LawPundit

Andis Kaulins from the USA in Germany (LawPundit) is no near relation to Andis Kaulins from Canada in Wuxi China or to Andis Kaulins in Talsi Latvia

2009-07-03T22:44:00.015+02:00

Most people think because of the rarity of the name Andis Kaulins that there can be only one person on Earth with that name - and this mistaken assumption has already led several times online to very unfortunate cases of mistaken identity and other difficulties.

In fact, there are at least THREE verified Andis Kaulins out there on Planet Earth, and there may be more. The problem is exacerbated since Andis Kaulins is a Latvian origin name and Latvians often do not have middle names, which can make differentiation more difficult.

Andis Kaulins - the LawPundit - grew up in the USA, went to Stanford Law School, was an associate with Paul Weiss et al. in New York City and is now domiciled in Germany, co-authoring an English-German business, commerce and finance dictionary for Langenscheidt and doing freelance legal work, e.g., for the European Commission. Last year this Andis Kaulins won the men's championship at his golf club at age 61. He is also the author of the book Stars Stones and Scholars. That is me - the writer of this LawPundit blog.

There is also a different Andis Kaulins in Wuxi, China who teaches English there and labels his MySpace website Andis Kaulins in China. He hails from Canada and is no near relation of mine, though it is likely that we are somehow related back in distant time, as I presume that the few Kaulins clans in Latvia are related genetically. To my knowledge, I have never met this Andis Kaulins.

There is also an Andis Kaulins with a phone number in Talsi, Latvia, who appears from the little online information available to me to still be a recruit at a police academy. He is no near relation of mine, though it is likely through the surname Kaulins that we are somehow related back in distant time. I have never met this Andis Kaulins.

See my genealogical postings about the surname Kaulins at the Kaulins blog.

The Trademarked LawPundit Name has been Stolen at Twitter which is Criminally Abetting Identity Theft : Here is our Complaint to Twitter

2009-07-02T16:57:00.005+02:00

The legal community must begin coming down harder on identity theft and the online companies who abet identity theft and make their fortunes by knowingly abetting criminal behaviour, in the instant case, the website Twitter.com.

Let us take a current real-world example involving the trademarked name of our own syndicated blog, LawPundit, whereby someone - not I, the trademark owner - has unlawfully taken the name lawpundit at Twitter. This unknown person who has surely chosen anonymity as a shield against his or her crime, is "following" legal websites, and is thus creating confusion for my own brand, since people think it is I. Here is my complaint to Twitter, sent today:

"This is the second complaint that I am lodging about identity theft at Twitter because the Twitter identity theft that I identified to you previously at http://twitter.com/lawpundit continues unabated.

You are knowingly - and thus criminally - abetting the infringement of my lawpundit trademark, since this is a form of common law fraud in order for you to make money.

LawPundit is a mark in trade, a trade mark, i.e. a trademarked name
specifically so declared online since September, 2003 in the phrase:

"LawPundit™ is a trademark name"

as found on over 1000 LawPundit postings online: see http://www.lawpundit.com/blog/lawpundit.htm.

A search of lawpundit by Google, for example, currently gives 34,000 hits. It is impossible that a good faith Twitter user could not have found that the name lawpundit is trademarked, since that trademark is declared on every website page of LawPundit at more than 1000 postings.

Someone - not I or anyone affiliated with me - has intentionally stolen the name lawpundit for use at Twitter and is following legal sites - thereby creating intentional confusion in the legal community that the "lawpundit" at Twitter is the present writer, which is not true. Anyone receiving a Tweet from this Twitter name might think that it is I. It is identity theft.

This complaint to Twitter is a formal legal request to close down that infringing Twitter account and to transfer the Twitter name lawpundit to me, Andis Kaulins, the rightful trademark owner.

You can see address information about lawpundit.com and me at WhoIs.net - http://www.whois.net/whois/lawpundit.com, where I am listed as the owner of the website, since the year 2003.

"domain: lawpundit.com
created: 27-Sep-2003
last-changed: 17-Sep-2008
registration-expiration: 27-Sep-2009

nserver: ns49.1und1.de
nserver: ns50.1und1.de

status: CLIENT-TRANSFER-PROHIBITED

registrant-firstname: Andis
registrant-lastname: Kaulins
registrant-organization: Translaton dba Andis Kaulins
registrant-street1: Gartenstr. 10
registrant-pcode: 56841
registrant-city: Traben-Trarbach
registrant-ccode: DE
registrant-phone: +49.6541812188
registrant-fax: +49.65415213
registrant-email: kaulinsandis@msn.com

admin-c-firstname: Andis
admin-c-lastname: Kaulins
admin-c-organization: Translaton dba Andis Kaulins
admin-c-street1: Gartenstr. 10
admin-c-pcode: 56841
admin-c-city: Traben-Trarbach
admin-c-ccode: DE
admin-c-phone: +49.6541812188
admin-c-fax: +49.65415213
admin-c-email: kaulinsandis@msn.com

tech-c-firstname: Hostmaster
tech-c-lastname: EINSUNDEINS
tech-c-organization: 1&1 Internet AG
tech-c-street1: Brauerstr. 48
tech-c-pcode: 76135
tech-c-city: Karlsruhe
tech-c-ccode: DE
tech-c-phone: +49.721913747660
tech-c-fax: +49.72191374246
tech-c-email: hostmaster@1und1.de

bill-c-firstname: Hostmaster
bill-c-lastname: EINSUNDEINS
bill-c-organization: 1&1 Internet AG
bill-c-street1: Brauerstr. 48
bill-c-pcode: 76135
bill-c-city: Karlsruhe
bill-c-ccode: DE
bill-c-phone: +49.721913747660
bill-c-fax: +49.72191374246
bill-c-email: hostmaster@1und1.de"

If this correction is not done promptly, I intend to sue Twitter as an example of a clear case where people are making money by acting wilfully as accomplices to identity theft, and I will see if I can convince local prosecutors to lodge criminal charges against the management and board of directors of Twitter, because once Twitter has been advised of the facts, continued permission of the use by infringer(s) of the name lawpundit in a legal context is an intentional criminal act.

Thank you.

Your sincerely,

Andis Kaulins (owner of the trademark LawPundit)
Gartenstrasse 10
56841 Traben-Trarbach
Germany"

2009 Am Law A-List of Top United States Law Firms Published : Compare to the 2009 Legal 500, the NLJ Survey and Other Rankings

2009-06-30T20:58:00.006+02:00

American Lawyer magazine has published its 2009 Am Law A-List, which annually picks the top 20 law firms in the United States out of the Am Law top 200 list based on the factors of Revenue per Lawyer (RPL), Pro Bono Work, Associate Satisfaction and Diversity.

Our alma mater law firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, an international law firm headquartered in New York City, just managed to remain in the elite 20, being kept out of the top 10 by a puzzling and extremely low pro bono score relative to the other big law firms.

The A-List was topped for the second straight year by Munger Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles, followed by Hughes Hubbard & Reed, Latham & Watkins, Davis Polk & Wardwell, Weil Gotshal & Manges, Arnold & Porter, Debevoise & Plimpton, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, Morrison & Foerster, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr, Covington & Burling, Howrey, O'Melveny & Myers, Sullivan & Cromwell, Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe, Kirkland & Ellis, Irell & Manella, and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison.

Hat tip to Ashby Jones at the Wall Street Journal Online WSJ Law Blog in Munger Tolles Tops AmLaw’s A-List, Once Again.

It is important to emphasize that the Am Law A-List is only one - subjective - way of ranking law firms and that other ranking systems give different results, especially when law firms are ranked according to their skills in selected countries and in circumscribed legal areas.

Take a look, for example, at the 2009 US Legal 500, which analyzes law firms both by country as well as by numerous fields of legal expertise.

Or take a look at America's Best Corporate Law Firms according to the 2009 Corporate Board Member FTI Consulting Survey.

Then there is also the question of the top Growth Leaders and Shrinkers, as determined by the 2008 NLJ 250, The National Law Journal's 31st annual survey of the nation's largest law firms,.

There is also the question of which law firm - "life savers" - people would select when their personal or company fortune is on the line - and there, I dare say - when push comes to shove, a good number of people seem to pick the litigators at Paul, Weiss. As written at partner Martin Flumenbaum's law firm web page:

"In January 2006, Mr. Flumenbaum’s representation of Hollinger International and American International Group (AIG) was featured in a cover story in The American Lawyer, “The Life Savers,” in which Paul, Weiss was selected as the best litigation firm in the United States for the period in which Mr. Flumenbaum chaired the department."

If my personal or company fortune were on the line, there is no doubt which firm I would select. It would be Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. But then of course, I am strongly biased - for good reason, mind you.

Google Voice Phone Management System Arrives : Can also be Combined with Google's GOOG 411 to Find and Connect with Local Businesses by Phone for Free

2009-06-29T00:04:00.000+02:00

Some readers are no doubt familiar with Google's free Goog 411 "find and connect to a business by phone service" - dial from any phone 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411):

So how about the new Google Voice?

Jeff Bertolucci at PC World in his June 26, 2009 article Hands On With Google Voice -This Is Really Cool reviews "Google's long-awaited Google Voice phone management service that finally became available this week to a lucky few" writing:

"Google Voice provides a single phone number, such as 415-555-1212, for all your cell, home, and work numbers, and lets you manage your voice services online. Unlike a landline service, a Google Voice number isn't tied to a geographical location. Unlike a cellular service, it's not linked to a specific handset. And unlike a VoIP line, it's not matched with an IP address. Rather, it's tied to you. So if you move, change jobs, or switch wireless carriers, your Google Voice number stays with you. One drawback: you can't port your current number to Google Voice, although that option may be added in the near future, the company says.

This isn't a Skype-type service either. You don't use your computer to make phone calls, and there's no additional software or hardware to install or buy. (You can, however, use the Click2Call feature from the Google Voice website to place calls.) Is it perfect? No, it's got a few quirks, and the myriad of configuration options can be confusing at times. But Google's onto something big here. A service that helps manage the multiple phone lines in our lives should have universal appeal." [emphasis added]

Read the rest of Bertolucci's review of Google Voice.

Unfortunately, Google Voice is open to use at the moment by invitation only.

Click here to sign up at Google for a Google Voice invite.

USA Environmental Legislation : American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 Passes U.S. House of Representatives and Heads to the U.S. Senate

2009-06-28T12:53:00.003+02:00

The United States - which is far behind Europe in environmental legislation, and which is learning hard energy lessons in the automotive industry - is moving forward on clean energy, as the U.S. House of Representatives on June 26, 2009 passed Barack Obama's "Clean Energy Bill", (H.R. 2998, printed June 27, 2009, also known as the "Waxman-Markey Bill", official short title "American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009", 1201 pages in the .pdf version) which now goes to the Senate, where, in this author's view, it will still be subject to some amendment, but will surely pass.

As written at WikiNews:

"The final vote was 219-212, with only 8 Republicans voting for the legislation, and 44 Democrats voting against it. The resolution addresses the "greenhouse effect," and calls for a 17% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, and an 83% reduction by 2050. In addition, the legislation will establish new requirements for utilities, and various incentives for "going green.""

The Wikipedia writes:

"The American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACES) is an energy bill in the 111th United States Congress that would establish a variant of a cap-and-trade plan for greenhouse gases to address climate change. The bill was approved by the House of Representatives on June 26, 2009 by a vote of 219-212, but has not yet been approved by the Senate.^[1]^[2]
This vote was the "first time either house of Congress had approved a bill meant to curb the heat-trapping gases scientists have linked to climate change.....^[3]
Internationally, the House's passage of the ACES bill "established a marker for the United States when international negotiations on a new climate change treaty begin later this year."^[4]

Proponents and opponents of the bill tend to concentrate on the specific provisions of the bill, whereas the most important impact of the bill - if passed by both houses of Congress and signed by President Obama - will be its clear message to American corporations and inhabitants that they have to start to think and act realistically with respect to energy and the environment, as has been the case in the European Union already for a great number of years.

Those in America who oppose sensible legislation on energy and the environment need to be reminded - time and again- that the collapse of the American automotive industry is a direct cause of the stubborn failure by US institutions and citizens to accept the energy realities.

