Legal Commentary

Texas Woman Speaks At Length About a Sex Ed Proposal and Her Own Virginal Status . . . Only To Be Told That The Board Addressed the Issue The Day Before

Posted on September 20, 2009
In his video, former schoolteacher Deborah Parish shows the value of a good day planner. Parish speaks passionately about what she believed was a sex education proposal and goes at great lengths to explain her own status as a 56-year-old virgin and how she still “technically” maintains this status ...

?Suffer Little Children . . . and Forbid Them Not?: California Pastor Gets Life Sentence For Abuse of Adopted Daughters

Posted on September 20, 2009
Pastor Jessica Banks, 65, has been sentenced to life in prison for drugging, beating, and locking up her five adopted daughters. The conviction includes counts of sexual abuse for two of the girls. Banks ran the Word of Life Apostolic Church out of a storefront in a mall in Riverside County...

?It?s Waaaay Better Than Fast Food?: Man Finds Wendy?s Spoon Lodged in Stomach

Posted on September 19, 2009
For most personal injury lawyers it does not get better than this. Your client has suffered from two years of poor health, vomiting and stomach pain. Doctors finally use an endoscope and find the culprit: a spoon bearing the clearly marked name of Wendy’s...

Baltimore Mom Accused Telling Son to Attack Teenage Boy

Posted on September 19, 2009
This week, prosecutors charged a mother with holding a six-year-old boy down while ordering her five-year-old son to beat him in the face, here. Now, a Maryland mother, A Maryland mother Kimberley Lyn Cudanin, 34, is accused of telling her 16-year-old son Audre and at least four friend to attack a 14-year-old boy, [...

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Jewish Patrols in Jerusalem Are Targeting ?Mixed? Jewish and Arab Couples in Campaign for Religious Separation

Posted on September 19, 2009
There is a growing controversy in Jerusalem’s Pisgat Ze’ev neighborhood where groups of Jewish men are regularly patrolling the streets to prevent Jewish women from dating and socializing with Arab men. The group called Eish L’Yahadut (Fire for Judaism) is composed of roughly 40 men who have been accused of some violent encounters [...

The Face of War

Posted on September 19, 2009
At the request of some of our regulars, I am posting two pictures from the recent paint war battle referenced earlier. To avoid embarrassment to my fellow soldiers, I have not posted their own battle-scared images. It is of course difficult to see photos from this period without feeling a sense of guilt that I [...

South African Sports Head Apologizes for Concealing Semenya?s Gender

Posted on September 19, 2009
During the controversy over the gender of Caster Semenya, one person was absolutely clear in denying rumors that Semenya was a man or hermaphrodite: the president of Athletics South Africa Leonard Chuene. Chuene now admits that he lied to the international sporting officials and the public...

I Walk The Line: Town Mayor Bans Police From Chasing Suspects

Posted on September 19, 2009
The city of Wellford, South Carolina may be a felon’s dream come true. Mayor Sallie Peake has banned police officers from chasing suspects on foot or in a car. Peake’s new direction came in a September 2, 2009 memo where she announced ?[a]s of this date, there are to be no more foot chases when [...

Arizona Couple Sues Wal-Mart After Store Calls the Police on Them For Developing Pictures of Their Children in a Bathtub ? And the Children Are Taken By the State

Posted on September 18, 2009
An Arizona coupe, Lisa and Anthony “A.J.” Demaree, have filed an interesting lawsuit against Walmart (and the state) after being accused of sexual abuse and having their children taken away the State. Their suspected crime? Developing pictures of their children taking a bath...

Alleged West Virginia Burglar Nailed After Facebook Fix

Posted on September 18, 2009
We have seen Facebook involved in various alleged crimes through the years (here, here). However, Jonathan Parker, 19, in Martinsburg, West Virginia, has created a category of his own in alleged Facebook felonies: he was arrested after leaving his Facebook account on a victim’s computer — apparently after stopping during a burglary to [...

