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This doesn't seem to be politically motivated, it just seems like common sense.

If one group of people tend to hate taxes and think they're unconstitutional and evil, wouldn't it make sense to profile them as more likely to try to dodge taxes?

Is it really that crazy for the IRS to look at people who claim to hate taxes, as having a higher likelihood of being tax dodgers?

How does "Patriot" make you think of tax dodgers?

Also, if the IRS were looking for tax dodgers, they wouldn't have been asking for information like family member names and their political affiliation. This was not about taxes. This was about shutting down conservative groups until AFTER the election. This was a delaying tactic, not an audit. I should also add that NONE of the targeted groups, over 300 lost their tax exempt status.

From The AP:

Many conservative groups complained during the campaign that they were being harassed by the IRS. They accused the agency of frustrating their attempts to become tax exempt by sending them lengthy, intrusive questionnaires.

The forms, which the groups have made available, sought information about group members' political activities, including details of their postings on social networking websites and about family members. ...
Zawistowski's group was among many conservative organizations that battled the IRS over what they saw as discriminatory treatment. The group first applied for nonprofit status in June 2009, and it was finally granted on Dec. 7, 2012, he said — one month after Election Day.

Get a grip.

Politicians can use outside groups to intimidate opponents. There was a time when I would have thought this absurd in a nation like Canada, but the degree of hate the left is indulging today makes it plausible to me. Anyhow, reminding these people they need take care not to be associated with criminality isn't a bad thing.

and he is now allegedly dead .

The problem isn't even conclusively in the batteries themselves. It may be the chargers used, the thermal cutoff, or simply overloading.

Some reports in the press suggest that the batteries are being recharged way too fast:

An inspection of the All Nippon Airways 787 that made an emergency landing in western Japan found that electrolytes, a flammable battery fluid, had leaked from the plane's main lithium-ion battery. Investigators found burn marks around the damage. ... The two incidents resulted in the release of flammable electrolytes, heat damage and smoke, the FAA confirmed. The release of battery fluid is especially concerning, safety experts said.

Once the electrolyte (which includes the lithium) catches fire it is very hard to put out. Boeing, knowing this provided special containment for these batteries, which has kept the fires from doing much besides destroying the battery (so far). However the risks are very real that this will be insufficient.

Large size Lithium batteries (over 8 to 25 grams of lithium) are not even allowed on aircraft as baggage or carry on, due to the propensity to burn when shorted or punctured, but some how Boeing talked the FAA into certifying this plane with these batteries to save a weight. Bad enough that these batteries are prone to catch fire when shorted, but Lithium fires are almost impossible to put out with the fire suppression systems found on planes (page 9). How Boeing talked the FAA into allowing this on the plane (in multiple locations) is beyond me.

"Printing money" as implemented in the US involves things like selling bonds to increase the money supply. The owners of existing debt know that possibility was there, which makes it a legal strategy, albeit one with consequences. That ultimately devalues the currency, risks inflation to negate its value, and is already resulting in actions by the debt holders (which include foreign investors) as you push that idea forward. It's self-limiting to some extent as it becomes less effective.

The first major downside has been terms of the debt repayment getting worse as US debt is downgraded. And I believe the only reason there's been enough buyers to balance the printing out so far is people fleeing the even less stable Euro into US dollars. The printing trick may not even work for much longer.

Regardless, looking at how the debt and the ceiling are defined, I don't see any way to accurately describe this coin thing except as an accounting trick. There's no checks and balances on that game like the money supply changes introduces, and it's changing the terms for existing debt holders in a way they didn't think was legal. If the US is getting downgraded just for the money printing, what do you think will happen if it becomes clear to all the foreign investors making this work that the US will pick "exploit a loophole" over any real ceiling resolution?

Well that's so Tuesday. Would you swallow? Funny that the AP came out with this story just yesterday...

