DC Metro Contract Attorneys Weblog

Israeli Arab Muslim citizens have more political say, more economic opportunity and more freedom that any other Arabs in the Middle East

2006-07-17T17:09:00.000-07:00

Via The Corner:

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Israel's Muslim population is proportionally higher than India's even excluding the West Bank and Gaza. India's population is 13.4% Muslim. 15.9% of Israel citizens are Muslim (these figures are from the CIA factbook). You should try, at every opportunity, to remind the world that Israeli Arab Muslim citizens have more political say, more economic opportunity and more freedom that any other Arabs in the Middle East. This contradicts the lefty/media line of racist Israel and should be thrown in their faces whenever possible.

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Canseco: MLB knew about Palmeiro's positive drug test before Palmeiro testified to Congress - and coerced Palmeiro to lie to Congress

2006-07-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

Canseco: MLB knew about Palmeiro's positive drug test before Palmeiro testified to Congress - and coerced Palmeiro to lie to Congress to rebuff Canseco's allegations

Here's the latest in the ongoing saga of Major League Baseball, steroids, juiced players, monster home-runs, the McGwire-Sosa race to break Roger Maris' record for home-runs in a season, Rafael Palmeiro and Jose Canseco.

Via The San Jose Mercury Herald:

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Canseco on MLB officials: `They're the Mafia'
By Daniel Brown
San Jose Mercury News
Posted on Tue, Jul. 04, 2006

CHICO, Calif. ... The self-proclaimed godfather of steroids in the big leagues accused Major League Baseball of covering up positive drug tests, coercing Rafael Palmeiro to lie to Congress and intimidating those who threaten to reveal the truth. ("They're Mafia. Point blank, they're Mafia," Canseco said of baseball officials.)

* * * * * * *

Canseco vowed to blow the lid off the game with a "devastating" new documentary based on his life. The movie is due out in about a year and a half. "It will win all types of awards," said Canseco, the film's executive producer.

The 1986 rookie of the year also said he is working on a sequel to his book "Juiced." Titled "Vindicated," it will provide even more salacious details; Canseco said he had to hold back the first time around because he was still on probation.

* * * * * * *

Still, he apparently will take time out within two weeks to talk to the committee headed by George Mitchell, the former U.S. senator investigating illegal performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

"What we're seeing is just the tip of the iceberg," Canseco said of recent drug revelations. "There are many, many more things that are coming. I know that for a fact."

* * * * * * *

During a 45-minute session with the largest media contingent in Chico Outlaws history, Canseco said that Major League Baseball is out to quash him.

"It's very obvious, but you can't see it yet," he said. "It's a puzzle with a million pieces, but even with one piece missing it won't make any sense. I have all the pieces."

* * * * * * *

Canseco's book "Juiced" drew ridicule upon its release in February 2005, when it declared steroid use to be widespread in the big leagues and pointed fingers at stars such as Mark McGwire and Palmeiro.

His allegations put Canseco on the hot seat, but by March the book prompted Congress to summon several star players to testify in what turned out to be an embarrassing display. Palmeiro failed a drug test not long after testifying; McGwire has virtually disappeared from public life.

Canseco alleged Monday that Palmeiro vehemently denied steroid use to Congress because baseball officials had told him they would conceal a positive drug test as long as he rebutted Canseco's attack.

So why would baseball eventually make Palmeiro's test results public anyway? Canseco said Congress caught on to the positive test.

* * * * * * *

And what of Rafael Palmeiro? Here's what he had to say to The Baltimore Sun on June 30:

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Palmeiro speaks

Ex-Oriole maintains innocence, says he's 'open' to return

By Dan Connolly
Sun Reporter
Originally published June 30, 2006

The man whose finger-wagging image may forever be the lasting snapshot of baseball's so-called steroid era hasn't paid much attention to the sport's most recent drug scandal.

Rafael Palmeiro spends his mornings working out, his days playing baseball with his two sons at his suburban Dallas home and his nights watching on TV as his former teammates throughout the majors play the game he still loves.

He has seen the ESPN and newspaper reports that his former Orioles teammate, Jason Grimsley, allegedly said in a federal affidavit that Grimsley took human growth hormone and other illegal steroids. He said he doesn't know much more about it, though. And he's not sure whether the revelations make his explanation for failing a steroid test last season - he claims a liquid form of the vitamin B-12 that he obtained from teammate Miguel Tejada must have been accidentally tainted with the steroid stanozolol - more plausible to the public.

