An Italian scooter rider racked up a record 144 points off his 20 point drivers license in a few minutes of reckless driving.
The ANSA news agency reported that police in the northwestern Italian city of Turin chased the young rider after he evaded their attempts to stop him for breaking the law by not wearing a helmet on Tuesday evening.
By the time the 15 minute chase ended, he had received a few more violations as well.
Those violations included not stopping when police ordered, running a red light, riding the wrong way down city-center streets, riding on pedestrian footpaths and speeding.
After he was stopped, he was then found to be riding without rear-view mirrors, insurance or lights, and with a license plate incorrectly attached to his vehicle.
The rider was fined $2,890 for the offenses and had his scooter confiscated by the police.
The rider broke a previous national record held by a youth in Bolzano, northern Italy, who had 116 points deducted for a single night's offences in April.
In 2003, a law et tough penalties for certain motoring offences, particularly major speeding, dangerous overtaking and driving under the influence of drink or drugs.
MADISON, Wis. -- An Illinois woman is suing her Wisconsin parents for maintaining an icy driveway that she blamed for a fall that broke her ankle two winters ago. This week, a federal judge refused to toss out the lawsuit, setting up a trial for November.
I'd wager this will put a crimp on family get-togethers
"Hello, Mom? Hello? Hello? ... I don't believe it, she hung up on me!"
Carriel Louah, 25, visited Darlington, Wis., to surprise her mother on her birthday in January 2005. But the next morning, she was injured when she slipped and fell on her parents' driveway. She filed suit against her parents earlier this year.The daughter said that a letter from her mom apologizing months after the fall proves that her parents knew they had a defective gutter for years and did nothing about it. She's seeking more than $75,000 in damages for medical bills and lost wages.
I guess she didn't get a pony for Christmas
Her parents said that she can't prove the driveway was icy at the time or that their drainage system was faulty. U.S. District Judge John Shabaz said that a jury should decide the matter.
Where's Judge Judy when you need her?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/20/2006 09:43 ||
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#1
I smell an insurance company. I'll bet the adjustor gets a kickback from the plaintiff's attorney. This is why people hate lawyers and insurance companies.
If I had fallen in this manner, my dad would be bitching at me to shovel/clean the driveway (while I'm laying there in pain). Mom would chime in about her not being taken care of by her children.
Karma baby - I'd like to see how daughter's kids turn out. . .
#4
9 to 1 odds are that the parents long ago bought homeowners insurance to take care of anyone who got hurt on their property (including their daughter). Buying homeowners insurance is a responsible thing to do, and insurance spreads the risk so no one family gets devastated by a major medical/injury bill (e.g., 75k).
However, insurance companies dont like to pay claims (not paying claims is how they end up with assets in the hundreds of billions), and legally the company can force the parents to defend against a claim. The only way for the daughter to get the insurance benefits covering her slip and fall would be to sue her parents -- even if she doesnt want to do that. The parents would have to defend against the suit or risk not being covered (i.e., the insurance wouldn't pay out if it could argue the parents were failing to cooperate with defense).
However, longstanding rules of evidence nationwide bar any mention of insurance coverage from the courtroom. That is to say, the jury is never allowed to hear that the parents have insurance that will pay any judgment against them. The fact of insurance coverage is not put in the Complaint or Answer, it is only marginally discoverable, and if any mention of insurance is made or inferred to the jury the case will be declared a mistrial and the whole thing will have to start over with a fresh jury (and the responsible attorney will be in big, big trouble). And the parents can't tell the jury that they would like to see that their daughter's bills are paid -- and that paying those bills is exactly why they've been paying insurance premiums (usually for uneventful year after year). The fact of insurance coverage is considered too prejudicial to the rights of the insurance company to let the jury know about the insurance.
So, the whole case goes forward under a fiction of the daughter mad at her parents, and them saying she's wrong, when really the parents probably just want the insurer to pay her bills -- and which would probably be the cheapest and least distressing way to resolve the whole mess.
OF COURSE, THE ALTERNATE EXPLANATION IS THAT THERE IS NO INSURANCE AND SHE'S JUST PISSED AT MOM AND DAD . . .
#5
This is a loser for the insurance company as daughter can likely just call parents who will testify as to their liability. Judgment for daughter, parents indemnified by their insurer.
