Legal ruling: A burrito is not a sandwich

A Superior Court judge in Worcester, Massachusetts has issued a legal ruling that a burrito is not a sandwich. I think that's pretty sound legal judgment--a sandwich has at least one piece of bread, and a tortilla, while having some bread-like properties and functions, is not bread.

The ruling occurred because Panera Bread Co. was trying to prevent the White City Shopping Center in Shrewsbury from leasing space to Qdoba Mexican Grill. Panera Bread's lease agreement stated that White City Shopping Center would not lease space to any other sandwich shop.

The legal ruling stated that "A sandwich is not commonly understood to include burritos, tacos and quesadillas, which are typically made with a single tortilla and stuffed with a choice filling of meat, rice, and beans."

Expert witness Chris Schlesinger stated in an affidavit that "I know of no chef or culinary historian who would call a burrito a sandwich. Indeed, the notion would be absurd to any credible chef or culinary historian."

Indeed.

UPDATE (November 13, 2006): The commenters at Jamie Zawinski's blog take the discussion much further.

Democrats off to a lousy start in dealing with Congressional corruption

It looks like the Democrats are all set to put some of the most corrupt Democrats in Congress into leadership positions in the House.

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV), one of CREW's top 20 most corrupt Congressmen, is set to become leader of the House Appropriations committee. His sleazy deals and earmarks have already caused him to be a target of an FBI investigation.

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), another of CREW's top 20 most corrupt Congressmen, is set to become leader of the Defense Appropriations subcommittee. He was caught on tape in Abscam explaining how he works scams.

Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) will chair the House Permanent Standing Committee on Intelligence, despite no intelligence background, charges of accepting bribes while a judge, and being the sixth federal judge to be removed from office by Congress on charges of perjury and conspiracy to obtain a bribe.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) may become the House Majority Leader. He actively seeks funds from K Street lobbyists, and voted for last year's bankruptcy bill.

This is ridiculous--the major campaign issue in the mid-term election this week was corruption, and the Democrats are already doing their best to put their worst offenders in control.

Gridlock helps slow government growth

The most recent issue of The Economist, which arrived last weekend, correctly called the outcome of the U.S. elections and the reasons (corruption, incompetence, Iraq). In the special report on the U.S. mid-term elections appears this box of data taken from Stephen Slivinski's book Buck Wild: How Republicans Broke the Bank and Became the Party of Big Government, which shows the benefit of having control of the executive and legislative branches of the government in the hands of different parties:

Divide and save
Annual growth in federal spending per head under recent administrations

Unified government* Growth, %
Lyndon Johnson 4.6
George Bush junior 3.1**
Jimmy Carter 2.9

Divided government Growth, %
Richard Nixon/Gerald Ford 1.9
Ronald Reagan 1.7
George Bush senior 0.6
Bill Clinton 0.3

* President's party controlled House and Senate during most of term.
** First five years.

I'm looking forward to some gridlock.

How well connected is your zip code?

The Center for Public Integrity has set up a "Media Tracker" based on FCC data by zip code which allows you to see how well-connected your zip code is. For each zip code, it will list the number of broadband providers and the number of owners of various media resources in your area (newspapers, radio and television stations. My zip code comes up as "well connected" with 18 broadband providers (a few more than the ones I identified in my survey of Phoenix-area broadband providers).

HBO "Hacking Democracy" documentary online

You can watch it at Google Video. Everyone should be aware of the issues raised in this documentary.

Rumsfeld stepping down

An unexpected bonus for today.

A few from CREW's list of corrupt politicians given the boot

Of CREW's list of the twenty most corrupt politicians in Congress, seven or eight will no longer be in office next term. While it is extremely disappointing that so many sleazy politicians get re-elected, it is at least gratifying that the re-election rate for incumbents on this list is significantly lower than average.