But 10 months after unceremoniously leaving the Orioles and almost a year after celebrating his 3,000th career hit, Palmeiro doesn't waver from his story.

"Yes sir, that's what happened. It's not a story; it's the reality of what happened," Palmeiro told The Sun yesterday in his first public comments since a federal investigation cleared him of potential perjury charges.

If anything, Palmeiro said, testimony that players may have been using undetectable performance-enhancing drugs should demonstrate how unlikely it would be for a veteran to willingly take something as traceable as stanozolol, a decades-old steroid, when the sport's new testing policy was under way.

"With all the great products that are apparently out there that are undetectable, for me to take something like that ... when people take things that now aren't even being tested for, does it make any sense?" Palmeiro said.

"I wouldn't take it, that's the answer," said Palmeiro, who in March 2005 sternly told a congressional committee investigating steroids in sports that he had never used any performance-enhancing drugs. "I said what I said before Congress because I meant every word of it."

* * * * * * *

Palmeiro, 41, said he is continually working out and keeping himself in shape in case the opportunity arises for him to return to the playing field. He hits in a batting cage in his home and has run more this year than ever before. He said he and his agent haven't aggressively pursued coming back and he has no idea whether teams would want him.

"I love baseball, and the door remains open," he said. "There may be somebody interested and that would be great. ... I don't see myself as someone that brings a lot of luggage. I've never been a problem. I'm a good team guy."

In retrospect, he said he obviously would not have taken the B-12 and could have handled the overall situation differently.

"You've got to remember I was under a lot of pressure, more stress than you can ever imagine being under," Palmeiro said. "I was being advised by heavy-duty lawyers on what I should do. My life was on the line here and my career and everything I worked for, it was hanging by a thread."

Ultimately, he said he hopes he is remembered as a good ballplayer who always gave his best - and whether he is eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame is for the voters to decide.

What he wishes, more than anything, is that 2005 never existed.

"It was a hard time. It was something I would love to erase from my memory," he said. "To snap my fingers and let it go away. Even if it takes the 3,000th hit with it, just let it all go away."

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Heck, let him hit clean-up for the Nats.

We're all against steroids in baseball - but Raffy could always hit.

-DC Metro Contract Attorneys Yahoo Group

Illegal aliens brazenly congregate at 7-11's from Herndon to Falls Church - without fear - yet they're the go-to people for fake ID's for terrorists

2006-05-17T19:58:00.000-07:00

The terrorists that crashed a passenger plane into the Pentagon got their fake ID's from an illgal immigrant at a 7-11 in Falls Church.

From Michelle Malkin's video journal Hot Air.

Of course, there are some other theories out there about what happened at the Pentagon.

I suppose things could be worse.

Or are we already there?

Is there such a crime as "rape by deception"?...

2006-04-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

... and if so - is "mistake" a defense?

From The Volokh Conspiracy:

* * *

Rape by Deception / Mistake? The Daily Telegraph reports on a case that would usually just be a strange hypo in criminal law class. When reading the case, ask yourself what the result would be or should be either (1) if the defendant was telling the truth when he says that he was just mistaken, (2) if the defendant was lying, and actually knew whose room he was going into, and (3) if the defendant was mistaken at first, but at some point realized his error but for one or another reason didn't stop.

* * *

Here's the original story from The Daily Telegraph:

* * *

Rape claim
By BRAD CLIFTON
April 21, 2006

A MAN who claims he mistakenly had sex with "the wrong woman" after entering a dark bedroom at the home of a Sydney magazine editor was yesterday committed to stand trial for rape.

Paul John Chappell, 31, was invited back to the editor's Bondi flat after they met during a night out.

The pair went to bed and Chappell later got up to use the bathroom.

But Chappell claims he mistakenly returned to the wrong bedroom, where the editor's 23-year-old flatmate was asleep.

He got into bed with the flatmate and initiated sex, allegedly believing she was the other woman.

The flatmate participated because she thought it was her own boyfriend who had come to bed after falling asleep in the loungeroom.

When she turned on the light, the "hysterical" woman saw Chappell in her bed and realised her boyfriend was still asleep on the couch.

Chappell intends to plead not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent.

"The defence case is he made a mistake," barrister Wayne Flynn told the Downing Centre Court Local yesterday. "He went into the wrong room and had sex with the wrong person.

"He thought he was having sex with the person he went home with.

"The (alleged victim) says she believed she was having sex with her boyfriend. She made a mistake as to who she was having sex with and so did the defendant."

