Yes, I'm troubled by the fact that the government, acting as employer, has such censorious powers. In the case of the prosecutor, it's pretty much unavoidable. In Mr. Gray's case, it provides another reason to support privatization of peripheral government functions.Leaving Emerson aside for the moment, isn't that a non sequitur? Does Professor Bernstein really think that private employers are more tolerant of employee speech than public employers?
Bush planned to spend the night at the well-fortified U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.As one would expect.
Why is a shark/whale/ocean your mascot? It's not called the shark pit.In furtherance of her effort to shatter stereotypes, I understand that she also likes butterflies and flowers, and prays every night for world peace.
Less than 1 per cent of the sites were located in the UK, highlighting the success of the police and the IWF in countering domestically generated child pornography. ... Around 40 per cent of child pornography accessed in the UK comes from the US. A further 28 per cent comes from Russia where, although the production of child pornography is increasing rapidly, the authorities seem reluctant to act. 'There is no liaison with Russia to tackle these sites, so they stay up almost ad infinitum,' Robbins said.You would think that the U.S. would install better statistics software on the sites it is monitoring, and log the search engine referral data....
A difference in approach between the US and UK authorities has also led to problems. 'If a site is found in the UK, it's usually taken down within 48 hours,' Robbins said. 'In America they tend to leave the sites up once they are identified while the police gather evidence for a sting operation. That's a problem for us in the UK, because people continue to access the sites and commit offences.'
But, then, conscientious liberals cannot enjoy automobiles because there is global warming to worry about, and the perils of corporate-driven consumerism, which is the handmaiden of bourgeoisie materialism. And high-powered cars (how many liberals drive Corvettes?) are metaphors (for America's reckless foreign policy, for machismo rampant, etc.). And then there is -- was -- all that rustic beauty paved over for highways. (And for those giant parking lots at exurban mega-churches. The less said about them the better.) And automobiles discourage the egalitarian enjoyment of mass transit. And automobiles, by facilitating suburban sprawl, deny sprawl's victims -- that word must make an appearance in liberal laments; and lament is what liberals do -- the uplifting communitarian experience of high-density living. And automobiles . . .[eyeroll] Maybe some Oxycontin would cheer the liberals up? (Oops... that was snarky. But what comes closer to a "happy pill"?)
Dean Kamen, the engineer who invented the Segway, is puzzling over a new equation these days. An estimated 1.1 billion people in the world don't have access to clean drinking water, and an estimated 1.6 billion don't have electricity. Those figures add up to a big problem for the world—and an equally big opportunity for entrepreneurs.
To solve the problem, he's invented two devices, each about the size of a washing machine that can provide much-needed power and clean water in rural villages.
"Eighty percent of all the diseases you could name would be wiped out if you just gave people clean water," says Kamen. "The water purifier makes 1,000 liters of clean water a day, and we don't care what goes into it. And the power generator makes a kilowatt off of anything that burns."
Libya's parliamentary secretariat today suspended the interior minister and referred him for investigation over yesterday's riots that resulted in the deaths of at least 10 people.Granted, Italian politics are weird. (I wonder what they would have made of it, had the T-shirt been worn by a porn star.) Not that I want to damn Congress with faint praise (although some of its members work hard to leave us with little choice), but at least nobody rioted over the "freedom fries" thing....
Meanwhile, the Italian cabinet minister blamed for sparking the riots has resigned.
* * *
At least 10 people died in a six-hour riot on outside the Italian consulate yesterday, where more than 1,000 demonstrators gathered in an angry protest, apparently in reaction to an Italian cabinet minister wearing a T-shirt printed with the cartoons satirising Prophet Muhammad that have provoked protests across the Muslim world.
Dick Cheney shoots his friend. Why is it still a story? Because Mr. Cheney didn't immediately issue a statement about what happened, ideally with some of the remorse he expressed several days later during his interview on Fox News.
