The Blade analogy would go to me, not NYCL. Blade has all their powers and none of their disadvantages and can walk in the light (I'll spare you the details). NYCL is more like Maharet from Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned. He saves us mortals, but is actually a part of the Bloodsucker community even if unwillingly. The real corruption of the Bar stems from the Judges (also members of the Bar), not the lawyers themselves. Clean judges would equal clean lawyers. By definition NYCL, as an officer of the court, cannot fight the court/ judges. I on the other hand can demonstrate how corrupt they are by spoofing Star Trek episodes like A Piece of the Action using sitting federal judges as characters.
Need more proof. Who's NYCL's Whistler? I've got Ironstone. LOL! And Ironstone is being turned into a lawyer/ Bloodsucker as we speak- just like Whistler! But much of the Blade analogy breaks down after the Second movie.
But actually, who wants to be Blade right now? It could be said that he (Snipes) lost to the ultimate Bloodsuckers, the IRS!!
Disclaimer- only joking. The IRS is filled only with well meaning, hard working American civil servants. And Snipes really deserved it for not paying up.
Actually, disbarring their lawyers will put an end to these unethical tactics. Any new lawyers they hire would be forewarned to avoid them. They would also have a harder time finding new lawyers, and have to pay more. Also, remember that the RIAA's legal tactics on this case are most likely the result of the legal advice they have been receiving from these sleazeball attorneys.
But then there is the fact that the Attorney Disciplinary Committee's are the biggest joke since the Civil Complaint Review Board for the NYPD.
Sigh
This study appears to have used the 29 least multitaskable drivers on the planet. The study composition and small size make it highly questionable. Is 29 drivers enough to make broad pronouncements about all drivers? How did they select the drivers to use?
If this study's results are accurate, then why is it necessary at all. According to the results, the millions of people who have driven since the creation of the car, and who have spoken to a passenger or fumbled with a control, would have had enough near misses and accidents to have made driving with a chatty passenger too dangerous to do without crashing.
Cops would never be able to call in a high speed chase without pulling over and stopping. According to this study they would simply crash while trying.
There is no question that accidents are more likely with distractions, but this study seems to really exaggerate the risks. Akin to warning all people to avoid going outside due to the danger of being hit by a meteorite.
1and1 doesn't just bounce you to collections for not paying. They have a more unique way of doing things. They disable the domain for the slightest blip in credit processing, and simultaneously send it to collections to collect FUTURE fees. They even do this when you set the domain to NOT auto-renew.
What really takes the cake is that they take up to 3 weeks to reactivate the domain after you pay their collection agency- NCO. Blatant fraud because they are charging you for the down time that you've already paid for. But last but not least 1and1 disables ALL domains in an account if even one is not paid- even when you set it to not renew! So they then defraud you by charging you for all the fully paid domains while blocking them to collect $6 or so on the unwanted domain.
Really bad practice, really arrogant, and really stupid. Why wait 3 weeks for them to reactivate when you can switch to a new registrar and new host on the same day. With morons like the ones they have working in billing, I have no doubt that they are hemorrhaging customers at an exponential rate.
Wow!! Where was this? Here in NYC the cops respond by sitting on there butts in front of the building for 2 minutes. If the alarm is on they note alarm on. If the alarm is off they note alarm off- alls well. Occasionally, one comes out to check on stuff. But never have I heard of a response like yours. Now that's a response!
One time my wife came into the apartment with the kids and forgot to enter the code. The alarm went off and she panicked and couldn't remember the code under the alarm screeching. Every time they moved the motion detectors were set-off and the alarm would screech anew. The security people called me and I headed back. The security guard sent did nothing. The police surprising did (because of the renewed alarms), banged on the door, which my wife answered setting off another alarm. When I got there I got the alarm to reset and calm down. The cops had left my wife with a false alarm ticket. Wife and kids were shaken but unhurt. All in all it was worth the hassle- if something had been happening, the response that day would have been enough to slow it down or scare it away.
But my brother wasn't so lucky. His apartment was burglarized and the alarm went off each time the crooks came back for more stuff. Apparently they walked their loot right past cops and the guards.
I'll believe it when I see it. The magistrate is sniffing near it, but didn't bite them yet. But then again, I'm jaded by the Second Circuit. The First Circuit got rid of Shadowlaw all by themselves, maybe they will reinstate ethics too. It is promising that the Magistrate delved into the "limiting filing fees" analysis. Shadowlaw is the foul practice of Summary Opinions that the Supreme Court mildly discouraged last year.
