Links and commentary on media, politics and culture by Steve Rhodes.

 

Fresh Air on Monday interviewed the editors of the Sinatra Files. The Washington
Post magazine had a long article on the files last year.
The second half of Fresh Air was an interview with Peter Loehr who produces films in China including Shower which is starting to open in the US. The New York Times has an article on him.

On Tuesday, Samuel L. Jackson was interviewed on Fresh Air.

posted by steve at 6/30/2000 09:12:00 PM

 
People who actually participate in their own sites are smart. Kevin Smith has Viewaskew and
asked fan sitenewsaskew to become his official news site. He also hired the creator
of another fan site to do his website.

Yesturday, Smith posted that there would be big news breaking. Today there were stories in the trades that Smith will direct and write a new Fletch film.
Now he's posted A Brief History of Fletch.

Inside.com has an article on how New Line is using the web to promote the Lord of the Rings movies. Peter Jackson who is directing the films wrote to Ain't It Cool News that he would answer questions. He answered questions back in August of 98, sent in an http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/display.cgi?id=2629>update and answered more questions in January of last year.

New Line president Michael DeLucca who sometimes posts on fan sites and answers email wrote Why does everyone hate Hollywood for Roughcut's new http://www.roughcut.com/voices/index.htm>Voices Pro series.
posted by steve at 6/29/2000 12:37:00 PM

 

Tonight, Charlie Rose is scheduled to have a panel on the New York Times' series on race.

This week, Slate's Breakfast Table email exchange is between Marissa Bowe of Word and Ken Kurson of Green.

This week's This Modern World is on the death penalty and Al Gore. There also was an earlier TMW on the death penalty. Last November, the Atlantic Monthly had a story, The Wrong Man. There are links along the side to
previous converage of the death penalty. There also is a link to their excellent article from 1998 on the Prison-Industrial Complex which examines private prison in Texas on the second page.
posted by steve at 6/26/2000 12:59:00 PM

 
A column I wrote on digital distribution of audio books for the July/August issue of Book Magazine is the second item in Inside.com's Friday http://www.inside.com/story/Story?art_id=6117>Daily Digest (links added):

The Internet Is Alive With The Sound Of Books

Audiobooks, "the fastest-growing part of the book publishing industry," have made the smooth transition to the digital world, according to the July/August issue of Book (not yet available online). Credit is due to Donald Katz, the journalist who created Audible Inc. back in 1995. With fast turnaround -- a digital audiobook can be made available for download within a week after recording is completed -- and relatively low cost (Po Bronson's The Nudist on the Late Shift is $14.95 for the unabridged version), a large number of audiobooks are being made available in digital form only. Audible has struck deals with Amazon.com (which has a 5 percent stake in the company) and Random House, the better to ensure its place among competition that includes the MP3lit.com spinoff LoudBooks.com, which launches in August. Mary Beth Roche of Random House has high expectations for the new Random House Audible imprint, which will use the technology for breaking news as well as publishing books: "If we had been up and running when the Microsoft antitrust decision was issued," she says, "we could have asked five experts to write about it and have released it as an audiobook."

I wouldn't exactly say audio books have made a smooth transition to the digital world, but it is possible to download audio that is as good as what you'd hear on a cassette while it may be years before you can buy a electronic book reader that is anywhere near the quality of a paper book. And audio books are starting to be made available in digital form only. There probably won't be a large number until at least this fall. But it is nice to see someone noticed the piece. I'll link to the article when it goes online.


posted by steve at 6/26/2000 01:08:00 AM

 

C-SPAN is airing live coverage of the Green Party convention today. It will repeat tonight and is also available for streaming on the Green Party section of C-SPAN's website.
posted by steve at 6/25/2000 11:14:00 AM

 
Raymond Bonner has a story in Saturday's NYT, Charges of Bias Challenge U.S. Death Penalty, on the inmates on federal death row. Newsweek this week has a simiar article, http://www.msnbc.com/news/425251.asp>Race, Death and the Feds and an excellent column by Jonathan Alter, http://www.msnbc.com/news/425232.asp>A Reckoning On Death Row. Most of the analysis after Graham was executed focuses on Bush's
style last week rather than if he may have executed an innocent man. Alter writes:

The bottom line is that the “full and fair” access to the courts that Bush brags about is now a mirage...The closer you look at the Texas system, the more questions it raises about Bush’s leadership. One reason Texas has executed three times as many inmates as the next state (Virginia) is that Texas is one of only eight states that does not have a sentence of life in prison without parole. (Juries usually like that option.) And Texas is one of only a few states without a public-defender system. In 1995 Bush vetoed a bill that would have provided for one. He prefers a system where elected judges appoint lawyers who also often happen to be contributors to the judges’ campaigns. These defense attorneys have a strong financial incentive to plead out cases and otherwise help the prosecution.

