"why are judges not elected instead of appointed?"

Because elections require campaigns which require funds which then tend to influence the candidates in favor of those who provided the funds, which hurts the impartiality required of judges. The best system is one in which judges are appointed but then have to run for retention every so often (4 years is typical). That means the electorate can get rid of the really bad judges but it's not a popularity contest to choose a successor.

It was the people's demands following 9/11 that gave Congress the nerve to pass the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001." And, for anyone who hasn't read the USA PATRIOT ACT, I sincerely recommend that you set aside some time to read through it at: http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=107_cong_public_laws&docid=f:publ056.107.pdf and then we can all chat again about the Constitution.

Bits and bites in a particular combination are recognized by law as an object worthy of legal protection in the form of copyright and/or patent. Taking, without my permission, all of the bits and bytes that I have arranged in a particular unique combination is theft in just the same way that copying down various bits and bytes of information about you (the information regarding your birth, your social security number, and your driving privileges) is theft of your identity. You may not recognize the theft until I start using those bits and bytes by cleaning out your bank account or getting credit cards in your name, but it was truly theft all the time.

I agree, lorenlal. One of the typical Congressional rules for violation of statutes is the guilty defendant has to pay treble damages--three times the actual damages. IMHO, the judge was right in that actual damages was the cost of a license, so three times the license fee would be appropriate.

Someone needs to tell these dreamers:
1. Read the terms of the document giving you the shares to see when they vest;
2. Figure out where you'll get the money to buy the shares so you can sell them (sometimes you can do a cashless exchange but you have to know
a. who will arrange this for you, and
b. how much money it's going to cost you to have someone make the exchange
3. Realize that there are insider lock out periods after the IPO and before and after every quarterly report (any employee with options is an insider)
4. Profit? ?

IMHO, the USA PATRIOT ACT (not shouting, that's the acronym for the ridiculously long name of the Act) is just as constitutional as the Alien and Sedition Acts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_and_Sedition_Acts, which were also rushed through in the guise of protecting US citizens. If only our congress-folk had spent as much time thinking about the constitution as they did about the acronym!

But if it's too broad, an affected customer can try to get a court to throw it out on grounds of ambiguity! Now do the hokey-pokey and turn yourself around. That's what its all about!

In my experience, it hasn't been the merchants doing these add-ons; it's the credit card companies themselves. For instance, I call BigBank, the issuer of my Visa card, to make sure that my last payment was credited on time. I'm transferred to a customer rep who answers the question and then says, "By the way, I see that you're entitled to join our travel savings plan ... [blah, blah, blah about the great features of the plan]. You can have a free trial starting tomorrow." If you say anything except, "No, no, no," they automatically sign you up and then, after 10 or 25 days, X Travel Co. starts adding a "nominal fee" of $29.95 ("only pennies a day") to your card. If X Travel Co. is an "affiliate" of BigBank and you failed to opt out when BigBank sent you the notice of its privacy policies, then you don't really have much recourse except to call BigBank, talk someone into giving you the contact information for X Travel Co., and then contacting them to stop charging you.