Since when does Rule 11 scare anybody in federal court?? It's only applied when the lawyer is some poor solo practitioner with a humble client or some powerless pro se. I've freakin written songs about the perjury allowed in the Second Circuit and even coined the term S.A.D., or Shyster's Affirmative Defense (also a song title), highlighting the federal court's approval of attorney lying for tactical advantage. In the real-life case that the song is based on, during oral argument of an appeal of then-District Judge Raggi's order, Judges Calebresi and Sotomayer warn an attorney to cut the crap and agree during oral argument to an ethical correction to his procedure on the record. They then tell him that there "will be consequences" if he does not follow his agreement. Every other panel since then ignored the ethics issue, ignored his violation of the agreed procedure, and even ignored is his 'admission' of nine or so material lies. I repeat, every other panel ignored the direct actions of a majority of a prior panel in extracting an agreement not to lie to the court. Every other panel refused to so much as acknowledge Calebresi's or Sottomayor's on-record, in court actions. This includes a panel that had the third member of the original panel- Cabranes (who sat fuming at his colleagues for acknowledging the verboten-in-the-second-circuit concept of legal ethics.
In fact, even in very famous cases the rules of ethics are completely ignored in the Second Circuit. For example, in the recent case unanimously overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, New York Board of Elections v. Torres, 06-766, everyone ignored the fact that District Judge John Gleeson works for the plaintiff's attorneys as an Adjunct Professor at NYU Law School, while presiding over a case brought by the NYU Law School's Brennan Center. Sleazy is an understatement, his motto is "You pay me, you win!" But that's not the half of it, he is also conflicted by being an active participant in the BLS (Bribe Laundering Service or Brooklyn Law School) which has been meddling in state judicial politics. But the case went all the way to the top without him getting smacked down for it (except on my website of course). Ethics is non-existent in the Second Circuit except on those occasions were Sottomayor, Calebresi, and Raggi form a panel- and then only weakly.
I even wrote a spoof of a Star Trek episode where the federal judges (including Gleeson) muscle-in on state court corruption (part of the Corrupt Judges United series) and discuss their judicial methodology called "Fizbin":
Trust me, only a small fraction of lawyers (or judges), like our slashdot friend here, even understand the concept of honesty OR competence. Few, if any, could withstand the grilling he takes here. Lost breed. Cherish him. For he is of old Amish stock. Nowadays it is a rare experience for me to even run into lawyers who act surprised at blatant in-court lying. The bar has done an excellent job of weeding integrity out of its ranks. The RIAA's sleazy legal tactics are simply the norm. The only thing that is abnormal is that the online community watches them and records their every sleazy act for immediate distribution. What we have here is a vivisection of the legal profession. The only abnormal thing here is that some of the judges are obviously aware of this surveillance (and its danger to their profession) and are acting abnormally by not automatically rubber-stamping the sleazy actions of the RIAA lawyers. But don't be fooled.
Actually the idea is that if a crook puts a gun to your head and forces you to withdraw money, you can comply with the demand while also having an alert sent out immediately. Excellent security idea. A lot of crooks are forcing their victims to use the ATM cards or to give them the pin. Usually in kidnap situations. Giving the crisis code immediately set the cops on the crooks, hopefully while you're still alive to appreciate it.
Certain matters of national security are allowed as "exceptions" to the Freedom of Information Act in the FOIA statute itself. Given the topic is nuclear secrets, I could imagine that these fit properly within those exceptions. That may be why they deny the document exists. Exclusions mean they have to admit it exists and can refuse production. Exceptions allow them to deny the existence altogether (or do I have that backward). The FBI may be doing nothing illegal or unusual here at all. From reading the article it sounds like the author has no clue that "exceptions" exist for just that sort of national secret. The best course of action for pursuing items like that is to take the FBI to court and sue under the FOIA to have an "independent" federal judge. The quotes are because many of the judges are former USA attorneys- prosecutors for the FBI, who roll over like Fido for them. Nonetheless, worth a try. But then again, I just had a panel of three federal appeals judges affirm an order declaring discovery of two certified mailing records from the Post Office burdensome- so don't hold your breath. But then again, they may have been doing the Second Circuit corruption protection thing for the presidential campaign sex tape scandal that's being primed. Oh well.
Actually, it's not public exposure because you usually are facing a wall or you are obscured. The actual charge is something like "spraying noxious liquids" and it is a $500 fine and possibly some days in jail.
It's a pretty obnoxious law that is enforced in a discriminatory fashion.
As anyone whose been to New York knows, there are very few bathrooms and almost no public ones not hidden inside a business. So creepy cops writing piss tickets to homeless guys is a pretty pathetic reality. As a result you see bottles of piss strewn about the street in Snapple and Poland Spring bottles because that way at best its just littering charges for the homeless guys. And for some of the creepy ones, they get a kick when a car rolls over the bottles spraying all the passersby. Yes, you got it, the asswipes who run this city criminalize taking a discreet leak in an alley and encourage urine super soaker bombs. Only in New York...
