Legal Commentary

YPPSYS College Football Rankings and Ratings 2010/2011 NCAA FBS (Division I-A) after Week 9 of Play are Up at SportPundit

Posted on October 31, 2010
For U.S. college football fans, the YPPSYS College Football Rankings and Ratings 2010/2011 NCAA FBS (Division I-A) after Week 9 of Play are up at SportPundit.

Ryanair Reducing Operations in Germany because of Ill-Conceived German Tourist Tax

Posted on October 29, 2010
Government greed for new tax monies, from whatever source, is endless. The new German tourist tax, however, threatens to cost much more money than it will bring in. We read: Ryanair axes 1,000 jobs at German airport - Business News, Business - The Independent (Hat tip to CaryGEE...

Best Places in USA to Raise Kids: 2010 at Business Week: Lincoln is Tops in Nebraska, see the Other 49 States

Posted on October 28, 2010
Business Week presents the 2010 USA list by State of the Best Places to Raise Your Kids. I am lucky. I grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska, which topped the list for that State. See the other 49 here.

Legal System Under Fire by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce: Kenneth R. Feinberg Defends Law in Everyday Life in America

Posted on October 27, 2010
Jim Snyder at Bloomberg News in Feinberg Defends Legal System, Rejecting U.S. Chamber?s Campaign reports that:"Kenneth R. Feinberg, the attorney running BP Plc?s fund for victims of the Gulf oil spill, told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce not to use his efforts as an argument to revamp the U...

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Dollars and Sense and Rare Earths: Foreign Exchange Reserves: China Leads the World While the USA Ranks a Distant 15th

Posted on October 27, 2010
No money? No surprise. That money is overseas. Take a look at these graphics from the Wikipedia showing the world's foreign exchange reserves by country and/or region: China leads the world while the USA ranks a distant 15th -- China holds 20 times more foreign exchange reserves than the USA (!)...

USA and the World: A Reality Check for America is Desperately Needed to Get the Country Back on the Right Track: Political Populism and Tea Parties are Not Going to Ge the Job Done

Posted on October 27, 2010
The USA is: "sixth in global innovation-based competitiveness, but 40th in rate of change over the last decade; 11th among industrialized nations in the fraction of 25- to 34-year-olds who have graduated from high school; 16th in college completion rate; 22nd in broadband Internet access; 24th in life expectancy at birth; 27th among developed nations in the proportion of college students receiving degrees in science or engineering; 48th in quality of K-12 math and science education; and 29th in the number of mobile phones per 100 people...

The YPPSYS College Football Rankings and Ratings 2010/2011 NCAA FBS (Division I-A) after Week 8 of Play are up at SportPundit

Posted on October 26, 2010
For U.S. NCAA college football fans, especially those who see the failings of BCS and the national polls (gee, who did they have ranked first last week, and the week before?), SportPundit now has posted the generally sensible YPPSYS rankings and ratings for FBS college football teams taking into account the 8th week of play...

The YPPSYS 2010 College Football Game Predictions for Division I-A FBS -- Week 9 (Starting Tuesday, October 26, 2010) -- are up at SportPundit

Posted on October 26, 2010
The YPPSYS 2010 College Football Game Predictions for Division I-A FBS -- Week 9 (Starting Tuesday, October 26, 2010)  -- are up at SportPundit. Going into the 9th college football weekend, SportPundit is 370-102 in calling the winner and 196-188-8 against the spread...

The Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ): The Court of Justice and the General Court plus the Specialized Panels: Getting the Names Right after the Lisbon Treaty

Posted on October 25, 2010
By virtue of the Treaty of Lisbon, the Court of Justice of the European Communities recently changed its name to Court of Justice of the European Union (EU). Remarkably, as of the last time we looked (22 October 2010), the official EU pages for "the Court" have not been properly edited to reflect all the changes required by the Treaty of Lisbon, which amended the treaties comprising the constitutional framework of the EU...

Personal Rights and Online Law: Facebook Breaches Online Privacy via Applications (Apps) that Transmit Identifying Information

Posted on October 25, 2010
Facebook has a problem with privacy law and there is no indication that they have learned from past gaffes. At the Wall Street Journal Online, Emily Steel and Geoffrey A. Fowler write that Facebook in Online Privacy Breach as Applications Transmitting Identifying Information...

Privacy Law: Google Ordered to Reveal The Names of Anonymous Internet Bullies

Posted on October 21, 2010
As a matter of basic privacy law, the use of the Internet as a forum of attack for anonymous bullies has to stop and this is a good step in the right direction.See Google Ordered to Reveal Bullies' Names - The Early Show - CBS News.

China Hides Rampant Inflation in Money Binge: Patrick Chovanec - BusinessWeek

Posted on October 20, 2010
China Hides Rampant Inflation in Money Binge: Patrick Chovanec - BusinessWeek

College Football Game Predictions for Division I-A FBS -- Week 8 (Starting Thursday, October 21, 2010) are Up at SportPundit:

Posted on October 20, 2010
See YPPSYS 2010 College Football Game Predictions for Division I-A FBS -- Week 8 (Starting Thursday, October 21, 2010)

Government Gets Low Transparency Ratings from Citizens, But Better than Private Industry, and the President Beats Congress and Agencies

Posted on October 20, 2010
See the ForeSee Results Press Release: Citizens Give Government Rock-Bottom Transparency Ratings: New Study: White House Beats Congress in Transparency and Trust; E-Gov May Be the Path Forward for More Open Government - ANN ARBOR, MI and WASHINGTON, DC (October 20, 2010) Statistics are useful, but you have to put them in perspective...

How Much House for $1.1 Million? It Depends on Where You Live

Posted on October 20, 2010
SeeProperty Values - Real Estate for $1.1 Million at the NY Times.

Major Airlines Report Surging Profits: An Important Sign of a Surging Economy

Posted on October 20, 2010
Delta, AMR and US Airways Report Profit - NYTimes.comThis is a very good sign that the economy is surging forward and upward.

The Future of America and the Status of the American Dream

Posted on October 20, 2010
We received this "American Dream" press release from Bradley Honan, Senior Vice President, StrategyOne (646-344-2507 bradley.honan@strategyone.net) and find that the subject of the study, the future of America and the American Dream, is well worth a read: "Despite underlying optimism, reaching the ?American Dream? eludes half the country: StrategyOne public opinion survey finds consumers concerned about America?s future prospectsOctober 19, 2010 (New York, NY) ? As the nation struggles to recover from the worst recession in recent history, consumers are sharply divided...

NFL Imposes High Monetary Fines for Violent Hits in Professional Football : Like the Law, You Need Norms, Which are Enforced -- Effectively

Posted on October 19, 2010
See USATODAY.com and The Huddle : Football News from the NFL - US for the story at NFL fines three players total of $175,000 for violent hits on Sunday

Learfield Sports Directors' Cup To be Awarded to Stanford University for the 16th Consecutive Year as the Top Overall NCAA Division I Athletic Program by Performance

Posted on October 17, 2010
Stanford competes with schools like Harvard and Yale for academic excellence but there is an area of excellence which sets Stanford apart from any similar "academic" university: it is Stanford's performance in NCAA Division I athletics. As written at the Learfield Sports Directors' Cup: "Stanford will receive the 2009-10 Learfield Sports Directors? Cup for overall athletic excellence in the NCAA's Division I on Oct...

ABA-Sponsored Report by World Justice Project Finds that USA Lags Well Behind Other Wealthy Nations on Rule of Law

Posted on October 15, 2010
James Rodgers at the ABA Journal Law News Now on International Law reports that the US Lags Well Behind Other Wealthy Nations on Rule of Law -- according to an ABA-sponsored World Justice Project Report.

Business and Everyday Lessons From the Chilean Mine Rescue Success

Posted on October 15, 2010
Thoughtful posting at the Language Blog Translation Times on Lessons From a Chilean Mine, as applied to business and everyday events.Hat tip to Kevin Lossner, who blogs at Translation Tribulations.

College Football Midseason Rivals.com All-America Team Features Two Husker Defenders: Check out the Rest

Posted on October 14, 2010
Nebraska Cornhuskers Jared Crick (at tackle) and Lavonte David (at linebacker) are two of the players featured in the Rivals.com College Football Midseason All-America team. Who are the rest? Take a look.

Proposition 19 in California: Prominent Law Profs Say ?Yes?

Posted on October 14, 2010
See Ashby Jones at the Law Blog at the Wall Street Journal WSJ Blogs in Prominent Law Profs Say ?Yes? to California?s Proposition 19.

Is Government Paralyzed by Over-Sized and Increasing Pension Commitments?

Posted on October 13, 2010
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/12/opinion/12brooks.html">The Paralysis of the State</a> by David Brooks at the New York Times examines among other things the problem of over-sized and increasing government pension commitments. Hat tip to CaryGEE.

Fully Dynamic Search and Improving Search Relevancy: Surf Canyon featured on TechCrunch

Posted on October 13, 2010
Surf Canyon is an interesting option for fully dynamic Internet search as an add-on plug-in to improve search relevancy by remembering your previous choices and implementing those in the search results. Alexia Tsotis writes at Tech Crunch: "At the moment users on Firefox, Internet Explorer and Chrome will be most comfortable with trying out Surf Canyon?s ?Fully Dynamic? Instant search as a browser plugin, as the Surf Canyon site itself can be quite clunky...

Groundbreaking Coverage Live from Chile of the Rescue of 33 Trapped Miners From Half a Mile Under the Surface of the Earth

Posted on October 13, 2010
This is an incredible political, engineering, technological and media achievement. Congratulations to the people of Chile. See Live from Chile: A camera made the world a bit smaller - CNN.com

Huskers Top College Football Ratings and Rankings at SportPundit: Cornhuskers YPPSYS Stats by Yards Per Play and Schedule Difficulty Lead the Nation

Posted on October 11, 2010
For NCAA college football fans.... After Alabama's upset loss to South Carolina, based on yards per play stats and schedule difficulty, YPPSYS ranks the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Number One in college football after the 6th week of play, followed in order of ranking by Boise State, Auburn, TCU, Utah, Ohio State, Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma, Florida State, Michigan State, Arkansas, Arizona, Iowa, California, Oklahoma State, LSU, South Carolina, Stanford, Nevada, USC (Southern Cal), Florida, Texas, Virginia Tech, and Michigan...

Frankfurt Book Fair - World's Biggest - This Week in Germany -- Ending Sunday -- Features Argentina as the Guest Country of Honor

Posted on October 09, 2010
The Frankfurt Book Fair is currently underway in Germany, with Argentina as the featured guest country (every year a new country is chosen). SPIEGEL ONLINE has an interview with Argentina's President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner at: 'We Are Slowly Starting To Enjoy Greater Trust'

Virginia Thomas, Spouse of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, Founds Liberty Central, a Non-Profit Conservative Political Group: Conflict of Interest?

Posted on October 09, 2010
Jackie Calmes at the New York Times writes about Virginia "Ginni" Lamp Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and consultant at the Heritage Foundation, that the Activism of Thomas?s Wife Could Raise Judicial Issues, i.e. conflicts of interest in his judging...

Obama's Mandatory Health Insurance Law in the United States Found Legal by Federal Judge in Detroit

Posted on October 08, 2010
See Health insurance mandate upheld at SCOTUSblog.

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