Legal Commentary

Diamond Mule: Sri Lankan Found With 2060 Diamonds in Stomach

Posted on October 29, 2010
Mohamed Rafi, 35, may have set a record as a “mule” on an Air India flight. The Sri Lankan arrived in Chennai and was stopped by police who were tipped off that there would be a mule on the flight. They eventually found 2,060 diamonds in his stomach...

The Eugene McCarthy Gene: Scientists Say DRD4 Drives Ideology

Posted on October 29, 2010
The nature or nurture debate may be over for liberals: scientists have isolated what they believe to be the “liberal gene.” Yes, that’s right. Researchers believe that people with DRD4 affects people’s ideology. It is ironic that Republicans who oppose evolution may have an evolutionary reason for their position...

Tykes on Bikes: New York Court Finds Toddler Can Be Held For Tort Damages

Posted on October 29, 2010
There is an interesting ruling out of New York that a four-year-old girl can be sued for negligence after running down an elderly woman with her bicycle . . . equipped with training wheels. Justice Paul Wooten of State Supreme Court in Manhattan ruled that Claire Menagh can sue Juliet Breitman, 4, for her allegedly [...

Too Sooner For Sharia? Oklahoma Legislators Seek To Bar Application of Sharia Law in State Courts

Posted on October 29, 2010
Oklahoma voters will be voting on a curious and troubling constitutional amendment. Labelled the “Save Our State” amendment, State Question 775 seeks to ban the use of Islamic law in state court. Not any other form of religious or international law, just Islamic law...

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Do You Want Alli® With That: Judge Orders McDonalds to Pay For Employee Weight Gain

Posted on October 29, 2010
In what must be a first, Brazilian Judge Joao Ghisleni Filho ruled that a former franchise manager must be paid $17,500.00 because he gained 65 pounds while working for McDonalds Restaurant for over 12 years. The unnamed employee claimed he had to sample food each day to meet quality standards and to appease “mystery clients” that McDonalds [...

Arkansas School Official Proclaims His ?Enjoyment? Over The Death of ?Fags? and ?Queers?

Posted on October 28, 2010
Midland School District Vice President Clint McCance in Arkansas has shocked the school district by responding to a campaign to end bullying of gay students with a hateful (if not gleeful) Facebook commentary on gay teen suicides. Using the terms “queer” and “fag,” McCance promised to disown his own children if they are gay and [...

Former Bar Treasurer and Prominent Lawyer Aaron Biber Sentenced to 18 Years For Sexual Assault of Teenage Boy

Posted on October 28, 2010
Prominent Twin Cities lawyer and former State Bar Treasurer Aaron Biber was sentenced this week to 18 years in prison for sexually assaulting a teenage boy. The court reached the sentence by taking an upward departure to increase the jail time. Minnesota law required only 12 years...

Do The Lard, Pull Your Card: Baltimore Issues First Ticket Under Trans Fat Ban

Posted on October 28, 2010
The Baltimore City Health Department issued its first citation for a fat recidivist violator: The Healthy Choice. The ironically named business is in fact (according to officials) a shameless pusher of trans fat — found twice with “high trans fat level in their ingredients...

Flying While Muslim: Comair Throws Muslim Family Off Flight As Possible Threat

Posted on October 27, 2010
A Muslim family flying from Memphis to Toronto was thrown off a Comair flight because a flight attendant was concerned over safety. The family was dressed in traditional Muslim clothing. The flight attendant became suspicious when the father spent an extended period of time in the bathroom before take off and then she discovered the [...

Tattoo Artists Make News With Crimes on Two Continents

Posted on October 27, 2010
James ?Jacob? Thompson, 22, was arrested in Texas on a bizarre mix of charges, including the allegation that he agreed to cut out a teenage girl’s birth control device in her arm before giving her a tattoo. What is amazing is that this may not be the worst tattooing crime recorded this week...

Introducing Phil Davison: The Stark Candidate

Posted on October 27, 2010
Phil Davison’s speech in support of his candidacy for Treasurer of Stark County, Ohio may not win many votes but it certainly has won many viewers. This speech went viral on YouTube. What is notable is that Davison actually has a master’s degree in communications from the University of Akron...

Die Hard Fan: Prisoner Gives Football Cheer As Final Words in Execution

Posted on October 27, 2010
One would have to call Jeffrey Landrigan the ultimate Die Hard Sooner fan. Landrigan gave the “Boomer Sooner” cheer as his final words at his execution in Arizona last night. Of course, given Arizona’s rivalry with Oklahoma in football, it could also be the ultimate late nose thumbing since Arizona is ranked 16th in the [...

Federal Court Rules Against Catholic Litigants in Challenge of Resolution Condemning Vatican Adoption Policy

Posted on October 26, 2010
There is an interesting ruling out of the Ninth Circuit. The Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled 8-3 against Catholic organizations that charged that former San Francisco Supervisor Tom Ammiano violated the First Amendment with a 2006 resolution condemning the Vatican for prohibiting Catholic Charities from placing adoptive children with lesbian and gay couples...

Deutsch Tweet: Wisconsin GOP Candidate Criticized for Calling Hitler a ?Strong Leader?

Posted on October 26, 2010
Just days after another GOP candidate was criticized for prancing around in a Nazi uniform, Wisconsin Republican state Senate candidate Dane Deutsch has been criticized for calling Adolph Hitler a “strong leader.” Deutsch sent a tweet stating “Hitler and Lincoln were both strong leaders...

