Free Republic

Mac clone maker defends Rebel EFI, likens it to 'reading a book in the bathroom'Mac clone maker Psystar last week indefinitely suspended sales of its only product, a $50 utility that lets customers install Apple's Snow Leopard operating system on generic Intel-based computers. The company also said it would resume selling systems "in the coming days." Those machines will run Linux rather than Mac OS X. Psystar, which began selling Mac clones in April 2008, has been battling Apple in federal court in California since July 2008, when Apple sued the Doral, Fla. firm, saying it violated copyright laws by...

From bankruptcy to pre-nups, I've drilled deep into our analytics for 2009. Here's your top ten favorite (most viewed) posts of the year: 1. Bankruptcy for Christians Facing Financial Meltdown?2. Google Gives Glimpse of Legal Struggles Christians Face3. Good News on the Law: Can President Obama Change the Supreme Court?4. The Litigation Trap and the Christian Conciliation Alternative: Christianity 9 to 55. Good News on the Law: You Can Be a Christian at Work6. The Madoff Scandal and Three Essential Questions on Wealth7. Christian Lawyer: Not an Oxymoron8. Mortgage morality meltdown: Law prof says go ahead, stiff the bank!9. The...

After months of contentious litigation, Judge Alsup today granted Apple’s request for a permanent injunction and ruled that the injunction encompasses not only includes Snow Leopard, but Psystar’s Rebel EFI software as well. As a quick reminder, Rebel EFI is a piece of downloadable software available on Psystar’s website that allows users to install OS X onto non-Apple hardware. The order notes that Psystar has until December 31, 2009 to cease all infringing activities, with the Court specifically stating that Psystar “must immediately begin this process, and take the quickest path to compliance; thus, if compliance can be achieved within...

If President Barack Obama could snap his fingers and create 8 million new jobs, would you want him to do it? I would. And certainly the 15 million unemployed Americans would, as well. The good news is that the president can do just that --- implement a policy that opens up 8 million jobs. The bad news is that he won't. Four weeks ago, after the administration announced that the unemployment rate had hit 10.2 percent and 190,000 jobs were lost in October alone, 21 of my colleagues and I wrote to the president to recommend enforcing current immigration laws...

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq, Nov. 17, 2009 – Through a coordinated effort to improve relationships between Iraqi police and judges, the provincial reconstruction team in Iraq’s Basra province and the 17th Fires Brigade legal team set up a conference Nov. 7. Chief Judge Khazal Dabol Qasim and Iraqi Police Brig. Gen. Eedan talk during a law-enforcement community conference in Iraq’s Basra province, Nov. 7, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Maurice A. Galloway  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The four-hour conference covered topics such as the responsibilities of their respective investigation officers and the state of the facilities...

‘September 10 America.” The phrase signifies a reprise of the “terrorism is just a crime” mindset that reigned in the years before the 9/11 attacks. Like other observers, I’ve groused in recent months that we are back to that self-destructive ethos. I was wrong. If the Fort Hood atrocity tells us anything, it is that things are much worse than they were before 9/11. For one thing, 9/11 has happened. Before it did, perhaps we had an excuse. But we’ve experienced the wages of consciously avoiding Islamism. To have retreated into puerile fantasies about a religion of peace is, at...

Radio host Rush Limbaugh is interviewed on the sidelines before the start of the NFL AFC championship football game in Pittsburgh. Rush Limbaugh, who saw his bid to co-own a National Football League team sacked partly because of quotes he purportedly made regarding slavery, could have grounds for a libel suit, legal experts told Foxnews.com. The conservative radio host was dropped on Wednesday from a group seeking to buy the St. Louis Rams. Dave Checketts, chairman of the St. Louis Blues hockey team, who is leading the effort to buy the NFL team, said Limbaugh was dropped from the group...

A Gloucester attorney is going up against FOX’s Glenn Beck and is defending the creator of a controversial Web site the right-wing yakker is trying to shut down. The site, didglennbeckrapeandmurderayounggirlin1990.com, is based on a joke originally aimed at comedian Bob Saget. During a TV roast of the former “Full House” star, funnyman Gilbert Gottfried tried to squash rumors that “Bob Saget raped and killed a girl in 1990.” The Web site was created last month by a Florida man, Isaac Eiland-Hall, after an online post - “Why haven’t we had an official response to the rumor that Glenn Beck...