AP Exclusive: Graph suggests Iran working on bomb
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ap-exclusive-graph-suggests-iran-working-bomb

Isn't it great Iranians work in English?

Oh, my favourite part; "leaked by officials from a country critical of Iran's atomic program ..." ROTFL! Geee, wonder who THAT could be?

The geek is not always going to like what he finds out there.

In related news, the city of San Francisco, a mere 40 miles from Silicon Valley, is considering a ban on public nudity in reaction to the infamous (minimally pixilated, but still may be NSFW) San Francisco naked protests.

San Francisco's Congressional representative, Nancy Pelosi, has made no comment.

the radicals are given free reign by a populace that refuses to stand up to them.

Not universally true: AP report
There seems to be increasing opposition to the nutters in islamic countries, despite the severe hazard to one's health in doing so.

No, they are not exempt. But above and beyond innumerable loopholes, the government has simply declined to even try to enforce existing regulations.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_IRS_CHURCH_POLITICS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME

Apparently. Once I heard how nutter Akin (and others!) must be to openly say something like that, I tune them out. I can only imagine what they say behind closed doors.

I'm thinking the Australians have more insight than most Americans.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/australian-minister-warns-republican-crazies

Watch out for isolated snow storms in South Africa.

My taxes just tripled.

It doesn't mean that the cow are fed cow meat at all. The prion that cause BSE can be created naturally through mutation, and then reproduce. This kind of mutation happens very occasionally, but it does happen often enough that we have seen it happen several times. This is believed to be such a case; to quote the Associated Press coverage:

Clifford said the California cow is what scientists call an atypical case of BSE, meaning that it didn't get the disease from eating infected cattle feed, which is important.

That means it's "just a random mutation that can happen every once in a great while in an animal," said Bruce Akey, director of the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Cornell University.

Eivind.

I got my information from the article linked to in the summary and from the AP article which that article linked to. Just because some poster brings in a link to another bill after the fact does not mean that that link has anything to do with the bill mentioned in the summary. If the original poster I responded to had said that the Republicans backed a bill just as bad, I would not have responded, but the poster I initially responded to gave a list of Republican sponsors of a completely different bill from the one in the summary, or in the article the summary linked to (or even the article that that article linked to).

That is all well and good, but that is not the bill being talked about in the article. Perhaps, you should have read the AP article that the "idiot columnist" linked to. Where it says that the Senate bill goes further than the House bill.

About 2 seconds after they figure out this isn't working for them.

What makes you think it won't work, when it's very clearly already a common practice? Target, Wal-mart, and Costco all carry custom HDTV models. All department stores do this with home product lines; for an example see the recent Macy's/Martha Stewart dispute. This tactic is old news, and Target is merely issuing a call-to-arms to step it up.

Maybe you should look at the reactions of other captains. Life on the sea is still dangerous, and the job of a captain requires a high calling and duty.

See links below. Discuss.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_DEFENSE_BILL?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2011/12/constitutional-expert-president-obama-says-that-he-can-kill-you-on-his-own-discretion-he-can-jail-you-indefinitely-on-his-own-discretion.html

The moment the aforementioned bill was signed, we lost the few rights we still retained after the "Patriot" act.

So remember:

1) You're a terrorist if and when some unelected bureaucrat like a TSA inspector *suspects* you're a terrorist.

2) As a suspected terrorist, you can be detained indefinitely.

Leaving the country with your cash while you can is starting to look pretty good. If you are stopped, you'd be crazy to not comply with the request, but try not to belong to whatever party isn't in power at the time. At the moment, political affiliation isn't a reason for suspected terrorism, but how long do you think that will last?

Go to http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/APNewsFeeds and you'll find links to subscribe to their content through Google,Yahoo, and MSN.

One has to wonder who is in charge of places like this.