Photojournalist Ken Light who deads the photojournalism program at UC Berkeley published a collection of photographs, Texas Death Row. There are photographs from it on the page for the book, more extensive photos and excerpts on Mother Jones and MSNBC has a feature with a slideshow of photos from the book
with recordings of comments from Light. The photo above is by Light.

Frontline has done a number of shows related to the death penalty with extensive websites. The Execution was about Clifford Boggess who was executed by Texas in 1998. The drawing above is by Boggess. The site includes an article on

Why texas is #1 in executions. Angel on Death Row is a profile of Sister Helen Prejean who wrote Dead Man Walking. And The Case for Innocence which examines the role of DNA evidence.
posted by steve at 6/24/2000 03:22:00 PM

 
Graham was executed at 8:49 pm central time. In the statement
Bush made, he said:

"On Oct. 28, 1981, Mr. Gary Graham was found guilty of capital murder and later sentenced to death by a Harris County jury, which concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that he shot and killed Mr. Bobby Lambert during the course of a robbery...

Over the last 19 years, Mr. Graham's case has been reviewed more than 20 times by state and federal courts. Thirty-three judges have heard and found his numerous claims to be without merit.

In addition to the extensive due process provided Mr. Graham through the courts, the Board of Pardons and Paroles has thoroughly reviewed the record of this case as well as all new claims raised by Mr. Graham's lawyers. Today the Board of Pardons and Paroles voted to allow Mr. Graham's execution to go forward. I support the board's decision.

Mr. Graham has had full and fair access to state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.

After considering all the facts, I am confident justice is being done. May God bless the victims, the families of the victims, and may God bless Mr. Graham."

What Bush failed to note is that 5 members of the Board voted not to execute him, 4 members of the Supreme Court (including Justice Souter who his father appointed) voted to stay the execution and 3 members of the jury that convicted Graham said they would have changed their minds if they had heard the 2 eyewitnesses who said Graham was not the killer.

DNA Frees Suspect in Md. Slaying. A moratorium on execuctions in Maryland has been proposed. Jesse Jackson Jr. has proposed a national moratorium.
The Washington Post has collected stories on the death penalty.

posted by steve at 6/22/2000 11:30:00 PM

 

The Texas Board of Parole will not stop Gary Graham's execution. The vote
was 14 to 3 against a 120 day reprieve and 12 to 5 against a commutation
of life in prison. The lawyers will now appeal to the supreme court, but it is
unlikely to act. Graham is scheduled to be killed at 6 pm central time.

The Chicago Tribune had a story this morning
which has links to their investigations of the death penalty in Texas and Illinois. The New York Times had a good story recently on the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Pending Execution in Texas Spotlights a Powerful Board.

Salon has a commentary by Bruce Shapiro, The moral tipping point and an
interview with David Protess who has worked with his students to show that
inmates on death row in Illinois were wrongly convicted.

The Washington Post has an archive of their articles
on Graham dating back to 1993. A 1993 article says:

Lambert's widow [Lambert's murder is what Graham was convicted of], Loretta, also has written a letter to state officials,
saying, "I do not want the execution of a possibly innocent man on my
conscience."

And a story in the Dallas Morning News on another Texas death row case, DNA doesn't link Blair to slain girl says:

"Meanwhile, Mr. Blair's attorneys have asked the federal court to subpoena
background information on Mr. Linch, whose analysis of hair and fiber
provided the key physical evidence against Mr. Blair.

Attorneys have asked to subpoena Mr. Linch's employment records during his
tenure as an analyst at SWIFS and hospital records that detail his
psychiatric treatment before trial.

The Dallas Morning News previously reported that Mr. Linch underwent
treatment for depression and alcoholism at the urging of his supervisors at
SWIFS, who said they considered him a danger to himself and possibly others.

After an initial exam at one hospital, Mr. Linch was handcuffed and
involuntarily admitted to a different psychiatric ward.

Although Mr. Linch acknowledged that he was released from the lockdown unit
at Doctors Hospital twice to testify in capital-murder trials, the Blair
trial was among the first in which he testified after his release."

posted by steve at 6/22/2000 12:12:00 PM

 
Owen is usually funny, but today's is particularly good:

D I T H E R A T I

see the digerati dither, daily

I WANNA NEW DRUG, ONE THAT DOWNLOADS WHAT IT SHOULD

"The key to piracy isn't to do a drug-war strategy, with brute
force out to crush the pirates. They key is to make a better drug."

