus hair care and make-up, cropped up as "campaign accessories" in a monthly RNC financial disclosure statement.

McCain’s campaign said the clothes will go to charity after the November 4 election.

[Thanks, Google News]

In overnight trading European and Japanese stocks fell so sharply that futures of US stocks quickly lost value as to reach their maximum permissible free-fall loss of 6%.  Apparently we are not the only nation to be facing economic recession.

But we are the nation who is at the root of the global issue and the blame can be squarely placed on the shoulders of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.  How’s that for a legacy Georgie?  You not only bring down the American economy simply to further line your pockets and those of your corporate buddies, but now your bringing down Europe and Asia as well.

Well done you piece of filth.  God has a special place in mind for you, it’s called hell.

Global Shares Plummet on Gloomy Data
By ALAN COWELL and JULIA WERDIGIER

Published: October 24, 2008

PARIS — Stocks plummeted worldwide on Friday, and United States futures fell so steeply that they reached their daily permissible limits, indicating a sharp decline in share prices when official trading opens in New York.

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 550 points and both it and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index were locked, although the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq said trading in the official market would open as normal at 9:30 a.m., Eastern time.

The global rout was propelled by dismal corporate earnings and economic data around the world pointing to a profound global slowdown.

In Europe, major exchanges opened with falls of around 5 percent that then turned even lower.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index plunged 9.6 percent, hitting its lowest level since April 2003.

[Thanks, NY Times]

As we wind down the worst presidency in the history of this once great country, it behooves us to reflect upon the man and the myth that is George W. Bush.

And so, I present to you, a daily ‘Bushism’ or two…..

"My pro-life position is I believe there’s life. It’s not necessarily based in religion. I think there’s a life there, therefore the notion of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness."
-G.W. Bush

"Then I went for a run with the other dog and just walked. And I started thinking about a lot of things. I was able to—I can’t remember what it was. Oh, the inaugural speech, started thinking through that."
-G.W. Bush

"Redefining the role of the United States from enablers to keep the peace to enablers to keep the peace from peacekeepers is going to be an assignment."
-G.W. Bush

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Just some articles that caught my eye today:

• Obama takes on Palin, using her robocalls comment
• John McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin for VP may have cost him the presidency
• Palin pick dogs McCain as financial crisis stings
• RIAA now wants to avoid trial in innocent infringement case
• The Colin Powell endorsement of Barack Obama

The shininess and newness seems to be wearing off of Sarah Palin.  As new poll numbers come in it looks like the perky little Alaskan Governor is going to be glad she’ll have a job to go back to on November 5th.

With only 15 days left before election day, the reaction to John McCain’s ill-advised VP pick is becoming evident as bi-partisan polls continue to show a widening gap between the two contenders.

It looks like America doesn’t have to be straddled with another 4 years of the failed policies and decisions that have gotten us to the abysmally low place that Bush and Cheney have driven us.

15 days out, Obama reverses slide; Palin a drag on McCain

By Jay Bookman | Monday, October 20, 2008, 07:54 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

As expected, Barack Obama has halted and even reversed John McCain’s rise in the wake of their performances in the third and final debate, according to at least two tracking polls.

In the latest Gallup three-day tracking numbers released Sunday, Obama’s lead is back up to 10 points. It had fallen to six points before the poll began to reflect reaction to the debate.

Obama has also doubled his lead in the latest Zogby tracking poll released this morning, with the Illinois senator reaching 49.8 percent. That’s Obama’s highest support level in the poll’s 14 days of surveying.

“This three-day rolling average of telephone polling now includes a sample taken entirely after the final presidential debate last Wednesday,” Zogby notes.

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll suggests that the McCain campaign may be preaching to its own choir, pleasing the already converted but not the independents they need to win Nov. 4.

“Overall, 52 percent of likely voters said they are less confident in McCain’s judgment because of his surprise selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; 38 percent are more confident because of it. That is a stark reversal from the initial, positive public reaction to the pick,” the Post reports.