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius has not only given immunity to the makers of Tamiflu and Relenza for injuries stemming from their use against swine flu, she has granted immunity to future swine flu vaccines and “any associated adjuvants”. The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu, thousands filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time around, they will have no recourse. The 2006 Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (the PREP Act) allows the DHHS Secretary to invoke almost complete immunity from liability...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin emerged from a two-month absence from public view with a private talk, heavy on foreign policy, to a group of investors in Hong Kong. Palin was paid an undisclosed amount, said to be in the low six figures, for the 90-minute speech. She has said one of the reasons she resigned was to pay legal bills that have topped $500,000. The speech was closed to reporters, but Palin later posted lengthy excerpts on her Facebook page. "This speech had very little to do with advancing her political career and more to do with advancing her...

I'm in the middle of an audit and I need records from a company that went bankrupt recently. The name is True North Home Systems in Kennebunk Maine. I last contacted them in January and they have since went belly-up. I have been in contact with the locality, (no response/ answer) and have been to the State dept of commerce, state atty gen, state court and nothing of any consequence has been provided. Am I looking in the right place?

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that Section 13, Canada's much-criticized human rights hate speech law, is an unconstitutional violation of the Charter right to free expression because of its penalty provisions. The decision released Wednesday morning by tribunal chair Athanasios Hadjis appears to strip the Canadian Human Rights Commission of its controversial legal mandate to pursue hate on the Internet, which it has strenuously defended against complaints of censorship. It also marks the first major failure of Section 13(1) of the Canadian Human Rights Act, an anti-hate law that was conceived in the 1960s to target racist telephone...

SAN ANTONIO, Aug. 17 -- The trial of a Texas judge charged with refusing to hear a last-minute appeal in a death penalty case got under way Monday in San Antonio. The Texas Commission on Judicial Misconduct charged Chief Justice Sharon Keller of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in February with bringing “public discredit” on the Texas justice system in the case of Michael Wayne Richard. He was executed Sept. 25, 2007, after Keller refused to take the appeal and failed to refer his lawyers to the judge assigned to the case. Richard was executed the same day the...

Fox News Channel host Glenn Beck says people should be focusing on the goals President Obama is pursuing and the way he is reaching them instead of questioning his eligibility to be president. "I have to tell you, the – I mean, first of all, the birther thing, what are you going to do. Even if it was true, what, are you going to take him out of office?" he said today on his radio show. "You can't do that."--WND We should do both! As Joe Farah correctly observes if Obama would simply make public his long-form birth certificate, all...

The last time the government embarked on a major vaccine campaign against a new swine flu, thousands filed claims contending they suffered side effects from the shots. This time, the government has already taken steps to head that off. Vaccine makers and federal officials will be immune from lawsuits that result from any new swine flu vaccine, under a document signed by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, government health officials said Friday. Since the 1980s, the government has protected vaccine makers against lawsuits over the use of childhood vaccines. Instead, a federal court handles claims and decides...

Iran threatened the United States yesterday with possible legal action for detaining five of its officials for up to 30 months in Iraq. The five Iranians were given a hero's welcome home after their release last week, waving and smiling as they stepped from their plane at Tehran's Mehrabad airport to be met by their families. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who was also there to greet them, denounced their detention as "inhumane". The capture of the Iran-ians, some of whom US forces accused of arming Shiite Muslim militias at the height of Iraq's sectarian war, stoked tension between Tehran and...

"From the point of view of international law these settlers are as legal as any resident of Manhattan or Shreveport, Louisianna." "On The Rights of Settlers" written by Shmuel Katz is an excellent article that refutes the lies of "illegal" Israeli settlements constantly peddled by Islamists and leftist Dhimmis alike.

A coworker of mine say's that it is illegal to not have valid identification on thier posession. Is this true? Can a person be arrested or cited because they cannot produce identification when asked for by a police officer? Thanks for any insight.

A convicted terrorist can sue a former Bush administration lawyer for drafting the legal theories that led to his alleged torture, ruled a federal judge has ruled who said he was trying to balance a clash between war and the defense of personal freedoms.

To watch the LEGAL voters in Clark County, Washington tell 2 commissioners that "comparing Social Security numbers of people who get county benefits to the Federal Database, is profiling", is rediculous. Click on Public Comment to see the dozen or so who verbally chastised these 2 commissioners

Arguments that had been expected to be taking place before a federal appeals court right about now on whether U.S. citizens have a right to know that their president is eligible for the office he holds have been delayed. Philip Berg, the first lawyer to take the issue of Barack Obama’s compliance with the U.S. Constitution’s requirements for president to court, says he’s been told by officials with the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the oral arguments in his Berg vs. Obama case, No. 088-4340, have been put off.

