One thing I would like address up front, however, is that the title of the Slashdot article linking here is a bit misleading. The VeRO program doesn’t quite give Scientology access to eBay’s database–it’s an administrative tool whereby VeRO members can remove listings. It’s not a slight distinction and should at least be pointed out. That said, it is true that the VeRO program allows rightsholders to police infringements themselves without interference from any human at eBay; these dynamics (including the prohibitive cost of responsive litigation by sellers) dictate a scenario where overreaching is inevitable.
Another point a few emailers made is that the DMCA safe harbor rule would come into play here, and if sellers wanted to restore listings that were removed, all they would need to do is counternotify. This is true only in the context of an alleged copyright violation, however. Trademark and patent law are not covered by the DMCA safe harbor provision, and it is trademark and patent which has served so far as the bases for removal when Scientology has complained, based on emails and conversations I’ve had with affected sellers. So counternotifying is generally not an option for sellers of e-meters on eBay. See the EFF’s Safe Harbor FAQ for more on this.

Aside from that fun, a buffet of unfinished business is staring at me: an apartment that I somehow came to own (from renting) during the past year presently boasts one inhabitable room of the three; a year plus of unfiled paperwork needs a mandate or order; precariously stacked books threaten to timber. I need furniture.  I need food.  And so on.

A host of websites broke while I was too busy to rescue them, some built over 5 years ago.  I also need a job, or jobs of the law-talking guy variety.  I have some promising leads, and a soon-to-be published article (by the NYS Bar Assoc) I wrote on eBay and trademark law will hopefully help that come about.  That and some phone calls.

In two weeks, I’m going to travel to Florida to visit my family, which consists of 3 additional nephews who only hear about me in fables involving the Big City and Tall Buildings.  Immediately upon my return, I’m on jury duty–federal (Southern District) jury duty no less.  I’m actually excited because federal cases are usually quite interesting.  Also interesting is the fact that I may wind up serving in the same court as a Southern District judge with whom I had lunch last week (at a symposium on science and ‘Truth’).

I also plan to rewrite something I did last semester as an independent study about the transformation of “neutrality” in Supreme Court jurisprudence regarding the religion clauses; specifically how the word has been seamlessly and opportunistically converted from the touchstone of the separation principle to a justification for destroying the separation principle.  I plan to rewrite much of the article from a linguistic standpoint, based on my observation that many of the dishonest arguments from history relied upon by the religious right are part and parcel of the gradual change in political discourse, from actual discourse to effective talking points.  Under this mechanism, the issue will always devolve to how the issue can be effectively framed, truth be damned.  And with the headway made by the religious right via its White House enablers, many of those falsities threaten to cement into effective truths.

Take, for instance, the “First Freedom Project” initiated by Attorney General Gonzales and the Dept of Justice.  One might think that religious freedom in America was in severe jeopardy from the language employed on the DOJ’s site, but that simply isn’t the case.  What this task force aims to achieve has little to do with freedom and everything to with exemptions and privileges.  And at the risk of invoking Godwin, I can’t help but be reminded of Hitler in the 1930s, opportunistically and baselessly framing a “problem” to the majority in terms that inevitably led it to believe that it was being persecuted by an out-of-power minority.  Gonzales’s attempt to usurp the court’s role isn’t much different from the presently dormant Congressional bid to disallow attorney’s fees in establishment clause cases, which also relied on a notion of privilege as inalienable freedom.  And our Constitution sits one precarious Justice away from becoming a meaningless to stop any of this.

I also want to research the Hein case that threatens to kill off Flast (which gave taxpayer standing status in establishment clause cases), so one of these days I’ll dig into that and try to say something that everyone else hasn’t already said.

What else? Oh yeah, send out resumes and start interviewing.

Now: I wait for last semester’s grades; I exhale and wait for the next, which comes up fast–I’m taking a few summer courses, mostly to lighten the load during my last year, and partly to take a course only given during the summer: Religion and the Constitution. It’s taught in tandem by two federal judges and the casebook thus far is promising. I’m still writing a paper on eBay and its secondary liability for trademark infringement problem.

I’ll add more to this tomorrow, but it’s getting late and my TCM movie is ebbing towards an awkward resolution. A 1940s New England town discovers its light skinned town doctor is black and mostly predictable reactions ensue. His kids haven’t been told, however, a fact which has triggered pained reflections and schizophrenic outbursts. There, it’s over. Apparently it was true and the kind New Englanders appear to have been shamed into constraining their initial hanging compulsion by the accepting sagacious priest. Good for New England and its braving a world which would permit a 1/8th negro to dwell in its midst.

Tomorrow I’ll fix the blogroll so that it makes some sense. I want to add people I’ve been reading lately, such as Glenn Greenwald (for speaking consistently with perfect clarity on the unfolding NSA-Orwell merger), and prune some of the weeds.

Other topics I’ll try to get to: the Vatican getting handed just desserts by China after selling Taiwan down the river; the recent NY Times article on just how deeply and truly upset the neovangelists are at Bush for not converting the nation to a complete theocracy yet (note how this argument tracks so closely to the recently voiced gripe by various racists that Bush has failed in his promise to provide a final brown solution) (what do they have in common you ask? The turning of the worm. The far far right (the ones who have controlled the debate til now) is upset that Bush has squandored his imaginary political capital before he had a chance to slaughter a host of domestic policy sacred cows they had marked for death. It has dawned on them that Bush’s presidency is utterly unsalvageable by this point (and just how much of a millstone Bush will be this November), so they now scramble to undo his presidency before the liberals can get a crack at it this November. If they can manage the perception that they are the engineers of Bush’s defeat it would allow their arguments to reign as the cause. Namely, that Bush didn’t go far enough (as opposed to the widely acknowledged genuine impeachment bases, like incompetence, NSA-spurred constiutional violations, Iraq generally, Abu Gharib, Katrina, et al.). Saigon is falling and far from attempting to get out, they’ve decided to compete with the Viet Cong for the role of opposition. I think it’s a doomed tack and clear evidence that they’re in an almost pure panic state at the moment. Which is at least fun to watch.

I’ve been reading Saki of late. There are a few writers, and Saki is one of them, who make you a better writer just for having read them. From For the Duration of the War:

A Mouse that prayed for Allah’s aid
Blasphemed when no such aid befell:
A Cat, who feasted on that mouse,
Thought Allah managed vastly well.

With those lessons to dwell on, I sleep.

DeLay went on to describe an elaborate plot whereby the Red Sox organization, Bud Selig, John Kerry, and, inexplicably, George Steinbrenner, fixed the World Series in order to deprive the far more God-fearing state of Missouri of its runs, hits and errors.
Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum agreed: “We have a situation where if we don’t act immediately, a baseball team from the state of Massachussets will hoist a clearly undeserved pennant on opening day while gay married couples watch from the bleachers, thus ruining the game of baseball.”

Critics of the bill disagreed, citing the Baseball Almanac, where no World Series has ever been overturned. “Baseball has an appeals process that’s worked just fine so far. I’ll say it again: Baseball by Legislature is a slippery slope,” said an exasperated Curt Schilling, who pitches for the Red Sox when not testifying before Congress.

Cardinal fans keeping vigil outside Busch Stadium called Schilling a “murderer” and urged the court to speedily overturn the World Series as soon as possible. “We lost, sure, but we only want what’s fair,” Cardinal fan spokesperson Charles Manson said, declining to clarify his remarks.