Al Franken's new book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right" leaped to the top of sales charts last week after Fox News aimed a frivolous lawsuit at the author, claiming that they'd trademarked "Fair and Balanced" back in 1998. This rather pathetic attempt at revenge, presumably instigated by Bill O'Reilly - who took a verbal thrashing from Franken at a book expo earlier this year (see Idiots 113) - was greeted with amusement by everyone from Franken himself to a slew of Internet bloggers who promptly pasted the words "fair and balanced" all over their sites. The suit itself is partially a laughable tirade at Franken and partially a self-aggrandizing advertisement for Fox News, one moment ranting at Franken for being "intoxicated or deranged," the next moment going off on a tangent about the Fox line of neckwear. And let's not forget such gems as, "Moreover, since Franken's reputation as a political commentator is not of the same caliber as the stellar reputations of FNC's on-air talent, any association between Franken and Fox News is likely to blur or tarnish Fox News' distinctive mark." Stellar on-air talent? Perhaps Al Franken should stick to political commentary and Fox News should go into the comedy business. And is it just me, but by trying to claim that the title of Al's book is so confusing that they could suffer "irreparable harm," aren't Fox News essentially admitting that their grip on the cable news ratings lead is solely down to the fact that their viewers are incredibly stupid? Could be...
I just had to post this, the level that this has blown up in the face of the most ridiculous news channel in the Western world is just too sweet to ignore. And the book's not even out yet.
Meh, while I admit that the lawsuit is stupid, I still like the channel. Its better than CNN or BBC.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
Glad to see Franken's book getting more publicity. FNC has always been a joke, now more than ever, and incidents like these only reinforce that.
"Right now we can tell you a report was filed by the family of a 12 year old boy yesterday afternoon alleging Mr. Michael Jackson of criminal activity. A search warrant has been filed and that search is currently taking place. Mr. Jackson has not been charged with any crime. We cannot specifically address the content of the police report as it is confidential information at the present time, however, we can confirm that Mr. Jackson forced the boy to listen to the Howard Stern show and watch the movie Private Parts over and over again."
Good to see Fox News getting their comeupance on this one. It was a stupid law suit and made them a laughing stock. I hope some one just throws the suit out of a fair and balanced court.
There's some suspicion that this was Fox's way of getting back at Franken for the way he and O'Reilly debated at a book author convention (Franken was there for the same book as above) back in ... May? I just finished watching it, it was really amusing to see. Since O'Reilly told a 9/11 family member to "shut up" and told the producer to "cut his mic"- and threatened him with physical violence after the show (a day after talking about how boycotting Rush Limbaugh was an assault on his free speech, no less!), I've known that O'Reilly was insane. That he's on the cover of Franken's book may have set it off.
<quietly changes the channel to CNBC, where the focus is mostly financial but you get a somewhat conservative take on the news without all the stupid>
Any city gets what it admires, will pay for, and, ultimately, deserves…We want and deserve tin-can architecture in a tinhorn culture. And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed.--Ada Louise Huxtable, "Farewell to Penn Station", New York Times editorial, 30 October 1963 X-Ray Blues
One of O'Reactionary's editorials appeared in my newspaper this morning. Basically, it was an ad going on about how popular and objective Fox was. Not only is the man insane, he's a total sell-out, too.
Vympel wrote:There's some suspicion that this was Fox's way of getting back at Franken for the way he and O'Reilly debated at a book author convention (Franken was there for the same book as above) back in ... May? I just finished watching it, it was really amusing to see. Since O'Reilly told a 9/11 family member to "shut up" and told the producer to "cut his mic"- and threatened him with physical violence after the show (a day after talking about how boycotting Rush Limbaugh was an assault on his free speech, no less!), I've known that O'Reilly was insane. That he's on the cover of Franken's book may have set it off.
I remember reading about this, I believe it was at the beginning of June. Is the video online somewhere where I can see it?
Why is Fox news a Joke? Yes it is slanted, but shouldn't you want a choice of which news you want to see, let it be Al-Jeezar (sp) to Fox, shouldn't you have a choice?
Sam Or I wrote:Why is Fox news a Joke? Yes it is slanted, but shouldn't you want a choice of which news you want to see, let it be Al-Jeezar (sp) to Fox, shouldn't you have a choice?
...
Have you lost your marbles? When have I said that people shouldn't have choices
"Right now we can tell you a report was filed by the family of a 12 year old boy yesterday afternoon alleging Mr. Michael Jackson of criminal activity. A search warrant has been filed and that search is currently taking place. Mr. Jackson has not been charged with any crime. We cannot specifically address the content of the police report as it is confidential information at the present time, however, we can confirm that Mr. Jackson forced the boy to listen to the Howard Stern show and watch the movie Private Parts over and over again."
It's not a frivolous lawsuit--"Fair and Balanced" is a trademarked phrase of the Fox News corporation. One can ask whether or not such a thing should be trademarked at all, but they do have a copyright to it, and if they don't want to lose it, they have to sue.
