The Government Accounting Office released its report today, GAO Report For Profit Colleges (pdf), highlighting a number of abuses by for-profit trade schools. The GAO engaged in undercover testing to ferret out the fraud and abuse in for-profit admissions and lending. Pretty scary stuff. The GAO Report notes that… Continue Reading →
Kind of excited to see that the Oregon Consumer web page has gotten its sea legs and is publishing. Here is the link for some interesting information on a wide range of consumer issues. I’ll be monitoring and noting some of their published reports. My hope is… Continue Reading →
Yesterday, The Oregonian published this interesting piece in the Sunday opinion section. I have a number of reactions, but I think I’ll let it sit for now. My grandmother taught me the value of manners; one of her cardinal rules is that if you can’t say anything nice, don’t… Continue Reading →
Yesterday, Mike Doyle and I appeared in U.S. District Court here in Oregon to argue against dismissal of 26 Oregon National Guard soldiers’ toxic exposure claims against Kellogg Brown and Root. Judge Papak heard oral argument for close to an hour and half. As always, he was well prepared with… Continue Reading →
Just came across this passionate and detailed response by KBR to questions posed by MSNBC regarding our soldiers’ sodium dichromate exposure at the Qarmat Ali water treatment plant in Iraq. “Wow,” is about all I can muster by way of comment. I really can’t wait to try… Continue Reading →
I’m at home this evening with two computers going side by side. On the desktop, I have a several thousand page PDF of Army FOIA documents open, as I wade through KBR discovery. My laptop is up with a running digest of the interesting tidbits. It’s my own odd-duck style… Continue Reading →
For those who watch the U.S. Supreme Court, a theory of constitutional interpretation–so-called “originalism”–is now in vogue. The theory, which is often mouthed by politicians, suggests that the only way to interpret the U.S. Constitution is to look at what the founders wanted and thought and felt back when they… Continue Reading →
Yes, I’m going to name names here. That’s how we do things. But before I start throwing the dirt, I want to be clear about what they’ve done. Last week, a case I’ve been working on–Bixby v. KBR–got a lot of press. This is the Oregon National… Continue Reading →
Mike Doyle and I were in court this morning fighting off more KBR motions. The KBR defendants asked Judge Papak to prohibit us from taking discovery because–according to KBR–their motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction required no discovery. They also asked Judge Papak to prohibit discovery until… Continue Reading →
This is something of a rant directed at spammers. Regular readers and interested visitors aren’t covered by this. But you know that! Allowing comments on this blog is both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing when I get thoughtful feedback that makes think about something. Ditto for those… Continue Reading →