Meanwhile, dog poop is everywhere. So is the piss but its nowhere near as bad. And the cops don't write the tickets for the dog poo or piss. It's like a mine field out here.
So Chinese censorship of dogs actually looks benign compared to New York City's bizarre scheme of urine coated streets peppered with feces where a guy can't take a leak unless he does so in a bottle likely to spray passersby when its crushed by a car.
Wow! Your insight into the caste element of the prequels is really screwing me over. It's right on target. But what's got me so crazy is that several writers noted that the Clone Wars lead-up greatly resembled the US after 9/11. The use of the pretext for giving the Chancellor/ Emperor more power. Maybe GL is onto something. One thing I really liked about the prequel was Master Yoda's fallibility. "Blind are the Jedi."
One thing I think everyone overlooks is how GL didn't pander to the Dark Side. Ultimately, he does not dwell or relish the rise of the Dark Side. All the dark victories are pretty much off screen. By presenting Anakin as a whiney dude with attitude he leaves the audience rolling their eyes. He then shows how all the dark side power leads to ruin- killing his beloved and destroying his society. He could have focused on Darth Vaders duels with Jedi, instead he shows a cowardly scene where he kills helpless kindergarten kids. In a way, that may be a touch of brilliance. The reaction to that scene dampened much of the Vader fervor out there. Maybe he was just trying to be responsible when he made Anakin so pathetic. I think many a young mind not to idol worship Vader- Yes, the armor is cool, but the guy inside is a headcase. Let me go emulate Batman instead. In the final equation, Palpatine was bested by Yoda in force power and bested by Windu in saber fighting. GL was definitely being consistent with Obi Wan's observation that the Dark Side was not more powerful than the light. In fact, the prophecy seems to be about a correction of too much dilution of the force. So all those Jedi using the Force to flip burgers may be the cause of all the trouble.
The caste references sort of fit with this. "Queen" Amidala is supposed to be elected, but as trussed up and royal as any royal of any government ever. With words one value is stated, while with visuals the other is embraced as fait accompli. The Jedi are a warrior priest caste that selects new members through the draft and who show contempt for family ties like Maoist's. They are led by a 3 foot 800-year old, green-skinned dictator (with a handpicked council of yes men). These then purport to protect "democracy" and "freedom". But in their defense, Yoda was a downright enlightened despot compared to Palpatine.
Thanks for that insight!
One of my least favorite things was the renumbering of the original series. That made no sense whatsoever, and looks very bad when you watch them in numerical order. "I am your father, Luke" has no impact whatsoever to anyone who saw the prequel first. And Obi-Wan comes off as a trickster sending novice Luke to fight Sith he's been hiding from for 30 years after they wiped out all the Jedi Masters of rank higher than his.
As for a better prequel, combine E1 & E2 into one movie by editing out the boring stuff (and speed up the Pod Race to 2 minutes max). Produce Clone Wars as the second movie. When the clones turn on the Jedi come up with some reason why clone blasters are less blockable than the swarm of droid blasters. And Make Anakin actually duel Mace Windu instead of a cheap shot and for God's sake- let's have Anakin at least try to resist Palpatine's invitation. Get rid of m-clorians and replace them with Pokemon cards. Definitely determine a Jedi's Force strength by counting the number of Pokemon cards they win at age 7. It would work.
And most of all, let's get the name Vader to be something, mean something, more than just a random thought off the top of Palpatine's head as his skin stops melting.
You could be right. I was thinking of the old style blooper reel that they used to play at the conventions. The particular blooper showed the ship in turbulence and McCoy grabbing her ample breasts from behind while simulating turbulence throughout the whole scene- really daring for 1960's and hilarious. I remember it as nurse Chapel though, which is why she was in sick bay. And yes, I know she was Roddenberry's wife. I vaguely remember McCoy talking about the blooper and saying he was worried Roddenberry wouldn't appreciate it and instead allowed it to be shown at conventions. But it could just be the effects of advanced aging working upon me- I suffered severe timeline damage after watching a few Star Trek: Enterprise episodes. So please forgive me.
Actually, in the US gung ho prosecutors run amuck as well. In NYC you can be held for 24 hours just for the fun of it. But on a Friday night you can stay there on a minor violation like falling asleep on the subway till Monday night just to have the judge drop the charges for time served.
Yeah, but think of how much fun it would be to simulate space storms in the thing during hurricanes. Come on, who could resist, just invite your favorite nurse Chapel over for you to have something to grab onto.
