† The First Amendment Is A Double-Edged Sword: Noting that “[a]cross media and geographies, Islamic extremists are increasingly using intimidation to stifle free expression” – and citing examples that date back to 1989 - Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a former member of the Dutch parliament, and Daniel Huff, director of the Middle East Forum's Legal Project urge champions of free speech to “take a page from the abortion rights movement's playbook” in this Los Angeles Times op-ed:

In the 1990s, abortion providers faced the same sort of intimidation tactics and did not succumb. Instead, they lobbied for a federal law making it a crime to threaten people exercising reproductive rights and permitting victims to sue for damages. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE, passed in 1994 by solid bipartisan margins. A similar act is needed to cover threats against free-speech rights.

A federal law would do two things. First, it would deter violent tactics, by focusing national attention on the problem and invoking the formidable enforcement apparatus of the federal government. Second, its civil damages provision would empower victims of intimidation to act as private attorneys general to defend their rights. …

The kind of legislation we propose is essential if we are to win the war of ideas against extremists, who use threats to drive the moderate message out of public discourse.

Existing state laws prohibiting intimidation are inadequate. On the criminal side, the heightened standard of proof deters prosecutors from investing scarce resources. Explicit grounds for a civil action do not always exist, and damages can be difficult to quantify. By contrast, the FACE Act, which provides the model for the proposed legislation, lets victims opt for preset damages. …

If we leave our artists, activists and thinkers alone to weather the assault, they will succumb and we will all suffer the consequences.

† Living In These Mad, Mad, Madoff Times: New data from the 2009 Census suggests that the recession is affecting such decisions as whether to change homes (fewer people are), to put off marriage (more people are), to work from home (more people are) and to pursue an advanced degree (more people are). USA Today reports:

"The recession has affected every aspect of American life," says Mark Mather, a demographer at the Population Reference Bureau. "It doesn't matter if you're lower income or higher income, highly educated or just have a high school degree."

People are cautious because they don't know when the economy will improve, says Robert Lang, an urban sociologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "They're risk-averse," he says. "It's a short-term crisis but it's changing long-term expectations. Just like the Great Depression haunted the postwar years, this recession is so deep, its impact may alter the first several decades of this century."

† All The News That’s Fart To Print: With a $4,000 grant from Council of the Arts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, artist Matthew Mazzotta created a an art installation at a Cambridge, MA, dog park that converts doo-doo into electricity that lights one of the lanterns, reports The Associated Press:

The "Park Spark" poop converter is actually two steel, 500-gallon oil tanks painted a golden yellow, connected by diagonal black piping and attached to an old gaslight-style street lantern at the Pacific Street Park.

After the dogs do their business, signs on the tanks instruct owners to use biodegradable bags supplied on site to pick up the poop and deposit it into the left tank. People then turn a wheel to stir its insides, which contain waste and water. Microbes in the waste give off methane, an odorless gas that is fed through the tanks to the lamp and burned off. The park is small but has proven busy enough to ensure a steady supply of fuel.

Mazzotta, who got the idea for his contraption after he saw people in India using animal waste in "methane digesters" to cook food, says he isn’t interested in commercializing the "Park Spark," and will dismantle the installation at the end of the month as planned.

† Gitmo Has Become A "Fat Farm": The Daily Mail of London reports that Miami Herald reporter Carol Rosenberg – who was briefly barred from Gitmo for revealing the name of a witness who had testified to the military commissions under the name “Interrogator #1 – got a real scoop. It seems that ice cream is being rationed at Gitmo, with a strict one-ice-cold-treat-per-stone-cold-terrorist rule:

Rosenberg, photographed a refrigerator at Guantanamo, with two signs reading ‘DETAINEE FOOD ONLY’ and ‘Only 1 Ice Cream For each detainee!’

