One Corporate Spying Lawsuit Goes to Jury, but This Isn’t the First Time a Company in Media Baron’s Empire Has Been Accused of Hacking

Today a federal jury in Los Angeles resumes deliberations in a corporate espionage lawsuit filed against a company owned by Rupert Murdoch seeking $1 billion in damages.

Two previous lawsuits alleging similar claims of corporate espionage by Murdoch’s company, however, never made it to a courtroom, and a fourth is still pending. Critics say the company’s business tactics extend beyond playing hardball to predatory piracy and even illegal conduct.  Read more 

EchoStar-NDS Group Trial Nears Conclusion

The parties are in the final days of what was expected to be a month-long trial. In the suit brought by then-Echostar (now Dish Network) and the security firm it co-owns, NagraStar LLC, the digital-broadcast satellite company alleges that NDS, a rival security firm owned by News Corp., hacked Echostar smart cards. …

… Echostar is asking for $93.8 million in damages for itself and NagraStar for the actual cost of the swapping out the compromised cards.  Read more 

UnitedHealth’s Ingenix faces mounting legal troubles

Now, a consumer is raising the stakes a bit by attempting to get class action status for a suit against Ingenix itself. In the suit, which was filed in Connecticut, plaintiff Jeffrey Weintraub contends that he was defrauded by a conspiracy in which health plans calculate lowball, out-of-network rates using bogus Ingenix data. Weintraub also names UHG, Oxford health Plans, Aetna, Cigna and other insurers in the suit.  Read more 

To quote Reverend Lovejoy: “I never thought I’d be doing this again.”

But go read Kos… and a MoveOn.org dude at Huffington Post.

I am as serious as an attack of buyer’s remorse.
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Once again we are presented with evidence that Barack Obama is not the special and transformational figure he is advertised to be. Christi Parsons tells the tale:

Joining Chelsea Clinton and other women leaders to campaign for Hillary Clinton today is Alice Palmer, the former state senator who picked Obama to be her successor back in the mid-90s. When she tried to reclaim her spot, though, Obama got her booted from the ballot.

For those of you who aren’t familar with Ms. Palmer’s story, it is detailed in the Chicago Tribune:  Read more 

How quickly things change in Obamaland. It seems like only yesterday he was claiming over and over that his words DO matter. Now he is saying that either we misunderstood what he said or that he didn’t choose the right words.

Bush needed translators to explain what his words were and the media complied; now BO, who seemingly cannot use the words to say what he means, needs the media to translate what words he meant to say.

It appeared for a while there that voters who were fed up with nearly 8 years of the malapropos and fractured syntax of Bush were opting for clarity. They thought BO spoke so clearly when he said things like, “Change” – “Yes we can”, and all his other oft repeated slogans. Then it happened.  Read more 

The New E-spionage Threat  Read more 

Susie connects some dots. The sentence you’ll be interested in has been helpfully bolded:

…purged almost all progressive anti-war activists…

followed closely by:

… the remaining candidates appeared to be mostly “bundlers and their girlfriends”…

How nice. For everybody! Nobody would have predicted….  Read more 

Just when we needed some comic relief from the primary!
Vitter might take the Fifth; D.C. Madam trial set to kick off Monday

WASHINGTON — An attorney who has represented Sen. David Vitter, R-La., told a federal judge Friday that a client of his who was subpoenaed by the defense to testify in the so-called D.C. Madam case would assert his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination if the court insists he appear as a witness.

I am looking forward to having a good hearty laugh.

http://www.hillaryclintonforum.net/
pic from this forum

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm182…

I think Krugman was right about the corporate culture at Bear, Stearns. Get a load of this from the Times today:

James Dimon tramped through the rain on Wednesday evening and strode into the headquarters of Bear Stearns, the embattled investment bank he hopes to buy for a mere $2 a share.

More than 400 Bear executives — seething, fearful and to their dismay, far poorer than they were a week ago — were waiting for him.

“I don’t think Bear did anything to deserve this,” Mr. Dimon said. “Our hearts go out to you.”

Haw. Except make a series of really bad business judgments, of course.

And now, the best, just the best:  Read more 

WaPo:

The former treasurer for the National Republican Congressional Committee transferred as much as $1 million in committee funds into his personal and business accounts, officials announced today, describing a scheme that could prove to be one of the largest campaign frauds in recent history.

For at least four years, Christopher J. Ward, who is under investigation by the FBI, used wire transfers [Hmmm… cash!] to funnel money out of the NRCC and into other political committees he controlled, then shifted the funds into his own personal accounts, the committee said.

“The evidence we have today indicated we have been deceived and betrayed for a number of years by a highly respected and trusted individual,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), NRCC chairman.

Well, now you know how we feel, Tom!  Read more 

Won’t happen anytime soon. Why? Because there are more high ranking, trannie/gay/metrosexual/perv Republicans who worry about such a law than any large gathering of liberals and progressives could ever produce.

We’re not ashamed of what we do, who we are, who we love. They are. There have been many times in history when pr0n has safeguarded freedom; this is one of them. The domestic use of the FISA laws is your guide; they spy because they expect to find us doing what they are, and they can’t imagine life without hatred, fear and perversion. And they despise us not only because we can, but because we are/do.

Wolcott (thanks, CD) eviscerates teacherken, that tortured soul, long-time diarist at the Obama 527 formerly known as Daily Kos:

Reciting her sins and liabilities has become a familiar refrain, but if it’s the Gregorian chant you live by, if you find Hillary Clinton such an insupportable choice for the Democratic nomination that you prefer to suckle your pride and idealism rather than soil your conscience should she be at the top of the ticket, fine, have fun with that. But, please, I beg of thee, could you at least spare the rest of us your longwinded, preeny, pious dirges?

