Reason Magazine - Staff > Jeff Taylor > Hit & Run Posts

Oh God! Not Ayn Rand!

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 15:05:00 EDT

Much mirth mixed with contempt on the occasion of a public university suddenly discovering a well-publicized gift with a well-known ideological component comes with -- altogether now -- strings attached.

The University of North Carolina-Charlotte was -- way back in 2005 -- one of many schools to accept a business college endowment from the BB&T Charitable Foundation. BB&T Chairman John Allison is a big fan of Ayn Rand. Not suprisingly, Allison has been using the foundation to fund courses and programs on the moral defense of capitalism. In the case of UNCC, this was to include an Ayn Rand Reading Room at the business school. Again, this was widely known years ago.

Now -- all of a sudden -- the UNCC faculty has noticed the program and is freaking out. Chancellor Phil Dubois -- in the proud tradition of edu-crats -- is waffling and attempting to plead ignorance of the whole thing. That "teaching" Rand and specifically Atlas Shrugged was not to be part of the course offering as he understood it. Whatever.

Better still is the claim from a religion professor that UNCC will look like a "rinky-dink university" for accepting the Allison gift with the Rand element intact. No, UNCC already looked rinky-dink last year when UNCC officials, including Dubois, were caught red handed whoring out the university's transportation studies department.

UNCC cooked-up a "study" ghosted by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and the local transit authority with the aim of deflating a drive to repeal a local transit tax that would fund light rail construction. Among the future destinations for the trains -- Dubois' UNCC campus.

Maybe an Ellsworth Toohey reading room would be more reflective of UNCC's values and interests.

McCain vs. McCain

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 10:33:00 EST

That didn't take very long.

Scant weeks after making a "no new taxes" pledge -- quite the U-turn in itself -- Sen. John McCain has doubled back to clarify. Uh-oh.

McCain tells The Wall Street Journal in an interview today that, "I'm not making a 'read my lips' statement, in that I will not raise taxes. But I'm not saying I can envision a scenario where I would, OK?"

Gotcha. Clear as mud, senator.

McCain also adds that as President he would not bitch so much about the Federal Reserve needing to cut rates to prop up the economy and that he'd explain all of these economic details in "a couple fireside chats" to help buck up consumer confidence. Or something.

Cannot wait to hear conservative talk radio hosts spin -- or is it denounce day? -- McCain's latest zag.

Super Bowl Prediction Thread

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 13:53:00 EST

Seventeen hours into the pre-game show and it is safe to say Super Bowl XLII will be an event for the ages. The quality of the game remains to be seen.

Other safe bets include a record sports book on the game, that New England's LBs are old, and whichever QB gets hit more today will lose. Here's to an actual game of the ages.

35-34. Jints.

MS Yahoo: The Real Deal

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 10:40:00 EST

I haven't read every single story on Microsoft's $44 billion offer for Yahoo! but the ones that I have fail to emphasize the major factor in Redmond's thinking: Google Desktop.

Forget search engines and queries and ads -- Microsoft really does not care about that. It does care, however, that more and more folks are figuring out that distributed apps can be very handy. That you can do all kinds of things with wikis. That there is no reason to ever run Vista as your OS.

This is not an afterthought for MS, this is the primary play. Microsoft cannot afford to sit by while control of the PC desktop moves elsewhere.

Stimulant or Hallucinogen?

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 14:10:00 EST

Not wanting to leave any doubt to his Worst President of the 20^th Century title, George W. Bush is all giddy over sticking the American people with an "economic stimulus" package.

News coverage of the package has been universally awful by failing to note the package is: A) Much too small to impact a multi-trillion dollar economy B) Not responsible for cheering Wall St. with the Keynesian fiscal pump-priming, but with the irresponsible lifting of the cap on "conforming" mortgages backed by Uncle Sam C) Fucking nuts.

Topic A is self-explanatory; B requires only the understanding banks had basically stopped writing jumbo loans in some markets because they have no idea what the actual value of real estate might be at the moment. This is a rational response to market uncertainty and can only speed along the necessary real estate correction along with encouraging banks to take losses on their books and move forward.

Sticking government-backed enterprises in the middle of this process removes market discipline from the mix. This brings us to topic C. Even the federal regulator charged with oversight of Fannie and Freddie says bumping the conforming loan limit to $700K (!) is a bad idea. But one look at Nancy Pelosi's rictus grin and it is clear Uncle Sam will permanently support California's real estate bubble.

