Free Republic

As Obama lengthens his lead, the Republicans are praying that the election becomes close enough for the Democrats to steal. But meanwhile, ACORN, the radical community group, is becoming an embarrassment for Obama. It is not as if its shenanigans are likely to tip the result, with the Democrats so far ahead. But as it is raided by the FBI in state after state (11 so far), it is becoming identified as the electoral equivalent of Greenpeace, extremists who will stop at nothing to get their way. What makes ACORN particularly embarrassing for Obama is that he used to be...

During the next Santa Ana wind event, many San Diego Gas & Electric customers may have their power shut off. SDG&E said it will turn off power lines in high-risk wildfire areas during red flag conditions. In 2007, SDG&E power lines were determined to be the cause of the three major wildfires in San Diego County.

Researchers Say Notification Laws Not Lowering ID Theft Over the past five years, 43 U.S. states have adopted data breach notification laws, but has all of this legislation actually cut down on identity theft? Not according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University who have published a state-by-state analysis of data supplied by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). "There doesn't seem to be any evidence that the laws actually reduce identity theft," said Sasha Romanosky, a Ph.D student at Carnegie Mellon who is one of the paper's authors. Romanosky's team took a state-by-state look at FTC identity theft complaints filed...

A resilient society depends on active, engaged citizens. The way for Washington to encourage resilience is not to throw more money at problems or to place new burdens on business. Government should harness the inherent strength of the American people and the private sector in order to build a society that may bend--but not break--if catastrophe does strike. The American people are ready, willing and able to take a more active role in our civil defense. As the White House's own Lessons Learned report on the federal response to Hurricane Katrina notes, faith-based organizations and community groups successfully provided support...

Bill Clinton Calls On NH to Make 'Independent Judgment' By Fred Lucas CNSNews.com Staff Writer January 04, 2008 Nashua, N.H. (CNSNews.com) - Before introducing his wife at a rally here this morning, former President Bill Clinton was dismissive of the Iowa caucus results, where his wife came in third place, nine points behind Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, and called on New Hampshire to make an "independent judgment." "New Hampshire is given the chance to prove you are the first primary," the former president told the cheering crowd. "You have the chance to show you're well known and deeply deserved...

Not being a lawyer, this question will exist more as a philosophical one, much as we treated it on Saturday's Northern Alliance broadcast. Mitch Berg and I debated the efficacy of gun-free zones in the wake of the Omaha mall shooting that left nine people dead, but before the two shootings at New Life church facilities that left eight dead. In at least the first shooting, the perpetrator conducted his murder spree in a commercial facility whose owners had marked it as a gun-free zone, a designation that keeps concealed-carry licensees from bringing their weapons into the building. We both...

Woman mauled by home-invading pit bulls 07:45 PM PDT on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 KING5.com Staff Animal control officers say the victim was covered in blood after the dogs attacked PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. - In what deputies describe as the worst mauling they've ever seen, two pit bulls entered a Wauna-area home via the pet door and attacked a woman in her bed. Pierce County Sheriff's Dept. spokesman Ed Troyer said a neighbor's Jack Russell terrier also entered the home in the 10600 block of 132nd St. Court NW through the dog door and the pit bulls attacked the terrier...

The recent indictment of two Rider University administrators following the alcohol-related death of a student at a fraternity is prompting colleges and universities across the state and country to review their alcohol policies. But perhaps a bigger worry for schools is the amount of liability they might be asked to bear for students' dangerous behavior. "I can assure you there are a lot of conversations taking place on campuses about this," said George Brelsford, dean of students at Rowan University in Glassboro. "Certainly we are watching this case very closely. We are reviewing everything we do as it relates to...

Two decades ago, 2-year-old Adam Matyaszek was thrown from a Ford Bronco II after the sport utility vehicle driven by his father rolled over three times along Interstate 77 in Cleveland. The boy's skull was fractured and his brain bled after his head hit the pavement. The crash injuries left him prone to seizures and unable to sleep and caused memory problems, his lawyers say. This week, a federal jury will decide if the Bronco II had a faulty design that contributed to the crash. "It is unfair to blame Ford for Adam's injuries, which were caused by his father's...