The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth. -- Wikipedia's No Original Research policy page.
The Duchess of Zeon wrote:It's not a frivolous lawsuit--"Fair and Balanced" is a trademarked phrase of the Fox News corporation. One can ask whether or not such a thing should be trademarked at all, but they do have a copyright to it, and if they don't want to lose it, they have to sue.
You cannot trademark a phrase such as 'fair and balanced'. The court will rule as such if they have any brains, and we shall all laugh extremely hard. There is such thing as frivolous copyright. In Intellectual Property you'd be amazed at the things that somehow pass muster with the rather lax copyright agencies, at least in Australia.
The Duchess of Zeon wrote:It's not a frivolous lawsuit--"Fair and Balanced" is a trademarked phrase of the Fox News corporation. One can ask whether or not such a thing should be trademarked at all, but they do have a copyright to it, and if they don't want to lose it, they have to sue.
At one point, TSR trademarked the word "Nazi."
They withdrew the trademark as soon as their legal department realized that they had fucked up and trademarked the wrong thing (they had intended to trademark an IMAGE of a Nazi for an Indiana Jones RPG), but the US government ALLOWED TSR TO TRADEMARK THE WORD NAZI.
"Carriers dispense fighters, which dispense assbeatings." - White Haven
| Hyperactive Gundam Pilot of MM | GALE | ASVS | Cleaners | Kibologist (beable) | DFB |
If only one rock and roll song echoes into tomorrow
There won't be anything to keep you from the distant morning glow.
I'm not a man. I just portrayed one for 15 years.
NapoleonGH wrote:its rediculous for them to be able to trademark fair and balanced.
But then again its not like Franken's book was just "fair and balanced" it just had those 3 words as part of a sentense
It's not like Faux News is, either. "We distort, you deride."
"Carriers dispense fighters, which dispense assbeatings." - White Haven
| Hyperactive Gundam Pilot of MM | GALE | ASVS | Cleaners | Kibologist (beable) | DFB |
If only one rock and roll song echoes into tomorrow
There won't be anything to keep you from the distant morning glow.
I'm not a man. I just portrayed one for 15 years.
Knife wrote:Meh, while I admit that the lawsuit is stupid, I still like the channel. Its better than CNN or BBC.
I like you, you're funny.
Blah, I still surf through various outlets and channels (both radio and tv) but I still like alot of the 'shows' on FNC. *Shrug* all news is distorted one way or another and all big news organizations have their 'attack of the stupids' and scandals.
I do not always agree with Orielly but I like him.
I almost never agree with either Hannity or Colms (they are a text book black/white fallacy) but they are fun to watch.
I swoon over Vester and Due.
So I watch FNC alot.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
I watch/listen to all sorts of news. Fox News being one, though probably most, of many. Really, if you get news from a multitude of places you can usually tell what is BS and what is not. Though sometimes everyone airs/prints BS at once but you still have a better view of the world.
Fox News has a slant, but then again so does every other outlet. I just try to average the slant out with other input.
(Not saying you) Those who are amazed that I like Fox News yet watch only BBC or something like that are hypocritical imo. Pointing your finger at one bias while engaged in another because of a political ideology is asinine.
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
Linda Vester is the only reason I tune into FNC *fappity fap fap fap*
"Right now we can tell you a report was filed by the family of a 12 year old boy yesterday afternoon alleging Mr. Michael Jackson of criminal activity. A search warrant has been filed and that search is currently taking place. Mr. Jackson has not been charged with any crime. We cannot specifically address the content of the police report as it is confidential information at the present time, however, we can confirm that Mr. Jackson forced the boy to listen to the Howard Stern show and watch the movie Private Parts over and over again."
I always tune into FNC, but never for the commentary shows like
hannity/colmes or O'Reilly, but the news
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
It is true that FOXNews has largely cornered the market on fluffy blonde newsbimbos, which increases it's watchability dramatically.
"Show me an angel and I will paint you one." - Gustav Courbet
"Quetzalcoatl, plumed serpent of the Aztecs... you are a pussy." - Stephen Colbert
"Really, I'm jealous of how much smarter than me he is. I'm not an expert on anything and he's an expert on things he knows nothing about." - Me, concerning a bullshitter
Gil Hamilton wrote:It is true that FOXNews has largely cornered the market on fluffy blonde newsbimbos, which increases it's watchability dramatically.
Hmmm;
Linda Vester
Luarie Due
Patty Ann Brown
Bridgett Quin
Jane Skinner
E.D. Hill
Darie Alexander
(not all blonde buy yummie all the same)
They say, "the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of tyrants and patriots." I suppose it never occurred to them that they are the tyrants, not the patriots. Those weapons are not being used to fight some kind of tyranny; they are bringing them to an event where people are getting together to talk. -Mike Wong
But as far as board culture in general, I do think that young male overaggression is a contributing factor to the general atmosphere of hostility. It's not SOS and the Mess throwing hand grenades all over the forum- Red
