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Middleboro Review 2

NEW CONTENT MOVED TO MIDDLEBORO REVIEW 2

Toyota

Since the Dilly, Dally, Delay & Stall Law Firms are adding their billable hours, the Toyota U.S.A. and Route 44 Toyota posts have been separated here:

Route 44 Toyota Sold Me A Lemon



Wednesday, April 30, 2014

This and that....




No community can address this threat.
You could start a similar clock for pipeline spills. Let's just leave it in the ground.

Hours ago, an oil train derailed and caught fire in Lynchburg, Virginia. Thankfully, no injuries were reported, but it serves as a scary reminder that it's past... time to end our dependence on fossil fuels.
Let's take these dangerous bomb trains off the tracks. Take action here: http://bit.ly/bombtrains




A man carrying a gun stalked a children’s baseball game in Forsyth County, Georgia this week. Over twenty 911 calls were made, mostly by parents fearing for the safety of their children.

But the sheriff said they could do nothing, and the man knew that too.

Georgia just passed HB 60—the “Guns Everywhere Bill”—which allows owners to carry their guns in public places like restaurants, churches, bars, schools, libraries, youth centers and sports arenas. The police weren’t even allowed to stop him just to ask if he had a license.

Sign the petition—Denounce the NRA, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and the Georgia state legislature for making it legal terrorize families at community events: http://wefb.it/9A93B8
A man carrying a gun stalked a children’s baseball game in Forsyth County, Georgia this week. Over twenty 911 calls were made, mostly by parents fearing for the... safety of their children.
But the sheriff said they could do nothing, and the man knew that too.
Georgia just passed HB 60—the “Guns Everywhere Bill”—which allows owners to carry their guns in public places like restaurants, churches, bars, schools, libraries, youth centers and sports arenas. The police weren’t even allowed to stop him just to ask if he had a license.
Sign the petition—Denounce the NRA, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and the Georgia state legislature for making it legal terrorize families at community events: http://wefb.it/9A93B8

On a weekend where some were expecting rain, the final day of the week-long 'Reject and Protect' rally against the Keystone XL pipeline brought clear skies,...
Think Progress
  • Think Progress was at Reject + Protect on Saturday, and spoke with Nebraska farmer Art Tanderup and Casey Camp of the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma — both members of the Cowboy and Indian Alliance. ‪#‎NoKXL‬
     

A real American patriot.


Pay attention to ALEC


Speak Up For Education and Kids's photo.



Tommy Joe Ratliff's photo.




Josh Blue Comedy's photo.




UCubed's photo.

Train carrying 'flammable liquids' derails in Lynchburg, Va.

Stay tuned for additional information.

If you have a rail line through your community, you are NOT safe!




View this content on CBC News's website

At least 7 cars hauling flammable liquids derailed in Virginia





Train derails in Lynchburg, Va.




TOYOTA: Yup! 'Let's Go Places' ....by ambulance!

Another horrifying TOYOTA accident!






Pedal Problem Sends SUV Crashing Into 7 Cars, Downtown Building

 
Updated: Tuesday, April 29 2014, 05:40 PM EDT
COLUMBUS (Sean Rowe) -- A driver says a stuck accelerator sent her Lexus SUV careening off of East Broad Street and into the side of building in downtown Columbus Tuesday.

The runaway SUV struck seven other vehicles before crashing hitting building, ABC6/FOX28 News has learned.

Authorities say no one was injured in the crash. The Columbus Division of Police is investigating the crash and whether the accelerator truly malfunctioned.

http://www.abc6onyourside.com/shared/news/features/top-stories/stories/wsyx_pedal-problem-sends-suv-crashing-into-7-cars-downtown-building-30957.shtml




Parris Boyd · Top Commenter · University of South Carolina
"Pedal" problem? Try "electronic" problem. Read "Toyota's killer firmware: Bad design and its consequences." Embedded systems expert Michael Barr found the following defects in Toyota's electronic throttle control:

Toyota's electronic throttle control system (ETCS) source code is of unreasonable quality.

Toyota's source code is defective and contains bugs, including bugs that can cause unintended acceleration (UA)

Code-quality metrics predict presence of additional bugs.

Toyota's fail safes are defective and inadequate (referring to them as a 'house of cards' safety architecture).

Misbehaviours of Toyota's ETCS are a cause of UA.

