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By Jamie Raskin, Senior Fellow, People For the American Way Foundation
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- Doctors Lose, Pharmaceutical Companies Win: In Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc., the Court Uses the First Amendment to Revive the Lochner Era
- Patients and Medical Consumers Lose, Drug Manufacturers Win: Pliva, Inc. v. Mensing and Bruesewitz v. Wyeth LLC
- Consumers Lose, Large Corporations with Adhesion Contracts Win: AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion
- Millions of Low-Wage Women Workers Lose, Wal-Mart Wins: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes
- Injured Workers Lose, Foreign Multi-National Corporations Win: J. McIntyre Machinery, LTD. V. Nicastro
- Shareholders and Investors Lose, Corporate Executives and CEOs Win: Janus Capital Group, Inc. v. First Derivative Traders
- Corporate and Citizen Whistleblowers Lose, Corporate Wrongdoers Win: Schindler Elevator Corporation v. United States
- The Citizens United Era and the Growing Invincibility of Corporate Power in Court
It may be hard to name an era when you are still living through it, but chances are pretty good that future scholars of the United States Supreme Court will come to call our times "the Citizens United era." Like its historical forerunner of a century ago--the politically reactionary and judicially radical Lochner Court, the Citizens United Court has an organizing constitutional principle, a sharp political and economic bias and a distinctive jurisprudential style. These features were all on display in the 2010-2011 Supreme Court Term, which was, generally speaking, a blowout victory for the runaway power of the CEOs and managers of large corporations against the quaint, old-fashioned claims for fairness and justice brought by mere citizens, states, consumers, workers, company whistle-blowers, doctors, patients, parents, and corporate shareholders. The recent Term keeps the newly minted "corporate Americans" on top in every way and keeps the rest of us American citizens united—united, that is, on the losing end of every major struggle with corporate power.
The governing constitutional principle of the Citizens United era is that corporations, which are nowhere mentioned in the Constitution and had heretofore been seen as the chartered creatures of state governments subject to their laws, now enjoy the same political rights as the people under the First Amendment and may not be constrained by representative government if they wish to spend millions or billions of dollars in election campaigns to press their concerns. This revolutionary elevation of the constitutional rights of corporations has made plain to the public the pro-corporate bias that saturates the usually invisible workaday statutory interpretation also performed by Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Sam Alito and Justice Anthony Kennedy—the ruling majority on what we last called "the Corporate Court." See The Rise of the Corporate Court: How the Supreme Court is Putting Busainess First. With alarming frequency, and whenever it matters most, this "conservative" bloc will torture out of any statutory language or constitutional text--or increasingly any dictionary definition--an argument that will allow a corporate litigant to prevail in a significant social or economic conflict. The Supreme Court jurisprudence in the new era is thus dismally results-oriented, haphazard and incoherent, extremely hostile to federalism and the states (as well as Congress), politically polarized, sarcastic and petty in tone, and overall a running mockery of the rule of law.
The 2010-2011 Term, which followed the Citizens United decision by one year, rounded up all the usual winners and losers in statutory battles and underscored the Court's determination to use the First Amendment as a shield to insulate corporate power and put state government in its place. While it is impossible here to cover all of the many dozens of commonplace decisions the Court handed down, this Report identifies the most crucial and divisive decisions that directly arrayed corporate power against the interests of doctors and patients, consumers and workers, tort victims, corporate shareholders, and corporate and government whistle-blowers. The laws that Congress and the states have enacted to protect our rights and advance justice for all were simply cast aside by the Roberts Court.
Doctors Lose, Pharmaceutical Companies Win:
In Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc., the Court Uses the First Amendment to Revive the Lochner Era
In Sorrell v. IMS Health Inc., 564 U.S. ___ (2011), the majority struck down Vermont's Prescription Confidentiality Law, which provided that, unless physicians consented, pharmacies and health insurance companies could not sell to pharmaceutical companies (or use themselves), for marketing purposes, information about what drugs the physicians had been prescribing to their patients for which diseases and conditions. This is information, as Justice Kennedy explained for the majority, that "pharmaceutical manufacturers" like to use to "promote their drugs to doctors through a process called 'detailing.'" The detailing process involves direct visits to a doctor's offices to persuade the doctor of the virtues of a particular drug. According to Justice Kennedy, "Salespersons can be more effective when they know the background and purchasing preferences of their clientele . . . . Knowledge of a physician's prescription practices—called 'prescriber-identifying information'—enables a detailer better to ascertain which doctors are likely to be interested in a particular drug and how best to present a particular sales message."
Does this corporate marketing interest actually rise to the level of a First Amendment right and does the Vermont statute violate it? Justice Kennedy answered yes to both questions. The Vermont law, which seeks to leave it up to physicians themselves whether their prescription histories should be made available to corporate salespeople, is unconstitutional because it "disfavors marketing, that is, speech with a particular content" and "disfavors specific speakers, namely pharmaceutical manufacturers." Just as the Court majority found in Citizens United that the ban on corporate campaign independent expenditures discriminated against corporations on the basis of their identity, the majority in Sorrell found that the state's attempt to protect "prescriber-identifying information" discriminated against pharmaceutical corporations and direct advertising speech.
In a brilliant opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer, writing for the dissenting justices, demolished these tawdry arguments. The effect of the Vermont law is not to forbid or require anyone to say anything or to endorse or disavow any view but only to "deprive[] pharmaceutical and data-mining companies of data, collected pursuant to the government's regulatory mandate, that could help pharmaceutical companies create better sales messages." But this effect "is inextricably related to a lawful government effort to regulate a commercial enterprise." The Court majority's unprecedented use of "heightened" First Amendment standards to examine such a policy is simply "out of place." At most, the Court should have used the "intermediate" test governing laws that affect commercial speech, which asks whether a law is narrowly tailored to "directly advance" a "substantial government interest," which this law clearly is, in terms of protecting the public health, securing the privacy of prescribers and prescribing information, and controlling the costs of health care.
Justice Breyer would not have even gone that far, insisting that the normal "rational basis" test for commercial regulation should apply in this context. He observed that the Roberts Court majority is rapidly eroding the distinction between political speech by citizens and commercial speech and conduct by corporations, wiping out well-developed First Amendment doctrine and threatening all kinds of essential regulations of industry practices, from the food and drug industry to electricity generation. He noted how the current Court is using the First Amendment in the same way that the Lochner Court used the Due Process clause: to invalidate ordinary public laws regulating economic life and business, shifting the locus of power from popularly-elected legislatures to the judiciary. He writes:
Since ordinary regulatory programs can affect speech, particularly commercial speech, in myriad ways, to apply a 'heightened' First Amendment standard of review whenever such a program burdens speech would transfer from legislatures to judges the primary power to weigh ends and to choose means, threatening to distort or undermine legitimate legislative objectives.
Justice Breyer is not crying wolf when he warns that the Court's new speech jurisprudence is breathing new life into old-fashioned Lochnerism. In tough language, he admonishes us that the Court has opened a "Pandora's Box":
Given the sheer quantity of regulatory initiatives that touch upon commercial messages, the Court's vision of its reviewing task threatens to return us to a happily bygone era when judges scrutinized legislation for its interference with economic liberty. History shows that the power was much abused and resulted in the constitutionalization of economic theories preferred by individual jurists. See Lochner v. New York, 198 U.S. 45, 75-76 (1905) (Holmes, J., dissenting).
Read Justice Breyer—hardly a Ralph Nader-style critic of corporate power--and brace yourself for an onslaught of Lochner-style challenges to run-of-the-mill social and economic regulation based on the new corporate-infused First Amendment doctrines.
Patients and Medical Consumers Lose, Drug Manufacturers Win:
Pliva, Inc. v. Mensing and Bruesewitz v. Wyeth LLC
Patients and prescription drug users fared no better than physicians this Term when their rights came into collision with the power of the pharmaceutical companies. In two separate decisions, the majority sided with some of the most powerful corporations in America against health consumers and laws designed to protect them.
A central battleground has become the insistence by Big Pharma in the Roberts Court that federal laws preempt state laws designed to protect consumers and the public health. This is an argument that is music to the ears of the conservative Justices. Consider Pliva, Inc. v. Mensing, 564 U.S. __ (2011), in which Justice Thomas delivered the opinion for a 5-4 majority invalidating state law tort claims brought by two women who ended up with a severe neurological disorder called tardive dyskinesia after taking metoclopramide, the generic equivalent of Reglan, a drug designed to aid digestion. Justice Thomas found that federal law requiring generics to have the same labels as brand-name drugs preempted the company's obligation under state "failure to warn" torts law to inform consumers that the label significantly understated the drug's risks. According to the majority, it would have been "impossible" for the generic drug makers to comply with both the federal and state laws.
Writing for the dissenters, Justice Sotomayor eviscerated Justice Thomas' reasoning, pointing out first that it was not "impossible" for the pharmaceutical manufacturers to meet both their federal and state law responsibilities because the companies admitted "that they could have asked the FDA to initiate a label change," a step they simply never took. Had they made the request and had it been rejected, Justice Sotomayor noted, only then could an "impossibility" defense have been entertained. Justice Sotomayor pointed out that the majority opinion's sweeping reading of the Supremacy Clause amounted to a dramatic expansion of federal preemption of state laws and, implicitly, an assault on the power of states to protect their citizens.
Justice Sotomayor identified three "absurd consequences" of the majority decision that make it implausible that this result was any part of Congress' intention. First, the decision "strips generic-drug consumers of compensation when they are injured by inadequate warnings. . . .As the majority itself admits, a drug consumer's right to compensation for inadequate warnings now turns on the happenstance of whether her pharmacist filled her prescription with a brand-name drug or a generic. If a consumer takes a brand-name drug, she can sue the manufacturer for inadequate warnings under our opinion in Wyeth. If, however, she takes a generic drug, as occurs 75% of the time, she now has no right to sue."
Second, the decision "creates a gap in the parallel federal-state regulatory scheme in a way that could have troubling consequences for drug safety." State tort law has always furnished people an extra "layer of consumer protection" by providing an incentive for drug makers to "disclose safety risks promptly." An important component of this state-law consumer protection is now out the window. Finally, and closely related to this point, the majority decision "undoes the core principle . . . that generic and brand-name drugs are the 'same' in nearly all respects." From now on, consumers "of brand-name drugs can sue manufacturers for inadequate warnings; consumers of generic drugs cannot." Nothing in the majority opinion, Justice Sotomayor wrote, "convinces me that . . . Congress enacted these absurd results."
Justice Sotomayor wrote with equal outrage about the majority's deployment of federal preemption doctrine to preclude a state law design-defect claim brought in a Pennsylvania lawsuit by the parents of Hannah Bruesewitz, a 10-year old girl who suffered over 100 seizures after receiving a DTP (diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis) vaccine. The Bruesewitzes claimed that the pharmaceutical company could have avoided the disastrous, life-changing side effects of a scientifically outmoded vaccine by fulfilling its duty under state products liability law to improve its vaccines in light of technological and scientific advancements.
In Bruesewitz v. Wyeth LLC, 562 U.S. ____, Justice Scalia delivered the majority's opinion, reading the following statutory text to block out all state law design-defect claims (after the petitioner has first gone to the Court of Federal Claims) under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (NCVIA):
No vaccine manufacturer shall be liable in a civil action for damages arising from a vaccine-related injury or death associated with the administration of a vaccine after October 1, 1988, if the injury or death resulted from side effects that were unavoidable even though the vaccine was properly prepared and was accompanied by proper directions and warnings.
Justice Scalia's interpretation of this language to foreclose even avoidable design-defect claims makes no sense. In order to achieve his desired result, he simply wished part of the statutory language away, acting as if 13 words simply didn't exist:
No vaccine manufacturer shall be liable in a civil action for damages arising from a vaccine-related injury or death associated with the administration of a vaccine after October 1, 1988, if
the injury or death resulted from side effects that were unavoidable even thoughthe vaccine was properly prepared and was accompanied by proper directions and warnings.
Justice Sotomayor spared him no embarrassment in puncturing his strikingly results-driven arguments. She began by observing that the majority "imposes its own bare policy preference over the considered judgment of Congress," and meticulously demonstrated that Justice Scalia's contorted interpretation depends on a series of illogical and specious assertions and the treatment of no fewer than 13 words in the above statutory language as pure surplusage. Indeed, reading these words out of the statute to negate the liability of pharmaceutical manufacturers in state court design-defect lawsuits cuts against every principle of plain-language statutory construction. After showing that the Court majority had just destroyed incentives for manufacturers to "take account of scientific and technological advancements," Justice Sotomayor closed with these stinging words: "Nothing in the text, structure, or legislative history remotely suggests that Congress intended that result."
Consumers Lose, Large Corporations with Adhesion Contracts Win:
AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion
In AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion,562 U.S. (2011), the Concepcion family sued AT&T in federal court in California after they responded to the company's advertising for a "free phone" but discovered in their next bill a charge for $30 in sales tax for the phone. Their suit was consolidated with a class action lawsuit asserting false advertising and fraud against the company for this cynical bait-and-switch tactic contained in an "adhesion contract"—a "take it or leave it" standard form contract loaded up with fine print and unconscionably lopsided terms.
AT&T moved to dismiss the Concepcions' participation in the class action and to compel them to participate in individual arbitration because they had signed the company's adhesion contract, in which the company refused to sell them service unless they first surrendered their right to class-wide arbitration or litigation. Both the District Court and the Ninth Circuit found that the waiver of class action rights was unconscionable under California law because there was, procedurally speaking, "unequal bargaining power" and, in a substantive sense, an "overly harsh" result. These courts cited a rule derived from a California Supreme Court decision, the so-called Discover Bank rule, that dealt specifically with class-action waivers in arbitration agreements and had determined that:
[W]hen the waiver is found in a consumer contract of adhesion in a setting in which disputes between the contracting parties predictably involve small amounts of damages, and when it is alleged that the party with the superior bargaining power has carried out a scheme to deliberately cheat large numbers of consumers out of individually small sums of money, then . . . the waiver becomes in practice the exemption of the party from responsibility for its own fraud, or willful injury to the person or property of another. Under these circumstances, such waivers are unconscionable under California law and should not be enforced. (internal quotation marks and citations omitted)
A number of other state supreme courts have arrived at the same conclusion: adhesion contracts nullifying the possibility of class relief are unconscionable -- and therefore unenforceable – if they thwart the consumer's right to participate in class action lawsuits or arbitration in a context suggesting that a large corporation is ripping off a huge number of people in small increments and hoping to get away with it perpetually by blocking the possibility of class action relief.