In a statement to police on the morning of the incident on October 1, the alleged victim said she had gone to bed about 2am, leaving her drunk boyfriend asleep on the lounge.

"The next thing I remember was waking up to someone having sex with me," she said. "I assumed straight away that it was (my boyfriend) because I wouldn't even consider that it would be anyone else."

She also said: "When the light is out, it is black in our bedroom, you can't see anything."

To her dismay, she later turned on the light and realised it was Chappell, not her boyfriend, in the bed.

"I was totally gutted that it was him and not (my boyfriend)," she said. "I went straight into (my flatmate's) bedroom hysterical."

The screaming woman pushed Chappell out the front door shortly before her boyfriend woke up and was told what happened.

"(He) was so beside himself and enraged that he said he was going out to find (Chappell) and kill him," she said.

In her statement to police, the magazine editor said Chappell was "pretty drunk" when they arrived home and they went to her bed but she refused to have sex.

"He got up and went to the toilet," she said.

"After what seemed like five minutes I assumed he had passed out on the lounge or something, so I rolled over and went to sleep. The next thing I remember was (my flatmate) running into my room quite hysterical."

Magistrate Margaret Quinn committed Chappell to stand trial but said it "may well be a difficult case for the prosecution" to prove.

A date for Chappell's trial will be set next week.

* * *

Via The Volokh ConspiracyThe Volokh Conspiracy - an excellent legal blog.

GMU Patriots heading for the Final Four!

2006-03-27T06:03:00.000-08:00

George Mason's Folarin Campbell runs down court as a referee signals his three-point shot in overtime against Connecticut. George Mason won 86-84 - and is heading to the Final Four!(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Patriot Games! Via ESPN:

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- George Mason's players stood on the press table, waving their jerseys to the crowd. Coach Jim Larranaga walked around with the nylon net around his neck.

It won't be the same old schools from the same old conferences at this year's Final Four -- certainly not top-seeded Connecticut.

Buoyed by a partisan crowd and playing some 20 miles from their campus, 11th-seeded George Mason overcame huge disadvantages in size, athleticism and history Sunday to stun the Huskies 86-84 in overtime, ending a stranglehold that big-time programs have enjoyed for 27 years in college basketball's biggest showcase.

Improbable as it may seem, the powers-that-be are going to have to make room for a suburban commuter school from Fairfax, Va., that was a dicey choice to make the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team.

"I was kidding with one of my assistants," Larranaga said, "We're not just an at-large team, we're an at-extra-large. And if we win today, we're going to be an at-extra-double-large. I can't tell you how much fun I'm having."

The Patriots overcame their deficiencies with heart and tenacity. They were never rattled, even when they trailed by 12 late in the first half and nine early in the second. They hit six straight 3-pointers in the second half, shot 5-for-6 in overtime and outrebounded UConn 37-34 even though the Huskies have three starters taller than any of the Patriots' frontcourt players.

There was also motivation from Larranaga, who fired up his team during timeouts by telling them that UConn's players didn't even know which conference George Mason is in.

"That's a little bit of disrespect," guard Tony Skinn said. "Coach told us the CAA stands for 'Connecticut Assassin Association."

Of course, as more people are learning, CAA stands for Colonial Athletic Association, a league that has never had a team get this far before. The Patriots (27-7) are only the second double-digit seed to make the Final Four, matching LSU's run, also as an 11th seed, in 1986. They are the first true outsider to crash the quartet since Penn and Indiana State both got there in 1979.

George Mason next plays No. 3 seed Florida in Saturday's semifinals in Indianapolis. This marks the first time since the field was expanded to 64 teams in 1985 that no top-seeded team advanced to the Final Four, and the second time in tournament history.

The Patriots' at-large selection was roundly criticized by many, including CBS commentator Billy Packer. George Mason's fans chanted Packer's name in the postgame celebration.

"I think it's been working for us, calling us Cinderella," Skinn said. "We were not supposed to get into the tournament, we got into it. We were not supposed to beat Michigan State and we beat them. Weren't supposed to beat North Carolina and we beat them. We definitely weren't supposed to be UConn. I think we'll stick to the script going into whoever we play. We don't mind being the Cinderella."

All five Mason starters finished in double figures. Jai Lewis had 20, and Lamar Butler and Will Thomas each scored 19. Larranaga's team kept the same five players in the game from the 10:37 mark of regulation to the very end of overtime. Butler was chosen as the most outstanding player of the regional, and he and his father were in tears as they hugged at length on the court after the game.

