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When some guy tried to pay a debt (ex-wife I think) with a barrel of pennies covered in molasses, the court decreed that you could only use so many coins. I don't know that they've said anything about one dollar bills in honey, but hey I'm sure that's not ok either.
Here's a similar case: http://www.uslaw.com/library/Family_Law/Husband_pays_alimony_pennies.php?item=246976

So, despite the legislation, only some amount of coins are legal for some part of a debt.

'm not advocating torture or waterboarding, but when we're talking about a relative handful of people, most of whom are almost certainly guilty

So most of those held at Gitmo were guilty? As were most of those at Abu Grab? All that was required to end up at Gitmo was for a person to be turned over to the US military in return for some money.

'It's better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man be wrongly convicted'.

Falcon

I won't defend Abu Ghraib, as that was just complete stupidity (though more like humiliation than torture) - but hell yes, ~most~ of the detainees at Gitmo are/were guilty - that facility is for the worst of the worst, not just for everyone and anyone accused of terrorism by a neighbor with a grudge. Sadly, mistakes can happen, but they are the exception, not the rule. And, the vast majority of prisoners there weren't waterboarded. You also have to take some of these stories you hear or read with a grain of salt - the americans aren't the only human beings on this planet who lie, you know. I'm not saying bad stuff didn't happen, but I think it's been exaggerated for various reasons.

You might spare the life of one innocent man, by letting 10 killers go free, but, lets assume they're murderers, free to kill ten more innocent people or more; how does that get you ahead of the game? You've just allowed the death of at least 10 more innocents as opposed to just one -not to mention there will now be no justice for those people already killed by the guilty you just let go.
And those newly 10+ people killed will be on your conscience too, for enabling their killers to murder them when you could have prevented it. You're almost as guilty for their deaths as the murderers themselves.
Seems lose-lose to me any way you slice it.

'm not advocating torture or waterboarding, but when we're talking about a relative handful of people, most of whom are almost certainly guilty

So most of those held at Gitmo were guilty? As were most of those at Abu Grab? All that was required to end up at Gitmo was for a person to be turned over to the US military in return for some money.

'It's better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man be wrongly convicted'.

Falcon

Something like a layered approach of Truecrypt+One Swarm/TOR/other anonymization. That will of course also benefit people who commit actual crimes, as they can hide in the crowd.

'It's better that 10 guilty men go free than one innocent man be wrongly convicted'.

Falcon

The 9th Circuit is legal precedent, at least for cases within the 9th Circuit.... But here you go.

Some links, many of which are not from the 9th:
http://www.iphonereal.com/iphone_news/200808/08-11492.html
http://www.uslaw.com/library/Legal_Research/Oregon_9th_Circ_Mandatory_Arbitration_Unconscionable.php?item=221171
http://www.thisistech.com/2008/01/25/class-actions-t-mobiles-mandatory-arbitration-clause-ruled-unconscionable-lawsuits/
http://www.constructionweblinks.com/Resources/Industry_Reports__Newsletters/Apr_02_2007/cour.html
http://www.metnews.com/articles/2007/omel051507.htm
http://www.calbizlit.com/cal_biz_lit/2007/09/how-to-get-out-.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3898/is_200103/ai_n8951872
http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/trial-procedure-appellate-decisions/8133987-1.html
http://www.stephenmmurphy.com/pdfs/Hancock_article.pdf
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/3rd-Circuit-Deals-Blow-to-law-14460950.html
http://kruismediation.com/cgi-bin/adrcases.cgi?case=ADR20071031.htm
http://www.justanswer.com/questions/16oig-wisconsin-courts-interpret-term
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/11/prweb1556074.htm
http://www.chicagobusinesslitigationlawyerblog.com/2008/10/chicago_federal_district_court_1.html
http://www.rtoonline.com/Content/Article/Aug_06/NewJerseyBindingArbitration081106.asp

We agree with your analysis and have compiled a list of the files discovered on the Kozinski family computer-- as you surmised, they are essentially all "viral videos" and images that widely circulated by men of a certain sense of humor by email:

USLaw.com/pop

Indeed, Judge Kozinski's awareness of the popularity of these âoeviral videosâ makes him even more qualified to maintain impartiality over a trail involving the interpretation of community standards.

Here are some uslaw.com references for example.

General hiring guidelines

Testing guidelines

Here are some uslaw.com references for example.

General hiring guidelines

Testing guidelines

Where to start. First, if I am my own little "government", then why should my information be viewed by people outside of my "country" beyond what is already required by law?

You might say - "what about the shareholders?" But the shareholders ARE the owners of the company. Believe it or not they actually have the right to inspect the books of the company they own. Granted you have to own 5% of the shares outstanding but if you own less then you probably wouldn't get much from the books anyway.

As for the 60 yr old who invests more than 10% in any stock let alone his own company's stock deserves to be on the street. This is especially true after 20 yrs. In 20 yrs you didn't learn how to diversify? Dang. I am 28 and I work for one of the largest companies in the world and they are still only 20% of my 401(k). You expect me to sympathize with stupidity? I would also like to point out that Enron was formed in the late 80's so anybody there for 20 years is probably in on this whole scam anyway.

Do you know why banks hold money? Not because they are being nice. They are doing it to make money. And they are the biggest scums of the earth. Do you not think they give preferential treatment to big companies? Who do you think has a better checking account deal - you or AverageNationalCorp? Don't even start me with banks. I could for hours on how they are robbing you. But on the subject, how would any company profit from holding another company's information? Information doesn't gain interest. As soon as you start charging that company they become a client and they are not much different from an accounting firm. Or are you proposing just one huge repository owned and run by the government. I'll tell you what, you can vote for the politician that suggests that one.

And yes. Companies are required to keep accurate records and they do release financial statements as provided by the SEC. That doesn't mean that you should be able to see every journal entry booked and the minutes to every meeting.

I understand that you're not in this type of world and it is hard to understand from the outside but just take my word that most companies have document retention (aka destruction) policies, not because they are hiding something but because they realize that anything can be taking of context and blown up by the media. When it comes lawyers and the media there is no right or wrong, there is just win or lose.

The trick in all this is not documentation. All the documentation in the world is not going to bring back Enron. All you can do is sue the deep-pocket, which in this case in Arthur Andersen. Happens everytime a company goes belly up. In this case AA probably deserves it but there are 100 other cases to this one that they were nothing more than deep pockets. The truth is that if the senior management of any company wants to collude to "cook the books" the best accounting firms in the world won't find a thing.

Two things need to happen. First, Accounting firms need to be separated entirely from their consulting practices. The urge is too great to let accounting errors slip by in order to sell a big consulting deal. Second, people need to be educated on how to invest in their 401(k). My first advice would be - if you are over 50 then stop looking at stock and start looking at blended funds.

"We have and continue to innovate within the spirit and letter of the law. We continue to do what we have always done, because we think it's 100 percent correct."

*cough*bullshit*cough*

at least the 100 percent bit was relevant :)

The ``permatemp'' settlement praised Microsoft for recent policy changes, saying that since 1997 it had hired some 3,000 former permatemps as workers with full benefits, and had adopted new practices to limit the length of temporary assignments.

For those who are wondering, Microsoft's new temp rules (effective as of this past July) are that each temp is not allowed to return to work for 100 days following a one-year stretch of employment. Yes, that's insane. No, temps are out of luck for that stretch of time. Some can hopefully find work at other agencies or companies, but it's still a dishonest (though now "legal") practice.

This in just another example of one of the many benefits that Arsdigita has contributed to the community. I have been following their Open Source toolkit they use for building online communities and they were influential in convincing AOL to Open Source AOLServer which after evaluated multiple web servers I decided as being the perfect tool for my own web site. The company also has a foundation encouraging young people to build community beneficial sites that gives out a scholarship every year. The company also has a track record for building sites that are *useful* to society ie an environmental aware site and adopt a pet site and an online charity site and an online legal resouce for consumers and the list goes on. They additional continually offer 1 day, 2 day, 3 week free training courses on their own Open Source software. I for one am happy to see that in todays society where corporations are constantly known for their despicable deeds am happy to see a company that gives back. I personally have gleaned much from their resources and would just like to say thanx.