Cincinnati Mother Arrested After Holding Down Six-Year-Old Boy and Ordering Her Five-Year-Old To Beat Him

Posted on September 18, 2009
Tiffany Hunter, 26, takes a different approach to neighborhood or schoolyard fights than most parents. While most parents tell their children to avoid fights, Hunter is accused of holding down a 6-year-old boy and ordering her 5-year-old boy to beat him in the face...

Sneezegate: Chuck Todd Contaminates White House With Unguarded Sneeze

Posted on September 18, 2009
The White House was the scene of a bio-hazard attack today when NBC White House reporter Chuck Todd sneezed into his hand rather than into his government-approved, network-supplied sleeve. The shocking violation of health security rules was captured on the video below and immediately caught by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius [...

Seller Beware: New Federal Program Allows for Casual Sellers to Be Fined for Up to $15 Million

Posted on September 18, 2009
Generally, the law distinguishes between casual buyers and commercial sellers in tort and criminal law. For example, product liability for defects does not extend to garage sales and transactions between private individuals. However, the Consumer Product Safety Commission is warning that the government will now be enforcing rules under the “Resale Round-up” program [...

Demonstrated Genius: Video Prank Shows How Innocent People Can Unwittingly Become Radical Protest Leaders

Posted on September 18, 2009
As someone who represents people accused of unlawful demonstrations (and were not in fact protesters), I have finally found a video that I can use in their defense. This is an enormously funny video on how pranksters got pedestrians to look like they are leading a radical protest...

Minnesota Judge Accused of Steering Parties in His Court to His Own Divorce Attorney and Getting a Discount on His Own Bill Is Given a Six-Month Suspension ? But Allowed to Remain on the Bench

Posted on September 18, 2009
Goodhue County District Judge Timothy Blakely, 46, is accused of being a rainmaker from the bench. He was found by a state investigation to have been referring parties in his court to his own divorce lawyer, “Super Lawyer” Christine Stroemer who allegedly gave him a discount on his own bill for fees...

Happy Rosh Hashanah From Ahmadinejad: Holocaust is a ?Lie? and Israel ?Will Not Last Long?

Posted on September 18, 2009
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave his traditional Rosh Hashanah speech — effectively wishing Jews a Happy New Year by saying that they may not see another. Ahmadinejad told worshippers at Tehran University that “[t]he pretext (Holocaust) for the creation of the Zionist regime (Israel) is false … It is a lie based on an unprovable [...

Happy Constitution Day (Explanation Below)

Posted on September 17, 2009
Today, I have the honor of being the Constitution Day Speaker for the Kent Gardens Elementary School in McLean, Virginia. A recent poll in Oklahoma City, however, suggests that before we celebrate the Constitution, we may have to explain what it is. This includes gaps in such basis knowledge as “who was the [...

Federal Judge Calls Obama ?Birther? Challenge ?Frivolous? and Orly Taitz Calls for Judge to Be Tried for Treason

Posted on September 17, 2009
U.S. District Court Judge Clay Land issued a stern warning to attorney Orly Taitz (left) and others in the so-called “birther” campaign: do not file another such “frivolous” lawsuit or you will face sanctions. Land threw out the lawsuit filed on behalf of Capt...

Louisiana Approves New Rules Allowing Teachers to Challenge the Basis of Evolution While California Court Rules that Teacher Violated Constitution By Criticizing Evolution

Posted on September 17, 2009
There is a couple of interesting stories on the continued struggle over teaching evolution in public schools. In Louisiana, the state has approved special rules allowing teachers to challenge the basis of the theory of creationism. In California, a court ruled that a history teacher’s criticism of creationism violated the Constitution...

Poll: Thirty-Two Percent of Conservatives Believe Obama is Foreign-Born While Almost Twenty Percent Believe He Is the Actual Anti-Christ

Posted on September 17, 2009
A new poll by the Public Policy Polling group of New Jersey voters is out, here. An impressive 32% of conservatives believe that President Barack Obama is foreign born. With an additional 19% expressing uncertainty, that brings the figure to 51% of the polled citizens expressing the belief or suspicion that he is [...

