Edward

I'm sorry, but I don't do class action lawsuits. (Ha! Ha! - just kidding, Weizen!)

Not in Britain. There's a doctrine about "reasonable force" over here, which generally doesn't include killing someone, unless you can show that your own life really depended on it. There have been a few celebrated cases here in which even wounding a burglar with a gun has led to prosecution and guilty verdicts. Nobody agrees with this. However, the implication of the alternative is that people start arming themselves and this seems like the thin end of the wedge in creating a society like the US. So, in this case, I think I side with the narrow interpretation of what a person can be allowed to do. MG The doctrine of reasonable force is also in effect in the United States. A person may not use deadly physical force unless he/she is in reasonable fear of serious physical injury or death AND (unless you are in Louisiana or Florida) retreat is impossible. However, there is no duty to retreat if you are in your own home. I think it unfortunate if British law requires retreat in such instance. As for the lawsuit, it definitely has merit, and, under the letter of the law, the plaintiff should prevail. Are you a lawyer? Yes, among other things. Of course, I am by no means a criminal law expert; but I do have a solid understanding of the rules of self-defense and, just as any good lawyer, I know how to look up what I do not know or understand. How this case is decided is going to depend largely on the particular facts and circumstances. You definitely cannot pursue a retreating criminal who assaulted you in order to beat the crap out of him. I got the impression that that was what happened here, but after re-reading this thread I am not so sure. I, admittedly, do not understand what measures may legally be taken to pursue and restrain an assailant while waiting for law enforcement officers to arrive, which might very well be what the defendants here attempted to do. Jazzypaul, I do not think that it is a matter of siding with the plaintiff. It is a matter of what the law permits, and, believe it or not, most laws were put into place to protect certain rights even though the results that are ultimately reached in a particular incident may seem perverse.

Not in Britain. There's a doctrine about "reasonable force" over here, which generally doesn't include killing someone, unless you can show that your own life really depended on it. There have been a few celebrated cases here in which even wounding a burglar with a gun has led to prosecution and guilty verdicts. Nobody agrees with this. However, the implication of the alternative is that people start arming themselves and this seems like the thin end of the wedge in creating a society like the US. So, in this case, I think I side with the narrow interpretation of what a person can be allowed to do. MG The doctrine of reasonable force is also in effect in the United States. A person may not use deadly physical force unless he/she is in reasonable fear of serious physical injury or death AND (unless you are in Louisiana or Florida) retreat is impossible. However, there is no duty to retreat if you are in your own home. I think it unfortunate if British law requires retreat in such instance. As for the lawsuit, it definitely has merit, and, under the letter of the law, the plaintiff should prevail.

I would gladly take that bet! Avery Johnson is a great, young coach, but I would take Pat Riley at the helm any day.

Sadly, this is the last art exhibit I visited, last October at LACMA. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of bringing a woman who turned out to be as cultured as Ma Kettle. NOJ, (and any other Van Gogh lovers for that matter), be sure to visit the Rijksmuseum Kroller-Muller in Otterlo, the Netherlands, which, I believe, houses the second largest Van Gogh collection in the world. Many of my favorite pieces are contained there.

I wish you a rather belated happy birthday. I hope that you had a great one!

Yeah, I thought the same thing. At least the Bruins will have Josh Shipp back next season (as well as everyone else of import except Bozeman and Hollins).

Happy Birthday, Joe! I hope that all is well with you.

Happy Birthday, mate! I hope that you enjoyed your day.

Both teams played on the road the night before, and both teams were playing their eighth game in twelve days. Hey, I am not gloating - it was the Lakers' first win against the Pistons in the last seven tries. I think that we are looking at another Spurs-Pistons NBA Finals. I do not believe that any other team in the Western Conference can beat the Spurs in the playoffs, and I give the Heat only a slight chance of unseating the Pistons.

Happy Birthday!!!

I choose the Seahawks for a good number of reasons. Hopefully, not all of them are bad.

For tomorrow's conference championship games, I choose Seattle and Pittsburgh - I REALLY hate the Broncos.

I also choose Denver, Carolina, Indy, and Seattle, although I am rooting against Denver and Indy. By the way, how annoyed are the rest of you with those really lame Pepsi machine commercials? Someone in marketing at Pepsi Co. should be sent packing.

Happy Birthday, Jeff! I hope that all is well with you and your family.

I'll take: Tampa Bay New England N.Y. Giants Pittsburgh

Argggh!!! I just received my monthly YourMusic shipment consisting of Cannonball Adderley's Domination and discovered that the music contained on the disc is really Jeff Golub's Temptation. The face of the CD erroneously indicates that it is the Cannonball Adderley session, and the barcode is one for BMG Direct. This is not all that uncommon a problem, although it has never happened to me before. I thought that I should pass this on for those of you (like myself) who are backlogged and may have this sitting around somewhere still sealed.

Soulstation1, I am confident that my tallies through week #13 (on page 14 of this thread) are accurate. My picks for the final week are: San Diego N.Y. Giants Indianapolis Cleveland N.Y. Jets Carolina Minnesota Cincinnati Pittsburgh New England Tampa Bay San Francisco Jacksonville Green Bay Washington Dallas (45 points) Happy New Year to you all!!!

My picks for the week are: Tampa Bay Cincinnati Carolina New Orleans Jacksonville Washington Pittsburgh San Diego St. Louis Miami Arizona Seattle Denver Chicago Minnesota New England (38 points)

Here's an outstanding buy: Mosaic Commodores as well as a horrible one: Davis/Coltrane Mosaic

My picks for week #15: Tampa Bay N.Y. Giants Denver Arizona Carolina Dallas Miami Minnesota San Diego Seattle Jacksonville Cincinnati Oakland St. Louis Chicago Green Bay (38 points MNF)

Hey, Soulstation1, I am sorry about not correcting my pick for MNF total points. Fortunately, it did not make any difference. My picks for the week are: Pittsburgh Cincinnati Tennessee Indianapolis New England Oakland Minnesota Carolina N.Y. Giants Seattle Washington Denver Kansas City San Diego Green Bay Atlanta (45 points total MNF) On a related note, I am very thankful to SoulStation1 for organizing and managing this pool, but I would like to note some corrections to the season-to-date scores. First, the results for Week 12 were inadvertently omitted and the results for Week 13 are shown as the results for Week 12. The results for Week 12 are: Ed: 11-4 (wins on points) SS1: 11-4 NOJ: 10-5 Conn: 9-6 Second, in Week 7, you (SS1) were either 8-6 or 7-7; you could not have been 8-7. For Week 13, I (Ed) was 12-4, not 15-4. Finally, my tally (based on the posted results) for those of us who have participated in this pool from the start is: Conn: 127-65 NOJ: 124-68 Ed: 121-71 SS1: 116-76 OR 115-77 depending upon the results for Week 7 At any rate, I hope that I am not coming across as an annoying, anal attorney/accountant type.

This should be coming in the mail any day now - I can't wait. I am partial to Mel Torme's version of "The Christmas Song" on the Decca In Hollywood disc.

My picks for week #13: Carolina Miami Pittsburgh N.Y. Giants Green Bay Baltimore Cleveland Minnesota Tampa Bay Indy Arizona St. Louis Kansas City New England San Diego Seattle (42 total points MNF)

My picks for week 12 are: Atlanta Dallas Cincinnati Carolina Tampa Bay Minnesota Kansas City San Diego Tennessee St. Louis Jacksonville Oakland Green Bay Seattle New Orleans Indianapolis (MNF 38 points)