Illicit

In the early years of man, life was pretty simple. When there was a need for a product, or goods of any kind, we simply made. Certain products could only be made by one or two individuals, while other goods could be fashioned by many different people. The point being here is that previous to the name brand world in which we live in currently, the quality of a product was not as important as was its necessity. Fast forward a few thousand years to our modern world. Any product that is in the marketplace today will undoubtedly have an identical generic, what could be described as legal in its production, or what is better known on the street as a knock-off, which would be described as illegal in its production. Now before I delve into my personal thoughts on the multi-trillion dollar market that is the illegal goods market, I first want to call us all out. Point blank, everybody at some point in their lives has been guilty of taking for free, or purchasing a knock off of some kind. Whether it has been a pair of Gucci sunglasses that were for sale at a discount of two hundred and seventy-five dollars off compared to the retail price, or maybe it was a five thousand dollar Louis Vuitton purse that you snagged from a vendor on Canal Street while you visited last summer. Although there is a great deal of satisfaction we get knowing that we have pulled the eyes over the maker of whatever over priced company that makes the products we lust over, a great deal of harm and injustice is being done. Not only do purchasing knock-offs put money in to the hands of the wrong people, it also dilutes the marketplace for the item that has been knocked-off.

Week Eight: What's The Problem With Spam?

When you hear the word Spam we all inevitably think of the rounded blue rectangular can that is a Hawaiian favorite, and is also a delicacy wrapped in seaweed and has a very distinctive flavor. We all know of another type of spam that we tend to ignore due to its irrelevance in our lives. That’s right; I’m speaking of e-mail spam. To the everyday person, spam is a very easy thing to deal with. All we have to do is simply delete it. Most e-mails nowadays have built in spam filters or spam folders that simply forward all the e-mails to one place for latter disposal. Then why has so much time and technology been spent on eliminating spam? Simply put, we live amongst idiots. People will click on anything that sounds attractive and that could benefit them in any way. It could be anything from pencils to penicillin, mail-order brides to male enhancement drugs, or the seemingly all-time favorite spam fish hook…porn. So why do we care that some moron really thinks that a Russian beauty will actually be delivered in four to six weeks? For the same reason we don’t like little old ladies be taken advantage of in front of us to witness. As humorous as spam can be, it is a very dangerous tool that is used by thieves and con-artists to take advantage of the uninformed. It is also a moral violation of our peace and happiness, as well as a potential breach into your computer. This is the reason the FTC has cracked down hard on individuals and companies that do nothing more than spam your mailbox in an effort to gain some personal information that can be sold. Spam is the dirty pigeon that will always be in our world that we can seemingly never get rid of.

1. Facts of the case: Burlington N. & S. F. R. Co. v. United States

Being that I'm the child of lifelong railroaders, I have decided to break down a very big Supreme Court case involving Burlington NSF vs. The United States. In 1960, Brown & Bryant, Inc. (B&B), an agricultural chemical distributor, began operating on a parcel of land located in Arvin, California. B&B later expanded onto an adjacent parcel owned by petitioners Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company and Union Pacific Railroad Company (Railroads). http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/08pdf/07-1601.pdf The federal government had sought to hold the Shell Oil Company responsible for selling pesticides to the business, where the chemicals routinely leaked and spilled. The distribution business, Brown & Bryant, later became insolvent and ceased operation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/05/business/05bizcourt.html?_r=1 After B&B went insolvent and the EPA spent over eight million dollars in an effort to clean up the toxic area. The United States sought compensation, stating that since Shell was responsible for the delivery and transfer of the chemicals to B&B's holding facilities; they were the party that was responsible for the carelessness of how the chemicals didn't fully make it into their holding containers. In addition, The United States also is seeking partial reimbursement from the railroad companies since they were now the legal land owners, and were responsible for the toxic chemicals that had seeped into the water table.

Week 7 Pacific Heights: What are landlord’s rights?

There is no better idea in the world to have someone else pay the mortgage, or a portion of the mortgage, on your house. On the other hand, we all have had roommates in past that have just been the biggest pain in the ass, and are impossible to deal with. The major difference between your pain in the butt roommate and a tenant that has leased out a portion of your property is that they have certain rights that you must abide by. In the movie Pacific Heights, the tenant that moves in, turns out to be the worst possible tenant that could ever have moved in. In the movie, the tenant simple bullies his way into the property without ever filling out an application, or giving any kind of deposit. Soon thereafter the tenant changes the locks on the apartment, and calls the cops when he is threatened by the landlord. At this point in the movie we start to deviate from what rights the landlord has in reality and what is portrayed in the film. It is true that the landlord cannot simple just kick out his tenant based on his actions, however, since no deposit was given or formal application was ever filled out the landlord should be able to legally kick his tenant out. This however, did not happen in the movie. As the story goes on, the tenant continues to deliberately cause harm to the property as well as be excessively loud during the late hours of the night. In this particular situation, the landlord lives in the same building and the tenants. Legally the landlord has to provide a peaceful environment for is tenants to live in. This is a two way street however, the tenants must also abide by the same sound rules since the landlord lives there as well. This was also conveniently left out of the film.

