Legal Commentary

On Civil Liberties, Take 3: Speak Out Against the USA Patriot Act Sunset Extension Act of 2011!

Posted on January 30, 2011
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger Last February, the U.S. Congress passed a one-year extension of three provisions of the Patriot Act that were due to expire. Although there were bills pending in the House and the Senate to amend those provisions?as well as other sections of the Patriot Act?Congress chose to reauthorize the act [...

Watson Beats Humans in Practice Bout

Posted on January 30, 2011
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger Jeopardy champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter faced off against IBM’s Watson supercomputer in a practice bout.  

Rep. Mike Pence Will Not Run for President

Posted on January 30, 2011
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger Although Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) was being pushed to run for President in 2012, he appears to favor a likely run for Governor of Indiana. Many on the Right consider Pence the candidate to unite the evangelical and social conservatives and the Tea Partyers...

Walmart Pitches Woo

Posted on January 30, 2011
-Submitted by David Durmm (Nal), Guest Blogger Woo, a term used by scientific skeptics for pseudoscience, alternative medicine and New Age beliefs, or a person who holds such beliefs. Walmart, through their website, is selling Oscillococcinum, manufactured by Boiron, to be used “for flu-like symptoms...

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Why Does the Military Need to ?Train? Troops on DADT Repeal?

Posted on January 30, 2011
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger   After a great afternoon playing with my grandsons, it is time to get back to “work”.  One of the news items that flew under the radar this week was the report that the Pentagon has established a start date for its training to prepare troops for the [...

Rape Redefined and Brought to You by Members of the US House of Representatives

Posted on January 30, 2011
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger The new Republican majority in the House of Representatives is moving to make changes in abortion law. The new No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act (H. R. 5939) has 173 co-sponsors?most of them Republicans. According to The House GOP’s Plan to Redefine Rape, an article in Mother Jones that [...

?Grizzly? Death Averted: Bear-icide Stopped by Divine Intervention

Posted on January 29, 2011
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger For years, the policy reason behind the law’s prohibition against assisted suicide has eluded me. Eureka! I have found the answer –  it’s to prevent bear indigestion. Fugitive and convicted Arizona killer, Tracy Province, had a novel means to accomplish his own demise...

Pot-N-Chunkin!

Posted on January 29, 2011
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger Mexican drug smugglers are becoming quite creative in their efforts to get marijuana into the U.S.  No more low altitude drops from sleek planes in the Florida Everglades a’ la Miami Vice. Today’s smuggler is more into the ”throwback” mode of delivery, so to speak...

Playing It Straight: LPGA?s ?Female By Birth? Rule Challenged

Posted on January 29, 2011
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger California professional golfer (and former police officer) Lana Lawless is challenging the LPGA’s rule requiring tournament participants to be “female by birth.”  The LPGA has ruled, according to Lawless, that as a transgender woman, she is ineligible to compete...

Florida Bar Files Complaint

Posted on January 29, 2011
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger The Florida Bar has filed a complaint with the Florida Supreme Court against attorney John Stemberger, accusing him of violating legal rules of conduct regarding his handling of the Rifqa Bary case. Rifqa Bary was the Muslim girl who converted to Christianity and then ran away from her [...

Star Angers Astrologers

Posted on January 29, 2011
-Submitted by David Durmm (Nal), Guest Blogger Professor Brian Cox, a particle physicist at the University of Manchester and host of Wonders of the Solar System on the Science Channel, has brought the wrath of the Astrological Association of Great Britain upon himself...

Rhythm Of The Rain

Posted on January 29, 2011
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger Rhythm Of The Rain Today we have The Cascades in glorious STEREO!

There Oda Be a Law: Feral Animals in Utah, Beware!

Posted on January 29, 2011
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger Rep. Curtis Oda, a Republican member of the Utah House of Representatives, says he wants ?to protect people from getting in trouble for doing the right thing.? And the ?right thing? according to Oda is killing feral animals...

Wake up Minnesota

Posted on January 29, 2011
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger The other day I came across an article about Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who has a big idea to save money in the Federal budget.  When I read the article I was disappointed because Rep. Bachmann?s idea to save $4...

Prosecution Rests in Hassan Beheading Case ? Was It Appropriate To Use His Silence Against Him at Trial?

Posted on January 28, 2011
The prosecution has rested in the trial of former New York television executive Muzzammil Hassan, 46, for the beheading of his wife at a television studio. Hassan recently asserted his right to self-representation in the case after having open disagreements with his counsel...

Colorado Police Officer Reinstated With Back Pay After Being Fired For Using Excessive Force and Breaking Six Department Policies

Posted on January 28, 2011
Aurora police officer James Waselkow has been reinstated with back pay after being fired for excessive use of force. Waselkow broke the orbital bone near the right eye of Carla Meza during an arrest and then failed to give her medical treatment. He was later fired after the Chief concluded he had used excessive force [...