UPDATE:

John M. Broder writes at the New York Times in House Passes Bill to Address Threat of Climate Change:

"The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who was in Washington on Friday to meet with Mr. Obama, strongly endorsed the bill even though it fell short of European goals for reducing the emissions of heat-trapping gases.
Mrs. Merkel, a longtime advocate of strong curbs on emissions, has been pushing the United States to take a leading role before the climate negotiations, set for December in Copenhagen."

Cybercrime and Cybersecurity : Cyberspace and Cyberwar : Russia for International Treaty : USA for Law Enforcement Cooperation : European Convention

2009-06-28T11:44:00.009+02:00

Arms control for cyberspace?

In a "futuristic" June 27, 2009 article at the New York Times titled U.S. and Russia Differ on a Treaty for Cyberspace, John Markoff and Andrew E. Kramer point to the growing threat of cyberwar:

"Officials around the world recognize the need to deal with the growing threat of cyberwar. Many countries, including the United States, are developing weapons for it, like “logic bombs” that can be hidden in computers to halt them at crucial times or damage circuitry; “botnets” that can disable or spy on Web sites and networks; or microwave radiation devices that can burn out computer circuits miles away."

Markoff and Kramer write that the United States and Russia have differing views on achieving cybersecurity:

"The United States is trying to improve cybersecurity by building relationships among international law enforcement agencies. State Department officials hold out as a model the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, which took effect in 2004 and has been signed by 22 nations, including the United States but not Russia or China.

But Russia objects that the European convention on cybercrime allows the police to open an investigation of suspected online crime originating in another country without first informing local authorities, infringing on traditional ideas of sovereignty. Vladimir V. Sokolov, deputy director of the Institute for Information Security Issues, a policy organization, noted that Russian authorities routinely cooperated with foreign police organizations when they were approached."

Read the entire article.

European Commission Puts Economies of Struggling Britain and Ireland in the Same Category as Latvia : German Economy may be on the Upswing

2009-06-24T10:53:00.007+02:00

We remain worried about the national finances of Latvia and see the threat of devaluation as a strong concern, but now breathe a sigh of relief to see that the Latvian government is in good company.

(See Financial Times Alphaville and Latvia Economy Watch on the economic situation in Latvia).

The June 24, 2009 headline from Gary Duncan at The Times Online reads European Commission Puts Economies of Struggling Britain and Ireland in the Same Category as Latvia, as the governments of Britain and the Irish Republic are facing similar economic problems caused by overspending, the impact of the credit crisis and the extent of the current world recession.

The long-term proposed solution to the world's financial problems - and also the major bone of contention in Europe - is increased regulation of the financial industry. We agree that more regulation is necessary and indeed inescapable.

Hans-Jürgen Schlamp at Spiegel Online International writes that Europe is split over the financial crisis and that the United Kingdom and Ireland are resisting the push from continental European countries for more regulation of the financial sector:

"London and Dublin, in particular, are blocking anything that could create problems in their respective financial industries. This is understandable, given the fact that Great Britain and Ireland have very few other future-proof industrial sectors. But this path is immensely dangerous for Europe.

"We have absolutely no risk management today," says David Wright, deputy director general of the European Commission. According to Wright, there were no warning signals before the financial meltdown because "the necessary mechanisms simply do not exist." Wright believes that it is high time for change."

In fact, the UK and Ireland are in much same boat as Latvia and will have no choice but to adopt sounder and more restrictive financial policies in the future.

We need merely to read (via the Edward.Hugh.Blog) an older (2007) International Monetary Fund (IMF) statement on the Latvian economy - as a representative example - to see that the present problems have been a longer time in the making:

"Statement by IMF Mission to Latvia on 2007 Article IV Consultation Discussions
Press Release No. 07/87, May 4, 2007

The following statement was issued on April 27 in Riga by Ms. Rachel van Elkan, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission chief for Latvia:

"The IMF mission visited Riga during April 17-27 to hold the 2007 Article IV consultation discussions on economic prospects and policies....

Latvia, like other recent EU entrants, has benefited from an accession-related boost to income convergence. Closer integration with the rest of Europe in goods, financial, and labor markets, as well as through access to substantial EU grants, has helped create favorable investment opportunities and attract large inflows of foreign financing. Consequently, capital and technology stocks and consumption and living standards have risen. Employment opportunities—in Latvia and abroad—have allowed citizens to acquire new skills and work experience. As a result, Latvia has enjoyed very rapid convergence in income levels over the past decade.

Recently, however, fast credit and wage growth has caused the economy to diverge from a balanced and sustainable growth path, with domestic demand outstripping Latvia's supply capacity. As a result, overheating has intensified, bringing higher price and wage inflation, a sharply wider current account deficit, and greater external indebtedness. Rapid credit growth in euros has left large currency mismatches on the balance sheets of households and corporates and a boom in housing prices that has diverted resources from the tradable sector. A pervasive "buy now-pay later" mindset has settled in and is heightening systemic risk. These developments, if not tackled firmly, will thwart a recovery of export growth.

There is an urgent need for decisive action to unwind overheating pressures and narrow external imbalances by sharply curtailing domestic demand. Notwithstanding actions by the Bank of Latvia to raise risk awareness, recent pressure on the lats [the Latvian currency] signals growing investor impatience with the limited policy response so far. A comprehensive strategy is therefore needed to curb domestic spending and wage growth, and moderate real estate prices to rebalance incentives for investing in tradables sectors....

The authorities' recent anti-inflation plan is a significant first step, and signals their recognition of the severity of macroeconomic conditions. In our view, however, the high level of imbalances and vulnerabilities warrants more decisive and comprehensive action. We therefore urge the Government, FCMC, and the Bank of Latvia to demonstrate unwavering commitment to a policy that would generate an appreciable near-term adjustment in the current account. A substantial front-loaded fiscal adjustment is essential to begin to counter demand buoyancy while helping convince the private sector of the government's willingness to shoulder its share of the burden. A strong communication strategy is also needed to signal the need for credit and wage restraint by the private sector. The mission's main recommendations are detailed below.

Fiscal policy: Against the balanced budget targeted in the anti-inflation plan, we consider that a headline general government surplus of 2¼ percent of GDP in 2007 and 4 percent of GDP in 2008 is appropriate. This could be achieved by saving in full revenue overperformance, restraining current and capital expenditures, and abstaining from cuts in taxes, including the personal income tax. Introducing medium-term budgeting, anchored within a conservative revenue envelope, can help balance the need for expenditure restraint with improvements in public sector efficiency. To enhance fiscal transparency and sustainability, all large public investment projects should be evaluated and prioritized within a single unified framework

Credit and prudential policies: Sharply curtailing and improving the risk profile of new lending is essential to mitigating macroeconomic and financial stability risks. Rebalancing incentives governing credit growth is therefore essential. The mission supports the effective implementation of the credit-restraining measures in the anti-inflation plan, including fully documenting legal income to secure a loan, establishing a comprehensive register of all loans, and requiring a 10 percent minimum downpayment. We also welcome the recent reimposition of limits on banks' open positions in euros. Additional regulatory measures are also needed to slow credit growth and induce banks to internalize systemic risk in real estate and currency markets. The FCMC, working with the Bank of Latvia, should increase its emphasis on monitoring systemic risk through more frequent on-site inspections of large banks and ensuring that foreign banks tailor their credit-risk models to the Latvian context.

Real estate policies: Rebalancing the structure of the economy away from the nontradables sector, especially real estate, is essential to underpin needed current account adjustment. The mission welcomes the increase in real estate taxation envisaged in the anti-inflation plan, as well as the periodic reassessment of cadastral values, beginning in 2007. To be effective, however, enforcement of real-estate related taxation should be stepped up. To further relieve overheating in the construction sector, it will be necessary to significantly scale back government capital expenditure (planned at 5 percent of GDP for 2007).

Labor market policies: Efficient labor utilization is critical to expand aggregate supply and contain surging wage costs, which are contributing to overheating and undermining Latvia's competitiveness. The greater flexibility allowed in the use of fixed-term employment contracts introduced in the 2006 Amendment to the Labor Law is welcome, and further steps to facilitate mobility between jobs and regions are needed. The recent decision to allow unfettered labor market access to the newest EU members may help relieve bottlenecks, and wider temporary access should also be considered. Public sector wage agreements should not provide grounds—through demonstration effects—for increases in private wages in excess of productivity. Social partners should secure a broad consensus for appropriate wage restraint. Shifting to higher value-added products requires increasing employer involvement in setting education curricula, and prioritizing EU structural funds to developing human resources, entrepreneurship, and innovation in traditional and new export sectors."

IMF EXTERNAL RELATIONS DEPARTMENT
Public Affairs Media Relations
Phone: 202-623-7300 Phone: 202-623-7100
Fax: 202-623-6278 Fax: 202-623-6772"

By contrast, as written at Spiegel Online International, the German economy may be on the road to recovery, and as Germany goes, so - in the long term - goes Europe. But, as written in that article, there are no grounds for euphoria. National governments must get their finances in order, and that will take some time.

Hat tip to CaryGEE.

The Witness Problem : Human Memory is Fallible and Vulnerable : Which Sense Organ Gives the Most Reliable Testimony? The Eye or the Ear?

2009-06-23T21:59:00.005+02:00

Human memory is fallible and vulnerable, which has special consequences for the law.

The Stanford Journal of Legal Studies has a review by Laura Engelhardt of The Problem with Eyewitness Testimony, a talk by Barbara Tversky, Professor of Psychology and George Fisher, Professor of Law, writing:

"In a presentation sponsored by the Stanford Journal of Legal Studies, George Fisher placed Barbara Tversky’s research on memory fallibility into the context of police investigations and jury verdicts, discussing the relevance of such research to our system of justice...."

and concluding:

"The courts’ reliance on witnesses is built into the common-law judicial system, a reliance that is placed in check by the opposing counsel’s right to cross-examination—an important component of the adversarial legal process—and the law’s trust of the jury’s common sense. The fixation on witnesses reflects the weight given to personal testimony. As shown by recent studies, this weight must be balanced by an awareness that it is not necessary for a witness to lie or be coaxed by prosecutorial error to inaccurately state the facts—the mere fault of being human results in distorted memory and inaccurate testimony."

The familiar problems summarized in the Engelhardt review are exacerbated by new studies relating to the fallibility and vulnerability of the brain when forced to choose between conflicting senses.

If our brain is faced with a conflict of senses in which sight gives us one answer and hearing gives us another answer, which sense prevails - audio or visual?

Natalie Angier at the New York Times Science Basics in her article, When an Ear Witness Decides the Case, informs us of a new aspect to human fallibility - sensory conflict:

"Spoken clearly, the sounds “dah” and “bah” are easy to distinguish. Yet if you play a film clip in which the soundtrack says “dah” while the image on the screen shows a mouth saying “bah,” people will swear they heard “bah.”

If you ask people to count the number of times that a light flashes, and you flash the light seven times together with a sequence of eight beeping tones, people will say the light flashed eight times.

When confronted with conflicting pieces of information, the brain decides which sense to trust. In the first scenario, those clearly percussing lips could never be articulating a “d,” and so vision claimed the upper hand. But on matters that demand a temporal analysis, and making sense of similar sounds in a sequence, the brain reflexively counts on hearing."

Such and similar evidentiary problems in the law can lead to wrongful convictions.

Happy Father's Day - on the Third Sunday in June, but not Everywhere, as it is Celebrated on Different Days in Different Countries

2009-06-21T19:30:00.002+02:00

Today is Happy Father's Day in many countries of the globe, but not everywhere. Take a look at the Wikipedia article on Father's Day for a history and a world view.

Motorists and Cyclists : Bicycles and Law : Law Enforcement : Radfahren und das Recht : Know Your Laws : Die gesetzlichen Bestimmungen kennen

2009-06-17T09:55:00.049+02:00

Lawyer On a Bike writes about bicycles and the USA:

"The bicycle is a two wheeled, human powered vehicle that offers no crash protection. Cyclists are at the mercy of cars. Between 1932, when bicycle crash fatality statistics were first kept, until 2002, there have been 47,000 deaths of cyclists from bicycle related injuries. 90% of all cycling deaths from a collision with a car. In 66% of the situations the crash occurred due to a traffic law violation. In 66% of the situations the immediate cause of death was a traumatic brain injury (TBI)."