But, with Justice Scalia leading the parade, the usual 5-4 majority returned and found that the California Discover Bank rule is—you guessed it!--preempted by the Federal Arbitration Act, which makes arbitration agreements "valid, irrevocable, and enforceable, save upon such grounds as exist at law or in equity for the revocation of any contract." The District Court and Ninth Circuit saw no preemption in sight since this carefully drafted savings clause permits arbitration agreements to be nullified by "generally applicable contract defenses," and state-law unconscionability doctrine definitely appeared to qualify since it obviously extends way beyond the arbitration context and is therefore not designed to interfere with arbitration. But, putting on his always-reachable legislator's hat, Justice Scalia added up a bunch of policy reasons to favor individual arbitration over class-wide arbitration and found that all of the states defending their contract-law principles like California were sacrificing "the principal advantage of arbitration—its informality" and making "the process slower, more costly, and more likely to generate procedural morass than final judgment." Thus, the corporate bloc (which pretends in other contexts to respect the states) simply disregarded the plain language of the Federal Arbitration Act and returned to a favorite doctrine—federal preemption of progressive state laws for conservative policy reasons—to overturn the lower federal courts and extinguish California's law.
In a withering dissent filed for himself and Justices Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan, Justice Breyer castigated the majority for not recognizing that the California Discover Bank rule did not create a "blanket policy" against class action waivers in the arbitration context. The rule applied to all contracts, including those having nothing to do with arbitration, and, in the arbitration context, applied only where certain conditions were met--contracts of adhesion involving a small amount of damage where it has been alleged that the advantaged party has carried out a scheme to deliberately cheat large numbers of consumers. Thus, it is impossible to see how this state rule could be directly targeting arbitration per se such that it compels preemption. Justice Breyer further observed that the California rule is not a policy against arbitration at all but only a policy, in certain conditions, against coerced individual arbitration. The rule actually saves class arbitration from consumers being unfairly stripped of it. Yet, Justice Scalia makes up out of thin air a statutory preference for individual arbitration. As Justice Breyer asked: "Where does the majority get its contrary idea—that individual, rather than class, arbitration is a 'fundamental attribute' of arbitration? The majority does not explain."
Justice Breyer closed his opinion by discussing the way that the unprecedented majority decision kills off the viability of class-wide relief in situations where consumers often need it the most, i.e. where large numbers of people are getting ripped off of relatively small sums of money. "What rational lawyer," he asks, "would have signed on to represent the Concepcions in litigation for the possibility of fees stemming from a $30.22 claim?" And he also reminded the federalism-spouting majority that "federalism is as much a question of deeds as words."
Millions of Low-Wage Women Workers Lose, Wal-Mart Wins:
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes
Dismantling of the class action mechanism—not just for consumers but for workers—was a commanding theme of the Term. In a decision that has attracted widespread notice and condemnation, the pro-corporate majority reassembled in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes, 564 U.S. ___ (2011), under Justice Scalia's leadership. By a 5-4 vote, the conservatives destroyed a class certification in a lawsuit by one-and-a-half million women plaintiffs contending that they had suffered sex discrimination as employees of Wal-Mart under a system of standardless pay and promotion decisions delegated to mostly male local management teams all over the country.
But Justice Scalia insisted that the lower federal courts' certification of the class action for these low-wage women was flawed under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure because "their claim must depend upon a common contention—for example, the assertion of discriminatory bias on the part of the same supervisor." (emphasis added) Justice Scalia saw no common contention in their lawsuit. This extraordinary holding is a sharpened dagger pointed at the heart of class action relief in employment lawsuits, which form precisely to make common complaints that cut across individual offices and departments. The claim that a "common contention" must relate to the same supervisor rather than the same corporate policy or practice threatens employment class action lawsuits all over America and has thrown a series of such job discrimination class action suits into disarray.
Writing for the four (partial) dissenters, Justice Ginsburg mobilized a series of striking facts to refute Justice Scalia's sweeping and sinister suggestion that there were not sufficient common issues to justify class action certification in this and similar cases: women occupy 70% of the hourly jobs in Wal-Mart stores but only 33% of management employees; the higher one looks on the corporate ladder, the fewer women appear; and women are paid less than men in every region. Justice Ginsburg also took the time to review some of the actual evidence produced in discovery, such as expert statistical findings establishing an "inference of discrimination," statements by Wal-Mart managers like "men are here to make a career and women aren't," and a finding by a committee of women Wal-Mart executives that "stereotypes limit the opportunities offered to women." Insisting that a corporate "system of delegated discretion" is indeed "a practice actionable under Title VII when it produces discriminatory outcomes," Justice Ginsburg took Justice Scalia to task for conflating the threshold class action certification criterion of a "common question" with the separate issue of incidental monetary relief, thus making class action lawsuits by employees (or consumers) ) to stop the discriminatory treatment far more difficult to get off the ground.
While the dissenters clearly demonstrated that the women met the threshold requirements for forming a class, they agreed with the majority that the specific type of class action the women sought to use in this case was not available to them. However, they would have remanded the case to allow the women to pursue an alternative type of class action suit. Unfortunately, the pro-corporate majority's ruling that the women cannot form a class of any type makes that impossible.
Injured Workers Lose, Foreign Multi-National Corporations Win:
J. McIntyre Machinery, LTD. V. Nicastro
In J. McIntyre Machinery, LTD. V. Nicastro 564 U.S. ___ (2011), an industrial worker named Robert Nicastro brought a lawsuit in New Jersey state court against the British manufacturer of a three-ton metal shearing machine that neatly severed four fingers from his right hand. The company, headquartered in Nottingham, England, moved to dismiss the lawsuit on the grounds that the court lacked "personal jurisdiction" over it, the kind of jurisdiction required by the Constitution that gives a court the power to issue a ruling affecting a particular person, corporate entity, or other party to litigation. Under the Due Process Clause, a state court cannot hear a case if the parties have no appropriately relevant contact or relationship with that state. The New Jersey Supreme Court found that jurisdiction clearly existed since the company aggressively put its equipment into the market in all 50 states and that Due Process was in no way offended by a state court asserting jurisdiction over a foreign manufacturer who knew that its products were being promoted and distributed through a nationwide marketing system--which McIntyre's were. Writing for the four-justice plurality (including Chief Justice Roberts, Justice Scalia and Justice Thomas, with Justices Breyer and Alito concurring), Justice Kennedy reversed the New Jersey Supreme Court on this question and found there was no personal jurisdiction since "no more than four machines . . . ended up in New Jersey" and other ties between the company and New Jersey were too tenuous to fairly invoke jurisdiction against the foreign company.
Writing for herself and Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, Justice Ginsburg chastised the majority for this appalling decision, which marked a total break from precedent and traditional understandings of "specific jurisdiction" in the states. She reviewed how McIntyre Machinery advertised and sent representatives to attend all the major conventions and trade shows to put its product into the stream of U.S. commerce. She explained how it engaged a U.S. distributor to hustle and ship its machines within all the 50 states. She also emphasized that this case is not anomalous but "illustrative of marketing arrangements for sales in the United States common in today's commercial world."
Invoking the famous "reason and fairness" standard derived from the International Shoecase, Justice Ginsburg asked the key question: "Is it not fair and reasonable, given the mode of trading of which this case is an example, to require the international seller to defend at the place its products cause injury?" She showed how more than a dozen federal and state courts all over America had come to precisely this conclusion in analogous personal injury cases. As the New Jersey Supreme Court observed in the opinion that the Roberts Court reversed, "With the privilege of distributing products to consumers in our State comes the responsibility of answering in a New Jersey court if one of those consumers is injured by a defective product ." Perhaps most strikingly, she showed that under European Union law, a New Jersey corporation selling machinery in Europe would have to face injured workers "in matters relating to tort . . . in the courts for the place where the harmful event occurred." Thus, our corporate Court is so one-sided in its sympathies that it extends rights to foreign corporations, insulating them from liability, in ways that their own countries would never do with respect to U.S. corporations.
Shareholders and Investors Lose, Corporate Executives and CEOs Win:
Janus Capital Group, Inc. v. First Derivative Traders
Not content with the trail of tears left for injured workers, broken-hearted parents, ordinary consumers, and victims of discrimination working at Wal-Mart this Term, the Supreme Court even protected the leaders of large corporations when they turn against the corporation's putative owners. This Court apparently can see no evil in the schemes of Wall Street CEOs and executives even when they are targeting the shareholders. Indeed, this Term inflicted serious damage on the prospect of having a more honest and transparent market in corporate securities.
In Janus Capital Group, Inc. v. First Derivative Traders, 564 U.S. ___ (2011), the 5-4 majority found that Janus Capital Management LLC (JCM), a mutual fund investment adviser, could not be found civilly liable in a private action under SEC Rule 10b-5 for making various false statements to investors in its client mutual funds' prospectuses. Justice Thomas spoke for the corporate bloc in finding not that JCM's statements--which allegedly suppressed the truth about Janus Capital Group's involvement with "market timing" operations--were actually true but that it makes no difference either way because JCM was only the investment adviser, and not the corporation itself releasing its own prospectus. He found that, because Janus Capital Group created Janus Investment Fund and Janus Capital Management LLC provided Janus Investment Fund with investment advisory services, all the various entities "maintain legal independence." Get it? If you create a bewildering family of "individual" corporate entities and some of them that are merely advising the others, the corporate-advising entities can make false statements that are quoted or cited by the companies releasing a prospectus, and everyone is free of 10b-5 liability! It's like magic. The deceiving speaker is like a "speechwriter" not ultimately responsible for the content of his boss' speech.
Writing for the four dissenting justices, Justice Breyer pierced through this fog of obfuscation and denial, observing clearly the interlocking and closely coordinating nature of the two key companies: "Janus Management and the Janus Fund are closely related. Each of the Fund's officers is a Janus Management employee. Janus Management . . .manages the purchase, sale, redemption and distribution of the Fund's investments. Janus Management prepares, modifies, and implements the Janus Fund's long-term strategies," and so on and on. He then pointed out that Rule 10b-5 provides that it is unlawful for "any person, directly or indirectly . . . to make any untrue statement of material fact" in connection with the purchase or sale of securities. (emphasis added) Justice Thomas "incorrectly interpreted the Rule's word 'make.' Neither common English nor this Court's earlier cases limit the scope of that word to those with 'ultimate authority' over a statement's content." Many prior cases established that management companies, boards of trustees, individual officers, investment advisers, lawyers and accountants could "make" statements within the meaning of 10b-5. The majority's endorsement of corporate-securities three-card monte effectively guts the rule going forward. As one California court put it in rejecting the test requiring a company to have legal "control" over third parties for the rule to operate against them, such a reading offers "company officials too much leeway to commit fraud on the market by using analysts as their mouthpieces."
The remarkable quality of the jurisprudence of the Citizens United era is that the sympathies of the corporate bloc on the Court run not to corporate investors and shareholders but to corporate managers and CEOs. It is hard to find an economic logic, much less a constitutional one, for such an orientation, but the underlying political dynamics seem clear enough.
Corporate and Citizen Whistleblowers Lose, Corporate Wrongdoers Win:
Schindler Elevator Corporation v. United States
The full extent of the Roberts Court majority's pro-corporate enthusiasm cannot really be seen until you look at cases where the Court deliberately chooses to undermine the power of government to detect, investigate and prosecute corporate criminality. For a final look at the 2010-2011 Term, consider a decision that gives you a taste of the corporate bloc's eagerness to shield government contractors engaged in fraud from facing even civil consequences.
The False Claims Act, which prohibits submitting false or fraudulent claims for payment to the U.S. government, authorizes citizens to bring qui tam actions against defrauding parties in the name of the government. The so-called "public disclosure bar" does not allow qui tam suits that are simply "based upon the public disclosure of allegations or transactions . . . in a congressional, administrative, or Government Accounting Office report, hearing, audit or investigation." In other words, the often lucrative mechanism of the qui tam action is reserved for citizens who either already have, or go out and get, special knowledge of corrupt and fraudulent activity rather than those who simply follow public reports of government investigations and learn about them the way everyone else does.
The issue in Schindler Elevator Corporation v. United States, 563 U.S. ___ (2011), was whether a United States Army Veteran of the Vietnam War who blew the whistle on hundreds of false claims for payment submitted by his former employer should lose the ability to prosecute a qui tam action because part of the evidence for his case included a federal agency's written response to a request his wife made for records under the Freedom of Information Act. Justice Thomas, of course, said yes, the whistleblower action is out the window because such records are a "report" within the meaning of the exemption, despite the fact that information produced through FOIA is not mentioned in the "public disclosure bar" and had never before been treated as part of it. Justice Thomas swept past objections that guilty government-defrauders will now petition for FOIA records as a way to block qui tam actions and ignored the entire whistle-blower community which begged the Court not to undercut the statute in this way.
In an exhaustive dissenting opinion, Justice Ginsburg explained that all the other exclusions contained in the "public disclosure bar" relate to the "synthesis of information in an investigatory context," something that obviously does not apply to individual FOIA requests. She said that the Court's ruling "weakens the force of the [False Claims Act] as a weapon against fraud on the part of government contractors," and openly invited Congress to try to repair the damage of the decision.
The Citizens United Era and the Growing Invincibility of Corporate Power in Court
There are two obverse perils for Court-watchers in interpreting the meaning of Supreme Court Terms. One danger is to over-read into the Term as if a Court carefully arranges all of the cases to produce a common organizing theme that can be reduced to a headline. This is obviously not how the Court works. The flip-side danger is to view each case in radical isolation and proceed as if there are not principles and values that organize the legal consciousness of different blocs of justices.
The radicalism of last year's Citizens United decision and the persistent divisions on the Court relating to controversial cases about corporate power mean that we have quite definitively entered into a new era of judicial consciousness. Moreover, with corporate profits booming and inequality widening in American society, the Supreme Court majority has taken sides in the struggle over the direction of the American political economy between those who defend corporate power and impunity and those who would like to restore democratic and popular channels of power. Will our economic life be organized around the needs of the people as expressed through representative government in the states and Washington or around the will of large corporations as registered regularly in court, in lobbying and now through aggressive independent campaign spending?
Corporations are a central part of the American and world economies and have played a fantastic role in the accumulation and investment of capital and the production of wealth. In a fair economy, corporations would compete and innovate; they would prosper and thrive and profit; but they would not govern; they would not intervene in representative politics; they would not oppress other parts of society lacking their wealth and power; and they would not be immune from civil and criminal consequences when they engage in misconduct.
Yet, the Roberts Court has already assured that, in the Citizens United era, the people cannot hope to have a fair fight with large corporations in public elections because mortal beings cannot compete with the hundreds of billions of dollars in disposable campaign capital enjoyed by those institutions endowed with "perpetual life" and limited liability: the pharmaceutical companies, the military-industrial complex, the energy industry, agribusiness, and so on. Thus, a high burden of hope for justice in our society rests on the courts to fairly enforce the law and protect us against corporate domination at every level of social and political life.
And, yet, this Supreme Court Term shines a spotlight on a five-justice majority that continues to rewrite the law, override the states and trample public values precisely in order to favor the exclusively self-interested will of corporate management over everyone else.
* * * * * * *
Jamie Raskin, a People For the American Way Foundation Senior Fellow, is a constitutional law professor at American University Washington College of Law and a Maryland State Senator.