Democrats want to give the working class a 1% tax cut, cut taxes on businesses by 50%, and let the tax rates for the 1% go back to where they were?!? OMFG no way! It is good that the Republicans are working so hard for "us". [/SNARK]

Obama wants to cut the payroll tax by another percentage point for workers, at a total cost of $179 billion, and cut the employer share of the tax in half as well for most companies, which carries a $69 billion price tag.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA?SITE=PAREA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Democrats, including Obama, want to extend the Bush tax cuts only to individuals making less than $200,000 a year and married couples making less than $250,000.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUPERCOMMITTEE_BUSH_TAX_CUTS?SITE=PAREA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

"After months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee's deadline," said a joint statement by the co-chairs, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

Democrats want to give the working class a 1% tax cut, cut taxes on businesses by 50%, and let the tax rates for the 1% go back to where they were?!? OMFG no way! It is good that the Republicans are working so hard for "us". [/SNARK]

Obama wants to cut the payroll tax by another percentage point for workers, at a total cost of $179 billion, and cut the employer share of the tax in half as well for most companies, which carries a $69 billion price tag.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA?SITE=PAREA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Democrats, including Obama, want to extend the Bush tax cuts only to individuals making less than $200,000 a year and married couples making less than $250,000.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUPERCOMMITTEE_BUSH_TAX_CUTS?SITE=PAREA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

"After months of hard work and intense deliberations, we have come to the conclusion today that it will not be possible to make any bipartisan agreement available to the public before the committee's deadline," said a joint statement by the co-chairs, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, and Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

Here's a group of scientists who have been studying the lineage of scripture for decades, and so far, their conclusion is that there has been significant drift from one version to the next over the centuries:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_ISRAEL_BIBLE_DETECTIVES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Inerrancy is a DEEPLY FLAWED theological position.
In fact, it is somewhat akin to idolotry.

That's why I contribute to my local NPR station. They, and the programs they run from NPR and Public Radio International, all do real investigative journalism (and post transcripts on their website in addition to free podcasts and radio broadcasts). I feel like my $100/yr is going to a good cause and I listen all the time. That said, at my house we also receive two daily newspapers, so we contribute to the AP that way.

The Associated Press is actually set up in a similar manner: "The Associated Press is a not-for-profit cooperative, which means it is owned by its 1,500 U.S. daily newspaper members." That means it is set up the same way as NPR. If you want to support the AP then you should pay your local papers. If you don't want the paper (or them to incur the cost of it) see if they have an online-only membership. Unfortunately, a lot of papers don't have that if they don't have a paywall, so that's something we should start pushing for.

The future of journalism is definitely nonprofit, which means it will be supported by good samaritans like ourselves. The value of information in the eye of the public has dropped so much that it can no longer be sold as a commodity and must be provided as a public service.

It happened immediately after this was posted: http://video.ap.org/?f=None&pid=oT7qj_wiVHTbYae3scwok4_irYjJ2R8Z (warning: disturbing)

It will reuse the shuttle external tank as the primary core for the liquid booster (the same tank design that is currently giving the Discovery shuttle launch so many problems).

fyi, not a "design issue" but a materials issue:

for Discovery's prolonged grounding, shuttle program manager John Shannon said a combination of inferior material and assembly issues is to blame. Cracks occurred in five of the 108 aluminum alloy struts in the center of the tank, which holds instruments. The damaged struts have been patched. Technicians will reinforce the remaining struts as a safety precaution, using thin 6-inch strips of aluminum.

It looks like "Federal News Radio" has nothing special to do with this story, they're just an AM News Talk station carrying A.P. (Associated Press) stories. Looks like I got suspicious over nothing.

It would be nice if more summaries had links that went back as close as possible to the original source.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_SUPERMANS_HOMETOWN_LABOR_STRIFE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-12-20-16-54-53

http://www.loc.gov/today/pr/2010/10-169.html is the original source; guess JOELLE TESSLER , quoted in http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TEC_DIGITAL_COPYRIGHT?SITE=MSJAD&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT couldn't be bothered linking.