To recap, in a matter of months we've gotten the Federal Housing Administration to guarantee up to 100 percent of loans up to $367,000, a federal fiat that adjustable rate mortgages will no longer adjust, and now federal GSE guarantees for mortgages of almost three-quarters of a million dollars. No wonder the mighty brain of Bill Kristol looks at the process and calls it a "win-win." We've nationalized the mortgage industry, surely a great thing of National Greatness.

Meanwhile one industry insider relates, "They are doing backflips at Lending Tree. Literally jumping up and down. Their business is going to go through the roof." So too all the bankers who have been saved by a President who quite likely has not a clue what he has done.

Addendum: I was evidently too cute by half by placing Bush in the 20th century by virtue of his November 2000 election, which to my mind makes him eligible for that time frame. Some commenters seem to disagree. Worst president of the last two centuries then?

Will SC AG Prosecute Huckabee Push-Poll Robo Calls?

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:05:00 EST

Ah, the joys of the primary season. South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster has been asked to prosecute pro-Mike Huckabee push polling now underway in the state. State law bans such automated calls.

McMaster is a major John McCain supporter in the state, but the prime target of the calls -- at the moment -- seems to be Fred Thompson. In a call partially recorded last night by one South Carolina resident and sent to McMaster, Thompson's record on abortion and taxes was attacked.

This mirrors similar recent efforts in Michigan against Mitt Romney, where the same firm placed calls to voters blasting Romney's record on guns and immigration. One report pegged the number of such calls into Michigan at five million while South Carolina is on tap to receive one million calls.

Common Sense Issues seems confident that its calls are protected by the First Amendment, and they may well be. More interesting to my mind is the group's status as a 501(c)(4), which IRS regs say prohibits "direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office."

In fact, it is not clear where Common Sense ends and the Huckabee campaign begins. Voters should not have to Google the number calling them to find that out.

HRC's Crying Jag

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:02:00 EST

Hillary Clinton's show of emotion struck me as so calculated you've got to wonder if the questioner was a plant.

Let's go where a gullible and compliant -- Clinton chokes up, is applauded, at campaign stop -- national press corps refuses to go -- to HRC's history.

Monday's performance was not the first time she played the victim card, oh, no. In fact, in January 1992 it was very much Hillary the victim who saved the Clintons' political dreams. The pair's "pain in our marriage" sit-down on 60 Minutes stopped Bill Clinton's free-fall caused by the Gennifer Flowers scandal.

The interview told voters that Bill was sorry, Hillary was sad, but that the couple was together, resilient, and remade. A few days later, Bill "won" the New Hampshire primary by besting low expectations and finishing second to Paul Tsongas. Thus was born the "comeback kid," got Bill out of the Northeast with momentum and on to blacker and bluer-collar electorates. The rest is history.

Jump to 1994 - the Whitewater, cattle futures, and infamous pink suit press conference.

With a pinch of fake bottle-blonde self-deprecation -- she just did whatever Jim Blair or Jim McDougal said -- a dollop of amnesia -- Hillary could not remember just how the darn money got there -- and heavy closer of persecution and guilt-tripping -- "We don't fit easily into a lot of our pre-existing categories . . . And I think that, having been independent, having made decisions, it's a little difficult for us as a country, maybe, to make the transition of having a woman like many of the women in this room, sitting in this house" -- further reporting on the topics was ruled out of bounds. The DC press swooned.

By 1998 it was "the vast right wing conspiracy" at work against her and Bill. Today it is not widely recalled that phrase was initially deployed to pre-empt the wild notion that the President of the United States had bukkaked an intern in a White House butler's pantry.

In 2000, the on-the-rebound and righteous Hillary was running a Senate campaign so buttoned-up and repressed that reporters openly doubted a candy basket from Hillary was really meant as a gift and not some dark manipulation.

Yet when making the press rounds for her 2003 autobiography, everyone was more than willing to help Hillary wallow in her victimhood. It all started at Wellesley, you see, where she just did not fit in.

And a year ago it was the VRWC Mk. II messing with the phone lines in New Hampshire. To the extent the sneak-and-peak Bush administration was involved, we are all victims here -- but Hillary especially so, because those were Democratic phones, dammit.