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Kohl's same-stores sales rise 13.3% in January
Kohl's Corp. reported Thursday that same-store sales for January increased 13.3%, led by strong sales in the western United States.
The Menomonee Falls department store chain said total sales rose to $1.13 billion from $844 million a year earlier. »Read Full Article(7)
Oconomowoc mayor creates Pabst Farms committee
Oconomowoc Mayor James Daley has appointed three aldermen to a newly created committee to review Pabst Farms development plans, according to LivingLakeCountry.com.
There has been no activity or discussion regarding the proposed Pabst Farms Towne Centre within the last year, says the article, by reporter Paige Brunclik. »Read Full Blog Post(4)
Snap-on Inc. reports 14% increase in quarterly profits
With a boost in sales in its tool division, Snap-on Inc. on Thursday reported a quarterly profit of $84.6 million, or $1.43 per share, up nearly 14% from the same quarter a year ago.
The Kenosha maker of tools and automotive diagnostic equipment said it had $796.1 million in sales in the recent quarter, up 3% from a year earlier. »Read Full Article(1)
Housing considered at former St. Michael Hospital site
Community Care Inc. is considering the development of an assisted living facility for the former St. Michael Hospital site, on Milwaukee's north side.
The facility would be on the north side of W. Villard Ave., generally east of N. 25th St., on the site's northern portion, according to a new proposal filed with the Common Council. »Read Full Blog Post(2)

