MICHAEL O. ALLEN

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May 16
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Hypocrisy on Hamas

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McCain Was for Talking Before He Was Against It by James P. Rubin, Friday, May 16, 2008; A19

If the recent exchanges between President Bush, Barack Obama and John McCain on Hamas and terrorism are a preview of the general election, we are in for an ugly six months. Despite his reputation in the media as a charming maverick, McCain has shown that he is also happy to use Nixon-style dirty campaign tactics. By charging recently that Hamas is rooting for an Obama victory, McCain tried to use guilt by association to suggest that Obama is weak on national security and won’t stand up to terrorist organizations, or that, as Richard Nixon might have put it, Obama is soft on Israel.

President Bush picked up this theme yesterday. Without naming Obama during his speech last night to Israel’s Knesset, Bush suggested that Democrats want to “negotiate with terrorists” while Republicans want to fight terrorists.

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May 16
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California Ruling Reignites Same-Sex Marriage Debate

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By NATHAN KOPPEL and T.W. FARNAM , May 16, 2008; Page A1

The California Supreme Court opened the door to same-sex marriages in the nation’s largest state, reigniting a hot-button social issue amid a presidential election campaign so far dominated by economic issues and the war in Iraq.

The ruling makes California the second state, after Massachusetts, to give gay and lesbian couples the right to marry. But lawyers said the state’s national influence and size — representing 12% of the country’s population and one-fifth of the electoral vote need to win the White House — make the decision the most important legal victory to date for proponents of same-sex marriage. The decision, coming six months before the presidential election, also could galvanize voters on a topic that in this campaign cycle has largely been on the sidelines.

“The California Supreme Court is a famous and respected court, and [same-sex couples] have lost more legal challenges than they have won, so this is big news,” said attorney Jeffrey Trachtman, who lost a 2006 case that attempted to overturn New York’s ban on same-sex marriages.

A handful of states, including California, Vermont and New Jersey, allow same-sex couples to enter civil unions or domestic partnerships that afford many of the rights of marriage. But the California court, which was considering whether state law prohibiting gay marriage violates California’s constitution, voted 4-3 that such protections didn’t go far enough.

“[R]etaining the designation of marriage exclusively for opposite-sex couples and providing only a separate and distinct designation for same-sex couples may well have the effect of perpetuating a more general premise — now emphatically rejected by this state — that gay individuals and same-sex couples are in some respects ‘second-class citizens,'” wrote the court.

May 16
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'Appeasement' remark by Bush sets off political fray

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The president, speaking to Israeli lawmakers, takes apparent aim at Obama in saying that negotiating with some dictatorships amounts to ‘appeasement.’ Obama calls it a ‘false political attack.’ By Johanna Neuman,Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, May 15, 2008

WASHINGTON — Addressing the Israeli parliament, President Bush set off a political firestorm today with an apparent criticism of Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential hopeful, over his position on negotiating with some dictatorships.

Obama, who has pledged to talk to regimes in Iran, Cuba and North Korea, promptly accused the Bush White House of launching “a false political attack” for suggesting such outreach amounts to appeasing dictators.

In a speech to Israel’s Knesset marking the 60th anniversary of that country’s independence, Bush said, “Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.”

“We have heard this foolish delusion before,” Bush said. “As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: ‘Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.’ We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history.”

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May 16
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Barr on gay marriage: California decision is how it’s supposed to work

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The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Friday, May 16, 2008

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr says that when it comes to gay marriage, what happens in California is California’s own business. He’s a states’ rights man.

Here’s the statement Barr’s issued, which — one week before the Libertarian national convention in Denver — is likely to generate some talk:

barrgay.jpg

“Regardless of whether one supports or opposes same sex marriage, the decision to recognize such unions or not ought to be a power each state exercises on its own, rather than imposition of a one-size-fits-all mandate by the federal government (as would be required by a Federal Marriage Amendment which has been previously proposed and considered by the Congress).

The decision today by the Supreme Court of California properly reflects this fundamental principle of federalism on which our nation was founded.

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May 16
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What's a monk to do?

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I think I know the reason why the story of Michael Roach and Christie McNally bugged me so.

There’s enough hypocrisy in this world. We are choking on it. The hypocrisy of religion is even more of a danger because it’s almost always cloaked in piety.

Roach proclaimed himself a monk. He practiced it, lived it, then met a girl and fell in love. That’s fine. It happens. Why not thank your lucky stars, or the big Buddha in heaven and be done with it. You could still practice your Buddhism, be a leader in the movement. Just don’t make certain claims.

But, no, that’s not enough for Roach and McNally. They want to eat their cakes and have them too.

I recognize this is bigotry on my part but I think I know why they both do it:

For McNally, seeing Roach for who he really is means having to cope with the real world, instead of searching for some cult to run to.

For Roach, obviously, it’s fear. McNally would certainly see him for who he really is if he gives up monk-hood and gets a job and an apartment in some suburb somewhere: the same jerk she’s been running away from all her life. Except, in Roach, he’s much older, uglier and creepy, to boot.