MP3.com CEO Michael Robertson, on the music industry's need for an
MP3 strategy that doesn't make it nervous, wondering what to do --
one that makes me feel like I feel when I'm with you, Wired News,
20 June 2000

You can subscribe to get Ditherati daily by email or look at the archives.
posted by steve at 6/21/2000 10:18:00 PM

 
It Should Happen to You airs at 4 pm ET on Wed. on TCM. It stars Judy Holliday and Jack Lemmon in his film debut. It was written by Garson kanin and directed by George Cukor.

It was made in 1954 and satirizes the early era of tv when people became
famous for appearing on game shows. Judy Holliday plays Gladys Glover who has her name put up on a billboard in Columbus Circle in NYC because she has always wanted to make a name for herself.

And watching it the other day, I certainly saw reflections of it in this era of Who Wants to
Be A Millionaire, Survivor and Angelyne (who has billboards with her picture all over LA and drives around in a pink corvette). A
review at epinions calls it the best early movie
on celebrity.

Next spring, an exhibit named after Gladys Glover will put billboards designed by artists around LA.
posted by steve at 6/20/2000 10:44:00 PM

 
A number of people involved with This American Life have created a new site called Open Letters. A new letter is posted to the web each weekday.
The first letter is from Chandra
Wiliford about meeting a guy. There is also a http://www.openletters.net/000619/edletter000619.html>letter from the editor, Paul Tough, about each writer.

You can subscribe to get it in PDF for each week (the PDF will be different in design from the website) and to get daily emails on each letter.

posted by steve at 6/20/2000 02:30:00 PM

 
On Monday, Nick Park was interviewed on Fresh Air. Parks directed the href=http://www.wallaceandgromit.com/>Wallace and Gromit shorts and Chicken Run which opens Friday for Aardman Animations. The Village Voice has an article on Chicken Run, Salon has a
review and Peter Lord., A interview with Park and fan site has lots of information.

Atom Films now has shorts from Aardman online including Creature Comforts which won an Oscar.
posted by steve at 6/20/2000 12:09:00 PM

 

Tonight and Friday Nightline airs the third and fourth parts of their series on an elementary school teacher in Brooklyn. I
wrote about the first two parts in April.

posted by steve at 6/15/2000 07:51:00 PM

 
Every year, American Movie Classics has a Film Preservation Festival to raise money to restore films. This year's which runs from Friday, June 16th to Monday, June 19th will be devoted to Alfred Hitchcock. There are interviews and articles about Hitchcock on their site.

They have a schedule online.
They will be showing several documentaries on Saturday and Sunday and the restored http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Studio/6419/index.html>Rear Window on Sunday and Monday (http://www.newtimesla.com/issues/2000-01-27/film.html>Reappraising Rear Window is a review of the restored
film by Andy Klein). Other highlights include Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a comedy with Carol Lombard on late Friday/early saturday, Notorious (MI 2 uses the same plot), Vertigo and Psycho on Saturday, Strangers on a Train (both the US and British versions) on Sunday and Shadow of a Doubt (which is one of my favorites) and To Catch a Thief on Monday. 32 films will be shown during the festival.

This is an updated verson of an item I wrote for bud.com last year:

Alfred Hitchcock would have turned http://www.hitchcock100.com/>100 on Friday, August
13th, 1999. There was an exhibit
on him at MOMA in NYC. Their website includes a href=http://www.moma.org/filmvideo/hitchcock/lecture/index.html>
lecture he gave in NYC in 1939 and a lengthy http://www.moma.org/filmvideo/hitchcock/interview/index.html>interview
with him by Peter Bogdonavich from 1963. Indiana University Press will release
a DVD-ROM of Multimedia Hitchcock in December of 2000 (it was part of the MOMA exhibit).

Janet Leigh and Evan Hunter (screenwriter on the Birds who also
goes by the pen name Ed McBain) http://whyy.org/cgi-bin/FAshowretrieve.cgi?2684>talked about working with
Hitchcock
on Fresh Air. On WBUR's the Connection, Stanley Cavell,
professor of philosophy at Harvard University, and Terrence
Rafferty, film critic for GQ magazine, http://www.wbur.org/connection/1999/08/con0813.shtml>discussed Hitchcock's
work.
The Christian Science Monitor had
an href=http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/1999/08/13/fp13s1-csm.shtml>article
by and audio interview with David
Sterritt on Hitchcock.

A DVD box set was released with special editions of href=http://www.bud.com/98/12/bitz/04.23.psycho.html>Psycho
and Vertigo (the documentary on the DVD
will be shown Saturday)
along with four episodes he directed
from http://timvp.com/hitch.html>Alfred Hitchcock Presents. http://www.criterionco.com/>Criterion released a special edition
of The 39 Steps on DVD. A 20 minute test reel Hitchcock shot for a http://member.aol.com/vistavsion/frenzy.html>film which never was made was
shown at the 1999 Venice Film Festival (the link is from the http://member.aol.com/vistavsion/>Hitchcock and his writers site).
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/104/northwest/index.html>North By Northwestis
being restored and will
be re-released in theaters.

