Lawsuit accuses craigslist of promoting prostitution

An Illinois sheriff filed a federal lawsuit Thursday against the owners of craigslist, accusing the popular national classified-ad Web site of knowingly promoting prostitution. Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart wants craigslist to eliminate its Erotic Services section.

Share

Stocks Close Below 7000 to a Twelve Year Low

Stocks crashed through a psychological barrier on Monday, falling below 7000 to close down 4.24% for the day, at 6763 — the first market close under 7000 since May 1997. The broader S&P 500 was down sharply as well, falling 4.66% to finish at 700.82. The market opened on a sharp down note after absorbing a weekend of anxiety over AIG, the black hole of an insurance company that is swallowing another $30 billion of government assistance with no assurance that it won’t need more.

Share

Film Festival for Kids: High on Art, Low on Pandas

The New York International Children’s Film Festival , which opens this weekend, is the biggest children’s film festival in the U.S. This is not the kind of event where they screen Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears Another Who or Madagascar 3: Botswanarama! This is a venue for those budding cineastes between the ages of 3 and 18 for whom this weekend could not be complete without screening a film in the Children and War series — or another of the challenging entertainments chosen by the festival jury, which includes John Turturro, Susan Sarandon and Gus Van Sant. You can’t help feeling that if Rush Limbaugh were to come up with his fantasy politically-correct liberal-media-élite pile-on, it would sound a lot like a planning session for the NYICFF.

Share

I Bought an Expensive House. My Bad, Not Yours

I don’t like populists. First of all, they seem a lot more popular than I am. Second, they derive their popularity from exploiting our base fears — Joe McCarthy’s fear of communist takeover, George Wallace’s fear of black people, Lou Dobbs’ fear of other cultures, Joe the Plumber’s fear of working

Share

Can Michael Steele Broaden the Grand Old Party?

Michael Steele assumed the Republican party chairmanship barely a month ago, promising vast changes to help the GOP successfully compete in 21st century America. One of his first forays in that quest occurred Friday night, when Steele came to DuPage County, an affluent Chicago suburb of nearly one million, where the largely Republican establishment is battling an increasingly potent Democratic Party

Share

Why Obama’s Choice for Regulatory Czar Is Making Liberals Nervous

Cass Sunstein would not seem the kind of presidential appointee to get liberal groups up in arms. A professor at the University of Chicago Law School and prolific author, Sunstein is a reliable liberal on most questions of law and policy. So when President Barack Obama chose his old friend for a very powerful Washington job, director of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs , it seemed safe to assume that the appointment would be treated as good news by the environmental, labor and consumer groups that have been in despair for most of the Bush years.

Share

Drug violence spins Mexico toward ‘civil war’

A shootout in a border city that leaves five alleged drug traffickers sprawled dead on the street and seven police wounded. A police chief and his bodyguards gunned down outside his house in another border city. Four bridges into the United States shut down by protesters who want the military out of their towns and who officials say are backed by narcotraffickers.

Share