[Update –1430 — I just checked and Technorati has 123 blogs flagged for Michael Righi, including:

The Consumerist;
Privacy Digest;
Cup Of Joe Powell;
The Liberal Avenger;
Crunch Gear;
Tempus Fugit and
Are We Lumberjacks?

Anybody watching Circuit City’s stock?]

[Update — 1424 — The conversation is kicking up in the NEO Bloggosphere with Jill and Roger adding their thoughts and questions.]

This morning the Plain Dealer devotes what must be 75 percent of page one to the Michael Righi case. It’s only some 599 words in a main story and sidebar, but Michael Sangiacomo and Laura Johnston make their point. And I was nodding my head as I read until I came to the next to the last question of the sidebar: What are your rights?

What if the store has a sign saying that it inspects packages?

If a sign exists, then by entering the store and buying something, the shopper agrees to follow the rule, the ACLU said.

Huh? So corporations, as a condition of our doing business with them, may make any outrageous requirements they want?

Yes, if a store posts a sign saying All customers are subject to cavity searches its customer base may be reduced to a few Republican senators. But there is a huge distance between asking for a receipt and demanding you bend over and spread’em.

What invasions of our person between those two points are we willing to endure for the privilege of buying something>?

Among geeks there is an ongoing discussion of insane End User License Agreements that is instructive in this case. When we rip off the shrinkwrap or click agree, what we’re really saying is whatever.

At what point do sheep stop bleating?

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.

My friend and co-blogger at The Writing On The Wal Jonathan Rees wrote a post this week about the co-opting of the environmental movement by corporations with no real interest in anything but improving their bonuses. Corporations aren’t stupid when it comes to making money. And that includes the suits in the music industry.

Case in point: Marie Digby.

A 24-year-old singer and guitarist named Marié Digby has been hailed as proof that the Internet is transforming the world of entertainment.

What her legions of fans don’t realize, however, is that Ms. Digby’s career demonstrates something else: that traditional media conglomerates are going to new lengths to take advantage of the Internet’s ability to generate word-of-mouth buzz.

Ms. Digby’s simple, homemade music videos of her performing popular songs have been viewed more than 2.3 million times on YouTube. Her acoustic-guitar rendition of the R&B hit “Umbrella” has been featured on MTV’s program “The Hills” and is played regularly on radio stations in Los Angeles, Sacramento and Portland, Ore. Capping the frenzy, a press release last week from Walt Disney Co.’s Hollywood Records label declared: “Breakthrough YouTube Phenomenon Marié Digby Signs With Hollywood Records.”

What the release failed to mention is that Hollywood Records signed Ms. Digby in 2005, 18 months before she became a YouTube phenomenon. Hollywood Records helped devise her Internet strategy, consulted with her on the type of songs she chose to post, and distributed a high-quality studio recording of “Umbrella” to iTunes and radio stations.

Forget the lawyers. The first up against the wall when the revolution comes will be the marketers.

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from Sweeping Changes: A Practical Guide to Zen in Your Home by Gary Thorp.

Buddhism is quick to point out that nothing we see or experience is permanent or unaffected by the transitory nature of existence. In fact, this may be considered to be Buddhism”s first law. It is the one true thing that can be depended upon: that all things are unreliable and temporary. The haiku poets developed this transitory aspect of existence into a high art form. In the most abbreviated of poetic forms, an arrangement of just seventeen syllables in three written lines, these poets sought to convey the essence of one brief moment of their own lives and to freeze this moment forever, making it always available to us. p. 50

So before I consider voting for a public safety tax, I want to see The Plan – for the whole city, and for my neighborhood. I want to see the Mayor, the Safety Director, the Police Chief, the Second District Commander, the Councilman, and the CPPA signed up for The Plan and able to explain it to me.

I want to see the budget. I want to see the timeline. I want to see the evaluation benchmarks. I want to know who else has to help, and see evidence of their commitment, and see their role in the budget if that”s called for. Bill Callahan

Laugh now all you want. If Richard Nixon could stage a comeback in 1968 after his loss to President John Kennedy in 1960 (Although things would have been different if that president’s brother hadn’t been shot in Los Angeles), then I don’t see why Al Gore couldn’t walk into the race come 2008 and leave the Democratic field in the dust.

From Vanity Fair.

Thanks to his newfound status, speculation about Gore’s entering the presidential race has refused to die down. Alas, he’s not going to announce his candidacy in the last paragraphs of a Vanity Fair article. “Modern politics seems to require and reward some capacities that I don’t think I have in abundance,” says Gore, “such as a tolerance for … spin rather than an honest discussion of substance.… Apparently, it comes easily for some people, but not for me.”