Greed Is Good

Our country is currently going through extremely tough times. In the last eighteen months, the US has gone into a real estate meltdown. The unemployment rate has reached its highest point since The Great Depression, and China seems to be the perennial favorite in all aspects of the global market. All of this seemly bad news conjures up thoughts of some new direction that our country seems to have gone down. Wrong. We’ve all heard the phrase, “how soon we forget”, and our countries predicament is a prime example of this. I just watched a select few scenes from the classic Wall Street; you know the one with Charlie Sheen and Michael Douglas, written by Oliver Stone and shot in nineteen eighty-five. There was lots of big hair and tons of art deco, but what many people might miss, is the striking similarity between how things were in nineteen eighty-five, and how they are now in two thousand and nine.
How soon we forget. Greed has been responsible for most of our countries short-comings. Greed, single handedly thrust our country into The Great Depression via the stock market. While everybody was busy pointing their fingers at who caused the collapse, greed was busy plotting up the next attack. We are now currently living through greed’s latest attack on our countries economy. Do we not learn as a country? The answer is no. We remember, but we never seem to get it right.
There is a perfectly good explanation for our countries reliance on greed. It’s called The American Dream, and we all want a piece of it. Part of The American Dream's rules, are that the best man wins, or in Wall Street’s case, the most despicable, cold-hearted individual we can find to invest our money, and line our pockets with labor less money is the man we want running our country’s biggest businesses. It’s that simple people. Greed is forever woven into the fabric of our country, and greed, will be the catalyst that brings our country out of the ruins.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings greed to sign Brett Farve will undoubtedly cost them a shot at anything this season, and for this reason, Brett Farve has unanimously beat out all others for the coveted Whack-a-Doll. Once he throws an interception, simply take out the included five pound football shaped weight, and smash it against the Hall-of-Famer. At least you’ll gain a little enjoyment out Brett ruining your day.

What My Classmates Think Of The Legal System

The business law class that I am currently enrolled in, is filled with a variety of students that all have varied views on what our legal system means to them. Crystal Burrell has used a very cleaver analogy to explain her views of the legal system. “I see it as a collar on a dog’s neck. The collar is used as a training tool that is used to keep the dog in line. You get a new dog and at first, he does not quite understand the rules of your house so naturally he just runs around doing whatever he wants until you establish what he can do and where he can go.” I agree with Crystal, we all must learn how our legal system works, and also must adhere to the rules that are in place.
I next read William Cross's post, and was reminded of the power diffusion that our legal system has incorporated. “Our legal system is like the mythological Hydra. As our society got bigger and bigger the legal system had to “cut off its own head” or separate its power in order to keep up.” Its very important to recognize that when we separated from England as a new country, we did not want a government that was run by a king. The best way to achieve this, was to not give any one branch of government, or agency, to much power. I believe William's quote to be spot on.
My final blog review was from Gustavo Ibarra, and like many of the other students, Gustavo feels there is a need for change. Gustavo believes that the ethical decisions that lawyers make should be the focal point of any changes that are made. “Of course there are many that think that the legal system is a joke and feels that it needs to be changed. I feel that it is not that the legal system needs to be changed but of practice of lawyers and government officials. I feel that a lot abuse makes the legal system not work correctly.” My final review of our legal system is that it is binary. There can only be one winner, and unfortunately, the losers pay a hefty price when the decision is handed down. Because of this we will always have controversy when it comes to our legal system, and because there will always be winners and losers when it comes to the legal system, no perfect legal system will ever exist.

Week 4: Used Cars Joe, Jackie, and Anton

Used Cars: Joe, Jackie, and Anton
1. No smoking –tort
2. Battery-crime
3. Illegal gambling-crime
4. Vandalism- crime
5. Bribery- crime
6. Perjury-crime
7. No contract over $500- tort
8. None license drivers driving- crime
9. Passengers in the bed of truck- crime
10. Tampering with video- tort
11. No seat belts- crime
12. Destruction of private property- tort
13. Breaking speed limit- crime
14. Leaving the scene of accident- crime
15. Driving off road- crime
16. Driving unauthorized vehicle-crime
17. Assault with chain- crime
18. Cursing over radio waves- crime
19. Illegal railroad crossing- crime
20. Fraud- crime
21. Pulling a firearm in public- crime
22. Force full restrain- crime
23. Loitering- crime
24. Sexual assault- crime
25. Illegal towing- crime
26. Drug trafficking- crime
27. Didn’t stop for cop-crime
28. Reckless in danger- crime
29. J-walking- crime
30. No registration- crime