Bensteinian Rhapsody

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Ed Brayton's Skeptic article on Sternberg

Ed Brayton has written an article about the Richard Sternberg controversy at the Smithsonian for Skeptic magazine, which will appear in the next issue. The article has been published online in advance, along with an article by Michael Shermer about his interaction with Ben Stein.

UPDATE (April 18, 2008): Ed Brayton has responded to the Discovery Institute's "non-response" on the Sternberg affair.

New "Expelled" cell footage clip on YouTube

On April 15, "getexpelled," a user which has been posting the official clips from the movie "Expelled," posted new animation footage of the operations of the cell which is clearly not derived from XVIVO's footage. (ERV refers to this footage as a "toddler animation" and "a shitty Las-Vegas-Meets-TeleTubbies 'Inner Life'".)

I suspect they already took action to put this new footage into the film that will come out tomorrow instead of the animation which they copied from XVIVO, which means that they have already complied with that demand from XVIVO's infringement letter. That also means that their lawsuit for a declaratory judgment in Texas is really an argument that this new footage is not infringing, which they'll probably win--this footage is not infringing. But it also means that, yet again, they've been thoroughly deceptive in how they operate, and have implicitly admitted that they were, in fact, infringing XVIVO's copyright in the footage that they showed in the early screenings.

That's probably not worth the effort for XVIVO to sue them over. But it's definitely worth pointing out.

UPDATE (April 22, 2008): Apparently the XVIVO-infringing animation is still in the released film, after all.

Scientology celebrity escapes

Actor Jason Beghe, who appeared as Demi Moore's love interest in "G.I. Jane" as well as in episodes of "Numb3rs" and "CSI," was a member of the Church of Scientology since first taking courses in 1994. In 2005, he appeared in promotional videos for the church. He's now left Scientology and has appeared in a video made by long-time Scientology critic Mark Bunker:



UPDATE: Since YouTube has removed not only the above clip but Mark Bunker's YouTube account, here's an Australian TV news story about Beghe leaving Scientology:



Here's a rehosted version of the original interview clip:



Here's an interview of Beghe by Tony Ortega, a journalist who used to write for Phoenix New Times and New Times LA, who has written several good stories on Scientology:

"Expelled" uses sample from "Imagine" without permission

The copyright infringment continues--it seems that "Expelled" makes use of about 25 seconds of John Lennon's song "Imagine," but permission was neither sought nor granted for its use:

In a written statement, the film's three producers -- Walt Ruloff, John Sullivan and Logan Craft -- acknowledged that they did not seek permission, but they called the use "momentary." "After seeking the opinion of legal counsel it was seen as a First Amendment issue and protected under the fair use doctrine of free speech," the statement said. A spokeswoman said under 25 seconds of the song are used in the movie.

Now this is actually an instance where I agree with "Expelled"'s producers--this should fall within fair use guidelines. The courts, however, have already ruled otherwise. (UPDATE: Not quite accurate, see correction below.) In 2005, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Bridgeport Music, Inc. v. Dimension Films that even a 1.5-second sample requires a license. I'd be happy to see a lawsuit on this issue result in that ruling being overturned.

I've previously written about the danger of such erosion of fair use to the creation of new music in one of this blog's more popular posts. The link at the end of that post about "Amen Brother" is well worth your time.

(Also related is this film in which fair-use samples from Disney films are used to make Disney characters explain current U.S. copyright law.)

UPDATE (April 18, 2008): Russell Blackford argues that "Expelled"'s use of "Imagine" is to make comment on the content of the song, and makes a moral case for the legitimacy of its use. I agree with his argument--the use of a sample of the song to make comment on it enhances the case for "fair use," but I think it should have met fair use guidelines even without that.

UPDATE (April 23, 2008): As commenter lquilter points out below, the Bridgeport case did not say quite what I said above--it doesn't eliminate fair use as a defense to a use of small samples, it eliminates the argument that sampling is using so little of the original material that no copyright applies. The result is that a lengthier court proceeding is required to fight for such use.

"Expelled"'s makers are now being sued over the use of "Imagine." I don't feel bad for them, but I think they should win their case. This probably guarantees that the film will not make a profit from its theatrical run, after deducting legal expenses.

UPDATE (May 1, 2008): The Stanford Law School's Fair Use Project has signed on to defend "Expelled" against the Ono Lennon lawsuit. Good for them, I hope they win this one. It shouldn't be difficult.

UPDATE (May 2, 2008): P.Z. Myers points out distortions in "Expelled"'s press release about the their defense in the "Imagine" lawsuit. Even in the rare case when I agree with them (their fair use defense here), they still have to throw in a distortion or two to show that they are sleazy, I guess. (I disagree with Myers' assertion that there is no commentary on the song; see Russell Blackford's analysis, linked to above.)

Perhaps the strongest argument against "Expelled" in this case is that they sought licenses for other songs they used, but did not even attempt to get permission for "Imagine," as pointed out by Laura Quilter (who has also commented here).

UPDATE (May 5, 2008): The judge in the case has enjoined "Expelled" from any further distribution or DVD release, though they can continue showing the film in the theaters where it's already playing (currently down to 655 theaters).

UPDATE (May 9, 2008): And now down to 402 theaters.

UPDATE (June 2, 2008): The judge has ruled against Yoko Ono's motion for a permanent injunction against "Expelled" on the grounds that the defendants are likely to prevail.