Tipper says he has made zero moves that would suggest a run for the presidency, but adds that if he turned to her one night and said he had to run, she’d get on board, and they’d discuss how to approach it this time around, given what they’ve learned.

The reporters and opinion-makers have eagerly chewed over the possibility. After all, he’s now a star. In step with the new enthusiasm for Gore, Dowd, in a February 2007 column, described him as “a man who was prescient on climate change, the Internet, terrorism, and Iraq,” a sentiment echoed by many. The pundits, however, invariably come around to the same question: “But if he ran, would he revert to the ‘old Gore’?” Another question-in light of countless recent stories about John Edwards’s haircut-might be: Would the media revert to the old media?

Run Al, run.

It was 30 years ago today that a Titan III E/Centaur lit up the night and hurled Voyager toward the cosmos. On board the one-ton probe was a gold record of the best audible representation of Earth and humanity we could assemble. Someday, long after we are all again starstuff another intelligence may find the record and cue it up. Hello.

I’m constantly tossing interesting websites into what I call my blogpile. Some of them find their way here in the form of regular posts, but more often than not they languish and get buried deeper in the pile. The end result is that I have to go back and do a bit of shoveling. Today’s item is Too Weird for Words.

Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.

1338 Dear Dr. Kirk: I Can’t Come To Class The First Day

LT Carl Goforth: “So, where are you from?” “Yes.” “Funny…Is Moose your real name?” “Yes.” “Who do you guys really work for?” “Yes.” “You ever say anything besides yes?” “Yes.” I’ve learned over the past few years how conversations usually go when you talk to an OGA. That stands for “other governmental agency”. In other words, you have no idea who they work…

I bought the poster of M.C. Escher’s Relativity when I was a freshman in high school. I tacked it to the ceiling above my bed and would look at it for hours. It went to college with me and was often the last image I saw at night before I fell asleep until I joined the Navy. The poster is still in my collection, although now it’s in storage. I should frame it.

The simple truth is that men are horny creatures. If they can get quick and easy no-strings sex that satisfies them, they often will. That goes for straights as well as gays, which is why you tend not to hear of stings of lesbians hooking up in public places. But gay men have an advantage over straight men: a lot of willing partners who won’t call you the next day and won’t even ask your name. If straight guys had this option, you think they’d refrain? Please. Andrew Sullivan

It’s been a busy week in Wally World: the Universe’s source of cheap plastic crap. On The Writing On The Wal — the blog USA Today says should be on its readers’ radar — Jonathan Rees, Robert Feinman, Peter Sayles and I continue our work dedicated to drawing back the curtain on the Bentonvile Behemoth’s corporate disinformation and other flackery.

IS WAL-MART GOOD FOR AMERICA (3 OF 5)…? Originally broadcast on 16 November 2004. Keep reading…

WAL-MART: CHINA”S DUPE OR EVIL TOADY…? From Derf Keep reading…

AVOIDING A HASSLE…? Last Friday the Mississippi State University Reflector published an Op-Ed piece by Melissa Harper under the headline: Wal-Mart hassle is avoidable. Harper opined about the hassles of shopping in a mega-box. Among her observations, she wrote: Keep reading…

SPEAKING AS A RED-HEADED STEPCHILD… We all know that Wal-Mart has issues with offerring health insurance to its workers. It”s bad enough trying get your own hospital bill covered if you”re an employee, but when it comes to your children, the Draconian system becomes a terror. Keep reading…

BOMBING FOR DOLLARS… [Updatge – 1313 – Here”s a detail courtesy of I See Invisible People that I missed in the other stories. From the Associated Press (my emphasis): Frightened workers have wired thousands of dollars – and in one case took off their clothes – to placate a caller who said he was watching but may have been thousands of miles away. Something tells me they”re all getting played by a teenager who needs bucks for a new computer.] An extortionist somewhere in the world has found an innovative way to rob Wal-Marts and other big-box retailers without ever leaving home. All the thief needs is a cell phone and a victim with the ability to wire cash anywhere in the world. Keep reading…

PUBLISHING THE TOP RATED PRODUCTS… I got a customer-targeted email from Wal-Mart with the subject heading: Customer Ratings And Reviews Are Here. Ooo, I thought, I wonder how the balance is coming? Well, you won”t find out by looking at the page linked by Wal-Mart. Keep reading…