The story of Gavriel Salvendy [who has advanced post-graduate science education in China], which some might see as an omen of America's declining status, is in fact more subtle. Salvendy has long recruited star Chinese graduate students to Purdue, where he still does most of his research. Of the 18 Chinese who have completed PhDs under his supervision at the Indiana campus, 15 have stayed on in the United States.Over five years, that's three Ph.D.'s per year who we have successfully imported from China. Yay, us?
The science lobby should also stop pretending that countries compete the same way companies do. Firms such as Toyota and Ford really do go head-to-head against each other; if Toyota has superior technology, it will steal Ford's customers -- and Ford may even disappear. But if China produces Nobel-quality science, it won't put the United States out of business; rather, Chinese discoveries will help American scientists discover more, too.Here's a neat new word for Mr. Mallaby to learn: Patent. Mallaby continues,
Equally, Toyota doesn't sell cars to Ford workers, so there's no benefit to Ford's people if Toyota's quality advances. But China does sell to Americans, so whatever makes it more productive has some upside for the United States as well.Mallaby is mixing his metaphors. Taking a lead in science and technology provides a significant benefit not only to corporations, but also to countries. Even if Mallaby cannot grasp how the producer of the world's best software or electronic goods can provide an economic boon to the nation in which it is headquartered, perhaps he should also consider the desire of the U.S. to maintain a lead in military technology, which is an area where we can't expect nations like China to sell us their secrets. You can't count on being able to perpetually import other nation's brain power in order to remain competitive.
A tough, no-nonsense coach, usually with a shadow-filled past, takes over a shambolic, underfunded team. He forces his players to work harder than they ever thought they could. He inspires them to sacrifice for the greater good. Finally, he leads them to glory over richer and more respected rivals.This, of course, tells us far more about Mr. Brooks than it does about society. Having a reasonable impression of Mr. Brooks' stature, I somehow doubt that he has any first-hand knowledge of playing football under a tough coach, but as with William F. Buckley, Jr. and tales of life at sea, the movie image seduces him. And the seduction is not so much the idea of following an unabashed authority figure - it's a reflection of the authoritarian mind at work.
When a story is repeated this often, and when it continues to attract audiences time after time, it is because it affirms certain values precious to the culture. The values these movies affirm amount to a brick-by-brick destruction of the values that were prevalent 30 years ago.
Thirty years ago, young people were told to question authority. But the heroes of these movies are coaches who are unabashed authority figures. Preferring success to affection, they instill fear and sometimes hatred in their players. They insist on being called "sir" and impose dominating discipline. "This is no democracy," Denzel Washington's character says in "Remember the Titans." "It is a dictatorship. I am the law."
In short, these movies embrace the civil rights part of the 1960's and 1970's. Women and minorities should be given full access to the competitive world of the meritocracy. But they take the therapeutic, progressive, New Age part of the 1960's and 1970's and they crush it dead. They create a culture of all-inclusive traditionalism.I must have missed the mixed-gender sports teams in the films he listed.
Imprisoned Four Months - John Uncles, 16, Michael Cox, 15, and John Wilson, 5, for stealing a goose.(I suspect, and hope, that to be a misprint of "15.")
EBay's feedback system that allows buyers to post negative reviews of bad sellers is supposed to protect customers like Ms. Pollack. Yet all of the alleged counterfeiters had consistently positive ratings.I think more explanation would be helpful, as eBay's system of feedback permits sellers to effectively coerce buyers into leaving good feedback or withdrawing negative feedback.
Ms. Steiner of AuctionBytes.com said this situation was not uncommon. Buyers and sellers are often reluctant to leave bad reviews, lest their own reputations suffer.
Maureen Dowd, the reigning scribe of unthinking liberalism, recently wrote in the New York Times that Dick Cheney — whom she calls "The Grim Peeper" — is trying to turn America into a "police state." "I don't like the thought of Dick Cheney ogling my Googling," Dowd writes without rhyme or reason.Oh, I recognize that Goldberg doesn't believe in the literal truth of what he writes. He is smart enough to recognize that Dowd does not literally expect Dick Cheney to be personally reviewing her Google searches. Further, it is not the fault of the political left that Dick Cheney has become the poster child for intrusive government. Has Cheney ever spoken publicly on any government intrusion into individual privacy without warmly embracing the intrusion?
