Dick in the Dirt

Congress: A Vocabulary Review

2009-11-12T10:56:00.001-06:00

During The Dirksen Center's annual Congress in the Classroom® workshop -- http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_programs_CongressClassroom.htm -- participants are asked to introduce the lesson plans, resources, and techniques that have proven successful in teaching about Congress in their classrooms. A 2009 participant, Erica Powell, Mt. Diablo High School, Concord, CA, presented a lesson entitled, "Congress: A Vocabulary Review."

This activity is based on a game called "Shenanigans." The purpose of this lesson is to review students' knowledge of key concepts and terms related to Congress.

Find "Congress: A Vocabulary Review" at:
http://www.congresslink.org/print_lp_congressvocabrev.htm

Nader Questions the Influence of Business on Government

2009-10-16T10:57:00.004-05:00

In a recent interview given to truthout.org, Ralph Nader identified what is perhaps the most pressing problem Americans face, the influence of multi-national corporations on the U.S. government. His new book, Only the Super-Rich Can Save Us, leads one to ask, what do we need to be saved from? Nader provides this thoughtful response:

[We need to be saved] from the concentrated power of multi national corporations over our government. It's a corporate state, almost clinically defined, and FDR warned against this in 1938. Any government that's taken over by private economic power -- he used the word -- he said that's fascism.

Nader went on to explain that both Republicans and Democrats are guilty of kowtowing to these business interests and that it is a significant impediment to effecting any substantive change.

The entire interview is available here.

IRS To Conduct 6,000 Random Business Audits

2009-10-01T21:41:00.005-05:00

The National Association for the Self Employed reports that the Internal Revenue Service will begin reviewing the tax records of 5,000-6,000 randomly chosen businesses beginning this November (2009). The program will be completed over the course of three years on both for profit and non-profit employers.

The NASE makes the following suggestions to make sure your company is ready:

Since these audits will be unfolding over a three-year period and audits typically cover a period of three tax (calendar) years, initiating an internal review of employment taxes compliance now is the first step to consider.
Identify an internal point person to manage the audit preparation process. Notices of audits can simply be addressed to the company at the address used for filing recent tax returns. If not directed to an informed contact person such notices may not be timely or completely responded to.
Identify and budget for internal and other resources to gather, organize and analyze such records and provide appropriate representation.
Engage experienced employment tax and audit experts before having an initial audit meeting with the IRS. Legal counsel should generally be able to provide assistance protected by the attorney-client privilege. Whether such expertise is engaged to either visibly represent the employer or simply to advise the employer in the background, it is important to engage these services early. Early involvement usually lends to a more efficient audit process.
Do not rush into an audit schedule. Do not commit to a date before the adequate resources are in place and there has been an opportunity to gather, review and analyze all initially requested documents. It is important for the employer to have an overview of the company's strengths and weaknesses.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Collection Available

2009-09-04T15:45:00.002-05:00

Oliver Wendell Holmes served on the United States Supreme Court from 1902 to 1932. The quotable Holmes, perhaps best known for writing that the First Amendment would not protect a person from falsely yelling, "Fire!" in a crowded theater, was also a soldier in the Civil War, a Harvard Law School professor, and Chief Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court.

The Harvard Law Library recently made much of Holmes's works and effects available on the web as part of its Digital Collection project. Many items of interest are now accessible by the public, including Holmes's own annotated copy of The Common Law, perhaps his most significant work.

The Holmes collection can be accessed here.

More Evidence Federal Student Aid is Killing Higher Education

2009-05-08T09:12:00.004-05:00

Indiana's Ivy Tech Community College, with 23 campuses across the state, is considering capping enrollment because of a lack of funding from the taxpayers. This is unsurprising given the student-funding environment over the past thirty-five years. The federal government has long guaranteed student aid loans and grants, with the honorable goal of permitting more students to attend college. But this has resulted in schools increasing their budgets at a far greater rate than the economy allows.

Because of federal aid, students have been able to pay tuition regardless of the cost since 1972, when Congress opened the floodgates, and schools have responded accordingly, raising their tuition at unmanageable rates. In Ivy Tech's case, student fee rates rose 43% between 1995-96 and 2004-05 alone, while inflation increased 24% in the same period. To Ivy Tech's credit, its tuition increases do not even approach other state schools such as Indiana University, where student fees increased 100.9% over the period, and Purdue University's 111.2% increase.

