Economics

Overworked Prosecutors

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In Central Alabama drug related cases keep prosecutors busy:

Giddens estimates that about half of the criminal cases set to go to trial every month are pure drug cases, either possession of marijuana or other controlled substances, distribution, trafficking, manufacturing and others.

The percentage is much higher when drug related cases are added to the ‘pure’ cases.
This makes me think there might be a pretty easy way to find some money to divert to ‘important’ government services.
Via the Media Awareness Project.

RIAA v Verizon

This entry was posted in Capitalism Constitution Economics Intellectual Property Internet Libertarianism Technology on by

I don’t condone stealing other folks property even if it is overpriced shoddy music.
However, I applaud the US Court of Appeals of DC’s decision in RIAA v Verizon:

The recording industry’s effort to curtail online piracy was dealt a significant blow today when a federal appeals court ruled that Internet service providers cannot be compelled to disclose the identities of customers suspected of illegally sharing copyrighted songs.

Well, they really can be compelled but it must now be with full due process:

Using the DMCA subpoenas, the RIAA was able to obtain the names of suspected file sharers from ISPs without filing lawsuit and without getting a judge’s approval. Without that subpoena power, the RIAA would have to file suit against unnamed file-swappers in order to obtain their identities.

The complete opinion is here (PDF) and provides some entertaining reading as the court hammers the RIAA. On the other hand, the court did not address constitutional issues raised by Verizon thus leaving the door open for congress to mess things up again.

Real Suit

This entry was posted in Capitalism Economics Libertarianism Marketing Microsoft on by

Sure, they are probably right:

In a complaint filed in federal court in San Jose, California, RealNetworks claimed that Microsoft “pursued a broad course of predatory conduct over a period of years by abusing its monopoly power, resulting in substantial lost revenue and business for RealNetworks.”

but I wonder what makes them think that they will have any more success then Netscape.

Kudos to the 9th Circuit Court

This entry was posted in Capitalism Constitution Domestic Terrorism Drug Laws Economics Law Enforcement Libertarianism on by

For doing this good deed:

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that prosecuting these medical marijuana users under a 1970 federal law is unconstitutional if the marijuana isn’t sold, transported across state lines or used for non-medicinal purposes.

Volokh blogger Randy Barnett argued and won this case and he provides technical details and more links here.
We need more like this:

The decision was a blow to the Justice Department, which argued that medical marijuana laws in nine states were trumped by the Controlled Substances Act, which outlawed marijuana, heroin and a host of other drugs nationwide.

No, what we really need is for the myriad local, state and federal drug laws to be eliminated.
Via Talkleft.

Congress Critters aren’t Immune Either

This entry was posted in Constitution Economics Law Law Enforcement Libertarianism Regulation on by

Immune to what? The same thing as the police in the last post: wasting their time (not worth much) and ours with laws that should not exist in the first place.
Nick at Hit & Run tells us about Rep. Doug Ose’s (R-Calif.) current important legislation:

to increase the FCC’s infamous seven dirty words to eight (by doubling up on versions of “asshole”).
No grammatical novice, Ose wants to ban noun forms as well as “verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms” of the words too terrible to speak. Ose is pissed–excuse me, peeved–that U2 frontman Bono got away with saying “fucking” during the Golden Globes Award broadcast a while back.

Ose is not alone in his concern nastiness on the airwaves:

The FCC’s enforcement bureau ruled that Bono’s utterance was neither indecent nor obscene because it did not describe a sexual function.
Sens. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) and 11 Republicans, including Pete V. Domenici (R-N.M.), introduced a resolution last week blasting the FCC’s ruling on Bono.

These critters need to spend more time at home relaxing instead of worrying about our sensitve ears. Get rid of the rules/laws and let folks use the tuner to listen to whatever makes them happy.
Nick closes his post with this question:

Question for all you amateur lawyers out there: Would it be illegal to go on TV and call Ose a fucking asshole who’s wasting everyone’s time with shit like this?

I don’t know about the legality but I do know that the expletives whether used as above or by Bono add no value to the discourse so why use them in the first place.