Video: English Police Search for Mad Chicken Licker

Posted on September 17, 2009
Police in England are using this video put on the Internet to search for a man who calls himself Adeel Ayub after he (and apparently an accomplish) filmed Ayub committing gross acts of vandalism at a Asda store (owned by Walmart), including opening packages and licking fresh chickens...

The True Test of a Father?s Love: Dad Catches Foul Ball in Phillies Game Only To Watch in Horror As Daughter Throws It Back

Posted on September 16, 2009
I love this video. Steve Monforto is overjoyed with catching a foul ball in the game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals. He proudly gives the ball to his daughter only to watch her throw it back. Ultimately, a father’s love overcomes a fan’s loss as you can see in the [...

To Do List: Buy Milk, Visit Grandpa, Drop Off Corpse ? North Carolina Man Arrested for Driving Around Dead Friend on Errands

Posted on September 16, 2009
Eric Henry, Jr., 19, of Winnabow, North Carolina may have had the best intentions when his friend, John Ferguson, 23, died from a suspected overdose and put him in the car. However, he appears to have concluded that there was a lack of urgency in getting him to a hospital and instead [...

Ohio Death Row Inmate Given One-Week Reprieve After Officials Fail to Find a Vein

Posted on September 16, 2009
Romell Broom, 52, was given a rare one-week reprieve when officials struggled for hours to find a vein strong enough to handle lethal injection. The scene was particularly grotesque for critics of the death penalty as Broom awaited his death for hours as he was pricked and probed...

House Democrats Seek to Curtail Member Speech in the Wake of Wilson Controversy

Posted on September 16, 2009
In a move that raises serious questions under Article One and the First Amendment to the Constitution, House Rules Committee Chairwoman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) has announced new rules for what members can and cannot say on the floor and in committee. The rules are remarkably broad and arbitrary in limiting comments regarding the President...

For a Good Time, Call Juror 12: Juror Held in Contempt in Trial of Anand Jon Alexander For Contacting Sister

Posted on September 16, 2009
Alvin Dymally selected a poor place for a pick up. Dymally was a juror in the rape trial of fashion designer Anand Jon Alexander, 35. While other jurors were staring at the defendant, Dymally apparently could not take his eyes off the defendant’s sister Sanjana...

Grudge Match: Hulk Hogan Sues Zuckerman Spaeder For Malpractice

Posted on September 16, 2009
The death match is on! Hulk Hogan versus Morris “Sandy” Weinberg Jr. This grudge match is set for Florida with a $1.5 million purse. Hogan (whose real name is Terry Bollea is suing his two former attorneys, Morris “Sandy” Weinberg Jr...

Mommy?s Little Helper: Cincinnati Woman Arrested for Spanking Two-Year-Old Son of a Stranger

Posted on September 16, 2009
Grandmother Gloria Ballard is accused of spanking another person’s two-year-old child in a Cincinnati store. Dannay Jones says that Ballard was telling her how to handle her son when she grabbed Sean Goode, put him over her knee and spanked him...

Burglary and Bushid?: Johns Hopkins Student Kills Intruder With Samurai Sword

Posted on September 15, 2009
A Johns Hopkins University student appears to take a literal view of the Castle Doctrine: he defends his domicile with an actual sword. The student encountered a man who had broken into the garage of his off-campus housing and proceeded to kill him with a Samurai sword...

Urine Good Company, Mr. Stark: Congressman Tells Constituent that He Will Not Pee on His Leg

Posted on September 15, 2009
Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif) appears to have a curious way of showing respect: he urinates on your leg. At least that is the impression from this YouTube clip where Stark tells a critic of the health bill: “I wouldn’t dignify you by peeing on your leg, it wouldn’t be worth wasting the [...

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