“Just after the GOP convention, 52 percent of independents, and 64 percent of independent women said the Palin pick made them more confident in how McCain would make presidential decisions – those numbers have now dipped to 39 and 37 percent, respectively.”

Voters who say they may still be persuadable are “among the least apt to see the new GOP focus on 1960s radical William Ayers and the community group ACORN as legitimate campaign issues.”

“Nearly seven in 10 movable voters said Obama’s past relationship with Ayers is not a legitimate issue; likewise, a narrow majority see the Obama campaign’s association with ACORN as not germane,” the poll found.

The party base will no doubt complain that Palin’s numbers have been driven down by a hostile media. On the other hand, the rest of America thinks the party base should open their damn eyes and ears and listen to what that woman actually says.

[Thanks, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

As we wind down the worst presidency in the history of this once great country it behooves us to reflect upon the man and the myth that is George W. Bush.

And so, I present to you, a daily ‘Bushism’ or two…..

"The California crunch really is the result of not enough power-generating plants and then not enough power to power the power of generating plants."
-G.W. Bush

"I’m hopeful. I know there is a lot of ambition in Washington, obviously. But I hope the ambitious realize that they are more likely to succeed with success as opposed to failure."
-G.W. Bush

"If he’s—the inference is that somehow he thinks slavery is a—is a noble institution I would—I would strongly reject that assumption—that John Ashcroft is a open-minded, inclusive person."
-G.W. Bush

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In all of the time that RIAA has been intimidating and extorting music down-loaders they have come out ahead in the courtroom twice (by my admittedly imperfect count).  The first time, in Capitol vs. Thomas, the ruling has recently been overturned because the judge, in his ignorance of copyright law, had instructed the jury that making available constituted infringement. Judge Davis has since ordered a new trial.

In the second instance, Maverick v. Harper, the RIAA has been seeking a jury trial upon which they intended to build a case based upon the previously mentioned Capitol vs. Thomas judgement.  But, with the reversal in that case, the RIAA has reversed it’s stance and is seeking the $7,400 judgement.

It seems that Ms. Harper or her lawyers have been keeping up with current events, and the decision by Judge Davis in the Thomas case has prompted them to press for a trial.  The reversal in both parties is understandable by an outside observer.  In the case of Harper, she doesn’t want her judgement to have been based upon flawed legal precedent while the RIAA simply wants to chalk up a win.

Fearing reversal, RIAA opts for the money in Harper case

Posted by Richard Koman @ October 19, 2008 @ 7:36 PM

Ars Technica reports that the RIAA has changed course in the copyright infringement case of a teenage girl who downloaded 37 songs over Kazaa.

The judge in Maverick v. Harper had held that Whitney Harper, 16 at the time of her offenses, was an “innocent infringer” and awarded a mere $200 per song, far less than the statutory minimum of $750 per song.

The RIAA had been fighting this, pressing for a jury trial on the damages issue, but now the RIAA wants judgment for $7,400 while Harper is pressing for a trial. It seems the fortunes of the parties have really shifted.

Here’s why: The judge’s finding for the RIAA was based on the “making available” theory – the idea that having files in Kazaa’s shared folder (which the software does by default but teenagers presumably do not realize this) is sufficient grounds to find that someone distributed copyright material.

This theory has been thoroughly trashed in subsequent court decisions, most notably in Capitol v. Thomas, where Judge Michael Davis dismissed a jury verdict in favor of the RIAA because it was “manifest error” to instruct the jury that making available constituted infringement. Judge Davis ordered a new trial.

Now the RIAA is jumping mad over Harper’s attempts to have the judge reconsider the “making available” issue, calling her efforts “vexatious.” Ars cites Harper’s motion for the trial:

[I]in this case we have this single case, one of tens of thousands of lawsuits filed as a part of a massive campaign to preserve a business model currently dominant in the music. This Court is aware that this case is not about the actions of Whitney Harper, a young lady who was 14 to 16 years old at the time of alleged infringement. It is instead about an 18 billion dollar industry that was once on a rising trend, now facing its comeuppance by rapidly evolving technology and eroding morals.

If there is a trial, it will be in mid-November.

[Thanks, ZDNet]

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