It was a silly column, even for Dowd, but it does capture a certain level of both the legitimate fear and the outright paranoia out there.
Partisanship is obviously part of the equation. For instance, the heretofore-unknown disease of Cheneyphobia seems to be reaching epidemic proportions. It seems to cause some people to believe that the vice president of the United States has superhuman powers and that he is capable of personally reading hundreds of millions of e-mails while listening to thousands of hours of phone conversations and — simultaneously — scanning trillions of web searches.
While Haleigh clings to life, I've pondered how we might help persuade the plug-pullers to put off the child's state-sanctioned death sentence. I propose nominating her for a Nobel Prize. It bought Tookie Williams five extra years.Malkin argues that up to this point "The only person who wanted Haleigh alive was her stepfather, who will likely be charged with murder if Haleigh dies." I'm not sure why Malkin deems that relevant, given her endorsement of decisions by the State of Texas to remove a six-month-old baby from life support over the objections of his parents, and to remove a severely brain-damaged stroke victim from life support over the objections of his family. She does not present any evidence that Haleigh has any better chance of recovery, or even as great a response to external stimuli, than that stroke victim. Nor does it seem particularly relevant that those two patients were designated as "terminal", given Malkin's apparent position that doctor's opinions which back up the state's desire to terminate a patient's life support can't be trusted
Jamie Foxx and Susan Sarandon, will you join me?
It was The Experts' unequivocal assessments that led the court to declare Haleigh in "an irreversible vegetative state" and to assert that "the child could not see, hear, feel or respond." Now, they admit they were wrong. ... Haleigh's story is a wake-up call to "right-to-die" ideologues who recklessly put such unlimited trust in the medical profession and Nanny State.She's in no position to be accusing celebrities of hypocrisy.
When strongly held views clash, and no single position commands a majority, then we either postpone action or work out a compromise. And, despite the fact that for some that term has negative connotations - selling out your principles or maybe even muddling through - it represents the best of politics and politicians.On a national scale, it seems that Clinton often worked toward consensus (not controlling Congress for most of his Presidency, he had to), and despite any number of scandals left office with a high approval rating. Bush tried his "my way or the highway" approach with issues such as Social Security and, despite having a majority in both houses of Congress, stumbled badly and, at least by whatever standard is measured by opinion polls, is unpopular. I think both could have taken notes from the other - sometimes Clinton sought compromise over issues which called for direct leadership, and Bush often seems to display contempt for compromise where it is not likely to result in the outcome he desires. But at least by the measure of the last two Presidents, regardless of what our pundits have to say about the Democrats lack of leadership, at least in retrospect the public seems to have a greater appreciation for a President who can build consensus.
What we call lack of leadership is often another label for lack of agreement. We want our mayors or school board chairs to be more effective at facilitating and finding consensus rather than muddling through. For me, that means being more effective politicians, since what is politics if not accommodating multiple and conflicting values, facilitating the decision process and avoiding the conflict, rancor and deadlock that result when we "stick to our guns." Muddling through is endemic to democracy.
The memos gave the appearance of urging the Reagan administration to take a more conservative line on issues such as school prayer and employment discrimination. But White House press secretary Scott McClellan revealed that these were actually Reagan's views already. "I think what those files show is a young White House staffer helping to provide legal analysis in support of the president's agenda, President Reagan's agenda." In other words, Roberts supplied reasons for views Reagan already held. Roberts was just a repairman, fixing views he didn't necessarily own.If he truly believes that, his piece should be titled "Why lawyers are useless" instead of "Why lawyers are liars". Now I will grant that there has been some real hackery in the Bush II White House, with lawyers presenting the most attenuated arguments to defend the indefensible, but those opinions were meant to provide the Bush II administration with plausible deniability when it was caught breaking the law. "Our lawyers said it was okay." It's something else entirely to suggest that a lawyer writing a memo in relation to existing case law should advocate the desired outcome rather than educating his bosses as to the actual state of the law. Kinsley continues,
When do lawyers become free to have their own agenda and say what they really think? Not when they leave the government and enter private practice. Roberts told the Senate Judiciary Committee that "the positions a lawyer presents on behalf of a client should not be ascribed to that lawyer."But there is a big difference between a lawyer's private thoughts and advice to a client, and what a lawyer might do or say when advocating for the client in court. A good lawyer will privately tell the client the state of the law, how to conform to the law, and the risks of trying to skirt a law - including considerations which weigh against what a client wants to do - but in court will present the strongest possible argument on behalf of his client, interpreting the law in the light most favorable to the client. The role of a lawyer who is advising a client is different from that of advocating for the client.
