Cognitive Dissonance... Again

Just a short piece of miscellaneous drivel today, as I'm busy writing up papers on the Google Book Settlement (assisting counsel to several objectors) that are going to make me even more enemies in New York than I already have. The short version: Various silences in the proposed settlement demonstrate that both the proposed named plaintiffs and their counsel are inadequate representatives for the class, however it may end up being defined. After having served as class counsel in over sixty matters, I think I have some grasp of the "adequacy" standard for both the plaintiffs themselves and their counsel. <vbeg>

   In any event, I came across a rather random and amusing bit of cultural cognitive dissonance this morning: Is Evanescence's "Good Enough" Amy Lee's homage to Spinal Tap's "Lick My Love Pump"? And if not, why not? (Note to fen: This is friendly teasing.) Go ahead and compare the two.

And I'm much too angry about the torture memos to say anything more than the following that won't melt your screen. Torture makes people talk; it doesn't make them give you timely, accurate information, especially if they don't have it to begin with. If, on the other hand, what you want to do is brainwash the subject — like the godless Commies did to Americans in Korea and Vietnam — or just punish someone who bears some physical resemblance to the "real enemy," go right ahead. Torture works just fine for that.

Happy Shakespeare's Birthday. Forsooth, therefore, I shall end this entry aright with appropriate comment upon the preceding.

"Bastard virtues"; that indeed know not their fathers,
and therefore have no names.