In short, it is impossible to have been even slightly aware of politics in America the past 15 years and miss this trend. As such, the tears, properly understood, were far from "an uncharacteristic display."

Just more of Hillary Rodham Clinton saying and doing anything for power.

Your Liberty Dollar Raid Update

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:35:00 EST

Updating from the previous post on the topic, the FBI did indeed raid the Liberty Dollar office in Indiana on Wednesday. Documents filed in U.S. District Court in North Carolina indicate that the raid was the culmination of a two-year undercover investigation of Liberty Dollar and its officers.

According to an affidavit (PDF) filed by FBI agent Andrew Romagnuolo in support of a federal seizure warrant obtained from a U.S. Magistrate last week, the feds have been investigating Liberty Dollar not just for violating federal bans on circulating alternative currency, but also for mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering.

As for the mysterious connection to the Western District of North Carolina, the document names William Innes of Asheville as a Regional Currency Officer for Liberty Dollar and an executive committee member of the company. Undercover government agents made Asheville a focus of their investigation as a result, attending area meetings of Liberty Dollar prospective buyers and sellers.

The affidavit further details Liberty Dollar's structure and terms it a "multi-level marketing scheme." The FBI claims the company realizes a profit by selling the Liberty Dollars into circulation. The feds also went back to October 2002 for bank records of Liberty Dollar principals and cite large sums of cash moving between accounts said to be controlled by those individuals.

The document also mentions that the company continued to circulate Liberty Dollars after it had been warned by the US Mint not to do so. Part of the evidence cited for this is an FBI agent purchasing a "The US Mint Can Bite Me" t-shirt at a Liberty Dollar University event in October 2006.

The affidavit concludes that because the Liberty Dollar operation uses Federal Reserve Notes to conduct its business, it is fraudulent. "This reliance upon FRN's by a group opposed to FRN's demonstrates that the American Liberty Dollar Monetary system is simply a drain on the United State Government's monetary system for financial profit via fraudulent means," the feds claim. The document further claims there is probable cause that violations of federal law took place as a result of these activities.

At no point in the affidavit are Ron Paul Dollars mentioned, although many other coins are mentioned including a Hawaii dala offering. As such, accounts of the raid focused on the Ron Paul angle seem off-base, at least given the available facts.

What's Wrong with Australia?

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 06:46:00 EDT

First a 16-year-old cracks the $84 million ($70m. US) government-built Internet porn filter in 30 minutes. Then they talk about it in bizarre ways. And conclude what Australia really needs is ISP-based content filtering.

Tom Wood is the cheeky fellow who did the deed for the Herald Sun. The tabloid describes Wood as a "former cyber bullying victim" as if we know what that means. Wood also complains that the filter is waste because it was designed outside of Australia. Obviously.

Sure enough, when the tabby contacts "the Government" an Australian-made filter is added to the list of Government-approved filters on the Government site. Tom then busts that sucker in 40 minutes.

That prompts this observation:

Family First Senator Steve Fielding, a long-time campaigner for cyber safety, said cracking the software showed the need for compulsory filtering by Internet providers.

"You need both. You need it at the ISP and at the PC level," Senator Fielding said.

And you manifestly need the Government -- the Department of Communications -- to do it.

Better still the filter scheme component of the department's NetAlert system is known as the...National Filter Scheme. This is an outgrowth of the Online Content Scheme, which features the National Classification Scheme. This scheme is backed up by the Australian Communications and Media Authority Blacklist of "malicious websites."

A more pointless undertaking -- scheme, excuse me -- I cannot imagine. Australia has been on this kick for quite some time, so it is not by accident. There seems to be a conviction that the Internet should operate more or less exactly like a tightly regulated broadcast medium. Not broadband, but TV Plus.

Good luck with that.

The L Word. Again

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 18:02:00 EDT

No, not lesbian. Dammit.

Libertarian. Make that Libertarian, the way the NYT uses it in this update on Ron Paul's doings in Iowa:

He just opened a campaign office in downtown Des Moines and started to advertise his anti-tax, anti-abortion rights, Libertarian message on radio, television and in the newspapers.

Sigh.

This hobbles an otherwise interesting little dispatch relating that Paul's supporters evidently intend to take Mitt Romney's free buses to the Iowa straw poll and then vote for Paul.

