Legal Headlines 3 STRIKES -- Mothers Weep While Prosecutors Celebrate, as Calif. Supremes OK Using Juvenile Priors to Lengthen Adult Prison Terms - P. v. Nguyen ABORIGINAL RIGHTS -- Highest UK Court Dashes Repatriation Dreams of Chagos Islanders AFFIRMATIVE ACTION -- Cal. Supremes Won't Order Bar Exam Desclosures to Affirmative Action Opponent AFFIRMATIVE ACTION -- New Iraq Law Guarantees Women 25% of Provincial Council Seats AIDS/HIV -- Despite Statutory Change, US Immigration Regs Still Block Visas for People with HIV AIR -- Environment & Health Advocates, Calif., & 10 other States Sue, Challenging EPA Lax New Smog Regs AIR -- N.E. Interstate Compact Establishes Regional Carbon Emissions Permit Trading Market ANIMAL LAW -- Maiming of Whales & Dolphins OK to Boost Realism of War Games, 6 of 9 Supremes Rule - Winter v. NRDC ANIMAL RIGHTS -- Humane Society Sues Major Retailers for Fraudulently Labelling Fur from Creatures Skinned Alive ANIMAL RIGHTS -- Supremes Will Hear Whitehouse Challenge to 9th Circuit's Curtailment of Naval Sonar ANTI-TRUST -- Feds Examining Anti-Trust Implications of Settlement Letting Google Profiteer by Privatizing Humanity's Literary Heritage ANTI-TRUST -- Google Pooh-Poohs Antitrust Potential of Search Ad Collusion with Yahoo ANTI-TRUST -- Liberal Anti-Trust Think Tank Offers Alternative Roadmap for Google-Yahoo Collaboration ANTIQUITIES -- US DOJ & Iran Unite to Block Seizures of Iranian Antiquities from US Museums ANTITRUST -- Critics Charge Google Playing God with Orphan Works Shenanigans ANTITRUST -- Under FOIA Challenge DOJ Discloses Legal Contours of Antitrust 'Amnesties', but Redacts Parties and Most Facts ANTITRUST -- Whole Foods Enlists Clintons' Former Top Operatives to Beat Back FTC Attacks on Wild Oats Merger ARRESTS -- Rights Group Launches Global Legal and Support Project for Disappeared and their Loved Ones - EDIEC ASSET FORFEITURE -- Feds Sue to Confiscate Mosques and NY Office Tower, Citing Clandestine Iran Financial Ties ASYLUM -- 9th Circuit Grants Asylum to Falun Gong Couple - Zhao v. Mukasey ASYLUM -- African Union Treaty will Extend Unprecedented Rights to Internally Displaced Africans ASYLUM -- Immigration Firm Faked Hundreds of Persecution and Torture Claims and Documents ATROCITIES -- SF Federal Trial Tests Chevron's Liability for Nigerian Govt. Massacres - Bowoto v. Chevron ATTY CONDUCT -- Calif. Lawyers Resist Proposed Professional Conduct Code Changes ATTY CONDUCT -- Crim Defender Tells Jurors Fen-Phen Settlement Shenanigans Resulted from Lawyers' Ignorance & Ineptitude, Not Criminal Greed ATTY CONDUCT -- Holocaust Reparations Superstar Litigator Disbarred ATTY FEES & COSTS -- City of DC Rolls Out Big Guns to Fight Off Pro Se Victor's $13.86 Photocopying Recovery ATTY FEES & COSTS -- New Calif. Court Rules Create Statewide Damages and Atty Fee Criteria for Minors' Personal Injury Claims ATTY-CLIENT -- SEC's Updated Enforcement Manual Backs off Demands for Atty Privilege Waivers BANKING -- Counsel Shield Banks from Menace of Obama's Tightened TARP Accountability BANKING -- Race-Biased Subprime Mortgage Predation Suit Moved from Fed. to Mass. Court BANKRUPTCY OVERHAUL -- Obama Presidency May Bring Pro-Consumer Bankruptcy Relief BIO-TECH -- Lawsuit to Outlaw Human Gene Sequence Patenting Survives Dismissal BIOTECH -- Dalai Lama Co-Sponsors Stanford Neuro Research on Surgically Enhanced Compassion BIOTECH -- Historic Trial Begins February 2 over Patenting of Human Genes BRIBERY -- Illinois Supremes Won't Hear Petition on Blagojevich's Fitness to Govern BUSINESS ETHICS -- Pharmaceutical Titan Undertakes Vast Works of Altruism, Including Patented Tech Disclosures BUSINESS PRACTICES -- AARP Halts Medical Insurance Sales Pending Internal Investigation of Alleged Deceptive Marketing Practices BUSINESS PRACTICES -- Four Property Title & Escrow Heavyweights Sued for Abusive Trade Practices BUSINESS PRACTICES -- Lilly Agrees to Largest Criminal Fine in History -- $515 M -- in $1.42 B Zyprexa Settlement CAPITAL APPEALS -- Supremes Order Fed. District Court to Hear Exculpatory Recantations by Capital Trial Witnesses CAPITAL APPEALS -- Supremes Remand Mumia Abu-Jamal's Death Sentence to Third Circuit for Reconsideration CATASTROPHE -- QUAKE COMPASSION ??? : Homeland Security Throws Grudging Crumb to Some 'Pre-Approved' Haitian Child Survivors CENSORSHIP -- Court Order Gags UK Media on Tiger Woods Scandal CENSORSHIP -- Philip Morris Pays Big, Undisclosed Sum to Major University for Research Professors Can't Discuss or Disclose without Donor's Permission CENSORSHIP -- UK Culture Minister Wants Single Standard to Police TV & Internet Porn & Violence CH. CUSTODY & VISITATION -- TX Officials Must Restore 450+ Children to Polygamist Community, State Supremes Rule CHILD WELFARE -- TX Appellate Court: Child-Custody Sweep of Polygamous Community Lacked Legal Justifcation CITIZENSHIP & NATURALIZATION -- Obama Citizenship Challenge Won't Get US Supremes Hearing CITIZENSHIP & NATURALIZATION -- U.S. Supremes Won't Hear 6th or 7th Attack on Obama's Citizenship CIVIL LIBERTIES -- ABA Calls for Full Habeas Rights for Gitmo Detainees, and for Federal Court Access for Undocumented Immigrants CIVIL LIBERTIES -- ACLU: Homeland Security Eradicating U.S. Civil Liberties throughout 100-Mile Deep Coast and Border 'Constitution Free Zone' CIVIL LIBERTIES -- Conservative Gadfly Sues Iranian Govt. for $10 Trillion over Election Demonstrations CLASS ACTIONS -- DOJ Moves to Impose Tax & Medicare Liens on Smokers' Trust Fund Awards CLASS ACTIONS -- Has Plaintiffs' Class Litigation Picked the Carcass of the Securities Economy Bare? CLEMENCY -- Amnesty International Denounces Colombia President's Pardon-for Hostage Swap Offer CLEMENCY -- Bush Commutes Assault Sentences of Border Agents who Shot Fleeing Drug Dealer in the Back CONSENT-MEDICAL -- UK Govt. Proposes 'Presumed Consent' Opt-Out Organ Donor Law CONSUMER FRAUD -- Oakland, S.F. and Missouri Lawsuits Charge Labelling Fraud and Harmful Product Content in 'Organic' Market CONTRACT LAW -- Stanford Physicists Create TRULY Microscopic Print CORPORATE ESPIONAGE -- S.J.'s Judge Fogel Gives 24-Month Sentence for Illegal Tech. Sale to Chinese Govt. CORPORATE GOVERNANCE -- Bailout Beneficiary AIG 's Execs Say They'll Bail, if Govt. Limits Their Compensation CORPORATE GOVERNANCE -- Yahoo Asks Judge to Seal Much of Shareholders' Action over MSoft Buyout Attempt from Public COURT ADMINISTRATION -- Carnegie Foundation Report Gives Bush DOJ an F on Immigration Court Upgrades COURT ADMINISTRATION -- US Civillian Law Consultants See Selves as Committed to Authentic Rule of Law in Iraq CRIMMIGRATION -- 2009 Fed. Immigration Prosecutions Increase at Double the Overall Rate Fed. Prosecutions Increased Overall CYBER-BULLYING -- Calif. Couple Devises Cyber-Bullying Alert Software CYBER-BULLYING -- Italian Court Tries Google Execs for Enabling Student Video Showing Abuse of Youth with Downs Syndrome CYBER-BULLYING -- Not Guilty Plea in Megan Meier Cyber-Bullying Suicide CYBER-BULLYING -- Only Misdemeanor Convictions in My-Space Teen Death Case CYBER-CRIME -- Interpol, MSoft ,Yahoo, African Dev. Bank & Western Union Going After Online Lottery Fraud CYBER-CRIME -- Report:: Year's Clandestine Sales of Crime-Enabling Software & Strolen IDs Top $276 M CYBER-CRIME -- Russian Supremacist Militias Sabotage Khyrgystan's Entire Internet CYBER-CRIME -- Verizon Warns: Outsourcing is Ramping up ID Theft Risk CYBER-CRIME -- Virus Spreader Convicted under Japanese Copyright law CYBER-SECURITY -- FBI: Feds Narrowly Averted Wipeout of Fannie Mae Database by Diisgruntled Employee CYBER-SECURITY -- In 2008, Corporations Averaged $6.6 M Remedial Outlays in Aftermath of Data Breaches CYBER-SECURITY -- McAfee Warns Web Sites in Certain Domains are High Security Risks D.U.I. & TRAFFIC -- S. Bay Sentator Simitian's State Cell-Phone Statute Still Lets Us Text, but Not Talk DATA OWNERSHIP -- Facebook 's Abjuration Feigned, Privacy Wonks Find DATA PRIVACY -- 14 Internet Rights Groups Challenge Google's Concealment of Privacy Policy DATA PRIVACY -- AT&T Funds Web Privacy Policy Advocacy Group DATA PRIVACY -- Carnegie-Mellon Researchers Announce they Can Easily Deduce Peoples' SSA Nos. DATA PRIVACY -- Consumer Groups, Google, MSoft & Insurers Roll Out Proposed OnLine Health-Record Standard DATA PRIVACY -- Consumers Sue Foster City's NebuAd & ISP Accomplices, Charging Illegal Behavioral Marketing Experiments DATA PRIVACY -- ISPs: We're Such Staunch Privacy Guardians, Targetting Ad Regulation Would Be Superfluous DATA PRIVACY -- Justice Dept. Announces Agreement with Swiss Banks re Disclosure of Tax Evaders, but Withholds Details DATA PRIVACY -- Some Big ISP's Back off of Client Web-Use Surveillance, but Other Players Still Openly At It DATA PRIVACY -- SONY Settles Child Privacy Lawsuit with $1M Payout DATA PRIVACY -- Survey: Public Drops Google from Top 20 Trusted Corporations DEATH PENALTY -- U.S. Supremes Reaffirms Rejection of Death Penalty for Child Rape - Kennedy v. Louisiana DEATH PENALTY -- After 48 Years, A.L.I. Abandons Death Penalty Legal Standardization as Hopeless DEATH PENALTY -- Amnesty Int'l Condemns Extreme Nigerian Capital Punishment Abuses & Urges Moratorium DEATH PENALTY -- Calif. Commission Announces Report Exposing Defects in State's Judicial Death-Dealing Apparatus DEATH PENALTY -- Death Penalty for Child Rape is Unconstitutionally Excessive, US Supremes Rule - Kennedy v. Louisiana DEATH PENALTY -- Judge Faces Removal for Abetting Wrongful Execution by Stonewalling Appeal Filing DEATH PENALTY -- Ohio Pioneers Use of Kinder, Gentler Execution Drug DEATH PENALTY -- Pending U.S. Executions -- Updated Weekly DEATH PENALTY -- State Pitches Kinder, Gentler Lethal Injections DEATH PENALTY -- TONIGHT: Sr. Helen Prejean and San Jose Theatre Company Host Benefit for Death Penalty Repeal DEATH PENALTY -- Witnesses: Iraq's US-Client Regime's Jailers Inflict Secret, Torturous Executions on Hundreds & Destroy all Records DEATH PENALTY -- World Court Rules Texas Execution of Mexican National Violated International Law DEBTOR-CREDITOR -- Intermediary Has Standing to Sue on Client Creditors' Behalf, Supremes Rule - Sprint v. APCC DEBTOR-CREDITOR -- S. Jose Judge Certifies Enormous Class Action against Unduly Agressive Debt Collection Agency DEFAMATION -- Court Dismisses Libel Suit over Kathleen Cleaver's & Geronimo Pratt's FBI Informant & Perjury Accusations against Former Panther Chair DEFAMATION -- Germ Warfare Developer Fingered as 9/11 Anthrax Suspect Accepts $5.8 M Defamation Settlement from DOJ DEPORTATION -- ,ABA Report Calls for New, Freestanding Tribunals to Hear Deportation & Removal Proceedings, and Qualified, Credible Immigrant Advocacy Services DEPORTATION -- I.C.E. Chief Ends 3-Month Mercy Period, Deporting Hatians Back to Storm-Devastated Misery DESIGN PATENTS -- Fed. Circuit Alters Conceptual Fundamentals of Design Patent Infringement Analysis - Egyptian Goddess v. Swisa DETENTION -- DC Federal Judge: Administration Must Release 17 Chinese Muslims at Guantanamo into U.S. by Friday, Oct. 10 DETENTION -- Govt Caught Redhanded,. Covering Up Ugly Reality of Immgrant Jail Deaths DETENTION -- Habeas Extends to Guantanamo & other US Detainees, US Supremes Rule - Boumediene v. Bush DETENTION -- KGB Abducts NY Attorney in London for Torture, Secret Economic Espionage Trial, and Prison DISABILITY ACCOMODATION -- Whitehous Proposes Update & Strengthening of Federal Disability Access Regs DISASTERS -- Army Corps of Engineers Negigence Proximately Caused Katrina's Devastation of New Orleans Lower 9th Ward & St. Bernard Parish DISCOVERY -- Lawyers in Richmond High Gang Rape Face Massive Case Record DISCOVERY -- Mattel Claims Bratz Creator Scrambled Computer Evidence Before Departing Employment DISCRIMINATION-DISABILITY -- ADA Amendments Act of 2008 Passes, Restoring Workplace Protections which Courts Had Eroded DISCRIMINATION-DISABILITY -- iTunes to Be Completely Blind Accessible by July '09 DISCRIMINATION-DISABILITY -- Supremes Let $108 K Discrimination Award Stand Against FedEx, for Deaf Package Handler DISCRIMINATION-IDEOLOGY -- DOJ's Internal Inquiry Confirms Flagrant , Conservative Ideological Manipulation of Hiring, Promotion and Assignments by Civil Rights Div. Chief DISCRIMINATION-IDEOLOGY & POLITICS -- Internal Report:: Hardline Rightist Ideologues Hijacked and Abused DOJ's Law Student Recruitment DISCRIMINATION-LANGUAGE & NATIONALITY -- Black on Black Anti-Immigrant Hate Violence Erupts in S. Africa's Cities -- at Least 12 Dead DISCRIMINATION-LANGUAGE & NATIONALITY -- Iranian & Jewish Groups File Amici Demanding New Trial in Bratz Case, because Juror Spewed Anti-Iranian Slurs DISCRIMINATION-LANGUAGE & NATIONALITY -- Researcher: Single, Vicious White Supremacist Founded US's Three Most Influential Nativist/Anti-Immigrant Groups DISCRIMINATION-RACE -- Class Action Charges Federal Katrina Rebuilding Fund Systematically Short-Changes African American Homeowners DISCRIMINATION-RACE -- Filipino Hate Mail Harasser of Justice Thomas & Other African Americans Admits Motive was Loss of Own Girl Friend to African American DISCRIMINATION-RACE -- Whitehouse Envoy 'Welcomes' Inclusion of US in UN's Global Racism Probe, but Denies any 'Real Problem' DISCRIMINATION-RACE-PROFILING -- SJ Police Dept. Considers 'Implicit Bias' Training to Make Police More Conscious of Unintentional Race Prejudice DISCRIMINATION-RELIGION -- Fremont is Site for Sikh Coalition's New Western States Office DISCRIMINATION-RELIGION -- Meatpacker Fires 150 Muslim Workers for Shifting Break Time to Offer Ramadan Prayer DISCRIMINATION-RELIGION -- Transp Security Agency & Airline Pay $240 K to Pasenger Forced to Remove Arabic T-Shirt DISCRIMINATION-SEX & GENDER -- 10-Year-Old Student Rejects Flag Pledge over US Anti-Gay Discrimination DISCRIMINATION-SEX & GENDER -- 100 + Retired Generals & Admirals Urge Obama to Eliminate 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' Policy DISCRIMINATION-SEX & GENDER -- Pennsylvania Judge Rules Firing Receptionist Who Wouldn't Fetch Coffee not Discriminatory - Appeal Planned DISCRIMINATION-SEX AND GENDER -- US Supremes Will Hear Dispute over Hastings Law School Christian Club Barring Gays, Lesbians Non-Christians DOM. VIOLENCE -- Economic Meltdown Produces Spike in Domestic Violence DOMAIN NAMES -- On-Line Society Column Registers Domain Names for Big Apple Business & Media Elite DRUG TESTING -- Under Starvation, Interrogators Can Expose Subjects' Past Pot Smoking, Rat Experimenters Warn DRUGS -- Afghan Poppy Farmers Join Taliban in Fighting off Govt. Opium Eradication Squads DRUGS -- Feds Proclaim They Now Hold Key to Ending Drug Importation, for Umpteen-Hundredth Time DRUGS -- New Fed. Statute Outlaws Online Pill-Pushing DRUGS -- Stanford Research Yields Medication Eliminating Opiate Withdrawal Symptoms DUE PROCESS -- Court: I.C.E. Must Provide Bond Hearing for 5-Year Detainee who Is 30-Year US Resident with 4 Kids Born in U.S., ECONOMIC CRISIS -- Fed Anti-Fraud Enforcers Going after Lawyers, Mortgage Brokers & Real Estate Brokers for Mortgage Fraud ECONOMIC CRISIS -- Greenspan Tells Congress His Free Market, Anti-Regulation Ideology was Invalid ECONOMIC CRISIS -- Research Confirms Economic Meltdown is Driving Up Homicide and Suicide ELECTIONS -- Stanford Prof Urges Dismantling of US Electoral College EMPLOYEE BENEFITS -- 3rd, 4th & 7th Circuits Bless Employers who Gut Retiree Benefits. --- 6th Holds the Line ENFORCEMENT-IMMIGRATION -- In Class Action, US Citizens with Midwife Birth Records Charge Border Patrol Abuses & Delays ENFORCEMENT-IMMIGRATION -- Obama's Homeland Security Nominee Vows She'll Drop Hammer on Employers of Undocumented Workers ENFORCEMENT-IMMIGRATION -- Pilotless Drone to Surveil US/Canada Border ENFORCEMENT-IMMIGRATION -- System Nears Overload, as Feds Charge & Prosecute Every Undocumented Mexican Border Crosser EUTHANASIA -- Study: 40% of Patients Diagnosed as Vegetative May in Fact Have Consciousness EVIDENCE -- Truth Sellers Claim Thieir Brain Scans Achieve 97% Certain Lie/Truth Detection EXTINCTION -- Cameroon Poacher Caught with Plunderage from 8 Elephants Gets 5 Years EXTINCTION -- Lax Proposed Quota Dooms Last Major US Fishery to Collapse, Advocate Warn -- Sea Lion Species & McDonald's Fishwiches Both Imperilled EXTINCTION -- Tropical Researchers Recommend Regulated Indigenous Hunting of Central Africa's Endangered Species EXTRADITION -- EU's Membership Requirement that Balkan Nations Permit Extraditions is Important, but Falls Short FAIR USE -- Belgian News Combine Demands $77 M from Google for Unauthorized Storage & Publishing of Content FAIR USE -- Kindle Users Sue Amazon for Deleting Orwell's Works from Their Libraries FAIR USE -- Local Legal Luminary Lessig Lauds Obama Organization's Liberalized Licensure FAIR USE -- NY Court Rules it's Fair Use for Anti-Evolutionist Film to Sample amd Display 'Imagine No Religion' Lyric as Prelude to Anti-Relgious Oppression FALSE IMPRISONMENT -- Fed. Govt. Can't Duck Liability for I.C.E. Stupidly Detaining US Citizen for 7 Months, Seattle Fed. Judge Rules FINANCIAL CRISIS -- Supbprime Fiasco Triggers Avalanche of Shareholder Class Actions FINES & CIVIL PENALTIES -- HP Boardroom Spies-for-Hire Will Pay FCC $600 K FOIA -- Military Contractors Sue to Suppress Quality Assurance Records FORECLOSURES -- Calif. Bar & Public Intrerest Clearinghouse Create Online Homeowner Resource for Avoiding Foreclosure FORECLOSURES -- Calif. Sues Countrywide & Its Officers over Mortgage Meltdown FORECLOSURES -- Silicon Valley Homes May Be too Pricey for Rescue from Foreclosure by Obama Plan FORECLOSURES -- Whitehouse Withdraws Crisis Relief's Already-Flacid Hind Tit from Imperilled Homeowners FORENSICS -- Peroxyde Foils Luminol Blood Residue Testing, Spanish Researchers Warn FORENSICS-DNA -- Ethical and Privacy Hazards Lurk Around Unconsented and Undisclosed DNA Tests FRAUD-SECURITIES -- Settlement of Auction-Rate Securities Lawsuit Costs Wells Fargo $1.4 Billion FRAUD-TAX -- DOJ & Swiss Govt. & Banking Leviathon Arm-Wrestle over Which of 52,000 US Tax Dodgers Bank will Unmask GENERICS -- FTC Taking Dim View of Pharm. Patent Settlements that Keep Generics Unavailable GENERICS -- Primary Patentholders Liable for Harm from Other Mfgrs' Generics , CA Appeals Court Rules -- Conte v. Wyeth GENOCIDE -- Bolivia's President Orders Rightist Provincial Governor Arrested for Peasant Massacre GENOCIDE -- I.C.C.'s Top Prosecutor Seeks U.N. & A.U. Support for Arrest of Sudan President GENOCIDE -- Int'l. Crim. Court Reverses Ruling - Finds Sufficient Evidence Support for Genocide Charge against Sudan's Bashir GENOCIDE -- Rwanda Tribunal Orders Benin Prison Site for Convicted Genocide Leaders GENOCIDE -- Serbs in Picturesque Town Claim They Can't Remember 1992 Tortures and Massacres of Vanished Bosniak Majority GENOCIDE -- Tribunal Gives Top Hutu Genocide Instigator & Director 8 Years GENOCIDE -- UN's International Justice Court Takes on Croatia Genocide Trial angainst Serbia GENTRIFICATION -- Black, Low Income Families Await Supremes' Certiorari Decision on Abuse of Eminent Domain to Run them Out of Joliet, IL GHOULISM -- Roche Lab$ $ave Big Buying Organ$ Harve$ted from Executed Chines$ Pri$oner$ GOVERNMENT & POLITICS -- Labor Advocates: DOL Needs Immediate, Thorough Housecleaing and Reorientation GOVERNMENT & POLITICS -- Obama Populates DOJ's Top Tier with 4 Former Clinton Stalwarts GOVERNMENT & POLITICS -- Obama's AG Choice Faces New Scrutiny Regarding Marc Rich Pardon GOVERNMENT & POLITICS -- Obama's, McCain's and Clinton's Plans for DOJ Revealed GOVERNMENT & POLITICS -- Senate Committee Heavyweights Fume; Complain Obama Cut Them out of CIA & DOJ Nomination Loops GOVERNMENT BENEFITS -- Calif. Aged, Disabled and Blind Legal Immigrant Lifeline Benefits Face the Axe GOVERNMENT BENEFITS -- Court: Kentucky Private Litigant Lacks Standing to Make Agencies Kick Undocumented Immigrants off of Health & Voc. Rehab. Programs GOVERNMENT BENEFITS -- New Scapegoating Ballot Initiative Would Throw US Born Children of Undocumented Parents Under the Bus GOVERNMENT BENEFITS -- State Legislators Plan to Dump State SSI Supplementation, Slashing Aged, Blind & Disabled SSI to Miserable Fraction of Susbsistance GOVERNMENT BENEFITS -- Vets File Class Action Demanding Disability Benefits for PTSD GOVERNMENT WORKERS -- Bush Executive Order Strips Union Rights from 8,600 Federal Workers GUANTANAMO DETAINEES -- 17 Chinese Uighur Muslims Remain in Limbo Even after US Admits their 7-Year Gitmo Detentions Were Never Justified GUANTANAMO DETAINEES -- D.C. Cricuit Denies Uighur Mongol