Schools keep raising tuition, and the federal government keeps guaranteeing loans for the full amounts. And just as the government spends every dollar, and more, that it receives in revenue, colleges spend the money that they receive. It is a cycle that saddles students with mortgage-size loans that they must repay for a decade or more after graduating, and it is now hitting schools, which rely upon the guaranteed revenue. If Ivy Tech does, indeed, cap enrollment, no one should be shocked, and the school should not shoulder full blame for denying students an opportunity to further their education. Equal or greater fault lies with federal policy. We have come to expect that organizations and governments cannot help but take advantage of every opportunity to gouge the taxpayer and to spend every dollar that they receive. When it comes to public institutions, restraint is not an option.

Nixon Library Expands, Moves Archives

2009-03-21T10:22:00.003-05:00

The Nixon Library reports that due to an addition to the library's Yorba Linda, California campus, documents and audio-visual materials currently stored at the National Archives in College Park, Maryland will be moved to the library proper in 2010. Copies of all publicly-available audio tapes will be available at the library campus, the National Archives, and online.

Amazon Kindle 2

2009-02-16T11:35:00.004-06:00

The second generation Kindle will ship at the end of February, 2009. From looking at the pictures released by Amazon, the Kindle 2 is not only thinner than the original (about the width of a #2 pencil), but it is sleeker. With rounded edges and better placement of page buttons, the device should store easier, without inadvertent page turns. Amazon is accepting pre-orders now.

We have the original Kindle, and it is an amazing device. The Wall Street Journal and Financial Times are delivered wirelessly each morning, and old issues are disposed of with the click of a button rather than a trip to the recycling container, making the Kindle as environmentally-friendly as possible. And there are so many free and inexpensive books available that it would take several lifetimes for the average reader to get through them all.

This is not a marketing blog and not designed to make a profit from affiliate links, but if you are considering an electronic reading device, the Kindle is worth your consideration.

Kindle 2: Amazon's New Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation)

Electronic Readers Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader -- Are the Books You Install Yours?

2008-11-13T00:20:00.002-06:00

Many of us, after reading a book that we like or think someone else would like, pass the book along. And some of us sell our read books online or donate them to libraries. With the new electronic text reading devices, that transfer of possession isn't possible in a traditional sense. But if the other person has a Kindle or Sony Reader, is it legal to pass the book along in a more modern sense -- digitally?

The Columbia Science and Technology Law Review discusses the sharing, borrowing, and transferability of books purchased to be used on the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader. The author(s) conclude that the question of ownership of electronic texts purchased under restrictive licenses will have to be decided in the courts. Until then, there will be a presumption that the licenses are enforceable.

Indiana Court Takes on Prisoner Education Credit Time

2008-11-03T08:30:00.001-06:00

In Stevens v. State of Indiana, No.90A05-0802-PC-90, the Indiana Court of Appeals addressed time credit given to prisoners who earn a high school diploma while incarcerated. Stevens had completed a high school diploma through Continental Academy, and he applied for educational credit time with the Indiana Department of Corrections. The application was denied, and Stevens appealed to the trial court, which denied his petition for review without a hearing.

Significantly, there was no documentation submitted by either Stevens or the State that said why Stevens was denied credit time. The Court indicated that prisoners should be told why they were denied credit, and it remanded to the trial court for a finding as to whether Continental Academy "maintains standards of instruction substantially equivalent to those of public high schools" located in Indiana.

This is an important case because it protects prisoners from arbitrary denial of privileges granted to them by the state legislature. If the General Assembly has gone to the trouble of allowing a prisoner to earn credit time for achieving a high school diploma, an explanation of denial of credit must be given. Otherwise, the incentive to earn a diploma is erased, and it makes it too easy for corrections officials to deny this and other privileges without accountability.

George Will Gets One Right

2008-09-23T10:51:00.002-05:00

In his September 23, 2008 Washington Post column, George Will rightly points out that the "bailout" goes against conservative principles. The Republicans, according to Will, are "conducting the most leftist administration in American history."

Neither of the old parties' Presidential candidates is ready to assume that office, he continues:

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

Nixon Tapes Online

2008-08-05T23:10:00.002-05:00

from http://www.nixontapes.org/

Between 1971 and 1973, President Richard Nixon secretly recorded 3,700 hours of his phone calls and meetings. These recordings were made in the Oval Office (commonly designated by the abbreviation "OVAL"), his hideaway office in the Executive Office Building ("EOB"), the Cabinet Room ("CAB"), Camp David ("CDHW"), and on various White House telephones ("WHT").

