In a major ruling, United States District Court Judge Joseph L. Tauro has struck down the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) defining lmarriage as a union exclusively between a man and a woman. The bill was supported and signed by former President Bill Clinton. Tauro was appointed to the bench by President Nixon back in 1972.
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Archive for July, 2010
Federal Court Strikes Down Defense of Marriage Act As Unconstitutional
Published 1, July 9, 2010 Columns , Constitutional Law , Courts , Politics , Society , Supreme Court 20 CommentsU.S. Scientists Isolate Antibodies Effective Against 91% of HIV Strains
Published 1, July 9, 2010 Science , Society , Torts 8 Comments
We have an extraordinary breakthrough in the fights against AIDS. U.S. scientists have reported that they have isolated three powerful antibodies for HIV — one of which neutralizes 91% of HIV strains.
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Citizens Donate Half a Million Dollars to Arizona to Fight Federal Lawsuit
Published 1, July 9, 2010 Congress , Constitutional Law , Criminal law , Politics , Society 50 Comments
The Obama Administration is continuing to feel the heat over its decision to challenge the Arizona immigration law — a move making immigration a rallying cry for the November elections. With polls showing that citizens oppose the federal lawsuit two to one and that over sixty percent want similar laws in their own states, some Democrats are complaining that the Administration has put a nail in their political coffins. The level of anger on the issue is reflected by the astonishing level of financial support donated to Arizona: roughly $500,000 to pay for the state to fight the federal lawsuit.
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Dentists Issue Warning Over Jaw Damage Caused By Supersized Burgers
Published 1, July 9, 2010 Bizarre , International , Society 3 Comments
It appears that ever-expanding hamburgers are outstripping our physical capabilities. Dentists in Taiwan have issued a warning that giant hamburgers are causing jaw damage from over-extension. It is a short-sighted move by dentists since these burgers are likely to push humans to new evolutionary breakthroughs by favoring people who can unhinge their jaws like snakes.
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The Importance of Being Ernest: Wisconsin GOP Candidate Seeks To Outlaw Homosexuality, Abortion, and Pornography
Published 1, July 9, 2010 Bizarre , Politics , Religion , Society 55 CommentsErnest J. Pagels is a politician who is not just satisfied with balancing the budget. He is campaigning on a promise to “outlaw” homosexuality as well as abortion and pornography. You may think he is running for Kandahar city council on the Taliban ticket, but he is one of the candidates vying for the GOP slot to challenge Russ Feingold in the Senate.
Just Say Yes To Drugs: Drug Lobby Pumps Money and Ads Into Nevada Race for Reid
Published 1, July 8, 2010 Bizarre , Media , Politics , Society 41 Comments
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is struggling for reelection this year and his friends have lined up to help him. This week, Nevadans saw a series of glossy, high-priced ads for Reid paid for by his friends in the pharmaceutical industry. Reid fought to include huge benefits for drug companies in the health care bill and now the industry is running ads touting his work for “Nevada families.”
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Ohio Woman Arrested For Allegedly Posing as 14-Year-Old Boy To Lure Girls Into Relationships
Published 1, July 8, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law 13 Comments
Patricia J. Dye, 31, has been arrested on the bizarre crime of posing as a 14-year-old boy in an effort to have relationships with underaged girls.
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Criminalizing Art: Two Prominent Art Curators Face Three Years in Jail for Offending Orthodox Church
Published 1, July 8, 2010 Bizarre , Constitutional Law , Criminal law , International , Media , Politics , Religion , Society 8 Comments
Two prominent art curators in Moscow, Yury Samodurov and Andrei Yerofeyev, are facing three years in prison for showing art that insulted the Russian Orthodox Church. It is the latest example of blasphemy prosecutions, a growing trend in the West and industrialized nations.