Recall King Toyota is a hoot. NASA physicist Henning Leidecker is now speaking out about increased risk of unintended acceleration in '02-'06 Camrys, calling it a game of Russian roulette. For more on the electronics issue, visit my blog, "Beware of Toyota. Their next victim may be YOU..."


Charlene McCarthy Blake
Singer/songwriter, Kris Kitko did an AWESOME job on her YouTube video, "Toyota Where Are Ya?" The video was directed at Toyota regarding her own real world experience with Toyota SUA, sudden unintended acceleration. With her satirical approach, she completely destroyed the Toyota and NHTSA myth about SUA, namely “pedal misapplication” by drivers. Unfortunately, Kris Kitko’s YouTube video is no longer available for viewing online.

In the wake of the NHTSA/DOJ $1.2 BILLION settlement following a CRIMINAL investigation, Kris should be encouraged to use her finely-honed musical skills to do a sequel to her first Toyota SUA YouTube video. The U.S. Federal Government allowed Toyota “deferred prosecution” in this settlement provided it follow the steps outlined in the terms of the agreement. No one…not one single Toyota executive…is g...oing to serve any prison time for knowingly withholding evidence that could have saved many lives and ensured public safety on the roads.Toyota ADMITTED that it LIED to both the Toyota customers and the government.

Michael Barr, renowned embedded systems expert, after studying Toyota’s ETCS-I far longer than NASA did, found the existence of faults in the software which could lead to a real-world, potentially-catastrophic SUA event with a number of potentially ineffective fail-safes. Imagine flying down the road in a Toyota with no functioning brake override to exit a software task-death! Isn’t that a bit like being on a high-speed roller coaster and having the track fail to keep you on? And want to know the most SHOCKING part? Toyota reportedly didn't have a copy of the code in their OWN monitor chip! Michael Barr and company had to SHOW them! Can we just say, “Scary!”

Toyota cites that there is no electronic cause for SUA in its vehicles based on the short-duration investigations by NHTSA and NASA. Michael Barr and other experts have shown these studies to be scientifically seriously flawed. First, the ETCS-I software investigation was extremely limited. Only a SMALL FRACTION of the embedded software was tested by NASA.

Secondly, Toyota misrepresented the presence of EDAC RAM (error detection and correction random access memory) while indications of this issue were apparently redacted in the original NHTSA report. This misled NASA into NOT LOOKING INTO a number of potential sources of failure – which they may otherwise might have.

According to NASA expert, Dr. Henning Leidecker, some Toyota's can grow "tin whiskers" within certain electronic components. This can result in short circuits which can lead to yet another type of electronically-induced SUA event. Dr. Leidecker and associates actually DID FIND and study a case of "tin whiskers" found within the accelerator pedal assembly; rendering a Toyota vehicle UNDRIVEABLE.

Meanwhile, whistleblower Betsy Benjaminson remains scared for Toyota drivers. She is convinced Toyota's own internal documents strongly indicate SOMETHING IS WRONG with their ETCS-i ELECTRONICS . She says "ghosts" indicate glitches can cause a runaway car. Betsy now blogs on a website where she continues to EXPOSE key documents that she says open the company's PR KIMONO. Betsy's goal is to reveal the true inside story of Toyota's SUA problem and to demonstrate and expose the differences between the company walk and company talk.

How did Betsy turn whistleblower? As a Japanese-to-English translator, Betsy was hired by Toyota's legal team to translate documents for the criminal investigation of Toyota. Just like the DOJ, Betsy SMELLED A RAT. After checking with top experts, she came forward to alert the public to the major safety issues involved.

So, WHY is Toyota trying so hard to CONVINCE its own customers and the public that its vehicles suffer from SUA caused only by 1) improperly placed or type of floor mats (huh?); 2) sticky accelerator pedals (like those pesky sticky Sienna minivan sliding doors?); or 3) pedal misapplication (oh...the little old lady theory?). Why does it IGNORE the recent findings of the electronic experts? WHY isn’t it currently LISTENING to its own customers?

Well, YOU be the judge. The FACTS are before you.
 
 

Will TOYOTA Ever Step Forward?

Good information from "Beware of Toyota. Their next victim may be you....":

Fatal Solara day care crash spotlights electronic issues


The LEMON LADY has explained a car accident in which she was driving a Mercury Sable [a Ford product].

Ford designed and included a safety feature, a KILL switch that shut off the gas pump on impact, a Fail Safe.  



TOYOTA seems not to care about safety.