For more information, there is the href=http://www.tdfilm.com/hitchcock/hitchmain2.html>Definative Alfred Hitchcock
Links page and an about.com classic movies href=http://classicfilm.about.com/library/weekly/aa080899.htm>guide to Hitchcock
sites. The Hitchcock
Centenial Project has essays and details
on various events. The site for the href=http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~muffin/>MacGuffin, a journal
on Hitchcock, has lots of links to essays (including http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~muffin/melodramas_c.html>Why I Make Melodramas
by Hitchock from 1936) and other information along with updates on the http://www.labyrinth.net.au/~muffin/news-home_c.html>news page.

posted by steve at 6/15/2000 03:14:00 PM

 
Alfredo Jaar was named a MacArthur Fellow this week. I've seen
his work in galleries and museums over the last decade, but I imagine many people have never heard of him.

He makes installations and photographs on political issues. It is hard to give a sense of his installation work without actually walking through it,
but there is some information on him on the web. There is a review of his Ruwanda Project, and The Eyes of Gutete Emerita, a piece from it is online. There is an interview
with him.

Eyestorm has a page on him
with links to a bio and a number of his photographs. A site
has examples of his work. There is a picture of
an installation he did in the NYC subway. One of the galleries he is currently represented by is hosfelt gallery in San Francisco.

posted by steve at 6/15/2000 11:57:00 AM

 
Independent films which are purchased with fanfare at film festivals are often never released theatrically or given a very limited release. Miramax
is known for doing this. Now it has happened to Panic, a film written
and directed by Henry Bromell (who was a producer for Homicide) which debuted at Sundance. It stars William H. Macy, Tracey Ullman, Donald Sutherland and Neve Campbell.

It was bought by Artisan which has sold it straight to cable. Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post tells
the tale today in Profit Picture Fills Indie Film Distributors' Screen.
posted by steve at 6/15/2000 11:12:00 AM

 
Salon has the text of the http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/index.html>speech that http://www.holemusic.com>Courtney Love gave at Digital Hollywood last month. Her http://www.holemusic.com>site says they will be posting video of the speech.

A number of people have pointed out it make a good companion
piece to The Problem With Music by Steve Albini which was originally published in
The Baffler. Another perspective comes from record exec Danny Goldberg in
The Ballad of the Mid-Level Artist (it is currently free, but inside.com says they will start charging for content).

posted by steve at 6/14/2000 01:48:00 PM

 

Tonight an episode of Felicity that paid tribute to the Twilight Zone airs again on the WB. Salon had an http://www.salon.com/ent/col/srag/2000/01/20/felicity/index.html>interview with Lamont Johnson who directed episodes of the original Twilight Zone
and tonight's episode of Felicity.
posted by steve at 6/14/2000 12:50:00 PM

 
This year's MacArthur fellows have been announced. There is coverage
in the Washington Post and http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/061400genius.html>New York Times. I'll post more later about, http://www.macfdn.org/programs/fel/2000fellows/jaar.htm>Alfredo Jaar, an artist who is one of this year's fellows.
posted by steve at 6/13/2000 10:07:00 PM

 
Nightline tonight will profile some of this year's MacArthur fellows. There is a transcript of the show and a short video clip.

TNT is having a Shaft marathon tonight. The remake
opnes Friday. blaxploitation.com provides background on the genre. http://theoriginalshaft.com/>The Original Shaft is Richard Roundtree's site. Black Power is
by Darius James, author of That's Blaxploitation!

The Institute For War & Peace Reporting continues to provide excellent coverage
of the Balkans and other regions. Recent articles include an examination
of the role of psychics in Serbia and a piece on Serbian Cinema.
posted by steve at 6/13/2000 01:16:00 PM

 
The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty has created a site on the case
of Gary Graham who is scheduled to be executed in Texas on June 22nd.
There will be protests held on June 19th in New York, Chicago, LA and other cities.
There is a page with press coverage on his case.

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. has issued a statement on the case and introduced http://www.jessejacksonjr.org/query/creadpr.cgi?id=%22001006%22>legislation that would
impose a moratorium on executions. Jackson sends out regular email alerts you can sign up for.

Steve Mills talked (real audio link) about the Chicago Tribune http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ws/0,1246,45186,00.html>series on the death penalty in Texas on Monday's All Things Considered.

posted by steve at 6/13/2000 01:31:00 AM

 
At Book Expo, Knopf handed out a flyer on American Rhapsody, the "non-fiction" book by Joe Eszterhas that is coming out July 18th. It said that the advertising campaign will include banners on Matt Drudge's site.

Drudge has linked to stories on the book at least twice since it was announced. Currently, his blaring headline is

ESZTERHAS BOOK FEATURES TALKING BILL CLINTON PENIS

The item mentions that Eszterhas will appear on the Today show to promote his book, but it doesn't
mention that Drudge is also part of Knopf's promotonal campaign. And one wonders if Drudge has easier access to his "publishing source" because of this.

Yes, Drudge Drudge probably would have written about it anyway (how could he resist a book with a TALKING BILL CLINTON PENIS?). Still, he should add that Knopf is advertising on his site to this item and any future items on the book. I emailed him asking him to, but I don't expect him
to. He is aware of the ad buy since I emailed him about it last week.

Although Drudge is often used as the boogeyman of online journalism, he is rarely held up to real scrutiny.
posted by steve at 6/12/2000 09:11:00 AM

 

Oxygen is interviewing Al Gore tonight from 9 to 10:30 pm ET.
It will be simulcast on C-SPAN and online if (like most people) you don't get oxygen . You can
post questions for Gore.

Farai Chideya is one of the journalists asking Gore questions.
posted by steve at 6/12/2000 02:16:00 AM

 
Gatekeeper court keeps gates shut
is the second part of the Chicago Tribune investigation the death penalty in Texas under George W., http://chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ws/0,1246,45186,00.html>The State of Execution. The stories are long,
so they are worth printing out if you can.

A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases, 1973-1995, the study mention
in the US News article I wrote about on Saturday, is now online. There is a New York Times article on the study, http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/061200death-penalty.htm>Death Sentences Being Overturned in 2 of 3 Appeals.
As does the Washinton Post - Most Death Sentences Reversed, Study Finds/

The Post also has a story today on Gary Graham,
81 Death Penalty Case Confronts Bush. US News and the Chicago Tribune pieces also have written about Graham.
Bush's death penalty dodge in Salon
looks at Graham's case and a number of others.

posted by steve at 6/12/2000 02:09:00 AM

 
I just got the Yahoo Picks of the Week for 6-12. It contained a rather
amusing entry:

F**cked Company: The Dot Com Deadpool

http://www.fuckedcompany.com

A variation on the classic celebrity death pool game, F**cked Company
invites savvy business watchers to bet on the demise of shaky Internet
companies. Points are awarded relative to the severity of the company's
downward spiral: IPO delays, staff layoffs, tanking stock prices, funding
failures, etc. A clinically filtered news section offers the latest
casualty reports, and confirmed kills are verified by Dotcomfailures,
whose motto reads "kick 'em while they're down."

Why bother with F**ck when fuck is in the URL?
posted by steve at 6/12/2000 01:08:00 AM

 
The New York Times has a story, Texas Lawyer's Death Row Record a Concern,
focusing on Ronald G. Mock who represented at least a dozen death row inmates including Robert Anthony Carter and
Gary Graham. Carter was executed on May 31st, and Graham is scheduled to be executed
June 22nd. You can email Gov. Bush.

The Chicago Tribune today has the first part of a two part series, the State of Execution,
investigating the death penalty in Texas. It concludes:

Of the 131 cases where a Death Row inmate has been executed in Texas under George W. Bush:

• 40 involved trials where the defense attorneys presented no evidence or only one witness during the sentencing
  
  phase.
  
  
• 29 included a psychiatrist who gave testimony that the American Psychiatric Association condemned as unethical
  
  and untrustworthy.
  
  
• 43 included defense attorneys publicly sanctioned for misconduct -- either before or after their work on these
  
  cases.
  
  
• 23 included jailhouse informants, considered to be among the least credible of witnesses.
  
  
• 23 included visual hair analysis, which has consistently proved unreliable.
  

Bush responded to the charges in the article:

The Republican presidential candidate expressed confidence in his state’s system of capital punishment and has said he sees no need to institute a moratorium.

     "I know there are some in the country who don’t care for the death penalty, but I’ve said once and I’ve said a lot, that in every cases, we’ve adequately answered innocence or guilt," Bush, the Texas governor, said Sunday after attending church with his father near the family retreat.

     "If you’re asking me whether or not as to the innocence or guilt or if people have had adequate access to the courts in Texas, I believe they have," Bush continued.

"They’ve had full access to the courts. They’ve had full access to a fair trial."

It wasn't clear if he had read the article. He refused to be interviewed for it.