A businessman was trying to choose a lawyer, but was being very careful about it. He scheduled appointments to interview three lawyers.Kinsley is essentially arguing that the third type of lawyer is the norm and not the exception. Maybe Alito really does place himself in that third category, in which case Kinsley has convinced me that Alito does not belong on the Supreme Court.
At the first lawyer's office, after an initial exchange of pleasantries, the businessman said, "Okay, let's get down to business. I have an important question for you, and I want you to think carefully before answering. How much is two plus two?"
The lawyer raised his eyebrows. "two plus two is four." The businessman thanked him for his time, and proceeded to his next appointment.
The second lawyer, who was also a CPA, seemed a bit more particular than the first lawyer. After an initial discussion, the businessman again announced that he had a very important question, and asked, "How much is two plus two?"
The second lawyer went over to a computer, and entered figures into a spreadsheet. "According to my calculations, two plus two is approximately four." The businessman thanked him for his time, and proceeded to his next appointment.
The third lawyer sat behind a big mahogany desk, and smoked a cigar. He seemed rather self-important as compared to the other two, but at the same time appeared to be much more successful. The businessman again announced, "I would like you to answer a very important question for me, before I decide whether I should use your services. How much is two plus two?"
The lawyer pulled the shades, locked the door to his office, and asked in a hushed voice, "How much do you want it to be?"
"She's not interested in running for office. She's interested in literacy," Bush said during an appearance at RK Moving & Storage here.Perhaps Bush isn't sufficiently familiar with his own programs to know that it is possible to both run for office and be interested in literacy.
Via John Battelle and Google Morning Silicon Valley, Feds want Google search records from the San Jose Mercury News covers the Bush administration demanding last year that Google and other search engines turn over aggregate search information to help revive a child protection law. Google has refused to comply with the subpoena. Other search engines apparently have. Google's fighting in court this week not to be force to hand over the data.The article points out how absurd the demand is:
In particular, the Bush administration wanted one million random web addresses and records of all Google searches for a one week period. The government apparently wants to find out how much pornography shows up in online searches and how often people may seek it.
Here's a thought. If you want to measure how much porn is showing up in searches, try searching for it yourself rather than issuing privacy alarm sounding subpoenas. It would certainly be more accurate.Note to Bush - save us from the terrorists, not from the 72 horny virgins.
Getting a list of all searches in one week definitely would let US federal government dig deep into the long tail of porn searches. But then again, the sheer amount of data would be overwhelming. Do you know every variation of a term someone might use, that you're going to dig out of the hundreds of millions of searches you'd get? Oh, and be sure you filter out all the automated queries coming in from rank checking tools, while you're add it. They won't skew the data at all, nope.
If you do, from talking with the head of a child porn fighting group in the UK, my understanding is that many euphemisms and code words are used that won't immediately register as child porn terms.
Eighty-six percent of Wal-Mart employees have health insurance, more than half through the company, which offers 18 plans, one with $11 monthly premiums and another with $3 co-payments.Perhaps Will doesn't see "lying by omission" as lying, but obviously he's not telling the whole story. Employees are not getting anything close to comprehensive health coverage for "$11 monthly premiums" - they are probably getting a discount card for participating medical service providers. And a plan with "$3 copayments"? If that is a comprehensive plan covering prescriptions and all health care, it may well be the most generous plan in the nation. What are the odds, though, that the plan covers essentially nothing?
