Back in 1993, I was 21 years old and worked as a clerk in a 7-11 convenience store. One evening, while working the swing shift, I was robbed at gunpoint. When you advocate for handgun bans and gun control, I just shake my head. Obviously, you've never had to deal with a stranger threatening to take your life or the life of your family.

The economic news this week added further evidence to the story that the economy is bottoming. While we are not out of the woods yet (by a long shot) the worst is behind us.

Now that the SEC has issued its proposed proxy access rules and asked for comments by August 17, a critical issue for public companies is what do to in response to this SEC initiative and when. In this Proxy Access Analysis, we provide suggestions for how general counsel and corporate secretaries may begin to educate their management and boards on the issues presented by the proposed rules, evaluate the alternatives for commenting on the proposed rules and plan a course of action for their companies if proxy access is adopted for the 2010 proxy season.

Google's announcement of their Chrome OS project has triggered a good deal of speculation about Google's objectives, and about what the final product might be like. The Technology Review, published by MIT, has an article by Erica Naone, which discusses how some characteristics of Google's Chrome browser might have implications for the OS project.

Without question, the first six months of 2009 have been a period of sharply increased enforcement activity at the Securities and Exchange Commission. The financial crisis, the new administration, new SEC leadership, increased funding and the focus of Congress and the media have all combined to encourage heightened government scrutiny.

More than 600,000 technicians have become certified through the CompTIA A+ certification program, according to Mike Meyers, the author of the book All-in-One CompTIA A+ Certification. Meyers calls the test the "de facto standard for entrance into the PC industry."

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada, a federal regulator responsible for overseeing compliance with that country's broad data protection statute, has issued a long-awaited report on Facebook's privacy practices. The investigation was triggered by a formal complaint filed by students at the University of Ontario's cyberlaw clinic.

Dispensers of alcohol-based rubs are appearing in public places in an attempt to reduce the spread of pandemic influenza. Are these effective at removing virus from hands?

A young Florida mother -- denied health insurance due to odd heart
palpitations -- suffers a heart attack, financially devastating her
family. A California widow dies after her health insurance refuses to
pay for care. A 62-year-old loses his job, cannot find health
insurance and now is losing his sight because he can't afford surgery. These are a few of the stories told on PrescriptionforChange.org, an
organization working to make affordable health care insurance
available to all Americans.

There are many great villains in cinema -- men and women we pity, loathe, or even guiltily admire -- but many of them are nuanced, human characters, or otherwise mythologically ethereal, and therefore do not correspond well to the sort of creature that populates the political right. But there are indeed some characters so astutely, witheringly portrayed, and so accurately channel the basic animus of the right-wing pathology that they deserve specific mention.

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