The Tribune had earlier done a series, The Failure of
the Death Penalty in Illinois which helped lead a to moratorium on executions in Illinois.


posted by steve at 6/11/2000 08:42:00 AM

 
The June 10th Economist provides an international perspective on the death penalty in the US in http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/current/index_sf9156.html>Dead man walking out. Anna Quindlen
has a column, The Call From the Governor,
on the death penalty in the June 19th issue of Newsweek.

Today's Washington Post has a story, Texas to Review Death Sentences.
An expert witness for the state, psychologist Walter Quijano, testified in a number of cases that the race of the defendent
should be a factor in deciding the penalty.

US News has a story this week on a http://207.153.244.129/index.html>study
on the death penalty.

In a study of the more than 4,500 death penalty appeals filed from 1973 to
1995, Columbia University law professor http://www.law.columbia.edu/faculty/jliebman.html>James Liebman found that a plethora
of mistakes led to reversals in an astonishing 68 percent of the cases
nationally. "Capital trials produce so many mistakes," he says, "leaving
grave doubt about whether we do catch them all."

The study, to be released this week, is the most comprehensive review ever
of death penalty decisions. The number of problem cases is far higher than
previously believed. The results place the blame for most of the foul-ups on
prosecutors, defense attorneys, and judges. Legal observers have long been
concerned about overzealous prosecutors and indifferent judges. But it is
the incompetent defense attorney who's now getting attention. Liebman found
the problem is no longer limited to a few good old boys coming to court
drunk. Rather, there are far more lawyers who are just not very goodPor very
experienced with the legal demands of capital cases.

Examples abound. There was the lawyer in California who told a jury that
killing his client would free him of his mental illness. There were the
defense attorneys in Georgia who failed to tell a jury their client was
retardedPa fact that would have exempted him from the death penalty. Then
there was the attorney in Texas who failed to call alibi witnesses. He
couldn't be faulted, a judge wrote, because he was paid just $11.84 an hour.
The state, the judge ruled, "got only what it paid for."...

Liebman's study also debunks a common belief that federal judges bog down
the death penalty system by doing most of the reversing. State judges are
far more active, finding "serious error" in 47 percent of the cases they
reviewed. And retrial in state courts produced lesser sentences in 82
percent of those cases. Seven percent of the people retried were acquitted.
"It's a secret the system has kept for a long time," Liebman says. State
judges in Wyoming, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, and South Carolina
found the most mistakesPin some states more than three fourths of cases they
reviewed.

Liebman says it takes time for appeals court judges to sort through the
large number of mistakes made in capital cases. Under the best
circumstances, the legal process takes time. But in cases where the outcome
is literally a matter of life or death, reviewing the records takes years.
Even then, however, there is no guarantee that some who have been wrongfully
convicted aren't paying with their lives.

posted by steve at 6/11/2000 08:35:00 AM

 

One area of Inside.com I find fascinating is the Sales
Data from Barnes & Noble (which also includes B. Dalton). I was surprised by how few copies many books sold. It is much
more interesting than Amazon rankings which don't give actual sales figures (except for the fourth Harry Potter book
which is a little ways down the main book page.

They break it up into a number
of categories. This week's Trends show how many copies books adapted
into films sold the week the movie was released and during the previous two months. They need to add a category for science
fiction and an archive.
posted by steve at 6/10/2000 01:55:00 PM

 
There was a fire Thursday at the house used in http://www.bunim-murray.com/updates/rwupdates.htm#sanfrancisco>Real World San Francisco. That was the
only season I watched. The house was being used for Spotlife SF,
an internet show.

I picked up an advance copy of Pedro and Me, an excellent
graphic novel about Pedro Zamora by Judd Winick.
It will be published by Henry Holt in September.
posted by steve at 6/10/2000 01:06:00 PM

 
Stephen King has posted a message on his website saying he is thinking of posting a 25,000 word work called The Plant in 5,000 word installaments at a buck a piece. It will be on the honor system and depending on the response,
he may continue the story. People can tell him if he should go ahead.

Update - MJ Rose has a story on it for Wired News,
Stephen King, the E-Publisher (6-11-00).
And now a follow-up, King's Fans Want New E-Book (6-15-00),
which reports that King will start posting The Plant in mid-July. An announcement will be made on his site
on July 8th.
posted by steve at 6/09/2000 03:37:00 PM

 
Suck has an interview with Harriet Klausner who is the best ranked Amazon http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/cm/member-glance/-/AFVQZQ8PW0L/>reviewer.
She also contributes reviews to epinions (it is easier to navigate through her work there).