National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) Safety Facts for the year 2003 provide that:

"622 pedalcyclists were killed in traffic crashes
46,000 pedalcyclists were injured in traffic crashes
23 percent of all pedalcyclists killed were under age 16"

The Law Pundit is both a cyclist and a motorist. Indeed, we are domiciled in the incomparable wine-growing region of the Mosel, Saar and Ruwer, which is real "bicycle country". As written at FlyHahn.com, The Official Tourist Information for Frankfurt-Hahn Airport (HHN):

"Cycling Heaven & Car-Free Cycling Days

Car-Free Cycling Days

The Moselle holiday region offers boundless cycling enjoyment: More than 1,000 kilometres of outstanding cycle paths, shimmering rivers, the varied cultural wine growing landscape, romantic towns and villages and the hospitality of the people make your cycling vacation an unforgettable experience. A well signposted network of nearly level cycle tracks and rural roads stretches into the neighbouring countries of Luxembourg and France.

On five Sundays during the year the streets in the Moselle holiday region are turned into an El Dorado for cyclists: Happy Moselle (Sunday after Pentecost), Saar Pedal (3rd Sunday in May), Ruwer Active (3rd Sunday in August), Summer Biking on the Nims and the Sauer (4th Sunday in August) and 'Schromp macht Spass auf dem Maifeld' (every second year in the spring) are car-free cycling days that offer fun and a happy cycling experience."

The auto-free "Happy Mosel" Sunday is the world's longest wine street festival, when all the roads on the Mosel River between Cochem and Schweich are blocked to automobile traffic.

As written by Iris Reiff from the 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office at Spangdahlem Air Base in Make way for bikers at Happy Mosel -- 17 years of the world’s longest wine street festival in announcing this year's Happy Mosel on the now past May 3:

"The Mosel valley will become the Eldorado for bicyclers for the 17th year in a row, May 3, when roads between Cochem and Schweich belong to cyclists and walkers only. The 140-kilometer stretch will be closed to vehicle traffic between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m., transforming this area into a recreational roadway.

According to organizers, more than 100,000 people are expected to participate in this unique multicultural sporting event. Happy Mosel is the longest wine street festival in the world."

There were in fact ca. 100,000 participants - and during the day five bone fractures but no fatalities.

Biking has much greater hazards on days when vehicle traffic is running normally.

In densely populated Germany, there are 70 million bicycles - considerably more than the 41 million registered motor vehicles, and in the year 2007 there were 79,000 injured bicycle riders - of whom 425 were fatalities - in accidents where bicycle riders themselves were legally at fault fully half the time.

See in this regard Bicycle Law. For German law, see Fahrrad-Recht.

A recent article about the "untold running battle" between bicycle riders and motorists caught our eye (Der unsägliche Kleinkrieg, ADAC Motorwelt, Heft 4, April 2009), especially since we were in the pedestrian area of a town center in Germany today for not more than ten minutes - just walking through - and encountered no fewer than six bicycle riders riding the wrong way on a one way street, two of these riding much too fast and recklessly weaving through pedestrians and dangerously swerving to avoid hinderances with a lack of care about the rest of the world that sadly often marks German cyclists.

We could also mention yesterday, when we had brake our car dangerously fast not to hit a bicycle coming up the road around a very sharp corner toward us - the wrong way on a one-way street. We glanced furtively in our back mirror to make sure the car behind us did not back-end our car because of our emergency braking, caused by the bike rider. The bicyclist continued on - dangerously close to us and to parked cars - as if he or she had not a care in the world.

Bicycle riding can be dangerous and bicycle riders often think that uncaring and reckless motorists are at fault for this danger - this is surely one well-known aspect of the running battle between bicyclists and motorists - but the ADAC, Germany's premier automobile club of 16 million members, points to numerous facts which suggest that bicycle riders are often also their own worst enemy on the roads.

Many cyclists appear to place the obligation of safety almost solely on the car-driving motorists to look after THEM, as if bicyclists had no duty of safety at all, either to themselves or to others. Why is that?

In the ADAC guest column to that same ADAC magazine, there is an article by psychoanalyst Dr. Wolfgang Schmidbauer titled Multiple Persönlichkeiten im Straßenverkehr ("Multiple Personalities in Street Traffic"). Schmidbauer points out that the personality of a car driver manifested in a large air-conditioned 4-wheel vehicle is completely different than the personality which surfaces when that same person rides a bicycle (we might add here that yet another, distinctly different personality surfaces when that same person mounts a motorcycle).

Schmidbauer states that bicycle riders - even those who are otherwise motorists - frequently slip into a new identity when they get on to their bicycles. In that new identity, they "individualize" the traffic laws, i.e. often flagrantly and regularly ignoring and violating the most basic traffic dictates - not stopping at stop signs, riding down one-way streets the wrong way, not signalling turns, running red traffic lights, riding on the street and blocking traffic unnecessarily even though a bike path is available right next to the thoroughfare, talking on their mobile cell phones while riding and blocking traffic because of their unawareness of the world around them, and often being a hinderance or a nuisance to normal traffic.

The immense scope of the problem that Schmidbauer correctly identifies is substantiated by the comments to the ADAC articles made by apparently non-reformable cyclists ("Unverbesserliche") at the German bicyclists forum, Velomobilforum.de, where, it seems to this reader, that they do not understand the scope of the problem. The issue is also not one of motorists vs. bicyclists, but rather one of cyclists attitudes.

Our own description for many bicyclists in Germany - based upon our over one million car miles on German roads - is "militant", and we ourselves are both a "sensible" cyclist and a "caring" motorist with loved ones in the family who also ride bicycles, so that we see this problem from both sides, including the view that reckless drivers who endanger bicyclists should be heavily fined and their driver's licenses be revoked. But let us turn to the cyclists, who are not as innocent as they appear to think they are.

Schmidbauer correctly pinpoints the underlying and errant psychology of cyclists as seeing themselves as the "good" and "little" guys and motorists as the "big" and "evil" ones - a mistaken psychological frame of mind which the cyclists then think - erroneously - entitles them to special rights. We all can recognize this extremely dangerous psychology via the often anonymous religious fanatics who have falsely convinced themselves that their alleged belief excuses them from normal civilized behavior. In fact, the result of such a psychological frame of mind is often a type of internal anarchy combined with barbarian behaviour - for which there is in fact no supportable human or legal justification.

Excepting the all-too-many aggressive automobile rowdies who are a menace to everyone, including cyclists, therer are many normal, law-abiding motorists who ALSO have their problems with many bicycle riders. Indeed, many an average law-abiding motorist regards many cyclists as being overtly aggressive on the streets, largely irresponsible and uncaring with respect to other persons or vehicles in traffic, and indeed as either ignorant of the traffic laws or unwilling to abide by them. The ADAC article states that in one college city alone - Münster, Germany - the bicyclists run intentionally through red traffic lights an estimated 13,000 times - per day, in spite of the 20,000 traffic tickets issued to cyclists in that city per year. Just imagine what one of those red-light running bicycle militants would say to a car driver who drove intentionally through a red light. Many such cyclists live with a false double standard of the traffic world.

The situation is magnified million-fold throughout Germany, partly because there is no way for pedestrians or motorists to identify militant cyclists and it is this anonymity which often makes cyclists virtual terrorists on two wheels. Barring a direct confrontation with police, they are able to engage in unlawful and aggressive behavior on the roads without great fear of detection or punishment.

In the United States the Federal Highway Administration of the Department of Transportation has issued materials on Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety, including college course materials on Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation, of which the Introduction to Lesson 24 provides inter alia:

"Experience has shown that developing bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly communities requires a comprehensive approach that includes more than simply engineering and constructing bike lanes and sidewalks. This comprehensive approach includes:
Engineering—designing and constructing roads for bicyclists and pedestrians.
Education—teaching or training bicyclists, pedestrians, motorists, and other road users.
Enforcement—ensuring that all road users follow traffic laws and rules of the road.
Encouragement—providing incentives beyond physical infrastructure.
Evaluation—confirming that the intended outcomes have been produced."

One aspect of the problem is that in Germany there is no official bicycle registration (only private registration, e.g. online at Finde Mein Rad) and bicycles do not have license plates. So how would you identify and report a bicycle rowdy or someone who was endangering motor vehicle traffic participants or pedestrians through their illegal bike riding?

In the United States of our childhood, bikes in our city had to be taken to the local fire department for registration, where one also obtained a bicycle license plate, which was affixed to the back of the bicycle. This ability to identify cyclists or bicycles is not present in modern Germany, and so, bicyclists are anonymous - and many of them behave that way! Anonymity breeds barbarism.

One aspect of the solution is therefore to implement mandatory bicycle registration and official bicycle license plates in Germany.

This would not only reduce the blind aggressive militancy prevalent among many bicycle riders but it would necessarily also improve bicycle etiquette AND SAFETY in general because bicyclists and/or their bicycles would be identifiable to car drivers, pedestrians and witnesses.

Such a possibility of identification would also contribute to reduce the tremendous and inexcusable amount of bicycle theft in Germany (estimated at 400,000 per year in 2005), which is enabled by the absence of bicycle registration and by the lack of bicycle license plates.

It is such a simple solution that we are amazed that Germany has not implemented something like it.

Another area that needs substantial improvement pertains to the knowledge of bicycle law. Since no license is required in countries like Germany to ride a bicycle, many bicycle riders have very little knowledge of traffic regulations or "riding etiquette". They ride their bicycles as if they were on a distant planet.

Classes of instruction on bicycle law and etiquette should be mandatory and "bicycle licenses" should be issued to bike riders only after passing traffic and etiquette tests.

After all, even now, persons riding a bicycle in Germany can be heavily fined for traffic infractions - rightly so, because negligent or reckless bike riding can pose a substantial danger to others. Bicyclists can even lose their motor vehicle driving license for riding a bicycle while intoxicated beyond a certain legally prescribed level (blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.16 or more).

Given the severity of penalites that one can incur, anyone driving or riding any type of bicycle or vehicle on the streets should have a license to do so.

What is a Maquila or a Maquiladora? Mexican Border Factories Employ Thousands and Account for a Great Share of Mexican Exports but At What Cost?

2009-06-15T00:01:00.000+02:00

A quote in the previous LawPundit posting uses the term maquila (short for maquiladora).

Map of the maquiladora plants in Mexico from The Cutting Edge
The Wikipedia under maquiladora tell us that:

"A maquiladora or maquila is a factory that imports materials and equipment on a duty-free and tariff-free basis for assembly or manufacturing and then re-exports the assembled product, usually back to the originating country. A maquila is also referred to as a "twin plant", or "in-bond" industry. Nearly half a million Mexicans are employed in maquiladoras.

The term "maquiladora", in the Spanish language, refers to the practice of millers charging a "maquila", or "miller's portion" for processing other people's grain....

During the later half of the sixties, maquiladora industries rapidly expanded both geographically and economically and by 1985, had become Mexico’s second largest source of income from foreign exports, behind oil. Since 1973, maquiladoras have also accounted for nearly half of Mexico’s export assembly. Between 1995 and 2000, exports of assembled products in Mexico tripled, and the rate of the industry’s growth amounted to about one new factory per day. By the late twentieth century, the industry accounted for approximately 25 percent of Mexico’s gross domestic product, and 17 percent of total Mexican employment. However, profits generated from maquiladoras are typically sent back to the United States, or other investor-based countries, and therefore, maquiladoras do not promote direct economic development within Mexico.

Since globalization and physical restructuring have contributed to the competition and advent of low-cost offshore assembly in places like Taiwan, China, and countries in Central America, maquiladoras in Mexico have been on the decline since 2000: According to federal sources, approximately 529 maquiladoras shut down and investment in assembly plants decreased by 8.2 percent in 2002. Despite the decline, there still exist over 3,000 maquiladoras along the 2,000 mile-long United States–Mexico border, providing employment for approximately one million workers, and importing more than $51 billion in supplies into Mexico. As of 2006, maquiladoras still account for 45 percent of Mexico’s exports. Maquiladoras, in general, are best represented among operations that are particularly assembly intensive."

