Free Republic

Ratcheting up her offensive against the news media, Gov. Sarah Palin’s attorney threatened Saturday to sue mainstream news organizations if they publish “defamatory” stories relating to whether Palin is under federal investigation. In an extraordinary four-page letter, Alaska-based attorney Thomas Van Flein warns of severe consequences should speculation that until now has largely been confined to blogs about whether Palin embezzled funds in the construction of a Wasilla, Alaska, sports arena find its way into print. “This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and...

'Sanctions' sought in eligibility case President's attorneys file motion demanding birth, college records be withheld from public February 13, 2009 By Bob Unruh © 2009 WorldNetDaily A high-powered team of Los Angeles attorneys representing President Obama in his effort to keep his birth certificate, college records and passport documents concealed from the public has suggested there should be "monetary sanctions" against a lawyer whose clients have brought a complaint alleging Obama doesn't qualify for the Oval Office under the Constitution's demand for a "natural born" citizen in that post. The suggestion came in an exchange of e-mails and documents in...

HOWDY FREEPERS!!!!!!!This morning my op-ed focuses on one of Oklahoma's most well respected bloggers.Michael Bates is a well respected blogger who authors the blog Batesline (http://www.batesline.com) He also writes a column for an alternative media source, Urban Tulsa Weekly.When Michael composes a blog one of the things he always takes care to do is research his material for his blogs and get his facts straight.Recently, Mr. Bates was hit with a lawsuit by World Publishing Company, publishers of the Tulsa World. Apparently this had to do with a piece he composed on January 15 regarding the World's declining circulation.Now, here...

I never imagined that in America, I could be sued for speaking about politics. My ordeal began in early 2006 when my husband, Wes, and I heard about a petition being circulated seeking to annex our unincorporated neighborhood ... We researched the issue and decided that the extra layer of government wouldn't provide better services, while our sales tax would skyrocket. We'd be paying more for less. We own a print shop, so Wes used some scraps and made a couple of yard signs. One said "No Annexation" and the other said "Annexation Is A Permanent Tax Increase." We planted...

Kathleen Seidel is a New Hampshire mother of two. She runs a blog, Neurodiversity.com, about autism--a topic of special interest to her as one of her children had an "autistic spectrum diagnosis." There is a theory that thimerosal, a preservative formerly used in vaccines, causes autism. Seidel has written skeptically of that theory, and of the trial lawyers who have sought to cash in on it. Last month one of those lawyers, Clifford Shoemaker, had Seidel served with a subpoena demanding that she report for a deposition and produce a voluminous collection of documents, described in her motion to quash...

A packet for educators issued by the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) in conjunction with the NOVA program "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" encourages teaching practices that are probably unconstitutional, a conservative organization stated on Tuesday. "The NOVA/PBS teaching guide encourages the injection of religion into classroom teaching about evolution in a way that likely would violate current Supreme Court precedents about the First Amendment's Establishment Clause," said John West, vice president for public policy and legal affairs at the Discovery Institute, in a news release. The 22-page document is a companion piece to the two-hour NOVA docudrama, "Judgment Day,"...

GOVERNMENT SCHOOL TO SUE ... a parent? The government school district in Galveston, Texas is threatening to sue a parent for what the school district says is libelous material on the parent's website. http://news.galvestondailynews.com/story.lasso?ewcd=67e7147b74f58ff1 Sandra Tetley runs a site – www.gisdwatch.com – where she posts information about the local government school system and its officials. If she does not remove the statements from the website, the district plans to sue her. Tetley accuses trustees and administrators of breaking the law. Her group, Galveston Alliance for Neighborhood schools, has a history of criticizing the district for reconfiguring its middle schools, closing...

<p>I am being sued for something that happened at the December 2000 Freep of Joe Lieberman.</p> <p>JimRob has allowed me to hold an internet fundraiser to help defray the costs of my lawyers fees.</p> <p>I am broke and thousands of dollars in debt, and depending on how much I can collect here, I amnot sure if I can continue or work to sign a mutual release if offered.</p>

I just finished reading this book 'Be Careful Who You SLAPP' by Michelangelo Delfino and Mary E. Day. The book is about a California company Varian Medical Systems that illegally uses the courts to try and silence a couple of whistleblowers who publish information about the company having produced hard core pornography, using hidden surveillance to videotape company restrooms, and executives engaged in adultery, etc. What the book doesn't tell you because it's two years old you is that the story continues and is now before the California Supreme Court. Pretty wild stuff!

Suing to Silence? RadioShack turns its legal guns on a middle-class web site operator. By Dan Malone RadioShack's headquarters complex is going up along with the company's legal costs. Even as RadioShack's new headquarters rises from mounds of dirt on the northern edge of downtown Fort Worth, complaints about the company's overtime policies are turning into a mountain of their own. More than 3,300 current or former RadioShack managers across the nation, including 310 from Texas, have "opted-in'' to a class action lawsuit alleging that the company required them to work long hours without overtime pay. That means almost half...

Why Sing When You Can Sue? Barbra Streisand Hits Aerial Photographer With $50 Million Lawsuit Thank God the constitution enables all citizens to exercise their freedom of speech to say what they believe. That's what's great about democracy and what's great about this country. - Barbra Streisand, "My Thoughts On Freedom Of Speech," www.barbrastreisand.com (posted March 24, 2003)The California Coastline Project, dedicated to photographing the entire length of the left coast in sequence for environmental purposes, finds itself crosswise with one of the most vocal self-espoused environmentalists in America - singer Barbra Streisand. Streisand is suing the non-profit organization, The...

What would happen if a powerful union sued a think tank for accurately quoting the union’s president in a letter to its supporters? Anyone who went to law school will recognize that as the kind of far-fetched hypothetical that law professors dream up in order to spark classroom discussion. But this is no hypothetical. On Sept. 27, 2001, Luigi Battaglieri, the head of the Michigan Education Assn., called a press conference to trumpet the opening of the Great Lakes Center for Education Research and Practice. The new organization was being created to provide intellectual ammunition for the public-education establishment —...