I have, in sorrow, come to the conclusion that should Hillary Clinton be the Democratic nominee, I will not cast a vote for president.

Explain, the Kos Diarist proceeds to do, for numerous earnest, soul-searching paragraphs.

And I realize that in posting this I may sunder some friendships. There will be those who accuse me of various transgressions.

Lawd, you’d think it was Judgment at Nuremberg, with all this lofty, Oscar-caliber emoting. If only returning to the womb were a viable escape option from Hillary’s taloned deathgrip!

Oh, snap!  Read more 

Cuomo expands probe of health insurers

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday he issued new subpoenas to Aetna Inc., Cigna Corp., UnitedHealth Group Inc. and WellPoint Inc., and other health insurers in a broadening investigation of possible fraud costing consumers hundreds of millions of dollars.

Cuomo is also looking for documents and to subpoena testimony from the CEOs of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, Excellus, and HIP health insurers.  Read more 

Wait for it…  Read more 

I always expected the question of how Mike Huckabee’s son killed that dog* would be a fertile source for opposition researchers.

But I didn’t expect that would happen the minute the Iowa polls closed! Fuck!

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[Welcome Online WSJ readers. I think you might want to be here.]

At this point, I’m pretty realistic about the strategy of the Sternly Worded Letter. But Joe Biden gets off a good one here, writing to Fred Fielding:

On December 10, 2007, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino stated that you issued a written directive to White House employees to preserve documents related to the destruction of the CIA interrogation tapes. Ms. Perino did not provide a copy of the directive, however, and she was unable to answer questions as to its breadth and scope.

Please confirm that the directive to preserve documents applied to the Executive Office of the President, including the National Security Council, in addition to immediate White House staff. In light of the Office of the Vice President’s record of fatuous arguments that it is not subject to the authority of the President, please also confirm that the directive included the Office of the Vice President and that the Office of the Vice President intends to comply.

Indeed.  Read more 

Or not. Wonder how many of the geniuses who looted the mortage system in the subprime debacle lived like this? My guess: Most of them. Or will die like this? My guess: Not many. They’ll live out their lives with their ill-gotten gains, rather like Nazi concentration camp guards. The Times has the “lurid” details:

A life of private jets and black-tie balls ended with Seth Tobias, a wealthy investment manager and a familiar presence on CNBC, floating face down in the swimming pool of his mansion here.

Mr. Tobias ran a $300 million hedge fund from an office on Park Avenue.

Mrs. Tobias spent $9,628 to have the pool drained and resurfaced days after her husband died, according to documents filed in an unrelated case.

Mr. Tobias made — and apparently spent — millions of dollars a year, court documents suggest. Outstanding expenses at the time of his death included $52,532 on his American Express Centurion Black Card and $7,960 on his Bank of America credit card. He paid $1,367 a month to lease a Land Rover. His monthly cable bill from Comcast was $535.19.His mortgage payment for one of his homes was $35,000 a month.

The “Centurion Black” card. Don’t you love the imperial imagery? And I bet Tobias didn’t have any trouble with his mortgage, eh?  Read more 

Larry Craig, Trent Lott and Mitch McConnell walk into a bar…

Sorry, I guess I’m just irresponsibly speculating. Don’t let the door hit ya, and all that. Word is he’s out now the better to avoid new ethics rules about former officeholders and lobbying.

[Oopsie. Scottie walked it back. I guess it was just a cheap stunt to sell books. Who knew?]

Your case has re-opened. On Plame, what did Bush know, and when did he know it? ’Cause Scott “Sucker MC” McClellan dropped a dime:

E&P was first mainstream news outlet to report on Monday night that the McClellan excerpt [from his new tell-all book] reads:

“The most powerful leader [sic] in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

“There was one problem. It was not true.

“I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration “were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President’s chief of staff, and the president himself.”

Chris Dodd—yay!—responds:  Read more 

Of course, we already found that out with the CPA in Iraq, when Bush turned reconstruction into a children’s crusade for Republican operatives.* And that’s the moral for the latest Republican operative to be installed as Attorney General: Christianist Rachel Paulose, who quoted Bible verses as a management tool. Tiny Kudos to Mukasey for defenestrating Rachel with dispatch:

Her departure “was a mutual decision” between Paulose and officials in Justice’s headquarters, said one source familiar with the decision, speaking about a personnel matter on the condition of anonymity.

Now, savor the language as the administrators stick in the shiv:  Read more 

Too, too delicious! Congressional Quarterly politics:  Read more 

New Orleans Advocate:

Ex-prostitute tells Hustler of Vitter encounters
Vitter used condoms and engaged in straight sex, “no weird fetishes or anything like that,” [Wendy] Ellis says in the magazine.

Ellis says Vitter did one thing, though, that none of her other clients did; he took his used condoms with him.

Uh, that’s not weird? I mean, what’s he doing with them? Keeping a scrapbook?  Read more 

And that’s the way the telcos like it, uh huh. Times:

As cellphone use has skyrocketed, making it hard to avoid hearing half a [noisy, useless, yammering, overly personal, and non-stop] conversation in many public places, a small but growing band of rebels is turning to a blunt countermeasure: the cellphone jammer, a gadget that renders nearby mobile devices impotent.

The jamming technology works by sending out a radio signal so powerful that phones are overwhelmed and cannot communicate with cell towers. The range varies from several feet to several yards, and the devices cost from $50 to several hundred dollars. Larger models can be left on to create a no-call zone.

Of course, those Fourth Amendment-trashing assholes at Verizon aren’t too happy about this:  Read more