We also found some legal analysis online of maquiladoras as well as related economic articles and materials, including several posters who regard maquiladoras as sweatshops:

Truett, Lila J. and Truett, Dale B., NAFTA and the Maquiladoras: Boon or Bane?. Contemporary Economic Policy, Vol. 25, No. 3, pp. 374-386, July 2007. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=993979 or DOI: 10.1111/j.1465-7287.2006.00043.x
Covington M. Wall, Mexico Economic Crisis, Fiat Peso Currency Skating on Thin Ice Mexico Jun 02, 2009 - 03:28 AM
"GDP fell 8.2% in the first quarter of this year alone directly impacting the unemployment rate officially around 5.1% in the first quarter up from 3.7% a year ago. The hardest hit segments of the economy have been the auto and maquiladora industries. Domestic auto sales have contracted close to 25% and auto exports have fallen nearly 41%. Exports as a whole have fallen sharply, by some estimates around 45%, due to the severity of the economic crisis in the US which because of NAFTA is México’s largest trading partner. The US is also the destination of nearly 80% of goods traded internationally. In addition to oil exports the US has also been the primary destination for migrant labor receiving nearly 500,000 annually but off sharply this year along with remittances sent by migrants. Remittances alone, which amount to roughly 30% of GDP, make up a large part of direct foreign investment. Direct foreign investment in the 1Q of this year totaled 2.6 billion USD and is 36% lower by some estimates compared to 2008 figures which totaled 21 billion for the entire year. [emphasis added]
Continued deterioration of macroeconomic conditions is causing officials to frantically try to find ways to bolster the economy in order to hedge off an economic melt down thus avoiding a repeat of the last great crisis in 1995. "
Patrick J. Kelly, Mexico Maquiladoras and NAFTA (March 2001)
Editorial, Lucinda Vargas, Senior Economist, Maquilaportal.com, NAFTA, the U.S. Economy and Maquiladoras
Mexican Taxation of Maquiladoras, UnderstandMexico.com
Discover the Cost-Saving Benefits of Mexico Manufacturing with Maquiladoras, MadeInMexico.com
Gil Villagrán, MSW, Maquiladoras-NAFTA's Sweatshops, (gvillagran [at] casa.sjsu.edu)
Saturday May 2nd, 2009 12:41 PM
Mike Westfall, Maquiladoras--American Industry Creates Modern-Day Mexican Slaves, The Cutting Edge, The Edge of Labor, June 8th, 2009, who writes:
"NAFTA has been a disaster for the working people and the communities in which they live in all three nations. Today we clearly see that the results of NAFTA have led to a much weaker America with devastated and shuttered manufacturing communities. Mexican wages have dropped, and almost 20 million more Mexicans now live in poverty. American business leaders have been quick to seize upon the opportunity to take advantage of these desperate workers.
It is common knowledge that many U.S. politicians get hefty campaign contributions from industry. The only NAFTA winners have been the companies and politicians."
Vic Kolenc, Hundreds hungry for NAFTA business, El Paso Times, 06/12/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT
Niñas de la maquila: malos tratos y abuso, Vanguardia.com.mx, por El Universal , 14-Junio-2009 (10:03 a.m.)
Maquila Solidarity Updates, Maquila Solidarity Network
Maquilaportal.com

Foxconn & Hon Hai Precision Industry : China's Largest Exporter Opening Dell Assembly Plant in Mexico on the Border of the United States and Mexico

2009-06-14T18:30:00.016+02:00

The future is always in the making and it behooves us to look carefully at international economic developments, especially when they take place on our own borders.

What company known to you is the manufacturer of, among other things, iPods, iPhones, Macbooks, Playstations, Wii's, Xbox 360s, Nokia and Motorola cell phones, Kindles, and motherboards for Intel, Dell and HP?

You've heard of them, right? Foxconn is China's biggest exporter, where it employs about a half a million people, and it is one of the world's largest OEM manufacturers of electronics and computers. As we read at Philip Elmer-DeWitt's Fortune Apple 2.0 blog:

"Although it keeps a relatively low profile in the United States, Foxconn is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electronics and computer components. It built many of the first generation iPhones, as well as MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, iPod nanos and Mac Minis.
It also makes motherboards for Intel (INTC), Dell (DEL) and HP (HPQ), Playstations for Sony (SNE), Wii’s for Nintendo, Xbox 360s for Microsoft (MSFT), cell phones for Motorola (MOT) and Kindles for Amazon (AMZN).

Foxconn employs nearly half a million people and does most of its manufacturing in mainland China. It was China’s largest exporter in 2007."

Foxconn is the trade name of Taiwan-based and Hong Kong-centered Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd., a company founded by and still run by CEO Terry Guo (Terry Tai-Ming Gou, traditional Chinese: 郭台銘; pinyin: Guō Táimíng). The 2008 Fortune Global 500 ranked Hon Hai - with $51.828 billion in revenues - 132nd among all the firms of the world and 8th among electronics concerns. We became interested in this conglomerate because it is the OEM manufacturer of an ALDI camera that we own (see PremierImage.com.tw).

Foxconn is involved in an interesting and significant story just breaking on the border between the United States and Mexico.

It all began with golf.

Phyllis Eileen Banks writes about the still unincorporated community of Santa Teresa (near El Paso, Texas) in New Mexico as follows:

"According to Roadside History of New Mexico by Francis L. and Roberta B. Fugate, "In the early 1970s, professional golfer Lee Trevino was one of the principal backers in the design and construction of a golf course and country club known as Santa Teresa." It was originally planned with luxury homes and an airport for fly-in golfers. Later Trevino withdrew but growth continued."

Since then, Santa Teresa has been made a Port of Entry to Mexico, but you are going to have trouble finding that at Google Maps or Google Earth. The development is perhaps too new.

As written by Jose Z. Garcia of New Mexico State University in The Sunland Park-Santa Teresa Project: An Interview With Jerry Pacheco at the blog La Politica: New Mexico!, the area is booming:

"The South Mesilla Valley is today, arguably, the biggest economic development project in New Mexico history, driven by two major factors: first, is the $5 billion expansion of El Paso's Ft. Bliss, which is causing West El Paso to spill over into New Mexico between El Paso and Anthony, and, to a lesser extent into the Chaparral area. The second is the growth of Cd. Juarez on the West Side, between Anapra and the Santa Teresa border crossing, which promises to create all kinds of business synergies on the U.S. side."

In his analysis of developments, Garcia refers to:

"Jerry Pacheco, executive director of the International Business Accelerator, a consulting firm for businesses considering locating in the Southern Dona Ana County region.... [who] points to three inter-related projects, begun within the past year, that are going to transform the Santa Teresa-Sunland Park region profoundly."

The first of these is Foxconn.

Garcia writes:

"First, Foxconn, the largest manufacturer of electronic and computer equipment in the world, has just completed phase one of its assembly plant, located on the Mexican side of the border just yards away from the border and from the crossing at San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa. Foxconn is assembling desktop computers and servers for Dell at this facility--the largest maquila plant in Mexico....

By the end of the year there should be 5000 workers and depending on the state of the economy, thousands more to come, up to 30,000 workers according to current plans. With that many workers, West Juarez is assuredly going to go through a boom in low-cost housing, commercial development, and urban sprawl. On the U.S. side there will be a reciprocal demand for more upscale housing for managers, trucking facilities for the increased traffic at the port and more businesses serving the Juarez maquila sector, like Expeditors.

A key strategic reason for Foxconn to locate at San Jeronimo was the availability of ample space on both sides, very near the border crossing, and the presence of a user-friendly international border crossing. Expeditors International, a large logistic services company, has constructed a facility on the U.S. side of the fence, across from Foxconn, from which they will supply Foxconn with the inventory of parts needed to assemble Dell computers...."

Read the rest of Garcia's posting here.

We find this business confluence of China, Mexico and the United States to be significant because it shows how the traditional political and commercial borders have become increasingly interconnected in our globalized modern world.

EU Election Results for the European Union Parliament : 27 Countries : 736 Members of Parliament (MEPs) : Representing 492 Million Citizens of Europe

2009-06-13T12:15:00.005+02:00

Few in Europe know the name of their European Parliament MEP (Member of Parliament)? Those who do not know can view this EU directory, which at the time of this posting does not yet reflect the elections just held for the European Parliament.

The Germany Missions in the United States at Germany.info provide a superbly informative article - 27 Nations, One Election - on those elections, calling them "the biggest transnational elections in history". Take a look.

The BBC has a country by country analysis of the election results and we show below the fairly final but still officially provisional EU Election Results for all 27 Countries who elected 736 Members of Parliament (MEPs) representing 492 million European inhabitants (there are 375 million eligible voters):

Provisional 11 June 2009 at 11:26 CEST

	EPP	PES	ALDE	UEN	GREENS/ EFA	GUE/ NGL	IND/ DEM	Others	Total
BE	6	5	5	0	3	0	0	3	22
BG	6	4	5	0	0	0	0	2	17
CZ	2	7	0	0	0	4	0	9	22
DK	1	4	3	2	2	1	0	0	13
DE	42	23	12	0	14	8	0	0	99
EE	1	1	3	0	0	0	0	1	6
IE	4	3	1	3	0	0	0	1	12
EL	8	8	0	0	1	3	2	0	22
ES	23	21	2	0	2	1	0	1	50
FR	29	14	6	0	14	4	1	4	72
IT	35	0	7	9	0	0	0	21	72
CY	2	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	6
LV	1	0	1	3	1	0	0	2	8
LT	4	3	2	2	0	0	0	1	12
LU	3	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	6
HU	15	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	22
MT	2	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	5
NL	5	3	6	0	3	2	2	4	25
AT	6	4	0	0	2	0	0	5	17
PL	28	7	0	15	0	0	0	0	50
PT	10	7	0	0	0	5	0	0	22
RO	13	11	5	0	1	0	0	3	33
SI	3	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	7
SK	6	5	0	1	0	0	0	1	13
FI	4	2	4	0	2	0	0	1	13
SE	5	5	4	0	2	1	0	1	18
UK	0	13	11	0	5	1	13	29	72
EU total	264	161	80	35	53	32	18	93	736

Source: TNS opinion in cooperation with the European Parliament.

There are seven main political parties - plus others - represented in the European Parliament, with the provisional 2009 election results listed next to each party together with their 2004 election results:

EPP [centre-right]: Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) - 264 seats based on 35.9% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 36.7% of the vote in 2004
PES [centre-left]: Socialist Group in the European Parliament - 161 seats based on 21.9% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 27.6% in 2004 (according to the European Voice that number increases to 182 as "The Socialist group in the European Parliament has formed an alliance with the Italian Democratic Party (DP), a move that increases the grouping's MEPs by 21, to 182.... The grouping will be known as the Alliance of Socialists and Democrats for Europe (ASDE)."
ALDE : Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe - 80 seats based on 10.9% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 12.7% in 2004
GREENS/ EFA : Group of the Greens / European Free Alliance - 53 seats based on 7.2% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 5.5% in 2004
UEN : Union for Europe of the Nations Group - 35 seats based on 4.8% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 5.6% in 2004
GUE/ NGL : Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left - 32 seats based on 4.3% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 5.2% in 2004
IND/ DEM : Independence/Democracy Group - 18 seats based on 2.4% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 2.8% in 2004
Others (including the British National Party, the Czech ODS and British Tories) - 93 seats based on 12.6% of the vote in 2009 as opposed to 3.8% in 2004

As opposed to a voter turnout of 45.47% in 2004, the voter turnout in 2009 was a disappointing 43.2% EU-wide - also only 43% here in Germany. All major EU Parliament parties dropped in their percentage of votes and only the GREENS and OTHER parties gained.

The TouchTable : Like a Giant iPhone : A Very Serious High Tech Toy for Military and Law Enforcement : Also Useful for Firms & Private Households

2009-06-12T13:17:00.007+02:00

Have you seen this? Fantastic.

The TouchTable®.

If you want an incredible modern high tech coffee table - a touch table is it. The cost is still quite high, but we definitely want one of these for Christmas. Just imagine keeping track of your client legal cases or your sales force or your cash flow or your product chain or your investments by use of one of these things. We can already see a touch table in every law firm and corporate board room in the country, although the high-end income households will surely be among the first to get these things as the "newest toy". And we see a large market for this table among football coaches - for obvious reasons.

