Good afternoon . . .
The Supreme Court today refused to review whether a lower court properly overturned a multi-million dollar settlement between landowners adjacent to railroad right-of-ways and telecommunication companies.
The telecommunications companies, including Sprint, purchased railroad right-of-ways across the country in the 1980's to expand fiber-optic networks. Landowners adjacent to the railroads argued that only the railroads held rights across private property. Landowners filed suit to receive compensation from the telecommunications companies.
A settlement between most of the parties was reached in 2002. Several landowners objected and fought the settlement in court. After several changes, a settlement was approved by a federal judge in 2003.
Again, several landowners objected and appealed the ruling. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago rejected the lower court's approval of the settlement class. The court ruled the class-action settlement was improperly approved by the lower court.
The decision by the Supreme Court not to review the case leaves the ruling of the Court of Appeals intact.
The case is Sprint v. Smith, 04-1381.
High Court Rejects Telecom Rail Appeals - Yahoo! News
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Could President Bush use a "recess appointment" to make John Bolton the ambassador to the United Nations? If he does, it would not be the first time president Bush has done so.
Judge William Pryor was given a recess appointment because Senate democrats filibustered his nomination to the bench. Jude Pryor was recently given Senate approval to continue on the bench as his "recess appointment" was due to expire. Under federal rules, the president may make one-year appointments during a Congressional recess. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court ruled that a recess was anytime Congress was not in session.
The White House continues to urge the Senate to give Bolton an up or down vote. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said the door is always open to a recess appointment.
If Bolton does receive a recess appointment during the upcoming July 4 recess, it will last until January 2007.
Senate Democrats continue to demand the release of confidential documents. The White House and State Department have said the Senate has received all the necessary documents for the vote.
Bolton may get recess appointment:- - World News - Webindia123.com
John Bolton
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From time to time, I venture to the National Review's website to find the latest column of founder William F. Buckley, Jr.
The column I found today was a little surprising. It was certainly the normal eloquent prose that readers of Buckley are accustomed to. It was the subject matter that surprised me.
It seems that the Michael Jackson trial and inappropriate verdict has found its way to Mr. Buckley's typewriter. William F. Buckley Jr. on Michael Jackson on National Review Online
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Pop-ups are annoying. That's nothing new, but some websites are going out of their way to annoy visitors even more.
Case in point is the Drudge Report. As readers may know, this column does not use "exclusive" reports from Drudge. Too many times they are inaccurate or just plain wrong. On one occasion Drudge announced the death of Pope John Paul II 30 hours before it actually happened. That is just one example.
Now the website has new ways to annoy visitors with pop-ups. When first accessing the site, nothing much happens. Then in the status line visitors receive a message saying "pop-ups are being block, please" disable you pop-up software. No, not going to do that. . . wouldn't be prudent. So, to get around that, refresh the page.
That's not the end of the pop-ups. Even with pop-up blocking software, the site sends so many pop-ups at the same time, at least 1 or 2 get through.
Finally, after deleting all the pop-ups, you can click on an article or link and before the linked page appears, another pop-up is in your face.
Bottom line, this write will no longer use the Drudge Report as a link to reliable sources. There are other and better ways to find the information.
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More tomorrow.
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