The Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman nor an empire. Discuss.

Tons of stuff bouncing around the ol' noodle this morning.

I've got another hero. This time she's home grown in Oregon. Go get 'em, girl!

A disabled single mother from Beaverton has filed a federal lawsuit against the Recording Industry Association of America, claiming that she is the victim of abusive legal tactics, threats and illegal spying as part of an overzealous campaign to crack down on music pirating.

The recording industry sued Tanya J. Andersen, 44, in 2005, accusing her of violating copyright laws by illegally downloading music onto her computer. Andersen claims in a suit she filed last week in U.S. District Court in Oregon that the recording industry refused to drop its case after its own expert supported her claims of innocence.

Instead, industry officials threatened to interrogate Andersen's 10-year-old daughter, Kylee, if she didn't pay thousands of dollars. The intimidation included attempts to contact Kylee directly. A woman claiming to be Kylee's grandmother called the girl's former elementary school inquiring about her attendance, according to Andersen's suit.

Nazi bastards.

Rudy Giuliani is a pinhead. I suppose that sentence is redundant.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Rudy Giuliani charged yesterday that former President Bill Clinton made a "big mistake" when he failed to see the first World Trade Center attack as an act of terror rather thana mere crime - one that set the stage for even bigger and bolder attacks culminating with 9/11.

"The United States government, then President Clinton, did not respond," Giuliani said, ticking off terrorist attacks that followed, including the bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa and the USS Cole in 2000. "[Osama] bin Laden declared war on us. We didn't hear it."

'Nuff said.

G.O.P Senator Splits With Bush Over Iraq Policy (Waits Until After Funding Debate To Say So.)

WASHINGTON, June 26 — Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee and a steadfast supporter of the president, has conspicuously broken ranks with him on the Iraq war, warning that the United States’ standing in the world could be irreparably eroded if the White House does not change strategy soon.

Whatever. DEMOCRATIC Senators haven't even split with the President on Iraq. I'll believe it when Lugar votes his mouth. Until then - bullshit walks.

Rupert Murdoch buying another media outlet is always cause to rend one's garments, but his looming purchase of the Wall Street Journal seems especially bad for some reason.

The News Corporation chief executive is building his own financial news channel for cable television, aiming to usurp General Electric's CNBC, which has a news partnership with Dow Jones.

The Bancroft family met Mr Murdoch in early June and discussed a proposal to protect editorial independence. Talks accelerated last week.

I guess I wish I knew enough about the newspaper business to understand what "editorial independence" means. If it means that news section of the Journal will remain pretty much independent then that's a good thing. On the other hand if it means that the batshiat crazy editors of the opinion section of the Journal will remain independent then I'm not sure what the difference between a Wall Street Journal owned by the Bancroft family or a Wall Street Journal owned by Rupert Murdoch would actually be.

Discuss!