Hey Republicans, what was that about "frivolous lawsuits"?

Yes, these are the times that try wealthy Republican offspring.

Andrew Giuliani- son of Rudolph "Rudy" 9iu11ani- is suing Duke University after he was kicked off the golf team.

The young Giuliani filed a 198-page (!) lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Durham, N.C., claiming that coach O. D. Vincent III has disrupted Giuliani's progress toward becoming a professional golfer.

CNN had a lead story for a few hours early this morning on a newly minted atheist filing a federal lawsuit against DOD and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. He claimed that his rights to religious freedom under the first amendment were violated and suggested that the US Military had become a Christian organization. The Justice Department is expected to respond to the lawsuit this week, which is I suppose why it appeared on CNN.

Troutfishing, among others, has done some excellent diaries on Christian infiltration in the military, so I don’t intend on covering the same ground. What I want to do here is relate my own experiences and pontificate on why things have apparently changed so drastically since then.

NPR jumped into a very hot issue doing multiple segments on Gay Rights advocates conflicts with private businesses and religious groups.  

This issue could really energize/polarize voters in Novemeber.

My next door next door neighbor Morrie passes away of lung disease

A legitimate case with numerous postponements, it has finally worked its way to depositions - a Federal Election Commission fraud case based on a complaint filed against the Clintons that $1.2 million raised in a 2000 Hollywood Gala was illegally diverted to Senator Clinton's 2000 US Senate campaign for the seat she now holds.

Yesterday's Breaking News

In the landmark civil fraud case against Bill Clinton in Los Angeles, where the former President is charged with defrauding a Hollywood dot com millionaire to help Hillary Clinton obtain more than $1.2 million from him for her 2000 Senate campaign, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Aurelio Munoz ruled on Friday, April 25 that Hillary Clinton would not be required to testify in a sworn deposition as a material witness in the case until AFTER the November election!

Quite an interesting cast of characters - Stan Lee, the big time comic book cartoonist, La Streisand, Cher, and the ex-convict and central complainant, Peter F. Paul, who works with Lee.

There was some great writing on the Carpetbagger Report lately about how John McCain-- despite his own and media pretensions to the contrary-- is the special interests' candidate, and probably one of the best ones they could hope for in any election. But would he push it to the point of helping big corporations permenently injure kids?

This is going to be a cut-and-paste job.

McClatchy Newspapers' Jay Root is reporting in the Kansas City Star that the Clinton campaign may have threatened to pursue legal action against the Texas Democratic Party to block or dispute the results of the Texas caucus.

I believe that Dr. Margaret McIntyre’s primary problem was that she thought the law followed the rules of a sane society. And in any sane society Dr. McIntyre knew that a doctor, particularly a pediatrician such as herself, someone with 25 years of experience and a retired Naval Officer to boot, was outside the scope of normal civic responsibilities and authority. So of course Dr. McIntyre was offended when, last November 14th, a Federal court clerk in Norfolk, Virginia denied her an excuse from jury duty. So of course she attempted to straighten the clerk out, and was eventually ushered into the presence of Federal Court Magistrate F. Bradford Stillman, and of course she then regaled his honor with a 15 minute explanation as to why he was wrong and she was right. It was simple logic.

Before I go any further, a disclosure: This isn't in my interest. I don't own much stock, but some of it is in Time-Warner. On a purely aesthetic level, it is a cross to bear, as in "I owned a tiny sliver of the Pittsburg Pirates during the Curtis Strong scandal," as in "Lou Dobbs is just a tiny teeny bit my fault," as in "On my behalf, Batman fanzines were shut down if they didn't follow company guidelines for promoting the first Batman movie as part of their coverage of the character's 50th anniversary." On the other hand, please let me bask in the sun of being an impressario of Neil Young, Neil Gaiman and Chipper JOnes. Minus the porn.

I tell you that hiring an attorney to sue somebody is like hiring your own flesh eating bacteria, and now another lawsuit arrives to prove my point. Greg Calvino is an idiot as validated by the $100,000 check he wrote to prove his sincerity to Miss Elisa Kwon. They were in a two year relationship at the time (2005), and she says Calvino said she could cash the check if he ever tried to shove another strip club prostitute up his nose. And Miss Kwan says she believed him; silly girl. Evidently Ms. Kwan was unfamiliar with basic boiler room technique (a variation on the Nigerian lottery scam) in which the sucker is offered something later of alleged value in exchange for their cash right now. Of course the thing of value turns out to be worthless, but by the time the mark figures that out their cash is gone, as is the con artist. Scams like this are invented not by devious criminal geniuses but by opportunists who, in their struggle against their own demons rob their victims almost as an unintended consequence. In this specific case, the thing Calvino wanted was Miss Kwan’s honor and the worthless thing of alleged value he promised was the $100,000 check. OR maybe she was familiar with the scam, since the idiot actually signed the check and gave it to her to hold. And it was good!

Picked up the mail yesterday which included a letter from my local agent who writes my auto and homeowners insurance.

Although it is on a letter bearing his personal agency letterhead, he didn't write the letter and he didn't sign it. His insurance company wrote it and no doubt told him what to say and how to say it.

Among other things it says,

"Washington's trial lawyers sponsored a self-serving bill in the state Legislature this year that will significantly increase frivolous lawsuits ..."

Worrisome to insurers is Referendum 67

According to Dictionary.com,

frivolous lawsuits would be
"characterized by lack of seriousness or sense: as in frivolous conduct."

They would be lawsuits that are
"self-indulgently carefree; unconcerned about or lacking any serious purpose."