Prisoners' Release to US GUANTANAMO DETAINEES -- Fed Judge - US Must Release 5 Algerians from Guantanamo GUANTANAMO DETAINEES -- French Courts Toss 2 Guantanamo Survivors' Terrorism Convictions GUANTANAMO DETAINEES -- Holder Visits Guantanamo GUANTANAMO DETAINEES -- Lawyers for Some Gitmo Detainees Object that Camp Closure Plan will Unnecessarily Lengthen Imprisonment GUANTANAMO DETAINEES -- No Mercy from Abuse Available in Civilian Courts for Guantanamo Prisoners, DC District Judge Rules GUANTANAMO DETAINEES -- Officials Disclose 4 Gitmo Prisoner Transfers to Iraq Jailers for Interrogation GUANTANAMO DETAINEES -- Pentagon: Guantanamo Prisoners Included 12 Juveniles -- Instead of GUANTANAMO DETAINEES -- Teen-Soldier Canadian National's Guantanamo Trial Underscores Shamelessness of Whitehouse Terror-Baiting GUANTANAMO PRISONERS -- Lawyers Seek Detailed Records of Alleged Al Qaida Agent 's Secret CIA Site Detentions HATE CRIMES -- Defense Lawyers Disclaim Google Execs' Criminal Responsibility for Degrading Video of Autistic Teen's Brutalization by School Bullies HATE CRIMES -- Hate Crimes Drop 1% for '07; Anti-Gay Crime Increases 6%, FBI Reports HATE CRIMES -- Jury: Klan Group Must Pay $2.5 M for Inciting Attack on Latino Teen HATE CRIMES -- Mugabe & Goons Harass, Frame, Slander and Scapegoat Zimbabwe's Remnant White Population HATE CRIMES -- Southern Poverty Law Center Sues, Hoping to Bankrupt 2nd Biggest US Klan Group for Hate Violence HAZARDS -- Carbon Nanotubes Mimic Physical & Biological Properties of Asbestos Fibers, Researchers Warn HAZARDS-ASBESTOS -- High Court Will Review $ 1/2 B Asbestos Settlement Foreclosing all Future Claims against Travelers Companies, Inc. - Travelers v. Bailey and Common Law Counsel v. Bailey HAZARDS-ASBESTOS -- W.R. Grace Forestalls Bankruptcy with $140 M Asbestos Home Insulation Settlement HAZARDS-BISPHENOL -- Playtext Baby Bottle Chemical Contamination Plaintiff Seeks Class Certification HAZARDS-FIRE -- New Regulation Outlaws BBQing on Most Decks & Balconies HAZARDS-LEAD -- Calif. AG Secures $1.8M Lead Contamination Setllement from Nine Toy Makers HAZARDS-LEAD -- Research Correlates Early Lead Exposure with Adult Arrest Frequency HAZARDS-NANOTECH -- Study Indicates Carbon Nanotubes May Pose Asbestos-Like Enviro-Health Danger HAZARDS-RADIATION -- FCC's Phone Standards Setting Power Preempts Personal Injury Litigation Charging Cell Phone Cancer Risk - Farina v. Nokia HAZARDS-RADIATION -- NRC Reveals Software Screwup Triggered Nuke-Plant False Meltdown Alarm in March HAZARDS-TOBACCO -- DC Circuit May Let Big Tobacco Escape Historic 2006 RICO Judgment HAZARDS-TOBACCO -- Longstanding $25 B Tobacco Settlement Survives Antitrust Challenge by Non-Paricipant Importers HAZARDS-TOBACCO -- Prospects Look Glum for State Light Cigarette Lawsuits, After Supreme Court Arguments - Altria Group v. Good HAZARDS-TOBACCO -- SF Beats Back Walgreens Challenge to Anti-Tobbacco Ordinance HAZARDS-TOBACCO -- Supremes: False Advertising Claims against Cigarette Mfrgrs. Under Maine Statute Survive Federal Preemption - Altria v. Good HIRING & RECRUITMENT -- Internet Data-Mining to Disqualify Applicants Becoming a Standard HR Procedure HOMICIDE -- Syrian Leaders Urge Statutory Reforms Ending 'Honour Crime' Leniency HUMAN RIGHTS -- International Employer & Business Groups Applaud & Endorse UN Initiative on Corporate Human Rights Responsibilities HUMAN RIGHTS-MONITORING & INVESTIGATION -- S. African ICC Judge & Anti-Apartheid Heroine Navanethem Pillay Becomes New UN High Commissioner for Human Rights I.C.C. -- Darfur Refugees Tell ICC: Don't Divert Prosecutions from Sudan Govt., & Proxies to Insurgents I.C.C. -- ICC Prosecutor Reasserts Jurisdiction over Congo Atrocities, Given New Outrages I.C.C. -- Sudan's UN Ambassador Demands Removal of I.C.C. Prosecutor as 'Terrorist' I.C.C. -- Trial of Congo Atrocitaire Lubanga May Resume -- Credibility of ICC at Stake IDENTITY OFFENSES -- Burglar Gets SSA Nos. of Sacto. Crim Appeals Panel Lawyers IDENTITY OFFENSES -- Global Cyber-Fraudsters Mine Databases & Hijack Home Owners' Phone Accounts to Plunder Home Equity Credit Lines IMMIGRANT WORKERS -- Families in Mexico Struggle to Assist Hard-Pressed US-Resident Kin IMMIGRATION-ENFORCEMENT -- Fed Court Tosses Okla. State Penalties for Employer Immigration Violations, as Pre-Empted IMMIGRATION-STATUS ADJUSTMENT -- Victims of Human Trafficking & Other Crimes May Be Eligible for Permanent, Legal US Residency under New Regs IMPORT-EXPORT -- Lloyds Cops to $350 M Penalty for Covertly Circumventing US Embargoes against Iran, Sudan & Others; HP Halts Iran Printer Sales INFRINGEMENT-COPYRIGHT -- Apple Argues Copyright Laws Bar Users from Installatimg Unapproved Applications on their IPhones INFRINGEMENT-COPYRIGHT -- Titans Clash over Marvel Comics Empire INFRINGEMENT-TRADEMARK -- ANOTHER Harvard Alumnus, & Southbay Denizien, Sues Facebook, Claiming Prior Dibs on Facebook Trademark INFRINGEMENT-TRADEMARK -- Calif. Industry Group Threatens to Sue Colo. Woman for Selling 'Got Soy Milk?' T-Shirts with Her Dog's Photo INFRINGEMENT-TRADEMARK -- Intel Suing Any Business with 'intel' In Its Name INNOCENCE -- 'Computer Illiterate' Worker Exonerated -- Crypto-Forensics Shows Child Porn on Office Computer Was Malware-Induced INSURANCE-MEDICAL -- Anthem Blue Cross Non-Group Health Ins Premiums to Blast Skyward March 1 INSURANCE-MEDICAL -- GOP Leaders Decry Covert Marxist Assault on Insurance Industry, as Federal Child Health Plan Sails through Senate INSURANCE-MEDICAL -- Mental Health Parity Bill Clear Congress - H.R. 6983 INSURANCE-MEDICAL -- Uninsured Childrens' Healthcare Expansion Clears House over Bush Opposition - Children’s Hlth. Ins. Progr. Reauth. Act INSURANCE-MEDICAL -- Whitehouse Cant Restrict Medicare Coverage to 'Least Costly Treatment Alternative', Federal Judge Rules INTERROGATION -- Brain Scan Differentiates Cheaters from Non-Cheaters INVESTIGATION -- Japanese Technology Reconstructs Subjects' Mental Pictures Strictly from Brain Waves JUDGMENTS -- Judge Rescues Pepsico from Secretary 's $1.26 Billion Blunder in IP Bottled Water Suit JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Kozinski Enemy Files New Cyber-Abuse Complaint JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Kozinski Gets Wrist Slapped, but Escapes Formal Censure, for Cyberporn JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Mississippi Supremes Reprimand Black Judge for Criticizing White Attitudes to Black Community Group JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Touchy, Scalia Flames Student over Camreras-in-Court Query JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE -- 12 of 60 Musharraf-Ousted Pakistani Judges Re-Instated So Far JUDICIAL SELECTION -- ABA Wants to Reclaim Seat at the Table, in Vetting of Federal Judicial Nominees JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Legal Scholars: McCain Win Would Probably Intensify Supreme Court's Rightward Bent; Obama Win Would Probably Continue Status Quo JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Sotomayor Confirmation a Triumph for US, for Latino Peoples and for Humanity JURIES -- Patent Infringement Defense Requires Over-Ride of Jurors' Primal Ethical & Anti-Corporate Convictions JURY INSTRUCTIONS -- US High Court Reimposes San Mateo Felony Murder Conviction, Reversing 9th Circuit - Hedgpeth v. Pulido JUVENILES -- On-Line Game Underscores Death Spiral to which School Discipline Trends Doom At-Risk Youth JUVENILES -- Research Pinpoints Possible Hormonal Cause of Male Juvenile Delinquency LABOR RIGHTS -- Supremes Deride So-Called 'Honest Services' Law LAW SCHOOLING -- Fed. Law School Loan Forgiveness Bill Could Relieve PDs and DAs from Moonlighting - John R. Justice Act LAW SCHOOLING -- Northwestern Becomes First Top Law School to Offer 2-Year JD Program LAW SCHOOLING -- Stanford Law Dumping Letter Grades LAW-BIZ -- Firms Claim They're Saving $250 K per Yr. per Associate They Lay Off; $100 K per Yr. per Staffer LAW-BIZ -- Lawyers Display Stress Vulnerability from Job-Loss Threat LAW-BIZ -- US Law Jobs Plummet , Dropping by 1,100 in May LAYOFFS -- Neologism 'Voluntary Reduncancy' Transmutes Fired Lawyers' Un-Consolable Discouragement into Fatalistic Contentment LEGAL TRENDS -- Conservative & Liberal Scholars Rank Supremes' Worst Opinions LEGAL TRENDS -- Lawyers Poised to Exploit National & Global Economic Meltdowns LEGAL TRENDS -- New Washington Liberal Outpost Seeks to Instigate Progressive Constitutional Sea Change LICENSING & REGISTRATION -- U.S. Patent & Trademark Filing Fees Increased MALPRACTICE INSURANCE -- Mandatory Malpractice Insurance Disclosure Passes Calif. State Bar MALPRACTICE-MEDICAL -- Medicare to Stop Paying Hospitals to Correct Own Medical Blunders MALPRACTICE-MEDICAL -- Scientists' Advisory Helps Patients Determine Whether a Stem Cell Clinic is Hyping Snake Oil MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION -- Breyer Pissed, after Feds Extradite Medical Pot Advocate from Romania to Face Possible One-Day Sentence MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION -- New Mexico Bill Directs State to Grow & Sell Medical Pot MARIJUANA-LEGALIZATION -- Proposed San Mateo City Ordinance Would Permit & Regulate Medical Pot Collectives MARITAL PROPERTY -- Fed. Judge Forces Couple to Disgorge up to $3 B to Govt. & Bamboozled Coporation in Divorce Settlement MARRIAGE -- Iran Marriage Law Change Would Strip Women of Say in Husbands' Polygamous Marriage Decisions MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Cal. Supremes Won't Stay Implementation of Same-Sex Marriage Legalization MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Calif. Ballot Initiative Qualifies, to Outlaw Same Sex Marriages MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Calif. State Senator Leno Authors Law Recognizing Same-Sex Marriages from Other States MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Calif. Supremes to Review Constitutionality of Prop. 8 MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Christian Rightist Litigators Petition Lower Court to Circumvent Calif. Supremes & Suspend Same-Sex Marriages MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Conservative 9th Circuit Panel Rebuffs Would-Be Aggressive Gay Marriage Opponent's Intervention in Prop. 8 Case MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Lawsuit Seeks Invalidation of Prop. 8 MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Lawyers among California's First Same-Sex Marriage Partners MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Tactical & Philosophical Disagreements Split Lead Litigators and Non-Profit Intervenors In Challenge to Prop. 8 MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Video of Fed. Court Hearings on Prop. 8 Will Be Posted On Line MARRIAGES-SAME SEX -- Google's AdSense Injected Pro-Prop-8 Ads onto Lesbian/Gay & Gender Rights Web Sites - Including S. Jose Group's MARRIAGES-SAME SEX -- NY Gov. Instructs State Agenices to Recognize Calif., & Other Same-Sex Marriages METHODS PATENTS -- Fed. Circuit Narrows Business Methods Patenting Options - In Re Bilski MICROSOFT ANTITRUST -- Euro-Commission Concludes MSoft Guilty of Antitrust Violations with IE MICROSOFT ANTITRUST -- MSoft & DOJ Release Joint Interoperability Compliance Status Update MILITARY LAW -- Iraq 'Pacification' Force Repositioned to Smash US Citizen Protest MINING & OIL -- Exxon Valdez Payout Stalled by Plaintiff's Obection to Class Settlement MORTGAGE MELTDOWN -- Calif. Secures up to $3.5 B in Mortgage Relief in Countrywide-B of A Settlement NEPOTISM -- DOJ Report Recommends No Grand Jury Inquest of Gonzales Role in US Atty Filings NEPOTISM -- Mukasey: US Atty Firings to be Investigated by Special Prosecutor NET CENSORSHIP -- Govt's Plea to Reinstate Mandatory Porn Filtering Fails to Make High Court's Calendar NET CENSORSHIP -- Yahoo! Echoes Google's Challenge to Chinese Net Censorship and Privacy Violations NET NEUTRALITY -- House Demos Vote to Require Net Neutrality Concessions from Telecoms & ISPs Which Accept Economic Stimulus Payments OFF-SHORING -- Silicon Valley Braces for Blowback from Indian Off-Shoring Contractor's Massive Scandal OFFENSES-HOMICIDE -- Abortion Rights Zealot Testifies He Was Right to Kill Doctor OFFENSES-MURDER SOLICITATION -- Web Provaceuter Who Encouraged Assassination of Judges Upholding Handgun Control Denied Bail OFFENSES: MONEY LAUNDERING -- Evincing Lenity, Thomas & Scalia Author Majority Opinions Making Money Laundering Convictions Harder to Get - Cuellar v. US & US v. Santos OWNERSHIP-PATENTS -- SF IP Atty's New Company Will Buy Up & Aggregate Patents, to Foreclose Troll Lawsuits Against Clients PATENTING -- Fed. Circuit Restores Jury Consideration of Infringement-Absolving Opinion Letters, Briefly Thought Obsolete - Broadcom v. Qualcomm PATENTING -- Patent Proliferation Gridlocks Bio-Innovation, UC Berkeley/U. Ariz. Survey Warns PIRACY -- EBay Liable for Bogus Fashion Goods Traffic, French Court Rules PIRACY -- Founder's Harvard Classmates Lose Bid to Kick Open Settlement, Alleging He Stole Facebook from Them PIRACY -- Verdict Gives Dish Network $1,500 of $1B Piracy Damages it Demanded from DirecTV PIRACY -- WTO Rules for US in China Cyber-Piracy Dispute POLICE ADMINISTRATION -- ATF Audit Shows Agency Lost 418 Laptops & 76 Guns over 5 Years POLICE CONDUCT -- Increased I.C.E. & Cutsoms Corruption Suspected POLICE-OPERATIONS -- Pentagon Developing Taser-Equipped Robot Swarms to Hunt Noncompliant Individuals POLITICS & GOVERNMENT -- AG Nominee's Private Sector Work Could Pose Conflicts POLITICS & GOVERNMENT -- Holder's AG Confirmation Hearing Set for January '09 POLITICS & GOVERNMENT -- Republicans Intimate they Plan to Vigorously Contest Holder's AG Confirmation PR0SECUTORIAL CONDUCT -- SF Deputy DA's $20 Juror Bribe Offer in Capital Trial was Innoccuous Joke, Evidence Ref. Assures Calif. Supremes PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION -- Obama Moves DOJ Transition Forward PRISONS & JAILS -- Calif. Corrections Dept. to Extend Same Marriage Rights to Same-Sex Couples as to Straight Couples PRISONS & JAILS -- Calif. Prison Overcrowding Settlement Nears, but S. Clara and other Counties Raise Obejctions PRISONS & JAILS -- Cambodian Drug 'Rehab' Includes Arbitrary Arrests, Rapes and Torture PRISONS & JAILS -- Inmates Can't Copyright Creative Work Executed for Prison Industries, Fed. Circuit Holds - Walton v. U.S. PRISONS & JAILS -- Judges Demand California Cut Prison Population by 1/3 PRISONS & JAILS -- New Paint Brightens -- the Once Drab, -- but Now Cheery --- Abu Ghraib -- -- -- -- END TORTURE NOW ! ! ! PRISONS & JAILS -- Receiver Overseeing CA Prison Health Care: $7 Billion Needed PRISONS & JAILS -- Reporter Visiting Notorious Caucasus Prison Given Inconclusive, Rehearsed Seeming Presentation PRISONS & JAILS -- Thelton Henderson Suggests He's Near Forcing Calif. to Lay out $250 M for Prison Health, Immediately PRISONS & JAILS -- UK Investigators Expose & Denounce US Secret Prison Ships Anchored off Somalia & Diego Garcia PRIVACY -- Experts Warn that RFID Tags Invite Horrific Privacy and Surveillance Abuses PRIVACY -- MN Suburb Demands Google Drop it from Street View Feature PRIVACY -- Tiger Woods Retains Celebrity Privacy Legal Attack Dog to Squelch Notoriety PRIVACY -- Vienna Computer Network Employs Un-Snoopable Quantum Encryption PRIVATIZATION -- NY Court May Let Rich Lawyer Hire Own Guards for Own Luxury 'Prison,' Pending Trial PRIVILEGE- ATTY-CLIENT -- Bipartisan Former US Atty Group Calls for Legislation Barring DOJ 'McNulty' Demands that Defendant Corporations Waive Atty-Client Privilege PRIVILEGE- ATTY-CLIENT -- Right, Left & Legal Groundswell Unites Behind Bill Outlawing Forced Waivers of Atty-Client Privilege - Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act PRIVILEGE-EXECUTIVE -- House Judiciary Subpoenas Rove on US Atty. Firings -- Exec. Privilege Face-Off Likely PRIVILEGE-JOURNALIST’S; -- Former Anthrax Suspect Challenge's USA Today Reporter's Contempt Appeal, Threatening Massive Atty Fees PRO SE -- Supremes: States Can Impose Appointed Counsel on Criminal Defendants with Mental Disabilities -- Indiana v. Edwards PRO-SE -- Judge Requires Laptops for Guantanamo Prisoners Acting as Own Lawyers PRODUCTS-AUTOMOTIVE -- Fed. Seat Belt Rule Declares Itself Preemptive of State Injury Claims PRODUCTS-AUTOMOTIVE -- Owner Can Sue Honda over Inflated Civic Hybrid Gas Efficiency Claims, Calif. Court Rules - Paduano v. American Honda PRODUCTS-FOOD -- Lead Content Triggers Recall of Chinese Confection Qi Cai Bang 2008 PRODUCTS-MEDICAL -- Pharm Holdings Call Stanford Drug Researcher's Impartiality into Question, Congress Member Warns PRODUCTS-MEDICAL -- Stanford Researchers Unveil Non-Scar Bandage PROTEST & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE -- 1,000s of Pakistan Lawyers Launch Nationwide Marches Demanding Musharraf's Removal, Supreme Court Reinstatement & Major Rights Reforms PROTEST & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE -- Birmingham's African American Mayor Pardons Thousands of Civil Rights Era Activists for Championing His Rights PROTEST & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE -- Israelis Jail S. Jose Teacher for Gaza Fishing Rights Protest PROTEST & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE -- Pennsylvania Troopers Had Qualified Immunity in Arrest of Protesters Simulating Abu Ghraib Nude Pyramid PROTEST & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE -- Saudi Rights Activists Begin Hunger Strike against Illegal Detentions PROTEST & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE -- Will Acclaim throughout Middle East Save Shoe-Hurling Journalist from 7 Years in Iraqi Prison? RETALIATION -- US Supremes OK Suits Charging Employer Retaliation against Race & Age Discrimination Plaintiffs-- Gomez-Perez v. Potter and CBOCS West v. Humphries RIGHT TO COUNSEL -- Mukasey Instructs All US Immigration Judges that Aliens Aren't Entled to Competent Counsel - Matter of Compean RIGHTS TRIBUNAL -- Bosnia War Crimes Tribunal's Timetable Too Ambitious for Some Critics, Too Slow for Others RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- Bosnian Court Convicts Serb Commander of 1992 AND '93 Atrocities RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- Chechen Families Finding Redress against Russia for Disappearaces and Murders in EU Rights Court RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- Oxford Law Group Invites Short Expert Essays on Human Rights Prosecutions RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- Rights Advocates Hope Kenya's Emerging Special Tribunal will Prove Exemplary RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- Serb Atrocitaire's Self-Representation Dramatizes Vulnerability of International Justice to Politics RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- Uganda's War Crimes Tribunal Criticized as Ploy to Circumvent ICC RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- UN Program Strengthens Bosnian Courts' Effectiveness for War Crimes Redress RIGHTS-EXPRESSION -- Fremont-Based Singapore Dissident Arrested for Blogging that Colleague's Trial Judge 'Prostituted Herself' RIGHTS-EXPRESSION -- Town Can Ban Activists' Moving Billboard Depicting Animal Suffering, if Ordinance is Content Neutral, Calif. Appeals Court Rules - Shark v. W. Hollywood RIGHTS-EXPRESSION-NET CENSORSHIP -- Vietnam Officials Contemplate Crackdown on Nation's Freewheeling Blogosphere RIGHTS-GUNS -- 2nd Amendment Guarantees Private Gun Ownership for Self-Defense, Supremes Rule -- D.C. v. Heller RIGHTS-INFORMATION -- Bush Could Obstruct Congressional Subpoenas after Leaving Whitehose, Invokng Truman's Historical Precedent RIGHTS-INFORMATION -- Google Agitates to Make US Govt. Networks Crawler-Accessible RIGHTS-INFORMATION -- Obama WhiteHouse Plans to Find & Release eMails Bush Regime Tried to Bury RIGHTS-PRESS -- Central Asian Govts' Osbservances Make Travesty of UN's 'World Press Freedom Day' RIGHTS-PRESS -- Pro-China Journalist Framed & Blacklisted for Sedition During 1950s, Dies in SF at 89 RIGHTS-RELIGION -- 33 Pastors to Openly Preach in Support of Candidates, to Challenge Constitutionality of IRS Non-Profit Regs RIGHTS-RELIGION -- Armenian Law Revision Would Outlaw Most Proselytizing and Deny Licenses to Worship for Groups under 1,000 Members RIGHTS-RELIGION -- Central Asian Regimes Suppress Headscarves as Expressions of Religious 'Extremism' RIGHTS-RELIGION -- Chabad Jewish Sect Can Sue Russian Govt. to Reclaim Religious Archive Confiscated During Soviet Era, DC Circuit Rules RIGHTS-RELIGION -- Fed Court: Ark. State Capital Must Permit Solstice Tribute to Intellectuals by Religious 'Freethinkers' Group RIGHTS-RELIGION -- Kyrgyz Parliament Enacts Law Suppressing Religious Activity RIGHTS-RELIGION -- Religious Convictions Renew Concerns Regarding Hardline Islamicization of Aghan Judiciary RIGHTS-RELIGION -- Today in Legal History - 1635: Massachusetts Banishes Religious Liberty Advocate ROYALTIES -- Legal Filing Challenges Fundamental Constitutionality of US Copyright Royalty Board ROYALTIES -- Lord of Rings' Producer Bilked Tolkien's Heirs -- Paying them Zero So Far, Heirs Alleg ROYALTIES -- Webcasters Get Bill Through House Letting Them Negotiate Music Royalties Below Federal Baseline - Webcaster Settlement Act S.E.C. ADMINISTRATION -- G.A.O. Audit Discovers Serious Holes in S.E.C.'s Internal Accounting SENTENCING -- Taxpayers Unite with Families of Convicted for Repeal of Mandatory Minimum Sentencing SENTENCING -- Teens' YouTube Youth Vandalism Sentence Includes YouTube Apology SEPARATION OF POWERS -- Obama Continues Bush Legacy, Resisting Congressional Subpoenas of Predecessor's Staff SEX OFFENSES -- Afghan Society Continues Enabling Rape, through Impunity SEX OFFENSES -- Molestation Victims Can Sue Vatican, 6th Circuit Rules - O'Bryan v. Holy See SEX OFFENSES -- MySpace Reports It's Detected and Ejected 90,000 Registered Sex Offenders SEX OFFENSES -- Sex Scandal Testimony Transcritpts Point to Prelate's Possible Problematic Perspective on Priestly Pedophila SEX OFFENSES-CHILD PORN -- Calif. Gov. & A.G. Call on ISPs to Replicate Massive NY State Usenet Blockage, as Child Porn Remedy SEX OFFENSES-CHILD PORN -- Senate Bill Would Launch Massive $1B Chld Cyber-Porn Crackdown - S.1738 - Combating Child Exploitation Act SEX OFFENSES-TRAFFICKING -- Prostitution Sweeps Rescue 48 Trafficked Children Nationwide, Including Seven in SF & Oakland SLAVERY & PEONAGE -- I.C.E. Anti-Trafficking Iniative Hits 14 Cities SLAVERY & PEONAGE -- West Africa Rights Court Finds Niger Govt. Liable for Failing to Prevent Plaintiff's Enslavement SMUGGLING -- E. European Fraudsters Recruit Clueless US Patsies to Ship Loot out of US SPAM & TELEMARKETING -- Arbitrator Orders Spammer to Pay MySpace $6M SPAM & TELEMARKETING -- Cisco Study: Spam Doubled Worldwide Since 2007 to 200 Billion Messages/Day. US Biggest Source at 17.2% of Total SPAM & TELEMARKETING -- UC Study, Mimicking Spam, Indicates Very Low Profit Level STATUTES OF LIMITATIONS -- NY Court Cuts No Slack for Leap Year SURVEILLANCE -- 'Bipartisan' Constitutional Rights Betrayal Will Unleash Massive, Renewed Domestic Spying & Will Amnesty Complicit Telecoms - FISA Amendments of 2008 SURVEILLANCE -- Bush Regime Colluding with Chinese Govt. to Create Global Web User Track-Back Protocol SURVEILLANCE -- Despite Constitutional Rhetoric, Holder/Obama May Retain Many of Bush Civil Liberties Erosions SURVEILLANCE -- Domestic Police Forces Salivating over Military Drone Technology SURVEILLANCE -- Google, Yahoo & Microsoft Unveil Human Rights Assurance Guidlines SURVEILLANCE -- Govt. Surveillance Enthusiasts Paint Lurid Picture for Congress, of Private Industry Cyber-Attacks SURVEILLANCE -- Homeland Security Claims New Scanner Detects Pre-Criminal Intent SURVEILLANCE -- Homeland Security Designs Happy Face for its Data Mining SURVEILLANCE -- Homeland Security Provides Wonderful New Compulsory Computer Tracking for Non-Visa Visitors from Countries Deemed US-Friendly SURVEILLANCE -- Maylasia Bloggers Leery of Govt's Planned China-Style Web Filtering SURVEILLANCE -- New Google People-Tracking Service Alarms Privacy Activists SURVEILLANCE -- Supposed 'Compromise' Would Spirit Grant Telcom Domestic Spying Defendants Automatic Dismissals, by Secret Intelligence Courts SURVEILLANCE -- Texas Conservative Republican Trio Proposes Federal Bill Forcing all ISPs & Wi-Fi Access Points (including Home Users!) to Retain User Data for Police Review SURVEILLANCE -- Yoo: Massive Domestic Wiretaps No Big Deal TAX -- Fed. Jury Throws Out White Collar Charge against Bechtel Lawyer Whose Unintended Error Led Him to Aggressively Advocate for Improper Research Deduction TAX-INTERNET -- Legislators Eyeing Internet Taxation as Tantalizing Budget Crisis Fix TORTURE -- Blue Ribbon Panel Warns UK Parliament against Complicity in US Renditions TORTURE -- CIA Captors Waterboarded Qaida 'Suspect' Before Torture Memos Prepared TORTURE -- DOJ Lawyer Argues 'State Secrets' Foreclose Lawsuit against S.J. Co for Complicity in CIA Rendition's for Torture TORTURE -- George Schultz, MadelBipartisan US Religious, Military and Political Dignitaries Call for Presidential Exec. Order Banning Torture and Conforming US Interrogations to 'Golden Rule' TORTURE -- Guantanamo Families Sue Rumsfeld & Subordinates over Sons' Suicides TORTURE -- Guantanamo Officials Disregard DC District Court's Order to Videotape Prisoner's Testimony on Conditions of Imprisonment TORTURE -- In 2002, CIA Trainer Told Guantanamo Interrogators, 'If the Detainee Dies, You’re Doing it Wrong.' TORTURE -- Jordan Regime Steeped in Torture, Human Rights Watch Report Warns TORTURE -- Recovery Prospects Bleak for Survivors of Chicago PD Tortures TORTURE -- State Dept. Flunkie Tells Congress: Rendition of Canadian Citizen to Syria for Torture Was Routine Immigration Action TORTURE -- White Collar Defendant Charges UAE Investigators Tortured Him TRADE SECRETS -- E. Bay Jury Favors SF Firm over Silicon Valley Team in Potential $2B Trade Secrets Verdict TRADE TREATIES -- US Trade Rep. Concealing 90% of Draft Global IP Enforcement Treaty's Text from Public TRADEMARKING -- Christian Right Group to Sue to Block Obama's 'Joshua Generation' Campaign TRADEMARKS-LICENSING -- Blast of Bazooka Bubble Gum Reverberates throughout Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Argentina UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS -- Euroopean Parliament Enacts Draconian, Punitive Migrant Legislation UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS -- SF Postpones Plan to Issue Local IDs, Irrespective of Immigration Status UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS -- Supremes Will Examine Feds' Threats to Hit Undocumented Immigrants with Severe Felony Identity Theft Sentences - Flores-Figueroa v. U.S UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS -- Town Can't Fine Landlords for Renting to Undocumented Immigrants, Fed. Court Rules UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS -- Undocumented Population May Have Plateaued, Pew Center & Feds Speculate VENUE -- Political Posturing & Costs -- Not Due Process or Fairness -- Dictating Venue of 9-11 Plot Trial VENUE -- Supremes Acquiesce in 5th Circuit's Prying Open Texas Plaintiff-Friendly Patent Venue VIGILANTISM -- Municipalities Start Using ID Theft Statutes to Bust Undocumented Immigrants VISA WORKERS -- 20,000 H1B Visas Go Begging as US Economy Languishes VISA WORKERS -- 2nd Circuit Rejects Bush Era Islamophobia -- Orders Visa Issued to Esteemed Muslim Scholar WAGE & HOUR -- 750-Page D.O.L. Reg. Revision May Obfuscate, Not Clarify, Family Med Care Issues WAGE & HOUR -- Fed. Court Rules Airline Deregulation Act and Collective Bargaining Agreement Both Preempt Calif. Wage & Hour Protections - Blackwell v. SkyWest WAGE & HOUR -- Obama's Labor Secretary Vows to Revive Workers' Rights Enforcement WAGE & HOUR -- Settlement Finally Secures Back Pay Mexican Govt. Withheld from 1940s Era Braceros WAGE & HOUR -- Workers, Unions Allies Persuade Calif. Supremes to Stay & Review 4th App. Distr's Onerous Meal Break Decision - Brinker Restaurant v. Superior Court WAR & WAR CRIMES -- 3rd Circuit OKs Stripping of Citizenship & Deportation of Former SS Concentration Camp Guard WAR & WAR CRIMES -- 5th Circuit Reinstates Halliburton Truckers' Iraq Ambush Death Suit WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Bosnian Massacre Perpetrators Peddling Mass Gravesite Info to Victims' Families WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Bosnian Police Arrest Four Former Bosnian Serb Officers for 1992 Atrocity WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Cambodia's Genocide Court Extends Detention for Khmer Rouge's 'Brother Number Two', Pending Further Investigation WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Colombia's Army Chief, 3 Generals & 24 Officers Sacked for Slaughtering Random Civilians to Inflate 'Insurgent Kill' Statistics WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Congolese Rape & Sexual Slavery Survivors Indignant ICC Dropped Their Cases against Militia Commanders WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Court Martial Dumps Haditha Massacre Coverup Charges against Marine Lieutenant WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Fed. Jury Rejects all Nigerian Villagers' Atrocity Claims against Chevron WAR & WAR CRIMES -- ICC: Some Prosecution Setbacks During Testimony at Congo Militia Leader Lubanga's War Crimes Trial WAR & WAR CRIMES -- International Criminal Court Stays Child-Soldier Abductions Trial of Congolese Atrocitaire, Citing Evidenciary Improprieties WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Iraq Govt. Will Sue Blackwater In US & Abroad over '07 Civilian Bloodbath WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Justice Dept. Transfers Nazi War Crime Files to US Holocaust Memorial Museum WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Legacy of Congo Armed Groups & Army Rapes: Imperilled, Outcast Children WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Main US Ally among Afghan Warlords Obliterating Mass Graves to Sabotage Atrocity Prosecutions WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Obama Nominates Veteran War Crimes Prosecutor as Ambassador at Larrge for War Crimes Issues WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Police Arrest Accused Central African Republic Atrocitaire on ICC Warrant WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Prosecutors Hope to Establish Serb Govt. Culpability for Bosnia Atrocities, in Trial of Milosevi's Army Chief WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Rights Advocates: NBC's 'Catch a Predator' Format Doesn't Cut It with War Crimes Accusations WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Scholar Explores Morality & Politics of Military Human Mind and Body