Currently, approximately 2,100 hours of these tapes have been declassified, released, and are available to the public. However, neither the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) nor the Nixon Presidential Library has made official transcriptions. Instead, they have left this monumental task--a task that NARA once estimated took 100 hours of staff time to transcribe 1 hour of tape--to researchers and scholars.

The purpose of this website is to make these transcripts available, side-by-side multiple audio formats, to members of the public who are not able to travel to the National Archives and Records Administration's (NARA) Archives II facility in College Park, Maryland, or to the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California, to listen to and transcribe the conversations for themselves.

Visit the website at www.nixontapes.org

Who Stole the Internet?

2008-08-01T13:52:00.001-05:00

The Federal Communications Commission of the United States decided that Comcast may not block internet traffic for heavy-use subscribers. Comcast argued that the FCC has no enforcement authority in the matter. The agency appears to rely on net neutrality principles that it issued in 2005 as the source of its authority. Comcast argued that principles are not law, but the FCC disagreed and ordered Comcast to change its policies regarding traffic blocking by the end of the year.

The decision by the FCC - an executive agency, not a legislative body - is disturbing. With this ruling, the FCC essentially said that the United States owns the internet, and we will be regulating it. That a body with no lawmaking power can make such a power grab is offensive. That it's just another executive agency exceeding its constitutional authority can't be argued.

This decision is certain to be appealed, a process that is likely going to take many months, if not years, to run its course. In the meanwhile, however, with its newly self-granted authority, the FCC will be able to rely upon its Comcast decision to impose more regulation and pseudo-law on not only internet service providers, but all components of the industry, from the infrastructure and architecture to the end user. Let's hope that the courts do the right thing and, at the very least, contract this latest expansion of the powers of executive agencies.

Lee Atwater: Visionary or Villian?

2008-08-01T00:24:00.004-05:00

A film about former RNC Chair and George H.W. Bush campaign manager Lee Atwater is scheduled for release in October. The L.A. Times called it a balanced look at Atwater's influence on the way our Presidents are elected. The film studio released this promotional material:

Boogie Man is a comprehensive look at Lee Atwater, the blues-playing rogue whose rambunctious rise from the South to Chairman of the GOP made him a household name. He mentored Karl Rove and George W. Bush while leading the Republican Party to historic victories and transforming the way America elects its Presidents.

In eye-opening interviews with Atwater's closest friends and enemies, Boogie Man sheds new light on his crucial role in America's shift to the right. To Democrats offended by his cutthroat style (to say nothing of the 1988 Willie Horton controversy), Atwater was a political assassin dubbed by one Congresswoman "the most evil man in America." But to many Republicans he remains a hero for his deep understanding of the American heartland and his unapologetic vision of politics as war. Director Stefan Forbes offers a timely documentary for this election year as he examines the charming yet Machiavellian, beloved yet reviled godfather of the modern political campaign.

Atwater died at 40 on March 30, 1991 with a brain tumor. The New York Times covered his death, getting comments from then-President Bush and former President Reagan. Read the article here.

Heller's Rights Further Trampled

2008-07-20T13:55:00.002-05:00

A machine gun, really?

The plaintiff in the recent D.C. handgun case before the Supreme Court, Dick Heller, reportedly has had his application for a handgun permit for his semi-automatic handgun rejected. The weapon has a bottom-loading magazine that holds seven rounds, and the D.C. police groups these types of weapons with machine guns, which are prohibited.

It sounds like the D.C. powers not only could use firearms training, but they also need to learn about firearms themselves and exactly how and why they are used for self-defense. In fact, it would be good policy for lawmakers to educate themselves about proposed legislation prior to enacting it in all cases. The people should not allow legislators to take rights away that the lawmakers do not fully understand. Ignorance may be bliss, but it is also evil when it cripples a society designed to be free.

Congress Considering Gas Tax Increase

2008-07-19T12:04:00.001-05:00

There will be no gas tax holiday anytime soon. It appears that we're not going to have to worry about not paying the 18.4 cent gasoline tax for quite awhile, especially if either of the old party candidates is elected this fall. In fact, according to the Associated Press, Congress is considering raising the tax to 24.3 cents per gallon.