(PS. Yes I know Chapel getting grabbed was in TOS... and that this is TNG).
Actually, turning the tables on him might be your best move. Since he isn't using the name in real commerce and you are using it to pursue the interests of the fourth estate, he is violating your common law trade mark rights. No doubt his link farm is getting traffic due to the incredibly high volume of traffic your blog is drawing. Have a lawyer write him a cease and desist letter. Another thing to do is file an ICAAN domain dispute claiming trademark infringement. Link farms and cyber squatters are not very popular there.
Maybe all of that isn't worth the money or effort, but at least raise the possibility for him to chew on. He doesn't have a leg to stand on IMHO.
Here is a link to the Supreme Court case cited above:
Yes, this case is about the famous Don King boxing promoter. Note that the circuit said he doesn't count as a person because he is a corporate employee!! LOL! And therefore cannot be charged with committing fraud. Without further delay I provide you with the Supreme Court:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=533&page=158
You can't make this stuff up. (PS. Sorry for the extra post, I didnt know how to add the link to the original reply.)
FYI- Fat Tony is the former Dean of a Law School here in New York and is now a US District Judge. LOL.
As for corporate racketeering, the RICO* statutes should clearly ban these sort of practices, but the courts have created bogus exceptions for corporations involved in racketeering. A prime example is the Second Circuit Court of Appeal's rule providing complete protection for corporate-involved racketeering. A unanimous** Supreme Court overruled it in Kushner Promotion, Ltd. v. King, 533 U.S. 158 (2001), but Fat Tony runs things around here and RICO-proof corporations are still the law around here, just a tad more discretely.
*Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act ** Yes all nine Justices found the excuse for a corporate exception to fraud racketeering ridiculous and unsupported.
I encoded some of my footage to Real in 2001 or so. I stopped because people complained that they couldnt get the free player by following the link. I tried it and it was so hard to find the free player that I gave up encoding in Real. But my old stuff is still there in Real. I also got really turned off when Real was so hard to remove- and its spyware actions. Just this week I had to go into the registry to keep "realsched.exe" from booting and obnoxiously interrupting other processes to spam about updates. Updates, mind you, that you cannot refuse to search for. The realsched.exe is installed to boot everytime you play the player. Very, very obnoxious software- particularly for an alternative to Microsoft.
Nowadays we got YouTube.... They can pay the bandwidth. LOL.
Dear Grad student,
Please do not think that the legal profession is draining away smart people from your area of study. It most likely is not.
People. People. Please, don't assume that lawyers are smarter than you because they speak secret squirrel pig latin. It has been my mission of late to explain to everyone why law should not be a graduate course of study. It should be taught to everyone in high school or undergrad at the latest. In most states you aren't required to go to law school to be a lawyer anyway. It is a scammmm. A scammmm. The lawyers got jealous that doctors were doctors so they simply changed their degree from the LLB, or bachelor of laws degree, to the JD, or Juris Doctorate degree overnight. The three years are spent basically goofing off, and most lawyers are privileged slackers who could afford the outrageous expense of law school. There are of course exceptions. But most of the lawyers you meet, and over 90% of the lawyers licensed know less about law than high school student with a good social studies teacher. What looks so complicated is only the "fizbin" element of law (ala Captain Kirk), it's not intelligence beyond yours, just intellectual dishonesty. The average thirteen year-old playing Magic the Gathering or any RPG is using a system of rules more complex than our real legal rules. If they taught law to kids the kids would wonder what the big deal is. By teaching it to post-grads, particularly post-grads with degrees in soft majors, the Bar maintains the smoke and mirrors illusion that their discipline is necessary. Just as we don't need scribes to write for us, we don't need (most*) lawyers either. But for the fact that their team controls the judiciary, they would be an obsolete profession. And don't forget, law is the only subject where a student is encouraged to BS the answer.
Here is one of the examples I posted on Rent Wars about bankruptcy law:
"What if a firm of CPA's had never heard of taxes? What if a carpenter had never heard of wood? Or a plumber, pipes? What would you think if you went to the doctors office for a check up and the doctor didn't know what a heart was? Or had never heard of aspirin? Would the term "Gross incompetence" even begin to describe that doctor? That CPA firm? That carpenter? Or that plumber? Incompetence of this level is routine for modern attorneys and judges."
Full article with examples at: http://www.rentwars.com/discus/messages/136/382.html?sd
Ronin Amano, Court Monitoring Scorecards.
Slashdot Mirror
Also my car is so much like Blade's. LOL.