Rosenberg revealed: ‘Found this fridge for Guantanamo detainee food in the rotunda of Camp 6, the most populous of the U.S Navy base prison camps on Sept. 23, 2010 with nearly 90 captives.’ …

‘Until recently the prison camps boasted on their website that they provide the 174 war on terror detainees with 5,500 – 6,000 calories a day’, Rosenberg wrote. …

The ice cream rationing has now led the journalist to question Guantanamo Bay’s motives, suspecting that it might be an attempt to reduce spending.

Let's be real: The motive is to reduce the detainees' girth and blood cholesterol levels, lest first lady Michelle Obama accused the Pentagon of torture.

[Hat Tip: OpinionJournal]

† Updates To Previous Posts (second item, Obama Administration’s Tactless Diplomatic Debut): Almost two years in, and the Obama administration still doesn't quite have the hang of diplomatic protocol, resulting in embarrassing gaffes. This time, the Philippine flag was displayed upside down when President Barack Hussein Obama met with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations met Obama in New York on Friday, reports The Associated Press. Inverting the flag signifies that the Southeast Asian nation is in a state of war. In a statement, U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Rebecca Thompson called it "an honest mistake." More like a stupid mistake.

† Updates To Previous Posts (Life Imitates “A Law Abiding Citizen”): After their teenage daughters were murdered by John Gardner, the parents of Chelsea King and Amber Dubois, their parents have spearheaded several new sex offender and missing children laws in CA, reports The Washington Times:

As the first case to be prosecuted under California's new "one-strike" sex offender law is processed, the parents of slain San Diego County teen Chelsea King are beginning to work toward passage of similar laws in Colorado, Florida, Ohio and Texas.

Chelsea's Law, named after their daughter, places greater restrictions on paroled offenders and keeps behind bars for life those who have committed violent crimes against children under age 14. It swept through the legislature in about three months during budget season this year in a rare display of fervent bipartisan support. …

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also has signed three bills supported by Maurice Dubois, the father of slain 14-year-old Amber Dubois. Together, these bills speed up the reporting of missing children to the National Crime Information Center, establish a director of missing child operations in the California state attorney general's office, and create a checklist for police to follow during investigations.

† Updates To Previous Posts (seventh item, DA Sexts Domestic Abuse Defendant’s Girlfriend): Robert Craanen, who is representing sexting DA Ken Kratz, says his client has agreed to step down “before Oct. 8, the date set for a hearing to hear testimony on his possible removal from office,” The Associated Press reports:

"Ken decided that this was the best interest for everyone involved," Craanen said. "He also mentioned the Calumet County ... residents, they need to move on." …

Craanen said he was waiting for more information from Kratz before formally submitting his client's resignation. Doyle spokesman Adam Collins said the governor will continue with the removal proceedings until he receives the resignation letter.

Craanen complained the removal process was politically motivated and moving too fast. He said he's barely spoken to Kratz, who is receiving inpatient treatment for an undisclosed medical problem, and didn't think he could prepare for the public hearing in 10 days.

"There was no way he could find a successful outcome in this," Craanen said.

After Craanen's request for more time to prepare for the public hearing was rejected, he alleged political motives, but the process to remove an elected county official is spelled out in the state constitution.

† Updates To Previous Posts (third item, Madoff’s Victims: Gullible Or Greedy?): Perhaps Carl Shapiro should walk around with a rabbit foot in his pocket. Stanley Chais, another major feeder into Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, has died less than a year after Jeffry Picower was found dead in his swimming pool after suffering a massive coronary. The Wall Street Journal reports:

[Chais] was suffering from a rare blood disease and had been getting treatment in New York, according to the Los Angeles Times Money & Company blog. …

Despite investigations into the theory that various feeders into Madoff may have been complicit — under the theory that there is no way they could not have known he was perpetrating a fraud — none have been charged criminally. …

Madoff, meanwhile, has had some health problems (a WSJ story is here) but is alive at 72 and serving a 150-year federal prison sentence in North Carolina.