ACLU Sues Homeland Security over Immigrant Deaths

2008-07-15T00:24:00.005-05:00

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a freedom of information lawsuit June 25 against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for refusing to turn over public documents related to the deaths of dozens of immigrant detainees. Filed in US District Court in Washington D.C., the lawsuit requests that the court order DHS to carry out a reasonable records search and speed up the processing of documents. The ACLU's legal action arises from alleged government abuses connected to the deaths of immigrants held in various detention facilities in the United States. The deaths were reportedly due to medical neglect.

"We know that medical care provided in many immigration centers is grossly inadequate and has resulted in unnecessary suffering and death," charged ACLU National Prison Project Director Elizabeth Alexander. "DHS must not be allowed to keep information about in-custody deaths secret.."

Also named in the lawsuit were the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and the DHS Office of the Inspector General. There was no immediate comment about the lawsuit from the DHS or any of its agencies.

In a statement, the ACLU's Elizabeth Alexander urged the DHS and ICE to fulfill their obligation to inform the public why deaths of immigrants in US custody have occurred. "Unless ICE exhibits full transparency by releasing all of the information that we have requested, we are left little choice but to believe that it has something to hide," Alexander added.

Media reports of allegedly sub-standard healthcare conditions facing immigrant detainees have proliferated in recent months as the number of incarcerated immigrants has soared. A report from the Transnational Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) of Syracuse University revealed that nearly 11 percent of 200,667 recent federal prisoners were serving time on immigration-related offenses. Although immigration law violations are still generally regarded as civil violations, the Bush Administration is increasingly prosecuting immigrants for fraud, identity theft, false documentation, conspiracy, and illegal re-entry.

According to TRAC, 9,350 immigrants were prosecuted for criminal offenses during the month of March 2008 alone. The prosecution case load was more than double the one for the month of January.

Besides federally-operated jails, thousands of immigrants are held in private prisons operated by Halliburton and other companies contracted by the DHS. In 2007, the ACLU filed suit against the Corrections Corporation of America-run San Diego Correctional Facility for allegedly neglecting the medical needs of detainees. According to the civil liberties group, denial of medical services and bad healthcare policies resulted in the death of "numerous detainees" at the California prison.

The DHS' handling of immigrant detainees is also under scrutiny on Capitol Hill. In May, members of the House Committee on the Judiciary requested information from the DHS about reports that upwards of 250 migrants were sedated with psychiatric drugs while being deported in recent years.

On the legislative front, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) has introduced H.R. 5950, the Detainee Basic Medical Care Act of 2008. The measure would require the DHS to improve the delivery of medical and mental healthcare services to immigrant detainees, as well as toughen reporting requirements about the deaths of immigrant prisoners.

"We are not talking about Cadillac health care here, but the government is obligated to provide basic care," said Rep. Lofgren in a press statement." Many of those in immigration custody are there for minor violations, many for administrative and paperwork related mistakes. Their detention should not be a death sentence."

Additional sources: La Jornada, June 26, 2007. Article by David Brooks. El Universal, May 15, 2008.

Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

For a free electronic subscription email fnsnews@nmsu.edu

2008 Migrant Death Count

2008-07-09T23:46:00.006-05:00

reprint from Center for Latin American and Border Studies, NMSU

In a grim disclosure, Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) recently released its count of the number of Mexican migrants who died struggling to reach El Norte in 2008 so far. Until June 9, the SRE documented the deaths of 117 migrants who perished while attempting to cross the Mexico-US border.

According to the SRE, most of the deaths, or 72 to be precise, were registered in the state of Texas. The McAllen area of the Lone Star State proved to be the deadliest point for would-be border crossers, with 26 undocumented Mexicans losing their lives in the zone. Additionally, 14 migrants died in the El Paso area and 4 around Eagle Pass.

Nonetheless, the dangerous terrain surrounding Tucson, Arizona, was the deadliest single zone for migrants, claiming 40 lives during the first half of the year. The Arizona numbers suggest migrant deaths could be on a downswing in comparison to the last two years. Still, it's important to note the reported deaths were registered before some of the hottest days of the year pound the border region.

