Supreme Court on file-sharing

Slate has a great article on the current Supreme Court case on file-sharing technology.

I'm on the side of the file swappers. The parallels between this case and the TV studios trying to stop VCRs are striking. I think the Supremes will rule in favor of file sharing, and leave the record companies to go on suing little old ladies.

A new mission for the U.N.?

The U.N. wants to take over the Internet.

Why not? It does such a good job everywhere else it tries.

HT: Instapundit.

From the mouths of babes

... or, more precisely, from the mouths of game show hosts who look like Dan Quayle.

Pat Sajak, of all people, has a post that brilliantly and concisely captures the feelings many of us have when trying to have a political conversation with our left-wing friends.

The moral superiority they bring to the table allows them to alter the playing field and the rules in their favor. They can say and do things the other side can’t because, after all, they have the greater good on their side. If a Conservative—one of the bad guys—complains about the content of music, films or television shows aimed at children, he is being a prude who wants to tell other people what to read or listen to or watch; he is a censor determined to legislate morality. If, however, a Liberal complains about speech and, in fact, supports laws against certain kinds of speech, it is right and good because we must be protected from this “hate speech” or “politically incorrect” speech. (Of course, they—being the good guys—will decide exactly what that is.)

Protests about Ward Churchill, the University of Colorado professor and self-proclaimed Native American, who, among other things, likened some Sept. 11
victims to Adolf Eichmann (there go those pesky Nazis again), were characterized by much of the Left as an effort to stifle academic freedom. But, when Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers’ job is put in jeopardy over a caveat-filled musing about science and gender, it’s okay, because what he said was sooo wrong (even if it has to be mis-characterized to make the point).

When Liberals want to legislate what you’re allowed to drive or what you should eat or how much support you can give to a political candidate or what you can or can’t say, they are doing it for altruistic reasons. The excesses of the Left are to be excused because these folks operate from the higher moral ground and the benefit of the greater wisdom and intelligence gained from that perspective.

Read the whole thing. This points out the hypocrisy of those on the left, but there's an obvious parallel hypocrisy of those on the right who usually favor free speech -- except when they don't. This all highlights the honesty, intellectual integrity, logistical consistency and, of course, moral superiority, of the libertarian position: free speech means just that, free speech!

HT: Ace of Spades, who is quite a Sajak fan.

Oxy Morons, Part Deux

Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) Director Greg Lukianoff sends an update on the Occidental case, in particular addressing poor coverage of the story by the L.A. Times:

The article does not address the actual substance of the sexual harassment claims that led to Antebi’s firing (two of the claims were from Jason’s student government rivals and the crux of their claim was that Jason had called one a “douche” and the other a “bearded feminist”); it does not mention that he was fired over the objections of the student management of the station (I will be writing about this soon); it does not mention the dissolution of the student government (which, despite Oxy’s claims to the contrary, was obviously related to the Antebi incident); it does not mention the subsequent revelation from FIRE that Oxy had relied on baseless and inaccurate allegations (including allegations of serious criminal conduct) against its students in order to justify its actions after the fact; it does not mention the absurd situation in which the General Counsel of the college essentially said the ACLU of Southern California did not know ACLU policy; it does not mention that there is still no student government; and so on and so on.

Lukianoff argues that the case has importance far beyond the political discrimination I pointed to in my first post on the subject. This appears to be a serious abuse of power by the administration involving serious ethical lapses and a real violation of Antebi's rights. I had some run-ins with petty tyrants at my university on a much smaller scale, and I share Lukianoff's outrage.

Those who support freedom of speech on campus can donate to FIRE here.

More tales of international heroism from the U.N.

Wow. You have to read this story.

... in early 2001, two Jordanians [U.N. workers] were evacuated home with injured penises after attempting sexual intercourse with goats.

But it's not all hilarious tales of animal husbandry:

Today the cry for justice from the child victims continues to go unheard.

With the UN battered by a series of allegations embroiling its Nobel Prize-winning peacekeepers in a web of global sexual misconduct, new details have emerged of widespread sexual abuse against the civilian population by the Jordanian soldiers in Oecussi.

The findings are contained in a secret report by the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor, a copy of which has been obtained by Inquirer. It determines that Jordanian peacekeepers routinely sexually abused young East Timorese boys in return for money and food. Witnesses interviewed by UN investigators also claim Jordanian involvement in several alleged rapes of boys and women. The report contains witness testimony, much of it too graphic to repeat in this newspaper. And it concludes that, with the help of Indonesian soldiers, Jordanian blue berets routinely procured the services of prostitutes from across the border in West Timor.

Why, oh why, are we still funding these corrupt and incompetent child rapists?


HT: Ace of Spades.

War! What is it good for?

Liberating Iraqis and establishing a model for democracy in the middle East, of course!

The casualty count is way down.

Meanwhile, insurgents seek an exit strategy (HT: Instapundit).

Powerline has a heart-warming story.

China welcomes Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Posts on a Chinese web site about visiting Secretary of State Rice:

"How come the United States selects a female chimpanzee as Secretary of State?"

"This black woman thinks rather a lot of herself."

"She's so ugly she's losing face. Even a dog would be put off its dinner while she's being fed."

These people make Howard Dean seem polite by comparison.