Comentário

Okay, this is about the Egyptian "Election 2012," not the American one. But Egypt is learning a lesson that America would do well to remember.Secular-leaning, educated, democracy activists succeeded in overthrowing Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship in Egypt last year. They wanted a free and democratic country. In the first round of presidential elections there this spring, they learned that freedom and democracy are not the same thing.

30 de Maio de 2012

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Like Microsoft and Google before it, Apple tried to stay clear of Washington but is now "too big not to nail," writes David Boaz in the New York Daily News: According to Politico, the daily newspaper of lobbyists and political consultants, industry giant Apple spent a mere $500,000 in Washington in the first quarter of 2012, compared to more than $7 million Google and Microsoft spent on lobbying and related activities from January through March of this year.

30 de Maio de 2012

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Our new video studio is now up and running--complete with green screen production capabilities. Special thanks to Aaron Rainwater for assembling the pro lighting kit.

May 29, 2012

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Last week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) proposed to stop the FDA from sending out its own armed agents to make warrantless arrests, Reason.com reports. "I don’t think it’s a good idea to be arming bureaucrats to go on the farm to, with arms, to stop people from selling milk from a cow," Paul said. His amendment (which also would have protected speech about prune juice) failed. Only fifteen Republicans voted for it -- and no Democrats.

May 29, 2012

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After Steve Cooksey was diagnosed with diabetes, he adopted a paleo diet and a caveman-inspired exercise regimen. He shed 78 pounds, stabilized his blood sugar, and was able to get off drugs and insulin . But after he started a business and a blog to help others follow the same path, his state government accused him of practicing dietetics/nutrition without a license -- a crime under North Carolina law .

May 29, 2012

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In 1997, the Securities and Exchange Board of India established a process modeled on the U.S. practice of allowing alleged violators of Securities and Exchange Commission regulations to settle their cases without admitting or denying the allegations. Now SEBI is abolishing this option for many cases, the Deccan Herald reports.

May 29, 2012

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Today SpaceX became the first private company to launch a spacecraft, its Dragon capsule, into orbit and berth it with the International Space Station. This is not only a triumph for Elon Musk, the company’s founder and visionary, and his team. It also is a giant step toward a future in which space is open to all humanity through the efforts of the private sector.

May 25, 2012

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Edward L. Hudgins and Fred Smith

Last week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute released the latest edition of Ten Thousand Commandments , Clyde Wayne Crews Jr.'s overview of federal regulations. There are some striking figures there. By the government's own estimate, the total annual cost of regulations exceeds the total combined personal and corporate federal income tax, and adds up to half what the federal government spends. Crews argues that some of this expenditure substitutes for federal spending: If Congress wants a certain service provided, it can have the government do it, or avoid having the expenditure on its budget by forcing private entities to do it.

May 24, 2012

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Minnesota raw-milk producers are facing criminal charges for selling what some of their customers think is a healthier, tastier product than the pasteurized milk sold by the mainstream dairy industry. Meanwhile, in California, Annette Whiteford ordered a business to stop selling its products -- and the business claimed government officials then harassed one of its customers.

May 23, 2012

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Robert Kwok, a former Yahoo executive, and Reema Shah, a former Ameriprise Financial portfolio manager, pleaded guilty to insider trading charges , the Wall Street Journal reports. Under a plea agreement, Kwok can expect a sentence of up to six months. Prosecutors accused Kwok of giving Shah inside information on Yahoo.

May 23, 2012

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A bar owner was arrested after being accused of hosting "family friendly" events : allegedly, minors attended.

May 22, 2012

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Carolyn Eisenberg, Raj Rajaratnam's personal assistant, testified today that Rajat Gupta, who is charged with passing Rajaratnam tips for insider trading, was, along with people who have pleaded guilty to insider trading, on a list of 10 VIPs for whose calls Rajaratnam was to be interrupted, the Associated Press reports.

May 22, 2012

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New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof earlier this month attacked a beer company for selling beer to people who wished to buy beer but who were prohibited by tribal laws -- they live on an Indian reservation -- from buying it. The customers cross into a town adjacent to the reservation and buy, apparently, Budweiser. "It’s as if Mexico legally sold methamphetamine and crack cocaine to Americans in Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez," Kristof wrote. And apparently the customers drink recklessly, with bad results for them and their families.

May 21, 2012

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Rajat Gupta's trial on insider trading charges began in Manhattan federal court today with the selection of the jury -- a process completed by 2 p.m. The prosecution objected to the defense's use of staffers remotely reading a live transcript and researching prospective jurors, but Judge Jed S. Rakoff permitted the technique. Gupta's jury includes a nonprofit executive, a marketing manager, a psychiatric nurse, a grade-school teacher and a freelance beauty consultant.

May 21, 2012

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Last month, President Obama signed a law to prohibit members of Congress from committing insider trading using information gleaned from their jobs. But a securities lawyer has a warning for the private sector: The statute could be even more dangerous to private individuals than to Congressmen.

May 18, 2012

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The FBI is investigating JPMorganChase's $2 billion loss, but law professor and New York Times blogger Peter J. Henning points out that this doesn't actually mean the FBI thinks it has a lot of reason to expect to find a crime. After all, it's only starting an investigation -- the point of which is to find out what happened.

May 18, 2012

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As various state legislatures work on legislation banning employers from demanding access to prospective and actual employees' social networking profiles, an employment lawyer raises a question: If an employee posts something that raises a harassment issue, will the employer whose hands are

May 18, 2012

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Next week, Rajat Gupta, former CEO of McKinsey & Co. and board member at Goldman Sachs, goes on trial, charged with leaking information about Goldman to stock trader Raj Rajaratnam .

May 17, 2012

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Trying to start a business as a student can lead to lawsuits by your university -- or even, perhaps, to the chain gang, warns soon-to-be law professor Brian Love: Over the last three decades, patent acquisition and technology licensing have become big business for US universities, which collectively obtain thousands of patents and billions in licensing revenue each year. In a never-ending quest for more royalties, university officials are increasingly likely to take and market not just the inventions of fulltime faculty members, but also those of their students.

May 17, 2012

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At a conference on white-collar crime also addressed by Manhattan's chief federal prosecutor, New York's top state prosecutor urged business lawyers to tip off the government about possible legal violations: "You operate in a world where you may learn of facts that are appropriate for investigation, from scams directed at the public or the government, to wrongful conduct in the financial sector," state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said, according to the New York Law Journal. " We value any information or cooperation that you may provide to us."

May 17, 2012

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