Maryland's grasping for Wal-Mart's revenue opens a new chapter in the degeneracy of state governments that are eager to spend more money than they have the nerve to collect straightforwardly in taxes.In standard George Will-branded hypocrisy, no tax on regular working people is too high if it funds a direct or indirect corporate subsidy. And no tax that directly targets a business that is exploiting what amounts to a de facto state subsidy of its workforce is fair, because such notions as personal responsibility and paying your own way should only apply to the working masses and never to corporations.
The only sanctions that might conceivably have any effect would be a boycott of Iranian oil. No one is even talking about that, because no one can bear the thought of the oil shock that would follow, taking 4.2 million barrels a day off the market, from a total output of about 84 million barrels.In terms of a possible military action, he sneers at Europe:
Which is one of the reasons the Europeans are so mortified by the very thought of a military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. The problem is not just that they are spread out and hardened, making them difficult to find and to damage sufficiently to seriously set back Iran's program.Well, we would be there attacking Iran anyway, so... no big deal?
The problem that mortifies the Europeans is what Iran might do after such an attack -- not just cut off its oil exports but shut down the Strait of Hormuz by firing missiles at tankers or scuttling its vessels to make the strait impassable. It would require an international armada led by the United States to break such a blockade.
Such consequences -- serious economic disruption and possible naval action -- are something a cocooned, aging, post-historic Europe cannot even contemplate. Which is why the Europeans have had their heads in the sand for two years.That's right, Chucky. The Europeans have had their heads in the sand, while the U.S. has been working overtime to develop an energy policy which prevents our being held hostage by the oil supply in the Middle East, and has been working on both military and diplomatic efforts which will prevent Iran from ever becoming a nuclear power? Oh... you accidentally forgot to mention that we haven't? Hm... In that case, does the place we have our head even smell as nice as sand? (It isn't like the inevitable failure of diplomacy with Iran over its nuclear program has been a big secret, or hard to predict.)
The fourth scenario is as increasingly dreaded as it is apparently inevitable — a U.S. air strike. Most hope that it can be delayed, since its one virtue — the elimination of the Iranian nuclear threat — must ipso facto outweigh the multifaceted disadvantages.Although Hanson argues that these choices leave us "holding and circling while waiting for a break in the clouds, he asserts,
The Shiite allies in Iraq might go ballistic and start up a second front as in 2004. Muslim countries, the primary beneficiaries of a disarmed Iran, would still protest loudly that some of their territories, if only for purposes of intelligence and post-operative surveillance, were used in the strike. After Iraq, a hit on Iran would confirm to the Middle East Street a disturbing picture of American preemptory wars against Islamic nations.
Experts warn that we are not talking about a Clintonian one-day cruise-missile hit, or even something akin to General Zinni’s 1998 extended Operation Desert Fox campaign. Rather, the challenges call for something far more sustained and comprehensive — perhaps a week or two of bombing at every imaginable facility, many of them hidden in suburbs or populated areas. Commando raids might need to augment air sorties, especially for mountain redoubts deep in solid rock.
* * *
Economically, we should factor in the real possibility that Iranian oil might be off the global market, and prepare — we have been here before with the Iranian embargo of 1979 — for colossal gasoline price hikes. This should also be a reminder that Ahmadinejad, Saddam, Hugo Chavez, and an ascendant and increasingly undemocratic Putin all had in common both petrodollar largess and desperate Western, Chinese, and Indian importers willing to overlook almost anything to slake their thirst. Unless we develop an energy policy that collapses the global oil price, for the next half-century expect every few years something far creepier than the Saudi Royals and Col. Moammar Gadhafi to threaten the world order.
Still, there are two parameters we should accept — namely, that Iran should not be allowed to arm its existing missiles with nukes and that Israel should not have to do the dirty work of taking out Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.In other words, he's ruling out maintaining the status quo, all-but-ruling-out diplomacy (which he understandably views in skeptical terms) and ruling out an attack by Israel....
