Year: 2010

Congress, Politics, Society

Boehner Promises To Fly Commercial As Speaker

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was criticized on this blog and other sites for her failure to end various corrupt practices such as pork and congressional travel. Indeed, Pelosi added jets to ferry members abroad on junkets and used a personal governmental jet to go back and forward to California. Now, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has announced that he will take commercial flights. Regardless of whether you opposed the GOP in the elections, it is important to give credit to such reforms. Boehner is to be commended for this symbolic change.

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Society

Weekend Specials At The Turley Blog

I have been reading the rave reviews for our guest bloggers — David Drumm, Elaine Magliaro, and Mark Esposito — from last week. This was a trial effort to follow up on suggestions for a couple days in which some of our regulars might also post on the blog. Given the success of last week, I have offered to let David, Elaine, and Mark post on weekends. They have agreed to do so. This weekend will be the first such installment.
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Academia, Bizarre, International, Science, Society

Blue Plate Special: Scientist Finds New Lizard Species on Dinner Plate

Researchers in Vietnam recently sat down for a simple meal and ended up with a scientific feast. They were staring at a plate of cooked lizard but they had never seen this species before. It turns out to be a unique species of female lizards who are able to reproduce themselves by cloning. The perfect radical feminist species.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Environment, International, Politics, Society, Torts

China Sentences Food Safety Advocate to Over Two Years in Prison

The Chinese have jailed another activist. This time the victim is Zhao Lianhai, the father of a child sickened by one of the country’s food safety scandals. At least six children died from melamine-tainted milk in 2008 and Zhao’s son was injured. More than 300,000 children were left with kidney problems. Zhao has been demanding answers. He just received one in the form of a 2½ years in prison sentence for “disturbing social order.”

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Military, Politics, Society

Obama Fights To Preserve Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Before Supreme Court

President Barack Obama continued his effort to preserve the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in a filing before the United States Supreme Court. A trial court had imposed an injunction to halt the discriminatory policy. The Administration could have allowed the injunction to stand pending an appeal but succeeded in getting the order reversed. Now, it is defending its intention to continue to discriminate against gays and lesbians in an appeal to the Supreme Court.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Justice, Politics, Religion, Society

Turley Affidavit in Canadian Polygamy Case

I previously posted notice of my retention as a legal expert in the polygamy case before the British Columbia Supreme Court — a case that is being watched closely around the world. My office has received a number of requests for the affidavit, which I have been informed is now part of the public record and is linked below.
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Academia, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Lawyering, Politics, Society

The Porteous Impeachment: Post-Trial Brief

We have filed our post-trial brief in the Senate Impeachment Trial of United States District Court Judge Thomas Porteous. The brief, linked below, presents the factual record on each of the articles of impeachment after the conclusion of the Senate trial. We are expecting final arguments to be heard in December before all 100 Senators on the Senate floor.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Religion, Society

In the Grip of Controversy: Indonesian Minister Faces Scandal Over Handshake With First Lady

Indonesian Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring is in the midst of a political crisis over a handshake. Sembiring is a conservative Muslim who often blames natural disasters on a lack of morality and avoids any contact with females outside his family. Then it happened on camera. A smiling Sembiring shaking the hand of first lady Michele Obama. It is enough to send a religious nut into a fetal position. The result has been an insistence that Michele Obama was the hand aggressor — effectively grabbing his hand to his disgust and alarm. The pictures seems to belie the defense — showing a smiling Sembiring who appears to grab the First Lady’s hand.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion

Taking the Rap: Iranians Arrest Teenagers Across Country For Playing Rap Music and Using “Western Musical Instruments”

The Iranian police has found another threat to the Islamic faith: rap music. The morals police has raided parties across Iran to nab kids who just want to play rap music. These teenagers have been meeting in abandoned buildings to listen to the music and dance.
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Bizarre, Science, Society

“You Got Chamydia”: English Scientists Develop Device to Allow Cell Phone to Alert You of Sexually Transmitted Infections

You may want to be a bit more careful in borrowing a friend’s cellphone in the future. Mobile phones will soon be equipped with small devices to allow you to urinate or spit on their phones to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases. The devices are being developed in England for both cellphones and computers. Given my recent difficulties with Apple over my alleged submersion of my IPhone, I am a bit leery in picking up the new P-App.
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Academia, Bizarre, Society

The Twinkie Diet: Professor Loses 27 Pounds on Junk Food Regimen

Thank God, a diet I can live with. Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, has reported astonishing results in a novel diet that he created to show that losing weight is all about counting calories –not what you eat. To prove his point, he went on a “Twinkie Diet” where he only consumed junk food every three hours consisting of Twinkies, Hostess HoHos, Little Debbies, Oreos, Dorito chips and the like. He lost 27 pounds in two months. Around the world, rotund fans are raising their Twinkies and Debbies in salute to you, Professor Haub.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Religion, Society

Collared: Massachusetts Priest Accused of Stealing $83,000 To Support Porn Habit

In Massachusetts, prosecutors are dealing with a bizarre case of a man who allegedly store $83,147 to pay for his pornography habit. What makes the case even more bizarre is that the victim was the St. John the Baptist Church and the alleged felon was its pastor, Rev. Keith LeBlanc.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Holy, Inseam, Batman! Bank Robber Foiled By Baggy Pants

While we have been criticizing public officials for their criminalization of baggy pants, it appears that we can now add the objection that they are assisting crime by requiring tailored outfits. Columbus police have a video showing a man who failed in a bank robbery effort when he tripped over his baggy pants.
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Bizarre, Criminal law

Massachusetts Lawyer Accused of Shredding Court File To Block Murder Trial

In Salem, Massachusetts, lawyer Ilya Ablavsky, 32, has been charged in a bizarre alleged crime of stealing the file for his cousin’s murder trial and destroying it. Ablavsky, a recent graduate of Western New England College School of Law, reportedly stated that it was his understanding that, absent the original indictment, a person could not be charged.

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International, Society, Travel Blog

An American in Paris

As promised, here are a few pictures and recommendations from France. One item will await a posting in our series “Things That Tick Me Off.” While October and November are part of the low tourism period, I do not know why. Paris and the French countryside are ablaze in color and the weather is mild. No lines at museums or restaurants. Forget Spring in Paris, think Fall.
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