Kim Kardashian at CW Studios

Kim Kardashian seen outside CW studios in New York City

Great Discussion on Dead Seas of The World in NYC

NEW YORK – The dispute was about ancient history. But the tactics someone used to cast aspersions on a prominent Judaic studies scholar couldn't have been more modern.

New York University professor Lawrence Schiffman's students and colleagues started getting panicked and confessional e-mails, in his name, that pointed them to blog posts accusing him of plagiarism. Prosecutors say the e-mails and website posts were a hoax created by a lawyer on an idiosyncratic mission: to champion his father and discredit Schiffman in a debate over the origin of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

The attorney, Raphael Golb, went on trial Tuesday on criminal charges of online impersonation and harassment for the sheer sake of coloring opinion. The case is a rarity: While impersonation claims have generated civil lawsuits, prosecutions are few unless phony identities are used to steal money, experts say.

Golb, 50, has pleaded not guilty to identity theft, criminal impersonation and other charges. He hasn't acknowledged crafting the messages, but his lawyers say the plagiarism allegations are true, and the writings amount to typical blogosphere banter — not crime.

Manhattan prosecutors say Golb mounted an elaborate, carefully cloaked effort to promote his father's side in a rarefied but vigorous scholarly dispute over which ancient Jews wrote the more than 2,000-year-old scrolls. Found in the 1940s in Israel, the scrolls include the earliest known version of portions of the Hebrew Bible and have shed important light on Judaism and the beginnings of Christianity.

Many scholars say the scrolls were assembled by a sect known as the Essenes. Others — including University of Chicago professor Norman Golb, Raphael Golb's father — say the writings were the work of a range of Jewish groups and communities.

Schiffman told a Manhattan jury Tuesday that he and Norman Golb have long disagreed, albeit cordially, about the issue.

But prosecutors say the argument so angered Raphael Golb that he crossed the line from commentary into crime by crafting the blog posts and e-mails to tarnish Schiffman.

The posts, written under various names, accused Schiffman of stealing from Norman Golb's scholarship. Schiffman denies it and says the material in question is common knowledge.

The e-mails, which appeared to come from Schiffman, asked the recipients to help cover up the supposed plagiarism: "This is my career at stake," read some.

Assistant District Attorney John Bandler called the electronic whisper campaign "a disturbing pattern of conduct," involving about 70 phony e-mail accounts and hundreds, if not thousands, of hours of work. Schiffman said he devoted weeks responding to inquiries from colleagues, students and NYU officials.

"I was beginning to feel myself in a very attacked position," he testified.

But one of Golb's lawyers, David Breitbart, told jurors Monday that he would show the plagiarism allegations were valid — and made in the spirit of satire.

"The representations that are made are never rude, are never impolite. They never attack," he said in an opening statement. "You're going to find that they fall into the category of parody."

Still, he added: "it's not going to be an easy case. ... There are going to be some difficult questions."

Indeed, Tuesday's testimony touched on topics ranging from the Roman thinker Pliny the Elder to the ancient Jewish desert fortress of Masada. And that was before lunch.

Financial frauds accounted for the vast majority of the more than 336,000 complaints made last year to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, run by the FBI and the nonprofit National White Collar Crime Center. But some states are trying to crack down on Internet impersonation; California lawmakers this summer passed a measure that would make "e-personation" a misdemeanor.

Still, criminal prosecutions have been relatively rare when no financial crimes are involved, partly because it can be tough to establish legally what harm a victim suffered, said Bennet G. Kelley, a Santa Monica, Calif., attorney who specializes in Internet law.

"The first question you have to look at is harm ... and once you have that, you have to figure out: Is there First Amendment protection here?" he said.

Discussion on Jets Incident By Ines Sainz

We've already reported the alleged incident between Mexican television reporter Inés Sainz of TV Azteca and the New York Jets. Sainz (who has managed to turn this into quite the little media circus) went on the "Today" show on Tuesday morning and explained a bit more of her take on things.

Now, we're seeing an interesting cultural backlash. Some are saying that by using her looks to further her career, Sainz should have expected the treatment she allegedly received from the team. It's an interesting, if wrong-headed, notion that reminds me of USA Today reporter Christine Brennan's take on the Erin Andrews "peephole" incident via The Big Lead:

That's a commendable concept, but like many of the public takes on Sainz after the incident, there's an alarming undercurrent of "she was asking for it." Sure, it's entirely possible that without her looks, Sainz wouldn't get anywhere near a professional microphone. But it's also entirely possible that she might be able to "transcend" the stereotype that a pretty person (male or female) must debit points from their intelligence simply because he/she doesn't fit someone else's cultural, moral or ethical stereotype.