Original article source:
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/Lifestyles/Article_2010-05-20-US-FEA-Food-Documenting-Dinner/id-89f348b5d71444df8cfbc2157b2f4674

That's some pretty bad copy and paste, there.

Not likely. In 2008, average salary for a starting pitcher was $4,429,366. There are 162 games during an MLB season (not including playoffs) meaning a pitcher only makes $27,341.77 per game. Even if you assume he only gets "paid" for the games he plays (there are typically five starting pitchers on a team) then he only gets $138,417.68 per appearance.

Even the highest paid starting pitcher currently in the league only makes $23,000,000 per annum making his per appearance fee $718,750. Of course there's also performance bonuses and endorsement deals and what have you, but I don't have numbers for those.

http://www.ap.org/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/
http://online.wsj.com/home-page
http://www.nytimes.com/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
http://www.cnn.com/
http://www.c-span.org/
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/
http://www.popularmechanics.com/
http://www.scientificamerican.com/

Need I go on?

State Assembly - District 51 - General
80 of 80 Precincts Reporting - 100%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Ortiz, Felix (i) Dem 14,648 86%
Garcia, Luis GOP 2,134 13%
Coen, Grace Con 282 2%

I believe he would be fairly safe claiming 1+1=1 with those numbers.

Why would they haul a bunch of NFL crap into space? According to this AP article, they flew a coin, a football, and a jersey into space for the NFL. WTF?

Lobbyists Find Door Open At Obama White House

I thought it was interesting that Associated Press published an article recently on the profits of the health insurance industry, something railed against persistently by various politicians. They found that the usual average profit margin for health insurance companies was 6%, and last year it was only 2%. From 2003 to 2008, the growth in their costs exceeded the growth in their profits.

But then, as the article itself notes, no one seems interested in the actual facts of the debate.

How much are the executives making?

The profits for Wall Street have also been sucky, but that hasn't stopped people from getting "performance" and retention bonuses.

You're assuming that the ones at the top are actually trying to run things to reward investors, and not simply trying to do the minimum amount of work for the maximum way to line their pockets. (Woohoo! Go capitalism! ;)

I thought it was interesting that Associated Press published an article recently on the profits of the health insurance industry, something railed against persistently by various politicians. They found that the usual average profit margin for health insurance companies was 6%, and last year it was only 2%. From 2003 to 2008, the growth in their costs exceeded the growth in their profits.

But then, as the article itself notes, no one seems interested in the actual facts of the debate.

Like I said, you can provide nothing that hasn't already been discredited. Not one creditable judge has said the wire taping was illegal and the one judge who did, not only got overturned, but also had ties to the ACLU which was a plaintiff in the case.

You know, I was going to make a nice long reply to this, but if you can't even do the most basic research about this, I don't know why I'm bothering.

Courts have two things...first a findings of law, and findings of fact. That is, before a case starts, before anyone starts asserting what did, or didn't, happen, they first make sure the behavior actually alleged was in violation of the law. This do this finding of law before any testimony or evidence, so the court doesn't, for example, charge people with things that are not actually illegal even if all the facts alleges were proven true.

And, and this is very important, neither court which heard the ACLU's case did so. Neither of them threw out the case on finding of law, which means the court thinks such behavior by the government would be illegal, at least to the extent the court can tell. To restate: The courts seem to think that such wiretapping would be illegal if done to the plaintiffs.

However, the ACLU failed to demonstrate that it had been done to the plaintiffs, and hence the case was thrown out. (They failed to prove it because the court refused to accept a classified document the ACLU had accidentally been handed that proved it.)

You can stand there and argue that, because of the lack of evidence, there was no wiretapping, and hence everything was legal. You'll sound crazy, but you can, in theory, argue that.

But you cannot argue that the courts found such wiretapping legal, as they most certainly did not. They found it couldn't be proven to have happened.

There is good legal evidence that makes the wire taps seem legal in specific situations and congress did not think it was an impeachable offense as the option had been brought up to them several times by the loony-toon democrats.

There is absolutely no legal theory that would allow the president to spy on communications of American citizens without warrants.

So two wrongs make a right? I mean what the hell does someone doing something wrong have to do with their children heirs, or whoever other then them? The op said "Obama really needs to issue an executive order to lock them (and their families, aids, hairdressers, etc) up until we get answers to some of those questions" which is a corruption of blood, something clearly denied in the constitution.

Yes, because someone on slashdot suggesting something is even vaguely relevant to the actual government actually doing things.

Now I know your hatred for bush blinds you but think about that, if your daddy goes out and drinks and drives and kills someone, should you be locked up because of it? Should you be locked up on an executive order because of it?

Ha ha ha ha ha.

That's what your saying isn't it, that because bush supposedly tortured someone, that you can be locked up on a single person's decree simply because you were related to someone who might have did something wrong in some way? Seriously, what the fuck are you thinking here?

I didn't say any such thing at all, Mr. Delusional.

Even if Bush did do something that even England wouldn't do, it still doesn't make someone else doing severe wrong right.

Really? So locking people up in Gitmo who might be able to provide evidence of crimes is now not acceptable? Interesting. When did that happen? January 12 2009, right?

People committing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of felonies certainly seems like a reasonable reason to lock people up in Gitmo, according to my understand of it.

Associated Press

The Associated Press Board of Directors today directed The Associated Press to create a news registry that will tag and track all AP content online to assure compliance with terms of use. The system will register key identifying information about each piece of content that AP distributes as well as the terms of use of that content, and employ a built-in beacon to notify AP about how the content is used.

"What we are building here is a way for good journalism to survive and thrive," said Dean Singleton, chairman of the AP Board of Directors and vice chairman and CEO of MediaNews Group Inc. "The AP news registry will allow our industry to protect its content online, and will assure that we can continue to provide original, independent and authoritative journalism at a time when the world needs it more than ever."

The registry will initially cover all AP text content online, and be extended to AP member content in early 2010. Eventually, it will be expanded to cover photos and video as well. AP will fund development and operation of the registry through 2010, until it becomes self-sustaining.

The board announced in April, at its annual meeting, that the Cooperative would launch an industry initiative to protect news content from unauthorized use online. At its meeting today, at AP headquarters, the board voted to approve creation of a news registry that will serve as the foundation of that initiative.

The registry will employ a microformat for news developed by AP and which was endorsed two weeks ago by the Media Standards Trust, a London-based nonprofit research and development organization that has called on news organizations to adopt consistent news formats for online content. The microformat will essentially encapsulate AP and member content in an informational âoewrapperâ that includes a digital permissions framework that lets publishers specify how their content is to be used online and which also supplies the critical information needed to track and monitor its usage.

The registry also will enable content owners and publishers to more effectively manage and control digital use of their content, by providing detailed metrics on content consumption, payment services and enforcement support. It will support a variety of payment models, including pay walls.

In other action, the AP Board also voted to approve rate assessment reductions for broadcast members of the Cooperative. Under the plan, AP will reduce local TV members' basic text assessments by 10 percent in 2010. The amount of rate reduction per station varies depending on the level of services received. At its annual meeting in April, The Associated Press announced assessment reductions for member newspapers, the second year rates were reduced. AP member radio rates were adjusted several years ago to include added discounts, day-part service options and barter pricing.

About The AP
The Associated Press is the essential global news network, delivering fast, unbiased news from every corner of the world to all media platforms and formats. Founded in 1846, AP today is the largest and most trusted source of independent news and information. On any given day, more than half the worldâ(TM)s population sees news from AP.

Actually you had it right, it is the top 5 browsers. From the AP

would see a Web page prompting them to pick from five of the most popular browsers in Europe.

