The Hall of Fire

Lali, my understanding is that the police are reviewing the security tapes to try to identify those who were responsible, but that they are not hopeful. I agree that they the ones that are most culpable. "foreseeable" seems pretty subjective, dontcha think? You betcha! ;) But as Lali corre...

What if instead of an employee, a shopper died? Wouldn't the company be responsible for that since it happened in the premises? Just a broadly related thought/question - if somebody walks into a Wal-mart and starts shooting people, can the Wal-mart be held liable for that? The answer is the same in...

Since this was a worker who was killed in the course of his employment, any civil lawsuit would most likely be preempted by Workers Compensation law. Even if that were not the case, I think there would be a serious issue of whether it was foreseeable that the crowd would actually jump over the barra...

A lot of complicated issues are presented in this thread. I'm still sorting out what I think about them, before I say anything substantive. But I will, I promise.

I've been thinking about this thread recently. So often, disagreements come from the different sides' differing perspectives about the use of language. Often one will take offense at something in what the other person said that the other person did not mean to suggest, simply because they are thinki...

I think we all have to focus on the fact that all good-thinking folk have a common cause, whether Indians and Pakistanis, Muslims and Hindus, or for that matter Christians and Jews. This kind of tragedy can work both ways; it can serve to drive people apart, or it can be a catalyst to bringing peopl...

CNN has an interesting article today that looks at the broader picture of the fissures within the Democratic Party, suggesting that even with a large majority, it may be difficult to get things done. New battle brews on Capitol Hill: Dems vs. Dems It will really test President-Elect Obama's politica...

A couple of interesting notes about the history of this chapter. Tom, of course, already existed before LOTR was even conceived, along with Goldberry, Old Man Willow, and the Barrow-wights. All appeared in Tolkien's poem "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil" (also called "The History of To...

Maybe this will help people in this country and elsewhere understand that terrorism is a worldwide problem that we all need to combat together. That certainly would not negate the horrible tragedy that is occurring, but it would be a positive side effect.

Welcome to Lissuin, our newest member!

and an early Happy Thanksgiving!

What you are doing, sf, is trying to debunk an position that you disagree with by taking it to a ludicrous extreme. Even someone who doesn't particularly agree with the position that you are attacking can see that doing so renders the discussion meaningless; instead of talking about real life situat...

I have moved one post from this thread to the new Henneth Annûn forum, here. Please note that this action is not meant to be punitive in any way.

Edit: I moved a second post. Please respond to these actions in that thread, not here in this thread.

It's unofficially official:

Official: Gates to stay at Pentagon

I think this is a very smart move, and goes a long way towards showing that Obama words about choosing the best people and being bi-partisan weren't just words.

soli is quite correct. Please do not characterize other posters in a negative fashion. If you disagree with what someone says, say so, but respond to what they actual have said. If you think that there is more to what they are saying "between the lines" as it were, ask them if that is what...

Okay. Authorities investigate Sarah Palin effigy in West Hollywood This incident was discussed at length (and condemned) at the time it happened. As for splitting the thread, there seems to be quite a lot of hate coming out of the closet in relation to the mortgage crisis. I'm not inclined to split...

Those questions are really beyond my knowledge base. Logic and common sense would seem to suggest that once significant time and money has been invested towards making the films, it would be too late to rescind the rights to make them. But I'm sure I don't need to tell you that logic and common sens...

My apologies to sf for attributing a quote to him that wasn't his. I have edited my post above accordingly.

sf, you yourself have been greatly contributing to the "personal and antagonistic tone to this discussion" with comments like: I find it telling Soli that you want to echo the sentiments of folks such as Limbaugh and Hannity and place the blame of letting stupid poor people buy homes that ...

Doesn't not allowing punitive damages pretty much preclude there was no malfeasance? Just to elaborate on this, New York law (in contrast to California law, for instance) requires that there proof of a public harm, not just a private harm. Under California law, you just need to prove that the condu...