Hence, the pretense.

But, by claiming to live by the strictest rules of their order, they get to have fame, publish books, travel the world while claiming to lead modest lives of privation.

May 16
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Hello, Dalai

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Oh, enough already!

So, I am this really horny 44-year-old guy (I have not had sex since I was 22 years old) and standing before me is a blond bombshell the same age I was when I foolishly became a monk. I mean, gorgeous. And she digs me; I just know it. I can really tell. As a monk, I know I can’t touch her. (David Sanders for The New York Times) Michael Roach and Christie McNally vowed to be both celibate and never apart by more than 15 feet or so.

What if . . . alright . . . I don’t know. This is really driving me crazy. Could I even get her to agree to such a thing? She’ll think I’m a creep. But, then, maybe not. She’s standing here before me with that dreamy look in her eyes, isn’t she?

I mean, I am this creepy looking guy , right? wearing these funny clothes and she, looking like she just walked out of a dream, an angel, is standing there with that moon-y look on her face. And she’s looking at me! That look is for me. Me!

Yeah, she’ll go for it!

We’ll just tell people there’s no sex going on. Intense, spiritual, petting, er, touching, yes, but definitely, no sex. No sex. Yeah, no sex. I mean, no sex. If you know what I mean. No sex. Whatsoever.

But, what will people think? Will they buy it? What about the other monks? The Dalai?

Oh, the hell with them. I mean, why didn’t I think of this earlier?

Living Together: Making Their Own Limits in a Spiritual Partnership by LESLIE KAUFMAN, May 15, 2008

Bowie, Ariz.–TEN years ago, Michael Roach and Christie McNally, Buddhist teachers with a growing following in the United States and abroad, took vows never to separate, night or day.

By “never part,” they did not mean only their hearts or spirits. They meant their bodies as well. And they gave themselves a range of about 15 feet.

If they cannot be seated near each other on a plane, they do not get on. When she uses an airport restroom, he stands outside the door. And when they are here at home in their yurt in the Arizona desert, which has neither running water nor electricity, and he is inspired by an idea in the middle of the night, she rises from their bed and follows him to their office 100 yards down the road, so he can work.

Their partnership, they say, is celibate. It is, as they describe it, a high level of Buddhist practice that involves confronting their own imperfections and thereby learning to better serve the world.

“It forces you to deal with your own emotions so you can’t say, ‘I’ll take a break,’ ” said Mr. Roach, 55, who trained in the same Tibetan Buddhist tradition as the Dalai Lama. After becoming a monk in 1983, he trained on-and-off in a Buddhist monastery for 20 years, and is one of a handful of Westerners who has earned the title of geshe, the rough equivalent of a religious doctorate. “You are in each other’s faces 24 hours a day,” he said. “You must deal with your anger or your jealousy.”

Ms. McNally said, “From a Buddhist perspective, it purifies your own mind.” Ms. McNally is 35 and uses the title of Lama, or teacher, an honor not traditionally bestowed on women by the Tibetan orders.

Their exacting commitment to this ideal of spiritual partnership has been an inspiration to many. In China and Israel, and in the United States, where they are often surrounded by devotees, their lectures on how lay people can build spiritual partnerships are often packed with people seeking mates or ways to deepen their marriages. They hope their recently published book, “The Eastern Path to Heaven,” will appeal to Christians and broaden their American audience.

But their practice — which even they admit is radical by the standards of the religious community whose ideas they aim to further — has sent shock waves through the Tibetan Buddhist community as far as the Dalai Lama himself, whose office indicated its disapproval of the living arrangement by rebuffing Mr. Roach’s attempt to teach at Dharamsala, India, in 2006. (In a letter, the office said his “unconventional behavior does not accord with His Holiness’s teachings and practices.”)

“There is a tremendous amount of opprobrium by the Tibetan monks; they think they have gone wacky,” said Robert Thurman, a professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhism at Columbia University.

There’s more to Roach’s bullshit (sorry for the language) story . . .

May 14
Love0

Hillary was right!

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Open hearts and minds: The good people of West Virginia

In other words:
You elites look down on us white people, thinking you’re better than us, thinking, like, just because we didn’t go to no college, you can put a black man over us. Well, ain’t you precious.
All I got is my vote and I’m going to give it to whoever I wanna give it to, even if it’s somebody who’s gonna do me harm, take away my rights, and do things to hurt me and my family. It’s my God-given right as an American.
Wake up, white people! They’re about to make a black man the president of these United States! Lord Help Us!
May 14
Love0

(A)n ex-parrot?

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This is a cruel, cruel and sad story. Usually, I would quote the beginning of a story. In this case, I will quote the end and you, dear readers, will have to follow the link to the Washington Post to figure out how it all started.

Customer: “He’s not pining! He’s passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! He’s expired and gone to meet his maker! He’s a stiff! Bereft of life, he rests in peace! . . . His metabolic processes are now history! He’s off the twig! He’s kicked the bucket, he’s shuffled off his mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisible! This is an ex-parrot!”