Microsoft said the list of browsers would be reviewed twice a year based on usage data for the previous six months.

Why the top 5, and not the top 6 or 4? I'd have to assume it's because there are 5 major browsers: IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera. This fits all of them, and it's likely that either Chrome or Opera is in the #5 slot, so anything less would be at risk of either the 800lb gorilla or the EU's only home-grown browser not making the list.

Still, you're right, the problem with this solution is that it helps maintain status quo. The browser monopoly has been replaced with what amounts to a browser cartel - no one is going to want to be bumped off of that list. Which is why all of the proposed solutions suck in some way: You enforce status quo with a limited list, you create virtual anarchy with a list of all browsers, and you screw over users with no browser.

The browser ballot solution is a lousy solution, and I don't want to be around for the can of worms it creates.

Does slashdot get its news from Fark now? This story was posted there at 2:17 AM today. Of course, Fark linked the article from http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/ODD_ROTTEN_OFFICE_FOOD rather than Yahoo News...

Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman said the reference to pigs is offensive to both religions and "we should call this Mexican flu and not swine flu,"

Yay, diplomacy!

But the problem with AP is they too are basically a twisted form of a news-aggregates. They aggregate news stories and sell it to a hundred newspapers who print said stories and generate revenue by selling ads next to the story. Nowdays, those newspapers are aggregated by Google, who aggregates the newspapers in such a way that only a few of the newspapers displaying that article get any traffic in which to sell ads to. In other words, maybe AP should cut the middle man and just sell to Google.

There's a pretty glaring problem with your suggestion, which is that the AP is a cooperative owned by newspapers and other news organizations. The AP can't "cut the middle man" in the way you suggest because the AP in fact is the middle man between the papers, owned by the papers, and exists to benefit the papers.

So if I were to set up a website that let people put rss feeds of their choice on a portal page - and then added advertising of my own to that same page - and the user decided to choose one of these:

RSS Feeds

I'd be open to a lawsuit?

What if I then created a link that said "Get all the Associated Press RSS feeds" which then did the copy/paste for the user and created a page for them of all the above feeds?

Then based on user activity I found that every user (99.5%) was clicking that auto-AP button... so to provide good customer service I just added tabs to my interface with one of them being "AP News" by default.

All this while, the pages only show the Title, summary, attribution, date and a link to the original article.

So then I get sued... right?

What if I just made "widgets" that people could download to their Widget product of choice? How about a desktop application that does the same thing - ad free - but has a purchase price attached?

Any thoughts?

My current Mail program allows me to consume RSS feeds, as do a variety of widgets (online and off) and none of them are non-commercial and I'm fairly certain that none of them are paying the AP any license fee.

The AP operates globally.

I remember it well - I was an AP stringer for 12 years, and we covered news (and provided news to outlets) across the world.

Siting Wikipedia for this is just silly. Did you even think to check the AP website?

From http://www.ap.org/pages/about/about.html

243 bureaus in 97 countries.

1,700 U.S. daily, weekly, non-English and college newspapers.

5,000 radio and television outlets taking AP services.

850 AP Radio News audio affiliates.

550 International broadcasters who receive AP's global video news service, APTN, and SNTV, a sports joint venture video service.

121 number of countries served by AP

4 languages in which AP sends news. The report is translated into many more languages by international subscribers.

4,100 AP editorial, communications and administrative employees worldwide.

3,000 of AP's worldwide staff are journalists.

49 Pulitzer Prizes, including 30 for photography.

You're incorrect. The first story has a link to the AP story which is here.

I just hope they don't sue me for that.

"we won't link to it."

I know you are making a joke, but we shouldn't participate in this bullshit by limiting what we publish.

Perhaps OeLeWaPpErKe was exaggerating to make a point, but there are many large exaggerations in the parent:

When you see an American article, in English, you always see "AP", "AFP" under it.

Many news organization reprint wire service articles, but: 1) There are many other wire services (Reuters and the AP being the largest, I think, and you can see a list at the preceeding link); 2) News organization also do their own original reporting; the wire services are usually a minority of their content and an organization like the New York Times uses almost exclusively original reporting. I doubt the BBC uses AP or AFP stories (though maybe they use some Reuters). Watch a press conference; where are all those journalists from? Just the AP and AFP?

AP stands for associated press, which is not American

I assume that's a typo, but the AP is American, if that matters. The AP is a non-profit cooperative owned by American daily newspapers. AFAIK, the idea is that it's not cost-effective or useful for every daily newspaper to send a reporter to, for example, the big football game this weekend. So they formed a cooperative and send one reporter.

The AFP is not, AFAIK, nearly as large in English-speaking markets as the AP and Reuters.

They cooperate with one another, hardly ever making double coverage, so in practice an article with AP under it might have come from AFP.

I don't know about that; I've seen plenty of overlapping coverage. AFP is, not suprisingly, much less focused on the English-speaking world than AP is, but they both cover all major stories. Here are AP and AFP headlines from Yahoo!:

http://news.yahoo.com/i/514

http://news.yahoo.com/i/1504
 

So 1/3rd (in theory, in practice more) of all the news you see has been collected by French reporters, or at least reporters paid by french people.

First, who cares. But that number is not nearly accurate. Much/most of the news you see is produced by journalists in the organization that publishes it; what do you think all those journalists on all the TV, print, and website news organizations do all day? Also, as I said above, AFP has much less presence than AP and Reuters in the English-speaking world and there are other newswires, so they produce much less than 1/3 of the content. I'd guess it's more like 3% in English publications, but that's just a guess and of course it depends on how you measure it (stories published on newswires? stories published by news organizations (e.g., CNN)? stories read?).

Nesson argues that the [act] is unconstitutional because it effectively lets a private group . . . carry out civil enforcement of a criminal law. Source.

So why is it a criminal law rather than a civil law if it provides for 3rd party, rather than government enforcement?

Nesson charges that the federal law is essentially a criminal statute in that it seeks to punish violators with minimum statutory penalties far in excess of actual damages. Source.

So he's arguing that steep penalties convert civil law into criminal law based on the 5th and 8th Amendments. The 8th amendment argument will be based around excessive fines. Maybe a judge will look at the piracy "loss" figures, and realize they're garbage and buy the argument.

Converting the statute into a criminal one will trigger the 5th amendment to ensure due process - meaning substantive rights for accused infringers. That'd be things like public defenders, a heavier burden of proof on the prosecution, and some other goodies. All of which are good.

Perhaps it'll work. He is a brilliant law professor. Maybe he'll get an appellate court, or maybe even SCOTUS to go along with it. So lets say he wins and SCOTUS overturns the statutory damage statute. What will be the remedy congress comes up with?

If Congress wants to do anything (and the lobbyists will make sure they do), Congress has two choices. Either reduce the fines to return to civil law OR put in place federal enforcement of copyright infringement. Any guesses which way congress will go? I've got one. Free federal enforcement for the RIAA, MPAA, BSA, and others - this time with all the power of the federal government.

Yuck. Lets just hope federal prosecutors don't think charging a pimply faced youth with copying Star Wars is worth their time.

I am betting that they can live without you.

Yeah, they don't need your money (Electronic Arts posts larger loss, cuts jobs ). Wait...what was that?

My assumption was wrong. You are a troll.

In one post, you tried to redefine socialism just as I told you not to do, you ignore the clarification I gave you on the 'redistributive change' canard, and then you tell me to read a link that you never provided (and the link that I think you wanted to give me doesn't support your point, but rather mine).

If that's not the work of a troll, it's a sad commentary on how willful and blind ignorance can be.

...and nobody official ever said it was intended to fix the 3G reception issues...

Oops. Yes they did: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/APPLE_IPHONE_FIX?SITE=NYSAR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT