… on its website. Some lawyers — among others — are not happy about that. [ABA Journal]
Archive for September, 2009
The beginning of the end for speech control in Canada?
A human rights tribunal has found Canada’s hate-speech law, or at least some applications of it, to be an unconstitutional infringement of free expression. [National Post] Mark Steyn hopes this portends an end to a dark chapter in the nation’s history, but the Western Standard’s Shotgun Blog cautions that the ruling is narrower than one might assume. More: Blazing Cat Fur.
Cash4Gold sues Consumerist.com
The tactic doesn’t seem to have worked very well in silencing the Consumers Union-run site, though. More: Citizen Media Law.
Ideal use for compact fluorescents
As lighting “to interview my daughter’s boyfriends”, says an Ann Althouse reader. [more, earlier here, here, etc., as well as Katherine Mangu-Ward, Reason “Hit and Run”]
“Julia Child was furious at Meryl Streep…”
“…for her role in the apple scare. She told me so.” [Elizabeth Whelan, National Post]
“Convicted thief sues store he robbed”
Scott Thomas Zielinski was shot while robbing Nick’s Short Stop Party Store in Clinton Township, Michigan, at knifepoint, and is serving an 8-to-22 year sentence. Now he’s suing the store’s owner and some of its clerks for in excess of $125,000 for pain and suffering and emotional distress. [WXYZ] More: reader VMS recalls the story of an unrepaired stair tread.
CPSIA on the rocks
As noted earlier in this space, many ordinary rocks — you know, the kind you kick with your foot — flunk the exceedingly stringent lead limits in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. And that’s not all, as Rick Woldenberg relates:
… if foolish educational companies want to sell rocks to schools or for inclusion in educational kits sold in toy stores, they must now test the rocks not only for lead but also for sharp points. Yes, rocks with sharp points need to be restricted under ASTM F963 for children aged eight years old or younger. The CPSC has yet to issue guidance to millions of curious Americans on how to manage this exposure when walking to the park or playing catch with the dog in the backyard. …
Is there a testing standard for rocks in the head? Is the concern lead, sharp points or that irritating rattling noise?
Per the Woldenberg entry we linked in May, “Michael Warring of American Educational Products reports that a school opted to stop using AmEP’s rocks to teach Earth Science and will instead rely on a POSTER.”
PUBLIC DOMAIN IMAGE from Benjamin Cobb, Yankee Mother Goose (Ella Brison, illustrator), courtesy ChildrensLibrary.org.
September 2 roundup
- Cops in London borough “remove valuables from unlocked cars to teach the owners about safety” [UPI, Sullum/Reason “Hit and Run”, Coyote]
- “Trial starts for PI lawyer accused of paying bribes (to Texas insurance managers) for settlement” [ABA Journal]
- Tort reform in Oklahoma takes effect Nov. 1, so law firm advises getting those lawsuits filed quickly [The Oklahoman]
- Patent assembler Intellectual Ventures says it’s averse to suing. Its close partners, on the other hand… [Recorder, earlier]
- Bill to assert U.S. control of waters whether “navigable” or not is major federal power grab [Kay Hutchison and Nolan Ryan, Dallas News]
- California high court rules in Taster’s Choice photo-permission case [Lowering the Bar, WSJ Law Blog, earlier]
- Civil libertarians, secularists protest as Ireland criminalizes blasphemy [Volokh, Irish Times (Dawkins), MWW and more]
- He knows about big paychecks: “Obama’s ‘Pay Czar’ Made $5.76M Last Year as a Law Firm Partner” [ABA Journal]
“We must leave behind 10,000 years of civilization”
Whoa, Gristies, that may go a bit too far. [Coyote]
Chevron: hidden videos show bribery plot in giant Ecuador tort suit
I’ve got a link roundup on the new charges at Point of Law. Earlier here.