The above video from Wired Science at PBS shows the TouchTable from Touch Table, Inc. The touch table is a very serious information-focused toy which is already used for military analysis, military intelligence and for law enforcement purposes. TouchTable is essentially a very large touch-screen system on a table-like horizontal surface, which allows one or multiple users to navigate large amounts of data and information via software applications that visualize and analyze selected data and information - and allow touch navigation within that data. The TouchTable is the fantastic prerequisite, but equally fantastic software is also required.

In the video, Touch Table CEO Rocky Roccanova shows Wired TV's Ziya Tong how the TouchTable works and shows some stunning examples of its application to things like the question of whether Iran is building nuclear weapons, or how world air travel can be viewed in real time, or how city crime locations can be viewed and analyzed by police departments.

Owners of the table include such far off places as the City of Moscow.

For R&R (rest and relaxation), you can even convert TouchTable into a virtual pool table.

Here is what Touch Table Inc. writes about TouchTable TT45:

"TouchTable TT45

The TouchTable TT45 is a small group collaboration system for visualization, navigation and analysis of data. Functioning as a mobile presentation and input device, the TT45 displays data on a touch-sensitive table surface. People gather around the table and manipulate this displayed information using simple hand gestures.

TouchTables aid in decision making by replacing the traditional classroom style lecture environment with a shared group experience. When gathered around the table, everyone in the group has equal access to the displayed information and menu system allowing control of the discussion to flow naturally. This shared experience increases each participants understanding, resulting in faster, more confident decision making.

Additional TouchTables can be networked to allow synchronized remote collaboration. This means that different groups can connect to the network and share data over long distances. Each device on the network displays the same information and is updated concurrently. Control of the displayed information can be handed off as needed and shared among groups as the discussion warrants. This shared virtual space allows all groups of users to contribute, regardless of their physical location."

Hat tip to Dennis B.

France Strikes Out on its Three Strikes Law Against Digital Piracy as the French Constitutional Council Affirms Individual Right to Internet Access

2009-06-11T15:40:00.000+02:00

The Constitutional Council of France - a uniquely French legal body which is neither a court nor composed of judges - struck down the French Three Strikes Law against digital piracy as contrary to "French constitutional principles". As Peter Sayer of IDG News Service notes:

"France's highest legal authority has ruled as unconstitutional a government plan to cut off, without trial, Internet users accused of copyright infringement.
The so-called "three strikes" law would have handed over the power to disconnect surfers to a newly created High Authority for the Distribution of Works and the Protection of Rights on the Internet (Hadopi). It was approved by the French Parliament in April but has not yet been signed into law."

Liberté, égalité, fraternité

The idea of "individual liberty" is one of the core principles of world democracy and is integrally tied to the French Revolution more than 200 years ago, so that we were surprised to see France pass a law by which Internet access could be denied to file-sharers by an administrative body.

As we wrote about the French "Three Strikes Law" at LawPundit in France Defies European Union and Passes Controversial Anti-Piracy Three Strikes and You're Out Creation and Internet Law Against Illegal File-Sharing :

"We presume that a compromise political and legal solution will be the recognition of Internet access as a fundamental right of EU citizens, provided that they do not engage in illegal activities via that very same Internet. We see no direct confrontation to be necessary here."

Eric Pfanner at the New York Times writes about the decision of the Constitutional Council:

"The council said the proposal was contrary to French constitutional principles, like the presumption of innocence and freedom of speech. The latter right “implies today, considering the development of the Internet, and its importance for the participation in democratic life and the expression of ideas and opinions, the online public’s freedom to access these communication services,” the council said."

As written at CNet Digital Media News by Steven Musil:

"The council said "free access to public communication services on line" was a human right that only a judge should have the power to disconnect."

Nate Anderson at ars technica goes into the legal details in his French court savages "three-strikes" law, tosses it out, pointing out that a critical flaw in the Three Strikes Law was the fact that the USER had to prove that he had not illegally engaged in file-sharing in order to retain his or her threatened cut-off from Internet access:

"[B]ut the burden of proof was on the Internet user....

In its ruling [.pdf here (in French)], this was precisely the issue that the Council zeroed in upon, going all the way back to the French Revolution to stress the wrongheadedness of the HADOPI approach.

Moreover, whereas under section nine of the Declaration of 1789, every man is presumed innocent until has has been proven guilty, it follows that in principle the legislature does not establish a presumption of guilt in criminal matters," wrote the Council. This basic principle applies "to any sanction in the nature of punishment, even if the legislature has left the decision to an authority that is nonjudicial in nature."

The court also made a strong statement about freedom of speech: "Freedom of expression and communication is so valuable that its exercise is a prerequisite for democracy and one of the guarantees of respect for other rights and freedoms and attacks on the exercise of this freedom must be necessary, appropriate and proportionate to the aim pursued."

Andrew Orlowski at The Register concluded:

"Hadopi (the acronym of the French government agency after whom the three strikes law was named) created a penalty of suspending an individual's internet connection for two to twelve months if they repeatedly downloaded unlicensed copyright material from the internet.

The [Constitutional Council] found several parts of Hadopi unconstitutional, violating the citizen's right to free speech, and the presumption of innocence....

"Freedom of expression and communication is all the more valuable that its exercise is a prerequisite for democracy and one of the guarantees of respect for other rights and freedoms and that attacks on the exercise of this freedom must be necessary, appropriate and proportionate to the aim pursued," they wrote.

The breadth of the finding effectively guts the law - so it's back to square one for copyright enforcement in France.

Or is it?

IFPI counsel Shirla Perlmutter told the World Copyright Summit that the French Government would resubmit the law to Parliament, taking account of the [Council's] objections.

"Our understanding is that a new version of the bill will maintain the same graduated response, but transfer powers executed by Hadopi to a special court...."

That essentially takes the teeth out of the Three Strikes Law and is a political setback for the French President. As written by Jose Vilches at Techspot:

"The decision is a setback for President Nicholas Sarkozy, who argued that the law was crucial to protecting artistic creation in the digital era, and a huge victory to everyone opposing it. With the uproar this so-called “three strikes” law has caused in France, and an earlier measure passed by the European Parliament prohibiting EU governments from cutting off a user's Internet connection without a court order, it seems unlikely that other European countries will propose similar laws."

Deadline Alert : USA Importer Security Filing & Additional Carrier Requirements Interim Final Rule (ISF 10+2) to require Advance Cargo Info

2009-06-11T12:18:00.001+02:00

Michael Laden writes at gtnews.com about the impending deadline for implementation of the Importer Security Filing Rule of US Customs & Border Protection (CBP):

"We are nearing the half way mark of a one-year non-enforced phase-in of this rule and, unless otherwise delayed, on 26 January 2010 the CBP will begin full enforcement of this new requirement. If a company is not ready on this date, it might be a very painful and expensive experience. The most important take-away from this article is the heightened sense of urgency and anxiety about this looming deadline, especially if a company hasn’t filed its first ISF yet."

We recently registered at gtnews and just read the important May 19, 2009 article by Michael Laden of TRG Direct who writes in Importer Security Filing - Is Your Company Ready? that "[c]ompanies importing into the US must take stock of the new Importer Security Filing rule, which will incur steep penalties for non-compliance." (Bobsguide writes, by the way, about gtnews.com [free registration required] that "gtnews is the word's largest network of corporate treasury professionals. It is an unrivalled resource for treasury practitioners and those who do business with them.")

The impending rule discussed by Michael Laden is the Importer Security Filing and Additional Carrier Requirements Interim Final Rule, also known as the ISF 10+2 Rule because it requires 10 data elements from the importer and 2 from the carrier.

"To help prevent terrorist weapons from being transported to the United States, vessel carriers bringing cargo to the United States are required to transmit certain information to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) about the cargo they are transporting prior to lading that cargo at foreign ports of entry. This interim final rule requires both importers and carriers to submit additional information pertaining to cargo to CBP before the cargo is brought into the United States by vessel. This information must be submitted to CBP by way of a CBP-approved electronic data interchange system. The required information is reasonably necessary to improve CBP’s ability to identify highrisk shipments so as to prevent smuggling and ensure cargo safety and security. These regulations specifically fulfill the requirements of section 203 of the Security and Accountability for Every (SAFE) Port Act of 2006 and section 343(a) of the Trade Act of 2002, as amended by the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002. DATES: Effective Date: This rule is effective on January 26, 2009." [links added by LawPundit]

The 10 plus 2 "data elements" are found in the April 1, 2009 Testimony of Acting Commissioner Jayson P. Ahern, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, before the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Homeland Security, on Cargo and Container Security:

"The CBP Importer Security Filing covers the following key areas:

Ten unique data elements from importers not currently provided to CBP 24 hours prior to foreign loading of cargo,
- Manufacturer (or supplier) name and address
- Seller (or owner) name and address
- Buyer (or owner) name and address
- Ship to name and address
- Container stuffing location
- Consolidator (stuffer) name and address
- Importer of record number/foreign trade zone applicant identification number
- Consignee number(s)
- Country of origin
- Commodity Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States number
Two additional data elements provided by the carriers, including the Vessel Stow Plan, which is currently utilized by the vessel industry to load and discharge containers, and Container Status Messaging, which is currently utilized by the vessel industry to track the location of containers and provide status notifications to shippers, consignees and other related parties."

The time allotted for industry comment on the rule expired on June 1, 2009, and the one-year delay on enforcement of compliance ends on January 26, 2010, only about six months away, so time is getting short for importers to fully implement this act.

Ahern testified in detail about the rule as follows:

"Advance Information
CBP has recognized Congress’ mandate that we collect more and improved advanced information for cargo shipments. CBP, in fact, requires advanced electronic cargo information as mandated in the Trade Act of 2002 (including the 24-Hour Rule for maritime cargo). Advanced cargo information on all inbound shipments for all modes of transportation is evaluated through the Automated Targeting System (ATS) before arrival in the United States.

The function of ATS is to provide information to support the decisions of CBP officers working in Advance Targeting Units (ATUs) at our ports of entry and CSI ports. The system provides a uniform review of cargo shipments, identifies the highest threat shipments, and presents data in a comprehensive, flexible format to address specific intelligence threats and trends. ATS uses a rules-based program to highlight potential risk, patterns, and targets. Through rules, ATS alerts the user to data that meets or exceeds certain predefined criteria. ATS uses national targeting rule sets to provide threshold targeting for national security risks for all modes: sea, truck, rail, and air. CBP is continually striving to improve the ATS system by convening regular “rules conferences”. The conferences are attended by our intelligence officers and representatives from various seaports and land border ports who update risk indicators and ensure that the most current intelligence and trends are factored into ATS.

CBP has been working with importers for several years to put in place a rule that would ensure that we had timely access to the information necessary to perform a proper analysis of the risk posed by particular shipments. After that effort began, Congress endorsed it-- the SAFE Port Act mandated that CBP obtain additional advanced cargo information to enhance our ability to perform risk-based targeting prior to cargo being laden on a vessel overseas.

As many of you know, CBP announced an Interim Final Rule (IRF) in January 2009 that requires importers and carriers to electronically submit additional information on cargo before it is brought into the United States by vessel. Since then, CBP has received tens of thousands of Importer Security Filing (ISF) filings, hundreds of vessel stow plans and millions of container status messages that have already yielded some promising results.

The additional data elements that DHS is receiving under the importer security filing rule are critical to ensuring that we have the best information available about where a container originated, who filled it with goods, where this may have occurred, and what types of goods are being shipped.

The trade’s input during the consultative process as well as its participation in the Advance Trade Data Initiative was instrumental in the successful crafting of the rule. CBP made several significant changes to the proposed rule based on feedback received during its consultation with industry partners, the Departmental Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations (COAC), and other federal entities. These changes include a year-long delayed compliance period, considerable flexibilities associated with six of the data requirements, and a commitment to accept additional comments from industry until June 1, 2009 and then initiate a structured review to reexamine the rule’s impact on industry. Based upon this review, DHS will determine whether to eliminate, modify, or maintain these requirements."

LawPundit Posting "Who Killed the Electric Car" at the New York Times Headlines Around the Web

2009-06-09T23:33:00.002+02:00

The June 8, 2009 LawPundit posting "Who Killed the Electric Car" was featured at the New York Times Headlines Around the Web in connection with the Wikipedia as follows:

Who Killed the Electric Car?