* * *

... Mason gave UConn a chance to win with poor free-throw shooting. Lewis missed three attempts in the final 15 seconds -- the last two with 6.1 seconds to go -- giving the Huskies a final possession to tie or win. Denham Brown, who made the reverse layup at the regulation buzzer to send the game to overtime, was off the mark from the left wing with a potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer.

Throughout the game, chants of "G-M-U" and "Let's Go Mason!" reverberated off the ceiling of the Verizon Center. Green and gold, as expected, were the dominant colors, and the building reached a new-level din of enthusiasm when Skinn made a 3-pointer to tie the game at 21 in the first half.

UConn started 7-for-10 from the field yet couldn't pull away from the tenacious Patriots, who somehow managed to pull down and chase rebounds despite their height disadvantage. When the Huskies went cold, missing seven straight field goals, George Mason pulled even. The second of back-to-back steals by Skinn led to two free throws by Thomas that put the Patriots ahead 29-28, their only lead of the first half.

But the Huskies responded with a 15-2 run. Their lead was 12 when George Mason got a boost just before halftime -- Campbell's three-point play with less than one second remaining cut the deficit to single digits, 43-34, at the break.

The Patriots pulled within one early in the second half with an 8-0 run. Campbell hit a 3-pointer after a gritty offensive rebound by Thomas, and Skinn made a driving layup despite losing control of the ball and changing hands in mid-air. Then, with 12:31 to play, Campbell hit another 3-pointer that tied the game at 49. The next milestone came with 11:09 remaining, when Butler sank another 3 to give Mason a 52-51 lead.

For the next six minutes, the teams punched and counterpunched, with neither leading by more than two until Skinn's 3-pointer with five minutes to go put Mason ahead 67-63. Marcus Williams' steal and three-point play cut Mason's lead to 71-70 with 47 seconds remaining, and the Patriots went 2-of-5 from the foul line in the final minute to give UConn the chance to send the game to overtime on Brown's buzzer-beating layup.

But Mason didn't wilt in the overtime, making Butler's Final Four prediction come true, a prediction he brashly made when he was recruited to George Mason.

"I think I was joking when I said that," Butler said. "I started dreaming when I got to college. It shows you anything can happen."

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Lukashenko's thugs in Belarus beat up little old ladies. What a pathetic loser.

2006-03-26T19:41:00.000-08:00

Lukashenko's thugs in Belarus beat up little old ladies. Belarus is still run by pathetic Communist losers that would make even Brezhnev blush.

Via Gateway Pundit:

* * * * * * *

Thousands of Belarusian protesters were prevented from getting to Oktober Square on Saturday so they held a massive rally in a nearby park.

* * * * * * *

But, later in the day there was a bloody crackdown by the regime.

* * * * * * *

Lots more photos and video are available at Publius Pundit.

Here are many more pictures of Lukashenko's pathetic ex-Communist thugs beating up old men and women.

Via Publius Pundit:

* * * * * * *

After Lukashenko gave the order to clear October Square of any and all protestors in the Friday twilight., it was completely cordoned off by riot police. Access to the square was denied. But thousands, at least twenty to thirty thousand, people showed up for the planned opposition rally and it was held in Yanka Kupala Square instead. Even more would have gone if there had been more space, and if they weren’t hampered from doing so. Democratic opposition leader Alexander Milinkevich called for the creation of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Belarus, part of the opposition’s plan to go underground and build widespread support for kicking Lukashenko out of office.

The protest ended peacefully. He had called on the authorities not to break it up because he would make sure that it didn’t get out of control, and so the police didn’t move in. At no time before has such a large amount of people been able to gather to denounce Lukashenko without being severely beaten. Exactly one year ago even only a couple of hundred people were able to gather before being whacked with police batons. It was definitely a historic day.

It didn’t last for long. The other opposition candidate, Alexander Kozulin, marched a few hundred people to a detention center where the October Square demonstrators had been taken to. They faced a SWAT team and the army. Just hours after the peaceful rally, they were all beaten.

The head of the SWAT team beat Kozulin and arrested him. They fired smoke grenades, noise-makers, and tear gas into the crowd. They exploded directly above people. One by one they were stripped away and beaten in the face, back, and legs with batons until they bled. The women, instead, were punched in the face. Then they were taken away in paddywagons to who knows where. At least one person is confirmed dead with a skull injury. Even sicker is that Belarus state television showed up so that they could film a beaten man and say that he was stomped on by his fellow protestors. The protestors are hardly the animals here. All they could do was throw snowballs back at them.

