Proposed British Law Against Glorifying Terrorism is Criticized in NY Times Op-Ed

American law professor Geoffrey R. Stone writes (”What You Can’t Say Will Hurt You,” Aug. 15, 2005):

ON Aug. 5, Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain announced his intention to carry out a series of new antiterrorism measures, including deporting foreign nationals who justify the use of “violence to further a person’s beliefs”; authorizing the denaturalization of British citizens who engage in “extremism”; and legislating a new “offense of condoning or glorifying terrorism.”

More at the New York Times.

San Antonio Gets AAR

Congratulations to Air America Radio on reaching 70 stations. The newest is KKTX in San Antonio, TX.

Lawsuit Over an Album Without an “Explict Lyrics” Sticker

From the AP:

HAGERSTOWN, Md. — A judge has approved a deal enabling people to get refunds on the Evanescence album Anywhere but Home if they bought it at a Wal-Mart in Maryland.

The agreement signed Wednesday in Washington County Circuit Court partially settles a lawsuit filed by a local couple who claim the copy they bought at Wal-Mart contained explicit lyrics but didn’t carry a parental advisory sticker.

New York-based Sony BMG Music Entertainment and its Wind-Up Records subsidiary agreed to offer the refunds in exchange for dismissal of the claims filed against them last year by Trevin and Melanie Skeens of Brownsville. The record company didn’t acknowledge any wrongdoing.

The Skeens are still suing Wal-Mart Stores Inc., of Bentonville, Ark., claiming the retailer deceived consumers by selling the album without a warning label.

The “Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics” label is a voluntary measure.

It was never meant to suggest that every CD without that sticker contains no expletives and nothing controversial.

Parents who are control-oriented towards their kids can listen to an album themselves before giving it to them. No one said that trying to control whatever your kids hear is easy, or that society must make it easy.

This lawsuit is evidence that Frank Zappa was right to oppose these stickers.

Pro-Choice Ads for Conservatives

NARAL recently withdrew a TV ad against Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts, amid accusations that it implied his support for the bombing of abortion clinics. (Counter-arguments here.)

Amanda Marcotte of Pandagon.net has ideas for new ads to replace the old one:

I thought of some good, conservative ad campaigns that NARAL could slap together…

– A TV ad with some beleaguered looking middle aged man standing in line at the grocery store behind a young woman with two small children paying with food stamps while he keeps looking angrily at his watch could probably jack support for Roe v. Wade to 90%.

– An ad showing a trembling teenage girl and her parents watching a pregnancy test turn positive. Voiceover —”Don’t let her misbehavior derail your plans for her.” Same language about supporting Roe v. Wade and opposing Roberts.

Indeed, there’s a number of ways that one can frame legal abortion as an important conservative value. And I would suggest doing that, if I weren’t afraid of the stain that it would leave on the immortal souls of pro-choice activists.

John Gibson Smears Cindy Sheehan and the University of California

John Gibson

Fox News’ John Gibson was the guest-host of “The O’Reilly Factor” on Thursday night.

Gibson discussed Cindy Sheehan, a woman in California whose son was a soldier killed in Iraq. She is trying to arrange a meeting with George W. Bush.

John Gibson argued against her geographically:

GIBSON (8/11/05): I can’t help but notice that Cindy Sheehan is from Vacaville, California, very close to U.C. Davis, very close to U.C. Berkeley, reasonably close to U.C. Santa Cruz, where I believe that a lot of those WTO protesters came from. What do the university anti-war protesters have to do with her?

Those universities have plenty of students and professors with more decency than John Gibson.

By the way, I can’t help but notice that Fox News’ studios are very close to Times Square, where I believe that a lot of those whores use to ply their trade. What do whores have to do with people like John Gibson, who will say anything for a buck?