2009-06-08T15:43:00.000+02:00

This posting is a logical sequel to our LawPundit posting on Unnecessary Patent Encumbrance of Large Automotive NiMH Batteries : What is Required are Draconian Penalties for the Greedy Patent Holders.

As written at the Wikipedia:

Who Killed the Electric Car? is a 2006 documentary film that explores the creation, limited commercialization, and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the General Motors EV1 of the 1990s. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers, the oil industry, the US government, the Californian government, batteries, hydrogen vehicles, and consumers in limiting the development and adoption of this technology.

It was released on DVD to the home video market on November 14, 2006 by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment....

The movie deals with the history of the electric car, its development and commercialization, mostly focusing on the General Motors EV1, which was made available for lease in Southern California, after the California Air Resources Board passed the ZEV mandate in 1990, as well as the implications of the events depicted for air pollution, environmentalism, Middle East politics, and global warming.

The film details the California Air Resources Board's reversal of the mandate after suits from automobile manufacturers, the oil industry, and the George W. Bush administration. It points out that Bush's chief influences, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, and Andrew Card, are all former executives and board members of oil and auto companies. They were eliminated from the GM Line in 1999.

A large part of the film accounts for GM's efforts to demonstrate to California that there was no demand for their product, and then to take back every EV1 and dispose of them. A few were disabled and given to museums and universities, but almost all were found to have been crushed; GM never responded to the EV drivers' offer to pay the residual lease value ($1.8 million was offered for the remaining 78 cars in Burbank before they were crushed). Several activists are shown being arrested in the protest that attempted to block the GM car carriers taking the remaining EV1s off to be crushed.

The film explores some of the reasons that the auto and oil industries worked to kill off the electric car. Wally Rippel is shown explaining that the oil companies were afraid of losing out on trillions in potential profit from their transportation fuel monopoly over the coming decades, while the auto companies were afraid of losses over the next six months of EV production. Others explained the killing differently. GM spokesman Dave Barthmuss argued it was lack of consumer interest due to the maximum range of 80–100 miles per charge, and the relatively high price.

The film also showed the failed attempts by electric car enthusiasts trying to combat the cancellation of EV1 and the surviving vehicles. Towards the end of the film, a deactivated EV1 car #99 was found in the garage of Petersen Automotive Museum, with its former owner invited for a visit.

The film also explores the future of automobile technologies including a deeply critical look at hydrogen vehicles and an upbeat discussion of plug-in hybrid electric vehicle technologies, with examples such as Tesla Roadster. The end of the film mentioned the upcoming sequel titled Revenge of the Electric Car."

Read the rest of the Wikipedia article here.

Unnecessary Patent Encumbrance of Large Automotive NiMH Batteries : What is Required are Draconian Penalties for the Greedy Patent Holders

2009-06-08T15:06:00.000+02:00

One of the areas of environmental protection and improved energy development which are being unnecessarily held back by overly broad patent protection is the development and sale of large automotive NiMH Batteries.

We have been researching the puzzling snail's pace of production of hybrid and electrical vehicles and ran across the Wikipedia article Patent encumbrance of large automotive NiMH batteries.

In days such as ours when major carmakers such as General Motors and Chrysler have filed bankruptcy and when the spectre of recession and depression are on our doorstep because of the stupidity and greed of monopolistic patent holders and private enterprise companies, the entire legal system - and by this we mean legislators in Congress and in State and local governments, officials in government agencies, and judges and lawyers in the judicial system, must start to become aware of the totally unnecessary harm that overly broad patents are doing to the economy by thwarting absolutely necessary developments in the energy sector.

The example of large automative NiMH batteries is a case in point where draconian examples should be made.

If it is true, as stated in that Wikipedia article, that companies to whom patent monopolies have been granted by foolish patent laws are refusing to sell large automative NiMH batteries to smaller companies and developers - thus greatly harming the progress of energy innovation in the electrical sector, then the owners and directors of such companies and the patent owners of the technology involved should all be put in jail for causing substantial and avoidable harm to the public weal. I would put a government task force on this project with the goal of revoking whatever patents in this area can be revoked and a special prosecutor should be put on the tails of those responsible for this debacle.

Real Estate Prices and Home Values : Housing Prices in Relation to Income : The Zillow.com ZIndex and the Maximum Affordability Ratio of Ben Engebreth

2009-06-05T11:40:00.000+02:00

Is real estate still vastly overpriced? It most certainly is at the high end of things, but that will probably never change. Buyers often pay a substantial premium for exclusivity (location, location, location) which often far exceeds the strict objective value of the actual property. Take a look at the videos at Christie's Great Estates for good examples of what appear to us in many cases to be substantially overpriced homes.

Having lived in Greenwich, CT some years ago, I saw with interest that Dunnellen Hall (see also here) in Greenwich, Connecticut is for example being offered for sale now at $75,000,000 by the Helmsley Estate, a selling price which is $25,000,000 more than the highest estate price ever obtained in Connecticut. The original price paid in 1983 was $9,000,000 (plus $2 million for the furniture).

Dunnellen Hall thus far does not seem to be partnered with good luck (Feng Shui), but this is often not a problem of the property itself, but rather the fault of the property owners. A property that is filled with love will return love and one that is filled with mean-ness will be mean.

On the other hand, some properties do tend to have a bad "track record" as far as luck is concerned, but that is probably because they attract certain kinds of owners. Buyers of a property like Dunnellen Hall will WANT something from that property - exclusivity, snob acclaim, etc. - but are surely not buying the property to GIVE something to that property themselves, but only to TAKE out of it, so that a negative result is pre-programmed. By the way, just 9 months ago, the asking price for Dunnellen Hall was $125,000,000. Greed is not a good starting point.

Hat tip to CaryGee.

So what is the "true" financial value of a house in economic terms for those selling and buying houses? (A house is not a "home" until so made by the inhabitants.)

Back in 2005 Ben Engebreth put up an eminently sensible posting titled Housing Price-to-Income Ratio as a Way to Measure Maximum Local Affordability.

Engebreth came up with a so-called "maximum affordability ratio" of 3.86, based on an initial payment of 10% down and the rest of payment at a 7% interest rate.

In other words, based on that "maximum affordability ratio", a house buyer with an annual income of $100,000 could maximally afford a house that cost $386,000 - proceeding from the assumption that maximum affordability for housing is calculated to a maximum of 28% of income.

Based on Ben Engebreth's "Maximum Affordability Ratio" (which we hereafter call the housing "MAR"), he showed by means of a list of Median Home Price-to-Median Family Income Ratios for US Cities/Metros (Sorted by Home Price) that housing markets in numerous U.S. cities were at that time - in 2005 - already deep in an extreme housing bubble - at least, judged by his housing MAR.

Although Engebreth's MAR is a bit of a housing value oversimplification and not infallible, it potentially gives us a very good tool to cross-check whether house prices are "in the ballpark" of affordability or not.

How do things look at the moment on the US housing market?

For the Fiscal Year 2008, the Tax Foundation estimated the average income in the United States to be $44,254 so that a family earning that amount, according to Engebreth's MAR calculation, putting down 10% and paying 7% interest, should buy a home costing maximally $44,254 x 3.86 = $170,820 or about $171,000.

The amazing thing is how well that figure stacks up against the Zillow.com ZIndex which we very roughly calculated from the Zillow.com online data by averaging it for all States, coming up with an average ZIndex for all States of $171,000. That is quite a spectacular mesh with Engebrecht's MAR.

Zillow.com provides the median prices of houses listed for sale in the USA (the Median Price) and compares those prices to its own home value index, the Zillow.com ZIndex. Since this data fluctuates, the data below applies only at the time we looked at the Zillow figures, which was June 4, 2009. See Zillow.com for updated figures of houses for sale in your area of interest.

We have organized the Zillow.com data from the most expensive housing locations (by the Zillow ZIndex) to the least expensive. In addition, for comparison, one can view the Zillow Z-Index value for homes in each State.

We have roughly calculated the average Zillow.com Median Price of homes for sale in all States at ca. $221,000 which is $50,000 more than our calculation of the average Zillow ZIndex of ca. $171,000 for the entire U.S., so that house sellers are apparently still trying to realize an average $50,000 premium - over actual value - on the sale of their houses. Our calculations are only approximate, but they provide a good picture.

Here is the Zillow.com data as of June 4, 2009 - ordered by ZIndex - for each State, plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico (no data was available for Alaska, and no Zillow ZIndex was found for Maine, South Dakota or Puerto Rico):

Hawai'i Median Price $459,000 ZIndex $467,304
District of Columbia Median Price $410,000 ZIndex $391,468
California Median Price $348,616 ZIndex $324,605
New Jersey Median Price $356,748 ZIndex $278,880
Washington Median Price $299,793 ZIndex $258,105
New York Median Price $381,706 ZIndex $257,759
Maryland Median Price $306,992 ZIndex $256,212
Massachusetts Median Price $336,799 ZIndex $253,573
Virginia Median Price $268,925 ZIndex $236,958
Connecticut Median Price $339,743 ZIndex $236,218
Oregon Median Price $262,605 ZIndex $222,117
New Hampshire Median Price $235,266 ZIndex $211,061
Colorado Median Price $283,116 ZIndex $206,425
Utah Median Price $248,490 ZIndex $206,251
Rhode Island Median Price $287,411 ZIndex $190,858
Delaware Median Price $266,600 ZIndex $188,665
Montana Median Price $228,027 ZIndex $179,243
Wyoming Median Price $230,249 ZIndex $171,912
Illinois Median Price $227,227 ZIndex $168,184
Idaho Median Price $185,099 ZIndex $164,694
Minnesota Median Price $191,645 ZIndex $164,593
Arizona Median Price $208,957 ZIndex $162,521
Wisconsin Median Price $156,037 ZIndex $145,772
Pennsylvania Median Price $202,063 ZIndex $145,317
Nevada Median Price $196,009 ZIndex $145,206
Florida Median Price $215,510 ZIndex $145,061
North Carolina Median Price $195,823 ZIndex $142,607
Georgia Median Price $181,626 ZIndex $135,824
Vermont Median Price $240,434 ZIndex $130,819
Missouri Median Price $148,242 ZIndex $126,717
South Carolina Median Price $200,484 ZIndex $125,002
Maine Median Price $183,574 ZIndex ??
Louisiana Median Price $166,534 ZIndex $117,536
Iowa Median Price $136,398 ZIndex $117,479
Kansas Median Price $149,783 ZIndex $116,710
Alabama Median Price $162,799 ZIndex $114,467
Tennessee Median Price $162,320 ZIndex $114,030
New Mexico Median Price $205,458 ZIndex $113,087
Nebraska Median Price $133,442 ZIndex $112,589
Ohio Median Price $137,428 ZIndex $108,801
Indiana Median Price $134,183 ZIndex $105,064
North Dakota Median Price $151,969 ZIndex $104,967
Kentucky Median Price $140,447 ZIndex $104,649
West Virginia Median Price $136,199 ZIndex $102,990
South Dakota Median Price $146,457 ZIndex ??
Michigan Median Price $122,942 ZIndex $99,927
Arkansas Median Price $137,250 ZIndex $97,803
Mississippi Median Price $156,654 ZIndex $97,284
Oklahoma Median Price $134,272 ZIndex $94,393
Texas Median Price $191,718 ZIndex $81,916
Puerto Rico Median Price $250,000 ZIndex ??
Alaska - no data

US State & Local Tax Burdens for 2008 Fiscal Year via The Tax Foundation : You Get What You Pay For : The California FailOut

2009-06-04T19:50:00.000+02:00

Everybody talks about taxes, but who is really doing anything about them?

The Tax Foundation, a "nonpartisan educational organization" whose mission "is to educate taxpayers about sound tax policy and the size of the tax burden borne by Americans at all levels of government", has some interesting figures in its Special Report No. 163, State-Local Tax Burdens Dip As Income Growth Outpaces Tax Growth, showing the State and local tax burdens for the Fiscal Year 2008.