The Blade analogy would go to me, not NYCL. Blade has all their powers and none of their disadvantages and can walk in the light (I'll spare you the details). NYCL is more like Maharet from Anne Rice's Queen of the Damned. He saves us mortals, but is actually a part of the Bloodsucker community even if unwillingly. The real corruption of the Bar stems from the Judges (also members of the Bar), not the lawyers themselves. Clean judges would equal clean lawyers. By definition NYCL, as an officer of the court, cannot fight the court/ judges. I on the other hand can demonstrate how corrupt they are by spoofing Star Trek episodes like A Piece of the Action using sitting federal judges as characters.
Need more proof. Who's NYCL's Whistler? I've got Ironstone. LOL! And Ironstone is being turned into a lawyer/ Bloodsucker as we speak- just like Whistler! But much of the Blade analogy breaks down after the Second movie.
But actually, who wants to be Blade right now? It could be said that he (Snipes) lost to the ultimate Bloodsuckers, the IRS!!
Disclaimer- only joking. The IRS is filled only with well meaning, hard working American civil servants. And Snipes really deserved it for not paying up.
Actually, disbarring their lawyers will put an end to these unethical tactics. Any new lawyers they hire would be forewarned to avoid them. They would also have a harder time finding new lawyers, and have to pay more. Also, remember that the RIAA's legal tactics on this case are most likely the result of the legal advice they have been receiving from these sleazeball attorneys.
But then there is the fact that the Attorney Disciplinary Committee's are the biggest joke since the Civil Complaint Review Board for the NYPD.
Sigh
This study appears to have used the 29 least multitaskable drivers on the planet. The study composition and small size make it highly questionable. Is 29 drivers enough to make broad pronouncements about all drivers? How did they select the drivers to use? If this study's results are accurate, then why is it necessary at all. According to the results, the millions of people who have driven since the creation of the car, and who have spoken to a passenger or fumbled with a control, would have had enough near misses and accidents to have made driving with a chatty passenger too dangerous to do without crashing. Cops would never be able to call in a high speed chase without pulling over and stopping. According to this study they would simply crash while trying. There is no question that accidents are more likely with distractions, but this study seems to really exaggerate the risks. Akin to warning all people to avoid going outside due to the danger of being hit by a meteorite.
1and1 doesn't just bounce you to collections for not paying. They have a more unique way of doing things. They disable the domain for the slightest blip in credit processing, and simultaneously send it to collections to collect FUTURE fees. They even do this when you set the domain to NOT auto-renew.
What really takes the cake is that they take up to 3 weeks to reactivate the domain after you pay their collection agency- NCO. Blatant fraud because they are charging you for the down time that you've already paid for. But last but not least 1and1 disables ALL domains in an account if even one is not paid- even when you set it to not renew! So they then defraud you by charging you for all the fully paid domains while blocking them to collect $6 or so on the unwanted domain.
Really bad practice, really arrogant, and really stupid. Why wait 3 weeks for them to reactivate when you can switch to a new registrar and new host on the same day. With morons like the ones they have working in billing, I have no doubt that they are hemorrhaging customers at an exponential rate.
Ronin
Wow!! Where was this? Here in NYC the cops respond by sitting on there butts in front of the building for 2 minutes. If the alarm is on they note alarm on. If the alarm is off they note alarm off- alls well. Occasionally, one comes out to check on stuff. But never have I heard of a response like yours. Now that's a response!
One time my wife came into the apartment with the kids and forgot to enter the code. The alarm went off and she panicked and couldn't remember the code under the alarm screeching. Every time they moved the motion detectors were set-off and the alarm would screech anew. The security people called me and I headed back. The security guard sent did nothing. The police surprising did (because of the renewed alarms), banged on the door, which my wife answered setting off another alarm. When I got there I got the alarm to reset and calm down. The cops had left my wife with a false alarm ticket. Wife and kids were shaken but unhurt. All in all it was worth the hassle- if something had been happening, the response that day would have been enough to slow it down or scare it away.
But my brother wasn't so lucky. His apartment was burglarized and the alarm went off each time the crooks came back for more stuff. Apparently they walked their loot right past cops and the guards.
I'll believe it when I see it. The magistrate is sniffing near it, but didn't bite them yet. But then again, I'm jaded by the Second Circuit. The First Circuit got rid of Shadowlaw all by themselves, maybe they will reinstate ethics too. It is promising that the Magistrate delved into the "limiting filing fees" analysis. Shadowlaw is the foul practice of Summary Opinions that the Supreme Court mildly discouraged last year.