Florida Woman Charged With Throwing Former Boyfriend?s Mother?s Ashes Out of a Window

Posted on January 28, 2011
Ashley Renee Oxendine, 22, is accused of a rather bizarre criminal act in Gainesville. After fighting with her former boyfriend, she not only physically assaulted him but threw his mother’s ashes out the window. The urn shattered the window and some of the ashes fell out...

Taliban Stones Couple to Death As Adulterers

Posted on January 28, 2011
The world has been given another atrocity committed in the name of Islam and Sharia law. The video below (warning graphic content) shows a young couple being stoned to death by a crowd of men. The woman, Siddqa, 25, had been sold into an arranged marriage for $9000...

Fade to Black: Government Plans To Phase Out Color Threat Alert System

Posted on January 27, 2011
The government is on the verge of doing away with one of its moronic ideas: the color-coded terror alert system. From the outset, many of us objected that this was a system without logic or use — part of an effort to incorporate every American into a terror-obsessed society...

Utah Moves Toward Adopting State Gun

Posted on January 27, 2011
Many have long wondered: “I know our state bird, but what is our state gun to shoot it with?” Now, in Utah, the uncertainty may soon be over. State lawmakers are moving toward adopting the Browning M1911 as the official state gun. This will of course be a bitter disappointment for those who find the [...

Vox Veritas Excreta: Cal State Professor Charged With Urinating on Door of Colleague

Posted on January 27, 2011
Cal State Northridge math professor Tihomir Petrov, 43, has been charged with two misdemeanor counts for urinating on the door of a colleague. Petrov was apparently feuding with his math colleague and allegedly decided to make a statement on his door...

Investigators Find No Direct Link Between Bradley Manning and Julian Assange

Posted on January 27, 2011
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger Jim Miklaszewski, Chief Pentagon Correspondent for NBC News, reported on Monday that investigators have not been able to find a direct connection between Bradley Manning, the army private suspected of leaking classified documents to Wikileaks, and Julian Assange...

Time to Apologize, Rush

Posted on January 27, 2011
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger Since Professor Turley is snowbound in the Winter Wonderland, the weekend warriors are back to bring your blood pressure up! I have been critical of the Right Wing Mass Media for its continual banging of the drum of hate towards President Obama and the Democrats in general...

llinois Supreme Court Puts Emanuel Back on Chicago Ballot

Posted on January 27, 2011
The Illinois Supreme Court today reversed the decision (below) of the appellate court and reinstated former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to the mayoral ballot in Chicago. As discussed earlier, the Supreme Court hit on the burden in overturning a factual finding of the lower court...

Actor Tells Judge To Suck His [Blank] . . . Instead Judge Gives Actor 107 Years

Posted on January 26, 2011
Many defendants work hard to find the right balance between expressions of contrition and innocence before a criminal sentencing. Zaire Page, 24, decided that brevity was the soul of wit and simply told Judge Vincent Del Giudice to “suck his d—...

Are You An Eight Year Old Girl Worried About Looking Ten? Wal-Mart Has The Answer

Posted on January 26, 2011
Wal-Mart is now marketing aging cream and other cosmetics for girls 8-12, including anti-aging creams to avoid that ten-year-old look. The new GeoGirl beauty line is here just in time to commercialize those adolescent years. What I find disturbing is that Wal-Mart is abandoning wrinkle prone toddlers to the raves of aging...

Report: Bush White House Committed Gross Violations of Hatch Act

Posted on January 26, 2011
The Office of Special Counsel has found gross and knowing violation of the Hatch Act by the Bush White House and specifically its Office of Political Affairs. The OSC Report found that the Bush White House allowed the office to directly support Republican congressional candidates and even allowed the Republican National Committee to work out [...

Missouri Prosecutor Awarded Over $2 Million After Being Denied Judgeship Because She Is White

Posted on January 26, 2011
The Missouri Supreme Court has handed down an important ruling on reverse discrimination — upholding an award of more than $2 million for a white prosecutor, Melissa Howard, who was denied a judgeship in 2006 because the Kansas City Council wanted a minority in the position...

Civil War Historian Accused of Altering Lincoln Pardon

Posted on January 26, 2011
For academics, there is no greater sin than the alteration of a historic document. That is precisely what amateur historian Thomas P. Lowry is accused of doing in writing a “5″ over a date of a pardon by Abraham Lincoln – immediately gaining fame for finding the last official act before Lincoln’s assassination on April [...

Sen. Hanger Proposes Castration for Sex Offenders

Posted on January 26, 2011
For civil libertarians, the gradual de-evolution of our criminal justice system just got a bit more medieval. Virginia Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger is upset about the prison budget so he has found a way to trim costs by simply castrating sexual offenders...

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