Likely as not some bean counter at the parent's insurance company has calculated that there's a reasonable chance that they can get the award reduced by some amount more than they expect to pay their lawyers to defend the case.
#6
I could give a rat's ass about the insurance aspect. What nobody's addressed is the moral question of suing your parents. Honor thy Father and Mother is one of the commandments, right?
#7
It would be interesting to know how much the medical bills are. If it's like my out patient surgery that developed into full blown surgery with an infection and a four day hospitalization, it could be a big number. My bet is her health insurance refused to pay her hospital bills unless she sues her parents to get their insurere to cover. After a year unpaid, the Hospital threatened to sue her if she did not pay the bill and she had to cave to her insurers demand to sue her parents. And lawyers make money at every step.
Democratic Rep. Cynthia McKinney couldn't avoid a runoff in her first election following a scuffle with a Capitol Hill police officer, and now faces a second contest against her main challenger, Hank Johnson. In the Republican primary for lieutenant governor, former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed was unable to overcome his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and conceded defeat to state Sen. Casey Cagle. In Georgia's Democratic primary for governor, Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor won 52 percent of the vote to defeat Secretary of State Cathy Cox, and will move on to face Republican Gov. Sonny Perdue in November.
McKinney, the state's first black woman elected to Congress, is seeking her seventh term after a scuffle in March with an officer who stopped her when he didn't recognize her as she entered a House office building. A federal grand jury in Washington declined to indict the congresswoman, but she had to apologize on the floor of the House. Johnson, a former county commissioner, has roots in McKinney's core constituency. With 95 percent of precincts reporting, 1,540 votes separated the two. They face an Aug. 8 runoff, and the winner will face Republican nominee Catherine Davis in the heavily Democratic district. "The battle's engaged and I intend to win," said McKinney early Wednesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/20/2006 00:00 ||
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Gosh, I wonder who she means by "us" in that poster... Would that be an inclusive big tent "we all be God's chilluns" us -- or an exclusive pimped limo "fuck-off crackers" us?
#6
Geez, this has nothing to do with her voting record. This is a holocaust-denying anti-semitic anti-American anti-military egomaniacal stark raving lunatic. Getting into a debate over her voting record won't defeat her, because she's a black congresswoman from a predominantly black district and in most cases, her constituency agrees with her voting record. Confront them with her racism, her anti-semitism, her bigotry, her psychotic conspiracy theories, and law-breaking instead. If they ever get it that she's an evil f*ck, maybe they will vote her out.
Roll Call Number: 0427
Bill Passed (House)
How members voted
Representative Cynthia Ann McKinney did not vote.
Read statements Representative McKinney made in this general time period.
Official Title of Legislation:
HR 2116: An act to amend title 38, United States Code, to enhance programs providing health care, education, memorial, and other benefits for veterans, to authorize major medical facility projects for the Department of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.
HT Murdoc
The Evergreen Aviation Museum was poised today to take the first step toward addition of a choice piece to its collection - an F-14D Super Tomcat, the fighter plane Tom Cruise flew in the hit film "Top Gun."
But the flareup of violence between the Israeli army and Hezbollah and Hamas militias in Lebanon and Gaza led to a change in plans. The Navy, which had been planning to replace the U.S.S. Theodore Roosevelt's F-14 Tomcats with newer, more multi-dimensional F-18 Hornets, has decided to instead dispatch the carrier to the Middle East with its current squadron of F-14s - including the one promised to the museum.
According to Colin Powers, Evergreen's director of air restoration, the museum is still in line for the plane, which will be flown into Portland, dismantled there and trucked down to McMinnville for reassembly. But not until its new unscheduled tour ends, and no one yet knows when that will be.
The Navy had originally planned to fly the plane directly into town. It would have been the largest and most powerful jet fighter ever to touch down at the McMinnville Airport. I had a hard time deciding whether this was Ops or Local
However, officers eventually concluded that the airport lacked sufficient runway length, and that setting up the cable-hooking mechanism used for F-14 carrier landings wasn't feasible. They decided they would have to fly it into Portland instead.