Quadriplegic Suffers Severe Brain Damage After Nurse Is Shown Turning Off Ventilator

Posted on October 26, 2010
A family in England is looking at a possible torts case with a rare piece of evidence. The family of quadriplegic Jamie Merrett, 37, was already concerned about what they viewed as shoddy nursing care from staff supplied by the NHS Wiltshire Primary Care Trust...

Wilders Trial Thrown Into Disarray After Judges Found To Be Biased

Posted on October 25, 2010
The trial of Dutch politician Geert Wilders for his anti-Islamic views has been thrown into disarray after his judges were found to be themselves biased — against Wilder. A verdict from the panel of three judges at the Amsterdam district court was due next week...

Banned For Life: English Teaching Council Bans Teacher For Life For Incompetence

Posted on October 25, 2010
For those of us clinging to life tenure as teacher for dear life, Nisar Ahmed is like a nightmare from a parallel universe: he has been banned for life from teaching. General Teaching Council for England decided that it could not risk Ahmed, 46, from ever teaching again so it issued the only known lifetime [...

Viva Il Talibano: Italian Town To Pass Anti-Blasphemy Law and Ban Both Sunbathing and Miniskirts

Posted on October 25, 2010
Castellammare di Stabia appears eager to join the forces in the West cracking down on free speech and expression. The city is moving toward the passage of a blasphemy law — the subject of prior columns and blog entries on a trend against free speech in the West...

Leap of Faith: Family of Eleven Stabs Father and Jumps From Window To Escape The Devil

Posted on October 25, 2010
This is too bizarre for words. In Paris, eleven people (including children) were injured when they leapt from an apartment to flee “the devil” — who turned out to be the father who was walking around naked in his room. The incident began when the man’s wife woke up to find her husband walking around [...

Introducing Our New Guest Bloggers

Posted on October 25, 2010
I am happy to report we will be implementing another one of your suggestions for improving the blog. Various people suggested a year ago that we have guest blogging to allow regulars a chance to make entries on the blog. With my upcoming speech in France, I thought it would be a great time to [...

Just Don?t Ask Me About Work . . .

Posted on October 24, 2010
I assume he is ordering a Salty Dog. Just another mutt waiting for some poodle to come into his life.

?You Say You Want a Revolution . . .? GOP Candidate Suggests Rebellion Is Option If Elections Fail To Achieve Changes

Posted on October 24, 2010
In Texas, Stephen Broden, a pastor and Republican congressional candidate, appears to have a back-up plan if he loses to Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson in Dallas 30th Congressional District. Broden refused to rule out armed rebellion if the elections to do result in a suitable change in leadership...

Court Takes Away Children From Jennifer Petkov

Posted on October 24, 2010
As previously discussed the shocking case of Jennifer Petkov who is accused of harassing a dying eight-year-old girl and her family. Now, a court has ordered that Petkov’s two children be removed from her home and taken to live with their father until resolution of a pending motion for custody...

Colgate Palmolive Accused of Patenting Ancient Indian Recipe For Toothpaste

Posted on October 24, 2010
We have previously discussed how some of us view the patent, trademark and copyright laws as running out of control in this country. Now, there is an interesting fight between the United States and India over a move by Colgate Palmolive to patent an ancient recipe for herbal toothpaste...

Cafe Owner Ordered To Remove Extractor Fan As Offensive To Muslims Due To Smell Of Bacon

Posted on October 24, 2010
Councillors at Stockport Council in Greater Manchester have a rather broad notion of accommodating religious sensitivities. Acting under its authority of “residential amenity,” the Council has ordered a cafe to remove an extractor fan because the fan blows the smell of food outside, including the smell of bacon that offends Muslim neighbors...

Randy Quaid and Wife Seek Canadian Asylum To Evade ?Hollywood Star-Whackers?

Posted on October 23, 2010
Oscar-nominee Randy Quaid, 60, and his wife Evi, 47, have appeared in Canada with a novel claim for refugee protection — claiming that someone is killing off Quaid’s friends and that the couple needs protection from “Hollywood star-whackers...

Congressional Candidate in Massachusetts Accused of Complicity in Sexual Assault While a Police Officer

Posted on October 23, 2010
Republican congressional candidate, Jeffrey D. Perry, in Massachusetts is facing a novel challenge — a victim of police abuse has gone public to say that Perry knew of her sexual assault by his partner in 1991 when he was a Wareham police officer...

Singapore Set To Cane Another American

Posted on October 23, 2010
Singapore is about to cane another American – the first since Michael Peter Fay, then 18, received four cane strokes in 1994 for theft and vandalism. Kamari Charlton is a former Florida State basketball and football star. He was originally arrested for overstaying his visa (beyond the permitted 90 days)...

Don?t Ask Don?t Tell: Clinton Reportedly Lost Launch Codes for Months

Posted on October 22, 2010
Gen. Hugh Shelton, who served under Clinton as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has reported in his new book that President Bill Clinton lost the “biscuit,” the launch codes for a nuclear attack, for months before telling aides. He recounts how Clinton first told his security detail that he left the codes somewhere [...

Unhappy Meals: Law Firm Introduces Drive-Thru Window

Posted on October 22, 2010
Do you want fries with that complaint? You can have it at the nation’s first drive-thru law office. The Kocian Law Group in Manchester believes that this is a way to distinguish itself among competitors. (I don’t have a picture of the Kocian drive thru but left is an example from the Maid Rite drive [...

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