Modifications WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Senegalese Court Filing Levels Atrocity Charges against Former Chadian Dictator WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Serbia Appears Committed at Last to Capturing Fugitive Atrocitaires WAR & WAR CRIMES -- THURS. JAN. 7 - ICC will Start Hearing Accused Congolese Atrocitaire's Defense WAR & WAR CRIMES -- US Soldier Testifies for Prosecution Detailing Own Complicity in Murders of 4 Iraqis -- Gets 7 Month Sentence WHISTLEBLOWERS -- Schwarzenegger Entitled to Fire Labor Standards Atty. for Criticizing Gov's Slackening of Meal Break Enforcement, 3-2 Personnel Board Majority Rules WHITE COLLAR -- 2009: US Criminal Antitrust Fines Top $1 Billion; Worldwide: $3.6 B WHITE COLLAR -- Alleged Broadcom Option Backdating Masterminds Walk as Judge Excoriates 'Shameful' Prosecutorial Conduct WHITE COLLAR -- Chevron's Ecuador Counsel Face Corruption Prosecution in Massive Rainforest Pollution Scandal WHITE COLLAR -- Congressional Inquiry Examines SEC's Failure to Detect and Stop Bernard Madoff's $50 B Ponzi Scheme WHITE COLLAR -- Crim Defenders of the Rich Brace for Surge in Indictments, as Public Hostility Deepens WHITE COLLAR -- DOJ's Career Fraud Prosecutors Bail. as Obama Team Looks for 'Rock Star' to Lead Their Division WHITE COLLAR -- Fed. Prosecutors Indict 2 Former Broadcom Execs for Stock Option Backdating and 1 for Corporate Drug Partying WHITE COLLAR -- Marvell Tech Agrees to Pay $16 M to Stockholders & Promises Reforms, to Settle Bakdating Suit WHITE COLLAR -- Revised Zoran Backdating Derivative Settlement Disgorges Cash to Company -- Not Just Lawyers WITNESSES & TESTIMONY -- Courts Reigning in Inflammatory Language by Criminal Trial Witnesses & Victims WITNESSES & TESTIMONY -- Pfizer Sent Ex-CIA Muscle to Whistleblower's Home Night Before Neurontin Trial WORKPLACE PRIVACY -- 9th Circuit Curtails Employer Snooping into Workers' e-Messages -- Quon v. Arch Wireless WRONGFUL DEATH -- Private Prison Staff May Face Criminal Charges for Neglect of Immigration Detainee WRONGFUL DEATH -- S.J. Settles 2005 Taser Fatality Suit for $70,000 ZONING & LAND USE -- Redwood City Initiative would Require 2/3 Public Majority to OK Encroachment on Open Space Local Legal Headlines ABUSE OF PROCESS -- Convicted After 3 Years' Obstructing S.Clara Trial, Car Vandal Plans 5-Year Appeal Circus ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS -- Supremes to Decide whether NLRB's Decisions Are Valid, with 3 of 5 Seats Un-Filled AFFIRMATIVE ACTION -- Brit Blue-Ribbon Panel Castigates Law and other Professions for Classism and Similar Exclusvities AFFORDABILITY & GENTRIFICATION -- Proposed Car-Sleeping Ban May Pit Palo Alto Nimbies against Humanitarians AFFORDABILITY & GENTRIFICATION -- Real Estate Profiteers Squawk at S.J.'s Proposed 20% Affordable Housing Set-Aside ANIMAL LAW -- Eccentric Boulder Creek Recluse Asserts Alpha Relatinship with Dog Pack, during Abuse Trial ANTI-TRUST -- Feds Examining Anti-Trust Implications of Settlement Letting Google Profiteer by Privatizing Humanity's Literary Heritage ANTI-TRUST -- Google Pooh-Poohs Antitrust Potential of Search Ad Collusion with Yahoo ANTI-TRUST -- Google-Yahoo Deal Draws EU Challenge, Via 'World Federation of Advertisers' ANTI-TRUST -- Liberal Anti-Trust Think Tank Offers Alternative Roadmap for Google-Yahoo Collaboration ANTITRUST -- Critics Charge Google Playing God with Orphan Works Shenanigans ANTITRUST -- Dismissal of Antitrust Countersuit against Apple May Doom 'Mac Clone' Manufacturer ANTITRUST -- Intel Pays AMD $1 ¼ B over Anti-Trust Violations ASYLUM -- Feds Relent, Letting Asylum Take Effect for Gay Filipino Professor ASYLUM -- Immigration Firm Faked Hundreds of Persecution and Torture Claims and Documents ASYLUM -- Sunnyvale Program Eases Refugees' Adjustment to Life in U.S. ATTY CONDUCT -- Overzealous S. Clara Co. Deputy DA Hit with 4-Year Bar Suspension for Repeated Violations ATTY CONDUCT -- S. Clara Co. DA Installs Paralegal/Ombudsman ATTY CONDUCT -- S. Clara DA Adamantly Backs Implicated Personnel as Evidence Withholding Scandal Unfolds BATTERY -- Neighbor Beaten & Left Disabled after Intervening to Stop Drunk Harassing Teen Girl BIOTECH -- Dalai Lama Co-Sponsors Stanford Neuro Research on Surgically Enhanced Compassion BUILDING & USE PERMITS -- Sunnyvale Council Enacts 4-Year Incremental Greening of Building Policies CLEMENCY -- Innocence Project & DA Clear Woman Wrongly Imprisoned 3 Years for Campbell Armed Burglary CLEMENCY -- S. Clara Sherrif's Office Absolves Scofflaws of Penalties for Dodging 553 Warrants CLEMENCY -- S. Mateo Co. Intervenes to Slow or Block Massive Impending Calif. Prisoner Release COMPETENCY & COMMITMENT -- Remand Pending on Competency of Accused S.. Jose Cop-Killer CONFLICT OF INTEREST -- S. Clara Co.. Judge Disqualifies Qiuinn Emanuel from Silicon Valley Trade Secrets Lawsuit, because of Conflicted Lateral Hire CONSUMER FRAUD -- Oakland, S.F. and Missouri Lawsuits Charge Labelling Fraud and Harmful Product Content in 'Organic' Market CORPORATE GOVERNANCE -- Yahoo Asks Judge to Seal Much of Shareholders' Action over MSoft Buyout Attempt from Public COURT ADMINISTRATION -- Los Gatos Small Claims Court Moves from Los Gatos to Santa Clara Courthouse COURT ADMINISTRATION -- Traffic Court Moved from Downtown San Jose to Courthouse in Santa Clara CYBER-BULLYING -- Italian Court Tries Google Execs for Enabling Student Video Showing Abuse of Youth with Downs Syndrome CYBER-CRIME -- Interpol, MSoft ,Yahoo, African Dev. Bank & Western Union Going After Online Lottery Fraud CYBER-CRIME -- Report:: Year's Clandestine Sales of Crime-Enabling Software & Strolen IDs Top $276 M CYBER-LAW -- Harvard Prof's Class Action Charges Google with Complicity with Lurking Typo-Exploiting Web Miscreants CYBER-LAW -- Rosetta Stone Sues Google for Selling Competitors Ads Linked to R-Stone's Copyrighted Keywords CYBER-SECURITY -- McAfee Warns Web Sites in Certain Domains are High Security Risks D.U.I. & TRAFFIC -- S. Bay Sentator Simitian's State Cell-Phone Statute Still Lets Us Text, but Not Talk D.U.I. & TRAFFIC -- S. Clara County Superior Court Traffic Case Information Now Available On-Line D.U.I. & TRAFFIC -- S.J. Driving School Busted because Teachers Cut Own Classes D.U.I. & TRAFFIC -- Traffic Safety Installations to Be Available to More S. Jose Neighborhoods DATA PRIVACY -- 14 Internet Rights Groups Challenge Google's Concealment of Privacy Policy DATA PRIVACY -- Consumer Groups, Google, MSoft & Insurers Roll Out Proposed OnLine Health-Record Standard DATA PRIVACY -- Consumers Sue Foster City's NebuAd & ISP Accomplices, Charging Illegal Behavioral Marketing Experiments DATA PRIVACY -- Proposed S. Jose Commandeering Pet Owner Data Has Veterinarians Snarling DATA PRIVACY -- Survey: Public Drops Google from Top 20 Trusted Corporations DEATH -- Santa Clara Co. Leaders, People Pray for Homeless who Perished in County during 2009 DEATH PENALTY -- State Pitches Kinder, Gentler Lethal Injections DEATH PENALTY -- TONIGHT: Sr. Helen Prejean and San Jose Theatre Company Host Benefit for Death Penalty Repeal DEBTOR-CREDITOR -- Judge: BofA's Logic for Not Disgorging $58 M in Heller Bankruptcy Eludes Him DEBTOR-CREDITOR -- S. Jose Judge Certifies Enormous Class Action against Unduly Agressive Debt Collection Agency DEPENDENT ABUSE -- S. Clara DA to Turn Over Representation of Abused Minors to Non-Profit Agency DEPENDENT ABUSE -- Special Needs Trust Continues Accepting Donations for Severely Abused Toddler DISCOVERY -- Qualcomm's Lawyers Finger Client as Culprit in Massive Evidence Concealment DISCRIMINATION-DISABILITY -- In TV Debate, Disability Advocates Seek to Educate Campbell Donuteer, and Public, about Bigotry-Enabling Impact of Disability-Ridiculing 'Humor' DISCRIMINATION-DISABILITY -- iTunes to Be Completely Blind Accessible by July '09 DISCRIMINATION-RACE-PROFILING -- Advisors Recommend S.J. Council Commission Audit of Drunkenness Arrests DISCRIMINATION-RACE-PROFILING -- Palo Alto Council Orders Audit of Race Profiling by Its Police DISCRIMINATION-RACE-PROFILING -- Palo Alto Police Data Shows Widespread Racial Disparity in Traffic Stops DISCRIMINATION-RACE-PROFILING -- Palo Alto Police Profiling Policies & Practics Provoke Protest - UPDATE DISCRIMINATION-RACE-PROFILING -- SJ Police Dept. Considers 'Implicit Bias' Training to Make Police More Conscious of Unintentional Race Prejudice DISCRIMINATION-RELIGION -- Fremont is Site for Sikh Coalition's New Western States Office DISCRIMINATION-SEX AND GENDER -- US Supremes Will Hear Dispute over Hastings Law School Christian Club Barring Gays, Lesbians Non-Christians DOM. VIOLENCE -- Economic Meltdown Produces Spike in Domestic Violence DRUGS -- Area Pet Food Chain Funds Body Armor for Drug-Sniffing Police K9s DRUGS -- Stanford Research Yields Medication Eliminating Opiate Withdrawal Symptoms ELECTIONS -- Stanford Prof Urges Dismantling of US Electoral College EMPLOYEE BENEFITS -- S. Jose Employee Pensions Overpaid Millions over Several Years ENVIRONMENTAL MITIGATION -- Commission Urges County-Wide Charge for Disposable Shopping Bags FAIR USE -- Belgian News Combine Demands $77 M from Google for Unauthorized Storage & Publishing of Content FAIR USE -- Local Legal Luminary Lessig Lauds Obama Organization's Liberalized Licensure FINES & CIVIL PENALTIES -- HP Boardroom Spies-for-Hire Will Pay FCC $600 K FORECLOSURES -- Community Advocates Host Public Meeting on Foreclosure Crisis FORECLOSURES -- S. J. Council Resolves to Upgrade Vigilance after Foreclosure Crisis Erases $1.3 B from Pension Funds FORECLOSURES -- Silicon Valley Foreclosure Impacts: More Renters Looking; More Tenant Evictions; Higher Rents; Fewer Vacancies FORECLOSURES -- Silicon Valley Home Values Drop as Banks Put Foreclosed Properties on the Block FORECLOSURES -- Silicon Valley Homes May Be too Pricey for Rescue from Foreclosure by Obama Plan FORECLOSURES -- Silicon Valley's Foreclosure Rate Spikes Upward 22% in One Month FRAUD -- Flatfoot McFall Foils French Flight Fare Fraudster FRAUD -- Inquests Eject Mortgage Modification Scammers from Calif. Bar FRAUD -- S. Clara County Assessor Alerts Community against Property Tax Reduction Scam GANGS -- Gangs in SJ Schools on the Rise GANGS -- School Dress Codes Discourage Gang-ID Displays GANGS -- SJ Cops Suspect Hells Angels in Pipe Bombings Near Home of Top-Level Mongols Leader GENTRIFICATION -- Affordable Housing Policy Enacted for San Jose HATE CRIMES -- Defense Lawyers Disclaim Google Execs' Criminal Responsibility for Degrading Video of Autistic Teen's Brutalization by School Bullies HAZARDS-ALCOHOL -- Serving Booze to Partying Teens is a Crime in Many S. Bay Towns HAZARDS-FIRE -- New Regulation Outlaws BBQing on Most Decks & Balconies HAZARDS-TOBACCO -- SF Beats Back Walgreens Challenge to Anti-Tobbacco Ordinance HAZARDS-TOBACCO -- Walgreens Sues to Block SF Ordinance Barring Tobacco Sales from Pharmacies HISTORIC PRESERVATION -- Settlement Restores Piece of Partially Demolished Historic IBM Structure, with Interpretive Display IMPORT-EXPORT -- Lloyds Cops to $350 M Penalty for Covertly Circumventing US Embargoes against Iran, Sudan & Others; HP Halts Iran Printer Sales INFRINGEMENT-PATENT -- IP Mavens Fear Apple I-Phone's Multi-Touch Technology will Trigger Massive Patent Litigation Battle INFRINGEMENT-TRADEMARK -- ANOTHER Harvard Alumnus, & Southbay Denizien, Sues Facebook, Claiming Prior Dibs on Facebook Trademark INFRINGEMENT-TRADEMARK -- Intel Suing Any Business with 'intel' In Its Name INFRINGEMENT-TRADEMARK -- US Arbitrators Find for Tiny Canadian Startup Groovle over Behemoth Google INSURANCE-MEDICAL -- 140,000 Silicon Valleyans Lack Health Coverage, Study Reveals INSURANCE-MEIDICAL -- Surge in Medicaid Applications Overwhelm State' Social Service Apparati JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Investigator: S. Clara Judge Allegro, when a Prosecutor, Withheld Exculpatory Evidence and Secured Defendant's Death Sentence JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- NY Archbishop Berates & Bullies Fordham Law School for Honoring Justice Breyer JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Republican Attorney Beth McGowen Appointed to Santa Clara Co. Superior Court Judgeship JUDICIAL SELECTION -- S. Clara Co. Superior Court Elects Presiding Judge and AssistantPresiding Judge JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Six Judges Apppointed to Santa Clara Bench JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Stanford Law Prof Picked by High Court as Special Master in Montana/Wyoming Yellowstone River Dispute JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Would Fed. Circuit's Gain Spell Disaster for Silicon Valley's Suffering Masses? JURY INSTRUCTIONS -- US High Court Reimposes San Mateo Felony Murder Conviction, Reversing 9th Circuit - Hedgpeth v. Pulido JUVENILES -- Community Groups Shout Down S. Clara Co. Probation Chief's Scheme to Arm Youth Probation Officers JUVENILES -- S. Clara County Officials' Scheme to Double Juvenile Incareration Dumbfounds already Outraged Youth Advocates LANDLORD-TENANT -- East Palo Alto Class Action Charges Landlord Using Sham Corporations to Evade Rent Control LAW SCHOOLING -- Stanford Law Dumping Letter Grades LAW-BIZ -- Former Jr. Associate Challenges Heller Collapse Settlement on Behalf of Non-Attys. LAW-BIZ -- Heller Bankruptcy Liquidation Hearing Postponed to Accomodate Further Mediation LAW-BIZ -- Silicon Valley's Law Business Continues Expanding, Despite Economic Downturn LOBBYING -- Lobbying Irregularity Allegations Trigger S. Jose Council Pyrotechnics LOCAL GOVERNMENT & POLITICS -- S.J. Budget Director Faces Ethics Challenge over Ballot Measure Fundraising MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION -- Breyer Pissed, after Feds Extradite Medical Pot Advocate from Romania to Face Possible One-Day Sentence MARIJUANA-LEGALIZATION -- Proposed San Mateo City Ordinance Would Permit & Regulate Medical Pot Collectives MARIJUANA-LEGALIZATION -- Redwood City Suspends Pot Dispensory Licensing MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Calif. State Senator Leno Authors Law Recognizing Same-Sex Marriages from Other States MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Conservative 9th Circuit Panel Rebuffs Would-Be Aggressive Gay Marriage Opponent's Intervention in Prop. 8 Case MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Lawsuit Seeks Invalidation of Prop. 8 MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Lawyers among California's First Same-Sex Marriage Partners MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Video of Fed. Court Hearings on Prop. 8 Will Be Posted On Line MARRIAGES-SAME SEX -- Google's AdSense Injected Pro-Prop-8 Ads onto Lesbian/Gay & Gender Rights Web Sites - Including S. Jose Group's MORTGAGE MELTDOWN -- Foreclosures Overwhelm E. San Jose Neighborhood NET CENSORSHIP -- Yahoo! Echoes Google's Challenge to Chinese Net Censorship and Privacy Violations OFF-SHORING -- Silicon Valley Braces for Blowback from Indian Off-Shoring Contractor's Massive Scandal OFFENSES - BATTERY -- Sch. District Safety Director: Oak Grove HS Stabbing Perp Was in Gang, but Attack Not Gang Related OFFENSES-ABDUCTION -- State Inspector General: Abductee Dugard Initially Covered for Perpetrator to Parole Investigator OFFENSES-COUNTERFEITING -- East Palo Altans Busted with Counterfeit $100 Bills OFFENSES-THEFT -- Nationwide Fencing Ring Cracked with Help of SJ Police OFFENSES-THEFT -- San Josean Admits to Court He Was Notorious, Wig-Adorned Bankrobber OUT-SOURCING -- S.J. Council Votes to Critique City's Outsourcing Practics more Deeply & Fully OWNERSHIP-PATENTS -- SF IP Atty's New Company Will Buy Up & Aggregate Patents, to Foreclose Troll Lawsuits Against Clients PATENTING -- Fed. Circuit Restores Jury Consideration of Infringement-Absolving Opinion Letters, Briefly Thought Obsolete - Broadcom v. Qualcomm PIRACY -- EBay Liable for Bogus Fashion Goods Traffic, French Court Rules PIRACY -- Founder's Harvard Classmates Lose Bid to Kick Open Settlement, Alleging He Stole Facebook from Them POLICE ADMINISTRATION -- Class Action Charges that S. Jose's Public Intoxication Arrest Practices are Unconstitutional and Discriminatory POLICE ADMINISTRATION -- Notwithstanding Racial Profiling Controversy, Colleagues Give Accolades for Palo Alto Police Chief POLICE ADMINISTRATION -- Palo Alto PD Announces Minority Relations Initiative POLICE ADMINISTRATION -- S.J. Council Resolves to Reign in Excessive Drunk-In-Public Arrests POLICE ADMINISTRATION -- S.J. Police Dept. Strapping Minicams to Officers' Heads POLICE ADMINISTRATION -- SJPD's Explanation Unravels, for Disproportionate Drunkenness Arrests of Latinos POLICE CONDUCT -- Biker's Daughter Sues SJ Cops, Mfgr., over Tasering Death POLICE CONDUCT -- Chief: S.J. Police Deal with Drunks Properly, Notwithstanding Indications to Contrary POLICE CONDUCT -- Local Assembly Members: State Should Investigate S.J. Cops' Discrimanatory & Excessive Force POLICE CONDUCT -- Palo Alto Council Resolution Denounces I.C.E. Agent Abuses PR0SECUTORIAL CONDUCT -- SF Deputy DA's $20 Juror Bribe Offer in Capital Trial was Innoccuous Joke, Evidence Ref. Assures Calif. Supremes PRISONS & JAILS -- S. Clara County Juvenile Youth Ranch Overhaul Praised PRISONS & JAILS -- S. J. Arrestee Apparently Smuggled Lethal Drug Overdose into Holding Cell PRISONS & JAILS -- S. Mateo Co. Not Biting on $100 M Jail Upgrade Offer in Exchange for Welcoming State Prison Societal Reentry Facility PRISONS & JAILS -- San Mateo Co. Holding Newly Rehabbed Jail Structure on Standby PRISONS & JAILS -- Stanford Gives $1 M Plus Student Team, to Shrink Our Jail's Energy Footprint PRIVACY -- MN Suburb Demands Google Drop it from Street View Feature PRODUCTS-AUTOMOTIVE -- Bay Area Toyota Dealerships Bracing to Service Massive Recall PRODUCTS-FOOD -- Lead Content Triggers Recall of Chinese Confection Qi Cai Bang 2008 PRODUCTS-MEDICAL -- Pharm Holdings Call Stanford Drug Researcher's Impartiality into Question, Congress Member Warns PRODUCTS-MEDICAL -- Stanford Researchers Unveil Non-Scar Bandage PROSECUTORIAL CONDUCT -- Calif. DAs File Amicus, Arguing S. Clara Prosecutor's Discipline Increased Risk of Sanctions in Vague and Excessive Ways PROSECUTORIAL CONDUCT -- S. Clara Co. Ex-Prosecutor Appeals 4-Year Bar Suspension PROSECUTORIAL CONDUCT -- S. Clara D.A. Will Release Many of 3,300 Sex Crime Victim Med Exam Videos Previously Withheld from Defenders PROSECUTORIAL CONDUCT -- Staffer Testifies to State Bar about Prosecutor Field's Actions in Controversial Prosecutions PROSECUTORIAL CONDUCT -- Zealous, Controversial S. Clara County Prosecutor Faces State Bar Review and Possible Sanctions REAL ESTATE -- 20% of S. Jose Metro Homes 'Underwater' as Values Plummet 17.2% Compared with Winter 2007 RESTORATION & MITIGATION -- Model Ordinance Would Phase Out Paper & Plastic Bags from Santa Clara Co. Retail Shopping RETALIATION -- US Supremes OK Suits Charging Employer Retaliation against Race & Age Discrimination Plaintiffs-- Gomez-Perez v. Potter and CBOCS West v. Humphries RIGHTS-EXPRESSION -- Fremont-Based Singapore Dissident Arrested for Blogging that Colleague's Trial Judge 'Prostituted Herself' RIGHTS-INFORMATION -- ACLU, S.J. Council & Cops Face Off over Sunshine Committee's Call for Public Release of Police Reports RIGHTS-INFORMATION -- Google Agitates to Make US Govt. Networks Crawler-Accessible RIGHTS-PRESS -- Pro-China Journalist Framed & Blacklisted for Sedition During 1950s, Dies in SF at 89 SEX OFFENSES -- Police Seeking Undiscovered Victims of S.J. Serial Molester SEX OFFENSES-TRAFFICKING -- Prostitution Sweeps Rescue 48 Trafficked Children Nationwide, Including Seven in SF & Oakland SLAVERY & PEONAGE -- S.Clara Co. DA's Sex Trafficking Prosecutions Yield 6- and 3-Year Prison Sentences SOCIETY -- Service Mourns 82 Santa Clara Co. Homeless who Died in 2008 - 55 Died on Streets SPAM & TELEMARKETING -- Cisco Study: Spam Doubled Worldwide Since 2007 to 200 Billion Messages/Day. US Biggest Source at 17.2% of Total SPAM & TELEMARKETING -- SF Social Networking Operation Promises to Knock Off Address-Book Poaching Shenanigans SPAM & TELEMARKETING -- Spamhaus Rates Google as World's 3rd Worst Spam Conduit, Despite Prodigious Anti-Spam Program STOCK OPTIONS & 401KS -- Prosecution Presses to Pierce Atty-Client Privilege of Silicon Valley High-Roller Ruehle SURVEILLANCE -- Google, Yahoo & Microsoft Unveil Human Rights Assurance Guidlines SURVEILLANCE -- Local Police Announce Data-Sharing Scheme to Nail Graffitists SURVEILLANCE -- New Google People-Tracking