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Collared Priest: Connecticut Catholic Priest Arrested for Allegedly Stealing $1.3 Million to Pay for Male Escorts and Hotels
Published 1, July 8, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law , Politics , Society 18 Comments
Police in Waterbury, Connecticut have arrested Rev. Kevin J. Gray, 64, of Sacred Heart parish for allegedly not just stealing $1.3 million from the church coffers but spending it on male escorts, hotels, and even tuition at Harvard for a male friend. He reportedly told police that he “had grown to hate being a priest” and tired of having “to fix problems made by the previous priests.” Well, now others will be fixing his little problem.
Airlines Should Go After Hoaxers, Not Jokesters
Published 1, July 8, 2010 Bizarre , Congress , Criminal law , International , Media , Politics , Society 9 Comments
Below is today’s USA Today column on the arrest of individuals for telling obvious jokes on airplanes and at airports.
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Followers Sue Church After Doomsday Fails To Come
Published 1, July 7, 2010 Bizarre , International , Religion , Society 47 Comments
What do you do when you hand over all your money before a promised Doomsday, but Doomsday never comes? You go find the next best thing: a lawyer. That is the situation in Australia where a court has frozen the assets of Pastor Rocco Leo and his associates at Agape Ministries after followers demanded their money back. While there appears to have been no written contract, this appears a novel inverse of a force majeure claim: the act of God never came.
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Do The Prime, Do The Time: India Legislators Move To Criminalize Beef Possession
Published 1, July 7, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law , International , Politics , Religion , Society 24 Comments
Picture this scene out of Midnight Express, police surrounding a nervous man late at night on an airport tarmac. Pulling away his shirt, they find taped to his body . . . steaks. A beef mule. That could be the scene in Karnataka, India where the government is about to make the possession of beef a criminal offense. Presumably, possession of beef with intent to distribute will receive a higher sentence.
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Lab Monkeys Escape Japanese Facility By Using Branches to Catapult Over Electric Fence
Published 1, July 7, 2010 Animals , Bizarre , Environment , International , Science , Society 14 Comments
A group of 15 monkeys at Kyoto University’s primate research institute escaped from a high-security research center by learning how to use tree limbs to catapult themselves over a 17ft high electric fence. One of them was named Dr. Zaius. Ok, I made that last part up but it is clear that our monkey overlords are gathering.
Say It Ain’t So, Oze: Scandal Rocks Sumo World
Published 1, July 7, 2010 Bizarre , International , Society 11 Comments
First there was the scandal in the hot dog eating world. Now, scandal rocks the Sumo world. Is nothing sacred? Sumo star Ozeki Kotomitsuki, 34, has been implicated in a gambling scandal and has been dismissed by the Japan Sumo Association.
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Obama Administration Challenges Arizona Law
Published 1, July 6, 2010 Congress , Constitutional Law , Courts , Criminal law , Politics , Society , Supreme Court 96 Comments
The Obama Administration filed a challenge of the Arizona immigration law in a move that comes with great legal and political risks. As noted in a recent column, the Arizona law remains quite popular around the country and the Administration will be in the unenviable position of arguing that increased enforcement conflicts with its own policies. Legally, the Justice Department will have to make out a case for implied preemption.
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Iran Set to Stone Woman To Death — After Giving Her 99 Lashes — For Adultery
Published 1, July 6, 2010 Bizarre , Constitutional Law , Criminal law , International , Lawyering , Politics , Religion 60 Comments
We often run Iranian blogs to show clown-like policies such as requiring Islamic haircuts or mannequin mascetomies. However, it is important to remember the plight of women and dissidents under Iran’s medieval Sharia system. There is no more frightening example than the scheduled stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, for conducting an “illicit relationship outside marriage.” Convicted in May 2006, Ashtiani has already been given 99 lashes under her Sharia sentence.
Continue reading ‘Iran Set to Stone Woman To Death — After Giving Her 99 Lashes — For Adultery’
Real Muslims Don’t Wear Mullets
Published 1, July 6, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law , International , Politics , Religion , Society 12 Comments
Now you can finally have hair like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian government has released the results of a list of acceptable and banned hair styles for men.