In 1987, the golden toad was closely studied by an American ecologist and herpetologist who, by chance, happened upon its breeding spectacle. She described it as brief and breathtaking; the males looked like "little jewels on the forest floor." She was so fascinated that she applied for a grant to return and study the toads.Although that article discounts habitat destruction as a cause of the extinction,
In 1988, no toads appeared when the seasonal rains started. During several months of searching the Monteverde forest, scientists found only ten golden toads, and none were breeding. In 1989, only one lonely toad was found where once there were hundreds. Despite much searching, not a single golden toad has been seen since then.
Habitat destruction does not explain the disappearance of the Monteverde golden toad, however. The high-elevation rain forest where it lived is a relatively pristine area, protected as a national reserve since the 1970s.You don't have to do all that much traveling in the developing world to find examples of architecture, natural resources, or other attractions being damaged or destroyed in the course of well-meaning preservation efforts. (And you probably wouldn't have to look very hard to find similar mistakes in the developed world.)
The first is public opinion. Most Americans tell pollsters that they think a husband should be notified before an abortion, and the Pennsylvania law that Alito approved was hardly a draconian version of that principle. It merely required a woman to say, without presenting any proof, that she'd told her husband. If she said she feared physical abuse, she was exempted.Assuming that is not an endorsement of government by opinion poll, it is worth noting that it should not be at all surprising that most people believe that a wife should tell her husband that she plans to have an abortion. It is also worth noting that the factoid presented does not also contend that a majority of Americans believe that she should be compelled to do so as a matter of law - and any such notion should be patently offensive to any small government conservative, let alone a libertarian.
The second obstacle is the logic of feminism. Spousal notification has been denounced as retrograde by the same advocates who have been demanding gender equality in the workplace and at home. If men are expected to be parents with equal responsibilities, shouldn't they at least be allowed to discuss whether to have a child?Tierney appears to be suggesting that a pregnant woman and the father have an equal burden in regard to pregnancy. Hey - if Tierney can come up with a fetal transfer technique which transplants the fetus from the pregnant woman into the father, I'm with him all the way. But barring that, surely he can see at least a slight difference?
If the pro-choice side adopted a gender-neutral policy, then either the man or the woman would have the right to say no to parenthood. I don't know of anyone advocating that a woman be required to have an abortion, but there's another right that could be given to a man who impregnates a woman who isn't his wife. If the woman decided to go ahead and have the child, she would have to notify him and give him the option early in the pregnancy of absolving himself of any financial responsibility for the child.Okay... so Tierney isn't going to let a man force a woman to have an abortion. But he is sympathetic to the notion of letting any man disclaim financial responsibility following pregnancy, thereby saddling the woman (and the state) with the cost of raising the child? Has he given this idea even the slightest amount of thought? Because I can think of many married couples where there is an imbalance of power in the relationship, where the husband would take this option knowing full well that his wife would have the child - creating a situation where she would be left destitute if she tried to leave him, but he could walk away at any time without financial consequence. What a wonderful world that would be. And I think it would be extremely common for single men to opt out of supporting their offspring. (And what if a fourth month ultrasound or seventh month amniocentesis showed a developmental disorder which would make child-rearing more difficult and expensive? Can dad still opt out?)
This option to have a "financial abortion" has been advocated by a few iconoclasts - not all of them men with child-support payments. The term was coined by Frances Goldscheider, a professor of sociology at Brown University who studies family issues. She compares the current campaign against "deadbeat dads" to the punishments once given to "wayward women" for having illegitimate children.So to make sure that every child is a wanted child, we'll create a society with far more fatherless children (or far more abortions - it has to be one or the other). And to punish "wayward women", even if they are virgins to the point of the single encounter which leaves them pregnant, we free men up to be as sexually reckless and promiscuous as they want. What a wonderful world that would be....
"It used to be our daughters we worried about being forced into inappropriate parenthood, but now it must be our sons," she says. "Men should not be made to become fathers against their will. They should have the right Planned Parenthood has claimed for women: 'Every child a wanted child.'"
