[AlterNet.org] A law regulating voting machines making its way through Congress lacks a provision allowing voters to sue — a right that was a cornerstone of the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act.
[Defamer] We sometimes forget that the streets of Los Angeles are a uniquely treacherous place, patrolled by glassy-eyed celebrities in hulking SUVs, waiting for an opportunity to ram their vehicles into unwitting civilians just so they can feel the elusive human connection denied them by their insulating, soul-deadening fame. A story in the LA Weekly reminds about this chilling aspect of life in our fine city, as well as the fact that Mischa Barton is apparently not as skilled a driver as her paparazzi-evading peers. …
[Wonkette]
Heard on the Hill: Kyle Sampson and John Ashcroft had a very romantic date at a Wizards game… U.S. Chamber of Commerce accidentally told every single member of Congress that they won a “prestigious award.” … Duncan Hunter’s FEC filing is for a committee called “Hunter for Prseident Inc.” [Roll Call]
Reliable Source: Some billionaire is parking his yacht here. Go paint “fuck the Pope” on it… Cute duck video is very cute. …
[You Are Dumb - Post-Millennial Judgment and Retribution for the Information Age] Spastic Topic Monkey Friday, 13 April 2007Welcome to a special Numerical Predictions edition of Spastic Topic Monkey Friday. The way this works is, I pick a number, then follow it with a prediction about the future based on that number. Each individual prediction is then an excuse to talk about some minor irritant that pissed me off about two paragraphs worth in the past couple of days, forming a framework on which I build the column. It’s blatant trickery, but if you promise to overlook it, I’ll promise you a joke about polar bear dicks at the end. Deal? Deal. …
[washingtonpost.com - Politics] As Mitt Romney aggressively courts conservatives in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination, landmark health-care legislation that the former Massachusetts governor signed into law about a year ago has been largely left out of his pitch.
[Yahoo! News: U.S. News] AP - A federal grand jury indicted an Ohio man on charges of joining al-Qaida and conspiring to bomb European tourist resorts and U.S. government facilities and military bases overseas, officials announced Thursday.
Admiring fellow attorneys describe Michael Wang, a prosecutor in the San Francisco U.S. Attorney’s office, as “rabid” and “an animal” because of his intensity and tenacity. In 2005, he moved up from street crime prosecutions to lead a resurgent white-collar unit. From 2005 to 2006, new white-collar filings jumped nearly 70 percent, largely fueled by fraud cases. Defense lawyers say Wang is also one of the prosecutors investigating stock options backdating at companies such as Apple and KLA-Tencor.
A manufacturer of stickball bats has struck out in its attempt to win summary judgment on a claim filed against it by a player who lost an eye after he was struck by a bat that slipped out of another player’s hands. A New York judge found that the testimony of the plaintiff’s expert witness trumped the “well established” doctrine under which participants in sporting events are usually held to have assumed the risk of the activity. She ordered the defendant, Skybounce Ball Co., to participate in discovery.
A Florida drug court that’s become a national model imitated by more than 400 communities across the country has become so overwhelmed that it will temporarily stop taking new cases, thrusting hundreds of defendants into mainstream criminal court to face possible prison time instead of treatment and rehabilitation options. Miami-Dade Circuit Court’s lone drug court judge is handling some 2,200 cases. The Miami-Dade chief judge says the moratorium will last no more than 120 days.
The New Jersey State Bar Association is hollering mad at a policy, enforced by state court regulators, requiring third-time drunken-driving offenders to be hauled off to jail the minute they’re convicted. In a resolution made public last week, the Bar said the Administrative Office of the Courts lacks legal authority to impose such a policy. And what’s more, the Bar said, the directive exemplifies a pattern of “overarching and unauthorized exercise of control by the AOC.”