Fool’s News

This story is absolutely horrifying.

Maybe.

Although I am behind on this, too, I am very happy to see that Denise has begun blogging at Musing on Life, Law & Gender, again.

Welcome back, Denise.  You were missed.

So I am ashamedly behind with this news story.  On February 1, 2008, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York determined that a marriage between two (2) women in Ontario, Canada must be recognized in the State of New York, even if New York would not perform such a ceremony.

It wrote:  ”[t]hus, we conclude that plaintiff’s marriage to Golden, valid in the Province of Ontario, Canada, is entitled to recognition in New York in the absence of express legislation to the contrary.”

One assumes New York would also recognize similar marriages performed in Massachusetts.

You can read the entire opinion here.

Go, New York!

Daddy don’t do sushi!

Speaking at Speaking at the company’s annual Most Valuable Professionals event in Seattle, Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, admitted that Windows Vista is an incomplete product, even though the operating system has been on the market for more than a year.

[As an aside, as a trademark lawyer, it drives me insane that The Register.com places a ® symbol after every article/entry. Trademark law does not protect your writing. Copyright does. It just looks silly.]

Although this quote rotates through the random quotes to the right, I think this one has particular relevancy for the first decade of the 21st century – particularly to Americans:

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

     – Benjamin Franklin

Appropriate, no?

There’s a new poll to the right —->  (all the way over).

Please vote.

Thanks.

A White Rock couple created a contest in which participants can pay a $100 entry fee to submit a 500-word essay to win their home.

But the Gaming Control Board said the contest might not be legal under state law. 

Greg Saunders, the deputy director of the Gaming Control Board, said if a home is being raffled, that would be illegal under the Bingo and Raffle Act because it’s not being done by a qualified nonprofit group.

But if the essay contest is deemed a game of skill, he said Tiffany and Todd Lovell are in the clear. 

The board is expected to make a determination next week.

Next week?  Umm… Read the above again: “if the essay contest is deemed a game of skill, he said Tiffany and Todd Lovell are in the clear.”

It’s an essay contest.  It is obviously a game of skill (as compared to a raffle).  Does the board really need a week to decide?

American bureaucracy … aahh.

I am copying and pasting this article because I can’t do any better re-writing it (source here):

A CITIZEN who watched a cop illegally park, then walk into a Chinese restaurant to wait for his food, has issued the officer a series of citizen-initiated parking violations.

Eric Bryant says he was sitting in the SanSai Japanese Grill on NW 21st and Hoyt on March 7 when he witnessed Officer Chad Stensgaard pull up and park his patrol car illegally, next to a “No Parking” sign.

Stensgaard walked into the restaurant wearing his police uniform, but did not make any arrests or citations. Instead, he turned his attention to the basketball game on television, according to Bryant. When Bryant asked Stensgaard about his vehicle, Stensgaard allegedly acknowledged being in a no-parking zone but asked Bryant, “If someone broke into your house, would you rather have the police be able to park in front of your house or have to park three blocks away and walk there?”

Bryant returned to his seat, and says shortly afterward he watched a restaurant employee hand the officer a plastic bag before he left. Unfortunately for Officer Stensgaard, Bryant had recently passed the Oregon bar exam, and decided to pursue the matter further.

“If he had acknowledged and corrected his error, we could have avoided this whole thing,” says Bryant. “But instead, he kept watching basketball and told me he wasn’t doing anything wrong.”

 Now, using ORS 153.058, Bryant—as a private citizen—has initiated violation proceedings against Officer Stensgaard. Bryant alleges Stensgaard was in violation of state statutes on illegal parking, illegal stopping, obeying parking restrictions on state highways, and illegal operation of an emergency vehicle or ambulance—the violations carry fines totaling $540.

Officer Stensgaard has received a Multnomah County summons to appear in traffic court on May 23. Meanwhile Bryant denies he is just stirring up trouble.

“Citizens should be concerned that he used his status as an officer of the law as justification for breaking the law,” he says.

Stensgaard declined comment through the cops’ office of public information.

I’m all for this.  It helps answer the question, “Who’s watching the watchers?”  However, I hope that Bryant will not be staying in that town for too long.

Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodies? Tu et ego.