Publish and Perish: Muslim Extremists Chop Off Hand of Professor For Blasphemy in Class Question
Published 1, July 6, 2010 Criminal law , International , Politics , Religion , Society 31 Comments
College lecturer TJ Joseph was attacked on a roadside in India by Muslim extremists who stabbed him and cut off his hand for insulting Mohammed in a question for a class paper.
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Truck Driver Arrested For DWD (Dentistry While Driving)
Published 1, July 6, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law , International 7 Comments
We have previously followed the dangerous things that drivers do in their cars while driving. An Ontario truck driver, however, added the unique category of dental work.
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The Economist Under Fire Over Editing of Obama Photo
Published 1, July 6, 2010 Bizarre , Media , Politics , Society 55 Comments
The Economist has admitted that it substantially edited its widely viewed cover picture of Obama. President Obama has been criticized for what is perceived as his detached reaction to the spill for the first few weeks. The cover page showed a solitary Obama in deep contemplation. It was completely manufactured. Not only was Obama not alone in the picture, he was talking to Thad W. Allen of the Coast Guard and Charlotte Randolph, a local parish president. Indeed, his bent figure is not from deep contemplation but apparently listening to the much shorter Randolph.
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Biden: We Are Winning . . . Now Everyone To the Bomb Shelter
Published 1, July 5, 2010 Bizarre , International , Military , Politics , Society 16 Comments
Vice President Joe Biden was in Baghdad this week to praise the success of the U.S and Iraqi forces in the battle with the Taliban. His speech was delayed in part by the mortar attack on the U.S. embassy compound.
Continue reading ‘Biden: We Are Winning . . . Now Everyone To the Bomb Shelter’
Florida Woman Arrested After Using Craigslist To Have Neighbor’s Trailer Taken Away
Published 1, July 5, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law 18 Comments
We have another case out of Land O’ Lakes, Florida. This time it is the arrest of Vanessa Kimball, 29, who was tired of seeing her neighbor’s trailer left in her apartment complex loaded with old furniture. Kimball allegedly decided to post an ad on Craigslist for anyone “come get this trailer, attach it to your car and get it out of here.” They did and now Kimball is charged with grand theft.
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Doctor Who Found Pan Am Bomber To Have Less Than Three Months To Live Now Says He Could Live Another 10 Years
Published 1, July 5, 2010 Bizarre , International , Politics , Society 8 Comments
Professor Karol Sikora describes the situation as a bit “embarrassing.” Sikora was hired by the Libyan government to find that terrorist Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi had less than three months to live. While other doctors refused to make such a finding, Sikora did so. The Scottish government decided to release Megrahi, 58 — the only person convicted of the 1988 bombing of a US Pan Am jumbo jet over Lockerbie killing 270 people. He was released on compassionate grounds in August 2009.
Continue reading ‘Doctor Who Found Pan Am Bomber To Have Less Than Three Months To Live Now Says He Could Live Another 10 Years’
Russian Mayor Arrested for Questioning a FSB Resort Endangering Her Town
Published 1, July 5, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law , International , Society 4 Comments
There is a shocking case out of Siberia this week after a mayor was arrested for questioning the legality of a secret resort run by the the F.S.B., the main successor to the Soviet-era K.G.B. Tatyana Kazakova called for criminal charges after finding that the resort was endangering the village. Instead, the FSB had her arrested.
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Islamic Leaders In Australia Denounce Democracy and Call on Muslims to Accept Only Sharia Law
Published 1, July 5, 2010 Bizarre , Constitutional Law , International , Politics , Religion 47 Comments
Leaders of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir met in Australia this week to call on Muslims to reject Democracy and moderate Islam as “haram” or forbidden under the Koran (Qur’an). British Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Burhan Hanif told an audience that Democracy is a lie and that no laws but those in the Koran could govern mankind.