Since when does Rule 11 scare anybody in federal court?? It's only applied when the lawyer is some poor solo practitioner with a humble client or some powerless pro se. I've freakin written songs about the perjury allowed in the Second Circuit and even coined the term S.A.D., or Shyster's Affirmative Defense (also a song title), highlighting the federal court's approval of attorney lying for tactical advantage. In the real-life case that the song is based on, during oral argument of an appeal of then-District Judge Raggi's order, Judges Calebresi and Sotomayer warn an attorney to cut the crap and agree during oral argument to an ethical correction to his procedure on the record. They then tell him that there "will be consequences" if he does not follow his agreement. Every other panel since then ignored the ethics issue, ignored his violation of the agreed procedure, and even ignored is his 'admission' of nine or so material lies. I repeat, every other panel ignored the direct actions of a majority of a prior panel in extracting an agreement not to lie to the court. Every other panel refused to so much as acknowledge Calebresi's or Sottomayor's on-record, in court actions. This includes a panel that had the third member of the original panel- Cabranes (who sat fuming at his colleagues for acknowledging the verboten-in-the-second-circuit concept of legal ethics.
In fact, even in very famous cases the rules of ethics are completely ignored in the Second Circuit. For example, in the recent case unanimously overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, New York Board of Elections v. Torres, 06-766, everyone ignored the fact that District Judge John Gleeson works for the plaintiff's attorneys as an Adjunct Professor at NYU Law School, while presiding over a case brought by the NYU Law School's Brennan Center. Sleazy is an understatement, his motto is "You pay me, you win!" But that's not the half of it, he is also conflicted by being an active participant in the BLS (Bribe Laundering Service or Brooklyn Law School) which has been meddling in state judicial politics. But the case went all the way to the top without him getting smacked down for it (except on my website of course). Ethics is non-existent in the Second Circuit except on those occasions were Sottomayor, Calebresi, and Raggi form a panel- and then only weakly.
I even wrote a spoof of a Star Trek episode where the federal judges (including Gleeson) muscle-in on state court corruption (part of the Corrupt Judges United series) and discuss their judicial methodology called "Fizbin":
http://www.rentwars.com/discus/messages/136/417.html?slash
The New York Times writes about attorney discipline coverups: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/nyregion/01suit.html
Trust me, only a small fraction of lawyers (or judges), like our slashdot friend here, even understand the concept of honesty OR competence. Few, if any, could withstand the grilling he takes here. Lost breed. Cherish him. For he is of old Amish stock. Nowadays it is a rare experience for me to even run into lawyers who act surprised at blatant in-court lying. The bar has done an excellent job of weeding integrity out of its ranks. The RIAA's sleazy legal tactics are simply the norm. The only thing that is abnormal is that the online community watches them and records their every sleazy act for immediate distribution. What we have here is a vivisection of the legal profession. The only abnormal thing here is that some of the judges are obviously aware of this surveillance (and its danger to their profession) and are acting abnormally by not automatically rubber-stamping the sleazy actions of the RIAA lawyers. But don't be fooled.
Actually the idea is that if a crook puts a gun to your head and forces you to withdraw money, you can comply with the demand while also having an alert sent out immediately. Excellent security idea. A lot of crooks are forcing their victims to use the ATM cards or to give them the pin. Usually in kidnap situations. Giving the crisis code immediately set the cops on the crooks, hopefully while you're still alive to appreciate it.
Certain matters of national security are allowed as "exceptions" to the Freedom of Information Act in the FOIA statute itself. Given the topic is nuclear secrets, I could imagine that these fit properly within those exceptions. That may be why they deny the document exists. Exclusions mean they have to admit it exists and can refuse production. Exceptions allow them to deny the existence altogether (or do I have that backward). The FBI may be doing nothing illegal or unusual here at all. From reading the article it sounds like the author has no clue that "exceptions" exist for just that sort of national secret. The best course of action for pursuing items like that is to take the FBI to court and sue under the FOIA to have an "independent" federal judge. The quotes are because many of the judges are former USA attorneys- prosecutors for the FBI, who roll over like Fido for them. Nonetheless, worth a try. But then again, I just had a panel of three federal appeals judges affirm an order declaring discovery of two certified mailing records from the Post Office burdensome- so don't hold your breath. But then again, they may have been doing the Second Circuit corruption protection thing for the presidential campaign sex tape scandal that's being primed. Oh well.
Actually, it's not public exposure because you usually are facing a wall or you are obscured. The actual charge is something like "spraying noxious liquids" and it is a $500 fine and possibly some days in jail.
It's a pretty obnoxious law that is enforced in a discriminatory fashion.
As anyone whose been to New York knows, there are very few bathrooms and almost no public ones not hidden inside a business. So creepy cops writing piss tickets to homeless guys is a pretty pathetic reality. As a result you see bottles of piss strewn about the street in Snapple and Poland Spring bottles because that way at best its just littering charges for the homeless guys. And for some of the creepy ones, they get a kick when a car rolls over the bottles spraying all the passersby. Yes, you got it, the asswipes who run this city criminalize taking a discreet leak in an alley and encourage urine super soaker bombs. Only in New York...
