Duane Lester and the Assertion of Copyright.
I got to meet Duane Lester of All-American Blogger last week at the Breitbart Awards thing. Duane’s a good guy who won the Breitbart Blogger Award ; but what may be more of immediate interest is this post from last month entitled “How to Assert Copyright Over Your Work When It’s Been Plagiarized.” Which happens far too often, albeit not as drastically and/or comprehensively as it did to Duane.
As the video below shows, Duane ended up getting paid for his work:
…and I recommend that people read the original article, too: it will walk you through putting together an actual cease-and-desist letter, should you ever get stuck in this situation. Check it out.
Moe Lane (crosspost)
The Bunch o’Election Results Open Thread.
Mass link here (click on Live Results). The AZ-08 Special is the big one – more or less – but there are others.
Pooh-poohing Gov. Walker’s Victory
Mainstream media get it dead wrong about the Wisconsin governor outspending his recall opponent by 7 to 1. It is part of mass media's campaign to excuse the loss of their favorite, the Democrat Barrett, and to put down Gov. Walker's stirring victory.
Putting down Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's election win — [...]
What’s Civility Got To Do With It?
Does "Civil Discourse" have anything to do with the unfortunate shooting of Representative Gabby Giffords, or the election to replace her?
Today, voters in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District choose a new Representative to succeed Gabby Giffords who stepped down in January to take further time to recover from the injuries sustained in the [...]
Kerfuffle over Gay Parenting Study Raises Important Question: Aren’t These Studies Bloody Stupid?
A social science study concluding that children
of gay parents have suckier lives than those of straight parents,
contradicting previous studies, has led to an outcry over some odd
classification measures.
Mark Regnerus, associate professor of sociology at the
University of Texas in Austin, recently
published a study analyzing the lives of the adult children of
same-sex relationships. He writes about the outcome at
Slate:
Even after including controls for age, race, gender, and things
like being bullied as a youth, or the gay-friendliness of the state
in which they live, such respondents were more apt to report being
unemployed, less healthy, more depressed, more likely to have
cheated on a spouse or partner, smoke more pot, had trouble with
the law, report more male and female sex partners, more sexual
victimization, and were more likely to reflect negatively on their
childhood family life, among other things.
Before you ask, yes, Regnerus is classifying smoking more
marijuana and having more sexual partners as a negative outcome of
being the child of same-sex parents. You’ve got to love it when an
alleged scientific study is tainted from the very start with biases
of what counts as a bad or negative experience.
But that’s not the main
source of
criticism of Regnerus’ science
here. What has the blogosphere upset is how he classified same-sex
families for his study. He compared across several different types
of families – married heteros, lesbian parents, gay parents, single
parents, adoptive parents, et cetera. But, in order to bolster the
still-statistically-low numbers of adult children of gay parents,
if either of the child’s parents had ever had a gay sexual
encounter, it overruled any other classification. So a child raised
by a lesbian couple was placed in the category of lesbian parents.
But so was a child raised by a single mom who was a lesbian, or
ever had a single same-sex encounter that the child was aware of.
The children of any closeted politician or celebrity caught in a
public gay scandal would be lumped in the gay categories, even
though they likely bear absolutely no comparative resemblance to a
child raised his or her whole life by a gay couple. If the child
caught Daddy kissing Santa Claus: gay. So it’s not comparing apples
to apples or even apples to oranges; it’s comparing apples to a
whole fruit salad. He's comparing children of married straight
couples to children of any number of different types of same-sex
familes.
The objection that Regnerus is deliberately gaming the study to
make gay families appear less stable than straight families by the
nature of his classifications does appear valid, regardless of
whether it was a deliberately sinister intent on his part.
The $800,000 study was privately funded by the conservative
Witherspoon Institute and
also the Bradley
Foundation (which has donated money to a number of libertarian
interests, including the Reason Foundation), so at least nobody’s
tax dollars were wasted.
The larger question remains unaddressed: Aren’t these studies
stupid? It’s probably going to take at least another decade or so
to really get enough numbers to evaluate the experiences of kids of
gay parents. In justifying his research methods, Regnerus
explains that he wanted to get a greater cross-section than other
gay family studies have managed so far, due to the relatively small
sample size. He may have succeeded in that one area at the expense
of the credibility of the study's results.
Not that credibility really matters in studies like these. These
studies, whether they show gay parents as the same, better, or
worse than the heteros, are meant to be used as weapons in the
culture war of gay marriage and adoption, to be excerpted in blogs
and news stories, to be entered into evidence and quoted in court
cases, and to be thrown out during message board debates that
haven't been Godwinned yet. There’s nothing about them that
actually serves any valid scientific purpose.