9:06 p.m., still in the South Hall: The announcer has just introduced “the next president of the United States.” And with the TV now turned off, it almost seems possible. The confetti guns are loaded and ready. The streamers hang from the ceiling. And the crowd — now up to 500, all but about 10 of them white — is rapturous as Clinton rebukes the “pundits and the naysayers.”

“There are some who wanted to cut this race short!” Clinton says from the faux-wood lectern. They boo.

“I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign,” she says. They cheer.

“There are many who wanted to declare a nominee before the ballots were counted or even cast,” she says. They boo.

“This race isn’t over yet,” she says. They cheer.

The sound system emits a loud screech of feedback. The confetti cannons fire.

See? She wasn’t dead; she was just pining for the fiords.

May 14
Love0

War for the Worlds

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BlackBerry Bold takes on 3G iPhone: New models go head-to-head, says analyst by Shaun Nichols in California, vnunet.com, 13 May 2008

The 3G version of Apple’s iPhone could be set for a showdown with the new BlackBerry handset, according to one industry analyst.

Rob Enderle, founder and principal analyst at the Enderle Group, said that the new BlackBerry Bold stacks up well against the 3G iPhone.

Research in Motion unveiled the BlackBerry Bold on Monday. The redesigned handset sports a smaller design and revamped multimedia features.

Apple, meanwhile, has let supplies of the existing iPhone line dry up, fuelling speculation that a new model is on the way.

Apple chief Steve Jobs is widely expected to announce the 3G iPhone at the Worldwide Developers Conference on 9 June.

Enderle warned that in slimming down the traditionally clunky BlackBerry, Research in Motion must balance style and functionality.

“BlackBerrys have historically not been particularly attractive, although this changed with the BlackBerry Pearl,” he wrote.

“Many found it much more attractive but it was not as easy to use for email, and it traded size for capability and multi-media features.

“The BlackBerry Bold uses iPhone design elements to create a sexy device that appears solidly focused on the traditional BlackBerry strength of email.”

Apple, meanwhile, faces the challenge of proving its worth in a business world that has consistently embraced the BlackBerry and largely shunned the iPhone.

“Unlike the BlackBerry Bold, which is rooted in years of BlackBerry products, the iPhone has its roots in the iPod,” wrote Enderle.

“The iPhone 2.0 gains several critical enhancements for business. It should integrate much better than the 1.0 product with enterprise email systems, but it will not work with a BlackBerry server.”

For that reason, the analyst sees the traditional BlackBerry user base better served by holding off on the new iPhone and waiting for the new BlackBerry to make its debut later this year.

May 14
Love0

How it's done

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An assistant professor of business law at Michigan Technological University’s School of Business and Economics, Houghton, Mich., and a clinical professor of technology industry management at the Kellogg Center for Research in Technology and Innovation at Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., embarked on trying to crack one of Apple Computers code.

They wanted to find out how the innovative company secures its intellectual property while profiting from its inventions (and masterful packaging of other people’s inventions).

One of the secrets? A masterful trademarking strategy.

STEP BY STEP Apple first sought a trademark for a two-dimensional iPod symbol (top left), then for a mark for co-branded products (bottom left), and finally for the three-dimensional shape of its players

BUSINESS INSIGHT
Innovation_Shape of Things to Come: How Apple’s trademark for its iPod protects its brand — and offers lessons for other companies on how to leverage their intellectual property By DAVID OROZCO AND JAMES CONLEY, May 12, 2008

On Jan. 8, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple Inc. a trademark for the three-dimensional shape of its iPod media player.

This was more than a recognition of an innovative product design. It also was Apple’s capping piece in a multiyear marketing and legal campaign that pushed intellectual-property rights to new competitive advantage for the company.

In many ways, Apple is benefiting from an expansion of U.S. trademark rights, beyond the traditional names, images, logos and two-dimensional symbols trademarks usually secure. In recent years, trademarks have been granted for such things as product shapes, colors and scents that companies can claim are linked exclusively to the source company in consumers’ minds.

These nontraditional marks are difficult to obtain. But unlike more commonly used utility and design patents, which exist to cover functions and the ornamental look and feel of products and expire after a set number of years, trademarks can remain in force potentially forever.

The iPod shape trademark gives Apple a new weapon in the fiercely competitive market for media players. While competitors may eventually appropriate the iPod’s inner workings, as utility patents expire, they will risk litigation if their products come too close to the trademarked shape of the iPod, including its popular circular-touchpad interface.

Moreover, trademark law allows the holder to sue not only manufacturers but also distributors of competing products whose attributes so resemble those of the protected mark that they create the likelihood of confusion in the marketplace.

The Apple strategy is particularly important because companies typically don’t give enough attention to the management and potential value of trademarks — especially when it comes to the nontraditional variety. This is partly because trademarks, like other intellectual properties, are complex assets. But they can make a significant difference.

Continue . . .