Milinkevich’s press secretary Pavel Mazhejka was briefly detained, and for awhile Milinkevich himself was nowhere to be found. But he is alright and has said that the authorities are fully responsible for the slaughter of the protestors and they will be held to account. He has sworn that Lukashenko will not finish this five year term. It has become the top news on CNN.

Br23 reports that arrests and detentions are now occurring in other parts of the city, with riot police showing up where young people hang out, throwing them face down into the mud, and dragging them into the wagons. He also reports that the state telecommunications monopoly has shut limited the dial-up internet access for a time.

Ivan Lenin has translations from LiveJournalist Lipski who details a bit about the rally, and then even more about the second march that preceded the terrifying crackdown. Make sure to read those reports, especially for the little significant details.

This is all that is really known right now. We have to wait for more on-the-scene news and blog reports to come out and then wait for them to be translated. This post will be updated continuously as that news comes out. Scroll here as well. The Interior Minister is saying that an “unexplained” device blew up and that terrorists were behind the explosion. An impressive story, for sure, if only it were true.

Today was the largest rally in Belarus’ post-Soviet history. It was also the single bloodiest one day as well. What happens next will be up to the opposition. Lukashenko will continue to rule by force, but he won’t be able to now that the people are slowly but surely beginning to fight back. Milinkevich’s plan is to create a popular movement to liberate Belarus from Lukashenko. The revolution has already begun in the minds of the people. The revolution that overthrows Lukashenko will take years of connecting people and helping them to resist. But that day will certainly come.

* * * * * * *

Here's video coverage.

Stan & Kyle Strike Back! (Chef picked a fight with the wrong cartoon dudes).

2006-03-22T20:12:00.000-08:00

Stan & Kyle Strike Back! (Chef picked a fight with the wrong cartoon dudes).

Via Captain's Quarters:

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Uh ... Chef? It's Going ... Bad

I think Isaac Hayes may regret his decision to leave the show in the manner he chose (or others chose for him). Tonight's South Park episode has cut and pasted previous Chef dialogue to turn him into a paedophile -- one brainwashed by an evil group that got its hands on him.

I think even Scientology will regret taking on Matt Stone and Trey Parker ...

UPDATE: I'm pretty sure that the guys don't want Hayes to return any time soon ... but even in their revenge, they had Kyle deliver a final reminder to remember Chef for all the good times on the show -- and blame the "fruity little club that scrambled his brains" for his betrayal this last week.

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D.C.'s Wiley, Rein & Fielding pockets a $200 MILLION contingency fee representing Blackberry opponent NTP Inc.

2006-03-17T22:07:00.000-08:00

D.C.'s Wiley, Rein & Fielding pockets a $200 MILLION contingency fee representing Blackberry opponent NTP Inc.

Via Overlawyered.com:

* * * * * * *

Tasty BlackBerry fees

Having represented patent-holding company NTP Inc. in its lengthy and much-criticized suit against BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (Mar. 4, etc.), the 250-lawyer Washington, D.C. law firm of Wiley, Rein & Fielding is going to be pocketing a contingency fee of roughly a third of the $612.5 million settlement, or $200 million plus. That exceeds the entire 2004 revenue of WR&F, which has heretofore been better known for its Washington regulatory practice than for plaintiff's contingency-fee work. ("NTP lawyers laughing all the way to the bank", Mobile Magazine, Mar. 17; Ashby Jones, Wall Street Journal law blog, Mar. 17).

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ROBERT HALF LEGAL PAYING $40/HR FOR DOC REVIEW GIG

2006-03-16T07:55:00.000-08:00

ROBERT HALF LEGAL PAYING $40/HR FOR DOC REVIEW GIG

Via HotJobs.com:

* * * * * * *

DOCUMENT REVIEW ATTORNEY NEEDED!: Robert Half Legal

Job ID 200-9319247
Position Type Full-Time Temp
Company Name Robert Half Legal
Location Washington, DC
Salary $40/hour
Date Posted March 16, 2006
Experience 1-2 Years Experience

View Robert Half Legal profile and job listings

Position Type: Temporary / Consulting

LARGE NATIONAL FIRM IS LOOKING FOR DOCUMENT REVIEW ATTORNEYS for large electronic document review projects. Qualified candidates should forward their resume to: jill.whitley@roberthalflegal.com
Requirements. Must be a licensed attorney with excellent law school credentials (top % of your class)DC Bar is not required.

