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Legal Guides
Jun
27
Grant Park
Filed Under Chicago | 2 Comments
Grant Park. Photo by Christopher Hedges
Jun
26
Historic 2nd Amendment Decision
Filed Under Second Amendment, Supreme Court | 6 Comments
Photo by Horizontal.Integration
People are allowed to have handguns in their homes, if they aren’t disqualified from exercising their Second Amendment rights, holds the U.S. Supreme Court majority in District of Columbia v. Heller (PDF), 554 U.S. ___ (2008).
In sum, we hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense. Assuming that Heller is not disqualified from the exercise of Second Amendment rights, the District must permit him to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.
The Court split between conservatives and liberals. Justice Scalia delivered the Court’s opinion with Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kennedy, Thomas, and Alito joining. Justice Stevens filed a dissenting opinion and Justices Souter, Ginsurg, and Breyer joined. Justice Breyer also filed a dissenting opinion and he was joined by Justices Stevens, Souter and Ginsburg.
Justice Stevens writes in his dissent:
When each word in the text is given full effect, the Amendment is most naturally read to secure to the people a right to use and possess arms in conjunction with service in a well-regulated militia.
It will be interesting to see the Supreme Court’s Heller decision has any effect on Gary, Indiana’s lawsuit against gun manufacturers.
It also underscores how important the 2008 presidential election will be if any of the justices retire during the 44th president’s term. In this case, it showed a differences between the Justices — the majority was in favor of individual liberties while the minority favored collective (in the form of a government militia) rights.
Jun
25
E85 Price Reports
Filed Under E85, E85 / Alt Fuels, E85 prices | Leave a Comment
There are several E85 ethanol price tools available on the net.
E85 prices is listed first on Google, but it isn’t necessarily the best for people looking for E85 ethanol prices and fuel stations — especially in these days when E85 ethanol prices can vary greatly between stations and regions.
The best of the bunch is altfuelprices.com — it lists all of the major alternative fuels available on a Google-based map. Another advantage is that AltFuelPrices.com lets people report prices without registering. If you’re driving around and spot a station offering E85 ethanol, go ahead and report the price so that you can help out your fellow motorists.
I wish GasBuddy and GaryGasPrices.com took E85 ethanol price reports since it would open E85 ethanol price reporting to a wider audience. Maybe one of these days, those services will add the option for alternative fuel price reporting.
Jun
25
Outsource or be outsourced?
Filed Under outsourcing | Leave a Comment
Photo by Paul Keller
Soon it will be possible to outsource most of our employment to overseas countries — mind-numbing and body-destroying factory jobs have been heading overseas for years — and companies are now sending legal work, IT and other white-collar assignments overseas.
Your local newspaper might be part of the next great industry that will originate overseas via outsourcing because the work of putting together a paper is cheaper in India. Several papers are already using Indian companies to edit the pages of American newspapers.
Business Week reports that the Orange County Register will outsource copy editing to overseas workers during a one-month trial. Officials at the newspaper said sending the paper overseas to be edited will improve the paper’s local focus — possibly by reducing expenses so that workers won’t have to be laid off. Feel free to insert your joke here about how it is deemed necessary to send a newspaper overseas to improve it’s local focus. (H/T to fellow Indiana blogger Ruth Holladay for spotting the story).
Some might say that it is great that mind-numbing office jobs, such as copy editing and years-long discovery document review of ever proliferating terabytes of ESI from company hard-drives and email archives is going overseas because it could free us up to advance our personal and national economies by focusing more on creative enterprises.
Could the end of dull and repetitive assignments free us up to pursue our highest callings to figure out the next great solutions to life’s problems? Or, will we suffer the fate of the buggy whip workers who lost their jobs and were never heard from again because they failed to adapt to changing economic challenges and opportunities?
Might we reach a time when we will all be bosses sending the tedious tasks overseas to be completed? Tim Ferriss advocates outsourcing your own work assignments, including our own personal assignments to free up time to travel the world and make money on the internet and other ventures.
Could it be that the way to “beat” outsourcing is to embrace it wholeheartedly?
Video: OC Register Outsources Editing To India
Video: Fired!
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