There is, of course, one big physical inequality between the sexes in this regard: it's the woman who must either have the abortion or go through the pregnancy.The first easy response is that barrier methods are pretty darn visible, and remain available to men. The second easy response is that if you're in a situation where you believe a woman may be lying to you to "trap" you into impregnating her, you had darn well better either use a barrier method or forego the encounter. Besides, no birth control method is 100% effective - any man who doesn't want to take a chance on becoming a father is well-served to employ a back-up method. (Does Tierney suffer a "whore-madonna complex"? Does he really split the world into good women who don't have sex until they are married, and evil harpies who are out to trap men into marriage or the payment of child support? It sure seems so.)
But as Goldscheider points out, women also have more power than men to prevent the pregnancy because they have exclusive control over some forms of contraception. It's not fair, she says, for a woman who lies about being on the pill to be able to trick a man into marrying her or making child-support payments for 18 years.
If he'd been born a little earlier, Sam Alito would probably have been a Democrat. In the 1950's, the middle-class and lower-middle-class whites in places like Trenton, where Alito grew up, were the heart and soul of the Democratic Party.Brooks has always had a penchant for simply "making stuff up" when he has no facts... and this is no exception. Perhaps he never got past watching "All in the Family" reruns when analyzing depictions of racism on television... but if he had watched a bit closer he might have recognized that while Archie was depicted as a bigot Edith was not, and between them they managed to produce a liberal child. That is, this depiction (which did not come from "big city liberals", but came from a capitalist broadcasting corporation seeking profits) was not one-sided.
But by the late 1960's, cultural politics replaced New Deal politics, and liberal Democrats did their best to repel Northern white ethnic voters. Big-city liberals launched crusades against police brutality, portraying working-class cops as thuggish storm troopers for the establishment. In the media, educated liberals portrayed urban ethnics as uncultured, uneducated Archie Bunkers.
The liberals were doves; the ethnics were hawks. The liberals had "Question Authority" bumper stickers; the ethnics had been taught in school to respect authority. The liberals thought an unjust society caused poverty; the ethnics believed in working their way out of poverty.
"Lets face it: we are battling big firms with unlimited budgets who have access to millions of forms and prior research."Now I know that insurance companies are good at negotiating down legal fees and hourly rates, then again negotiating down any bills submitted which they deem excessive. But it is also fair to say that when a defense firm signs on to defend a typical automobile negligence case, the firm knows the following:
Perhaps you are thinking of a different practice area. Or making excuses for yourself in advance. But that certainly isn't true of auto torts. It would be foolish to have an "unlimited budget" for a low-impact soft-tissue injury case. Insurance companies make money by being stingy, not by being foolish. And their stingingess extends to the hired help (i.e. defense attorneys), not just claimants. Why do we put up with it? Volume. And stability. (Perhaps David should ask some insurance companies to share their fee negotiating tips).
The case is likely to settle;
The facts are usually not so complicated that the ultimate settlement figure cannot be estimated with a very high degree of accuracy before litigation is filed, or shortly after its commencement;
If the case has sufficient merit to survive summary disposition, little that the defense firm does will affect its pre-trial settlement value.
"This will help prevent the large gaps in treatment, missed appointments, no-shows and the failure to be properly discharged. If you, or a staff member, is monitoring their physical therapy appointments, MRI appointments, etc., you are less likely to be faced with large gaps in treatment and no-shows on doctors' visits."Certainly some plaintiffs in personal injury litigation end up getting medical care that they don't really need, in the name of building and maintaining a case. Heaven forbid that the failure to seek treatment for bona fide, serious, chronic injuries might inspire a defense argument that the injuries are minimal or that recovery is complete. Many can't get the treatment they need due to insurance issues, without so much as a crocodile tear from the defense. And let's not forget to send the most severely injured plaintiff to an IME doctor or three. Or five. Maybe to doctors who have a tacit understanding that they will downplay the plaintiff's symptoms, or fail to find any medical basis for the symptoms, or fail to find any connection between symptoms and injuries suffered in the accident, whatever the medical reality.
Yes, heaven forbid the mild nature of your client's injuries be revealed by the failure to get treatment. Treatment. Treatment. Treatment. Whether you need it or not. Everybody loves a trip to the chiropractor! While you're there, have him run some of those $500 tests that don't seem to effect the treatment but sure help the value of your case.
