News briefs – First Amendment, minimum wage, labor laws

BushCo gutting labor laws?

It sure looks that way. The Bush “legacy” is shaping up to be a last-minute gutting of federal administrative rules around all departments, I think.

Child porn law or overly-broad child nanny law?

A federal appeals court agreed with the original district court and said that the Children Online Protection Act is the former.

COPA would have criminalized posting information online for commercial purposes that’s considered harmful to minors ,including not just obscene communication but also the depiction of sexual material that could be considered offensive, or material that lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for minors.

Pretty broad, especially with the “could be” phrase.

Look for Bush, or McCain, to start talking about activist child-porn-loving judges? Meanwhile, judges still prove better than elected Democrats, recently, in protecting civil liberties, it seems.

Min wage hike really isn’t

With rising gas prices, food costs, etc., instead, the upcoming minimum wage increase is just a wash.

More than once in the past 18 months, I have lamented Congressional Dems not attaching a COLA provision to the minimum-wage hike bill. See here, here, here (with link to signing a living wage petition), here,