Even before Osama Bin Laden was killed by U.S. soldiers, his brand of anti-modern, anti-pleasure Islam was under attack by Bollywood, India’s pop culture juggernaut that boasts a global audience of 3 billion people.

As Reason Foundation Senior Analyst Shikha Dalmia explains, Bollywood movies and videos appeal to young men and women in Muslim and Arab countries because they dramatize the sorts of tensions between traditional and modern ways of living. “Who should decide who one should marry – is it the parents or is it the boy and girls themselves?” asks the Indian-born and raised Dalmia. “In the West, in Hollywood movies, it’s not even an issue. But it’s a huge issue in that part of the world and all of Bollywood movies deal with that one central question.”

Dalmia also notes that Muslims are among the most popular – and sexually suggestive – performers in Bollywood productions. “When you have Muslims succeeding in Bollywood as Muslims, it makes them feel, well, we don’t have to give up our religion in order to be modern,” observes Dalmia. “That’s very, very subversive…of Islamic demands and Islamic extremism….If you can have a good time in this world…and still be religious, why do you have to strap suicide bombs to your chest and blow yourself up?”

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Say you don’t have the dough to add the fashions you see at Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony to your closet. If you buy knockoffs instead, are you shopping smart or stealing?

Today it’s perfectly legal to copy whatever you see on the red carpet and sell it yourself. To some, such as  Diane Von Furstenburg, this sounds a lot like theft. The former German princess is one of the world’s most successful fashion designers and she’s teaming up with Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to push a bill that would give designers a three-year monopoly on new creations.

The whole point of intellectual property is to spur innovation, and that, according to supporters, is exactly why the fashion industry needs such a bill. Without tougher protections, they say designers will have less incentive to create new looks.

But is the fashion industry really hurting for innovation? And are top-tier designers like Von Furstenberg really getting ripped off by bargain hunters? And even if they were, who’s to say whose look is truly original?

Johanna Blakely of USC’s Norman Lear Center worries that the relentless push for more intellectual property protection could lead to a situation where big design houses lawyer up and sue young designers. Designer Galina Sobolov, head designer and owner of Single by Galina Sobolov, agrees.

“If this bill was in effect as we grew our company, we would have faced probably millions of lawsuits,” says Sobolov, whose designs have been worn by celebs such as Katy Perry and Rachel Hunter. “And we would have never actually had a company.”

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President Obama spent last year’s State of the Union address celebrating spending programs past (hooray, stimulus!) and proposing new budget-busters. The shellacking Democrats took during the 2010 midterm elections was supposed to change all that, but at Tuesday night’s SOTU Obama reverted to his “throw-money-at-every-conceivable-problem” self.

Yes he included some proposals to cut spending, but those are as likely to vanish as the spending hikes are likely to swell.

Could the “new” Obama be even more expensive than last year’s model?

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They touch our lives in so many ways, and now Reason.tv acknowledges those who tell us that if it looks good, tastes good, or feels good, it should be illegal.

Live (to tape) from the fourth floor of the Sepulveda Center in Los Angeles, California—it’s the 2010 Nanny of the Year Awards!

Over the past year, Reason.tv has recognized plenty of busybodies who relish minding other people’s business, but who deserves to succeed 2009’s winner (Meddlin’ Mike Bloomberg), and take home the 2010 Nanny?

Will it be the heartland mayor who sacked the Lingerie Football League? The Peach State pol who sued a man for growing vegetables in his own yard? A member of the food police?

Remember, it’s a dishonor just to be nominated. So get your awards season started off right, and tune in to the only black-tie ceremony that delivers busybodies, bikini babes, and bacon!

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Warning: Immature Subject Matter.

Viewer discretion is advised

Approximately 75 seconds

“44 Ways to Say TSA” is produced by Ted Balaker, edited by Austin Bragg, and written by Balaker, Bragg, Hawk Jensen, Alex Manning, Jacob Sullum, and Zach Weissmueller.

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Oliver Stone’s uber-villain Gordon Gekko is back in the new film, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, which (surprise!) features greedy capitalists behaving badly. It might remind you of Avatar, Mission Impossible 2 or roughly a zillion other films in which capitalists destroy the environment, concoct killer viruses, harvest organs, and cover up murder in order to feed their lust of profit. Even when capitalism isn’t the primary target, the representatives of commerce are often flat-out repulsive (think Jabba the Hut).

Perhaps it’s ironic that Hollywood filmmakers practice what they preach against. Sure he palls around with socialist dictators Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, but there’s no doubt Oliver Stone hopes to rake in obscene profits with his new flick.

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