Meanwhile, dog poop is everywhere. So is the piss but its nowhere near as bad. And the cops don't write the tickets for the dog poo or piss. It's like a mine field out here.
So Chinese censorship of dogs actually looks benign compared to New York City's bizarre scheme of urine coated streets peppered with feces where a guy can't take a leak unless he does so in a bottle likely to spray passersby when its crushed by a car.
"thread of competition" - I visualize a spindle with shigawire dangling from a ninja's hand.
Perhaps you meant "threat of competition"?
Wow! Your insight into the caste element of the prequels is really screwing me over. It's right on target. But what's got me so crazy is that several writers noted that the Clone Wars lead-up greatly resembled the US after 9/11. The use of the pretext for giving the Chancellor/ Emperor more power. Maybe GL is onto something. One thing I really liked about the prequel was Master Yoda's fallibility. "Blind are the Jedi."
One thing I think everyone overlooks is how GL didn't pander to the Dark Side. Ultimately, he does not dwell or relish the rise of the Dark Side. All the dark victories are pretty much off screen. By presenting Anakin as a whiney dude with attitude he leaves the audience rolling their eyes. He then shows how all the dark side power leads to ruin- killing his beloved and destroying his society. He could have focused on Darth Vaders duels with Jedi, instead he shows a cowardly scene where he kills helpless kindergarten kids. In a way, that may be a touch of brilliance. The reaction to that scene dampened much of the Vader fervor out there. Maybe he was just trying to be responsible when he made Anakin so pathetic. I think many a young mind not to idol worship Vader- Yes, the armor is cool, but the guy inside is a headcase. Let me go emulate Batman instead. In the final equation, Palpatine was bested by Yoda in force power and bested by Windu in saber fighting. GL was definitely being consistent with Obi Wan's observation that the Dark Side was not more powerful than the light. In fact, the prophecy seems to be about a correction of too much dilution of the force. So all those Jedi using the Force to flip burgers may be the cause of all the trouble.
The caste references sort of fit with this. "Queen" Amidala is supposed to be elected, but as trussed up and royal as any royal of any government ever. With words one value is stated, while with visuals the other is embraced as fait accompli. The Jedi are a warrior priest caste that selects new members through the draft and who show contempt for family ties like Maoist's. They are led by a 3 foot 800-year old, green-skinned dictator (with a handpicked council of yes men). These then purport to protect "democracy" and "freedom". But in their defense, Yoda was a downright enlightened despot compared to Palpatine.
Thanks for that insight!
One of my least favorite things was the renumbering of the original series. That made no sense whatsoever, and looks very bad when you watch them in numerical order. "I am your father, Luke" has no impact whatsoever to anyone who saw the prequel first. And Obi-Wan comes off as a trickster sending novice Luke to fight Sith he's been hiding from for 30 years after they wiped out all the Jedi Masters of rank higher than his.
As for a better prequel, combine E1 & E2 into one movie by editing out the boring stuff (and speed up the Pod Race to 2 minutes max). Produce Clone Wars as the second movie. When the clones turn on the Jedi come up with some reason why clone blasters are less blockable than the swarm of droid blasters. And Make Anakin actually duel Mace Windu instead of a cheap shot and for God's sake- let's have Anakin at least try to resist Palpatine's invitation. Get rid of m-clorians and replace them with Pokemon cards. Definitely determine a Jedi's Force strength by counting the number of Pokemon cards they win at age 7. It would work.
And most of all, let's get the name Vader to be something, mean something, more than just a random thought off the top of Palpatine's head as his skin stops melting.
Uh er, I meant DeForest Kelly... the actor who played McCoy...
You could be right. I was thinking of the old style blooper reel that they used to play at the conventions. The particular blooper showed the ship in turbulence and McCoy grabbing her ample breasts from behind while simulating turbulence throughout the whole scene- really daring for 1960's and hilarious. I remember it as nurse Chapel though, which is why she was in sick bay. And yes, I know she was Roddenberry's wife. I vaguely remember McCoy talking about the blooper and saying he was worried Roddenberry wouldn't appreciate it and instead allowed it to be shown at conventions. But it could just be the effects of advanced aging working upon me- I suffered severe timeline damage after watching a few Star Trek: Enterprise episodes. So please forgive me.
Actually, in the US gung ho prosecutors run amuck as well. In NYC you can be held for 24 hours just for the fun of it. But on a Friday night you can stay there on a minor violation like falling asleep on the subway till Monday night just to have the judge drop the charges for time served.