Guess if that works the Times would write, "In Ames a surprisingly strong showing from Libertarian Ron Paul in the Republican straw poll marked...."

Bring on the lesbians.

It's 2011 and Ron Paul is President

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 11:02:00 EDT

What would Google News look like?

The wise-asses at Something Awful hazard a guess and come up with some winners.

Dept. of Education Loses to Dept. of Vouchers is a future LAT headline, while USA Today offers Wal-Mart to Offer Low-Income Schools in 48 Stores by October.

Then we have stories on colloidal silver being approved for cancer treatment and a farewell to White House press secretary Art Bell. Oh, and don't forget Social Security benefits sunset on August 15th.

The real knee-slapper? Paul, certainly among his GOP cohorts, is the only candidate for POTUS to have views consistent and coherent enough to parody.

A Blacksburg Thought

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 08:58:00 EDT

Or two.

To check my perfect 20/20 hindsight on the matter of a more pro-active response to the morning's first double murder, I tried to think of what the response would be to such an event at a large shopping mall or a theme park.

And I really couldn't convince myself that officials in charge in either of those two examples would not immediately move to lock down the area to the greatest extent possible.

Going forward, I would also like to know how and when the university's police special response team responded. Also, did depending on the campus wifi laptop grid to communicate events to students downplay the danger?

Many questions to be answered and, yes -- like some horrific sitcom -- lessons to be learned.

Roy Cooper Steps Up

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:25:00 EDT

It is nice to be surprised.

North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper actually called the three Duke lacrosse players innocent during his just-completed press conference announcing that all criminal charges have been dropped by the state. I didn't think Cooper had it in him.

Moreover, Cooper said that no attack occurred that night in Durham last March and called Durham DA Mike Nifong a "rogue prosecutor." The only thing Cooper did not do is announce criminal charges against Nifong, but he repeatedly pointed out that Nifong faces a State Bar investigation into his conduct.

Taken together, Cooper's finding and choice of words greatly increases the chances that the young men charged by Nifong could win some sort of civil action against Nifong, Duke University, or both.

Keeping watching Durham for more fallout from this major turn of events.

Justice Comes to Durham?

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 03:34:00 EDT

No, no one screamed at Coach K for 90 minutes and told him he was worthless and incompetent. Still, pretty big news.

ABC News is reporting that all charges will be dropped against three Duke lacrosse players charged with sexually assaulting a stripper in March 2006. The network cites "sources" close to the North Carolina Attorney General's office which, in January, took over the case from Durham DA Mike Nifong.

Although it is obvious that Nifong has no case -- never had a case -- it will be very interesting to see how any dismissal is spun by AG Roy Cooper. My money is on a minimal approach, with Cooper refraining from too much criticism of Nifong while possibly loading up on the accuser as unreliable, resulting in a case that could not be won.

Of course Cooper should not only criticize Nifong, but bring charges against the man. But I seriously doubt that happens.

Previous Nifong misconduct goodness here and here .

Passion Play or Gwar Show? You Decide.

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Thu, 05 Apr 2007 09:50:00 EDT

From the exotic land of Tennessee comes word that local church Passion plays have become gory affairs.

A few quotes for the flavor:

"At Halloween, we sell blood by the ounce. At Easter, we sell blood by the gallon," says Gary Broadrick, owner of Performance Studios.
The churches that do Passion plays depicting Christ's Crucifixion and Resurrection come in search of biblical attire and stage makeup, including plenty of stage blood. The blood, church officials say, is necessary to truly bring home the message of Jesus' sacrifice.

"To see that blood makes it very real," said Sheri Simpson, drama ministry coordinator at Two Rivers Baptist Church, known for its large-scale Easter production. "It wasn't just a small slap on the hand. He was really tortured." ...

"It's almost like drug use," said Paul Prill, a professor of communications at Lipscomb University. "After a while, it doesn't affect us as much anymore." ...

"I knew it had to be real," said Bob Shupe, church choir director and the person who authored the long-running play 16 years ago. "So much is false today. People are suspect of everything - in particular, the church."

Why, yes. The whole Resurrection thing is so much more convincing with more fake blood.

The Strange Case of Brian Brannman

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 17:00:00 EDT

Or -- "That's no drunk! That's a rear admiral!"

Recall that big smallpox scare last week. A flight from New Orleans to Charlotte briefly riveted world attention after a man on board a US Airways plane claimed to have smallpox.

