Fifteen months and $3000. But then, most of the stolen documents have been recovered.
I wrote about this a year ago.
Archive for the ‘Legal Affairs’ Category
I told you so
Monday, April 28th, 2008An accident? Not as far as I’m concerned
Thursday, April 24th, 2008Mexican embassy official steals Blackberries during meeting with President Bush.
Have we at least declared the spy persona non grata? Do we know that we got them all back, and that we got the right ones back? If I were going to do something like this, I’d make sure I had purchased some off of Ebay in advance. Give those back if I were stopped, and try to make it out with the others.
Then again, how long does it take to unload a Blackberry? Do they have easily-removable memory cards? I don’t know – my cellphone was neither newly-introduced nor top-of-the-line when I got it about 3 years ago.
Death and Taxes
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008Well, taxes, anyway. No death in this post, just some things that may make you want to threaten someone with it.
We’ll start with a little humor, though, just to provide better contrast with the rest of the post.
Rachel Lucas has a fine rant on the occasion of paying her taxes. My federal taxes are higher than hers, but I’m fairly certain I make more money than she. Unlike her, I also get to pay state income tax here in Colorado, which pushed my income taxes up to about 25% of my taxable income. Democrats in the Colorado state government are also planning another assault on TABOR, so I expect state taxes to increase more quickly in the near future.
Then I had the additional dubious pleasure of having to submit a 1040X for 2006, because I got sent an erroneous 1099 last year, and a corrected one after I’d submitted my taxes. It meant that I had to send in more money, which was so nice.
Willisms talks about Tax Freedom Day, and also about the taxes we can expect to see in the near future.
That last link is the one most likely to cause what Kim du Toit refers to as an RCOB moment, and it relates to the idea that there really are two Americas. I’m pretty sure I know which one I live in.
Finally, Francis Porretto, the Curmudgeon Emeritus, talks on a related subject in item 3 of this post. More can be found on this topic here.
Then again, maybe the last link should be this.
UPDATE: Physics Geek has a good post, too. And we certainly can’t forget this:
Liable to become a problem
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007Billy Beck notes the loss of an entire line of aircraft engine replacement parts, due to the inability of the manufacturer to obtain product liability insurance.
Some years ago, I read an article that pointed out how long it had been since a new engine design had been introduced into the small aircraft market – again, due to product liability concerns. Liability attorneys tend to go after anyone with money when an accident occurs. Even if it isn’t the engine at fault in a crash, how can the manufacturer prove it in court? Worse yet, how often can they afford to try to prove it in court?
Because of this, liability insurance costs go up, the the point where the business is no longer profitable. It’s not just aircraft engines – several states are losing doctors because of malpractice insurance costs.
Tort reform is long overdue.
Law for Bloggers
Friday, June 8th, 2007Maggie’s Farm had a link to 12 Important U.S. laws every blogger should know. They’re a bit more general than that; some of them are important for any website. One of the commenters pointed to EFF’s Legal Guide for Bloggers.
Looks like I’ve got some reading to do, and perhaps some changes to make.