This reminds me too much of the "Women shouldn't be in the locker room at all!" comments that hit my inbox after I put up the post linked above. Sainz shouldn't have to meet Brennan's or anyone else's standards except for her own, her employer's and those of the teams she covers. If every female sports reporter hits the locker room in full Amish attire, we'll know they're serious. But why should they have to?

On the other side, there were the comments made on a radio show by Washington Redskins running back Clinton Portis, who's probably having an interesting talk with the team's PR staff Tuesday. As reported by D.C. Sports, Portis said:

"You know man, I think you put women reporters in the locker room in positions to see guys walking around naked, and you sit in the locker room with 53 guys, and all of the sudden you see a nice woman in the locker room, I think men are gonna tend to turn and look and want to say something to that woman. For the woman, I think they make it so much that you can't interact and you can't be involved with athletes, you can't talk to these guys, you can't interact with these guys.

Discounts spur surprising Aug. retail sales gains

NEW YORK – This year's back-to-school season isn't as big a bust for retailers as they feared — or as last year's — but it's not great either.

Americans are spending only when the item and price are just right, according to August reports from major chains released Thursday that showed shoppers bought a little more than a year ago.

Analysts expect stores will need to keep discounting to get shoppers to spend this fall and for the holiday season while they grapple with job worries and tight credit.

"It's a glimmer of hope that the numbers are coming in ahead of low expectations," said Ken Perkins, president of research firm RetailMetrics. "But the back-to-school shopping season isn't anything to get excited about. It means that Santa may not be dumping a huge lump of coal, but it sets up a very promotional holiday season."

Retailers that cautiously primed for a comeback five months ago as sales improved have been scaling back their hopes and making some tweaks to their merchandise again, analysts said. And stores will face more difficult comparisons starting this month because consumer spending had started rising by last September.

But Thursday's reports helped ease fears of another double dip recession, which have been stoked in recent weeks by a barrage of negative economic reports, including slumping home sales.

The International Council of Shopping Centers said Thursday that its index of 31 major retailers rose 3.2 percent for August. That's a tad better than the 3 percent forecast but it barely compensates for a 2.0 percent drop a year ago.

For most of stores releasing comparisons, they cover the four weeks that ended Aug. 28. Back-to-school shopping stretches from late July through mid-September, but recession-scarred consumers have been shopping later, waiting for the best deal.

Among the big winners were Costco Wholesale Corp., Victoria's Secret operator Limited Brands Inc. and Macy's Inc., whose results beat Wall Street forecasts.

Target Corp.'s results were helped by solid sales of food and back-to-school merchandise, but revenue overall at stores open at least a year fell slightly short of expectations. Chains that cater to teenagers had mixed results. Luxury retailers, which have been holding up much better, were mixed as some affluent shoppers are spooked by the wild swings in the stock market; Nordstrom Inc. fared well, but Saks Inc.'s gain was small.

Steve Koenig, director of industry analysis for the Consumer Electronics Association, said spending on overall back-to-school electronics showed "marginal improvement" over last year, which was a low point.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. no longer reports monthly on its revenue.

Revenue at stores open at least a year is considered a key measure of a retailer's health because it excludes the effects of expansion and stores closing during the year.

Spending on nonessentials such as fashion remains below 2008 and closer to the level of five years ago, according to MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse, which tracks transactions in all forms including checks and cash.

August's figures continue a trend that began in April of shoppers holding back; it's expected to continue at least through December.

That frugality — after stores saw a surprise uptick at the holidays and through March — has meant an uneven recovery for retailers at the high end, as well as the low and middle.

Stew Leonard Jr., CEO of New York and Connecticut grocery chain Stew Leonard's, said he's stocking more $10 to $20 wines again, as shoppers pull back from the $30 bottles they bought last spring. The chain is also back to cutting gourmet Reggiano Parmesan cheese into smaller wedges, a practice it started in 2008 to shrink prices.

Clothing stores aggressively promoted jeans and other fashions in July to lure shoppers — with limited success. Tax-free holidays in nearly 20 states also helped, but the unrelenting hot weather dampened shoppers' appetite for fall clothing.

John Gerzema, chief insights officer of Young & Rubicam and author of the book "Spend Shift," said Americans are moving "from mindless to mindful consumption."

"They're separating needs from wants," he said, adding, "Now, consumers are in an environment that is continuous turbulence that could be a fact of life for a few years."