December 17, 2004

* Warwick, R.I.: The city's Board of Public Safety is threatening to take away a local nightclub's license unless it closes at 1 a.m. and stops playing hip-hop and rap music. The demand came after a shooting incident occurred in the club's parking lot on Dec. 3. Board member Marshall Martin defended the action by saying "certain entertainment draws a rowdy, rowdy, crowd."

* Springfield, Ill.: Gov. Rod Blagojevich plans to propose a ban on the sale of violent and sexually explicit video games to children under the age of 18. Violating the ban would be a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison or a $5,000 fine. A federal judge in Washington state struck down a similar ban last July, calling it a violation of free speech.

* Cleveland, Ohio: The Ohio Supreme Court ruled this week that police did not violate anyone's free speech rights when they arrested five people for burning an effigy of a Cleveland Indians' logo. The protesters torched a 3-foot effigy of Chief Wahoo outside the Indians' stadium on Opening Day in 1998 because they believed it to be a racist symbol. The court upheld Cleveland's decision to arrest the protesters because "any suppression of speech was incidental to Cleveland's important interest in preventing harm caused by fire."

* Washington, D.C.: In a 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that public employees do not have the right to personal expression if their off-duty actions offend their employers. The case involved the firing of a San Diego police officer who sold sexually explicit videos of himself in an adults-only area on eBay during his off-hours.

"I am not afraid of the pen, the sword or the scaffold. I will speak the truth wherever I please."
--Mary Harris

December 16, 2004

Just imagine getting this message in your e-mail box: "This mixed race sweet young thing only wants two things in life...her cardboard box and your hot heavy hands all over her plush body!"

"Better to have loved a short man than never to have loved a tall."
--David Chambless

December 15, 2004

A new Jaded Writings column has been posted. This week I offer my annual tribute to the dead.

* Muriel Rukeyser - 12/15/13
* Jane Austen - 12/16/1775
* Noel Coward - 12/16/1899
* Sir Arthur C. Clarke - 12/16/17
* Philip K. Dick - 12/16/28
* Ford Madox Ford - 12/17/1873
* William Safire - 12/17/29
* Bev Walton-Porter - 12/17/64
* Michael Moorcock - 12/18/39

December 13, 2004

John Steinbeck's hometown may soon lose its public library system.

Every day more than 2,000 people visit the three public libraries in Salinas, Calif. But area residents are no longer able, or willing, to pony up the tax monies to fund the $3 million operating budget. In response to this literary crisis, the 6-foot bronze statue of Steinbeck outside the main library now sports a black armband.

Ezine-Tips, a news source for e-mail newsletter publishers, offers information on list management, content creation and promotion.

Past Afterthoughts