Located in major centers throughout North America, Robert Half Legal is the premier provider of legal professionals on a full-time, project and temporary basis. We provide partners, associates, general counsel, paralegals and legal support professionals to Corporate Legal Departments, Law Firms and Government agencies. Robert Half Legal offers our candidates challenging assignments, competitive compensation and benefits, and skills enhancement training. Call your local Robert Half Legal office of 1.800.870.8367 to discover more about this position.

* * * * *

Apply at HotJobs.com, or go to our the links page at DC Metro Contract Attorneys Yahoo Group for the link to Robert Half legal.

If you get a gig through this posting, please cite "DC Metro Contract Attorneys Yahoo Group" as your referrer - and let us know at DCMetroContractAttorneys@yahoo.com. We will give you half of any referral fee. Thank you.

-DC Metro Contract Attorneys

The Legend of the Dogwood

2006-03-15T11:09:00.000-08:00

The Legend of the Dogwood

Via Mid-America Woodcarvers:

* * * * * * *

The Legend of the Dogwood

There is a legend, that at the time of the Crucifixion the dogwood had been the size of the oak and other forest trees. So firm and strong was the tree that it was chosen as the timber of the cross. To be used thus for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the tree, and Jesus, nailed upon it, sensed this, and in His gentle pity for all sorrow and suffering said to it: "Because of your regret and pity for My suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a cross. Henceforth it shall be slender and bent and twisted and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross. ..two long and two short petals. And in the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints, brown with rust and stained with red, and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see it will remember."

* * * * * * *

More here.

As you may have guessed, I enjoy books like this and movies like this and this.

The Legend of the Dogwood

BREAKING NEWS: The new AT&T-BellSouth merger is being staffed by Legal Placements, Inc. and Clutch Legal

2006-03-13T11:28:00.000-08:00

Legal Placements, Inc., is staffing the AT&T-BellSouth merger

BREAKING NEWS: The new AT&T-BellSouth merger is being staffed by Legal Placements, Inc. and Clutch Legal.

-DC Metro Contract Attorneys

Will the new AT&T-BellSouth merger make contract attorney rates go up to $40 per hour?

2006-03-08T08:38:00.000-08:00

AT&T-BellSouth merger: will it cause contract attorney rates to go up to $40 per hour? It's all about the Benjamins.

Now is one of the best times for us to constructively use this site.

As you may know, AT&T & Bell South just announced a blockbuster merger.

We understand that at least some of the 2nd request work will go to Crowell & Moring. Please note that this information is all very preliminary & may change.

This is the type of situation (like the prior SBC merger) that led to the last jump of the temp atty rate to $35 per hour.

This latest merger may cause the market to push the temp atty rate up to $37 or $40 per hour.

Firms and agencies will be talking among themselves to feel this out.

Based on the above (preliminary) analysis, please post any news you have that any agency or law firm is paying contractors more than $35 per hour. Hopefully, we can all use this information to help raise the temp atty rate generally.

Thanks & happy coding-

-DC Metro Contract Attorneys

P.S. Please post news at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DCMetroContractAttorneys/

UPDATE:

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DC CT OF APPEALS DECISION IS ON OUR LINKS PAGE UNDER:

"DC Court of Appeals Opinion 16-05 - issued June 17, 2005
DC contract attorneys must be members of the DC Bar"

Our Links page is in the left margin of the screen at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DCMetroContractAttorneys/

This is the decision that says contract attorneys working in DC must be members of the DC bar.

Go read it for yourself.

Happy coding!

-DC Metro Contract Attorneys

Saddam Hussein's murderous and genocidal campaigns: Dujail and Afal

2006-03-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

Saddam Hussein's death warrants for 148 people - as part of his Dujail campaign - could not be carried out for 48 of the people ... because those 48 people had already died during interrogation.

A mother and child lie dead in the Kurdish town of Halabja ... just two of the 100,000 Kurds murdered by Saddam Hussein's regime

Via The Belmont Club:

* * *

The documents revealed some unbelievably terrifying facts about the Dujail massacre; can you imagine that when orders were given to execute the 148 "convicts" the prison authorities executed only 96 of them. Why? Because the remaining 48 "convicts" had already passed away during "interrogation"!! What kind of interrogation was that killed one third of the suspects?!

* * *

See much more on the trial of Saddam Hussein at the excellent Iraq the Model blog.

Photos memorialize the victims of the Dujail massacre at the Dujail Free Prisoners' Association. Photo via the San Francisco Chronicle.