Homeland Security went on scramble, the FBI was called in, 113 passengers were kept on the plane for hours, and the mysterious smallpox man was whisked to a hospital isolation room by a moon-suited hazmat team.

Smallpox is such a threat as a terror weapon that in 2002 President Bush announced a targeted vaccination program for first-responders and government leaders. Of course. This reversed about 25 years of public health policy, which held the deadly disease to be eradicated .

Meanwhile in Charlotte, the story next morphed into a drunken man who had made the smallpox claim as a hoax of some sort. Drunk Man did not have smallpox, nor did he expose others on the plane to smallpox. Still very odd, but not downright scary.

Yesterday the story got weird. Turns out the man who made the smallpox claim is Rear Adm. Brian Brannman of the U.S. Navy.

Brannman was returning from some sort of medical conference in New Orleans on the flight. Brannman has been the director of the Director of the Navy Medical Service Corps since 2004. Until January Brannman was double-hatted as also the head of the Navy's massive medical center in San Diego.

His military bio cites "the Legion of Merit (two awards), the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (four awards), the Navy Commendation Medal (two awards), the Navy Achievement Medal, the Armed Forces Service Medal, and various service and unit awards."

In short, nothing in Brannman's 28-year military career marks him as someone who would shout "Smallpox!" in a crowded airplane.

Now things get spooky. The investigation into Brannman's conduct on the plane is over.

The U.S. Attorney in Charlotte will not file charges against Brannman for disrupting the flight, let alone bring any kind of terroristic threat charge. The case is, officially, closed.

WBTV, so far the only media outlet reporting on Brannman's role in the incident, cites unnamed sources as saying Brannman suffered from "real mental problems" which contributed to the smallpox scare.

Perhaps. But mental issues or confusion or jokes have not been an effective shield against a federal prosecutor bringing charges in these kinds of incidents, especially since 9/11. If hoaxers or mental patients even make it to a courtroom, that is.

Rigo Alpizar was shot dead in December 2005 by air marshals after he had a panic attack and tried to bolt from a plane in Miami. Federal agents said he shouted something about a bomb. So they shot him.

Among the outstanding questions still to be answered regarding Brannman is the not small matter of access to smallpox. Does or did, Adm. Brannman have any access to the deadly disease in the course of his duties? Is there any kind of official policy on what kind of threats are ipso facto credible or does it completely turn on who you are? Was the incident some sort of first-responder test? Will Brannman continue in his current role with the Navy?

Or should we just go put our heads on our desks?

X-Mirius? Siri-X?

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 11:54:00 EST

The long-rumored merger between Sirius and XM is supposedly on. Moreover, at least one analyst thinks the move will win federal approval.

Don't know how anyone can make that leap, not with an activist Democratic congress yet to be heard from on the issue. For now, just the still unknown nut-and-bolts of how the two services would merge and which shows would migrate -- does Stern go to Oprah, Oprah go to Stern? -- are quite enough to ponder.

Why Does E&P Hate Its Readers?

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:52:00 EST

More specifically, what does Editor & Publisher have against putting links to the news stories it covers in the frickin' stories?

Something or someone pointed me to the E&P blurb Sen. McCain Calls 'Wash Post' Article on Him 'Worst Hit Job' Ever. Sounds like fun! McCain bitching on CNN about the WaPo. Great, I missed both. Where can I find those stories?

Well, damn good question. E&P evidently assumes readers want to poke around blindly. Or maybe this was just an oversight.

Next E&P story, please. Says here the WaPo ombudsman reamed out WaPo blogger William Arkin for his "mercenary" crack that sent right-wing blogs into orbit. Wow, I'd like to read..that..too. Where is it? E&P helpfully explains, "[t]he entire piece can be found at www.washingtonpost.com."

Gee, thanks folks, that's no oversight. And here I was planning on sniffing around the Boston Globe site.

E&P considers itself, and it yet remains, the flagship industry trade publication for the newspaper biz. For the publication to be so far out of step with standard practice on the wide-world Intertubes does make you wonder if The New York Times really will be publishing in five years.

Readers want choices and links and the ability to go as deep or as shallow as they want to on a given topic. E&P pretending that editors and publishers still make that call would be cute in the same way those stories about people mistaking computer mice for footswitches were cute 15 years ago. Except it is not 15 years ago, or even five years ago.