Anticipating the TOYOTA DEFENDERS, the injured children and the 4-year-old killed did not own and were not driving TOYOTAS. [14 were injured, 12 of them children.]




TOYOTA is going the spend $$$ blaming others!



FHP investigating sudden acceleration in fatal day care crash


4-year-old Lily Quintus killed in crash

This little girl, Lily Quintus,  was killed:
 
 
 
  Apr 25, 2014
 
 

Troopers are looking into if sudden acceleration caused the 2006 Toyota Solara to crash into the KinderCare Learning Center on April 9. The same make and model was named in a $1.6 billion lawsuit last year.
 
 
 
"We have got to look at everything," said FHP Sgt. Kim Montes. "We would be remiss if we did not check out every potential issue."
 
Albert Campbell, 61, was driving the Toyota Solara when authorities said he was struck from behind by Robert Corchado.
 
 
According to troopers, the impact forced the Solara into the parking lot and into the day care on Goldenrod Road. The Solara drove through the wall and into the playroom and came to a stop inside a second room. The crash killed Lily Quintus, 4, and injured 11 other children.
 
"It could be human error. It could be mechanical," said Montes. "It could be the physics of the crash and that's what we have to determine."
 
Toyota was fined by the Department of Justice for misleading motorists about a "faulty electronic-throttle system" in their cars after settling a lawsuit in July that claims the same make, model and year of the Toyota Solara involved in the day care crash lost resale value after sudden-acceleration complaints.
 
"Obviously we know about the potential problems with Toyota vehicles," said Montes. "That model year is included where sudden acceleration and unexplained acceleration in some crashed and other incidents."
 
A crash analyst said the Solara went airborne once it was clipped by Corchado's silver Durango. Troopers are looking at the black box in the Solara for data that could give better insight into those pivotal seconds just before the crash.
 
Last week, troopers announced the toxicology results of blood taken from Campbell at the scene, saying there was no alcohol and no drugs in his system.
 
 
An inspection report from Orange County Deputy Chief Building Inspector Robert Amato shows that the front wall of KinderCare had "extensive termite damage."
 
"I didn't see no live termites but there was termite damage at one time," Amato said. "There were still studs there. Termites like to eat the studs from inside out, so unless you were doing repairs or renovating you won't know unless something unforeseen happens."
 
Amato said a licensed architect or engineer needs to assess the damage from the vehicle entering the building and the termite damage for structural stability.
 
Corchado is charged with causing the crash and then fleeing the scene.
 



http://www.wesh.com/news/fhp-investigating-sudden-acceleration-in-fatal-day-care-crash/25654008#comments



Fatal Solara day care crash spotlights electronic issues

Welcome to Cape Koch! ....Again!





"Cape Koch" protest rocks both bridges Friday

 
 
BOSTON — Plaintiffs in the latest Cape Wind-related lawsuit to find its way into a federal courtroom faced an uphill battle Tuesday.
 
"Having read the briefs carefully I start and almost end with the 11th Amendment," U.S. District Judge Richard Stearns said at a hearing on a motion to dismiss the challenge of a state-approved contract between the offshore wind energy developer and NStar.
 
Stearns said he doubted the plaintiffs — which include several Cape Cod businesses, individuals, the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound and the town of Barnstable — could get past the constitutional amendment which generally gives states immunity from being sued.
 
The lawsuit filed in January by Cape Wind's opponents claims that the approval by state regulators of the contract to sell power from the project to NStar, which delivers power to Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard and other parts of the state, violated two clauses of the U.S. Constitution: the Commerce Clause and the Supremacy Clause.
 
"First, it constituted illegal discrimination in favor of an instate business, in violation of the dormant Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution," lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint.
 
"Second, it constituted illegal regulation of wholesale electricity sales, in violation of the Federal Power Act and the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution."
 
State regulators used their power to approve a proposed merger between NStar and Northeast Utilities as leverage to force the utility to agree to the terms of the contract with Cape Wind, the plaintiffs' lawyers argued in briefs and during Tuesday's hearing at the John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston.
 
But Stearns questioned whether the state was capable of forcing NStar to agree to the contract.
 
He also wondered aloud repeatedly during the hearing where the state's actions tread on federal jurisdiction under the Supremacy Clause since the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission must still approve the wholesale pricing in the contract and also whether the plaintiffs had standing in the Commerce Clause argument.
 
Massachusetts Assistant Attorney General Timothy Casey, not surprisingly, took up Stearns' reasoning in his argument defending officials from the state Department of Public Utilities and state Department of Energy Resources.
 
