I think it is is America, yes. Apparently people take babies to late night screenings because they usually just sleep through the film.

That is the nicest C&D letter I have ever seen.

Except the book cover DOESN'T parody their product.   It uses elements of their well-known trademark to promote the author's product.    That's what gives JD grounds to take action.   Not that they needed a make-able case to file suit anyway, if they wanted to go that route.

Which makes the fact that JD chose to try to resolve it nicely even more impressive.    Now the Streisand Effect is working in their favor.

EDIT:  In your example, the Daily Show is using and parodying Fox's material and logos in order to comment upon and criticize Fox.   That is indeed Fair Use.   The Jack Daniels book cover isn't as cut-and-dried a case, it might well take a court to resolve it.   Again, damn good move by JD to play nice, assume no infringement was deliberately intended, and handle it the way they did.     

Now, if the author had responded with "Nyah nyah, fair use, can't touch me muthafarkers, eat me!" the next correspondence would have been a bit less pleasant.

All true enough, but the only way that good lawyer can make that case is by going to court.    JD was sending a polite but clear message that they were prepared to take that step, but giving the other party a chance to avoid it first. 

But the point here isn't whether or not they have a case (they do).    The point is the very internet-savvy way they went about this.   They're not even asking that all existing copies be destroyed, and incredibly they even offered to pay a reasonable fee for a new cover design.    That's what makes this a noteworthy story, and why JD is to be commended - they didn't have to do any of those things.     

By not coming across like a big company out to crush the "little guy", they not only got the result they wanted without fuss, they even reaped a nice bonus of goodwill from teh interwebz.    Brilliant.

I don't know, there is this "cute anime girl standing next to a large dinosaur" fetish that is just sweeping Deviant art.

So... I guess I should preface this with something. I was reading an article about the fallout of the Colorado shootings. And as I expected it's the same bullshit that happens every time. But something they said stuck with me, the sentiment was basically that, when it comes to dissecting tragedies and what steps can be taken to prevent them from happening again, for some reason anything involving guns is taboo beyond reconciliation as it's become so ingrained in the american psyche (and lobby groups and politics) that it's every man and womans right to own as many guns as they want and THAT is a FACT of the universe, unchanging and permanent, inarguable. So I just got thinking, and this popped into my head. I didn't really know where to put it... so it's going here:

I wanna know what would happen. If right now. This very second. Obama signed into law, the banning of all firearms. Anyone not an active member of the police or military, in possession of any firearm would be subject to immediate and indefinite incarceration. Would it maybe, just maybe, be enough to push the country into it's inevitable revolution? Would the removal of that one indisputable right of American freedom be enough to finally motivate them? Would that be a bad thing? Would the simple act of finally standing up be enough to propel the country into the realization of just how fucked up things are? Would that one insane act by one man, be enough to give the country enough of a jolt to wake them from their cozy little mundanity?

(I honestly don't have any answers to this, I'm not even sure the questions are worth asking, but I just havn't been able to get it out of my head.)