Last used in the bombing of targets in Iraq in October, the plane destined for the museum runs 62 feet in length, 16 feet in height and 38 to 64 feet in width, depending on whether it has its wings fully extended or in swept-back position. The plane is part of fighter squadron VF-31, whose insignia features the cartoon character Felix the Cat. The squadron has long been assigned to the Roosevelt, which had been supporting U.S. military operations in Iraq prior to being called home for re-outfitting with F-18 hornets. VF-31 is one of only two squadrons in the U.S. Navy still flying Tomcats. The Navy, which began taking delivery on them in the early 1970s, has been steadily swapping them out of its carrier-based squadrons in favor of the more versatile Hornets. There's an update that says not to get excited, but still...
#1
However, officers eventually concluded that the airport lacked sufficient runway length....The airport runway is 5240 feet long so that statement is a crock!!!!
Butterfly knives, stun guns and spiked ball flails would be banned from Tacoma stores under an ordinance the City Council is considering.
Samurai swords, daggers and hatchets would not.
Thats the compromise officials made after struggling for more than a year to figure out how to stop the sale of some weapons without also banning the sale of kitchen knives.
The issue arose out of neighborhood complaints about convenience stores selling swords, daggers and other weapons.
Assistant City Attorney Jon Walker said officials couldnt ban the sale of swords because they couldnt adequately define them. A butterfly knife is easy to define, he said. A sword is much more difficult to define, at least in terms of the law.
On paper, a bread knife and a small sword sound pretty similar.
There may be someone smarter than me who could come up with a definition, but we needed something that would hold up in front of a jury, Walker said.
Council members heard the first reading of the ordinance Tuesday night. Theyre expected to vote on it next week.
The proposed ordinance expands the list of knives and weapons that stores are banned from selling to include slingshots, fighting knives, some martial arts weapons and electroshock devices such as Tasers. Fighting knives include knives with multiple blades, knives disguised as a pen or a cane and knives that automatically open when pulled from a sheath.
Stores could continue to sell swords, daggers and other kinds of knives.
However, the existing ordinance already limited how people could carry them. Individuals are prohibited from carrying dangerous knives or deadly weapons on their person or in their vehicle unless the item is secured in some kind of container, such as a wrapper or a toolbox, and is being carried to a repair shop, from a persons home to their place of business or from one house to another if the person is moving.
A dangerous knife is defined as having a blade more than 31/2 inches or any dagger, sword, bayonet, bolo knife, hatchet, straight-edge razor or razor blade not in its package or shaving appliance.
A deadly weapon is defined as an instrument capable of being used offensively or defensively and likely to cause death or serious bodily harm.
The proposed ordinance would add exemptions for law enforcement officers, animal control officers, military officers and scuba divers.
Licensed hunters, boaters and anglers were already exempt while hunting, camping or fishing.
Walker said there are stores currently selling items that would be prohibited under the new ordinance. Hes hoping for voluntary compliance with the new rules.
#1
Geez louise what a bunch of cowardly tyrants they're growing in the NW.
What about my 10" chef's knife? How about the meat cleavers? I'm not a "licensed" chef you gonna raid my house like that two bit Hitler in Illinois? What about my paint scraper that uses a single edge razor blade?
These despicable lunatics should be set out on a raft to drift in the Pacific surrounded by buckets of chum.
#3
Long, long ago Jarhead spoke of preparing for hijack attempts on any airplane flight he took, as filling a sock with the coins from his pocket to create a cosh, tying his shoelaces together to create a garrotte (spelling?), having a ballpoint pen, and always holding on to his bread rolls from the meal. Of course, he *is* a licenced professional...
#7
Good gawd, is there nothing else the "do-gooders" in Tacoma have to worry about? Exactly how many people have been harmed by one of these weapons right after it was bought at a convenience store? Duh, just the fact that a freakin' convenince store is selling them says it should be safe....someone could just buy one, then turn right around and hold the place up to "get his money back + interest."
And, they're taking away slingshots? When's the last time you've heard someone being killed by a slingshot (David & Goliath not included)? That's an all-american boy's dream as a lil' tike...to have a slingshot and now the "safety police" are takin' that away too? Almost makes me thankful to be living next door (not in) to Cynthia McKinney's district, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
07/20/2006 20:57 Comments ||
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Banning KBar? Lets see them take one from a Marine.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Democratic Rep. 