The only exception to a state's sovereign immunity is when a future violation of federal law is contemplated, Casey said.
 
The approval of the Cape Wind NStar contract is a historical fact and not a future action, he said, echoing Stearns' opening comments.
 
The Supremacy Clause argument fails because the contract itself provides that Cape Wind will seek the required approval for its wholesale rates from FERC later and the federal agency has already found that a similar contract between Cape Wind and National Grid had not encroached on its jurisdiction, Casey said.
 
The state addressed its traditional role of approving retail rates while FERC retains its power to approve wholesale rates, he said.
 
And the plaintiffs role as consumers doesn't give them standing under the Commerce Clause, Casey said.
 
Matthew Price, who represented all of the plaintiffs except the town of Barnstable, countered that the contract represented an ongoing violation of law for its 15-year-life, using the analogy of a state employee who is fired for his political views.
 
"It's not a purely historical act in that the contract will continue to exist for the next 15 years," Price said.
 
On the question of state versus federal jurisdiction, Price argued that all the plaintiffs need to prove is that the state had caused a wholesale price to be set by its actions.
 
"NStar did not want to enter into this contract and refused tooth and nail for years to do so," he said.
 
The case was different from the finding with National Grid because that utility had not been forced into the contract, Price said.
 
"When Congress has reserved this field exclusively for the federal government, any state action within it is preempted," he said.
 
The state may have negotiated what it wanted out of the contract but it isn't clear that it forced NStar to agree to it, Stearns said.
 
"Why isn't NStar standing with you?" Stearns said about NStar's lawyer sitting with Casey and Cape Wind lawyer David Rosenzweig. NStar was named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
 
"That's a question for NStar," Price said. "Maybe they don't care because they're not the ones bearing the cost."
 
The clear pass through of the project's above-market cost to consumers is why the plaintiffs are able to claim harm under the alleged violation of the Commerce Clause, Price said.
 
The Department of Energy Resources was a party to the DPU contract review but had no ability to force NStar to accept the contract's terms, Rosenzweig said.
 
The Department of Energy Resources was a party to the DPU contract review but had no ability to force NStar to accept the contract's terms, Rosenzweig said.
 
"You can't have coercion when you don't have actual authority," he said.
 
The Cape Wind contract was only one of a dozen aspects of the merger that the department negotiated with NStar, Rosenzweig said.
 
And DPU, which had the authority to approve the contract, had no role in those negotiations, he said.
NStar was under pressure to close the merger with Northeast Utilities and the energy resources department's support was clearly important in that effort, Price said.
 
Stearns, however, continued to balk at the idea that any pressure on NStar was unlawful.
 
"I'm not speaking as an environmentalist because I'm not one and it's not my job as a judge," he said.
Stearns said, while it was too important a matter to decide immediately, he expected to have a decision on the motions to dismiss within the next few days.
 
The case is the latest in a long line of legal challenges to the 130-turbine wind farm in Nantucket Sound.
 
Alliance president Audra Parker said her organization is awaiting final action on those matters and considering future appeals.
 
Cape Wind officials declined to comment after Tuesday's hearing.
 
 
 
 
 

RSN: More Than 2/3rds of Afghanistan Reconstruction Money Has Gone to One Company, corporate welfare, Ralph Nader Rolls Back the Stone, et al



It's Live on the HomePage Now:
Reader Supported News



Andy Borowitz | Sterling Says He Will Miss Being Around People He Hates
Donald Sterling. (photo: Reuters)
Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker
Borowitz writes: "After being banned by the N.B.A. Tuesday afternoon, the Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling told reporters that he would miss being around people he hates."
READ MORE

Charles Pierce | Ralph Nader Rolls Back the Stone
Charles Pierce, Esquire
Pierce writes: "The best thing that ever happened to the careers of John Roberts and Samuel Alito, and the worst thing that ever happened to the Voting Rights Act, campaign-finance regulation, minority students in Michigan, the people of Iraq, the people of New Orleans, and the people of the United States generally, is back."
READ MORE

Ralph Nader | The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State
Ralph Nader, The Nader Page
Nader writes: "Establish rigorous procedures to evaluate the claims of businesses looking for a government handout which would end most corporate welfare and bailouts."
READ MORE

More Than 2/3rds of Afghanistan Reconstruction Money Has Gone to One Company
Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov
Brinkerhoff writes: "If not for the federal government, contractor DynCorp International wouldn't be in business. Virtually all of its revenue (96%) comes from government contracts. That includes the vast majority of the taxpayer dollars that the State Department has awarded to companies to help rebuild Afghanistan."
READ MORE

Jeffrey Toobin | Yes, John Roberts, Race Still Matters
Jeffrey Toobin, The New Yorker
Toobin writes: "Bundy and Sterling represent an ugly corner of contemporary American life, but it is one that is entirely invisible in recent Supreme Court rulings."
READ MORE

Senate: Americans Don't Need to Know Drone Death Toll
Spencer Ackerman, Guardian UK
Ackerman reports: "At the behest of the director of national intelligence, US senators have removed a provision from a major intelligence bill that would require the president to publicly disclose information about drone strikes and their victims."
READ MORE

Elizabeth Kucinich | The Link Between Parkinson's and Your Produce
Elizabeth Kucinich, Reader Supported News
Kucinich writes: "According to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, one major environmental factor is pesticide exposure. A meta-analysis in 2012 found that those who live in rural areas or near farming communities where pesticides are used are at a greater risk of developing Parkinson's."
READ MORE

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

RSN: Excerpt From The Battle for Justice in Palestine





It's Live on the HomePage Now:
Reader Supported News



FOCUS: Glenn Greenwald | Excerpt From The Battle for Justice in Palestine
Glenn Greenwald. (photo: AP)
Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
Greenwald writes: "Like most of what he writes and says, Ali Abunimah's new book, The Battle for Justice in Palestine, is provocative, erudite, impassioned, aggressive, and certain to make even some political allies uncomfortable with their tacitly held beliefs."
READ MORE

DemocracyNow!: "As Consumers, We are Guinea Pigs": Vermont Set to Become First State to Require GMO Food Labeling, et al


Please consider subscribing to DemocracyNOW! and supporting them for impartial reporting you won't find in the Big Money Corporate Media.

Stories


The National Basketball Association is set to announce its response to the racist comments of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling heard on a secret recording of an argument with ... Read More →

The United States and the European Union have imposed new sanctions on Russia that target individuals and companies linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. The moves ... Read More →

Vermont is poised to become the first state to require the labeling of genetically modified organisms in food products. Governor Peter Shumlin said he would sign the pro-GMO-labeling bill as ... Read More →









RSN: The Real Secret to Beating the Koch Brothers



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FOCUS | The Real Secret to Beating the Koch Brothers
David Koch. (photo collage: Salon)
Lindsay Abrams, Salon
Abrams writes: "Lacking confidence in the power of the picket sign or citizen engagement on oil-funded big government, they instead decided to approach the program at the most basic level. Their weapon of choice is a principle known as home rule."
READ MORE

Center for Public Integrity: Federal judges plead guilty

The Center for Public Integrity does impressive investigation and reporting, offering a free email subscription. Please consider subscribing to and supporting their endeavors.

Excerpts from a recent article are included below, click on the link to view its entirety.



When Massachusetts was debating Gambling Legislation, it was reported that a State Senator [Rosenberg] and Trust Fund Baby Greg Bialecki, Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Economic Development both owned stock and stood to profit from the legislation. [Greg Bialecki was Governor 'Slot Barns' Patrick's point person on the Predatory Gambling Legislation.]

We have much work to do to restore confidence and integrity!

Federal judges plead guilty

Juris imprudence: Litigants reeling after judges admit conflicts of interest

By

April 28, 2014


Guillermo Ramirez did not live long enough to learn that one of the judges in his case against DuPont owned stock in the chemical company. He died last year of cancer that he and his family believed he got from a DuPont fungicide that he had applied to his strawberry fields. Now his family is wondering whether his case will be reopened due to the Center’s findings about the judge’s conflict of interest in the case. His wife, Francisca Ramirez, and children, Veronica Juan, Abdiel Ramirez and Erika Baca (clockwise from left), visit his grave in Tampa, Fla., in April 2014.
Edward Linsmier
 
 
 

Key findings:

  • The Center found 26 examples since 2010 where federal appellate judges ruled on cases in which they had a financial conflict.
  • Sixteen judges in all 26 of those cases had letters sent to the litigants to alert them of the mistakes. The letters are the first step in possibly reopening the cases.
  • Fifty-nine percent of the 255 federal appellate judges the Center reviewed reported owning stock.
  • Total reported assets, including stock and other investments, for the judges was valued between $585 million and $1.8 billion, as calculated by the Center.
  • More than 110 of judges had some information on their financial disclosure reports blacked out in 2012, including information about gifts, income and investments.
 
