Free Republic

Sheet piling supporting the failed floodwall on the 17th Street Canal extends just 10 feet below sea level, 7 feet shorter than the Corps of Engineers has maintained, a team of investigators said Wednesday, strengthening earlier findings that faulty design and construction played a role in the canal breaches that flooded much of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina......

I am a retired lawyer. I have argued three cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, two of which are usually at least footnotes in most Constitutional Law texts. I do not want a "great" Supreme Court Justice. I want a "great" Supreme Court. No single justice decides a case before the Court, the Court as a whole does. .....

The Milwaukee paper is publishing details of the exit polls, but not the vote figures. The details look good to me, but what do I know: =========== TUESDAY, Nov. 2, 2004, 4:22 p.m. More early exit poll results The second batch of statewide numbers are in, and the late afternoon results more or less reflect the mid-day results: The numbers show 53% of those who have voted are female, 47% male, a balance that is leveling out from earlier in the day (see items below). Those who said they are voting for the first time account for 9%, higher than...

Paul Bremer has made clear that his statement of not enough troops to quell looting in Baghdad applied to May immediately after Baghdad fell. We should know who is responsible for this terrible state of affairs...

Apparently David Alston was not wounded in head on January 29 when Lt. Peck was wounded.

On veterans....

This is a vanity discussing the press' failure to understand what the margin of error in a poll is.

Wednesday October 23, 2002 - [ 12:47 PM GMT ] Print this Article Topic - Government An anonymous reader writes: "Leaders of the New Democrat Coalition attempt to outlaw GPL. A call to sign off on explicit rejection of "licenses that would prevent or discourage commercial adoption of promising cyber security technologies developed through federal R & D." has been issued by Adam Smith, Congressman for the Ninth District in the State of Washington. It's already signed off on by Rep. Tom Davis(R-Va), Chairman of Government Reform Subcomittee on Technology, and Rep. Jim Turner (D-TX) Ranking Member of the same...

The Bush Administration cannot afford the attitude this displays: ============================================ Fair Use Advocates Silenced by Big Brother

Unless you earn your living as an intellectual property lawyer, you probably don't know that the Supreme Court has granted certiorari in Eldred v. Ashcroft , a case that will test the limits of Congress's power to extend the term of copyrights. But while copyright may not seem inherently compelling to non-specialists, the issues at stake in Eldred are vitally important to anyone who watches movies, listens to music, or reads books. If that includes you, read on. Mickey Mouse Goes to Washington Back in 1998, representatives of the Walt Disney Company came to Washington looking for help. Disney's copyright ...

There seems to be some confusion about what the result of the USSC decision is. The decision "vacates" the FLSC decision. That basically sends their decision into a black hole. The core of the decision was to extend the date for recounts. Many have suggested that that means that the relative counts revert back to the prior ones. I am not sure that it does. Seems to me Harris never made a final certification of the first numbers because she was waiting for the absentees. As a result, I think she has only "finally certified" one set of numbers-- the ...

As I understand it, the ballots being sent to Tallahasee from Miami-Dade are not completely sorted. Some undervotes are still mixed in with the counted votes as a result of Dade aborting their hand count. I assume that a sorting machine is necessary to separate these ballots. I also assume that the machine has to be specially programmed for the specific county ballot being sorted. Would such machines be available in Tallahasee? Anybody know the logistics of this sort of thing?

I ownder if it would make sense for Harris to close her office today and accept the filings at 9:00 am. tomorrow. This would allow PBC to file a complete recount. 1. End result will be perceived as more fair, making court order of post certification recount in Miami-Dade less likely. 2. I suspect recount will be a wash-- pointing out problems in Broward 3. Better public perception 4. Makes further Democratic shenanigans less likely of success

All I can seem to find are stale news reports written last night. Did Palm Beach go all night? Does the canvassing board appear to be from "Night of the Living Dead"? What is their pace? Once you get hooked on these news feeds and the live feed it is hard to break the addiction . Sort of like missing the last 'Survivor" show.

The more I look at this the more likely it seems to me that Gore wins unless Bush wins the 11th Circuit case, and wins it on the point that the manual recounts lack standards. Let me explain why I think this: I suspect the handcount will end with Bush ahead by 300-500 votes (depending on whether PBC makes it in time. I think the U.S. Supreme Court will rule in Bush's favor-- the Fla. S. Ct. could not chnage the deadline. The result will be that all depends on post-certification challenges. Gore will seek and get in after election ...

I think Gore has a pretty good chance of pulling this off and people are unwarrantedly relaxing. Consider the following: 1.Gore is likely to get a good judge for him in Dade Cty. By the time the certification is done, the statewide margin for Bush will be small. The judge will reduce the time for answer and have a quick proceeding. Gore will argue that the sample shows that the undervote would be more than sufficient to change the result. He will ask, and the court will order a recount. This will not be superseded by the S. Ct. since ...

AAAARG!!!! I can't bel;ieve it. The judge is wondering why an administrative rule that allows non-postmarked ballots up to ten days after the election overrides a statute. The judge is right. Normally a statute trumps an admin rule. In this case however the admin rule was part of the settlement of a suit-- a fact barely mentioned in passing by the lawyer for Bush. The consent decree has not been presented to the judge That would allow the admin rule to overrule the staute. But that has not been explained to the judge. So the judge is not going along ...

Just finished reading Bush's and Harris' briefs. The AG's brief and harrises brief are fine work. They will decide this case in my opinion. The Bush and Gore briefs are failures that try to make too many points and lose focus and persauasiveness as a result. I suspect the winning point is Harris' argument that if we do not adhere to the deadline, we will effectively destroy the legislatures planned way of contesting elections-- after certification, before a single state judge, and with a full evidentiary hearing. There simply will not be time, and as a consequence, potetnial litigants' rights ...

There appears to be a conflict between the Florida Statute and the Florida Admin Code regarding military ballots. The statute provides: (c) With respect to marked ballots mailed by absent qualified electors overseas, only those ballots mailed with an APO, FPO, or foreign postmark shall be considered valid. This would justify rejecting the military ballots not postmarked. However The Admin Code provides: (7) With respect to the presidential preference primary and the general election, any absentee ballot cast for a federal office by an overseas elector which is postmarked or signed and dated no later than the date of the ...

I live in Southern Wisconsin. In the last 24 hrs. I have heard repeated radio commercials that say the Buch will take a trillion out of social security for workers to invest, but that his is the same trillion that he has promised to mainaintain senior's benefits. Listeners are the asked "which promise will Bush break?" The same message is in a recorded call I got. Both my sons and my wife have also heard the ad repeatedly. I suspect it will be effective particularly with retirees. No response from Bush campaign I have heard Are others hearing the same ...