More on the Dujail Massacre is available from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Meanwhile this is what American teachers are talking about.

Via the Denver Post and Michelle Malkin.

UPDATE 3-3-06: Some excellent background on Saddam Hussein's incredible genocidal campaign against the Kurds is available from Michael Totten:

* * *

The hardest thing to see was the cell used to hold children before they were murdered. My translator Alan read some of the messages carved into the wall.

“I was ten years old. But they changed my age to 18 for execution.”

“Dear Mom and Dad. I am going to be executed by the Baath. I will not see you again.”

10,725 people were killed in this one building alone.

* * *

Saddam Hussein's regime murdered 100,000 Kurds during the Anfal campaign

Indeed, "during the Anfal campaign from February to September 1988, Iraqi troops swept through the highlands of Iraqi Kurdistan rounding up everyone who remained in government-declared 'prohibited zones.' Some 100,000 Kurds, mostly men and boys, were trucked to remote sites and executed."

Via Human Rights Watch:

* * *

Unfortunately, governmental cowardice and opportunism have stymied past attempts to indict Saddam, as Human Rights Watch learned during its intensive efforts to bring him to justice in the 1990s. At the top of any indictment should be Saddam's 1988 genocidal Anfal campaign against Iraqi Kurds, described by Jeffrey Goldberg in this week's New Yorker. Named after a Koranic verse justifying pillage of the property of infidels, the Anfal campaign unfolded as the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war was winding down. Iraqi Kurds had taken advantage of Saddam's preoccupation with Iran to seize control of parts of mountainous northern Iraq. But as soon as Iraqi troops could be withdrawn from the Iranian front, Saddam shifted them to the north.

Several thousand Kurdish villages were destroyed, forcing residents to live in appalling camps. In at least 40 cases, Iraqi forces under Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, used chemical weapons to kill and chase Kurds from their villages. Then, during the Anfal campaign from February to September 1988, Iraqi troops swept through the highlands of Iraqi Kurdistan rounding up everyone who remained in government-declared "prohibited zones." Some 100,000 Kurds, mostly men and boys, were trucked to remote sites and executed. Only seven are known to have escaped.

* * *

UPDATE 3-9-06: Knowing Saddam Hussein is one of history's most vicious and cruel dictators is one thing. Proving it in a court of law is another.

The grisly task of methodically finding, excavating, and cataloging Saddam Hussein's mass graves goes on. Great stores of horrendous evidence are increasing daily as murdered Kurds, Shiites, and other Saddam victims, continue to be pulled from shallow, bulldozer-dug trenches.

Even hardened invesigators have difficulty with this macabre task. These huge shallow graves are filled with families: fathers, mothers and children wearing all of their clothes on their backs for their "re-location" - with many of the children carrying their toys with them.

Michael K. Trimble, an archaeologist, and Gregory W. Kehoe, an American lawyer working with the Iraqi tribunal investigating abuses by Saddam Hussein and others, at a mass grave near Hatra, in northern Iraq. Pool photo by Thanassis Cambanis. Via the New York Times.

Via the New York Times:

* * *

A chain of evidence that investigators believe will help convict Saddam Hussein begins at a windswept grave in the desert near Hatra, in northern Iraq.

The burial site - a series of deep trenches that held about 2,500 bodies, many of them women and children - is one of many mass graves that dot the country. But it was the first excavated by an American investigative team working with a special Iraqi tribunal to build cases against Mr. Hussein and others in his government.

* * *

... American legal advisers say the Hatra grave holds a key to what is likely to be one of the broadest charges against Mr. Hussein - that he is responsible for the killing of as many as 100,000 Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980's, some in chemical-weapons attacks. They say those charges could be filed later this year, and Iraqi officials said last weekend that there could be up to 12 separate cases against Mr. Hussein and others. Each would require a separate trial, and multiple convictions could mean multiple death sentences for any defendant.

According to Gregory W. Kehoe, the American who set up the investigative team, what was found at Hatra shows how the Hussein leadership made a "business of killing people" - the scrape marks from the blade of the bulldozer that shoved victims into the trench, the point-blank shots to the backs of even the babies' heads, the withered body of a 3- or 4-year-old boy, still clutching a red and white ball.

* * *

Michael K. Trimble, an archaeologist who headed the forensics team, said the first surprise was that the trench held only women and children - about 300 in all. He said two-thirds were children, and most of the skeletons rested inside several layers of handmade clothing, with bags of pots, pans and toys strewn in the dirt. He said it quickly became clear that most of the victims had been carrying - or wearing - all their belongings, as if they had been told they would be resettled.