Service Alarms Privacy Activists SURVEILLANCE -- Yoo: Massive Domestic Wiretaps No Big Deal TAX -- Fed. Jury Throws Out White Collar Charge against Bechtel Lawyer Whose Unintended Error Led Him to Aggressively Advocate for Improper Research Deduction TAX-ALLOCATION -- Cupertino Throws Support to League of Cities' Litigation Blocking State Capture of Local Gas Taxes TAX-PROPERTY -- Novel Burlingame Tax Would Hike Assessments for Anything Impeding Surface Water Absorption TAX-PROPERTY -- S. Bay Property Tax Appeals Increase as Real Estate Market Disintegrates TAX-PROPERTY -- S. Clara Co. Assessor Going after Companies which Acquired Properties TAX-SALES -- Palo Alto Council Balks at Sales Tax Increase to Fund S.J. BART Extension TAX-UTILITIES -- S.J. Ballot Measures Offer Voters Phone Rate Cut in Exchange for Phone Tax Re- TAXES-PROPERTY -- Mountain View & Los Gatos Parcel Taxes Advocated for School Funding THEFT -- As Frugal Commuters Go Greener, BART Bike Thefts Spike THEFT -- Hulking Thieves Photographed Bashing open Locked Shop Doors, Grabbing Cash & Running THEFT -- Thieves Make off with S.J. State Band Instruments TORTURE -- DOJ Lawyer Argues 'State Secrets' Foreclose Lawsuit against S.J. Co for Complicity in CIA Rendition's for Torture TRADE SECRETS -- E. Bay Jury Favors SF Firm over Silicon Valley Team in Potential $2B Trade Secrets Verdict UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS -- SF Postpones Plan to Issue Local IDs, Irrespective of Immigration Status VEXACIOUS LITIGATION -- Palm Spinoff Nails Patent-Squatter for Atty Fees VISA WORKERS -- Year's H-1B Visa Supply Takes 3/4 of FY 2009 to Runs Out WAGE & HOUR -- Laid Off Personnel Sue Thelen Law Firm Under WARN ACT WAGE & HOUR -- S.J. Airport Subcontractor Living Wage Extension Nears Passage WAGE & HOUR -- Settlement Finally Secures Back Pay Mexican Govt. Withheld from 1940s Era Braceros WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Co-Workers Gather Donations for S. Jose Refugee from So. Sudan War Crimes to See Mother and Hold Father's Funeral WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Fed. Jury Rejects all Nigerian Villagers' Atrocity Claims against Chevron WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Srebrenica Massacre Survivors Challenge U.N.'s Claimed Immunity for Peacekeeper Desertion, In Dutch Appellate Court WATER -- Sidekicks Cargill & Saltflats Developer Propose Drinking Water Supply Shuffle WETLANDS -- Cargill Salt Pond Rehabilitation Expands by 350 Acres WHITE COLLAR -- Apple & Its Top Brass to Pay Out $ 22 1/2 M over Backdating WHITE COLLAR -- Chevron's Ecuador Counsel Face Corruption Prosecution in Massive Rainforest Pollution Scandal WHITE COLLAR -- DOJ Rebuffs Option Backdating Clemency Petitions from Brocade's Reyes WHITE COLLAR -- Fed. Prosecutors Indict 2 Former Broadcom Execs for Stock Option Backdating and 1 for Corporate Drug Partying WHITE COLLAR -- Marvell Tech Agrees to Pay $16 M to Stockholders & Promises Reforms, to Settle Bakdating Suit WHITE COLLAR -- Revised Zoran Backdating Derivative Settlement Disgorges Cash to Company -- Not Just Lawyers WORKPLACE PRIVACY -- 9th Circuit Curtails Employer Snooping into Workers' e-Messages -- Quon v. Arch Wireless WRONGFUL DEATH -- S.J. Settles 2005 Taser Fatality Suit for $70,000 WRONGFUL DEATH -- Tasering Claims Another San Jose Life ZONING & LAND USE -- Redwood City Initiative would Require 2/3 Public Majority to OK Encroachment on Open Space Court News AFFIRMATIVE ACTION -- Black Classmates Repudiate Clarence Thomas's Claim that Affirmative Action Invalidated Caché of Yale Degree AFFIRMATIVE ACTION -- Brit Blue-Ribbon Panel Castigates Law and other Professions for Classism and Similar Exclusvities ATTY FEES & COSTS -- New Calif. Court Rules Create Statewide Damages and Atty Fee Criteria for Minors' Personal Injury Claims COURT ADMINISTRATION -- ABA Report:: Deportation Hearings Overwhelming Defective Immigration Courts COURT ADMINISTRATION -- Judges', Lawyers' & Profs' Group Calls on Congress to Enact Total Supreme Court Makeover COURT ADMINISTRATION -- Los Gatos Small Claims Court Moves from Los Gatos to Santa Clara Courthouse COURT ADMINISTRATION -- Traffic Court Moved from Downtown San Jose to Courthouse in Santa Clara D.U.I. & TRAFFIC -- S. Clara County Superior Court Traffic Case Information Now Available On-Line DEATH PENALTY -- Judge Faces Removal for Abetting Wrongful Execution by Stonewalling Appeal Filing DEPENDENT ABUSE -- S. Clara DA to Turn Over Representation of Abused Minors to Non-Profit Agency DISCRIMINATION-RACE -- Filipino Hate Mail Harasser of Justice Thomas & Other African Americans Admits Motive was Loss of Own Girl Friend to African American GENOCIDE -- I.C.C.'s Top Prosecutor Seeks U.N. & A.U. Support for Arrest of Sudan President GUANTANAMO DETAINEES -- Teen-Soldier Canadian National's Guantanamo Trial Underscores Shamelessness of Whitehouse Terror-Baiting GUANTANAMO PRISONERS -- Lawyers Seek Detailed Records of Alleged Al Qaida Agent 's Secret CIA Site Detentions I.C.C. -- Atrocity Prosecutions, at Long Last Ready for Trial, Stall Yet Again as Member States Cut Back Funding I.C.C. -- ICC Prosecutor Reasserts Jurisdiction over Congo Atrocities, Given New Outrages I.C.C. -- Sudan's UN Ambassador Demands Removal of I.C.C. Prosecutor as 'Terrorist' I.C.C. -- Trial of Congo Atrocitaire Lubanga May Resume -- Credibility of ICC at Stake JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Fed. Court Grants Immunity to Defrocked Pennsylvania Judges Caught in Youth Detention Kickback Scandal JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Investigator: S. Clara Judge Allegro, when a Prosecutor, Withheld Exculpatory Evidence and Secured Defendant's Death Sentence JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Kozinski Enemy Files New Cyber-Abuse Complaint JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Kozinski Gets Wrist Slapped, but Escapes Formal Censure, for Cyberporn JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Kozinski's Web Smut Practices Surface as He Prepares to Oversee Major Porn Trial JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Mississippi Supremes Reprimand Black Judge for Criticizing White Attitudes to Black Community Group JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- NY Archbishop Berates & Bullies Fordham Law School for Honoring Justice Breyer JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Scalia Exposes Dangerous Internal Contradictions, International Law Correspondent Warns JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Sotomayor Looking Good JUDICIAL CONDUCT -- Touchy, Scalia Flames Student over Camreras-in-Court Query JUDICIAL SELECTION -- ABA Wants to Reclaim Seat at the Table, in Vetting of Federal Judicial Nominees JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Fed. Judicial Confirmations Surge Forward Like Molasses in Marie Byrd Land JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Legal Scholars: McCain Win Would Probably Intensify Supreme Court's Rightward Bent; Obama Win Would Probably Continue Status Quo JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Pakistan's New Supreme Ct. Bar President Vows to Reinstate Ousted (but Rightful) Chief Justice ASAP JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Republican Attorney Beth McGowen Appointed to Santa Clara Co. Superior Court Judgeship JUDICIAL SELECTION -- S. Clara Co. Superior Court Elects Presiding Judge and AssistantPresiding Judge JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Six Judges Apppointed to Santa Clara Bench JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Sotomayor Confirmation a Triumph for US, for Latino Peoples and for Humanity JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Stanford Law Prof Picked by High Court as Special Master in Montana/Wyoming Yellowstone River Dispute JUDICIAL SELECTION -- Would Fed. Circuit's Gain Spell Disaster for Silicon Valley's Suffering Masses? LEGAL TRENDS -- Response to Oil Drilling Case May Signal Shift in 9th Circuit's Ideological Balance MARRIAGE -- Georgia Supremes Place Pro-Marriage Billboards as Anti-Crime Measure MARRIAGE-SAME SEX -- Video of Fed. Court Hearings on Prop. 8 Will Be Posted On Line MILITARY LAW -- US Soldiers Would Be Tried by Iraqi Courts for Off-Base and Non-Combat Crimes, Under Draft US/Iraq Agreement OFFENSES-MURDER SOLICITATION -- Web Provaceuter Who Encouraged Assassination of Judges Upholding Handgun Control Denied Bail PROTEST & CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE -- 1,000s of Pakistan Lawyers Launch Nationwide Marches Demanding Musharraf's Removal, Supreme Court Reinstatement & Major Rights Reforms RIGHTS TRIBUNAL -- Bosnia War Crimes Tribunal's Timetable Too Ambitious for Some Critics, Too Slow for Others RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- Expiring Yugoslav Atrocities Court Gets Reprieve till 2012 RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- Flamboyant Defense Counsel Turns Cambodia Genocide Court into Dysfunctional Circus RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- Milosevic Prosecutor: Star Chamber Review of Govt. 'National Security' Evidence Arguments Obstructs Balkan War Crimes Justice RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- Rights Advocates Hope Kenya's Emerging Special Tribunal will Prove Exemplary RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- UN Program Strengthens Bosnian Courts' Effectiveness for War Crimes Redress RIGHTS TRIBUNALS -- UN's Kosovo Mission On Defensive, over Dearth of KLA Atrocity Prosecutions RIGHTS-EXPRESSION -- Fremont-Based Singapore Dissident Arrested for Blogging that Colleague's Trial Judge 'Prostituted Herself' SAME SEX MARRIAGE -- CA Supreme Court Issues Landmark Decision Holding Ban Against Same Sex Marriage Unconstitutional SENTENCING -- After Getting Convictions, Tajikstan Prosecutors Appeal Sentences as Too Harsh VENUE -- Political Posturing & Costs -- Not Due Process or Fairness -- Dictating Venue of 9-11 Plot Trial WAR & WAR CRIMES -- International Criminal Court Stays Child-Soldier Abductions Trial of Congolese Atrocitaire, Citing Evidenciary Improprieties WAR & WAR CRIMES -- Srebrenica Massacre Survivors Challenge U.N.'s Claimed Immunity for Peacekeeper Desertion, In Dutch Appellate Court