The US Border Patrol's Tucson Sector reported 204 migrant deaths during the 2007 fiscal year that ended on September 30 of last year. The death toll represented a 21 percent increase from fiscal year 2006, when 165 deaths were registered. However, the Tucson-based Human Rights Coalition reported a higher death toll for the region than did the Border Patrol. The immigrant rights group cited 237 deaths for FY 2007, a number 32 higher than in FY 2006, when the coalition documented 205 deaths.

In 2007, 409 Mexican migrants died in the entire Mexico-US border region, according to the SRE. Official Mexican migrant death statistics for this year report most victims were individuals in the 18 to 45-year-old age category, with the death of one minor recorded.

Since 2001, the SRE has tallied the deaths of 2,956 Mexican migrants in the northern borderlands. The federal agency has identified the main causes of death as dehydration (1062), drowning (583) and vehicle accidents (247). In terms of geographic origin, ill-fated migrants from the states of Mexico, Guanajuato and Mexico City topped the list ofvictims.

Sources: La Jornada, July 6, 2008. Frontera/SUN, December 31, 2007.

Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

For a free electronic subscription email
fnsnews@nmsu.edu

Child Protective Services Gone Wild

2008-07-09T22:47:00.004-05:00

The taking of hundreds of children from an alleged polygamist "compound" in Texas is not an isolated incident. Government agencies in other states exercise extra-constitutional authority to remove children from their homes under the guise of protecting children. Because of the nature of the agencies -- no one wants a truly abused child to be left in or returned to an abusive situation -- it is difficult to question this authority. But the taking of children from their homes by the government is an issue that deserves scrutiny.

In 2004 in Indiana, for example, according to this Indianapolis Star article (pdf) from 2006, the state's Child Protective Services removed 7,689 children from their homes and returned just 605. With 7000 children placed into foster care each year, it's no wonder that the state is over-extended in just this area alone.

Questions need to be raised. In a principally rural state with just 1.5 million children under the age of 18, are 7000 truly in abusive domestic situations? How much evidence is required to take a child? Many parents spend thousands of dollars and hours of court time to regain custody of children who were improvidently taken. Where is the balance?

Analyzing Voter Registration as a Factor of Low Turnout at the Polls

2008-07-08T16:57:00.004-05:00

A recent paper from Princeton University explores how difficult it is to factor voter registration into turnout at the polls. It appears to be a step to help researchers learn how turnout can be increased. The author cites several reasons for low and inaccurate voter registration, including the mobility of Americans; every time you move, you have to figure out how to register, where to do it, and then actually register.

The paper concludes that the group of eligible voters that needs the most attention is youth. Younger voters move more frequently, attend school away from home, and enter military service. These factors contribute to a low youth vote registration. The paper is available here.

The Libertarian Lawyer Behind Heller

2008-07-03T00:22:00.004-05:00

In March, 2007 the Washington Post carried a story about Robert Levy, the person behind perhaps the most important Supreme Court case since Brown vs. Board of Education. Levy doesn't own a gun. His basis for filing the suit was the restoration and defense of personal liberties :

To Levy the libertarian, though, the effectiveness of the law -- its success or failure in curbing crime -- isn't the core issue. What matters most to him is whether the statute unjustly infringes on personal liberties. He doesn't dispute that "reasonable" gun controls are permissible under the Second Amendment. But the District's law amounts to "an outright prohibition," Levy said, and "that offends my constitutional sensibilities."
Read the full article here.

In June, 2008 prior to the Court's decision, Levy downplayed in the Washington Times the effect of Heller:

Does the right to keep and bear arms belong to us as individuals? Does that right extend to private use of arms? Or does the Second Amendment simply authorize the states to arm the members of their militias? The court will have to answer those threshold questions before deciding whether the D.C. gun ban is constitutional. Given the bizarre history of the Miller case, its dubious analysis and inconclusive result, about the only guidance Miller offers is how not to go about setting a Supreme Court precedent.

The opinion, of course, is much broader than those specific questions. Read the full Washington Times column here.

Photograph from cato.org.

Congress Leans Conservative, Party Affiliation Influences Vote

2008-06-29T18:52:00.001-05:00

Political scientist Jonathan Kropko conducted a party study of ideology in the first session of the 110th session of the House of Representatives. He made several interesting findings:

* More Democrats seem to be taking ideological positions in the middle, and there are more Democrats on the conservative side of ideology than there are Republicans on the liberal side.

* Representatives may not be so polarized ideologically when they're not being pressured by their parties.

