Another Monday Mashup

(Posting is iffy for tomorrow, by the way.)

Just a few items thrown together…

For everyone following the WGA strike (and I’m not one of those people, though I may come across a story about it), this item appeared in the New York Times on Friday, telling us that…

A federal appeals court yesterday threw out a hard-fought agreement between publishers and freelance writers to pay the writers for electronic reproduction of their work.

In a 2-to-1 decision, an appellate panel ruled that the courts had no jurisdiction over the copyright dispute and that a lower court erred in accepting the writers’ lawsuit and approving the settlement.

It sounds like the legal rationale here from Judge Chester J. Straub (such as it was) was that the writers weren’t allowed to claim damages because they had not registered their work with the U.S. Copyright Office, though in dissent, Judge John Walker said that the non-registration was “a malleable procedural rule” only.

I think we can pretty much bank on an appeal to The Supremes on this one if there is standing to do so, especially since the Court had already ruled in 2001 that digital reproduction of the writer’s work by publishers without the consent of the writer violated his or her copyright. Stay tuned.

This story (h/t Daily Kos) tells us that our U.S. House Rep Patrick Murphy has been “busting his hump” as they say trying to recruit other Iraq war vets to run for Congress next year….

A political neophyte considering a run for Congress…29-year-old (Jon) Powers wondered what kind of reaction he would get from those he'd served with. He had no idea how to assemble a staff or how running in his native New York would affect his family life.

The conversation ended with a clear message from Murphy, Powers recalled. ''He literally looked at me across the table, and said, 'You have to do it.'''

Murphy, the Bucks County Democrat who emerged from the 2006 congressional races as the first and only Iraq war veteran elected to Congress, is looking for company in Washington. And he's not waiting around to see if it shows up.

The 34-year-old former Army captain is helping out other veterans as they jump into a different kind of combat than the one they faced in Iraq: campaigns for U.S. House seats against Republicans.

''I want to have battle buddies in Washington,'' Murphy said in a recent interview. ''I want these guys to stand there with me.''

…

At least 17 have announced candidacies for 2008, roughly split between the major parties, according to congressional campaign offices. Several others remain on the fence.

Murphy and his campaign staff are helping -- giving tips on honing a message on Iraq, dealing with the media and holding fundraisers -- a handful of them, Murphy said.

There's Powers, a former U.S. Army captain who led an artillery platoon before assisting a battalion commander in Najaf and Baghdad, now a declared candidate in New York. There's John Boccieri, an Air Force Reserve major vying for an open House seat in Ohio. And there's Doug Denneny, a 22-year Navy veteran who is running in Virginia.

Go, Patrick (and as always, to help, click here).

This story is a bit dated, but in case anyone missed it, Texas oilman Oscar Wyatt was sentenced to one year in prison for his participation in the U.N. oil-for-food scandal in which he participated in a scheme to pay illegal surcharges to the former Government of Iraq in connection with the purchase of crude oil through the United Nations Oil-for-Food Program between mid-2000 and 2003.

No word on a reaction from Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota (with his back to us above, appropriately enough), who tussled with Brit MP George Galloway over the scandal as we may remember (oh, and by the way, speaking of Coleman, click here to help Al Franken send him back to private life next year).

And finally, this tells us of Vermonter John Nirenberg, who…

…plans to walk from Boston to Washington, D.C., to confront House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in hopes of persuading Congress to take up the impeachment of President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

Go John (you truly have the thanks of a grateful nation).