Sen. Conrad Burns' (R-MT) race against Jon Tester is still too close to call, but Tester has a slight lead.
Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) has retired, and will be replaced by Bob Corker (R).
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) was voted out, and will be replaced by Bob Casey, Jr. (D).
Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) was re-elected.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) was re-elected.
Rep. John Doolittle (R-CA) was re-elected.
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL) was re-elected.
Rep. Katharine Harris (R-FL) failed in her attempt to win a position in the Senate, defeated by Bill Nelson (D).
Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA) was re-elected.
Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-CA) was re-elected.
Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) was re-elected (and unopposed in the general election).
Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV) was re-elected.
Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) was re-elected.
Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA) was voted out, and will be replaced by Jerry McNerny (D).
Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ) was re-elected.
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) was re-elected.
Rep. John Sweeney (R-NY) was voted out, and will be replaced by Kirsten Gillibrand (D).
Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC) was voted out, and will be replaced by Joseph Shuler (D).
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) was re-elected.
Rep. Curt Weldon (R-PA) was voted out, and will be replaced by Joe Sestak (D).

CREW's dishonorable mentions also saw two removals from a list of five:

Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT) was re-elected.
Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) was re-elected.
Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) was voted out, and will be replaced by Harry Mitchell (D).
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) was re-elected.
Rep. Don Sherwood (R-PA) was voted out, and will be replaced by Carney (D).

Arizona election results

The good news: Arizona did not elect aspiring theocrat Len Munsil (who was soundly defeated by incumbent Governor Janet Napolitano), got rid of corrupt Congressman J.D. Hayworth (replacing him with former Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell), narrowly voted down an amendment to the state Constitution to ban gay marriage and anything "similar to" it, and voted in favor of greater protections against eminent domain abuse.

The bad news: Arizona re-elected Sen. Jon Kyl and Rep. Rick Renzi, approved the creation of a new bureaucracy to continually raise the minimum wage (the main effect of which is to reduce teen employment; it has negligible positive effects for low wage earners, versus something that would genuinely be effective like reducing payroll taxes), passed the worse of the two anti-smoking measures, banned probation for methamphetamine abuse offenses, and passed all of the anti-illegal immigration measures (declaring English the official language, prohibiting illegal immigrants from posting bail or being awarded certain kinds of damages in court, and limiting educational services to illegal immigrants).

Teenager Jarrett Maupin (Al Sharpton, Jr.) was elected to the Phoenix Union High School District Board in Ward 2. Maupin, who was a member of the Republican club at Brophy College Prep before switching schools to St. Mary's and becoming a Democrat and protege of Sharpton, charged that Brophy students demonstrated their racism by referring to "blackboards."

Le Nature's water company used for a Christian Republican's scam

La Trobe, Pennsylvania's Le Nature's water company, run by Republican and aspiring evangelical leader Gregory Podlucky, was forced into Chapter 7 bankruptcy by creditors after it's turned out the CEO was engaged in major fraud. Le Nature's reported $275 million in revenue when it only had $35 million in revenue. The company kept two sets of books, and has less than $1 million in cash and over $750 million in bank and bond debt, lease obligations, and other liabilities. Two safes at the company headquarters were found to contain about $1 million in gold watches and jewelry.

Podlucky is accused of falsifying board minutes and defrauding a lender in a lawsuit filed against him by two private equity firms that are minority shareholders. Podlucky was being defended by Albert Manwaring of Pepper Hamilton's Wilmington, Delaware office, but he withdrew from the case on November 1.

$440,000 of the company's money was donated to the Missy's Place Foundation, named after Podlucky's deceased daughter Melissa, and that Foundation purchased land for Podlucky's proposed Grace Community Church of the Valley in Ligonier, Pennsylvania.

More details at the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, Long or Short Capital, and at MIT student Jay Silver's website, who reviewed Le Nature's water only to be harassed by someone apparently associated with the company.

Le Nature's is closing its Phoenix plant and laying off 85 workers.

Republican dirty tricks in New Mexico

In New Mexico, the state Republican Party has been calling registered Democrats and telling them that their polling places have changed, giving them incorrect information. The NM Republican Party head says it was just one instance, but the Democratic Party has identified at least five, and is seeking an injunction.

UPDATE: This has now been reported to have occurred in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New York in addition to New Mexico.