Ask a Libertarian: What Did We Learn?
Welcome to Ask a Libertarian 2012 with Reason's Nick Gillespie
and Matt Welch. They are the authors of the book, The
Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix
What's Wrong With America, coming out in paperback with a new
foreword covering Occupy Wall Street and more, on June 26.
In this round, Matt and Nick reflect on this year's Ask a
Libertarian series and what the questions they were asked can tell
us about current trends in libertarianism.
Produced by Meredith Bragg, Jim Epstein, Josh Swain, and Tracy
Oppenheimer with help from Katie Hooks.
To watch answers from 2011's Ask a Libertarian
series, go
here.
Ask a Libertarian Lightening Round: Recalls, Libertarian Paternalism, & Tea Party v. Libertarians
Welcome to Ask a Libertarian 2012 with Reason's Nick Gillespie
and Matt Welch. They are the authors of the book, The
Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix
What's Wrong With America, coming out in paperback with a new
foreword covering Occupy Wall Street and more, on June 26.
In this lightning round, Matt and Nick discuss recalls,
libertarian paternalism, and Tea Party v. Libertarians.
Produced by Meredith Bragg, Jim Epstein, Josh Swain, and Tracy
Oppenheimer with help from Katie Hooks.
To watch answers from 2011's Ask a Libertarian
series, go
here.
Ask a Libertarian: How do we argue with our conservative friends without them screaming?
Welcome to Ask a Libertarian 2012 with Reason's Nick Gillespie
and Matt Welch. They are the authors of the book, The
Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix
What's Wrong With America, coming out in paperback with a new
foreword covering Occupy Wall Street and more, on June 26.
In this round, Matt and Nick answer the question:
"How do we argue with our conservative friends without them
screaming at us?" -submitted by @H0bbesthetiger
Produced by Meredith Bragg, Jim Epstein, Josh Swain, and Tracy
Oppenheimer with help from Katie Hooks.
To watch answers from 2011's Ask a Libertarian
series, go
here.
Ask a Libertarian Lightning Round: Libertarianism in Pop Culture & Pop Culture in Politics
Welcome to Ask a Libertarian 2012 with Reason's Nick Gillespie
and Matt Welch. They are the authors of the book, The
Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix
What's Wrong With America, coming out in paperback with a new
foreword covering Occupy Wall Street and more, on June 26.
In this lightning round, Matt and Nick discuss pop culture and
politics.
Produced by Meredith Bragg, Jim Epstein, Josh Swain, and Tracy
Oppenheimer with help from Katie Hooks.
To watch answers from 2011's Ask a Libertarian
series, go
here.
Lessons Learned From US Withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
Ten years ago tomorrow, the United States formally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which has defined strategic thinking for about 30 years. On Wednesday, The Heritage Foundation will host an event commemorating the 10th anniversary of the withdrawal from the treaty. The treaty banned the United States and the Soviet Union (and later Russia) from developing ballistic missile defense effective against long-range ballistic missile threats. As seen in Heritage’s movie 33 Minutes,...
Click the title to read the full post.
Ask a Libertarian: How Can Libertarians Effect Political Change?
Welcome to Ask a Libertarian 2012 with Reason's Nick Gillespie
and Matt Welch. They are the authors of the book, The
Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix
What's Wrong With America, coming out in paperback with a new
foreword covering Occupy Wall Street and more, on June 26.
"What is the most effective way libertarians can effect
political change?" - Sent via facebook by Matthew Bellis and Angelo
Butchikas
Produced by Meredith Bragg, Jim Epstein, Josh Swain, and Tracy
Oppenheimer with help from Katie Hooks.
To watch answers from 2011's Ask a Libertarian
series, go
here.
Daily Links – June 12, 2012
Today is June 12, 2012. On this date in 1979, cyclist Bryan Allen became the first person to cross the English Channel in a human-powered aircraft, piloting the Gossamer Albatross. The plane weighed only 70 pounds when empty, and was powered by pedaling. His only complaints about the journey were being groped by the TSA before takeoff, and that his luggage ended up in Belgium. Also on this date, in 1978, David “Son of Sam” Berkowitz was sentenced to 25 years to life for each of his six victims, forever tainting the “a dog made me do it” defense. On this date in 1987, Ronald Reagan famously challenged Gorbachev to “tear down this wall!” He was very passionate about interior design. Today is also former President and Presidential parent George H. W. Bush’s 88th birthday. I wish I had two middle initials. Or even three. Caleb A. N. D. Howe. … I’ll work on it. And finally, today is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day. But don’t worry, Mayor Bloomberg is working tirelessly to stop the spread of this dangerous and insidious observance. Consider this an Open Thread.