I don't mean to be overly snide, but there are a few elements of that site that are more excellent tips for creating the appearance of a valid claim than tips for actually dealing with a valid claim. I'm not suggesting that the plaintiff's bar is solely responsible for this state of affairs (settlement offers being determined by multiples of specials). I'm just slightly amused by the somewhat shameless fashion in which it was presented.Right back at you. This goes for lawyers on both sides: if you think the other side is compensated at an unreasonably high rate, or has work that is so much easier than yours, switch sides.
There is irony here. The same constitutional provision that ensures the press may proclaim a lobbyist's guilty plea also protects the act of lobbying. The First Amendment is well-known for guaranteeing freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of assembly and freedom of religion. Often overlooked in its litany of fundamental civil liberties is the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." It is this distinct clause that prevents Congress and the president from enacting a law that bans lobbying. It is a right that should not be taken lightly and that should not be eroded by the fraudulent acts of a single lobbyist.You have to love these Republican strict constructionists, with their slavish devotion to original intent.
Congress shall make no law ... abridging ... the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.I'm sure the Founding Fathers had Abramoff-style golf outings to St. Andrews in mind when they thought of a peaceful assembly to petition for the redress of grievances. Aren't you? (Or did they have such trips in mind, but to less expensive venues to be better in keeping with the loosely enforced rules limiting the size of gifts to House members?)
There may be others who bend the rules, but Abramoff retired the cup for outrageous conduct in the name of lobbying.There may be others who bend the rules? Oh, I think we can safely say that there are others.
We do not quarrel with the Court of Appeals finding that this crime was extremely brutal. However, the sentencing judge stated that she did not believe that defendant was entitled to the same sentence as his accomplices, “who were able to step up to the plate and say what they did and to admit their guilt,” while defendant subjected the victims to “having to testify.” A sentencing court, cannot, in whole, or in part, base its sentence on a defendant’s refusal to admit guilt. People v Wesley, 428 Mich 708, 711 (1987); People v Yennoir, 399 Mich 892 (1977). Nor can a defendant be punished for exercising his right to trial. United States v Jackson, 390 US 570; 88 S Ct 1209; 20 L Ed 2d 138 (1968); People v Courts, 401 Mich 57 (1977).I think Justice Corrigan, concurring in part and dissenting in part, hopes to educate the trial judge on how to properly engage in upward departure from the Michigan sentencing guidelines on remand. But then, it was a particularly nasty crime.
The sentencing court also commented on the “excessive brutality, violence, and terrorism” to which the victims were subjected. But the 50-point score defendant received on Offense Variable 7 already accounted for these circumstances. A sentencing court may base a departure on a characteristic already taken into account by the sentencing guidelines only if the court finds that the characteristic was given inadequate or disproportionate weight.
During my time in Congress, I have always acted in an ethical manner within the rules of our body and the laws of our land. I am fully confident time will bear this out.Doesn't it give you a warm, fuzzy feeling that Tom DeLay has no sense of ethics other than those which are explicitly imposed upon him by committee rules or legislation? If it's not clearly codified as unethical or if you can find wiggle room in the language of the rule or statute, it must be ethical. Right?
Our response (you'll see this in related articles shortly): we have a number of PC partners who serve their markets exceedingly well and we see no need to enter this market; we would rather partner with great companies.
Speculation is mounting that Page will use a keynote speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday to unveil details of a low-cost computer or internet-enabled device that will run on a new operating system developed by Google.The article questions how Google would make money off of the devices, suggesting the possibility that Google will serve ads. In my estimate, it won't. If this is true, my guess is that it would presently be about expanding the reach of gmail, Google Desktop, and Google Instant Messanger, keeping users loyal to Google Search, and getting its foot in the door as an Application Service Provider... for its own products and those of others.
Because the device - similar in concept to the Mac Mini unveiled last year by Apple's Steve Jobs - doesn't use Microsoft's Windows, it could cost as little as $200.