Yeah, but think of how much fun it would be to simulate space storms in the thing during hurricanes. Come on, who could resist, just invite your favorite nurse Chapel over for you to have something to grab onto. (PS. Yes I know Chapel getting grabbed was in TOS... and that this is TNG).
Actually, turning the tables on him might be your best move. Since he isn't using the name in real commerce and you are using it to pursue the interests of the fourth estate, he is violating your common law trade mark rights. No doubt his link farm is getting traffic due to the incredibly high volume of traffic your blog is drawing. Have a lawyer write him a cease and desist letter. Another thing to do is file an ICAAN domain dispute claiming trademark infringement. Link farms and cyber squatters are not very popular there.
Maybe all of that isn't worth the money or effort, but at least raise the possibility for him to chew on. He doesn't have a leg to stand on IMHO.
Here is a link to the Supreme Court case cited above: Yes, this case is about the famous Don King boxing promoter. Note that the circuit said he doesn't count as a person because he is a corporate employee!! LOL! And therefore cannot be charged with committing fraud. Without further delay I provide you with the Supreme Court: http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=us&vol=533&page=158 You can't make this stuff up. (PS. Sorry for the extra post, I didnt know how to add the link to the original reply.)
FYI- Fat Tony is the former Dean of a Law School here in New York and is now a US District Judge. LOL.
As for corporate racketeering, the RICO* statutes should clearly ban these sort of practices, but the courts have created bogus exceptions for corporations involved in racketeering. A prime example is the Second Circuit Court of Appeal's rule providing complete protection for corporate-involved racketeering. A unanimous** Supreme Court overruled it in Kushner Promotion, Ltd. v. King, 533 U.S. 158 (2001), but Fat Tony runs things around here and RICO-proof corporations are still the law around here, just a tad more discretely.
*Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act
** Yes all nine Justices found the excuse for a corporate exception to fraud racketeering ridiculous and unsupported.
Could you please name the tool or provide a link for those of us still streaming Real?
You are not alone....
I encoded some of my footage to Real in 2001 or so. I stopped because people complained that they couldnt get the free player by following the link. I tried it and it was so hard to find the free player that I gave up encoding in Real. But my old stuff is still there in Real. I also got really turned off when Real was so hard to remove- and its spyware actions. Just this week I had to go into the registry to keep "realsched.exe" from booting and obnoxiously interrupting other processes to spam about updates. Updates, mind you, that you cannot refuse to search for. The realsched.exe is installed to boot everytime you play the player. Very, very obnoxious software- particularly for an alternative to Microsoft.
Nowadays we got YouTube.... They can pay the bandwidth. LOL.
Dear Grad student, Please do not think that the legal profession is draining away smart people from your area of study. It most likely is not. People. People. Please, don't assume that lawyers are smarter than you because they speak secret squirrel pig latin. It has been my mission of late to explain to everyone why law should not be a graduate course of study. It should be taught to everyone in high school or undergrad at the latest. In most states you aren't required to go to law school to be a lawyer anyway. It is a scammmm. A scammmm. The lawyers got jealous that doctors were doctors so they simply changed their degree from the LLB, or bachelor of laws degree, to the JD, or Juris Doctorate degree overnight. The three years are spent basically goofing off, and most lawyers are privileged slackers who could afford the outrageous expense of law school. There are of course exceptions. But most of the lawyers you meet, and over 90% of the lawyers licensed know less about law than high school student with a good social studies teacher. What looks so complicated is only the "fizbin" element of law (ala Captain Kirk), it's not intelligence beyond yours, just intellectual dishonesty. The average thirteen year-old playing Magic the Gathering or any RPG is using a system of rules more complex than our real legal rules. If they taught law to kids the kids would wonder what the big deal is. By teaching it to post-grads, particularly post-grads with degrees in soft majors, the Bar maintains the smoke and mirrors illusion that their discipline is necessary. Just as we don't need scribes to write for us, we don't need (most*) lawyers either. But for the fact that their team controls the judiciary, they would be an obsolete profession. And don't forget, law is the only subject where a student is encouraged to BS the answer. Here is one of the examples I posted on Rent Wars about bankruptcy law: "What if a firm of CPA's had never heard of taxes? What if a carpenter had never heard of wood? Or a plumber, pipes? What would you think if you went to the doctors office for a check up and the doctor didn't know what a heart was? Or had never heard of aspirin? Would the term "Gross incompetence" even begin to describe that doctor? That CPA firm? That carpenter? Or that plumber? Incompetence of this level is routine for modern attorneys and judges." Full article with examples at: http://www.rentwars.com/discus/messages/136/382.html?sd Ronin Amano, Court Monitoring Scorecards.