Operation ‘Black Button’ Catches Up With Senator Sherrod Brown | The Shark Tank
“But your ever-loving johnny on the spot reporter El Sharko was able to get in a couple of questions in with Senator Brown.”
ProgressMass not yet legally registered in Massachusetts | Red Mass
“One of the few areas that ProgressMass seems interested in, besides Scott Brown, is overturning Citizen’s United. In that spirit, ProgressMass was asked if they would be willing to release board members names.”
Barack Obama’s autobiographical fictions | The Weekly Standard
“You can’t help but sympathize with our host, with the flack, with the curators at the college library. They faced a challenge known to anyone who tries to account for Barack Obama”
Will a Republican save Obama’s War on Coal? | Fox News
“The only Senate Republican who has publicly sided with Obama in support of the disastrous Utility MACT regulation that would cripple coal-fired power plants and therefore imperil our fragile economic recovery is Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander”
7 Ways Conservative Activists Are Being Harassed By the Left | Townhall.com
“Since many people are unaware of what goes on behind the scenes, it seems like a good time to catalogue just some of the tactics liberals are using to try to stifle free speech on the Right.”
The Legal Showdown Between Feds & Florida from Bethany.
fantast (FAN-tast): A visionary or dreamer.
(via Dictionary.com)
Ronald Bailey on Free Markets as Sustainable Development
Next week the United Nations is convening
its Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de
Janeiro (Rio + 20). In advance of the meeting various activists and
world leaders are asserting, “The current global development model
is unsustainable," by which they mean free-market
capitalism. Reason Science Correspondent Ronald
Bailey points out that history shows that before the advent of
democratic capitalism most of humanity had experienced precious
little development and no societies proved themselves sustainable
in the long run. Free-market societies are both.
Ask a Libertarian: Is a Vote for Gary Johnson a Vote for Obama?
Welcome to Ask a Libertarian 2012 with Reason's Nick Gillespie
and Matt Welch. They are the authors of the book, The
Declaration of Independents: How Libertarian Politics Can Fix
What's Wrong With America, coming out in paperback with a new
foreword covering Occupy Wall Street and more, on June 26.
"Is voting for Gary Johnson essentially helping Barack Obama get
reelected?" - Sent via email by Christina Tate
Produced by Meredith Bragg, Jim Epstein, Josh Swain, and Tracy
Oppenheimer with help from Katie Hooks.
To watch answers from 2011's Ask a Libertarian
series, go
here.
John McCain: My friends, let’s call for an outside special counsel to investigate intel leaks — Senate Dems: Let’s not, but thanks for all the bipartisanship over the years
**Written by Doug Powers
It’s always been possible a day would come when all of Sen. John McCain’s bipartisan reaching across the aisle would pay off and the Democrats would return the favor when the Maverick wanted it most. Today, however, is not that day:
Senate Democrats blocked a resolution introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) calling for Attorney General Eric Holder to introduce an outside special counsel to investigate a number of recent military and intelligence leaks.
McCain introduced a resolution Tuesday expressing the Senate’s support for Holder to appoint a special prosecutor. But Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) objected after McCain asked for unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to consideration of his resolution.
“What is at issue here is whether or not we are going to give an opportunity for U.S. attorneys, professionals in their fields, to handle this particular inquiry,” Wyden said. “And I see no evidence, Mr. President, that the way U.S. attorneys are handling this investigation at this time is not with the highest standards of professionalism.”
McCain said that recent military leaks and intelligence leaks warranted outside legal counsel to investigate the leaks.
“The damage to our national security has been articulated by many both in and outside the administration,” McCain said.
Dems circled the wagons quickly:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, has ferociously criticized the leaks, but said Tuesday she opposed the appointment of a special counsel.
“To have a fight over how we do this now will set back any leak investigation,” she said.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., contended that a special counsel should be appointed only if or when it had been discovered that “high administration officials” were giving improper information to investigators.
“If we find that some high administration officials are not giving proper information or whatever to your investigators, that kind of lack of cooperation might then merit a special counsel, but we’re not at that point yet,” Schumer said.
**Written by Doug Powers
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