* The Republican leadership in the House is much more conservative than the Democratic leadership is liberal. Nancy Pelosi and majority whip James Clyburn are staunchly on the conservative end of the Democratic party.

The paper can be found here.

Perhaps most interesting is that when members of Congress are thinking on their own and not in a partisan manner, they are more likely to vote similarly regardless of party affiliation. It suggests that if a representative were to take a stand and not fall in with the party leadership, more original thought would result, and perhaps more problems would be resolved in reasonable ways.

Voting a particular way simply because you are a member of a certain party is unfair and irresponsible. Your constituents elected you to either speak their minds or to speak your mind, not to speak your party's mind.

Just 5 Presidents Were Neither a Governor Nor a Senator

2008-06-29T15:15:00.001-05:00

1. Taft (Secretary of War)
2. Hoover (Secretary of Commerce)
3. Eisenhower (General)
4. Ford (House of Representatives)
5. Bush 41 (Director of CIA)

What does this tell us? The odds are against Bob Barr winning the Presidency, as they are against Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney. What does it really tell us? A common man or woman will never become President. In order to achieve that office, you have to be a career politician, that is devote at least enough time to run for and become a Governor and Senator for at least one term, probably two, and then run for and become Vice President or President. It is a commitment of at least 10 years at a minimum.

5 Points from the Heller Opinion

2008-06-26T13:03:00.001-05:00

1. Citizens of the United States have an inherent right to self defense, and that forms the basis of the Second Amendment.

2. Scalia destroys the silly argument that only those in a militia can bear arms, but it actually justifies private militias. Scalia says that Congress formed the standing army, and Congress can determine who can and can't be in the standing army and who and who can't bear arms in the standing army. To say that only Congress can form a militia is to say that Congress can regulate who can and can't be in the militia and who can and can't bear arms in the militia. The militia existed before the Constitution, and Congress can only organize it, not form it. If Congress had the power to form it, Congress would have the power to say who can and can't be in the militia and who can and can't bear arms in the militia. One of the purposes of the militia was to prevent tyranny. Congress does not and cannot be given the power to regulate arms in the militia, that is, to take arms away from members of the militia. This has what has been done historically by tyrannies to quash political dissent and the threat of force. Scalia actually indicates that there is a need for private militias. But, importantly, he also indicates that whether you're in a militia or not, you have the same right to keep and bear arms.

3. "to keep and bear Arms" means "to own and carry any weapon, within reason but including handguns, for self-defense." So in anticipation of a conflict where you are attacked, you can keep a firearm in your home and carry one on your person. The opinion indicates that CCW laws are constitutional, but, regardless, the right to carry a firearm is inviolate.

4. If the firearm you keep is to be used in self defense, it does not need to be unloaded or have a trigger lock. Scalia says that laws stating otherwise are silly because it defeats the purpose of having the weapon for self defense in the first place.

5. The opinion indicates that a right is a right is a right. It is not for any branch of the government to declare a right useful or not useful. The court cannot write a right out of the Constitution.

Supremes Disregard Jury, Save Exxon $4.5 Billion

2008-06-25T15:15:00.002-05:00

In its Exxon v. Baker decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that punitive damages that had been awarded against Exxon at trial totaling $5 billion should be reduced to equal the amount of compensatory damages, $507.5 million. The jury's decision to award the $5 billion, which was later lowered to $2.5 billion, was essentially disregarded. The Court indicated that the goal of punitive damages is to deter bad conduct by causing parties to think about what they're doing in light of possible punitive damages. It held that this threat cannot be infinite -- punitives must have some air of predictability, otherwise they violate due process. Besides, the jury's real intent was to punish Exxon just enough, not excessively.

That the Court wants to protect due process is understandable, but the question is if a jury is going to be disregarded, even when the parties were not prejudiced by procedure, why have a jury in the first place? The Court attempted to derive the jury's intent when it did not need to. The jury awarded $5 billion, and that verdict should have stood. If the Court had sent a message that juries will not be usurped, appellate dockets could have been cleared of needless appeals, saving court and taxpayer time, money, and other resources.

Barr Fund Supported Paul Campaign

2008-06-23T18:30:00.001-05:00

It appears that the Bob Barr Leadership Fund gave Ron Paul's presidential campaign $1000 last year. I wonder what the Paulians think about that? This site has the link to the filing.