Andrew Guzman Explains Benefits and Drawbacks of Free Trade

KGO-TV, Oct. 29, 2008 by David Louie
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/business&id=6477935

“For the waitress who’s not in a trading industry and who has a low income, that person is much better off with free trade because they get cheaper textiles, cheaper cars, cheaper food, and for people in industries that are trading, admittedly those people can suffer some dislocation if trade is open, but the flip side is true if trade is closed. If trade is closed, then other people lose their jobs,” said Andrew Guzman Ph.D., an international law professor and economist.

Jacob Hacker Testifies about Revamped 401(k) Proposal

Financial Week, Oct. 29, 2008 by Doug Halonen
http://www.financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081029/REG/810299989/1036

Jacob S. Hacker … said the investment default for the universal 401(k) would be a low-cost target-date fund, paid out in annuities at retirement. “In essence, universal 401(k)s along these lines would bring back something close to a guaranteed private pension,” referring to the plan’s annuitization feature, Mr. Hacker said in his testimony.

Christopher Edley Demands Equal Protection of Voting Rights

The Washington Post, Oct. 28, 2008 by Christopher Edley, Jr.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/27/AR2008102702405_pf.html

“Suppose in your neighborhood there are 600 registered voters per machine, while across town there are only 120 per machine…. On Election Day, your line wraps around the block and looks to be a four-hour wait, while in other areas lines are nonexistent. This ought to be a crime. It amounts to a “time-tax” on your right to vote, and some of your neighbors will undoubtedly give up and go home…. Voting rights advocates, watching this slow-motion train wreck that could disenfranchise so many minority voters, have filed emergency litigation in Virginia and Pennsylvania.”

Charles Weisselberg Questions Oakland Detective Longmire’s Interference in Bailey Case

cbs5.com, Oct. 26, 2008 by The Chauncey Bailey Project
http://cbs5.com/local/chauncey.bailey.evidence.2.849310.html

Charles Weisselberg said what is significant is that with Longmire arranging for Bey IV to come to the police station, [Detective] Arotzarena lost control of the case…. Because Bey IV came in with Longmire to surrender, Arotzarena “no longer had control of when (he) was going to arrest or have first contact with … Bey IV.” Arotzarena “was very specific in stating that he had never asked for Bey IV to come down to the police department,” Weisselberg said.

Franklin Zimring Agrees that Judicial Action Could Repair Prison Healthcare Mess

Los Angeles Times, Oct. 25, 2008 by Franklin E. Zimring
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-zimring25-2008oct25,0,3916250.story

“There is and must be a constitutional duty imposed on states to provide the inmates they lock up with decent medical care. Imprisonment forces the inmate into a total dependency on the state, and once the state chooses to impose this dependence—as California has on more individuals than any other state—it cannot abuse its absolute power.”

Daniel Farber Notes Stark Difference between Obama and McCain’s Energy Plans

San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 24, 2008 by Dan Farber
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/24/EDHR13M9OL.DTL&hw=apples+oranges+farber&sn=001&sc=1000

“Obama has proposed specific incentives and regulatory mandates, where McCain expresses only a vague hope that tax credits and prizes will stimulate change. If we have learned nothing else from 30 years of U.S. environmental law, it is that goals count for little without concrete legal strategies for accomplishing them.”

Jacob Hacker Warns of Risky Retirement Savings

Oakland Tribune, Oct. 23, 2008 by Josh Richman
http://www.insidebayarea.com/oaklandtribune/ci_10788512

UC Berkeley Professor Jacob Hacker, among experts testifying Wednesday, said Americans went from having a “three-legged stool” of retirement savings—Social Security, guaranteed private pensions, and personal savings—to just Social Security and private savings, be they in 401(k)s or elsewhere. “And we all know how wobbly a two-legged stool is.”

Bill Benemann Honors Justice Earl Warren’s Maverick Nature in Library Display

Berkeleyan, Oct. 22, by Carol Ness
http://berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/2008/10/22_warren.shtml

Warren emerged as a social liberal on the U.S. Supreme Court, taking part in a string of decisions that Benemann calls a watershed for the United States, including the landmark school-desegregation case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka. “That’s where I get the ‘maverick,'” says Benemann, whose archive contains an “Impeach Earl Warren” button from a 1960s campaign against the so-called activist judge.