Home furnishing giant Ikea has launched legal proceedings over the rights to the domain name iloveikea.se, a site which currently specializes in selling used Ikea furniture. The site, which is modeled after the popular Swedish buy-and-sell site blocket.se, has been operating for about a month. Ikea has now asked the Internet Infrastructure Foundation (Stiftelsen för internetinfrastruktur), the body responsible for registering domain names ending in ‘.se’, to help resolve the dispute over iloveikea.se, claiming the site infringes on the Ikea brand. “It’s obvious that a visitor to a homepage with the description iloveikea as the impression that it is the...

Laying out the Bush administration's case for treatment of terror suspects, former Vice President Dick Cheney challenged the Obama administration to declassify information about the intelligence gleaned from enhanced interrogation techniques. "Releasing the interrogation memos was flatly contrary to the national security interest of the United States," Cheney said Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute. "The harm done only begins with top secret information now in the hands of the terrorists, who have just received a lengthy insert for their training manual." "I was and remain a strong proponent of our enhanced interrogation program," Cheney said. "They were legal, essential,...

ST PAUL: The court order authorizing electroshock treatments for Ray Sandford says that when he arrived at a psychiatric hospital early last year, he was “grossly psychotic” and violent toward staff and other patients. Sandford, who has been declared legally incompetent, said he agreed to the treatments at first, but after more than 40 of them he finds it hard to remember names and other things. His bipolar disorder is under control, he says, and he should have the right to say no. The court disagrees, but advocates of the mentally ill who call themselves the “mad pride” movement have...

I have a malpractice lawsuit I'm hoping to file, and I need to know if I've waited too long. Not long ago I had developed some severe back problems such that I couldn't walk, and was trying to apply for temporary disability benefits from my job. One day I got a call from my Primary Care Physician, who had been out because of a back injury herself and had not seen me for this problem. She said she had just received the paperwork for my disability application, and she then proceeded to berate me for being in pain, saying that...

A court in Iran has heard an appeal by Roxana Saberi, the US-Iranian reporter charged with spying, against her eight-year prison sentence. Saberi's lawyer said on Sunday that he was optimistic the verdict against the 32-year-old would be overturned. Saberi's appeal was heard before a panel of three judges, and representatives of the Iranian Bar Association, but was not open to the public. The appeal was originally scheduled for Tuesday, and it is not known why the hearing was brought forward. Reports say Saberi looked "pale and gaunt" when she arrived for the closed-door hearing. Appeal verdict 'likely'Abdolsamad Khorramshahi, Saberi's...

Conventional wisdom states that recent U.S. authorization of coercive interrogation techniques, and the legal decisions that sanctioned them, constitute a dramatic break with the past. This is false. U.S. interrogation policy well prior to 9/11 has allowed a great deal more flexibility than the high-minded legal prohibitions of coercive tactics would suggest: all interrogation methods allegedly authorized since 9/11, with the possible exception of waterboarding, have been authorized before. The conventional wisdom thus elides an intrinsic characteristic of all former and current laws on interrogation: they are vague and contestable, and thus, when context so demands, manipulable.

Earlier this month, the Treasury Department quietly hired three law firms and a consulting firm for advice on restructurings and potential bankruptcies in the auto industry. Treasury did not issue a press release announcing the hirings, even through the contracts with the law firms were among the biggest yet for work on the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. The deals drew scant coverage beyond trade publications. Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP, Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP and Haynes and Boone LLP got six-month contracts worth as much as $8.59 million each, or $25.8 million total. Reports that the...

In one of the more engaging, convincing and easily understood presentations I've ever seen, Prof. James Duane of the Regent University School of Law explains why even angels devoid of the slightest moral blemish should never speak to police officers, tax collectors or other law-enforcement agents investigating crimes. Duane assumes no malice on the part of the police -- just human failings and motivations. In a 27-minute lecture, he details the legal pitfalls people can wander into even by telling the absolute truth. Of course, "innocence" is relative. At the very beginning of the video, Prof. Duane addresses the --...

In a time of massive Ponzi schemes and widespread financial turmoil, it is important for people to feel they can speak up when they believe that something improper is being done.  The protection of free speech was given a big boost this past week with a $545,000 settlement, which wrapped-up over three-and-a-half years of court cases. During that time, Elizabeth Enney lost both parents, survived a fifth heart surgery and paid more than $300,000 to defend herself against two libel lawsuits ultimately found to have been without any basis in law or fact.  The lawsuits were described by Enney’s lawyer,...

