The Substantially Similar Weblog

I subscribe to a fair number of right wing mailing lists, for the most part to keep tabs on these organizations.

The funniest emails come from the Christian Coalition, which has clearly gone down hill since Pat Robertson left its helm. Half the messages I receive are spam for telecommunications services that give a kickback to the organization.

Today’s missive got to me, though. It purports to be a “survey” of Coalition members, with the following questions:

1. Do you believe that Islam is a divine religion?
2. How much do you know about the Koran?
3. Do Christians in Islamic countries have the same freedom Muslims have in America?
4. Is Islam a religion of peace?
5. Do you support a war with Iraq?

Although there’s much to criticize in this survey, the question that bothers me the most is #3. First, because it seems to assume that the United States is a “Christian” country, without straight out saying so. Obviously, this would be the Christian Coalition’s preference. But it sure makes me feel left out. It also just seems like such an inapposite comparison. It might be better to ask whether Muslims in Islamic countries have the same freedom Muslims have in America. Or maybe Christians in Islamic countries vs. black men in America. Or maybe it’s just a dumb question, period.

More importantly, though, is the religious warmongering behind all of it. I suppose if Pope Urban II were alive today and needed to initiate the Crusades, he would probably circulate a survey along these lines rather than preaching an inflammatory sermon.

The Supreme Court of the United States announced its decision on Eldred v. Ashcroft today.

It’s a sad day for the future of creativity. Eldred and the good guys lost, and Disney and the MPAA won.

You can read the majority opinion, authored by Ruth Bader Ginsburg as well as Justice Stevens’ dissent and Justice Breyer’s dissent.

I may have something for more to say on this later, but I’m mourning for the moment.

I helped author this letter urging Universities to take a stand against network monitoring purely at the behest of the copyright industries.

This strip from Doonesbury was right on.

Apparently crawler918.com (aka nameprotect.com) is a pretty bad actor. Aside from ignoring robot rules, its purported purpose is to find targets of lawsuits for copyright infringement.

If you run a webserver, please consider banning this crawler with

 Deny from 12.148.196.128/25 

Presumably this address will change over time, but it’s a start.

Someone has finally published a novel and made it available for free over the Internet. I haven’t read it yet, but the first chapter looks interesting. You can read it online, or buy a printed copy.

Check it out, it’s called “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom”.

I just don’t get Wilco. So many of the people I love and respect see them as the next Beatles. It’s not that I find their music unpalatable, it just doesn’t “do it” for me. Perhaps some kind soul will take pity on me and help me see the light.

If you check this space regularly, you’ll notice it’s been empty. I have a file where I keep ideas for weblog entries, and it’s been building up over the past month, but I haven’t had time to turn anything into complete sentences. Things should improve at the end of February, when I go back out on coop. This spring, I’ll be working for Judge Reginald Lindsay in US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, so I’ll actually have weekends off.

I’ve travelled between Burlington, Vermont and Boston, Massachusetts dozens of times. Typically, we stop in West Lebanon, New Hampshire, for lunch. It’s about half-way and is one of the few towns with a number of restaurants.

On my most recent trip for the New Year’s Holiday, we discovered the Yama Restaurant, at 96 Main Street (phone, I believe, is (603) 298-5477). They serve excellent Korean and Japanese food at reasonable prices with extraordinarily-responsive service and a large number of vegetarian options. They even noticed that we ordered vegetarian entrees and brought only accompanying vegetarian condiments. Apparently, the restaurant came under new management about a year ago and expanded their cuisine. They don’t advertise but instead rely on word of mouth to attract customers.

So I thought I would do my part with the “word of mouth” thing by posting this recommendation here. Perhaps someone, someday will do a google search for “west lebanon vegetarian restaurant” and this page will appear. I’m pretty sure it’s the best restaurant I’ve been to in the state of New Hampshire.