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Scandal Rocks Hot Dog Eating World: Kobayashi Arrested Charging Stage at Coney Island
Published 1, July 4, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law , International , Society 15 Comments
The hot dog eating world has its buns in a knot today after scandal hit the sacred stage at the Nathan’s annual contest in Coney Island. As three-time world hot dog–eating champion Joey Chestnut took the prize over 15 rivals, former champion Takeru Kobayashi rushed the stage and was arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest. That is nothing to relish.
Happy Fourth of July to everyone on our blog and other blogs. The Turleys held our annual Fourth of July celebration with fireworks last night (tonight we are going to see the Washington fireworks). We had a ball at the end of our street with our neighbors in a perfect celebration of our Independence Day . . . apple pie, burgers, and a huge box filled with fireworks.
Ever wondered how cats celebrated the Fourth without fireworks?
Video Raises Questions of Liability for Prank
Published 1, July 4, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law , International , Torts 12 CommentsThis video (on YouTube) raises a long-standing question of the liability for stupid pranks. This woman is clearly and understandably traumatized by what appears a well-orchestrated prank by what appears to be a television show, She clearly did not consent and is clearly harmed emotionally by the prank.
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The World Cup of Drug Traffickers
Published 1, July 4, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law , International 5 Comments
Columbian drug traffickers now have their own World Cup . . . literally. A replica World Cup trophy made out of cocaine was seized in Columbia. The 14 inch, 24 lb statue was made mixing cocaine with gasoline or acetone.
Federal Judge Strikes Down Blasphemy Law
Published 1, July 3, 2010 Bizarre , Constitutional Law , Courts , Religion , Society 32 Comments
U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson has issued a major decision in favor of free speech and free association. In a 68-page decision, Baylson struck down Pennsylvania’s blasphemy law.
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Walmart CEO Makes Average Workers Annual Salary Every Hour
Published 1, July 3, 2010 Bizarre , Politics , Society 60 Comments
This is an interesting comparison to judge the runaway executive salaries in this country. It turns out that Walmart CEO Michael Duke’s $35 million annual salary constitutes an hourly wage equal to the annual salary of the average Walmart employee.
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This is a truly amazing animal.
Continue reading ‘Can Your Dog Do This?’
Whale of a Whale: Meet Leviathan Melvillei
Published 1, July 3, 2010 Animals , International , Science 7 Comments
Buried out in the Peruvian desert is something that can only be called a whale of a whale. “Leviathan Melvillei” has such large teeth that, when uncovered, scientists thought they were elephant tusks.
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Illinois Lawyer Suspended For Calling Judge a “Narcissistic, Maniacal Mental Case”
Published 1, July 2, 2010 Bizarre , Courts , Lawyering 29 Comments
Melvin Hoffman, an Illinois lawyer with 35 years of experience, has been hit with a six-month suspension by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission for calling Judge Patrick Murphy a “narcissistic, maniacal mental case” in a telephone conference call on a family law matter.
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New York Court Upholds Use of Eminent Domain To Benefit Columbia University
Published 1, July 2, 2010 Academics , Constitutional Law , Politics , Society 19 Comments
We have another outrageous case involving the government using eminent domain to take property from one private citizen to give to another. This case comes from New York where the Court of Appeals has upheld the right of the Empire State Development Company to seize the Tuck-It-Away Self-Storage building in Manhattanville and give it to Columbia University. It is part of the troubling legacy of the Supreme Court’s 2005 Kelo decision.
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Man’s Best Friend: Ex-California Police Officer Charged With Bizarre Series of Crimes
Published 1, July 2, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law 7 Comments
It is not uncommon for former police officers to become private detectives and leverage their connections with colleagues to drum up business. However, Michael Sianez, 53, is charged with using his former service to threaten disgruntled customers and engaging in a series of bizarre crimes, including soliciting women to have sex with his dog.