The News Hour on PBS has an interview with Dr.
Gerome Groopman who wrote Second Opinions, one of the books Harriet mentions in her Suck interview. It is one
of a series of conversations they have with authors.

posted by steve at 6/09/2000 10:33:00 AM

 
Judge Jackson has taken the unusual step of
giving interviews about his decision in the Microsoft case to the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal and other media outlets. This interview with NPR is interesting since you can actually hear him. There are also some questions he http://www.npr.org/news/tech/ms/usertranscript.html>answered which were posted on NPR online.

You can also listen to and read
a Newshour discussion on the case and innovation featuring Paul Kedrosky, Jason Lanier and others. The New York Times has a =http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/06/biztech/articles/09trial.html>Special Report on the case.

I've started contributing to Rewired: Blog of a Strained Net
where a version of this item appears. It was started by David Hudson who did Rewired from 1996 to 1999. David interviewed Rebecca Eisenberg and I back in 1996.
posted by steve at 6/09/2000 08:37:00 AM

 
Slate does have some coverage of the decision in The Breakfast Table and Today's Paper, but it is metacoverage. You would think they would be prepared with more. The Benton Foundation's excellent Communications Daily for today
has the largest collection of links to stories I've seen. Unfortunately, they aren't hot. The best way to get it is to subscribe via email.

The Wall Street Journal also has an interview with Jackson, Judge says Microsoft
damaged its own credibility in court:

The judge himself explains:

       “Falsus in uno, falsus in omnibus,” he says, citing a Latin aphorism meaning, “Untrue in one thing, untrue in everything.”

       “I don’t subscribe to that as absolutely true,” the judge says. “But it does lead one to suspicion. It’s a universal human experience. If someone lies to you once, how much else can you credit as the truth?”

       In an extraordinary interview for a sitting federal judge, Judge Jackson made it clear that Microsoft’s credibility problems in the courtroom compromised its defense and contributed significantly to the judge’s decision Wednesday to break the company in two and impose stiff restrictions on Microsoft’s business practices...

"I had to make judgments about the credibility of witnesses, and I found some of them more credible than others,” he said. Judge Jackson declined to cite specific instances during the trial, and he gingerly stepped around legal issues that might arise on appeal. But he did add, “Things did not start well for them.”
In the interview, Judge Jackson said, “I have to make judgments about motives and credibility all the time... . And it was quite clear to me that the motive of Microsoft in bundling the Internet browser was not one of consumer convenience. The evidence that this was done for the consumer was not credible... . The evidence was so compelling that there was an ulterior motive.”...

 But the judge rejected the appellate court’s admonition in the June 1998 ruling that courts shouldn’t get involved in how software works. “I may not be equipped to make judgments about software design, but I am equipped to judge what a particular design is, in terms of its economic effect.”

       Judge Jackson also dismissed Microsoft’s complaints that it wasn’t given time to argue against a breakup and that his decision not to allow that time violated proper procedure. He said, “it’s procedurally unusual to do what Microsoft is proposing — are you aware of very many cases in which the defendant can argue with the jury about what an appropriate sanction should be? Were the Japanese allowed to propose the terms of their surrender? The government won the case.”

posted by steve at 6/08/2000 10:37:00 AM

 
On Nightline, Koppel seemed to be asking Bill Gates tough questions. But he didn't ask critical questions about specific actions
that Judge Jackson ruled had broken the law. Nor did he ask if microsoft wants to innovate, so many of their products take what
a truly innovative company has done and use their market dominance in other areas to establish their own product (it would have been a perfect follow-up after Gates mentioned the Mac lawsuit). Or why if
they want to serve their custumers, their software crashes so often. Or why their new Pocket PC won't work with a mac or linux.

Gates and other people from Microsoft keep on saying they want to innovate and serve their custumers and journalists keep
failing to point out that they do neither.

The Washington Post has an interview with Judge Jackson.
Andrew Leonard has an excellent piece on Salon, Microsoft owes everything to Justice on the impact the anti-trust case against IBM had on Microsoft. And he co-wrote a http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/07/breakup/index.html>piece on the decision with Janelle Brown.

As I write this, Slate doesn't have anything up about the decision. The http://slate.msn.com/diary/00-06-05/diary.asp>diary this week by Bill Flannigan of VH1 is pretty interesting though.

posted by steve at 6/07/2000 11:49:00 PM

 

The ruling on Microsoft has been issued. You can read it in HTML and PDF. It is being discussed on all of the news channels and will be a major topic on the Newshour
on PBS and Nightline. The Jusitice department and Microsoft are expected to have press conferences shortly. From the decision:

Microsoft claims, in effect, to have been surprised by the "draconian" and "unprecedented" remedy the plaintiffs recommend. What it proposes is yet another round of discovery, to be followed by a second trial - in essence an ex post and de facto bifurcation of the case already considered and rejected by the Court.