A table from that Special Report shows the State and local tax burdens for each State of the United States, which are ranked by tax burden and reproduced by the Tax Foundation in a national map which we reproduce here in smaller size (see the original for best results):

The national figures for State and local tax burdens tell us what we already knew: namely, that State and local tax burdens - because they finance similar services nationwide - are relatively uniform across the entire United States, averaging 9.7% of income per State for the Fiscal Year 2008. But there are some significant differences. New Jersey averages the highest, at a tax burden of 11.8% of income, i.e. 2.1% above the national norm, while New York State at 11.7% and Connecticut at 11.1% are close behind. Those three also rank at the top in education, as Peter Schrag of The New Press in his New York Times Book Review of Paradise Lost (California) wrote ten years ago:

"California's schools, which, thirty years ago, had been among the most generously funded in the nation, are now in the bottom quarter among the states in virtually every major indicator--in their physical condition, in public funding, in test scores--closer in most of them to Mississippi than to New York or Connecticut or New Jersey". [special color and emphasis added]

In spite of higher State and local tax burdens since that writing, California has remained in serious financial trouble, but not because of inappropriately high State and local taxes. In fact the California State and local tax burdens are only minimally above the national average of 9.7% at 10.5%, and they are a full 1.3% behind New Jersey and 1.2% behind New York State.

To the amazement of the financial world, however, Californians have just turned down tax increases to deal with their massive $24 billion State budget deficit and there is already talk of a federal "bailout" for the California "failout". We see no justification as to why the rest of the USA should step in and pay for the financial excesses of a State that easily has the means to correct their deficit through reasonable but higher State and local taxes, but now has refused to pay its own way.

As California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has correctly indicated, you can't solve that kind of a massive budget deficit simply by cutting the budget of what are often necessary services. Quite the contrary, cutting the budget to deal with that deficit simply means social disturbances on an unnecessary scale, even more unemployment and even more business disadvantages. This is a case which shows that State's Rights is a fata morgana. When push comes to shove, everyone looks to Washington D.C. to bailout their failout. Put into different terms, financially successful States are having to pay to bail out financially unsuccessful States, or, better defined, States with means who are not paying their own way.

At the other end of the scale, Alaska averages the lowest tax burden, at 6.4%, i.e. 3.3% below the national norm, followed by Nevada at 6.6%. But those figures are by no means signs of a sensible State and local tax policy.

Alaska has about the same population as Forth Worth, Texas (around 700,000) and its average income is about the same as the average income for all of the United States (around $44,000 per year). But if it were not for federal funding, Alaska would have some serious problems. As, for example, written at AAAS.org about the Future of Science & Technology in Alaska:

"Federal funds account for nearly three-quarters of Alaska's R&D, while industry and universities and colleges each provide about 13 percent of the total. This breakdown contrasts sharply with the national picture, in which industry is the principal source of R&D funding (about 60 percent nationwide) and the federal government provides just over one-third of the total." [special color and emphasis added]

Alaskans may have lower State and local tax burdens - but at the cost of other States. As for the field of education, we have friends whose son teaches in rural Alaska, where supplies are flown in by bush planes, because there are no suitable roads. No taxes, no roads.

In Nevada, along the same lines, as reported recently at the Heartland Institute:

"A bill introduced in the Nevada state legislature this spring proposes requiring the state to increase its K-12 spending to match the national average of $9,332 per student. That’s about $2,000 more per student than the state currently spends."

But perhaps Nevada is more happy with the Nevada described in the Wikipedia:

"Nevada ... has ... overcrowded schools ... the state has seen rising crime levels, and problems with transportation (according to state figures, there is a 1 billion dollar shortfall in funds for road construction projects in Nevada). Most recently, there has been news of water shortfalls in southern Nevada in the years to come, due to the population increase, and the Southern Nevada Water Authority estimates that there will be water shortages by the year 2020. The authority is working on plans to import water from the low populated area of northern Nevada."

You get what you pay for.

Update to CarTrawler Posting

2009-06-04T12:39:00.001+02:00

Please note that I have made the following update to my previous posting about CarTrawler.

UPDATE (June 4, 2009)

I received a full apology by phone today from CarTrawler for the car rental booking circumstances previously described in this blog posting, together with sincere assurance that the matter would be righted. As I was told, nearly everything that could go wrong, had gone wrong. A full refund was offered.

In addition - and among other things - CarTrawler indicated that its customer service would be improved to eliminate what were described as regrettable but unintentional - and correctable - technological mistakes, especially as regards improved company response to justified customer complaints and concerns. Moreover, the misleading excess insurance issue is to be corrected.

Additional suggestions for improvement were made.

If all of that occurs, CarTrawler will be back on the right track to becoming an honest and reliable booking partner for low-priced car rental.

U.S. BEA Commerce Department GDP Economic Report Shows only a ca. 5.7 % drop in the USA in the 1st Quarter of 2009 : BETTER than previous estimates

2009-06-02T13:14:00.006+02:00

The Commerce Department GDP Economic Report just released (May 29, 2009) by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) shows an expected drop in U.S. GDP, but the data are better than previous estimates. You can read the Report below or go to the full screen link at Docstoc.com.

Commerce Department GDP Economic Report 2009 1Q -
Hat tip to:
Areg Bagdasarian, Business Development Team
Docstoc.com, aregb@docstoc.com
Office: 310-255-1172
http://www.linkedin.com/in/aregbagdasarian
http://www.standingineurope.blogspot.com

who writes at his blog, Standing in Europe:

"My advice to CNN and other major news networks are simple - do some positive segments. There are some segments of the economy that are hiring - such as healthcare, government, financial regulation (FDIC, SEC), cleantech and a handful of others. Specifically, how about doing an interview or segment on a laid off auto worker from Detroit who is now in nursing school and will have GUARANTEED employment when they graduate? Or the IT manager who lost his job but is now doing government IT consulting? This stuff is happening every day and it's being reported on, but it never makes headlines because it's not glamorous. On one hand, more people are losing jobs than being hired right now, resulting in a net loss - but why not give people a little hope and practical advice by showing them what to do to bounce back? To change careers? To retrain? (If these segments are being run regularly I'd love to know about them)"

and in a previous posting, writes about the very futuristic:
IPv6 - The Future of the Internet
(by Areg Bagdasarian, Caryn Golub, George Granados, Sapna Sharma and Rimas Silkaitis)

CarTrawler : An Alleged Car Rental Service to AVOID : CarTrawler is NOT a Full Car Rental Company and Potentially a Scam Costing YOUR money : Updated!

2009-06-02T12:15:00.001+02:00

UPDATE (June 4, 2009)

I received a full apology by phone today from CarTrawler for the car rental booking circumstances previously described in this blog posting, together with sincere assurance that the matter would be righted. As I was told, nearly everything that could go wrong, had gone wrong. A full refund was offered.

In addition - and among other things - CarTrawler indicated that its customer service would be improved to eliminate what were described as regrettable but unintentional - and correctable - technological mistakes, especially as regards improved company response to justified customer complaints and concerns. Moreover, the misleading excess insurance issue is to be corrected.

Additional suggestions for improvement were made.

If all of that occurs, CarTrawler will be back on the right track to becoming an honest and reliable booking partner for low-priced car rental.
__________________________

ORIGINAL but now UPDATED Posting (see above)
__________________________

I made the great mistake recently of following a CarTrawler.com (Dublin) online link at the RyanAir (Dublin) website after booking a flight and hotel through the reputable and otherwise excellent cheap flyer RyanAir. I also booked a hotel through a RyanAir link - with very good success at a reduced price - and then tried to rent a car at a flight destination airport, thinking that it would also be a good deal and not questioning its reliability since the link appeared on the RyanAir website. That was a mistake.

As we have discovered since then, CarTrawler is NOT a RyanAir affiliate and NOT a good deal. Do yourself a favor and AVOID CARTRAWLER like the plague. CarTrawler may cost you money and you may still get no rental car.

We have informed Ryan Air, the Irish Department of Justice and the Irish police, the Garda Siochana, about our case. Here is our experience.

CarTrawler is NOT a real car rental company - but this is not clear to the potential customer from CarTrawler's website pages. Rather, CarTrawler is a "booking engine", apparently owned by ETrawler which is apparently owned by Argus Automobiles of Dublin. This booking engine is used at its online website pages and those of its affiliates (ETrawler has over 40 website domains under various car rental names) and it uses virtually the same manner of advertising presentation as real car rental companies. It advertises rental cars with photos and specifications at what appear to be very affordable prices, but these are not THEIR cars. Look out.

After getting a car booking from an online customer, CarTrawler contacts "real" car rental companies and tries to obtain the booked car for the customer at the booked date and location - and of course at even cheaper conditions so that they can make a profit at the booked low price. If CarTrawler can not find a real car rental company willing to rent a booked car satisfying the low-priced conditions CarTrawler has advertised, the potential customer - as in our case - has a serious problem.

Here is what happened to us.

1. ALERT:Your credit card is IMMEDIATELY debited at the time of the initial "booking" even though this booking is not considered "binding" by CarTrawler, see point 2 below. To our mind, this is already fraudulent. Your credit card is debited even if the actual car rental date is far in the future. This is totally contrary to the usual and expected practice at established "real" car rental companies who actually have cars to rent and who debit the credit card after rental of the car.

CarTrawler DOES NOT inform the customer clearly online about this debit practice beforehand. You have to read the fine print of their "booking conditions" and virtually no one does that and that is what such companies capitalize on to defraud their customers. We were certainly unaware of the practice at the time of our booking. Had we known of this debit practice, we would have left CarTrawler pages immediately. We in fact thought that CarTrawler was a real car rental company, given its online presentation. In our view that particular CarTrawler online presentation constitutes intentional "common law" fraud on the normal user.

One might in fact ask, how is it possible - legally - to debit a car rental in advance if the very car to be rented - at what may be an unknown price - is still being sought at the real car rental companies?

2. ALERT: If CarTrawler does not find the car that THEY advertised to the customer online at the advertised low "come-on" price at the date and location the customer wanted - as in our case, where we had booked a low-priced automatic shift - CarTrawler simply VOIDS the booking unilaterally. CarTrawler informs the customer that they do not regard the booking to be contractually binding until THEY accept it, that is, until they find the car as booked. You think you have booked a car - but you have not. To us, that is FRAUD and a view of contract that we do not find supported in contract law.

3. ALERT: You are - after the voiding of your booking - kept waiting for an allegedly "new booking" - and, we presume - more expensive booking - which may never occur. Here is what CarTrawler wrote to us one day after our booking and more than THREE WEEKS prior to the date for which we had booked a car:

"Thank you for your recent car rental request.

Unfortunately the vehicle you requested is not available with the selected supplier. We are however trying to place your request with an alternative supplier.

As your first choice is not available, the rental cost and vehicle type may vary from your original request . As availability reduces and popular locations sell out, we will offer you the best options available in the market. You will receive a new booking reference number shortly. Please disregard the old one as it is now void.

http://www.cartrawler.com/res/cancel.php

Thanks and Regards,

Contact Centre Team
CarTrawler
Tel: +353 (0)1 499 9600
Fax: +353 (0)1 499 9661
Email: mailto: reserve@cartrawler.com
Website: http://www.cartrawler.com"

CarTrawler did not contact us again (in spite of our emails and ultimate phone call to them) - until FOUR WEEKS later, i.e. after the date on which we needed a rental car. Imagine then our surprise - several days after the CarTrawler voiding of our booking - to see that CarTrawler had already debited the non-existent rental car to our credit card account on the same day that they voided our booking! CarTrawler now had our money and we had no car.

4. All the while, by the way, CarTrawler is collecting interest on the car rental amount - i.e. on YOUR money - which has been debited to the customer's credit card in advance of any actual car rental. If CarTrawler voids the customer's booking and no "new" booking - as suggested or not to the customer by CarTrawler - is agreed to by the customer, it is then up to the customer to try to get their money back. Good luck.

We managed to get the money booked back to our credit card account at our bank - but only after more than two weeks, and only because we took the costly time to inform our credit card company of the fraud and demanded an immediate reversal of the credit card debit for a car rental which never took place.

But just think that if CarTrawler does this to thousands of customers, they are making very good money on the interest payments on YOUR money alone, without ever delivering a booked rental car at all. And what number of customers, through lack of time or insufficient knowledge, are unable to recoup their money at all?

