Legal Commentary

Suicide Pact: China Factory Combats Rash of Suicides By Having Workers Sign Agreement Not to Kill Themselves

Posted on June 04, 2010
There has been global criticism of a Chinese factory making Apple products after a rash of suicides and complaints that workers are paid little and worked hard. Finally, Foxconn International Holdings Ltd. has acted: it has had workers sign that they would not kill themselves...

Oregon Man Accused of Releasing Doberman to Kill Rabbit in Front of Horrified Children in City Park

Posted on June 04, 2010
Oregon parents are saying that Luke Kishpaugh, 33, of Salem (Oregon) is someone you do not want around your kids, your parks, your pets . . . well, you just don’t want him around. Kishpaugh was in a city park when he saw children watching a rabbit play in the grass...

BEHOLD THE TITANS

Posted on June 04, 2010
Scientists moved closer this week to finding possible life on Titan, Saturn’s biggest moon. Scientists also believe that Titan could become a “paradise” in just four billion years. The downside is that the triggering event will be the Sun swelling into a Red Giant and swallowing the Earth...

Loyal She Began, Loyal She Remains: City Department Officials Under Scrutiny for Allegedly Taping and Spanking Workers

Posted on June 04, 2010
Ontario media are in a frenzy over a report that city employees in Mississauga were taped up, spanked and humiliated. The report indicated that the city’s transportation and works department were hazed and humiliated. It is not clear whether, during the spanking, workers were expected to chant Ontario’s motto “Loyal she began, loyal she remains”...

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The Los Angeles Board Calls For Teaching Students About the Arizona Law ? Denounced As ?Un-American?

Posted on June 04, 2010
The Los Angeles Unified School District school board has announced that all public school students will be taught about Arizona’s new immigration law. Members, however, appear to want the law taught as an example of an un-American and racist law...

Bay Watch: Transgender Males Trigger Topless Debate on Rehoboth Beach

Posted on June 03, 2010
Now this is an interesting case for statutory interpretation. Police were called this weekend to Rehoboth Beach in Delaware after a group of transgender males exposed their “acquired breasts” — leading to complaints. This must have been the missing episode from Bay Watch...

Are We Heading Into an Economic Meltdown?

Posted on June 03, 2010
There is an interesting economics column in the Wall Street Journal on the similarities between the Greek meltdown and our own fiscal policies. I have long been a critic of the wild spending of both Congress and President Obama, including the recent proposal to simply pay for an over $200 million short-range missile program for [...

Virginia Man Kills Kitten For Turning Off Computer Game

Posted on June 03, 2010
Bruce Walston, 21, was playing a video game when his girlfriend, Bessie Hess’s kitten stepped on the computer cord and shut off the game. Walston allegedly proceeded to kill the kitten by throwing it against a wall in their apartment. He killed the kitten in front of Hess’s children...

California Man Convicted After Voodoo Curse Inexplicably Fails in Fraud Case

Posted on June 03, 2010
Ruben Hernandez, 34, was convicted this week of fraud in a house buying scheme but not before he tried some extra-judicial remedies of his own. Hernandez was found to have performed a voodoo ritual to place a hex on the prosecutors. They survived and Hernandez was convicted...

In Space No One Can Hear You Fizz

Posted on June 03, 2010
This is an amazing video of an Alka-Seltzer added to a water drop in microgravity. I just saw this video from 2003 of an experiment by Science Officer Don Pettit on NASA’s Expedition Six of the International Space Station (ISS). I am presuming that this was not the sole experiment for the mission, but the [...

Bush: ?I?d Do It Again?

Posted on June 03, 2010
Former President George W. Bush proudly proclaimed this week “Yeah, we water-boarded Khalid Sheikh Mohammed . . I’d do it again to save lives.” Fortunately, he will not be given another chance but, due to the actions of President Obama and Attorney General Holder to bar any investigation or prosecution of torture, future president may [...

Members of House Black Caucus Move To Strip Authority From Office of Congressional Ethics

Posted on June 03, 2010
With ongoing corruption in Washington and years of congressional scandals over free trips, gifts, and special dealing, many of us (here) have criticized the Senate and House Ethics rules as primarily serving to protect rather than prosecute members for wrongdoing...

Perkins: Gays in the Military Violate Religious Rights of Others

Posted on June 02, 2010
Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, has a curious take in a CNN column on why Congress should retain the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy: allowing openly gay personnel in the military violates his religious rights...

All Too Real: Saudi Religious Police Crackdown on MTV Reality Show

Posted on June 02, 2010
The Saudi religious police have cracked down on a popular reality show on MTV that follows the lives of three Saudi youths. Saudi officials have alleged that the three are guilty of the crime of “openly declaring sin” by criticizing Saudi restrictions over the segregation of the men and women and other complaints...

Report: Cocaine Users Experiencing Flesh Rot

Posted on June 02, 2010
Just in case stroke, high blood pressure, and addiction were not enough for cocaine users, doctors are now warning that some cocaine is causing rotting flesh. That hardly fits with the perception of coke as the glamorous drug of the partying set. Dr. Ghinwa Dumyati, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Rochester [...