subset: commoncrawl


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Introduction to Carbon Nanotube Electronics
Published on
Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have interesting, structure-dependent electronic properties. In particular, CNTs can be a metallic or semiconducting depending on the way in which the carbon atoms are arranged in the CNT walls. The purpose of this learning module is to familiarize students with the basic concepts associated with CNT electronic properties. It begins with a pre-test to assess initial student knowledge of the topic, followed by a presentation and reading material on the electronic properties of CNTs. This is followed by some exercises that utilize the CNTbands tool on the nanoHUB for computing key electronic properties of CNTs. Finally, a post-test is administered to determine the degree to which the module assisted in student learning of the fundamental concepts associated with the electronic properties of CNTs.
Cite this work
Researchers should cite this work as follows:


text: Molecular Grade Water Water, Cell Culture Grade (ATCC® 30-2205™) ATCC® Number: 30-2205™ Quantity: 500 mL Storage: Store cell culture grade water at room temperature (15°C to 30°C). Shelf life of 36 months when properly stored. Applications: For use as a diluent or for reconstituting powdered media and salt solutions. For-Profit: $11.20 Non-Profit: $11.20 Qty: Add to Cart Preview Product Compare Product Format: 500 mL Comments: Cell culture tested. Product Sheet Certificateof Analysis SDS Molecular Grade Water (ATCC® 60-2450™) ATCC® Number: 60-2450™ Quantity: 1 liter Storage: Store at 15°C to 30°C Applications: For use in all molecular biology procedures that require water, including PCR. Distilled, deionized, sterile-filtered. For-Profit: $25.00 Non-Profit: $25.00 Qty: Add to Cart Preview Product Compare Product Format: 1 liter Product Sheet Certificateof Analysis SDS 1


text:
Automotive Rentals & Charters
Costa Mesa, CA and area
+ more info
- less info
Local businesses in Costa Mesa, California. Find local businesses Costa Mesa merchants you support the local economy. By keeping your money in the Costa Mesa marketplace you support your community. Shop online, but buy local.
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first of all welcome back, second landry contract was to serve as a blocker from Toronto for the knicks, so that we couldn't S&T him to phoneix for Steve Nash and Jeremy is getting 25.1 ballon payment of 14.5 in the 3rd year. He supposedly pissed of Dolan so they let him go.
Yes you are right about what was the point of the lockout if Roy Hibbert, Brook Lopez, Eric Gordon are getting max deals Nicolas Batum is getting like 44 million it is kind of ridiculous indeed.


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"Your radio show changed my life. As a result of listening, I converted to Catholicism at 53 years old. I was a very active Protestant my whole life before becoming a Catholic. Keep up the terrific work!"
"I did not think anything like it or anything so holy could be received in this life."


text:
by Avaya
Jan 01, 2012
The world is becoming increasingly mobile, and businesses are feeling the impact. As more employees work in locations different from those of their colleagues, managers and direct reports, as well as customers and partners, they are struggling to stay connected in an always on, increasingly virtual workplace.
This white paper highlights the changes in the mobile workplace; outlines the benefits of unified communications (UC) and Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) for mobile workers; identifies the key market trends and business challenges IT managers must pay attention to now; and offers best practices for choosing a solution that will deliver clear ROI.


text: This course is designed for students who intend to major in sociology. Through the study of classical and contemporary sociological thought, students will develop tools for the critical analysis of social issues. Course objectives include acquiring skills such as evaluating evidence, identifying assumptions, constructing arguments and writing a research paper. Emphasis will be placed on enhancing students' critical thinking and writing skills within a sociological context.


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Easy to mount and easy to adjust.
The SRAM X9 2x10 Low Direct Mount - S3 Front Derailleur is compatible with the current crop of E2-style direct mounts found on frames from Yeti, Niner, and Pivot. And, like its X0 big brother, this X9 is specifically designed to work in conjunction with SRAM's 2x10 cranksets.
And, though, it looks nearly identical to the 10-speed X0 derailleur, X9 is separated by its use of powder coated steel for the linkage parts, as opposed to the lighter aluminum found on the X0 unit. It's made to handle up to a 15-tooth differential between the big and little rings, and its cage is shorter and narrower than a triple-specific changer. This is great news for those who fear clearance between rear suspension and their front derailleur.
The steel links that shape the swing of the derailleur cage have widely spaced pivots for heightened stiffness. This rigidity in the parallelogram is part of what makes X9 front shifting so quick and efficient.
The SRAM X9 2x10 Low Direct Mount S3 Front Derailleur is available in either a top or bottom pull version for 39 or 42 tooth configurations. For mounting, it bolts straight into a Shimano-style Direct Mount on your frame.
Tech Specs
View more Mountain Front Derailleurs
Reviews & Community
Simple and effective front mech
- Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
I love this front derailleur. For my Specialized SX Trail, this thing runs a 2x10 perfectly. Having the extra gears for a few climbs makes all the difference. Solid, light and reliable.


text:
Coachella Live:
A New Normal
on Day Three
By the third day of Coachella, the crowd had settled into the festival as if the whole scene was a normal day. Only two days earlier, stepping onto the grounds for the first time felt like entering a whole new planet with strange fashion, where hugs and high-fives were offered freely, and music and art were a constant.
Nearly 100,000 people had transformed over the weekend, embracing a world full of creativity, and self expression. The festival had inspired them to rethink what was normal and to create something completely extraordinary. The bands on stage, the art installations, and the crowd had all become one collaboration, each piece equally important to creating the incredible atmosphere.
When Sunday's headliners, including Calvin Harris, Disclosure, and Arcade Fire called upon the crowds to throw their hands in the air or clap to the beat, in the same way they probably do ay any gig they perform, this time, it was different. Over the weekend, the crowd had become a core part every show. It was an audience as inspiring as the performer on stage. In order to fully understand how this creative fusion had taken place, it required taking a step back, and looking at the whole scene from atop Coachella's iconic ferris wheel.
From high above, the band, the people, and the art, became one, which is exactly what makes Coachella such a special festival.


text:
Directions to La Posada B&BAddress: Col. Universidad 21cll A, 9 y 11 Ave. Casa # 172, San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Average rating: 94%
Rooms from: US$ 47.00
Directions to La Posada B&B
We can provide private pick up from the airport and bus station. email us for further information or call us Please if you decide to make your own transportation , ask the taxi driver if he know where the addres is and mention that if he doesn't get there or if he get lost , you will not paid extra and you would no accept that he take you some where else ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ la Posada Hostel is located in a safe residential neighborhood, you must take a taxi to get to the hostel. Cost From: Central metropolitana de buses $7 airport $20 downtown $4 the price of the taxi ride depends on the number of passengers and the time of the day.


