Hot Coffee, the fast-paced, info-packed exploration of tort reform exposes the real story behind Stella Liebeck, who sued McDonalds after being badly burned by spilled coffee, an incident which wrongly entered the collective consciousness as a prime example of a “frivolous” lawsuit. First time director Susan Saladoff, a civil litigator with 25 years of experience, uses the McDonalds coffee case as the starting point and from there builds a strong case that tort reform, binding arbitration and non-economic damage caps subvert justice and benefit big business.

From Maine to Monterey, Utah to Utica — big energy corporations like Halliburton are bribing your local officials for the right to pump “proprietary chemicals” into open fractures beneath the earth that flow into local water formations. We want to know who they are, and we need your help in finding out.

Up with People was a non-profit corporation, a counter to the counterculture, the voice of Nixon’s Silent Majority and it’s well-publicized busload of kids traveling the world and staying with host families delivered an experiment in a new life style, a freshly scrubbed version of hippies. Whether singing “Freedom Isn’t Free” at a barbed wire Berlin Wall checkpoint, showcasing their talents at Richard Nixon’s Inaugural, or performing in later years before groups of auto workers–who unknowingly would soon be laid off by the tour sponsor General Motors–Up with People was on message for the Establishment, spreading the word that being nice was nice, and the nicer you were to people, the more niceness would spread. And the world would live happily ever after.

Check out this list of the top 10 MyFDL diaries from 2010 (based on pageviews). Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to our fantastic community of writers. We look forward to reading your work in 2011.

What were your favorite myFDL diaries from last year? Share your picks in the comments!

A lawyer in Nigeria has reminded the country’s anti-corruption watchdog that the recent deal buying Cheney’s freedom for $35 million is not legal.

In the race to see which would be discounted more quickly, Cheney’s freedom won out over cheap Chinese toys at Christmas season: the final price for Cheney’s freedom is $35 million.

It seems like the value of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s freedom, like all other goods, declines the closer you get to Christmas. Cheney better hope that Nigeria ratifies this deal soon though, because you never know what happens to goods left on the shelf after the holidays.

It’s $500 million or three years in Nigerian prison if former veep Dick Cheney is convicted on bribery charges in Nigeria. I wonder how much Cheney or his former employers woul’d pay to avoid imprisonment on torture charges?

After the news about charges against Dick Cheney relating to the Nigerian bribery scandal it may be worthwhile to sip some coffee and swap clues on what the heck might (or might not) be going on.

Halliburton and the other companies involved, like Transocean, have been pointing the finger at BP, and vice versa. At stake is responsibility for the tens in billions in expected fines for violating the Clean Water Act and other environmental statutes, as well as claims from individuals seeking damages.