bonglonglong

Prosecutors have dropped the rape charges in the Duke Lacrosse case. I thought this was going to happen when it came out that the lab results showed biological material from several people inside of the accuser and none of those people were any of the accusers. Apparently that wasn't the only hole in the story.

Durham district attorney Mike Nifong dismissed charges of first-degree rape against the three former players after the accuser told detectives she was not certain about a crucial detail in the alleged assault, the newspaper said.

Rape charges dropped in Duke lacrosse case - Yahoo! News

I normally try not to re-post boingboing since just about everyone I know reads it already, or should. However, this is just about the scariest thing I've ever read.

At first the bill seemed to only concrete the ability of Bush to define the Geneva Conventions and allow torture to be used on detainees. But further analysis digs up the fact that it also defines non-allegiance to Bush as an act of terrorism. It then goes on to include the following into the corral of terrorism: vandals, people who fight near "protected buildings", squatters, petty thieves, and anyone "who with intent or reason to believe that it is to be used to the injury of the United States" collects information (such a broad term) "clandestine" means.

Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things

In a recent ESPN.com article is has been reported that the Black Coaches Association is pleased that more minority coaches are being hired, but says things haven't gone far enough yet. So that happens like, every day, and I've come to expect it. This is the part that got me.

Among the schools that failed to report at all to the BCA, Wisconsin and Boise State promoted assistant coaches from within their staffs. Rice hired Todd Graham of Tulsa.

"What policy will it take to change the attitudes of institutions that do not feel the need to have open searches or compete for diversity as they do on the field, with stadiums packed to watchdiverse athletic participants?" the report asked in its conclusion.

Therein lies the problem. It's in their assumption. "as they do on the field"

Wrong.

Coaches don't compete for diversity on the field. They compete for the best athletes. Sometimes that means teams composed 100% of black athletes. And I'm fine with that. Athletic departments are probably one of the most color-blind places you'll find in the world, because winning is a demonstrable end. You either win or you don't. You're either faster or you're not. When comparing LeBron James and Dirk Nowitski, no one mentions race.

Does this mean there aren't racist athletic directors out there? Of course not. They're probably all bigots. But they also want to win. Someone is now going to complain because Boise State and Wisconsin promoted from within and didn't conduct a nationwide search. Sometimes you just don't need to search for a candidate. You have the person you are going to hire.

It's called reality.

link

I was just listening to a song on my iPod. I have a lot of them, so I really only hear things when I listen on shuffle. The song Breathe (2AM) by Anna Nalick came on. It's a good song. Anna has a little ways to go before she's Tori Amos or Sarah McLaughlin, but she's moving in that direction. The thing that jumped out at me was the third verse (the one after the bridge - standard pop structure, you know.)

2 AM and I'm still awake, writing a song
If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer inside of me,
Threatening the life it belongs to
And I feel like I'm naked in front of the crowd
Cause these words are my diary, screaming out loud
And I know that you'll use them, however you want to

It seems like just another song about a songwriter writing songs. And it is. It's not a manifesto on modern copyright law or economics. Except that to me it sums up my side of the argument just fine. The powers that be tell us that without strong copywright protection in the form of DRM and content control, the industry will fold and we will be without new art to enjoy. But Anna betrays the real truth in her song. She's writing the song (ostensibly, if we believe what she says) because she has to. Internally, she has no choice but to write the song. By singing it in front of a crowd of people, she feels totally open and naked - she's baring her soul... Then the kicker - she recognizes that our relationship to the song is not hers to control. No matter what she does, we will interact with the song in our own way. It may be meaningful, we may hate it - we may turn it in to an essay on the evils of DRM.

Will a lack of content control hurt the production of art? No. Not at all. Will it make artists less rich? Probably. So what. The law doesn't and shouldn't exist to ensure that certain individuals get wealthy. That's for the free market to decide. It's also not for a corporation to decide how I interact with art. It's not for the artist to decide. It's not for the playwright to decide how the play is directed. It's not for the musician to decide how my soul is moved. Of course, the people in charge of corporations have no idea about any of this, because there probably isn't anything they do because something welling up from the bottom of their soul forces them to. They would have to have a sould first.

Kelley Edgerton sent me this link, which is frickin hilarious. It's great how Colbert just lets the congressman hang himself. Thanks Kelly!
YouTube - Stephen Colbert and Congressman