Monday, February 26, 2007

A Weekend Filled With Bloggable Fun: What I Found Interesting

I. Criminalizing Domain Name Sales to Terrorists
CyberCrime Law has this post about a well-meaning but ultimately meaningless proposal in the NY State Legislature. The bill seeks to ban the selling of domain names to terrorist organizations. Seems to me that this is something that the NY State Legislature has no control over. In addition as the post points out all the legislation will do is make it more expensive for honest people to get domain names, the terrorists are not going to provide the information to give the law any teeth. Nice try Albany.

II.State Liquor Authority Strips SCORES Of Liquor License.

SCORES is a strip club. It is very large as these things go and has many employees. A couple of the women working there were arrested a couple of weeks ago for prostitution. I have represented women and clubs in these "stings" by vice. For the most part I think the cops entrap and lie about their "success" rate. To begin, the amounts they allegedly offer these woman is far less than they could get in an escort service, and if they offered that amount, then there should be serious concerns that the cops are in fact entrapping these women. That assumes that the girls involved do not know the cops are cops (highly unlikely they can pick out a cop, a lawyer, an out of town businessman or a
high roller as soon as they walk in the door)and that they are saying yes (also highly unlikely as a SCORES girl can make an easy thousand plus a night, and will blow the gig if found "doing extras." Then after the girls are arrested, even if the woman do not plead or are found guilty, the State Liquor Authority pulls the liquor license. The whole deal smells bad.
The whole sting, revoke liquor license is a waste of taxpayer’s money. It would be better to see the NY State Department of Taxation and Finance in the club making sure that everyone is paying the correct tax bill.

III.New York's New Comptroller Moves to Train Fire Commissioners

Tom DiNapoli has just been tapped to be the state's new Comptroller. His selection was criticized by our new Governor Elliot Spitzer as being politically motivated (Unlike Spitzer's recent elevation of popular Republican State Senator Mike Balboni to head up the state's Homeland Security Department...)
In his first move on the job, DiNapoli has outlined his plans to better train Fire Commissioners on how to watch over the public fisc. This is no small endeavor. To begin Fire Districts have very large budgets. There is little oversight of these organizations and the media ignores them until there is a scandal then everyone is jumping on these volunteers. DiNapoli is offering a structured training program to educate these people on how to oversee a budget, spending and accounting. It could be a great program which reduces waste if it is done right... IF.

IV.Delta Zeta Sorority Discriminates Against The Socially Awkward.
I hope you can link this story without subscribing. It is about a national sorority coming onto the campus of DePauw University and throwing out all the non pretty non skinny geeky girls in the house (not to mention the racial minorities and the disabled) so that they could get more popular girls into the sorority.
OK we have all heard of this stereotype through the movies (Animal House for instance)and have thought it a throw back to the 50's or a gross overstatement. Clearly it isn't. What makes this worse however, is that the women doing the throwing out are adults. Not members of the house, Alumnae and leaders.
Now some of you are saying, "what did you expect from an elitist organization like a sorority" however I have to say that this is not what I have witnessed on the campus' I have visited from any national fraternity or sorority.
I think this sorority ought to be blacklisted. I know I would not let a child of mine join it anywhere it has a chapter.

V.Two Long Island Attorney's Arrested For Mortgage Fraud.
This post at the Mortgage Fraud Blog reports on two NY lawyers, one from Long Island one from Brooklyn who allegedly helped swindle a woman out of her home.
I do not know if the government has the proof necessary to convict these people of what they accuse them of, however it seems to me that a lot of this could have been avoided if Credit scores were free and easy to get. I do not want to get into the whole scam here, suffice it to say, that if you are in danger of losing your home, you can do things to protect it by seeing a bankruptcy attorney. Straw buyers are not the way to go. If you are going to work with a so called investor, be sure that you have a retainer with your attorney, you have a rental agreement with the right to repurchase and of first refusal or better for a specified amount, and that the entire agreement is spelled out and made a part of the filed documents.

VI.Lawyer Set Up in Sting Refuses the Bait, Bar Outraged at Police and Court for Authorizing the Caper.
The Legal Reader Blog is reporting that a leading Brattleboro VT. criminal defense attorney was stung by local police who tried to get her to help obstruct governmental administration and tamper with evidence. A cop pretending to be a witness in a domestic violence case tried to get attorney Eileen Hongisto to tell him to deny service of process and to not come to trial if subpoenaed. A judge signed off on the caper. Lawyers including the prosecutor are shocked. What was the judge thinking? What did the cops go to her with? I think Hongisto ought to sue for libel and see just what they were up to.
As for the rest of us, it is time to remember it is open season on lawyers. Practice smart.

That's it for now

No comments: