I'm Sure This Is The Fault Of The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy

Al Gore just can't stay out of trouble. His nascent TV network is having some issues...

A cable television network co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore is facing at least two lawsuits challenging its use of the name Current TV.

A Maryland company is suing in federal court in Cincinnati claiming trademark infringement. Minnesota Public Radio has made a similar complaint in a Minneapolis court.

"This is a straight-forward case of trademark infringement," according to briefs filed last month in U.S. District Court by Current Communications Group of Germantown, Md., a provider of broadband Internet services that relies on a Cincinnati company to help distribute its service.

Current Communications contends that it had registered several variations of "Current" trademarks before Current TV was introduced in April 2005.

Minnesota Public Radio claimed in a suit filed earlier this month that it applied to register "The Current" as a trademark four months before Gore's network changed its name to Current TV.

Gore's company bought Newsworld International, a 24-hour cable network, from Canadian Broadcasting Corp. in May 2004 and had planned to use the name "INdTV" and aim programming at 20-somethings, according to the Cincinnati lawsuit.

Current TV, based in San Francisco, features alternative news and "citizen journalism" pieces, many submitted by amateurs who send in video. According to its web site, viewers contribute about one-third of the station's content.

A message seeking comment from Current TV on the Cincinnati lawsuit was not immediately returned. Earlier, the company issued a statement in response to the MPR lawsuit saying more than 300 U.S. businesses use the word "current" in their name.

"We know of no consumers who confuse us with Minnesota Public Radio, and we can't imagine that anybody ever would," the statement said.

I'm wondering who has more consumers: Minnesota Public Radio or Current?

Senator Clinton Goes Off Her Meds

You have got to be kidding me. Someone needs to find out if the NEA slipped Senator Hillary Clinton something, because these statements are beyond ridiculous...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton slammed private-school voucher proposals yesterday, predicting that vouchers would eventually lead to the creation of taxpayer-financed white supremacist academies - or even a government-funded "School of the Jihad."

Clinton, a longtime voucher foe who earned the backing of the city teachers union in 2000, says government financing of sectarian groups would incite ethnic and religious conflict - and encourage fringe groups to demand government cash to run their schools.

President George W. Bush has long favored laws that require states to provide vouchers, a position that earned him the allegiance of conservative Christian groups that have clamored for public education dollars.

"First family that comes and says 'I want to send my daughter to St. Peter's Roman Catholic School' and you say 'Great, wonderful school, here's your voucher,'" Clinton said. "Next parent that comes and says, 'I want to send my child to the school of the Church of the White Supremacist ...' The parent says, 'The way that I read Genesis, Cain was marked, therefore I believe in white supremacy. ... You gave it to a Catholic parent, you gave it to a Jewish parent, under the Constitution, you can't discriminate against me.'"

As an adoring, if somewhat puzzled, audience of Bronx activists looked on, Clinton added, "So what if the next parent comes and says, 'I want to send my child to the School of the Jihad? ... I won't stand for it."

That audience is right to be puzzled. I'm looking everywhere for my local Jihad school (do they advertise in the Yellow Pages?). I'm wondering, as does John Hawkins, if the voucher programs that currently exist have experienced a huge surge in people trying to send their kids to madrassas (or the David Duke Academy).

This may be the dumbest argument ever against vouchers (and that's saying something). We already provide educational funding to state universities where professors make statements calling dead victims of 9/11 "little Eichmanns" and where others espouse Communist and socialist orthodoxy. To that end, I don't agree with the pseudo-religious liberal secular orthodoxy preached by most in the public schools today. Can we stop financing public education, too?

The only good thing about this statement is that it's more proof that Hillary isn't nearly the politician Bill was, which makes it less likely that she will win the Presidency. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

A Scary Reminder

Anyone who says the Cold War wasn't scary needs to read this story at The Officers Club(hat tip: VodkaPundit). Thanks for keeping me alive, Mr. Petrov. Someone needs to take up a collection for the guy.

As for more scary stuff from the Cold War, check this out.

Cancer-Killer

Okay, now here's somebody accomplishing something useful with his life, and it's a fellow member of my tribe (hat tip: Instapundit). Balaji Panchapakesan, a researcher at Delaware, is coming up with a cool way to kill cancer cells...

He and a handful of colleagues and students at UD and at Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson Medical School have devised a method of exploding cancer cells with "nanobombs." They figured out how to attach unimaginably small single-walled carbon tubes to cancer cells via proteins. When a laser is directed at the tubes, they heat up and explode, killing the cancer cell. Like a cluster bomb, the tube causes a chain reaction that also kills nearby cancer cells.

If the aloneness he felt on Mount Kilimanjaro is an integral part of the human condition, so is searching and researching, Panchapakesan says. "My goal is to search for the meaning and truth of my own life."

That ultimate personal goal has helped fire the imagination of his scientific and engineering work, which has this ambition: To kill cancer cells without killing any cells around them. This is in stark contrast to chemotherapy, which indiscriminately kills everything it touches around the cancer.

The nanotubes are a billionth of a millimeter, much smaller than a cell, and, "Potentially, they can be used on different types of cancer cells, including breaking up blood clots," he says. About 100,000 nanotubes could pack themselves together on the width of one strand of human hair.

It's cool to hear about someone using their mind to solve problems rather than create them or bitch about them.

Standing Up For Denmark

I don't agree with everything Chris Hitchens has written, but he's dead right here, and his idea is a wonderful one...