The bodies were stacked haphazardly in four or five layers. Nearly all had a single .22-caliber pistol shot behind one ear. Mr. Trimble said it looked as if the first people had been shot inside the trench, while the others had been killed at the lip and pushed in by a bulldozer.

A second trench held 150 men, each sprayed with fire from automatic weapons. Most had been blindfolded and tied together in a chain.

Mr. Kehoe said this suggested that the women and children had been killed by Iraqi security officers carrying small-caliber arms, while the men had been killed by a military unit. "This was a killing field," he said, adding that, "multiple entities knew it was there."

* * *

At the Hatra grave, there was a break: the investigators found identification cards tucked inside some of the women's clothes. A few cards turned out to be for children who escaped when their villages were destroyed. Those cards took the investigators back to remote mountain areas, where the now-grown children and others confirmed that the Hatra victims had indeed been seized by Iraqi forces during the Anfal.

* * *

In building this case, the investigators are expanding on research done by Human Rights Watch, which has found that Iraqi forces mounted at least 40 chemical attacks to kill Kurdish fighters or destroy villages thought to have supported them.

* * *

Mr. Nivala said investigators believe they will be able to show that Mr. Hussein was aware not only of the retribution in Dujail but also of the harsh actions against the Kurds and Shiites. He said the forensics team had recently begun excavating a third grave, believed to hold some of the 150,000 Shiites killed in 1991.

* * *

Fun with anagrams - or, Mr. Mojo Risin'

2006-02-27T15:54:00.000-08:00

"Britney Spears" = "best PR in years" ... or fun with anagrams
Amazing Anagrams of famous people...

- Britney Spears: best PR in years

- Justin Timberlake: I'm a jerk, but listen

- Jennifer Aniston: fine in torn jeans

- Saddam Hussein: UNs said he's mad

- Jim Morrison: Mr. Mojo Risin'

- Howard Stern: wonder trash

Via Fark and Innocent English.

Do temp agencies have to bribe law firms for business?

2006-02-26T15:08:00.000-08:00

Are temp agencies making law firms an offer they can't refuse?
Why am I not surprised...

* * *

Sometimes, I feel like I work in an industry run by the mafia. There are blacklists, there are moles, there are people like Zabby who send you threatening e-mails when you speak out against the "family." Some of the agency bosses, in fact, appear as if they have just stepped out of a Godfather movie. One agency boss is notorious for his shiny, slicked-back hair and for his colorful, polyester suits. Sometimes, he will arrive on-site, arm-in-arm with two blond-headed bimbos.

What is most mafia-like, however, is the allegations of corruption and bribery. I have heard of instances where certain agencies have bribed certain law firm employees in order to receive business. At one project that I was on, one of the project supervisors actually had the gall to admit that she was receiving weekly spa tickets and "other things" from the agency. I wonder how many of these "little gifts" were disclosed to law firm management and/or to the law firm's clients?

* * *

IN OTHER NEWS: An interesting site with Supreme Court multimedia materials.

PLUS: What the heck is happening in France? Or is there hope?

EXTRA, EXTRA:

The Clinton Foundation is looking for interns. See here and here.

"And don't try any of that 4-hour minimum shit."

2006-02-19T10:57:00.000-08:00

Best war story from the past week.

As told to me by another contractor (who for purposes of this story will be called "Joe").

Once upon time, a law firm had a project. The supervisor on the project, for present purposes, will be called "the Super." [Editorial note: when Joe uttered the name of "the Super," another contractor listening to the story chimed in: "Oh God - I've been on projects with that person - they're the worst."].

The Super told Joe and the other contractors that they couldn't make any lengthy Christmas plans. This was because the Super needed them all to be back on the project the Monday morning after Christmas.

So - Joe dutifully cancelled his holiday plans. Joe also dutifully arrived at the firm to work on the project on the Monday morning after Christmas.

Joe and the rest of the contractors dutifully sat there at their workstations on the Monday morning after Christmas waiting for the Super (or anyone else) to make an appearance. They sat and waited for one and a half hours.

After one and a half hours, the Super appeared and made some announcements.

It was announced that the Super had had some discussions about the project.

It was announced that the project was over.

It was announced that everyone needed to leave.

Then, before leaving the room, the Super applied the coup de grace - and announced:

"And don't try any of that 4-hour minimum shit."

Welcome to DC Metro Contract Attorneys Weblog

2006-02-12T08:56:00.000-08:00

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