5. THE EXCESS INSURANCE SCAM. Furthermore, if the customer makes the mistake of selecting the option of "excess insurance" (i.e. choosing to eliminate the car rental insurance deductible) at the time of their initial booking process, the customer surely thinks that this is part of their initial and single car rental booking, but - this is not so at all. CarTrawler treats the X that the customer puts in front of "excess insurance" option as a separate contract with a London outfit called Insurance4carhire.com, a trading name of Towergate Underwriting Group Ltd., whose main business is - you guessed it - the car rental excess insurance business.

The underwriter for Insurance4carhire in the past has been AIG, which recently had to be bailed out in the United States by the Federal Reserve to avoid creation of a global credit crisis. The non-profit FBIC ranks AIG eighth of all "bad-faith insurers" in its review of nearly 4,000 insurance companies.We do not know if that relationship with AIG has been retained down to the present time, but a clear picture begins to form of what is going on here.

Of course, as one might expect from the previous discussion, Insurance4carhire.com ALSO debits the customer's credit card IMMEDIATELY at the time of initial car rental booking, far in advance of any actual car hire.

Consider that debited money as gone. Here is why.

If CarTrawler VOIDS the initial booking, Insurance4carhire.com, their insurance consort, still pockets the excess insurance premium since the excess insurance sold - this is all fixed in the fine print - is an insurance coverage of the "policy holder" and not of the specific "rental vehicle" for the period of time of the initial car booking. Here is what they write at their website:

"We insure the Policy Holder, not the rental vehicle. Excess is a voluntary insurance. Decline the car rental company’s Excess cover at the counter when you collect the car. If the car is damaged or stolen, the car rental company will charge your credit card for the Excess amount and you then claim for reimbursement on your Policy."

As a result, even if CarTrawler voids a car booking - as in our case - there is still good money being earned via the excess insurance option. The excess insurance sold in this manner is difficult to recoup because it is not sold for a specific car vehicle but rather for a given person for a specific period of time.

Hence, after CarTrawler has voided a customer's car rental booking, that customer is still stuck with the excess insurance, in spite of the fact that he no longer has any car rental at CarTrawler at all. You can not easily claim the insurance payment back, since it is contracted to you as a person, and not for your car. We view that manner of insurance to be clear common law fraud. The customer is being clearly misled and others are pocketing "free money".

If that customer happens to rent a car from a real car rental company for the period provided in the excess insurance policy, the customer allegedly retains the excess insurance coverage.

But note this: if that rental car is - for example - stolen or damaged during the period of excess insurance, the conditions of contract of Insurance4carhire.com provide that the customer first has to pay the deductible to the actual car rental company and only THEN try to recoup that amount from Insurance4carhire.com. Good luck.

It might be interesting for those law officials in the UK and Ireland responsible for investigating fraud to examine whether any money has EVER been paid under this fraudulently-appearing insurance.

In our law school days we used to equate this kind of misleading interlocking business scam with a "criminal conspiracy", but perhaps the laws of Ireland and the UK accept this kind of business thievery as legal today. Who knows.

Just imagine this process being repeated thousands of times per year and you have a money-making "golden goose" that is laying golden eggs around the clock without actually ever renting out a single rental car, but rather merely profiting through the process of offering cars at very low prices to the public - prices which may or may not actually be realizable.

Money is earned not only if a car is actually delivered to the customer as booked, but money is also earned if NO car is or can be actually delivered to the customer for the advertised and booked price. We have even read that customers have been charged for cancelling a booking which CarTrawler does not even regard as a binding "booking" on its side of the contract.

It is a great racket for those who are profiting by it, and surely misleadingly fraudulent, at least from our understanding of the common law. And we have not heard the end of this case yet. Upon returning from overseas where we rented a vehicle at the airport from Hertz for a lower price than offered to us initially by CarTrawler, we found the following email from CarTrawler in our mailbox, as if they had never received our phone call or our emails to them:

"Our bank has informed us that you are disputing your car rental....

Can you provide us with information as to why this is being disputed?
Your information would be greatly appreciated so we can improve our service.

Thanks and Regards,

The CarTrawler Team

Tel: +353 1 4999600
Fax: +353 01 4999661
Email: creditcardquery@cartrawler.com
Website: http://www.cartrawler.com"

Take a look at the CarTrawler "booking conditions" here. Those absurd conditions will keep anyone who reads them from ever booking a rental car through CarTrawler or any of the affiliates or companies which use its "booking engine". Those conditions are designed to hoodwink the customer. Clear common law fraud.

Frankly, law enforcement agencies in Ireland and the United Kingdom should get to work to remove these kinds of fraudulently misleading companies from the Internet.

We are not the only ones to register Complaints about CarTrawler. Take a look at:

TripAdvisor
ConsumerAffairs.com
ReviewCentre.com

The blog Bleep.ie even received a "takedown" notice because of its publication of criticism of CarTrawler in a comment. The blog owner, Tom Raftery, in Sevilla, Spain, is thus far resisting this chilling action and if there were a blogging award for a Freedom of Speech Champion this year, Tom would be our selection.

Bloggers unite! If you or anyone you know have had any problems with CarTrawler or any of the affiliated companies of ETrawler or Argus, make sure that bloggers they know put the stories up on the Internet. We have the power to get rid of these kinds of companies.

The World of New York Wines : Is Winemaking "Agriculture" as a Matter of Law? What is Legal Zoning with respect to the Wine Industry?

2009-05-26T20:07:00.006+02:00

Uncork New York! is the website of the New York Wine & Grape Foundation, headquartered in Canandaigua, New York State, USA. If you think you know the wine world, but are not familiar with New York State wines or wineries, you are in for a surprise.

In a region sometimes known better for its severe winter snow blizzards, New York State is home to the largest wine producer in the world, Constellation Brands, headquartered in the Finger Lakes District at Victor, New York, about 10 miles northwest of Canandaigua, the town (and lake) which in the year 1945 gave the company its original corporate name, Canandaigua Industries Company.

Its current name, Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ, STZ.B), was a renaming from the later names Canandaigua Wine Company and Canandaigua Brands. At the Constellation Brands website we can read:

"Constellation is the largest wine company in the world; the largest multi-category supplier of beverage alcohol in the United States; a leading producer and exporter of wine from Australia, New Zealand and Canada; and both a major producer and independent drinks wholesaler in the United Kingdom."

Constellation began business as Canandaigua Industries Co. in the year 1945 by selling bulk wine in barrels to bottlers in the Eastern United States. 60 years later, in 2004, Constellation Brands bought the famous California winemaker Robert Mondavi Corp. for $1 billion - in cash.

The bulk wine origin of Constellation Brands in the Finger Lakes District was possible because the area was favorable for winegrowing and a lot of grapes were grown there (including also many of the grapes used in the famous Welch's brands of grape juice).

Indeed, the largest wine-producing region in New York State today is the Finger Lakes District, a development enabled in part by the 1976 Farm Winery Act, which permitted small wineries to sell wine directly to the public (as is customary in Europe). As written at "Finger Lakes winemaking industry matures, produces world-class wines", CNY Business Journal (1996+), FindArticles.com, 26 May, 2009 :

"Grapes have been grown in New York State for as long as there have been farmers here. There are four wine regions today: Lake Erie, Finger Lakes, Hudson River, and Long Island....

[T]he soil and climate of the Finger Lakes region are especially favorable for growing many of the European grape stocks. The lakes are deep and usually do not freeze over in the winter, so that winds coming across the lakes bring humidity and warmth to the vineyards.

[I]n 1976, the New York State Legislature passed the Farm Winery Act. This act made it economically feasible for farmers to have small wineries, because it allowed them to sell directly to consumers, liquor stores, and restaurants, instead of through a wholesaler or distributor.

Shortly after the passage of this bill, the largest of the wineries around the Finger Lake-Taylor, Widmer, and Great Western--were absorbed by the Canandaigua Wine Company...."

In 1976 there were only 19 wineries in all of New York State. Today that number is around 250, with many of those wineries on the shores of the Finger Lakes.

As written in the reply affidavit of Robert Ransom (Index No. 08-275) to the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Ulster in a recent matter involving Rivendell Winery, LLC in the Hudson Valley ("1." is missing since paragraphs are numbered from the beginning of the affidavit and not from the "A"):

"A. THE FARM WINERY AS A BUSINESS

2. The sale of wine and other products in a winery tasting room are fundamental and foundational to the entire winery business. Like so many farms in different industries, without direct sales, there would be no business. Petitioner Rivendell relies on its direct-to-consumer sales for more than 99.2% of its sales. We have virtually no wholesale business.

3. The farm winery industry was founded on the concept of direct sales.Thirty years ago there were no farm wineries. In those days to be a winery in New York State legally required the sale of wine produced to be made through a series of distributors – what is commonly referred to as the “three tiered system” (producer sells to distributor who sells to retailer who sells to consumer). It was not legal for a wine producer to sell directly to the public. Also, a winery was allowed to procure grapes from any source, not restricted to the use of New York State-grown grapes.

4. In the early 1970’s a large upstate winery moved its production to California, effectively stranding several hundred grape growers for whom they were the largest customer. After several years of watching their grapes literally die on the vine, a number of grape growers got legislation enacted in New York State which allowed them to make wine and sell their wine directly to consumers. The NYS Farm Winery Act of 1976 was the enabling legislation that has since been emulated by virtually every State and is the basis for the Farm Winery or “boutique winery” industry that we belong to. N.Y. Unconsolidated Laws § 71, et seq. In 1985, the New York State
legislation was broadened to allow additional privileges to Farm Wineries and to further define allowable sources of raw materials. In that legislation it was clearly established that NYS Farm Wineries were required to utilize 100% New York State grown grapes to produce their wines, but were not required to grow the grapes themselves.

5. Without the ability to sell wine directly – through a tasting room or retail shop on the premises, virtually no farm winery in New York State would be able to economically survive....

24. The New York Farm Winery Act has become a model for winery legislation all over the country. Today, there are farm wineries, selling from their own tasting rooms, in every state of the United States. In New York today there are more than 250 farm winery licenses and every one located in an agricultural zone is permitted a tasting room (through which it makes its sales)."

That reply affidavit supplies us with a lot of information about wine in New York, but the Rivendell Winery has thus far lost that case and has closed its doors because of the cost of the contested and bizarre zoning decision by the already infamous Hudson Valley town of New Paltz (see New Paltz in fiction), a decision confirmed in an unconvincing opinion by Gerald W. Connolly of the New York Supreme Court, County of Ulster, the lowest court in the New York Court system, which declared absurdly that winemaking was NOT agriculture. As written at the Wine Spectator:

"Does processing and producing wine count as agriculture? Apparently in a small town in New York state it doesn’t. For nearly two years, Hudson Valley-based Rivendell winery fought a legal battle to build a mixed-use winery in the town of New Paltz, N.Y., but a recent court ruling, coupled with the rising costs of legal fees, has forced the winery to close. The winery’s founders, Robert Ransom and Susan Wine, were planning to move their 20-year-old winery to a property in New Paltz, with the intent of renovating an existing building into a winery and tasting room. Their plans came to an abrupt halt when a New Paltz building inspector determined that the proposed plan was not permitted under local agricultural zoning laws. When the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals supported the inspector’s ruling, the couple appealed their case to the New York Supreme Court. But Ulster County Supreme Court Judge Gerald Connolly recently ruled that the couple’s proposed farm winery was not permitted agricultural use. According to the Hudson Valley's Daily Freeman, New Paltz resident David Porter applauded the decision. "Rivendell doesn't even grow its own grapes," he said. "They're not agriculture, they're commercial." Unfiltered can only wonder how the négociants and cooperatives of Burgundy feel about this." [LawPundit: emphasis added - in Europe, wine is agriculture, and in most cases, wine is agriculture also in the U.S.A. - with the exception of New Paltz]

Given the judicial opinion by Gerald W. Connolly in the Rivendell case, it would, by the logic of the reasoning in that case, be nearly impossible to put up a winery anywhere, because you can't farm grapes on residentially zoned property, and you can't process them on agricultural land. The New Paltz zoning interpretation essentially makes it impossible to have a winery in their jurisdiction and that can not be the law now can it?

See also the comment about this matter at Hudson River Valley Wineries.

Thankfully, the Finger Lakes District presents us with a much more positive picture of the New York State wine world. For a longer version of this post in this regard, see WinePundit.