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Commentary > The Dobbs Report
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Judgment call
The Supreme Court will decide two cases that strike me as a waste of time.
November 12, 2002: 7:51 PM EST
By Lou Dobbs, Lou Dobbs Moneyline

NEW YORK (CNN) - The Supreme Court will decide two cases that strike me as a waste of time, were good sense and judgment applied. In one case the court will decide whether the government can force libraries that it subsidizes to filter pornography on its computers. In the other earth-shattering case, whether an adult novelty store can use the name Victor's Little Secret without infringing on the trademark of lingerie store Victoria's Secret.

Now, we all know that intellectual property is important and fundamental to our economy... that the First Amendment is critical to our way of life. But for crying out loud, doesn't anyone in these cases have any judgment, just a little common sense?

If the library wants the federal money, it comes with a restriction... the library board, and the community, decide whether to take the money, whether to permit people using the library to use it for pornographic surfing. In the Victor's Little Secret case, who really could confuse adult novelties with the stuff Victoria's Secret sells? Or to make it easier, who would confuse Victor with Victoria?

Oops, what's the name of that movie? You know what I mean...

I wish the court would deal with substantial cases... issues that are of, well, supreme importance. Pornography and lingerie seem to do well without a lot of judicial review.  Top of page




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