This discussion is the perfect example of why I don't get angry or outraged about copyright issues on Boingboing - it turns out it's some minor issue, blown way out of proportion and sometimes actually distorted by whoever posts it, then nobody reads the actual pages, and comments on the two paragraph blurb.

Hey, my favorite concert last year was the Shins - they were great, but they also embrace pop. I'm not saying I don't like indie music, but I am sick of artists who think they are good because they're indie.

None of the data is very surprising - about four times as many lead singers are men as women. Well, most rock bands in general have more men than women. I've been in three bands, with a total of nine different people, one of whom was a woman (who played keyboards and didn't sing.) Four times as many men is actually less than I'd think, except we aren't going by bass players or lead guitar, which (as many statisticians have learned) throw your numbers way off.

Most bands are white - guess what, most rock bands always have been, and probably always will be white. White music tends toward rock, black towards hip hop and soul, with Afro-Cuban jazz seeming to split the difference. (And don't give me a "Rock and Roll was black before it was white" argument - Rock and Roll didn't scare parents until it was Elvis, not Chuck Berry)

I could go on, but most have probably already decided I'm boring. So I'll finish with the one good point the article makes. (Note it's important enough that I quote it) "To play Coachella is the rock world’s equivalent of having your film screened at Sundance..."

This is so apt, it's scary. What I've noticed about Sundance lately, and indie rock in general, is that to be indie doesn't mean anything anymore. Somehow "Little Miss Sunshine" is indie, even though it stars Steve Carell and Alan Arkin, and had a budget that some Major studio films don't. Newsweek just referred to REM as an indie band (they signed the biggest contract in Rock History with Warner Bros. back in the day, if anyone remembers) and I realized that we've hit that point where any new guitar pop band is going to be called indie, just like there was a point when alternative meant Hootie and the Blowfish, Third Eye Blind, and Matchbox 20, and stopped meaning REM, the Pixies, Husker Du, or anything at all.

To everyone who commented angrily without reading the cease and desist letter (amazing the things you can learn in five minutes or less) they are not claiming copyright on the law itself. What they are claiming copyright on is the tables, annotations, line number, etc. - essentially the entire formatting - which Justia is displaying and not providing credit for.

Furthermore, they claim that Justia is displaying their own copyright on each of the pages in question.

While I agree it is slightly silly, their argument is as sound as the copyright in my Complete Pelican Shakespeare - Shakespeare is public domain, and if I want a copyright free version, I can go to the First Folio, and edit one myself.

Also worth pointing out that they have no problem with Justia linking to their pages, just failing to give credit.

Wow, this is almost as self-referential and metafictional as David Foster Wallace's "Octet." Also, I got a mail order bride after reading this story. The Czech's in the mail.

Under the Banner of Heaven is an interesting book. Unfortunately, it's a very well spun, convincing, but historically suspect account. It is not a great look at Mormonism, especially mainstream Mormonism, and while I know it was not your intention, presenting it as such is a dangerous thing (intellectually speaking). If you aren't interested in doing research on Mormonism (I don't blame you, honestly, and you can't be an expert on everything) at least please don't present the one random book you have read as representative.

To those above who said that the LDS church should lose their tax exempt status, I will point out that their is one issue they've taken a stand on in the last decade, one vote they've tried to influence, and they have never (!) supported a candidate, explicitly or implicity.

Also, the idea that most "average Mormons" tacitly approve of polygamy could not be more wrong - most Mormons hate polygamy, but have a history of live at let live in most cases involving government interventions in religion. Also, for the record, most Mormons don't extend that live and let live policy to exploitation of underage girls.