Strangling Life

John Stossel | Jul 17, 2013

http://townhall.com/columnists/johnstossel/2013/07/17/strangling-life-n1642019/page/full

"...But the cumulative effect of so many rules is to strangle life.
Yet lawyers like George Washington Law professor John Banzhaf want more rules.
Banzhaf requires his law students to sue people, just for practice.
"And we keep winning!" he bragged to me.
They do. But his legal "victories" hardly benefit the public.
ut the cumulative effect of so many rules is to strangle life.
Yet lawyers like George Washington Law professor John Banzhaf want more rules.
Banzhaf requires his law students to sue people, just for practice.
"And we keep winning!" he bragged to me.
They do. But his legal "victories" hardly benefit the public..."

Man With 4th Amendment Written on Chest Wins Trial Over Airport Arrest

By David Kravets
01.25.13
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2013/01/4th-amendment-chest-trial/

Follow-Up on above story -

TSA Officials Agree to Training Program for Police on Travelers’ First and Fourth Amendment Rights

July 21, 2013

http://libertycrier.com/tsa-officials-agree-to-training-program-for-police-on-travelers-first-and-fourth-amendment-rights/?utm_source=The+Liberty+Crier&utm_campaign=3bd02259e6-The_Liberty_Crier_Daily_News_7_22_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_600843dec4-3bd02259e6-284777229

"RICHMOND, Va.— In a victory for the U.S. Constitution, officials with the Richmond International Airport (RIC) have required that all RIC law enforcement officers take part in a two-hour training course on the First and Fourth Amendment rights of passengers, guests and/or vendors. The required training, with materials for the course on travelers’ First and Fourth Amendment rights supplied by attorneys for The Rutherford Institute, was part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed on behalf of college student Aaron Tobey, who was arrested for engaging in a peaceful protest of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) use of whole-body imaging scanners and enhanced pat downs at RIC..."

"...In August 2011, U.S. District Judge Henry Hudson rejected the government’s motion to have Tobey’s First Amendment claims dismissed, ruling that Tobey’s civil rights would have been violated if the agents sought to silence Tobey’s expression. The Court of Appeals subsequently upheld that ruling. “[I]t is crystal clear,” the court wrote, “that the First Amendment protects peaceful nondisruptive speech in an airport, and that such speech cannot be suppressed solely because the government disagrees with it.”

In Oregon, The GMO Wheat Mystery Deepens

by Dan Charles

July 17, 2013

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2013/07/17/202684064/in-oregon-the-gmo-wheat-mystery-deepens

Editorial: Protect state’s Public Records Act

Local governments seeking to water down the Public Records Act should remember this line from the law: “The people of the state do not yield sovereignty to the agencies that serve them.”

Seattle Times Editorial

Saturday, July 20, 2013

http://seattletimes.com/html/editorials/2021430856_editpublicrecordsxml.html

"...The proposed solution was House Bill 1128, which would have allowed local governments to sue requesters for using the Public Records Act if they deem requests as harassing. Granting municipalities such broad power waters down the Public Records Act, and is akin to attacking a fly with a sledgehammer.

"The bill was wisely killed by Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, D-Seattle.
But the issue won’t die. The $25,000 study seemingly intends to gather momentum for a new version of HB 1128..."

Utah educators question pitch to end compulsory school attendance - Senator says state shouldn’t force kids to go to school; rivals say his plan would create “subclass of illiterates.”

By Annie Knox and Ray Parker

The Salt Lake Tribune

First Published Jul 17 2013

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/56606798-78/education-utah-parents-state.html.csp