Pamela Samuelson Argues against Google Book Deal

-Library Journal, February 18, 2010 by Norman Oder
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6719439.html?desc=topstory

She said “the Authors Guild has not fairly represented academic authors.” Academic authors would not have brought a lawsuit based on snippets, she added. Then, in reference to the unlikely possibility that the case would continue to trial, she said, “If this case go forward, I’ll be writing briefs in support of Google, not the Authors Guild.”

John Yoo Defends Legal Memos

-U.S. News & World Report, February 18, 2010 by Alex Kingsbury
http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2010/02/18/john-yoo-defends-torture-memo-blasts-bush-administration.html

The American people would have thought differently about our opinions if they had known about the al Qaeda plots that were disrupted and the people who were captured, information that could only have been gathered through interrogation.

-The New York Times, February 19, 2010 by Eric Lichtblau and Scott Shane
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/20/us/politics/20justice.html

Mr. Yoo denied that the White House or the Central Intelligence Agency, which had requested the legal opinion, had exerted any pressure on him in his legal findings. “I don’t think of them as being particularly aggressive,” Mr. Yoo said, adding, “I had never felt that anybody was pushing us in one direction or another.”

-NPR, February 23, 2010 Host Neal Conan
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=124007547

We had to do that job in an area where the law was written in very vague terms. The statute contained no examples of what was prohibited, interrogation methods that were close to the line. And there were very few judicial precedents, almost none at the time.

Barry Krisberg Criticizes Gang Injunctions

KQED Radio, February 18, 2010 Host Cy Musiker
http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R201002181730

“Based on past experiences, it has almost no chance of reducing crime. The best research we have is that it might move the problem around a little bit, from one neighborhood to another, but in all the areas where they’ve tried these injunctions—it’s been no permanent fix whatsoever.”

Alan Auerbach Argues Against “Inflating Away Debt”

The New York Times, Economix Blog, February 18, 2010 by Catherine Rampell
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/inflation-wont-solve-our-debt-problems/

Sudden inflation can only inflate away the debt that is (1) not indexed, the way TIPS are; and (2) not very short term (i.e., not T-bills), so that the interest rates cannot be reset to much higher rates that would compensate for inflation.  Also, there is no net gain to inflating away debt held within the government (e.g., the Social Security trust fund, etc.).

Peter Menell Debunks Tenenbaum’s Claim of File-Sharing as Social Movement

The Media Institute, February 17, 2010 by Peter Menell
http://www.mediainstitute.org/new_site/IPI/021710_FileSharingCopyrighted.php

This painful chapter in the transition to digital distribution reveals that although Joel Tenenbaum may have shared “Rosa Parks,” he is no Rosa Parks.  His defense team’s choice to employ the rhetoric of social-justice movements devalues other, legitimate social movements, misleads the public, and obscures the critical legal issues of his and analogous cases—the scope of copyright’s distribution right and how statutory damages should be applied in file-sharing cases.

Roxanna Altholz Criticizes U.S. for Keeping Extradited Drug Lords from Colombian Authorities

Colombia Reports, February 16, 2010 by Kirsten Begg
http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/8238-berkeley-law-school-to-present-report-on-paras-to-us-congressmen.html

“Those who form public policy in the U.S. have a moral and legal responsibility to help Colombian authorities resolve these horrendous crimes. If the U.S. actively supports confessions, this will help to strengthen the state, to resolve murders in Colombia and to dismantle the violent drug cartels,” said Roxanna Altholz, associate director of the IHRLC.

Roxanna Altholz Wants U.S. to Cooperate with Colombian Investigations of Drug Lords

El Espectador, February 15, 2010 by Diane Carolina
http://www.elespectador.com/impreso/temadeldia/articuloimpreso187952-el-informe-berkeley-sobre-paras

“Those who form public policy in the U.S. have a moral and legal responsibility to help Colombian authorities resolve these horrendous crimes. If the U.S. actively supports confessions, this will help to strengthen the state, to resolve murders in Colombia, and to dismantle the violent drug cartels.”