California taxpayers forked out $10.2 billion for public employee pensions in 2003-04 and are likely to face even greater liability in future years, according to a study released Monday. The study prepared for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association by the Center for Government Analysis at Newport Beach analyzed 130 public pension systems statewide and found taxpayer outlays doubled from 1997-98 to 2003-04. "State and local governments are going to have to put more money into these systems and that means less money for police, less money for teachers, less money for schools, less money for roads, less money for parks...

The greatest differentiator between OS vendors is no longer a question of features, function, performance, customer support, security, reliability or any feature of the product itself. The future of computing may depend on the lawyers.The last month has seen both Oracle and Microsoft take their gloves off in their competition with open source software. Where Oracle has taken a seemingly straightforward approach of copying the competition and undercutting their prices, Microsoft's move to invoke intellectual property and the terms of the GNU Public License (GPL) to counter open source competition is much more potentially damaging. What's more, while Oracle's success...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A person who has reason to believe he or she has HIV may be sued by sexual partners if they become infected, the California Supreme Court ruled on Monday, broadening the state's view of when liability arises from the disease. Knowingly passing along HIV, which leads to AIDS, is already illegal in California and people who do so may be sued for damages in state court. The California Supreme Court's decision widens the scope for law suits against sexual partners over negligent transmission. In their decision, a majority of the court's justices held that they "cannot...

The safety of Tasers, the electric pistols that are widely used by police, is under new scrutiny after a study by a Wisconsin scientist showed that shocks from the guns cause the hearts of healthy pigs to stop beating. The finding contradicts previous studies that showed that Taser shocks did not cause heart disturbances in pigs, whose hearts are similar to those in humans. John G. Webster, a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Wisconsin who conducted the new study, said the earlier studies contained serious errors because they did not account for the fact that pigs have...

CAMDEN, N.J. -- A flea market will have to pay the record industry to compensate for the pirated CDs and cassettes sold there, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Jerome M. Simandle issued a written opinion on Friday finding the Columbus Farmers Market liable for sales of thousands of pirated recordings sold at the massive indoor-outdoor flea market in Burlington County. The exact amount will determined later, but the Recording Industry Association of America, which sued the flea market for copyright infringement on behalf of 14 big record companies, said damages could range from $500,000 to as much...

A PUB must pay a fine for a murder on its premises more than 300 years ago. Auditors discovered the long-forgotten penalty for The Swan in Ipswich, Suffolk, while balancing the books for the town’s St Mary Le Tower Church Charities. The annual bill of 40 shillings, equivalent to £2, seems to be a punishment for a killing in 1664 when Charles II was king. --------- It was a huge amount of money in 1664 — a labourer would have to work for six months to earn 40 shillings.

A near-unanimous state Supreme Court has swept aside an $8.3 million civil judgment against the state for the vicious beating in 1999 of a Somali refugee by a group of teenagers living in a West Seattle foster home.

A recent episode of the television animated comedy "South Park" mocked Tom Cruise -- suggesting that he is homosexual, and lying to hide that fact. Could Cruise bring a defamation suit against the show?

Merry-go-rounds, seesaws and tall metal slides are gone. East Valley schools also forbid tackle football, jumping off swings and hanging upside down from monkey bars. Students can still play tag — but they must "power walk" or skip at some schools because running is too dangerous. Pioneer Elementary School in Gilbert prohibits tag altogether. And that’s just the beginning of the rules that principals, playground aides and lawmakers have created in recent years to keep schoolchildren safe. Johnson Elementary School in Mesa banned flip-flops this semester to protect children from twisted ankles and stubbed toes. Sonoran Sky Elementary School in...

When faced with a new battle, the enemies of gun manufactures, tobacco companies, fast food chains, and free enterprise in general usually adhere to the following well-tested pattern for whipping-up some public sympathy: Step 1: Identify people who knowingly and willfully caused harm to themselves or others. For example, a good selection would be someone who smoked for 30 years despite the large warning with the word "cancer" prominently featured on the side of every single pack of cigarettes they ever touched. Another good selection would be someone who loaded a Beretta 92, walked into a 7-Eleven, and shot the...

A state appeals court yesterday reinstated the indictment of a Hunterdon County man charged with obtaining the heroin used by a friend who died of an overdose. Lewis Morrison of Raritan Township had been charged with strict liability for a drug-induced death, manslaughter and distribution of a controlled dangerous substance and faced up to 35 years in prison. Morrison got the trial judge to dismiss the indictment, and the state appealed. In its decision yesterday, a two-judge panel of the appellate division reinstated the strict liability and controlled substance charges while dismissing the manslaughter count. The case was sent back...

WASHINGTON, July 29 - The Senate agreed to shield gun manufacturers and dealers from liability lawsuits on Friday, as Congress broke for a monthlong recess after sending President Bush energy and transportation bills that had been years in the making. Long sought by the gun lobby, the Senate measure - approved 65 to 31 - would prohibit lawsuits against gun makers and distributors for misuse of their products during the commission of a crime. Senate supporters said the plan was needed to protect the domestic firearms industry from a rash of lawsuits that threatened its economic future. "This bill is...

The nation's gun lobby is close to realizing a long-sought goal of protecting firearms manufacturers and dealers from being held legally responsible for violent crimes committed with their handguns and automatic weapons. Supporters believe they have the votes in the Senate to pass as early as today a bill making it virtually impossible for victims of gun violence to file civil suits against the industry -- a testimony to the political clout of gun manufacturers, which have become increasingly vulnerable to civil lawsuits in the District and several states. Twelve Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), are...

Los Angeles (Reuters) A California woman is suing a hospital for wrongful death because her husband fainted and suffered a fatal injury after helping delivery room staff give her a pain-killing injection. Jeanette Passalaqua, 32, filed the suit against Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and Southern California Permanente Medical Group Inc. in San Bernardino County state court last week. In June 2004, Passalaqua's husband, Steven Passalaqua, was asked by Kaiser staff to hold and steady his wife while an employee inserted an epidural needle into her back, court papers said. The sight of the needle caused Steven Passalaqua, 33, to faint and...

The California Supreme Court issued two rulings Thursday making it easier for victims of violent crime to recover damages from the owners of the businesses where the crimes occurred. The rulings mark a departure from a recent trend in the law and are likely to have significant ramifications, according to legal experts. "I think it is highly significant," said Sharon Arkin, president of the Consumer Attorneys of California, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief in one of the cases and applauded the decisions. "I think the pendulum is swinging back a little" in favor of victims after a number of adverse...

News item: The Chicago City Council initiated efforts to cancel contracts with the Wachovia Savings Bank after the bank apologized for its ties with the slave trade. An investigation, required by the bank’s participation in a public housing project, revealed that of the more than a hundred banks North Carolina-based Wachovia has acquired, one of them once put hundreds of African-American slaves to work on railroads and another accepted slaves as collateral for loans that defaulted in the early 1800s. Members of the City Council are also discussing seeking reparations from the bank. An Address to the Chicago City Council...

Experian Abandons Thousands of Consumer Data Records Paper, Computerized Records Left Behind in Office Move By Martin H. Bosworth ConsumerAffairs.Com June 16, 2005 Identity theft doesn't always happen through sophisticated online scams or because of high-tech criminal rings. Sometimes it can be as simple as leaving boxes of documents and computers unattended for months on end. That's what Augie Bogina of Kansas City found when he bought a building formerly occupied by the Topeka Credit Bureau and the Experian credit reporting agency. Inside the building, Bogina found the previous tenants had left "thousands and thousands" of printed documents and many...

Denise Jack and other car owners thought they had it bad when a 75-foot retaining wall in Washington Heights in northern Manhattan collapsed on May 12, burying their parked vehicles beneath untold tons of debris. But their ordeal was actually just beginning. Their cars remain buried there today, and none are expected to be unearthed until the rest of the wall is stabilized and the rubble removed - up to a year from now. Until then, they are caught in the world of insurance limbo. Mrs. Jack's policy, for example, has liability coverage that does not cover landslides. For her...

A Massachusetts court has recently had to resolve the question, as a matter of tort law, what duty of care a pair of non-married adults owe to each other for injuries resulting from consensual sex between them. I'll leave the details of the case for those with strong stomachs who are willing to read the opinion found in the preceding link. In summary, however, the plaintiff (male) was injured when the defendant (female) changed her position during the middle of intercourse. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant, finding that, as a matter of law, there...

SEATTLE - Should the people who make and sell "violent video" games be held accountable if someone commits a crime because of playing them? That's something our state lawmakers are considering, to open game makers up to more liability. House Bill 2178 proposes to hold the makers and sellers of violent video games liable if someone under 17 years old commits a crime, due in any part, to playing the game. Supporters of the bill, like Bill Hanson with the Washington Police and Sheriff's Association, say "kids" are getting the games, and they're becoming desensitized. "If you sit up and...

$17 million verdict has many concerned Worries arise about impact on churches fearful of liability By DERRICK NUNNALLY dnunnally@journalsentinel.com Posted: Feb. 23, 2005 Last week's jury verdict that said the Archdiocese of Milwaukee should pay $17 million to the 84-year-old victim of a car wreck caused by a parish group volunteer has some observers worried about the decision's impact on religious institutions fearful of liability issues. That one parishioner's accident could have such an economic consequence for an entire archdiocese alarmed Philip K. Howard, the New York-based chairman of Common Good, a group critical of what he has called "America's...

Lawsuits filed over the crash of a commuter plane en route from St. Louis to Kirksville, Mo., last October claim two airline companies failed to provide the plane with proper safety equipment. The wife of Paul Tilley, one of 11 passengers who died in the crash along with both pilots, filed a suit in Texas claiming Corporate Airlines and American Airlines acted negligently by operating the craft without an enhanced device to warn pilots how close the ground was. Tilley's wife, Alicia Tilley, also claims that members of the flight crew had been on duty for nearly 15 hours at...

City officials plan to pursue "every legal remedy available" after a jury sided Tuesday with two former Inglewood police officers in a case stemming from the 2002 arrest of a teenager. Jurors agreed with former officers Jeremy Morse and Bijan Darvish, who claimed they had been discriminated against by the city when they were not allowed to return to their jobs. The ruling results in a $2.4 million award. Morse, 26, who is white, was shown on the tape slamming a black teen, Donovan Jackson, to the trunk of a police car at an Inglewood gas station and punching him...

   http://www.news.com/ State bill could cripple P2P By John Borlandhttp://news.com.com/State+bill+could+cripple+P2P/2100-1028_3-5540937.html Story last modified Tue Jan 18 17:55:00 PST 2005 A bill introduced in California's Legislature last week has raised the possibility of jail time for developers of file-swapping software who don't stop trades of copyrighted movies and songs online.The proposal, introduced by Los Angeles Sen. Kevin Murray, takes direct aim at companies that distribute software such as Kazaa, eDonkey or Morpheus. If passed and signed into law, it could expose file-swapping software developers to fines of up to $2,500 per charge, or a year in jail, if they don't take...

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) has long been rumored as desperately seeking the democratic nomination for president in 2008. And while many political observers fully expect the power hungry former First Lady to hit the campaign trail within only a few months of being re-elected as a US Senator in 2006, US News & World report claims to have a confirmation of sorts. From USNews.Com's Washington Whispers: Hillary's in… You don't have to take it from us about Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton 's desire to run for president. Her brothers, Hugh and Tony Rodham, say it's true. Friends...

Bush Social Security Revolution? The Social Security Act was the signature accomplishment of Franklin Roosevelt's newly created American welfare state in 1935. It switched the American ethos from individual and community reliance to national government responsibility for personal security and welfare. Its early and apparently costless success provided the legitimacy for all of the expert-directed federal social programs that have followed to this very day. Yet, today, it and its entire supporting apparatus stand near bankruptcy.President George W. Bush has now raised a challenge to the whole justification of this historic substitution of bureaucratic for personal responsibility for the general...

Onstage Murder Could've Been Prevented, Security Experts Say Concert venues need trained staff and metal detectors, they insist. The onstage murder of "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott leaves not just Damageplan fans, but concertgoers everywhere, with many troubling concerns. Chief among them was that the tragedy might have been prevented for less than $50, the price of a handheld metal detector. "It should have been a common practice. It should have been something they had," said Paul Wertheimer of Crowd Management Strategies, a consulting firm specializing in concert safety. "If it was used right, it would have caught the gun and you...

The Washington Times www.washingtontimes.com Supreme Court in Illinois frees gun makers of liabilityBy Audrey HudsonTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished November 19, 2004 The Illinois Supreme Court yesterday refused to hold firearms manufacturers responsible for Chicago street violence or of knowingly supplying guns to criminals -- a decision that could affect the filing of future lawsuits.     The city of Chicago sued 18 gun manufacturers, four distributors and 11 dealers -- asserting the firearms industry is liable for causing a "public nuisance" -- and demanded $433 million for health care costs and city emergency expenses.     Writing for the court, Justice Rita Garman said...

Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill., Nov. 18 -- The Illinois Supreme Court threw out two lawsuits accusing gunmakers of knowingly letting weapons fall into the hands of gang members and other criminals, in a ruling Thursday that the manufacturers cannot legally be blamed for street violence. Both rulings were unanimous, but five of the seven justices were so disturbed by allegations raised in the case that they wrote a separate opinion urging the state legislature to create tougher gun regulations. The lawsuits, filed by the city of Chicago and victims of shootings, claimed the defendants created a public nuisance by pouring...

...President Bush has won a clear mandate for his big second-term agenda, including the giants of Social Security reform and tax overhaul. Yet his ability to do anything still rests with the Senate.... Republicans [picked] up Democratic seats in both Carolinas and Georgia, as well as Louisiana and Florida. They weathered storms in Kentucky and Oklahoma, and even held Alaska. But the big daddy came with the overthrow of Mr. Daschle. That ouster... was as much a repudiation of obstructionism as it was Mr. Daschle's own record. [C]onsider not just the Republicans' numerical gains, but their ideological ones. With the...

DENVER: A woman assaulted by a Mexican national at a Denver pro-immigration forum sponsored by First Data/Western Union filed a civil lawsuit today in Denver District Court. The lawsuit includes claims for ethnic intimidation, civil conspiracy, assault and battery, robbery, personal injury, and property damage against Colorado-based First Data Corporation, its subsidiary Western Union, the First Data/Western Union Foundation, the attacker and her former employer, Hep C Connection.

If Hollywood's pampered millionaires, their trial attorney cronies and some pandering politicians have their way, innocent third parties could be held legally liable for the criminal acts of others. Such is the intention of legislation pending in the U.S. Senate, S. 2650 the "Inducing Infringement of Copyrights Act of 2004."This misguided legislation would hold manufacturers of computers, software, TiVO, MP3 players and other technologies criminally liable if their legal products were misused to reproduce copyrighted material. Under the legislation, the mere production of such technologies would be regarded as an "inducement" to copyright infringement.

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Jim Talent (R-MO) today issued the following statement on Senator Kerry’s travel to St. Louis: “Senator Kerry was ranked by National Journal as the most liberal member of the United States Senate. His voting record against medical liability reform is one of the reasons they gave him that rating. Missouri is in the middle of a medical liability crisis with doctors being forced to leave the state and health care costs rising for everyone. “Instead of taking action to help Missouri families by curbing the medical liability lawsuits that are costing as much as $108...

Guess who's suddenly saying nice things about litigation reform? None other than John Kerry. Explains his campaign Web site: "There is no question that abuses of our legal system have hurt companies and individuals who are acting responsibly." The scarcity of insurance for doctors should spur us to action: "Access to care is threatened. . . . Lawsuits should be the last, not the first, line of defense." You might almost think the Massachusetts senator had just accepted the Republican nomination.... Feeling skeptical? With reason. In the Senate, to begin with, Mr. Kerry has cast a routine vote against restrictions...

Rhetoric V/O: “At this pace, we would need 23 days to show the 12 million Latinos without health insurance.”CHYRON:  “More than 12 million without insurance.” The Facts Access To Health Care Has Improved For Children And Those Without InsuranceNumber Of Uninsured Children At “Lowest Level On Record” In 2003.  “The percentage of American children with no health insurance has dropped to the lowest level on record because of expanded state programs, the government said … Only 10.1 percent of U.S. children were uninsured last year, the lowest level ever recorded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In...

Rhetoric ANNOUNCER: “Step right up, step right up. Watch the amazing George Bush take three sides of an issue. Gasp as he takes credit for bills he opposed. Gawk in amazement as you listen to George Bush flip-flop on the Patients Bill of Rights.”PRESIDENT BUSH:  “That’s not true, I do support a national Patients’ Bill of Rights. As a matter of fact, I brought Republicans and Democrats together to do just that in the state of Texas, to get a Patients’ Bill of Rights through.”ANNOUNCER:  “The amazing George Bush actually vetoed the Patients’ Bill of Rights. Then it became...

With West Nile virus surfacing in the Sacramento Valley, mosquito control agencies on Thursday asked growers to pay more to offset the rice industry's massive mosquito-making machine. Growers flood 500,000 acres every summer to produce their crop, creating prime habitat for mosquitoes. That fact took on new significance as public health officials confirmed Thursday that the dreaded mosquito-born disease has invaded rice country. "It's time for the people who cause the bulk of the problems to step up," said Jim Camy, manager of the Butte County Mosquito & Vector Control District. "They need to ... come up with some real...

"John Kerry has repeatedly blocked reform of frivolous lawsuits and his obstruction is resulting in higher healthcare costs of up to $100 billion per year for patients across the country." -Steve Schmidt, Bush-Cheney '04 Spokesman Frivolous Lawsuits Cost Americans Billions Medical Liability Lawsuits Cost Between $65 Billion And $108 Billion Per Year. (July 25, 2002 HHS study: "Confronting the New Health Care Crisis: Improving Health Care Quality and Lowering Costs By Fixing Our Medical Liability System"; www.hhs.gov)Kerry Opposes Lawsuit Reform Kerry Is A "Longtime Opponent Of Damage Caps And Product Liability Reform." "Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., a longtime opponent...

There is a reality radiologists have faced for several years: Mammography, performed and interpreted by experts, can not survive. It is a technology besieged by conglomerate forces that will drive it into extinction, with many other important procedures and technologies to follow. Radiologists see four major reasons for this destructive phenomenon: HMO’s, government regulations, special interest groups ( THE MAMMACTIVISTS) and trial lawyers. President Clinton’s overblown health care crisis and ill-conceived reform project of the early ‘90’s catalyzed the conversion of fee-based private health insurance into the HMO chimera we now face. Positioned as middlemen – with profits their sole...

FREDDY'S BACK!Fred Baron Ran John Kerry In The Senate, Now He's Running DNC?? __________________________________________________________________________"TRIAL LAWYERS ON BOARD: Fred Baron, longtime Democratic fundraiser, former president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, named co-chair of 'Kerry Victory '04' by DNC…" (ABCNews.com's "Noted Now," 5/24/04)BARON SAID TRIAL LAWYERS RAN SENATE Fred Baron Quipped About Power Of Trial Lawyers In Senate: "Lastly, there is another reason [a legislative solution to the asbestos litigation crisis] won't happen. I picked up my Wall Street Journal last night . . . and what did I learn? 'The plaintiffs' bar is all but running the Senate.'...

Outback Steakhouse to pay bulk of settlement for serving driver alcohol By Steven Kreytak AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF Friday, May 21, 2004 Michael Cunningham is full of hope. His family's Hyundai was crushed by a drunken driver's GMC Yukon almost three years ago, and his wife, Panchita Cunningham, 44, is now a paraplegic and living in a South Austin nursing home. But she recently started to move the eyelid and foot on her previously motionless left side. The drunken driver, David Elkin, was sent to prison for about a year for intoxication assault and is now working and living in Houston. Michael...