Free Republic

From Corsica, French Jets Roar Into Action Over Libya by Eleanor Beardsley March 30, 2011 The French air force was the first to go into action over Libya. And since then, French aircraft have flown more missions enforcing the United Nations resolution than any other country except the United States. Most of those missions have been launched from an air base on the French island of Corsica. From a runway wedged between snowcapped mountains and the Mediterranean Sea, Rafale and Mirage jets roar into the sky, one after the other, their metallic skins flashing in the morning sun. It takes...

"Before, perhaps 40 million people were covered by the ADA. That number will increase significantly," McGlothlen told Fox News. "Some people might even say that a majority of Americans are covered as disabled under the law." Overall, lawyers for employers say the regulations shift the burden of proof in disability claims. They say that employers will now have to show why a worker doesn't require special accommodations, rather than employees proving that the measures are merited. ... Barring congressional intervention, the new regulations will take effect May 24.

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – Some public school parents in Edgewater, Florida, want a first-grade girl with life-threatening peanut allergies removed from the classroom and home-schooled, rather than deal with special rules to protect her health, a school official said. "That was one of the suggestions that kept coming forward from parents, to have her home-schooled. But we're required by federal law to provide accommodations. That's just not even an option for us," said Nancy Wait, spokeswoman for the Volusia County School District. Wait said the 6-year-old's peanut allergy is so severe it is considered a disability under the Americans with...

March 7, 2011 (San Diego’s East County) -- Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) recently introduced legislation aimed at curtailing what he views as frivolous lawsuits against small businesses that are allegedly in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The bill, entitled the ADA Notification Act, would provide businesses accused of an ADA violation with a 90-day grace period to make necessary modifications. “It’s bad enough that small businesses are facing enormous challenges due to the current economic downturn,” Rep. Hunter said in a press release. “What they don’t need to contend with are any other unnecessary obstacles that...

Several years ago the City of Hutchinson, Kansas, told a federal judge that the city shouldn't be forced to install the sidewalk ramps for wheelchairs required by federal law because it couldn't afford to do so. Since that time the city has given money to a large corporation and spent money on a hiking trail among other things. The city could find money for a hiking trail for the able-bodied but not sidewalks so those with mobility problems could get to the store. Now the hypocritical city staff is trying to convince the city council that people would be required...

San Francisco merchants, concerned about being sued for failing to provide access to disabled customers, met Tuesday with city officials who soon will embark on a campaign to educate business owners about accessibility requirements and help forestall lawsuits that might put them out of business. Since November, several Noe Valley shop owners have received letters from people with disabilities suggesting that their stores may be violating state laws or federal access standards under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Those notices coincided with a rash of civil rights lawsuits in the Richmond District in late November that led some businesses to...

Crack dealer, car thief, Social Security fraudster, ILLEGAL ALIEN. Yet he is 'making a living' suing hundreds of small business owners under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Alfredo Garcia, who became paralyzed after getting drunk and falling out of an avocado tree, goes around all day - every day - looking for the most minor violations of ADA (or just filing false claims) in order to extort cash. How does an illegal alien felon even have standing to sue American citizens? Why was he never deported? Why is he not deported now? God only knows. It is just another story...

Why did feds claim Kindle violates civil rights? By: Byron York Chief Political Correspondent August 3, 2010 _________________________________________________________ The Justice Department threatened several universities with legal action because they took part in an experimental program to allow students to use the Amazon Kindle for textbooks. (AP) Did you know the Justice Department threatened several universities with legal action because they took part in an experimental program to allow students to use the Amazon Kindle for textbooks? Last year, the schools -- among them Princeton, Arizona State and Case Western Reserve -- wanted to know if e-book readers would be more...

Snip:...press coverage nowadays treats the ADA as if it were uncontroversial, with at best a nod to libertarian commentators who see it as a coercive and fabulously expensive government venture into what ought to be private decision-making....

The Washington Examiner reports today on a promising new education program that provides Amazon (AMZN) Kindles to students to reduce paper use in universities — and how the the Department of Justice stepped in to squash it. The DOJ actually sued the schools, including Princeton, Arizona State and Case Western Reserve, to halt the programs because it decided the e-book reader does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Overregulation: Leave it to California's 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to mark the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) with another of its goofy, ripe-for-recision rulings. This one involves the counter height at a couple of Chipotle Mexican Grills in San Diego. Seems the 45-inch walls between customers and the food-preparation areas prevent people in wheelchairs from "fully participating in the selection and preparation of their order," as Judge Daniel Friedman put it. In short, Friedman wrote for the court, the wall "significantly reduced" the "ability to enjoy the Chipotle experience." We won't argue that "the Chipotle...

The U.S. Justice Department has struck deals with three universities not to promote Amazon.com Inc.'s Kindle or other electronic-book readers unless the devices are fully accessible to blind students. The legal settlements were made with Pace University in New York; Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland; and Reed College in Portland, Ore. Two organizations representing the blind had sued after universities announced pilot classroom projects using the Kindle. ... The Justice Department's civil rights division began examining the issue of whether the use of Kindles and other e-readers violated the Americans with Disabilities Act. In June, the National Federation of...

A Denver-based conservative legal foundation says a federal policy that barred development of about 58 million acres of forests nationwide illegally created de facto wilderness areas. The Mountain States Legal Foundation makes that argument in a brief filed Tuesday in support of the state of Wyoming's fight to overturn the so-called "roadless rule" approved by President Bill Clinton in 2001. Conflicting federal court rulings have upheld and overturned the road-building ban on the national forest land. The California-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August threw out a Bush administration policy that opened some of the roadless areas to...

It is not your imagination. There really are more dogs strolling through public spaces with their owners. Animals are going where they have never gone before. "In San Francisco, it is just so much more in your face," says Emily Simone, a senior field manager for Guide Dogs for the Blind. "In the '80s and especially in the '90s, I've just seen an explosion. We've become animal obsessed. The East Coast and San Francisco are particular hotbeds for advocacy." San Francisco has become a city filled with "service animals," meaning the owner has a permit that allows him or her...

Nearly all Contra Costa County cities have agreed to dedicate 5 percent of their gas-tax revenues for the next 30 years to make sidewalks more accessible to people in wheelchairs or who cannot see well, as part of a lawsuit settlement. The settlement has not yet received final approval; a Sept. 16 hearing will determine whether the judge will accept the class-action settlement terms. Under the proposed settlement, wheelchair users and other people with vision or mobility disabilities would not be permitted to file additional lawsuits against the cities for the issues covered in the settlement, such as missing curb...

The owner of a tiny but famous Sacramento burger joint said a lawsuit about handicapped access could shut him down. The Squeeze Inn, known for huge mounds of melted cheese on its burgers, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the lawsuit alleges. Kimberly Block, who says she has severly limited use of her legs, argues she suffered "embarrassment and humiliation" and that her civil rights were violated because of inadequate access inside the Fruitridge Road restaurant.

Fat can be disabling. A person 180 pounds over a healthy weight is susceptible to arthritis, has increased blood pressure, a weakened heart and could soon need a walker just to get around. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, such a person could legally be labeled as disabled. But should obesity be considered a disability? On Tuesday the American Medical Association voted a resounding no at its annual meeting. But in a country where nearly one in three people is obese but where laws do not always cover size discrimination, and many health insurance policies do not cover obesity treatments...

Over at Opposing Views, bioethicist Jacob Appel argues that pre-implantation genetic screening for severe disease mutations should be compulsory for parents undergoing IVF. Appell dodges one obvious criticism of this suggestion - that it unacceptably limits parental autonomy - by pointing out that "Western societies have long acknowledged that parental authority cannot undermine the medical interests of a child". As examples, Appell cites the facts that Jehovah's Witnesses cannot deny their own children blood transfusions, however strong their religious opposition, and that "American courts consistently compel pediatric cancer therapy, even when parents object". Given these precedents, Appell argues that allowing...

State lawmakers will cut $8.4 billion from the $58.1 billion budget for public education, lowering per-pupil spending from $8,784 to $8,404 over the next two years. That's $11,400 less for a typical K-12 classroom of 30 kids.

I looked up the ratings of all of the US House and Senate members and did a mini-analysis on them;I used ACU (American Conservative Union - conservative) ratings, and ADA (Americans for Democratic Action - liberal)ACU ratings by party: Percentage of Republicans with 100 percent ACU ratings in 2007 -- 26.40 Percentage of Republicans with 90 percent or more ACU in 2007 -- 56.29 Percentage of Democrats with 0 percent ACU ratings in 2007 -- 52.80 Percentage of Democrats with 10 percent or less ACU in 2007 - 81.82 ADA rating by party: Percentage of Republicans with 0 percent ADA...