Denmark is a fellow member of NATO and a country that sends its soldiers to help in the defense and reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. And what is its reward from Washington? Not a word of solidarity, but instead some creepy words of apology to those who have attacked its freedom, its trade, its citizens, and its embassies. For shame. Surely here is a case that can be taken up by those who worry that America is too casual and arrogant with its allies. I feel terrible that I have taken so long to get around to this, but I wonder if anyone might feel like joining me in gathering outside the Danish Embassy in Washington, in a quiet and composed manner, to affirm some elementary friendship.

...Thank you all who've written. Please be outside the Embassy of Denmark, 3200 Whitehaven Street (off Massachusetts Avenue) between noon and 1 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 24. Quietness and calm are the necessities, plus cheerful conversation. Danish flags are good, or posters reading "Stand By Denmark" and any variation on this theme (such as "Buy Carlsberg/ Havarti/ Lego") The response has been astonishing and I know that the Danes are appreciative. But they are an embassy and thus do not of course endorse or comment on any demonstration. Let us hope, however, to set a precedent for other cities and countries. Please pass on this message to friends and colleagues.

It's time to stand up for our friends.

I'm Revoking My Proxy, Too

I'm with this movement...

On "Meet the Press" this past Sunday, NBC reporter David Gregory, after making a half-hearted apology for his poor conduct in arguing with the White House Press Secretary about the Cheney hunting accident, stated that the White House press corps is "a proxy for the American people." After exhibiting his rude behavior, poor analysis and lack of professionalism, Mr. Gregory then displays his arrogance and pomposity by taking on the role of "proxy for the American people." After seeing Mr. Gregory in all his glory, I hereby revoke my proxy and will give it someone who can better represent my interests.

(hat tip: Rand Simberg and Instapundit)I have no doubt the White House handled the Cheney hunting shooting incident poorly in terms of communicating with the press. With that being said, it's still not that important a story (although I think the educational value of painting Aaron Burr as a sub-human bastard was clearly missed) and the hissy fit thrown by the White House press corps was beyond idiotic. And they wonder why most Americans have a lower opinion of reporters than of other professions.

This incident demonstrated that Cheney was careless while hunting. It also demonstrated that the press willingly allow biases to impact their work, they're not professional in the least and they get offended by the idea that their work isn't spoonfed to them. I wonder who ends up looking worse.

How Much Does a Good Port Cost?

I'm reluctant to jump on any bandwagon on the ports story, but Dick Meyer's commentary should give everyone reason to pause...

Never have I seen a bogus story explode so fast and so far. I thought I was a connoisseur of demagoguery and cheap shots, but the Dubai Ports World saga proves me a piker. With a stunning kinship of cravenness, politicians of all flavors risk trampling each other as they rush to the cameras and microphones to condemn the handover of massive U.S. strategic assets to an Islamic, Arab terrorist-loving enemy.

The only problem -- and I admit it's only a teeny-weeny problem -- is that 90 percent of that story is false.

The United Arab Emirates is not an Axis of Evil kind of place, it will not own U.S. ports, it will not control security at U.S. ports and there is nothing new about foreigners owning U.S. ports. Odds are higher that you'll be wounded interfering with a congressman providing soundbites than by something smuggled into a port terminal leased by Dubai Ports World.

(hat tip: Polipundit) I will say the President's threat to use his veto on this issue is silly -- since he hasn't vetoed a single bloated spending bill, will Congress really believe him on this veto threat? And to critics like Lileks who say the decision is politically tone-deaf... they're right. That doesn't mean the deal is wrong -- it just means that they should have handled it better.

Not So Real Sports

Sorry for the lack of blogging. I've been busy. No, I haven't been watching the Winter Olympics. Much like Bryant Gumbel, as per this hilarious article noted by loyal reader RB...

There were some eye-opening remarks from Bryant Gumbel on the most recent episode of HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel. According to a transcript posted by a television columnist named Seth Frelich, Gumbel said the following in his closing monologue last week (emphasis mine):

"Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t like them and won’t watch them ... Because they’re so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won ... So if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, when we can move on to March Madness — for God’s sake, let the games begin."

Strangely, I agree with Gumbel on one thing. Figure skating is a pseudo-sport, although the people who participate are genuine athletes. I don't want to demean what they do, but I don't think it's a sport when this much subjectivity exists with regard to the scoring. The same's true for gymnastics -- they're clearly athletes, but I can't accept as a sport something where the judges can vary how many points you get for something based on the style with which you did it. If the NFL had something comparable, we'd be judging TD celebrations and length of scoring play to determine the number of points we should give a team for each score. If we want to make it a sport, have the skaters compete to complete a set number of jumps and moves as quickly as possible, fastest time wins. And have them do it all at the same time, with the right to knock down competitiors... now there's a sport I would watch.

With that being said, Gumbel's an idiot. He's smarmy, rude and condescending as hell, and the condescending attitude is made worse by the fact that he's not as smart as the people he's treating rudely. Watching him speak with his reporters on Real Sports, he's usually got his head down taking notes, rather than looking them in the eye.

That's without getting to the substance of Gumbel's point, not that he has any. I don't think the ancient Greeks played basketball or volleyball either, and I don't see Gumbel muttering asides about the Summer Games. As for the lack of African-American competitors, that doesn't serve to disprove that these are the world's greatest curlers or anything else. For all I know, I could have become the greatest short-track speedskater of all time. I didn't, partly out of choice, partly out of lack of opportunity... but that doesn't mean the Olympics aren't the highest level of competition.