Thursday,
April 12, 2001
by Jacquelyn Horkan, Editor
THE CASE OF THE MISPLACED COMMA
Did you hear about the jury that meant to
award a $3 million verdict, but messed up the math and actually assessed a
mere $300,000?
The case involved a copyright infringement
lawsuit filed by TVT Records against MP3.com, an online file-sharing service for those who are too cheap to actually buy their CDs. After hearing both sides present their arguments, the jurors
retired for deliberations. Apparently befuddled by the demands of their
foray into high-finance, the jury worked out the damages on each
unauthorized posting of 145 CDs controlled by the record company, but
never announced a grand total for the award.
After hearing press reports on the verdict,
the panel members realized that they had goofed so they called the judge
to explain that a number of the individual awards listed as $3,125 should
have been $31,250. That meant the total damages should have been $3
million. The judge is trying to figure out how to handle what seems to be
an unprecedented problem.
It just goes to show: A zero here, a zero
there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.
A QUOTE WORTH NOTING
"Democracy is the recurrent suspicion
that more than half of the people are right more than half of the
time." E.B. White
A HOME AWAY FROM HOME
"We say to Jeb Bush, we were here when
you came here, and we’re going to be here to take you out in 2002,"
thundered Gerald McEntee at a rally in Tallahassee on March 9. Actually,
McEntee was simply putting words into the mouths of state workers that he
purports to represent since he lives in Washington, D.C. In other words,
McEntee wasn’t really here when Jeb Bush arrived in Tallahassee
although, presumably, Florida will become a second home to him over the
next year or so.
McEntee is the international president of the
American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the large
and powerful union for government workers. (Why an American Federation needs is an international president is anyone’s guess,
but it sure sounds grand.)
The man with the impressive title was
ostensibly in Tallahassee to rally the faithful against Service First,
Gov. Jeb Bush’s plan to revitalize the state’s civil service system,
which, among other things, provides virtual lifetime tenure for most
anyone lucky enough to get a job with state government. McEntee’s real
purpose for visiting Florida’s capital city, a trip in which he was
joined by AFL-CIO President (no international there) John Sweeney, had
more to do with election politics.
American unions are dedicating themselves to
throwing Gov. Bush out of office next year as a prologue to evicting his
brother from the White House in 2004. All the hoopla over Service First is
just a means to keep the Democratic Party’s core constituencies fired
up. McEntee, however, has a strong personal reason for getting rid of the
sitting president. As you may recall, among the many Clinton
Administration scandals was one involving donation-swapping between the
Teamsters and the Clinton re-election campaign.
In 1996, then-Teamster President Ronald Carey
was facing a tough re-election campaign against James P. Hoffa, son of the
legendary union boss. In January of this year, Carey was indicted for his
fundraising practices during that campaign. Put simply, Carey is accused
of laundering money collected from the union’s members by funnelling it
to the Clinton re-election campaign and others. The money was then
returned to Carey to fund his own effort to hold onto power. Carey won his
race but was later expelled from the union for his fundraising
monkeyshines.
Testimony about the donation-swapping scheme
has implicated, among others, Gerald McEntee. Conservatives are putting
pressure on the Bush White House to put pressure on U.S. Attorney Mary Jo
White to pick up the pace in her investigation of labor corruption.
No doubt McEntee prefers Florida’s steamy
weather to the hot water boiling for him in more northerly climes.
CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION
According to The Fair Taxes for All Coalition,
29 percent of those who live in Delaware and 41 percent of those who call
Louisiana home would get no relief under the $1.2 trillion tax cut
proposed by the U.S. Senate. Good grief you say? What about me?
The numbers cited by the group are a little
misleading because none of those people pay income taxes and it’s hard
to give someone more of nothing. Nonetheless, the coalition wants us to
feel the pain of these people because those families are overburdened by
payroll taxes. The coalition members have no stomach for a cut in payroll
taxes, however, because they simply oppose any tax cut for anyone.
Delaware and Louisiana were cited by the group
because they are home to three of the 15 Democrats who voted for the tax
cut. The coalition is planning a media campaign targeting some of the
apostates. In case you’re interested, according to the coalition’s
reckoning 33 percent of Floridians would miss out on the Senate’s
version of tax relief, a package $400 billion stingier than the one
proposed by President Bush. Our two senators voted against the resolution.
Oh, and by the way, Gerald McEntee is a
card-carrying member of the coalition.