 
When Linda Wolicki-Gables and her husband appealed a lawsuit all the way to the second-highest court in the nation against Johnson & Johnson over a malfunctioning medication pump that had been implanted in her body, the couple had no idea that one of the judges who decided their case had a financial stake in the giant multinational company.
Eleventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James Hill owned as much as $100,000 in Johnson & Johnson stock when he and two other judges ruled against the Gables’ appeal in the precedent-setting case.
For the Gables, a different decision in the 2011 appeal could have helped them win a verdict for as much as $20 million, a sum that would have vastly improved the quality of her care, according to their attorney, T. Patton Youngblood Jr. Today, the Florida woman is a partial paraplegic, he said, largely confined to her home with only her husband to care for her.
The Center also found that Hill ruled on three other appeals involving companies in which he owned stock, violating clear rules governing the federal courts. In all four instances, the court rulings favored his financial interest. In a statement released by the court, Hill said he was not aware of those stock holdings at the time due to the complexity of his family’s trusts.
“You like to think that people will be above board but we all know that’s not the case. You can’t presume that,” said Youngblood, the Gables’ attorney. “I don’t think it’s fair that he was able to preside over this thing. I just don’t think that’s right. That’s why they ask you for disclosures so that you don’t end up presiding over cases where you have a financial or other conflict.”
The Center for Public Integrity uncovered Hill's conflicts by examining the three most recent years of financial disclosure reports filed by 255 of the 258 judges who sit on the nation’s 13 appellate circuits. In all, the Center identified 24 cases where judges owned stock in a company with a case before them. In two other instances, judges had financial ties with law firms working on cases over which they presided, bringing the total to 26 conflicts.
After the Center notified the judges of its findings, 16 judges had letters sent to the parties in all of those cases uncovered by the Center during the months-long investigation. The letters are the first step in possibly reopening the cases.
The violations occurred even though clear rules regarding conflicts of interest exist. Federal judges may not sit on cases in which they have a financial interest, according to a federal law. A similar rule is also in place in the code of conduct established by the court system. Judges have been warned before about participating in such cases. Following a Washington Post investigation in 2006, the courts even added a computerized screening process to help judges avoid conflicts.
Yet the problems continue.
The Center’s findings point to a larger issue of accountability — or lack thereof — in the federal court system. Judges face no formal punishment for breaking these rules.
Appellate judges can affect a company’s stock price — or even an entire industry sector — with their rulings. They are also far more likely to own stock than the average American, making it all the more important for them to avoid the perception that their holdings could influence their rulings.
Some judges don’t own individual stocks at all to avoid the risk of conflicting with their cases. Many judges are extremely careful in reviewing their holdings. Yet the Center’s findings show that some judges do not keep track of their own investments, even with the help of computerized databases. Sometimes they have failed to do so repeatedly, like Hill.
“Come on guys, this is your obligation,” said Youngblood. “You tell us all the time about ignorance being no excuse.”
William G. Ross, a Samford University law professor in Alabama who specializes in judicial ethics, said such failures undermine public confidence in the judiciary.
“Considering the importance of judicial integrity and avoidance of conflicts of interest, I don’t think it is asking too much of a judge to expect him or her to know what his or her holdings are,” he said. “Even judges with significant portfolios should be familiar with their own holdings.”
 
 
Another must read:

Koch brothers, major corporations sponsor pension reform seminar for judges

By Chris Young

 
 

This & that.....


What a minute....doesn't Switzerland have universal health care? Do you see the Swiss flocking to the U.S. to escape some bogus threat?

John M. Walsh's photo.



Racism permeates the Republican party.





ღ Sue Fitzmaurice, Author ღ Quote correctly attributed to John Fugelsang, The John Fugelsang Page

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Sue Fitzmaurice, Author ღ Quote correctly attributed to John Fugelsang, The John Fugelsang Page
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ღ Sue Fitzmaurice, Author ღ




Carl Younger's photo.





The trouble is that 70% of Americans are idiots!




Food for thought. ~Scarlet



HipHopDX.com's photo.
 
I have to share this again
 
Way to go Basketball fans



Tempting Fate's photo.
 
I always like this one





The Kochs Brothers’ self-described “radical” agenda? This is what we’re up against: http://www.reid.senate.gov/koch-facts