text:
Joel Villanueva, 33, of Runge was arrested on charges related to the thefts and deputies are searching for a second subject in connection with these thefts.Villanueva is being held on a probation violation out of Caldwell County in addition to the theft charge.
A $60,000 Caterpillar skid steer loader, a $35,000 John Deere utility tractor, a John Deere shredder and a large air compressor were recovered by deputies during the course of their investigation.
The investigation uncovered that the skid steer loader was taken from a construction sire in Kerrville, and the utility tractor was stolen from the San Antonio ares.
Deputies are continuing with the investigation and they are looking for several more pieces of heavy equipment connected to the thefts.


text:
Items where Author is "Kirkby, K.J."
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Number of items: 1.
Butler, T.M., McKinty, C.N., Homewood, K P, Gwilliam, R.M., Kirkby, K.J., Shao, G and Edwards, S (2002) Effect of Implant Conditions on the Optical and Structural Properties of β-FeSi2 Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Ion Implantation Technology. pp. 579-582.
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text:
The following fail was sent to us from Tessa in Texas. Thanks, Tessa!
The original pin — Butterbeer Jelly Shots:
… And the Epic Pinterest Fail:
Says Tessa: "I tried to make champagne Jell-O shots for New Year's Eve. I couldn't find Pop Rocks anywhere, so I tried using Nerds instead. I followed the directions, but it turned out very bad … like Jell-O soup with Nerds."
I think J-Law pretty much sums it up:
Got a better fail? Submit it to EpicPinterestFail!


text:
PastorGraphics.com offers thousands of professionally designed Christian PowerPoint Sermons and Motion Video Background templates that capture the imaginations of your audience and makes it easier to spread your Christianly message of faith within your church. By using Christian PowerPoints in your sermon and illustration presentations, your congregation will have a starting point to help illustrate your sermons in their mind.
PastorGraphics.com also has timely Christian Worship PowerPoint Backgrounds, Seasonal Sermons, and Motion Videos that celebrate special days such as Easter, Christmas, and many other Christian holidays. All PowerPoint Sermons, Graphic Stills, and Motion Video Backgrounds are fully searchable and can be easily previewed! Choose from 4x3 and 16x9 widescreen Church PowerPoint templates! With over 100 new PowerPoint Sermons, over 100 new Christian PPT Sermons, and over 50 new motions videos uploaded each month, you will have full access to a constantly growing library of new and unique PowerPointSermons!
Christians from around the world will be amazed by your lecture when you use Pastor Graphics PowerPoint sermon presentations, graphic still backgrounds, and welcome or Christian event announcements! Whether you're looking for sermon powerpoints, seasonal sermons, revised common lectionary sermons, youth sermons, classic sermons, modern sermons you have come to the right place to get the presentation media you need! Having a PastorGraphics.com membership is like having a team of Christian artists working for you around the clock, producing new, eye-catching designs to use with your power point sermons and illustrations. Join PastorGraphics.com today and capture the enthusiasm of your congregation by preaching with our captivating Christian PowerPoint templates and Sermon Slides!
Motion Video Backgrounds combined with PowerPoint Sermons create an unbeatable combination that will catch your listeners' hearts and minds. Motion Video Backgrounds are created in the most popular formats: MPEG1, MPEG4, and Windows Media WMV, and Apple QuickTime, allowing you to use our products in all the most popular Sermon Software such as Microsoft PowerPoint, SongShow Plus, Apple Keynote, Media Shout, EasyWorship, WorshipCenter Pro, SundayPlus, LiveWorship, and More! Best of all, you can choose from both normal 4x3 sermon templates and widescreen 16x9 videos to suit your needs!
At PastorGraphics.com, your youth ministry will have access to new and fresh youth sermons and announcements that teens and kids of all ages will love! Our youth group PowerPoints help illustrate your lecture in a fun and artistic way. These eye-catching Youth PowerPoint Sermons will grab their attention and serve as a learning aid to help youths visually better understand concepts being explained.
Your PastorGraphics.com account is available to your entire staff giving you and your staff unlimited downloads to PowerPoint Sermons, Motion Video Backgrounds, Christian PowerPoints, Youth PowerPoint Presentations, Service Announcements, and more! With new Christian sermon graphics added every week, you and your staff will always have fresh new sermon ppt ideas and PowerPoint Backgrounds allowing you to make sermons for youth a success!
Sign up now for a free 7-day trial and download your choice of any 5 PowerPoints or Motion Videos! Just Click Here!


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New Topic! 50 years on.
Posted 02 December 2012 - 04:50 PM
Since this is the 50th anniversary of the 62-63 Championship season, what does everyone want to see to commemorate this great feat?
Some ideas:
Return to M27.
Adopt Blue Monkey's jersey suggestions.
Dinner similar to the 5 Cups one.
Commemorative match as close to the day the Championship was clinched.
Also, is there enough video in the public domain to release a DVD? Then we can start the discussion about the dumbing down of RL with some evidence to look at!
Posted 02 December 2012 - 06:31 PM
Posted 02 December 2012 - 06:41 PM
Posted 02 December 2012 - 07:01 PM
I'll put money on it this thread descends into an argument about the squad and the stadium not being built. Lol
I don't agree Barnie!
"no-one knows what it's like to be the bad man.........behind blue eyes"
Posted 02 December 2012 - 07:37 PM
Posted 02 December 2012 - 10:42 PM
Posted 03 December 2012 - 11:27 AM
Posted 03 December 2012 - 07:34 PM
Would be great if the planning permission went in before Christmas.Would be the best present ever for any Swinton fan.
I think we'll all second that one. Roll on some really ho! ho! ho! news.
Posted 03 December 2012 - 09:20 PM
I think we'll all second that one. Roll on some really ho! ho! ho! news.
Well at least we agree on summat Keith!
See you at the launch!
"--- and then on the eighth day, God created Rugby League."
Daily, my intense dislike of the Pinks, Rugby Yawnion, Manchester United, and far-right politics, grows ever larger, and will continue to do so forever more!
Question! What's the connection between Rugby League and Rugby Yawnion? Answer! There isn't one!
My girl-friend asked "If you had to choose between me and Swinton who would it be?" I replied "You know the answer to that one without even asking!"
Posted 04 December 2012 - 11:39 AM


text: My baby is 8 weeks old and seems to be constantly hungry. I am solely breastfeeding and although he seems content in the morning and through the night he is permanently hungry from about 12 o clock lunchtime until 8 in the night, he is only having a half and hour break in between feeds. I have tried expressing to check that he is getting enough food and he is taking 6 and a half ounces of expressed breastmilk and could still take more. He is a big baby so its possible that he is just very hungry and his weight gain is good so there are no issues with the quality of the milk he is getting but I am finding it exhausting feeding him so often duering the day and it means I very rarely get to go out during the day. Does anyone have any ideas of how much milk he is supposed to be taking at his age and any advice as I want to continue breastfeeding


text:
Are any tailgating foods good for you?
Published On: Aug 30 2012 07:11:15 AM PDT Updated On: Aug 29 2013 09:08:11 PM PDT
It's that time of year again when the football season kicks off. For some, the best part of football season is what happens outside the stadium. But which foods are best and worst for your body?
The views expressed are not those of this company or its affiliated companies. By posting your comments you agree to our Terms of Use.


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Support Councils
The San Diego Museum of Art enjoys the support of eight support councils that offer members a wonderful opportunity to explore areas of interest while furthering the Museum's mission to collect, preserve, interpret and display the finest works of art that men and women have created throughout time for the benefit of the broadest conceivable audience. Support organizations play a critical role in funding education programs and exhibitions for the Museum.
Support organizations meet several times a year and offer such special programs as behind-the-scenes tours, visits to private collections and artists' studios, and special lectures and discussions led by curators and guest speakers.The support organizations' programs complement the Museum's schedule of exhibitions, the collection, and ongoing education activities.
Members of the Museum's support organizations pay support council fees in addition to their Museum membership fees.


text:
Because Knetbooks knows college students. Our rental program is designed to save you time and money. Whether you need a textbook for a semester, quarter or even a summer session, we have an option for you. Simply select a rental period, enter your information and your book will be on its way!
Table of Contents
Clashing Views on Environmental Issues
Fifteenth Edition
Unit 1 Environmental Philosophy
Unit 2 Principles versus Politics
Unit 3 Energy Issues
Unit 4 Food and Population
Unit 5 Toxic Chemicals


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Well, I'd been prescribed Daktarin cream to treat the nipples. I left trying to feed for a good few days and continued to express, I must admit I had very little hope it would work. I honestly can not tell a difference in myself however I have tried him this morning on the breast and it's PAIN FREE... I can't believe it, I'm so happy!
I still find it odd that I did not find it sore to use the pump, only brestfeeding him directly. I was so close to giving up as he is now 12 weeks and there is no way I could have kept up the expressing. Thank you very much for all you fantastic advice and support, without which I'm sure I would have failed! x


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I Have Been To #### ...
I have also discovered that "Hells" physical location is anywhere without internet connections.
My file with the ( un named cable company ) MUST be marked as ...
"This one is MINE ! ! Refer all calls for service or help to any demon, minion, fallen angels, leprechauns, trolls, witches or angry spirits. If none are available, refer the call to the newest and DUMBEST employee, working that day."
Signed... The Devil himself.
Honest to Pete! Who does a girl have to do, to get the internet hooked up these days? ? A hook-up for a hook up? LOL If there was any blame in this matter that belonged to me... I'd take it... but there is none. I have endured over two weeks dealing with the above mentioned, plus the inept, the stupid, the more stupid and how did Moe, Larry & Curly get in there too? It was little old me that found the cable company's problem ... and after the cable was installed by Joey Lagano's younger doppleganger this morning... it finally worked!
So I hope yall enjoyed your little vacation away from me.... but just like an out of work relative... I'm baccckkkkk.
** Sad.. some are reading, asking "Who are you?" - Others - "Didn't even know you were gone."
Hee hee hee hee
Sh*t happens... but don't worry, it usually happens to me.


