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donal brown

New Yorker article critical of Obama administration in prosecuting whistleblower

donal brown May 16, 2011

The Justice Department is charging Thomas Drake, a former National Security Agency executive, with espionage for taking top-secret documents from N.S.A. offices and leaking information to a Baltimore Sun reporter. The reporter, Siobhan Gorman, wrote a prize-winning series of stories about waste, mismanagement, and dubious legal practices in the agency’s counter terrorism programs. New Yorker writer Jane Mayer quotes Secrecy News‘ Steven Aftergood who has followed the Drake indictment closely and thinks the case has

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Free speech: Peabody Energy objects to parody

donal brown May 16, 2011

Peabody Energy was not amused by a website that offered a free inhaler to any family within 200 miles of a coal plant and wrote a letter demanding that its name be removed from the website. EFF attorney Carynne McSherry pointed out the weakness in Peabody’s position, “The legal analysis is not hard: the trademark fair use doctrine and the First Amendment both protect the use of Peabody’s trademarks as a necessary part of political

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Wisconsin high school students demand recognition of gay club

donal brown May 16, 2011

High school students in Wisconsin are suing in federal court under the First Amendment and the Equal Access Act after school authorities voted to deny recognition to the gay-straight alliance as an official school club. The alliance has been in existence for more than 10 years. The students’ complaint read, “Those requests [for club status] were denied by administrators citing a variety of reasons, including WBSD [West Bend High School Gay Straight Alliance] not wanting

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Compromise in the works to save Stolen Valor Act

donal brown May 16, 2011

In an attempt to save the Stolen Valor Act and preserve the First Amendment, a Nevada congressman has introduced a law to require that for there to be a violation of the act, someone would have to lie about their military service for personal gain. First Amendment Center President Ken Paulson argues that the change would center prosecution on fraudulent acts rather than put the government in the position of regulating speech and running afoul

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California: Local governments feeling budget squeeze on enforcing open meeting law

donal brown May 15, 2011

Observers are expecting some slippage in enforcing the Brown Act, now that the state Legislature cut the $17 million reimbursement to local governments to cover the costs of enforcement. Monterey County alone is on the hook for $140,000 in Brown Act enforcement. The county is opposed to a bill by a Watsonville assemblyman to require posting agendas and staff reports on websites because it would be another unfunded mandate. -db From the Monterey County Weekly,

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