I, for one, won't be heading back to E&P for any of its coverage -- it's too painful, like watching a wooly mammoth waddle into a tar pit. But I've helpfully included links for readers so inclined.

The Campaign to Sham America

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 16:12:00 EST

John Edwards has a new blogger-in-chief. First order of business? Covering her tracks.

Amanda Marcotte joins Edwards' crew from Pandagon. A couple weeks ago Marcotte uncorked the following post there, on the occasion of getting stuck at the Atlanta airport:

In the meantime, I’ve been sort of casually listening to CNN blaring throughout the waiting area and good fucking god is that channel pure evil. For awhile, I had to listen to how the poor dear lacrosse players at Duke are being persecuted just because they held someone down and fucked her against her will — not rape, of course, because the charges have been thrown out. Can’t a few white boys sexually assault a black woman anymore without people getting all wound up about it? So unfair.

Not exactly the best defense disgraced Durham DA Mike Nifong has received, but interesting in the same way that ramblings about CIA radio transmitters in your teeth are interesting -- as a marker for raving moon-bats.

So you might be thinking, at last and at least, a presidential candidate has had the balls to hire on a full-fledged, out-front propagandist, someone boldly willing to not just fudge facts, but fuck them in the ass. A Marcotte-led Net communications op may actually give the jaded among us some reason to pay attention to this 08 election-thing -- there'd be no telling what she'd say.

Alas no. Marcotte chickened out. She went back and deleted the post, presumably after it was linked to today by a conservative North Carolina blog. Marcotte left this justification:

Since people are determined to make hay over this quick shot of a post, I’m deleting it and here’s my official stance. The prosecution in the Duke case fumbled the ball. The prosecutor was too eager to get a speedy case and make a name for himself. That is my final word.

Let's see if there is a final word from the Edwards campaign as well. And when will people learn that Google cache means, "Forever."

NFL vs. Jesus Christ

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 18:50:00 EST

And Jesus didn't cover. Redeemer? Not this week.

An Indianapolis church has run afoul of the NFL's bone-crushing lawyers. The league has shut down Fall Creek Baptist Church's planned Super Bowl party primarily because, it seems, the church was going to attract too many "out-of-home" eyeballs.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello explains that the NFL's deal with TV networks depends on Nielsen being able to measure at-home viewers. Too many out-of-home viewers means the nets get bad numbers, ad rates fall, checks bounce, and End Times are upon us. This is why the church's planned use of an on-wall projector -- a low-cost way to present a 100-inch or more "screen" to large groups -- is Original Sin for the NFL.

In fact, the NFL maintains it is illegal for anyone to display the game on a screen larger than 55 inches. This means, for one, there are many thousands of copyright violators out there in America's recently updated home theaters. League spokesman Aiello says the NFL does make an exception for sports bars and other venues which routinely show televised sports, but as for the ad hoc viewing party -- woe unto you.

Church pastor John Newland makes an interesting point about how the NFL's stance skews America's Super Bowl experience, the Indy Star:

"It just frustrates me that most of the places where crowds are going to gather to watch this game are going to be places that are filled with alcohol and other things that are inappropriate for children," Newland said. "We tried to provide an alternative to that and were shut down."

Even those of us who think sundering the holy link between alcohol and the Super Bowl is blasphemy can see that the NFL is not on a righteous path here. Anything that makes the Super Bowl more of an event accrues to the NFL. A few dozen churchy Colts fans cannot possibly dent the massive appeal and massive profits of America's secular winter festival.

They know not what they do.

Situation Normal, All Nifonged Up

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 12:40:00 EST

The other shoe -- a rather large hob-nailed boot, in fact -- has fallen on Durham DA Mike Nifong in the form of additional North Carolina State Bar charges. A complaint filed this morning charges that Nifong withheld DNA evidence from the defense and then lied about it in court. A more serious charge is hard to imagine.

At the same time, Nifong's personal fix-it man in the Duke lacrosse rape case, investigator/gospel singer Linwood Wilson -- the TV movie is so gonna rock -- has to be wondering what this all means for him. It was Wilson who rushed to re-interview the accuser in the case on December 21, the day after the State Bar told Nifong it was investigating his comments regarding the DNA evidence.

