Query on Fair Use

When I first started reading this newsgroup, I thought I had a pretty fair understanding of academic honesty and the Fair Use defense of copyright infringement, but it seems to me that perhaps my understanding is not as complete as it could be. I am having considerably difficulty making sense of the arguments of Ms. Kobrin on this issue.

Ms. Kobrin, if you are reading this, would you be so kind as to give me a simple example of the sort of situation in which Fair Use is intended to apply, and then explain why it does not apply in the case of, for example, William Barwell's comparison of a brief excerpt of L. Ron Hubbard's work to a passage from a song by Frank Zappa?

Also, I am curious as to how that passage (which I will not quote here, since I'm not sure how Fair Use is supposed to work) can contain trade secrets, if trade secrets are indeed what disqualifies Mr. Barwell's post as fair use. As I recall, the excerpt in question had to do with going to a zoo or park and trying to communicate with plants and animals, and gave no real indication of how to accomplish this. The method it seemed to imply was almost certainly in the public domain, or at least should be considered as such. I remember as a youngster, upon hearing of telepathy and telekinetic powers, trying to do almost exactly what was described in the passage cited, long before I had even heard of Scientology. (Needless to say, it didn't work, but if I was leaving any important step out, it was not to be found in the passage cited by Mr. Barwell.)

I would prefer a response in this newsgroup, but the privacy of emailed replies will be respected as well.

<Propheteer>

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