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Mein Ringtone: Man Arrested For Having Hitler Speech As Ringtone
Published 1, July 2, 2010 Bizarre , Constitutional Law , Criminal law , International , Politics , Society 10 Comments
A German man may go to jail for six months over a ringtone. The man has been using a Hitler speech as his ringtone on his cellphone. In Germany, it is a crime to display Nazi symbols or Nazi works.
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Beach Umbrella Impales Sun Bather in Ocean City
Published 1, July 2, 2010 Bizarre , Torts 10 Comments
A bizarre scene in Ocean City, Maryland looked like it has the makings of the opening of an episode of Six Feet Under. A woman was sunbathing when she was stabbed by a flying beach umbrella in the leg.
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Ohio Murderer Sentenced With Netting and Diaper on Head
Published 1, July 2, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law 12 Comments
This was the image of the defendant that a jury saw in an Ohio murder trial. Neil Simpson was on trial for the murder of a pizza shop owner in course of a robbery. After he spat at the jury, the judge ordered mosquito netting and a plastic diaper put on his face. Usually, a defendant will be excluded from the courtroom or required to watch via videocamera in such circumstances. That is sometimes not available. However, the use of netting and a diaper in this way adds an unnecessary and disturbing image in court.
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Legal Warming: Police Re-Open Investigation of Sexual Assault By Al Gore
Published 1, July 1, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law , Politics , Society 23 Comments
In a surprise move, the Portland Police Bureau has announced that it is re-opening the investigation into the allegations against former Vice President Al Gore. Gore is accused of a sexual assault by a masseuse who described him as a “crazy sex poodle.” Notably, Molly Hagerty, 54, claims that there is DNA evidence and supporting security videotapes.
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Report: Cardinal Praised Bishop for his Willingness To Go To Jail Rather Than Reveal Information On Priest Rapist
Published 1, July 1, 2010 Bizarre , Criminal law , International , Politics , Religion , Society 16 Comments
The Pope continues to face allegations of his prior knowledge of abuse by clergy. However, the most striking story in the article below is how Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos allegedly heralded a bishop for his willingness to go to jail rather than reveal information about a priest accused of raping a child.
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Dutch Treat: Obama Administration Accused of Refusing Free Help From Dutch Ships Designed to Clean Water After Spills
Published 1, July 1, 2010 Bizarre , Environment , Politics , Society 26 Comments
While President Obama has finally accepted international assistance in the Deep Horizon spill, there is a disturbing account of how Administration officials turned down generous (and repeated) offers from the Dutch to send a fleet of ships designed specifically to clean water after spills. They allegedly offered the vessels free of charge but the Administration declined the assistance for weeks.
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Texas Tech Professor Accused of Watching Porn After Teleconference With Students
Published 1, July 1, 2010 Academics , Bizarre 10 Comments
Texas Tech Health Sciences Professor Rod Hicks, 50, is under fire this week after students accused him of surfing the Internet for porn immediately after a teleconference from Austin. Hicks is one of the school’s endowed chairs.
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More Wrong that Reich: GOP Accuses Biden of Calling Them Nazis
Published 1, July 1, 2010 Bizarre , Politics 41 Comments
Some Republicans are expressing outrage today, claiming that Vice President Joe Biden suggested they were Nazis in a recent fundraising letter. Given Biden’s well-known tendency toward gaffes, I was not particularly surprised but it turns out to be entirely manufactured. Biden sent out a fundraising letter warning that the GOP will mount a “blitzkrieg” against Democrats in the fall. Since the Germans used the “blitzkrieg” in World War II and many Germans were Nazis, Biden is accused of calling Republicans Nazis.
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Maggots on a Plane: Passenger’s Rancid Meat Causes Stir on US Airways Flight
Published 1, July 1, 2010 Animals , Bizarre 14 Comments
Where is Samuel L. Jackson when we need him? A US Airways flight was forced to return to the terminal at Atlanta when maggots starting falling from an overhead bin.
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