Jul 25, 2017
A recent story in the Oregonian tells how the state of Oregon has taken a married couple’s children because the state claims the couple isn’t smart enough to be parents. In fact, the state took their younger child from the hospital before his mother was even able to see him.
As the story points out, both parents have held jobs and they maintain a household. While neither parent looks like another Einstein, when has anyone … Read more
Jul 5, 2017
In a recent bizarre trip down the rabbit hole, in Twist Architecture v. Board of Architect Examiners, 361 Or. 507 (2017), the Oregon Supreme Court upheld a fine against architects, duly licensed in Washington, for daring to call themselves “architects” on their correspondence and website read by Oregon clients who hired them to prepare master plans for possible commercial development in the state of Oregon.
Even though the drawings the architects here were hired to … Read more
May 3, 2017
In an email to the Oregon State Board of Engineering an electronics engineer argued that yellow traffic lights in the state were too brief and thus put the public at risk. He supported his arguments with calculations and graphs which he prepared at his own cost in his free time.
The Oregon State Board of Engineering disregarded the substance of his email but attacked the author, Mats Jarlstrom, for referring to himself as an “electronics … Read more
Jan 23, 2017
Although our schools do not equip us to distinguish between the almost 1500 different bugs, lizards, birds, rodents, fish, etc. that the government labels “endangered”, it is now being argued that to take or kill even one of these creatures should be criminal regardless of how innocent or inadvertent the act. Even an endangered splat on your car’s windshield might render you a criminal and send you to jail.
Jan 20, 2017
Testimony before grand juries is serious. It generally results in the issuance of felony charges and a warrant authorizing the arrest of the person charged. Testifying falsely before a grand jury so that an innocent person is indicted and arrested can really ruin the victim’s day. However, a recent 6th Circuit Court case eloquently demonstrates that you can’t recover damages for malicious prosecution or for violation of your civil rights under 42 U.S.C. §1983 … Read more
Jan 10, 2017
Most of us wouldn’t think that hang gliders require the same regulation through rules and laws as airplanes and helicopters. Most of us probably wouldn’t think that wheelchairs, even if motorized, should logically be governed by the plethora of traffic laws and rules applied to cars, buses and trucks driving down our streets and highways. After all, a wheelchair enables someone who can’t walk to achieve a personal mobility equivalent to walking. A wheelchair does … Read more
Dec 21, 2016
In a recent case the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a wife who had apparently discovered her husband’s infidelity by intercepting his emails to and from various women could be liable for violating the federal Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act. 18 U.S.C. §2520. In his concurring opinion, Judge Richard Posner questioned whether the law should protect the husband’s privacy interest in concealing his infidelities from his wife.
As Judge Posner wrote: “I … Read more
Dec 20, 2016
In a recent act of performance art, illustrating that city and county governments may truly be the sewers of American politics, King County Washington is now sending its employees out digging through residential garbage in the early morning hours when they’re least likely to be discovered. Residents have found men outside their homes at 5:30 in the morning going through their garbage with flashlights. The highly-paid King County public servants engaged in this dumpster diving … Read more
Dec 12, 2016
The City of Portland has just enacted an ordinance imposing a 10% surcharge to the annual city business license tax paid by publicly traded corporations whose CEOs earn compensation when compared with the median worker pay is a ratio of 100:1 or more. The surcharge increases to an additional 25% of the city business tax if the ratio of CEO compensation to median worker compensation is 250:1 or greater.
The ordinance rationalizes the surcharge as … Read more
Dec 8, 2016
California has just enacted legislation regulating methane emissions from, among other things, cows. Implementation is only possible with significant government subsidies despite which it’s likely that the dairy industry will further decline through emigration of dairies to other states or cessation of operations. The story is here. The legislation will, no doubt, magically turn manure into gold for someone.
© 12/8/2016 Lawrence B. Hunt of Hunt & Associates, P.C. All rights reserved.… Read more
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