In that interview with Wilson, conducted one-on-one, yet another departure from sound investigative practice, the accuser radically changed her story to the point where Nifong dropped the rape charges. But the story changes made the lack of DNA evidence less important to the sexual assault charges Nifong held onto. Everyone else on planet Earth, meanwhile, could see the entire story was a fiction.

The upshot is we've moved squarely into the realm of a conspiracy to hijack the criminal justice system and use it against three innocent men. It is great that the State Bar has finally moved itself to act against one of its own. However, actual justice may demand that criminal charges be filed shortly after the remaining charges against the lacrosse players are dropped by the special prosecutor.

Is there the political and institutional will in North Carolina to do that? We should find out shortly.

A Little Humor

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 14:10:00 EST

Very Little, as in Rich Little, your host for this year's White House Correspondents Association dinner.

Fresh off his 1976 television show, The Rich Little Show aired by the National Broadcasting Company until later in 1976, Little has recently hit the Indian casino circuit.

In 2003 Little released what was billed as "a patriot treat for every generation" in the form of a DVD called The Presidents. The 122 minute disc features Little doing nine presidents and various other Washington staples, like Walter Cronkite and David Brinkley. Throughout Little promises "a deep respect for the Oval Office while dramatically reflecting our country, our culture and ourselves."

Think this approach was attractive to the Beltway crowd who last year got hit right between the eyes by Stephen Colbert? E&P reports:

"My approach is to try to make it a comfortable venue that is enjoyable, funny and interesting," said Steve Scully, president of the White House Correspondents Association, who chose Little. "But you don't want to offend anyone." He cited the slogan for the Washington Gridiron Dinner, which says, "singe, don't burn."

Another scribey, Ron Hutcheson of McClatchy Newspapers, advises that, "We don't need to have a blogfest and a partisan slugfest after the dinner. We don't need that."

Ah, yes -- actual news and national interest. No need of that. No need of the most serious and direct criticism of Beltway newsgathering in, oh, forever. And newspapers wonder why more and more people are deciding they do not need newspapers.

Have fun folks. Bringing Little in after Colbert is like having Pat Boone follow the MC5. Too little, too late -- and too telling.

The Wheels of Justice

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 17:15:00 EST

You know, I kinda almost feel sorry for the government after officials in Prince William County (Virginia) had to tangle with Robert Eberth over a car inspection sticker. For six years.

Eberth fought the $35 citation he received -- he thought the county had no authority to ticket a car parked on private property -- and the Virginia Court of Appeals eventually agreed with him.

Yeah, but put a box of Sudafed on the dash.....

Last Exit for Mike Nifong

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 08:48:00 EST

Durham prosecutor Mike Nifong is running out of time to pull the plug on the Duke lacrosse case. The latest changes in the accuser's story -- teased forth by a Nifong investigator on Dec. 21, just days after new DNA evidence rocked his case -- strongly indicate the entire March attack was a fiction.

As ever, K.C. Johnson at the Durham-in-Wonderland blog has slopped through the latest twist in this vile story, which now features a magic towel and a rapist who only watches.

The New York Times seems to be treading water on the new story, which is something of an improvement considering the paper was Nifong's biggest defender for the past nine months.

A SysAdmin in Every Rec Room

info@reason.com (Jeff Taylor) — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 18:47:00 EST

Is that the 21st century measure of the middle-class? Bill Gates and Microsoft evidently think so.

Gates and crew topped off an underwhelming performance at this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the Vegas saturnalia for geekdom, by pitching something called Windows Home Server. The idea is relatively simple and sorely needed: A way for digital-age families to manage all their digital media content, content which is almost surely spread across several devices and PCs.

Enter the Home Server. OK, how much does that cost? "Under $1000." Come again? A cool K, sans keyboard or monitor. Alright, so a big network drive for $1000.

Compare that to $225-250 for a 500GB add-on drive and $30 for some fairly robust, but still consumer-friendly network management software. Still might have to cobble together some back-up function to exactly match the Home Server's tool kit, but with at least $500 to play with, that should be no big issue.

Given this reality it sure seems like Gates and team need to rework their price-point. At under $500 the Home Server might have some value -- provided it was butt-simple to drop into an existing network. But then Redmond would run the risk of seeing the Home Server deployed in small business situations, taking sales away from commercial-grade solutions.

Good thing Gates is retiring in 2008. Somebody else can figure this stuff out.