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You wait in line, oftentimes for hours, at the New Mexico Department of Motor Vehicles office to obtain a driver's license.
After all, it's the state's exclusive business to ensure that you meet the requirements set down to qualify for a license, right?
Not so fast, according to an intrusive federal law called the Real ID Act.
Implementation of the Real ID Act for New Mexicans has again been delayed indefinitely but should be rejected permanently. Besides, under the Constitution's 10th Amendment, only a state can determine who is qualified to drive a motor vehicle within its borders.
States must retain that right. And New Mexico's congressional Democrats, Sen. Tom Udall, Sen.-elect Martin Heinrich, and Rep. Ben Lujan, should raise a collective ruckus to ensure the Real ID Act doesn't supplant the states' authority.
The intent of Real ID — enacted on May 11, 2005, and signed into law by President George W. Bush — is to make us safer against terrorists. The Department of Homeland Security favors it as a method to track potential terrorists lurking among us.
We are dubious of the thought process used to arrive at that so-called consequence. More likely, we believe, this Act could be used to track ordinary citizens' comings and goings.
The Act represents a potentially frightening prospect for Americans who are concerned about erosion of state authority. And whatever happened to the traditional Republican support of state authority?
The Real ID Act was introduced in the House in January 2005 by U.S. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and signed into law by a fellow Republican, President Bush.
However, the flaw in this legislation is any federal oversight of driver's licenses would create a de facto national identification card for all Americans. Is that what we really want or need — even in this age of vigilance against international terrorism?
The only answer should be "No."
The federal government has many other existing options with which it can track the movement of suspected terrorists in our midst. Indeed, Americans may know only a few of the surveillance techniques that U.S. agents already employ every minute of each day to search for bad guys among us.
Creating a federal database, as the Real ID Act would allow, puts more eyes on law-abiding Americans who already have to ask permission — from the states where they reside — to operate their privately owned motor vehicles. The Act is a dangerous step down a slippery slope.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the Clovis Media Inc. editorial board, which includes Publisher Ray Sullivan and Editor David Stevens.


text:
Home List of Titles Extrapolating server to client IP traffic from empirical measurements of first person shooter games
Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/5827
- Title
- Extrapolating server to client IP traffic from empirical measurements of first person shooter games
- Author(s)
- Branch, Philip A.; Armitage, Grenville J.
- Abstract
- Modelling traffic generated by Internet based multiplayer computer games has attracted a great deal of attention in the past few years. In part this has been driven by a desire to properly simulate the network impact of highly interactive online game genres such as the first person shooter (FPS). Packet size distributions are an important element in the creation of plausible traffic generators for network simulators such as ns-2 and omnet++. In this paper we present a simple technique for creating representative packet size distributions for N-player FPS games based on empirically measured traffic of 2- and 3-player games. We illustrate the likely generality of our approach using data from Half-Life, Half-Life Counterstrike, Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2 Counterstrike, Quake III Arena and Wolfenstein Enemy Territory.
- Publication type
- Conference paper
- Research centre
- Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies. Centre for Advanced Internet Architectures
- Source
- Proceedings of 5th ACM SIGCOMM Workshop on Network and System Support for Games (Netgames 2006), Singapore, 30-31 October 2006
- Publication year
- 2006
- Keyword(s)
- Computer systems organisation; Computer-communication networks; Design; First person shooter; Games; Internet; Local and wide-area networks; Measurement; Performance; Network operations; Network monitoring; TCP/IP; Teletraffic analysis; Traffic engineering
- Publisher
- ACM Press
- 1595935894
- Publisher URL
- Copyright
- Copyright © 2006 ACM.
- Peer reviewed


text:
Must Login To Access This Area.
Please Login or Signup Below:
Thank you for registering. We will verify your membership to the IAFF and that you belong to a local that is a member of the PFFM Prior to activating your access.
Although we want you to check in to see what is going on in Maine, we only allow member locals to view the secured areas.


text:
I'd just finished with the "waterfall" disappointment, so I was not in a frame of mind to expect good things. The creature wasn't as large as some I'd seen, so in this part of the country I began to conjure up the idea that a baby was blocking the path to my car.
Where there are babies, mommas are not far behind! My sense of "adventure" (absolute panic) arose. This was a bulky, brown mass and I could not tell from where I was whether it was on level ground or in a dip. Because the legs were not visible, I assumed it was on lower ground that I must have forgotten existed.
Because I wavered and tried to decide what to do, it caught sight of my movement and headed toward me. Now I was more adventurous (anxious) because I realized the bulky mass was a dog. The fear of the unknown became a fear of the known for I knew the havoc they could create!
I started calling out, "Hello, is that your dog? Hello! Hello!" rather loudly several times. A voice called out to the dog and then assured me that he was friendly. They asked me about the falls but I could not give them information except that I could hear them. I was advised to take "a cliff trail" to get to them, but I decided to head to my next destination due to time constraints.
So, here were my locals (they lived just north of the town I was going to stay, about two hours away) and they had the information I needed. Then they began to ask if I was from the area because my car had local plates.
I was in "north" country and I was sure I didn't sound like a local but I just shook my head in a negative response, fighting back the urge to say, "Sure, y'all need some help w' somethin?"
Use of the word y'all seems to draw attention in that there neck 'o the woods. It seems they had driven the road to the remote area too quickly and didn't recognize that dirt roads with ruts and rocks (big ones) could be hazardous to oil pans. I had a regular sedan and made it and they had a high-clearance SUV and didn't.
I am not bragging because it could have just as easily been me in that dilemma and I played several of those scenarios throughout the week using caution in everything I did. Even though I did exercise caution all week, I thoroughly enjoyed my chance to disconnect from the strains of everyday life. I did what I wanted when I wanted for the most part and reconnected with God for the trip.
I didn't get to do and see everything I wanted, but got in a good bit of "relaxation" through my busy, self-imposed non-schedule.
I really needed this break, no matter the challenges. Like Jesus went to pray alone, I needed to separate myself for a time of healing and clarity. It seems I'd been acting more out of emotion than clear, thoughtful processing of reality.
It happens to all of us. I needed to know I was still capable, sound (most of the time) and mentally rested without the demands and drain that single-parenting can take on a person.
I'll leave you with this: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult." (Psalm 46:1-3)
Take the opportunity to disconnect once in a while and spend quality time alone with Him. It is well worth your time and those around you.