Microsoft's profession of surprise is not credible...
It has also reluctantly come to the conclusion, for the same reasons, that a structural remedy has become imperative: Microsoft as it is presently organized and led is unwilling to accept the notion that it broke the law or accede to an order amending its conduct.

First, despite the Court's Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, Microsoft does not yet concede that any of its business practices violated the Sherman Act. Microsoft officials have recently been quoted publicly to the effect that the company has "done nothing wrong" and that it will be vindicated on appeal. The Court is well aware that there is a substantial body of public opinion, some of it rational, that holds to a similar view. It is time to put that assertion to the test...

Second, there is credible evidence in the record to suggest that Microsoft, convinced of its innocence, continues to do business as it has in the past, and may yet do to other markets what it has already done in the PC operating system and browser markets. Microsoft has shown no disposition to voluntarily alter its business protocol in any significant respect. Indeed, it has announced its intention to appeal even the imposition of the modest conduct remedies it has itself proposed as an alternative to the non-structural remedies sought by the plaintiffs.

Third, Microsoft has proved untrustworthy in the past. In earlier proceedings in which a preliminary injunction was entered, Microsoft's purported compliance with that injunction while it was on appeal was illusory and its explanation disingenuous. If it responds in similar fashion to an injunctive remedy in this case, the earlier the need for enforcement measures becomes apparent the more effective they are likely to be.

posted by steve at 6/07/2000 01:49:00 PM

 

Jim Romenesko who does Medianews.org and http://www.obscurestore.com/>Obscure Store has a piece, The Zine Zone.
posted by steve at 6/07/2000 12:45:00 PM

 

Amnesty International has released a report (211K in PDF), "Collateral Damage" or Unlawful Killings? Violations of the Laws of War by NATO during Operation Allied Force. Robert Fisk of the Independent has a summary,
NATO 'deliberately attacked civilians in Serbia.

The crackdown on independent media in Serbia continues. Miroslav Filipovic is
in military prison awaiting trial for articles like Serb Officers Relive Killings for
the Institute For War & Peace Reporting. IWPR has a page
with more information on his case.

posted by steve at 6/07/2000 09:41:00 AM

 
Newsweek's June 12th cover story is The Death Penalty on Trial.
Amnesty International has a website against the death penalty.

Newsweek also has a roundtable on the state of publishing.
Publishers Lunch has a page with articles on Book Expo.

The New York Times on Sunday started a series on race in America which will conclude with a special issue of the NYT Magazine.

posted by steve at 6/06/2000 04:03:00 PM

 

Tonight's Nightline features a http://abcnews.go.com/onair/Nightline/nl000605_universe_feature.html>story by Robert Krulwich on how the universe might end.
Earlier he did a program for Nightline on theories on intelligent life in the universe. There is http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/popoff/rare_earth/rare_earth_index.html>web version of it.

posted by steve at 6/05/2000 06:01:00 PM

 


posted by steve at 6/05/2000 02:19:00 PM

 
Well Founded Fear, an award winning documentary on the http://www.ins.usdoj.gov/graphics/index.htm>INS, begins airing on POV on PBS tonight (though check your local
listings since it may air another night - in Chicago, it is on Saturday, June 17th at
10 pm since it is currently pledge week). If even a small portion of the people watch this who watched Elian coverage, there
would be a better understanding of immigration issues.

The producers of Well Founded Fear and one of the INS officers profiled in it were interviewed
on Fresh Air on May 5th. You can listen to the show in real audio. The Well Founded Fear website
has a lot of material including a section that allows you to read case histories and decide if they should be granted asylum.
The Sunday New York Times had an article, Telling Tales of Fear to a Wary Audience, on the documentary (the link will be good until sometime Saturday. June 10th). There was a positive
review in the New York Daily News and an article, 'P.O.V.' Explores Anguish, Complexity of Political Asylum in the LA Times.

POV has a number of interesting documentaries this year including
Butterfly (6-20) on http://www.lunatree.org/>Julia Butterfly, Dreamland (8-20) on Las Vegas by Lisanne Skyler
and KPFA on the Air (9-19) on the history of the Berkeley community radio station.

posted by steve at 6/05/2000 11:39:00 AM

 
Ursula K. LeGuin's Lathe of Heaven is airing on PBS stations in June for the first time in years along with
an interview with her by Bill Moyers. There is a schedule of when it will air. If your local station isn't
on it, check their website (since it might not be complete). It will be released on DVD and VHS in the fall. Current had an article as did TV Barn (scroll down a bit).

LeGuin has a new novel in the Hanish Cycle, the telling, which is coming out in September
from Harcourt.
posted by steve at 6/05/2000 08:58:00 AM