The official "Expelled" paternity test

The folks at XVIVO have argued that "Expelled" has engaged in copyright infringement by directly copying from their film, "The Inner Life of the Cell." The "Expelled" producers have responded by claiming that they constructed their film based on original research:

However, the latest claim concerning the copyright status of our proprietary animation is so ridiculous, bogus and misinformed that we must respond. Premise Media invested significant time and money into the research and original creation of the animation used in our film to illustrate cellular activity. Our own team of experts created the highest quality of animation that is available. In fact, the animation we use in the theatrical release of our movie is only a small portion of the animation we have created and plan to use in future projects.

Darwin Central has proposed a paternity test in the form of a series of image comparisons. On the left hand side, images from a variety of sources showing a particular process in the cell that is depicted by "The Inner Life of the Cell." On the right hand side, a comparison image from the "Expelled" segment at issue. Surely, if the "Expelled" producers are correct, there should be no reason to find any special similarity between the image on the left that comes from XVIVO's film and the image that comes from "Expelled" versus any of the other images on the left.

See for yourself.

It also appears that other parts of "Expelled"'s animations have been taken from other sources, to which John Wilkins has a connection!

Yet Premise Media is suing XVIVO, seeking a declaratory judgment in Texas! This sounds like venue shopping or "forum shopping," since XVIVO is in Massachusetts.

UPDATE: ERV has a copy of the complaint and a summary. She also includes a new video, that she speculates has replaced the XVIVO-copied video in the final film.

UPDATE (April 19, 2008): The footage copied from XVIVO was apparently removed from the film before yesterday's public release.

P.Z. Myers fisks Michael Medved

Discovery Institute Fellow and bad movie critic Michael Medved has written an article arguing that an atheist should not be elected U.S. president. P.Z. Myers gives it a hilarious fisking at Pharyngula.

Arizona still #7 in foreclosures

Last November, I reported that year-over-year foreclosure rates had doubled and Arizona ranked #7 in the nation for foreclosures. Reuters reports that national foreclosure filings have gone up another 57% for the twelve-month period ending in March 2008. Arizona has been in fourth place for each of the first three months of 2008, despite foreclosures falling by 5% in March, and remains at the #7 position for overall number of foreclosures.

The twelve-month total foreclosure rankings:

1. California
2. Florida
3. Ohio
4. Georgia
5. Texas
6. Michigan
7. Arizona
8. Illinois
9. Nevada
10. Colorado

The March 2008 foreclosure rankings:

1. Nevada (1 in 139 homes)
2. California (1 in 204 homes)
3. Florida (1 in 282 homes)
4. Arizona (1 in 283 homes)
5. Colorado (1 in 339 homes)
6. Georgia (1 in 351 homes)
7. Ohio (1 in 448 homes)
8. Michigan (1 in 475 homes)
9. Massachusetts (1 in 486 homes)
10. Maryland (1 in 538 homes)

Arrested for dancing to celebrate freedom

A group of about twenty people went to the Jefferson Memorial at midnight (it's open 24/7) on Thomas Jefferson's birthday to dance silently (with iPods) in celebration of freedom, only to be forced to leave by the Park Police. This exchange then occurred between participant Brooke Oberwetter and a member of the security force:

GUARD: Exit, exit, exit. Lady, I'm not going to tell you again.

OBERWETTER: I'm just...what did we do?

GUARD: Exit. Exit, now...

OBERWETTER: What rule are we breaking? It's against the rules to dance?

GUARD: Yes it is. Read the sign inside the memorial. It says quiet.

OBERWETTER: I'm standing here being very quiet.

GUARD: You're dancing in here. That's disorderly.

At that point, Oberwetter allegedly asked "Why?" and was arrested. She was taken to jail for the next five hours and charged with "interfering with an agency function."

(Via Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Blog and The Agitator. The Agitator has further coverage here, here, and here.)

Expelled Exposed!

The NCSE's "Expelled Exposed" website has now gone live, and it contains a wealth of factual background information about the alleged cases of suppression of intelligence design presented in the film "Exposed," as well as highlighting other information left out of the film and the story of the deceptive methods used by the producers of the film.

The home page of the site features the story of Chris Comer, Director of Science for the Texas Education Agency. Unlike any of the alleged victims of persecution in "Expelled," she was actually forced to resign from her position. Not because she was an advocate of intelligent design, but because she sent out an email announcing a university lecture by Barbara Forrest, a philosopher critical of intelligent design.

The next main area of the site is titled "The Truth Behind the Fiction," which has the following sections:

THE SCIENTIFIC CLAIMS

• Evolution
• Intelligent Design
• Challenging Science
• Science & Religion
• Hitler & Eugenics

THE "EXPELLED"

• Richard Sternberg
• Guillermo Gonzalez
• Caroline Crocker
• Robert Marks
• Pamela Winnick
• Michael Egnor
  

The next area of the site, "Behind the Scenes," explains the deception, dishonesty, and hypocrisy of the makers of the film:

• What is Premise Media?
• Questionable Interview Tactics
• Marketing with a Motive
• Silencing the Dissenters
  

Finally, the last section of the site is a collection of resources which has been on the site for some time, but is constantly growing--a list of news coverage and reviews of the film.

Check out the site for the facts that the makers of "Expelled" don't want you to see.