text:
Pasadena goes POP!
POP Champagne & Dessert Bar makes a glum holiday bright
By Erica Wayne 12/26/2013
Here we are at the end of another year many of us would be happy to see gone, if only 2014 didn't promise to be almost as bleak. But, amidst the frustration, angst, fear, desperation and (Dickens' favorites) want and ignorance, a few bright spots stand out. One of these is the continued success of the establishment featured in the Weekly's 2009 "Best Of" issue as the Best New Restaurant of the year: POP Champagne & Dessert Bar.
As the old year nears its finale, it seemed only proper to toast its end at a restaurant whose claim to fame is its nearly endless offerings of champagne and other bubblies by both glass and bottle. So my mate and I put away our undone tasks, unpaid bills, undecorated tree, unwrapped gifts, unfed cats, etc., etc., and headed over to Union Street on the rainy Thursday before Christmas for a festive holiday repast.
We parked on Holly Street and strolled around the block, noting how many neighborhood restaurants were nearly empty. We figured a place specializing in high-end vintages might be experiencing a lull as well. But the dimly lit, high-ceilinged, crystal chandeliered, brick-sided, wood-floored, burgundy-upholstered dining room was almost at capacity, merrymakers enjoying flutes of fizzies to a soft backdrop of holiday music.
It's not just the sparklies attracting the clientele. We'll vouch for the food! Paraphrasing Gertie Stein, some of us who flunked Champagne 101 think a wine is a wine is a wine. (Hey, a $10 Domaine Ste. Michelle brut (our fave) beat out a $150 Dom Perignon in a blind tasting by 500 knowledgeable oenophiles.) Although we occasionally try one of the wine triad flights ($14-$19), last week we took advantage of Happy Hour (5 to 7 p.m.) and ordered two Epic Imperial IPAs for $5 apiece.
Choosing a meal at POP is as difficult as picking a beverage. Everything looks tempting, from the cheese and/or charcuterie plates ($18-$29) to "Beginning Bites" like wild mushroom and goat cheese bruschetta ($10). "Comfort Food" includes a trio of "Kobe" beef sliders: gorgonzola mayo/ pancetta, cheddar/bacon/quail egg and truffle cheese/mushroom with fries, fruit or salad ($18). There's also truffle mac 'n' cheese with crispy oyster mushrooms ($15), "entrees" such as seared salmon with corn and fennel relish ($17) and Korean barbecue-style braised short ribs with cauliflower mash and pickled veggies ($24).
We've tried and loved most of these when we've had time to linger; but holiday chores beckoned and the lure of "cheap eats" on the Happy Hour menu was too much to resist. We ordered the tri-colored beet salad ($6), a deviled egg quartet ($6), brie toast with chardonnay soaked raisins ($6), prosciutto-wrapped shrimp with garlic aioli ($8), crispy POPcorn chicken with a truly addictive jalapeno ranch dip ($6) and moules champagne ($7) for a net savings of $18 compared to regular menu prices.
Everything we had was excellent, but there were a couple of real standouts. The beet salad, with red, rose and golden chunks, feta cheese cubes, crunchy candied walnuts, a white balsamic glaze and a generous sprinkling of tangy micro mint was fabulous. The eggs, each with a different filling (truffle-chive, bacon-onion, bleu cheese, black forest ham-cheddar) were delicious. And the mussels in their shallot, wine, parmesan and butter-rich bath were the best we've had in years! Having polished off the 15 plump mollusks in record time, we crumpled the accompanying crostini into the remaining broth and succumbed to the sublime indulgence of sopping up every sinful drop.
And, speaking of indulgence, POP's sweets are even more tantalizing than their savories. Soufflés ($15, alas, no Happy Hour discount) are a specialty with their own online monthly calendar charting the ever-changing evening special. Included in the December holiday list have been chocolate/peppermint, eggnog, orange-cranberry, cookie butter and gingerbread (among others). The night we were there, a superb coconut macaroon soufflé with vanilla crème anglaise was featured, and we polished one off before leaving.
Cinnamon-coated churros ($10) with cajeta sauce are equally tempting to the sweet-besotted, and so are strawberry-nutella and maple-bacon crepes ($12), English toffee pudding cake with toffee sauce and ice cream ($9), chocolate-peanut butter crème brulee ($12), the politically incorrect Irish Car Bomb (chocolate Guinness cake, Bailey's Irish ice cream and whiskey caramel sauce, $12) and seasonal pavlovas ($12) — talk about visions of sugarplums! Decisions, decisions, decisions …
But I have to mention our particular fondness for POP's house-made sorbets and ice creams. For only $7 you can pick three flavors from the current list: chocolate, brown sugar pineapple, Arnold Palmer, strawberry moscato and raspberry prosecco (sorbets) and vanilla bean, basil, caramel fleur de sel, birthday cake, peanut butter, chocolate peppermint, POPcorn, the aforementioned Bailey's, gingerbread and chocolate hazelnut.
Had the soufflé not been impossible to resist, we'd probably have opted for our usual three-scoop finale. Our hands-down favorite has always been POP's chocolate, a tar-pit dark, bittersweet sludge of decadence that makes us want to hold up the kitchen and demand the entire cache to take home. Imagine TJ's Double Rainbow with even less sugar and more cocoa. Even better, just head over to POP and sample a scoop or two, or three.
Restaurants come and go, of course. Many of our "Best New Restaurants" of the past 25 years are as dead as doornails. But, somehow, I don't think POP will be among them. And, while I wonder what new eateries 2014 will bring, I have a feeling that POP won't be in any danger of losing its "Best" designation no matter how old it gets. Like great champagne, POP only gets better with age.
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Office of the Supreme Leader via EPA
Ayatollah Khamenei speaking to Iranian air force commanders during a ceremony in Tehran on Thursday.
Published at 7:18 a.m. ET: Iran's supreme leader on Thursday rejected an offer of direct talks made by Vice President Joe Biden this week, saying they would not solve the problems between them, Iranian media reported.
"Some naive people like the idea of negotiating with America, however, negotiations will not solve the problems," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech to officials and members of Iran's aerospace force, IRIB reported.
"If some people want American rule to be established again in Iran, the nation will rise up to face them," he said.
"American policy in the Middle East has been destroyed and Americans now need to play a new card. That card is dragging Iran into negotiations."
Khamenei made his comments just days after Biden said the United States was prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership. "That offer stands, but it must be real and tangible," Biden said in a speech in Munich.
Relations between Iran and the United States were severed in 1979 after the overthrow of Iran's pro-Western monarchy and diplomatic meetings between officials have since been very rare.
At schools, in shops, and on the streets of big cities and small towns, daily life plays out in Iran.
Currently U.S.-Iran contact is limited to talks between Tehran and the so-called P5+1 group of powers on Iran's disputed nuclear program. The talks are to resume Feb. 26 in Kazakhstan.
Many believe no deal on settling the nuclear issue is possible without a U.S.-Iranian thaw. But any rapprochement would require direct talks addressing many sources of mutual mistrust that have lingered since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.
Moreover, although his re-election last November may give President Barack Obama a freer hand to pursue direct negotiations, analysts say Iran's own presidential election in June may prove an additional obstacle to progress being made.
Analysis: Ahmadinejad visit Egypt but relations still icy
Four arrested after shoe is hurled at Ahmadinejad


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Got it now,
The finger and the ring reminds me of a very interesting tale about Selby Abbey, in the late 1500s the monk Benedict had a vision, he was told by god to go to Auxere in France and get the dried finger of saint Germain, a confessor whos remains were there. He was told to take the finger to the north of England and when he saw 3 Swans roosting he was to build a magnificent Abbey and lay the finger to rest in it, the finger is still there to this day. If you look at the Warriors badge you see the 3 swans, the finger and the ring of the halo.
Maybe thats Cas Tigers answer, get the dried up finger of Terry Matterson, give it to Richard Wright, tell him to look for 3 ginners stood together, and that is where they should build there stadium.
Attached Files
Edited by LOWFIELD, 20 January 2010 - 08:01 AM.


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Heartwood celebrates positive character
BURGETTSTOWN – The annual Heartwood Carnival, Burgettstown Area Elementary School's end-of-year celebration, will be held May 30 at the First Niagara Pavilion.
This year's theme is "Yo! Ho! Ho! I Am a Heartwood Kid," and it was adopted through the school.
The carnival ties into the school's Heartwood character education program, and, throughout the year, the teachers introduced a series of positive character by reading and discussing stories focusing on individual character traits. Each grade level has its own set of Heartwood books.
In addition, teachers created additional activities in their classrooms and in their grade level wings to reinforce the attributes. As part of encouraging good character, the school sponsored several community service projects. In conjunction with Burgettstown Middle/High School's Club HOPE, pupils collected food for local food pantries in December. Pupils also collected hats and socks for the needy and made cards for veterans at Christmas and Valentine's Day.
Pupils earned tickets, which can be redeemed for carnival coins, by exhibiting positive behavior and exemplifying the character traits, which included respect, courage, justice, hope, love, loyalty and honesty. The tickets were distributed by both teachers and support staff.
During the carnival, students and staff have been encouraged to wear pirate gear or the Heartwood T-shirt, which was designed in a school-wide contest. The design drew elements from designs submitted by second-graders Dylan Brown, Geena DeMario, Miranda Schramm and fifth-graders Susan Swoager and Billie Jo Strother.
At the carnival, students will be able to trade coins to go on inflatable rides, for snacks and to visit educational games.
E.L.F. Entertainment will provide several inflatables, including an obstacle course, velcro wall and fun house.
The students may visit the Bingo Hut and giant size Twister mat for free. Bob Hughes created an Intermediate Challenge Center with educational games for third- through fifth-grade pupils, and Heather Shaffer and Patty Ginosky created a Primary Challenge Center for pupils in kindergarten through second grades. Teachers will be operating both centers.
Rainbow the Clown has donated her services and will be making balloon animals. Brenda Inches of Scrapbooking by Inches will be operating a craft-making booth.
More than 6,000 games prizes were either purchased or donated and each child will leave the carnival with a prize, according to school officials.
More than 300 volunteers, including parents, teachers and HOPE Club members, will participate. The Ambulance and Chair Service of Northwest will be monitoring the pavilion.
Local businesses and service organizations making donations include First Niagara Pavilion, R&B Printing, Scrapbooking by Inches and the Burgettstown Kids Center.
The Heartwood committee includes BAEC staffers Cathy Williamson, Heather Shaffer, Patty Ginosky, Brianne Sieg, Robert Hughes, Chris Foster, P.J. Rutledge, Co-chair Amanda Suica, Co-chair Julie Marshall, Chair Michelle Read, Elementary Principal Melissa Mankey, Elementary Assistant Principal Shannon Balch and District Superintendent Deborah Jackson.
The carnival is funded through magazine sales and donations from local businesses.


text: Sometimes you just have to jazz things up a little! This is a super easy and inexpensive way to have fun with your makeup. I chose black liner with black rhinestone studs to keep it elegantly simple but you could easily use any liner + stud color combination! Here's how: (more…)


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What Is the Early Modern Period and Why Should We Care?
The early modern period—spanning roughly from the late fifteenth through the late eighteenth centuries—is distinguished by several remarkable developments that are often associated with the modern world: it was an age of scientific discoveries, of the unprecedented dissemination of ideas through the newly-invented printing press, of the emergence of new national political structures, and of the breakdown of traditional sources of authority. Jews and Christians alike were transformed by these dramatic changes. Jews traveled and migrated more frequently and farther than ever before; boldly challenged the authority of their rabbis; used the press to spread Hebrew books, new and old, to ever wider-audiences; and mingled with Christians and others in unforeseen ways. In the 2014 Penn Lectures in Judaic Studies, Moving into Modernity: The Shaping of Jewish Culture in Early Modern Europe, Katz Center fellows will explore many different aspects of this fascinating period.
What Is the Early Modern Period and Why Should We Care?
David B. Ruderman (University of Pennsylvania)
In this opening lecture, David Ruderman a master historian of this period and dynamic lecturer, will survey the exciting history of the early modern Jewish world and make its significance clear. He will set the stage for the rich program to come over the course of the spring. Light reception including book sale and signing of Ruderman's Early Modern Jewry: A New Cultural History at 6:00 pm. Please note that books will only be sold and signed before the lecture.


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Signal Equities has drilled between 500 and 700 exploratory holes over the past three years and was permitted for an ion exchange column plant in October 2011. The company has five years to build the plant before the permit expires or it renews it. If the plant is built, it will be located in Bee County about eight miles west of Pawnee.
Prior to any of the exploratory holes being drilled, Signal Equities took initial water samples to learn what the water quality was. Should the water quality differ after the exploratory holes are drilled, it will be restored to its original quality.
When drilling the exploratory holes, Signal Equities has to obtain permits from the Railroad Commission. According to George Bokorney, government affairs for Signal Equities, the exploratory holes are approximately eight inches in diameter and 200 to 400 feet deep.
"Typically, an exploration bore hole is drilled, and an electronic instrument, called a PFN, is lowered down the hole," Bokorney said. "The connecting cable 'logs' the hole, analyzing geologic makeup of the various layers, where the uranium is located, what the measurement of content is and where aquifers might be located."
In rare cases, a "core sample" or soil sample is taken from the hole, and "these core samples are analyzed in a lab to determine precise makeup of the underground structure, permeability, chemical analysis and so on," Bokorney explained.
He said in either case, the exploratory hole is filled with cement within two days of being drilled.
If a large ore body is identified through the exploratory holes, a more complicated permitting process must be gone through with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) before the ore can be mined.
Bokorney said the TCEQ permitting process takes more than a year to complete but, in the meantime, the company trudges forward with the other exploratory holes.
The TCEQ permits require a year of environmental monitoring. Bokorney said the year of monitoring includes samples of vegetation, animal samples, weather data, economic impact on the local economy and more. Once the application is turned in and approved by TCEQ, the ore extraction can begin.
Bokorney explained that the wells for uranium extraction are placed in a five-spot pattern like that seen on a domino. The four outside wells are injection wells, and the center well is a recover well. A mixture of water, carbon dioxide and oxygen is pumped down into the injection wells and the result is pumped back out of the recovery well in the center.
To ensure safety, "a ring of monitor wells is placed 200 feet beyond the outermost inject well," Bokorney said. "Water samples are taken from monitor wells every two weeks."
Once the uranium filled water is pumped back out of the recovery well in the center, it is sent through an ion exchange column that allows the uranium to be stripped from the water and attached to plastic resin beads that are shipped off to a uranium recovery facility for further refinement into yellow cake. There are four such refinement facilities in Texas, and Bokorney said Signal Equities likes to keep its production domestically within Texas.
Should Signal Equities decide that there is enough uranium ore in less than 1,000 net acres the company has leased, it will be building an ion exchange column in Bee County and putting in one of the extraction wells.
The building process would take "four to six months concurrent with installation of production well field," Bokorney said.
Before Signal Equities moves forward with plant plans, it wants to make sure it has enough ore in reserve. The company's hope is to have three ore deposits permitted to begin plant construction.
Bokorney said Signal Equities has one ore body permitted already and two more in the TCEQ permitting process.
Bokorney said Signal Equities also has been doing some exploratory drilling in Live Oak County and, should the company find enough uranium ore there, it will go through the process to get the permit for another ion exchange column plant.
While uranium is currently only $52 a pound, Bokorney said, "There is a market for domestically produced uranium, and only 5 percent is domestically produced."


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International Students
Student Diversity Enriches the College Experience
The Office of International Student Programs functions as a center for the internationally diverse student population at Canisius. Committed to internationalizing our campus, we recognize that a more diverse international student population enriches the experience of both American and international students by introducing them to new cultures and customs.
International students face many challenges as they adapt to a foreign environment. To address these special needs, the Office of International Student Programs (ISP) provides extensive support services to enhance the students' experience at Canisius and in America.


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Table of Contents:
- An oasis of flavor
- Headed South
- Zineb from Morocco
- Are we on Food Network?
Iowa farmer Jeff Ryan takes a trip South to Disney World's Epcot and has a Moroccan culinary adventure.
Is there such a thing as too much flavor? I don't think there is. While we're at it, I'm not sure there is such a thing as too much variety, either. We may think we eat a variety of foods, but here's a suggestion for you. Try writing down everything you eat for two weeks straight. That's what I had to do 13 years ago when I got an insulin pump. My medical team wanted to know the serving size and exact description of everything I ate for two weeks. We would then review the list and go over how many grams of carbohydrates are in each of those items.
Guess what? It's pretty easy to fall into a dietary pattern like Homer Simpson does -- "It's Thursday. That means pork chops!"
That's why I love to break up the routine whenever I get a chance. Choosing a wedding date got a bit easier three years ago when I reminded my bride-to-be that a cold weather choice would probably make it a whole lot easier to talk me into an anniversary trip each year to celebrate. This winter sure made it easy to get out of Dodge and see some warmer country. It's only the single digits of February and we will more than likely be in the top five winters for most days reaching below zero within the next week. Taking out the all-time record of 41 days looks like it's within reach.
Another wrinkle was thrown into the life mix this year, too. A friend of mine who is a professor of International Marketing had a job offer in Florida that she accepted. She has gone from north-central Iowa to a variety of jobs around the Midwest and has now landed at the University of Tampa. She is also a frequent beef customer, so her desire is for me to come and visit frequently and hopefully bring a suitcase full of beef with me when I get there. Her U-haul had a couple coolers filled last summer when she moved.
The weather gods, the scheduling gods at Sherill's job and the airline ticket algorithm gods smiled on us this year. I managed to find tickets that matched up with Sherill's window of time off and still started with a 1, so we hit the road and then the air to get us to Florida in January.
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To: Interested Parties
From: Randy Borntrager, Political Director, People For the American Way
Re: Ten Questions for Tim Pawlenty
Date: May 31, 2011
Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty threw his hat into the ring as a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination earlier this month. Pawlenty, who built his record in a blue state, is joining other Republican candidates in tacking far to the right in preparation for the primaries.
Here are ten questions that we think Pawlenty ought to answer about his record and his intentions.
- In December, you signed a letter declaring your "solidarity" with a number of groups that had recently been condemned by the Southern Poverty Law Center for their roles in spreading lies about gays and lesbians -- including the American Family Association, Liberty Council, the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America and the National Organization for Marriage. These groups were labeled "hate groups" because of their histories of virulent and untrue attacks on gays and lesbians, including statements that:
- Gays should be exported from the country;
- The federal government must be overthrown if it allows gay marriage;
- Homosexual behavior ought to be outlawed;
- Gay sex ought to carry criminal penalties;
- Gays ought to be prohibited from serving in public office;
- Gay sex is domestic terrorism;
- "Hitler recruited around him homosexuals to make up his Stormtroopers ... [because] homosexual soldiers basically had no limits [to] the savagery and brutality they were willing to inflict."
Did you know about the extremist history of these groups when you signed the letter? Do you think that hate speech against gays and lesbians should be held to a different standard than hate speech against other minority groups?
- Last year, you bypassed Minnesota's normal judicial selection process to appoint the wife of your chief of staff, a former counsel for the far-right and anti-gay Minnesota Family Council, to the bench. As president, what will you look for in judicial appointees? Will belief in gay rights and the right to an abortion be disqualifiers?
- In December, you wrote an op-ed blasting public employee unions, and Politifact gave you a "pants on fire" rating for making up an increase in the number of federal employees during the recession. Do you agree with the efforts of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and others to combat budget deficits by taking away bargaining rights from teachers and public safety officers? Would you encourage young people today to seek careers in public service?
- You have called the United States' debt "immoral," but as governor you left Minnesota with one of the highest deficits as percentage of state general fund in the nation. Has your view on public borrowing changed?
- You portray yourself as an anti-tax champion…but when you were governor, middle-class Minnesotans saw their tax burdens increase. What would you do to make sure middle class Americans don't carry the burden of closing the federal deficit? Would you be open to increasing taxes for the rich and closing loopholes that allow corporations to pay fewer taxes than most Americans?
- As governor, you appointed an education commissioner who advocated for teaching creationism in public schools. In your view, what is the proper role of the separation of church and state, and what will you do to protect the First Amendment right of all Americans?
- You have advocated for overturning Roe v. Wade, the decision that guarantees legal access to abortion in the United States. Do you think that all abortions should be illegal, including those in the cases of rape and incest, and those that protect the life of the pregnant woman? If Roe v. Wade is not overturned, are you committed to the presidential oath of office, which would require you to uphold the constitutionally-protected right to choose?
- Along with endorsing the American Family Association, you have appeared on the radio show of its Director of Issues Analysis, Bryan Fischer. Will you condemn Fischer's hate speech about gays and lesbians, American Indians, African Americans and American Muslims? Were you aware of Fischer's assertions that:
- "Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam. Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy";
- "Many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many native Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture";
- "Welfare has destroyed the African-American family …We have incentivized fornication rather than marriage, and it's no wonder we are now awash in the disastrous social consequences of people who rut like rabbits";
- We have feminized the Medal of Honor" because "every Medal of Honor awarded during these two conflicts has been awarded for saving life. Not one has been awarded for inflicting casualties on the enemy";
- Gays and lesbians commit "domestic terrorism," should be "disqualified from public office," are the ""the number one class of people who are committing hate crimes today" and will ""do the same thing to you that the Nazis did to their opponents in Nazi Germany"?
Do you think it's appropriate for a prominent figure like yourself to lend legitimacy to the extremism of someone like Fischer?
- On Fischer's program, you told him that if elected president you would reinstate the "don't ask, don't tell" policy that prevents gay people from serving openly in the military. How would you go about implementing the reinstatement of DADT? What consequences would reinstatement have on our military's readiness? How will you replace the highly trained personnel who will be discharged under that policy?
- You once actively supported regional action to address climate change, and even filmed an environmental commercial. But now, you deny man-made climate change and call your previous positions "stupid." What happened to bring about your 180 on climate change? Who or what convinced you that vast majority of scientists had misled you when it came to global warming? Has the science behind global warming changed, or just its political expediency?


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