   Sales of guns, ammo still high by: KELLY BOSTIAN World Outdoors WriterFriday, March 13, 2009 3/13/2009 11:16:57 AM Correction: This story originally reported the wrong years when comparing the number of permit applications. The cutline incorrectly identified the .40 and .45 caliber bullets. The story and cutline have been corrected. Related Story: Liberals told to leave: An instructor for a hunter safety course orders Obama voters to get out of his class. Four months after the election of President Barack Obama, firearms and ammunition sales in Tulsa remain at a fever pitch. Popular self-protection ammunition is often sold...

Tuesday March 3, 2009 "Any" Person Can Be Listed as "Second Parent" for IVF Children: New UK Regulations By John JalsevacMarch 3, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Women who conceive a child through in vitro fertilization (IVF) or sperm donation can name "any" person as the second parent, as long as the person consents to the arrangement, and is not a close relation of the mother, according to new UK regulations.The new rules, put forward by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), blow wide open the doors on what it means to be a parent, making it possible for women...

A governor’s councilor this week pilloried a judicial nominee who said he’d bend over backward to protect law-abiding residents - essentially accusing the would-be judge of being too tough on crime. Garry V. Inge, who was nominated by Gov. Deval Patrick to the Superior Court bench in Boston, withstood a withering line of questions by Councilor Tom Merrigan on Wednesday after writing in his application that judges should sentence criminals “to maximize the protection of the public.” Merrigan, a Democrat, quickly pounced on the statement. “You said something here that concerned me . . . about whenever possible to maximize...

NEW DELHI: Can voters cast "negative votes" during an election and reject all the candidates in the fray? The Supreme Court on Monday referred a lawsuit on the matter to a larger constitution bench, saying the issue was crucial for democracy. A bench of Justice B N Agrawal and Justice G S Singhvi said it needs to be examined if the voters' right to exercise his franchise is also linked to the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression. Recommending examination of the matter by the constitution bench, the judges said that the matter be placed before Chief Justice...

Alan Keyes: Stop Obama or U.S. will cease to exist Claims 'communist usurper' plunges country into chaos February 21, 2009 By Drew Zahn © 2009 WorldNetDaily Alan Keyes, a 2008 presidential candidate who is also a plaintiff in one of the many lawsuits challenging Barack Obama's constitutional eligibility to occupy the Oval Office, charged at a pro-life rally that unless Obama's social and economic policies are stopped, the United States as we know it is over. Keyes' comments were part of an interview with a reporter from KHAS-TV at a fundraiser for the AAA Crisis Pregnancy Center in Hastings, Neb....

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Feb. 19, 2009 – Legal personnel from the 1st Infantry Division’s 3rd Brigade Combat Team are working to improve governance and promote legal awareness throughout Afghanistan. Army Master Sgt. Timothy Conner and Army Capt. Michael Vincent take notes as local leaders explain the needs of their respective villages during a meeting to promote legal awareness throughout Afghanistan. U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Charles Wolfe  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The soldiers spend a significant portion of their time helping Afghan officials gain support of a court system and a universal set of laws among a...

The US Constitution is toast with this "porkulus bill" shoved down our throats in secrecy, we are now pretty much guaranteed that our Republic is gone. It's been coming for some time, as many of us have been warning. The Utopians in Congress and the Obama Branch have done so much harm to our Republic in these first few weeks they have been in power it is now obvious that we are losing the political battle for our Nation. History has shown that "power corrupts absolutely". However, that very axiom has also shown, once realized, that it can be the...

The Amsterdam Court of Appeals has ordered the criminal prosecution of a Dutch Member of Parliament for criticizing Islam. The court’s ruling overturns a previous decision by Dutch public prosecutors, who had determined that there was not enough evidence to charge Geert Wilders, leader of the conservative Freedom Party, for hate crimes after he produced a hard-hitting film that says Islam promotes violence. In a written judgment, the appeals court said that “by attacking the symbols of the Muslim religion, [Wilders] also insulted Muslim believers.” The ruling will please the Dutch Muslim immigrant groups who asked the appeals court to...

A tech guru from Facebook may jump into the Democratic race for state attorney general, joining potential candidates Kamala Harris, San Francisco's district attorney, and Rocky Delgadillo, Los Angeles' city attorney. Chris Kelly, chief privacy officer at the social networking site and former education adviser under ex-President Bill Clinton doesn't have traditional AG credentials like Harris and Delgadillo. But supporters say Kelly is well-versed in information technology, white-collar crime, identity theft and other Internet-related issues. His candidacy in next year's election has been a buzz in the Silicon Valley. Facebook spokesman Barry Schnitt said "neither Chris nor Facebook are commenting...

