Lessig Blog Archives

So CBS thought it was appropriate to run a stupidly irrelevant story about what the President did 30 years ago. It got busted by the bloggers when it turned out that its sources were bad.

Now CBS has decided that it is inappropriate to run a story about the Iraq War so close to the election.

So let’s see what CBS believes the word “appropriate” means:

It is appropriate to run a story that has nothing to do with the President’s current ability to run the nation, and that offers nothing at all helpful or informative about policy decisions we Americans are supposed to make.

But it is inappropriate to run a story about perhaps the most important policy decision the President made, which, if people understood more, would directly affect their judgment about the President’s ability to run the nation.

Why CBS thought the guard story appropriate, I have no idea. But they could only think it inappropriate to run a real and relevant news story if it is as false and ridiculous as the guard story.

If it is a false story, then they should never run it. But if the story is true, then the failure to run it is the purest act of cowardice. Just the sort of “news” we get when the media is controlled by a few suck-up giants.

Sorry about the slow posting this week. But just so you don’t think I’m lazy: I spent the week debating William Tucker in the Legal Affairs debate club.

According to an article in the National Journal Tech Daily (9/23), Bruce Lehman claims he is on the Kerry Technology Committee, but is “playing a relatively minor role.” The article quotes an unnamed source that he “is not part of Kerry’s core group of tech advisers.”

But whether core or fringe, why is he part of “tech” advisers at all? Lehman’s policies did more to encourage the war on technology that these past 8 years have seen than anyone else in DC. Let him serve on the “last century protectionists” committee. Indeed, make him the chair.

Lehman says he finds it “really sad — pretty sad” that I had criticized him on this blog. (No confirmation which.) And just to show how effective I’ve been in getting my point across, Lehman is quoted as saying: “[Lessig] seems to believe you can have a post-industrial economy without any copyrights.” Oh yes. That’s exactly what I believe. I’m also a Marxist, and commune regularly with Chairman Mao. With insight such as this, I can see why he’d be such a valuable member of the Kerry team.

So as I reported earlier, two people whose integrity I would not question told me that Bruce Lehman had told them that he, Lehman, was now advising the Kerry Campaign on IP policy. Now two people, whose integrity I would not question and who have direct connections to the campaign, tell me that is not correct. Let’s hope.