Virtually Criminal: Finnish Police Investigate Theft of Virtual Furniture

Posted on June 02, 2010
We have seen diplomats fired for milking virtual cows (here) and virtual affairs leading to divorces (here). Now, Finnish police are investigating the theft of virtual furniture from a social networking site. Furniture has gone missing from the Habbo Hotel on a teenager site...

Word To Your Speaker: Pelosi Proclaims Her Commitment to Faith-Based Politics

Posted on June 02, 2010
I have written previously (here) on how both Republicans and Democrats, including President Obama (here), have continued to embrace faith-based politics. This week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) added her own promise of pious policies -stating that she actively tries to legislate public policies “in keeping with the values [of Jesus Christ] ...

Florida Police Officer Arrested After Allegedly Offering ?Roadside Fees? for Drivers to Avoid Points on Licenses

Posted on June 01, 2010
Kenyatta Sheffield, a part-time officer with Lawtey Police Department allegedly had his own pay-as-you-go program for speeders. Sheffied is accused of letting speeders pay fines in cash to avoid any court appearance — calling it a “roadside fee...

U.S. Cage Fighter Arrested After Ripping Out Beating Heart of Trainer

Posted on June 01, 2010
Jarrod Wyatt, a U.S. cage fighter, is charged with a horrific crime of ripping out the beating heart of his training partner and ripping him apart. He insists that he snapped after drinking tea spiked with hallucinogenic mushrooms — causing him to believe that the partner was possessed by the devil...

Heart Attack in a Cup: Cold Stone Milk Shake is Equivalent to Eating 68 Pieces of Bacon

Posted on June 01, 2010
Cold Stone has achieved a level of infamy after being selected as the worst beverage of the year by Men’s Health Magazine — a 2,000-calorie milkshake that is the equivalent of 68 pieces of bacon or 30 chocolate chip cookies. It is called PB&C and should come with a defibrillator and digitalis pills...

Getting Rowdy: N.C. Officer Traps and Shoots Neighbor?s Five Month Kitten . . . Seeks To Be Reinstated as Police Officer

Posted on June 01, 2010
Former Trooper Shawn C. Houston is seeking reinstatement in his job after he trapped Rowdy, his neighbor’s cat and then shot it. Houston, 39, has been charged with two misdemeanors for cruelty to animals and injury to real property. Houston was reportedly upset that an animal was climbing on cars parked at this home The [...

The Osprey Has Landed . . . and the Public Has Been Hospitalized

Posted on June 01, 2010
The Memorial Day demonstration by the Marines of its MV-22 Osprey did not work out quite as they expected when it brought down a tree and large branches on top of onlookers — injuring 10. The landing was part of New York City’s annual Fleet Week Exhibition in Staten Island...

Fresh Antiques Sold Here

Posted on June 01, 2010
We have returned from our camping trip in the Shenandoah National Forest and drove by this gem. As balance, the nearby restaurant should advertise “two-minute eggs made hourly.” It reminds one of Malcolm Muggeridge’s famous comments about Evelyn Waugh” as “an antique in search of a period, a snob in search of a class...

Gaza Raid Triggers International Outcry and Question of International Law

Posted on June 01, 2010
International outcry over the commando raid on a flotilla bringing food and medicine to Gaza continues to grow. Israel insists that its soldiers were merely defending themselves in the shootings that left 9 people dead. Human rights activists insist that the troops opened fire on civilians onboard the ships...

Happy Memorial Day

Posted on May 31, 2010
Best wishes to all on this Memorial Day. We are camping today in the Shenandoah but my thoughts will be with my late father, Jack Turley, who served in the Pacific with the Navy and all of the others who served and continue to serve this country. This Memorial Day is particularly sad after we [...

Fifteen-Year-Old Girl Raped By Leading Church Member ? Then Forced To Apologize to Congregation and Shipped Out of State

Posted on May 31, 2010
An arrest in New Hampshire has revealed a shocking story of a 15-year-old girl who was raped and impregnated by a leading church member at the Trinity Baptist Church in 1997. She was allegedly forced by the church to stand before the congregation and apologize before being taken out of state — and out of [...

Hollywood Goes Authoritarian: Stone and Allen Long For a Dictator With the Right Stuff

Posted on May 31, 2010
Hollywood stars appear to be yearning for some authoritarian relief. This week, Oliver Stone proclaimed his deep admiration of Hugo Chavez, who has stifled dissent and cracked down on journalists in this country. In the meantime, Woody Allen stated that Obama should be given dictatorial powers...

Dog and a Stick

Posted on May 30, 2010
This is why men identify with dogs. It just does not make sense. How does this stick do it? You just know there is a cat filming this whole thing. By the way, we are taking the kids to the Shenandoah for an overnight camping trip today (assuming I can get our new six person [...

Maryland Police Again Threaten Citizens With Arrest for Filming Them in Public

Posted on May 30, 2010
We have following how police in the United States and abroad have started to arrest people filming them in public, including today’s story out of California (here). Maryland police continue (in my view wrongly) to claim that recording them in public is a crime in that state as shown in this video from the Preakness...

Man Versus Dog

Posted on May 30, 2010
The eternal dance between man and dog continues . . . It ends with a touching inter-species moment — are we really so different?

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