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq, Feb. 2, 2009 – As the Iraqi security forces continue to improve their ability to protect Iraq’s people, a strong judicial branch that can help bring criminals to justice becomes increasingly important. “I think the [Iraqi legal system] is improving,” Army Capt. Ronald Alcala, Multinational Division Center’s rule of law chief, said. Coalition forces have had a huge impact by helping to professionalize the Iraqi forces and providing training on crime-scene management and investigative procedures, he added. The Iraqi legal system places more of an emphasis on testimonial evidence, usually from two or more witnesses, and less...

PANAJI: Moo! A strange sound was heard near a court. And the sight of a cow just outside the court brought for an identification parade was stranger still. A large crowd gathered to witness a unique judicial proceeding in Valpoi, located about 70 km from state capital Panaji, where a cow made its appearance just outside a local magistrate's court. The rusty brown bovine along with its owner was ordered to be present to complete the identification parade in a criminal case, filed at the Valpoi police station last year, where two men were accused of attempting to slaughter a...

Supreme Court Steps Closer to Repeal of Evidence Ruling By ADAM LIPTAK Published: January 30, 2009 The Reagan administration’s attacks on the exclusionary rule — a barrage of speeches, opinion articles, litigation and proposed legislation — never gained much traction. But now that young lawyer, John G. Roberts Jr., is chief justice of the United States. This month, Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority in Herring v. United States, a 5-to-4 decision, took a big step toward the goal he had discussed a quarter-century before. Taking aim at one of the towering legacies of the Warren Court, its landmark...

The Obama administration backed off Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s statement last week that China is “manipulating” its currency. In an interview with CNBC on Thursday, Vice President Joe Biden said the administration has made “no judgment” on whether the Chinese have manipulated their currency, an accusation that would have international legal ramifications. “The policy of this administration is going to be to say to China, which occasionally the last administration was reluctant to do. `You're a major player on the world scene economically, and you've got to play by the rules that

Afghanistan: With enemy spies in custody, Capt. Roger Hill faced an impossible situation; the choice he made is costing him his career | A West Point graduate with a degree in environmental engineering, Capt. Roger Hill was by all accounts an up-and-coming young officer. He had completed the Army's punishing Airborne and Ranger schools, earned three Army Commendation medals and, during a 12-month combat tour in Iraq, received a Bronze Star for meritorious service. His fitness reports reflected a dedicated leader whose superiors wrote ringing recommendations for promotion. The men who served under him also showed confidence in his leadership:...

Kyndra Rotunda: Author of "Honor Bound," JAG Officer in the U.S. Army Individual Ready Reserve, and Chapman University School of Law Visiting Assistant Professor on Dennis Miller.

WASHINGTON — A federal intelligence court, in a rare public opinion, is expected to issue a major ruling validating the power of the president and Congress to wiretap international phone calls and intercept e-mail messages without a court order, even when Americans’ private communications may be involved, according to a person with knowledge of the opinion.

It's time again for the annual "Stella Awards"! For those unfamiliar with these awards, they are named after 81-year-old Stella Liebeck who spilled hot coffee on herself and successfully sued the McDonald's in New Mexico where she purchased the coffee. You remember..... she took the lid off the coffee and put it between her knees while she was driving. Who would ever think one could get burned doing that - right? That's right, these are awards for the most outlandish lawsuits and verdicts in the U.S. You know, the kinds of cases that make you scratch your head. So keep...

Sixteen appointees and advisers helping president-elect Barack Obama's Justice Department transition efforts all recently sat on the board of an organization little known outside legal circles: The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy. The liberal legal network, which blossomed during eight years of Democratic exile, counts as its veterans Obama’s choice for attorney general, Eric Holder: Vice President-elect Joe Biden's chief of staff, Ron Klain; and future White House Staff Secretary Lisa Brown. Seven other recent board members are advising the incoming administration on legal, education, and labor-related issues. Theresa Wynn Roseborough is rumored to be a top candidate...

I got this from a Woman Marine I know. We are looking for someone who can help this Marine legally with his problems who lives in his area. Can anyone assist us? A phone number, a reference of who we can go to? Cpl John Lake is one of your young veteran's. I've become one of his friends/admirers. Ok I don't know a lot about him, but he's one of our warriors living in the VA hospital with a TBI. (Traumatic Brain Injury) What more do I need to know... I learned this weekend some details that I assume are...

Obama talking about decriminalizing drugs