IS WAL-MART GOOD FOR AMERICA (4 OF 5)…? Originally broadcast on 16 November 2004. Keep reading…

AT THE WALLY PLEX… There are sound stages on Hollywood”s back lots smaller than Bentonvile”s behemoths, so it”s no surprise that budding video talent has been sneaking cameras in at odd hours. And now for the midnight show at the Wally Plex featuring DirteeOldMan. Keep reading…

IS WAL-MART GOOD FOR AMERICA (5 OF 5)…? Originally broadcast on 16 November 2004. Keep reading…

WAL-MART”S TOXIC FLIP FLOPS HIT YOUTUBE… Keep reading…

CHOCOLATE MOTOR OIL…? Keep reading…

WHAT”S IN A NAME…? Companies create and change names all the time for a variety of business reasons. Disney created Castle Rock 20 years ago to produce non-disneyesque movies like The Green Mile. General Motors maintained half-a-dozen names to appeal to different customers. Keep reading…

OUTSOURCING COMPLICATES FOOD RECALLS… Do you think? The headline on an Associated Press story this morning tells me that drum beat we have all been maintaining about the underlying danger of doing business the Wal-Mart way is being heard more and more. Keep reading…

THE AGE OF WAL-MART (1 OF 9)… First aired 13 November 2006, and reshown 20 May on CNBC. Keep reading…

SUPERCAPITALISM BY ROBERT REICH… I”m not in the habit of promoting books I have not yet read, but over the last two years I have come to respect and often quote the work of former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. I think the subtitle of the book says it all: Keep reading…

LABORING OVER LABOR DAY… In the vein of the previous post, here”s a bit of a two-fer from Robert Reich”s blog on this Labor Day. I confess that today was not a holiday for me as I continued my normal routines. (Jonathan had a much better idea.) Keep reading…

WAL-MART HATES BABIES… Not really. I”m sure everyone in Bentonville get”s all warm and fuzzy when they see a baby, but I couldn”t resist the headline after reading Leigh S”s letter to Wal-Mart in Wal-Mart Registries in MD never, ever work! Keep reading…

I NEVER STOPPED TO CONSIDER THIS… At the two, independent, union grocery stores where I shop, there are little containers of sanitizing wipes next to the baskarts. I think we go a little nuts with the whole germ thing, but then I read Peach Keen”s rant (the ALL CAPS are hers) on the subject. Keep reading…

THE AGE OF WAL-MART (2 OF 9)… First aired 13 November 2006, and reshown 20 May on CNBC. Keep reading…

THE AGE OF WAL-MART (3 OF 9)… First aired 13 November 2006, and reshown 20 May on CNBC. Keep reading…

I”M JUST TOO OLD TO BE COOL… I look at dozens of YouTube videos each week to find the ones I like for my Friday night Wally Plex viewing. Last week the video below was one of the ones I watched and rejected as being just too lame. That shows how much I know. Keep reading…

I could never bring myself to forward all the email jokes, cartoons and other Internet comedy that land in my inbox. But then I started posting the ones my dad sends me. Judging from my comments and emails, my dad has become one of my greatest blogging assets. So for your morning blog chuckle I present: From My Dad.

My name is Jeff Hess and I’m a biblioholic. I own hundreds of books. Not valuable books, mostly Science Fiction paperbacks and text books, tomes rescued by the bag from library book sales. A few years ago, in the interest of not burying myself, I began reading more books from the library and taking notes. My electronic chapbook was born.

This is a passage I copied from Sweeping Changes: A Practical Guide to Zen in Your Home by Gary Thorp.

The objective is to find a balance somewhere between the wildness of the woodshed and the impractical sterility of the home as chemical laboratory, to find a place where there is both cleanliness and comfort, order and surprise. p. 48

Part of being a good citizen of the blogosphere is visiting, reading and, most importantly, taking the time to leave a comment on other’s blogs. It’s all about the conversation. In the interest of setting an example I’ve decided to link to those blog posts that have compelled me to leave a comment.

1625 The Saturday Morning Quarterback: Wake Up!

1600 This is No. 1 and we have just begun

0949 Step right up – get your reasons to VOTE NO ON ISSUE 1…

Don’t tell me there’s no upside to Global Warming? Can your car ever smell better than this? We may not have many days left in Cleveland to try baking chocolate chip cookies on our dashboards, but I’m going to give it a try tomorrow. Anybody who wants to try one, bring your own milk. I like my cookies chewy, not crispy.