Archive for August, 2008
« Previous EntriesThe American Monetary Act
Saturday, August 30th, 2008The American Monetary Institute has undertaken to study the structural problems with the US economy, and to offer solutions.
Take a look at their proposal. The US Treasury would issue the currency, instead of borrowing it from the Federal Reserve. Our economy would no longer be based entirely on debt.
Dennis Kucinich is going to speak to [...]
Civil Disobedience Heroes
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008One day today’s tree-sitters and other environmental activists are going to end up being commemorated on US Postage stamps. For more than 20 years, some of the oldest redwood trees in Humboldt County, California have been at the heart of one of the most contentious battles between citizens and Corporate America.
The result of this fight [...]
Sarbanes-Oxley in Court
Monday, August 25th, 2008Sarbanes-Oxley is the most important federal business regulation law to pass during the Bush administration. Earlier this year, I reported on a case that proves this law is both necessary and effective. An insurance company, AIG, had to take a writedown of almost five billion dollars as a result of auditing and reporting mandated by [...]
US vs. Nazario
Friday, August 22nd, 2008Jose Luis Nazario is being prosecuted in civilian court for crimes allegedly committed while serving as an active-duty US Marine. The Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act was designed for prosecuting US mercenary forces - who are not subject to the military courts.
This case should not be in the civilian courts. Although I have publically opposed the [...]
Hall v. Nalco
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008Cheryl Hall was fired for missing work to undergo fertility treatments. The 7th Circuit just agreed that she has stated a claim for gender discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as amended by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978. Read the decision here - free registration may be required.
This is an interesting [...]
Lesbian Insemination Case Followup
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008I discussed this case back in May. It involves a lesbian who was denied medical treatment at a fertility clinic because of her sexual orientation. The doctors argued that both the federal and the state Constitutional guarantees of the free exercise of religion and free speech should override the California anti-discrimination law. The California Supreme [...]
ADA and the Bar Exam
Monday, August 18th, 2008The Americans With Disabilities Act requires special accommodations be given to students with learning disabilities when they take tests. The question is, what accommodations are appropriate? This is a scientific question and sometimes reasonable people can differ about both the diagnosis and the accommodations.
The West Virginia Law Examiners gave a bar candidate three days and [...]
Open Source Copyright Infringement
Sunday, August 17th, 2008The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has held that somebody who publishes open-source software can enforce any limits he or she chooses to set on its use. The case is called Jacobsen v. Katzer.
Read the decision for yourself. I think this it’s good news. When a person dedicates intellectual property to the creative commons, he [...]
The 2nd Amendment in the 8th Circuit
Saturday, August 16th, 2008Justice Scalia’s highly controvercial majority opinion in District of Columbia v. Heller was prominent in a recent decision of the 8th Circuit, called US v. Fincher.
Hollis Wayne Fincher, the defendant in the 8th Circuit case, had been convicted of being wrongfully in possession of a machine gun and a sawed-off shotgun. Mr. Fincher argued that, [...]
Corporate Taxes & Economic Justice
Thursday, August 14th, 2008The Government Accountability Office just published a study that compares corporate taxes of US and foreign cororations. It finds that 28% of big US corporations don’t pay income taxes.
Raising corporate taxes might not raise government revenue. Check out this paper. It includes IRS data that shows how much corporate tax revenue declined as a result [...]
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