Year: 2012

Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion, Society

330 Schoolgirls And Teachers Poisoned In One Month in Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, the struggle for basic rights for women continues to be a struggle for life itself. Today officials confirmed that 160 were poisoned in what is viewed as another attack by Muslim extremists. Last month, 170 schoolgirls and three teachers were poisoned. Muslim extremists oppose the education of women and the Karzai Administration, while supporting such education, has been accused of rolling back on the gains of women and girls following the fall of the Taliban. These “men of God” continue to believe that killing or maiming little girls pleases Allah and makes them spiritually pure, including throwing acid in the faces of little girls. Fortunately, there is no word of deaths yet and many children have been released from the hospital.

Continue reading “330 Schoolgirls And Teachers Poisoned In One Month in Afghanistan” →

Bizarre, Society, Torts

“Once a Pike, Always a Pike:” Book Burning By Louisiana Tech Students Allegedly Responsible For Burning Down Frat House And Nearby Apartment Building

This reads like a torts exam question. A group of frat brothers allegedly want to celebrate the end of the year with some book burning at Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house at Louisiana Tech in Ruston, Louisiana. The text books then cause a large fire that ultimately claims not just the frat house but the nearby apartment building. The motto of the fraternity is “Once a Pike, Always a Pike.”

Continue reading ““Once a Pike, Always a Pike:” Book Burning By Louisiana Tech Students Allegedly Responsible For Burning Down Frat House And Nearby Apartment Building” →

Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Cannibal In Florida Believed To Have Been High On “Bath Salts”

Police have identified the man shot in the midst of chewing the face off a victim in Florida. Police shot and killed Rudy Eugene, 31, after they found him along a highway naked while biting off the face of of his victim. What is more important in the future is that the cause of insane rampage appears to be “bath salts,” a new form of LSD.

Continue reading “Cannibal In Florida Believed To Have Been High On “Bath Salts”” →

Bizarre, Lawyering, Media

Pom Wonderful: Recommended By One Out Of One Administrative Judge

The lawyers for juice maker Pom Wonderful appear to have found a way to make lemonade from a lemon. After the company was hit by a largely negative ruling by Administrative Judge D. Michael Chappell over false advertising of the health benefits of his product, the company used lines from the opinion as part of its new advertising. Many have complained that the selective quotation is misleading. Whatever the accuracy, it is a move that will not go over well with Chappell or other judges.

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Bizarre

Pig Problems Mar Memorial Weekend

I could not resist taking a picture of this sign in front of the Pork Barrel BBQ in Alexandria, Virginia when the family was out walking last night after buying ice cream on Memorial Day. Over at the corporate headquarters of Safeway, executives wish they had two fewer pigs after the company’s General Counsel cracked a joke about Hillary Clinton and Speaker Nancy Pelosi that has been denounced as sexist.

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Military, Society

Happy Memorial Day

Best wishes to all on this Memorial Day. It is a sobering holiday on the heels of our passing the 3000 death in Afghanistan alone. This week we also learned that half of our returning veterans are filing for disability. While some of us opposed these wars, we still are united as a country in our gratitude and respect for the men and women who have put themselves in harm’s way in foreign lands. The cost to these heroes and their families is a debt that we can never fully repay.
Continue reading “Happy Memorial Day” →

Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Politics

Justice Department Clears Its Own Lawyers Of Intentional Misconduct In Stevens Prosecution

The U.S. Justice Department again showed how its protects its own in scandals involving government lawyers. The DOJ has long been notorious in refusing to seriously punish its own lawyers for wrongdoing while pushing the legal envelope on criminal charges against others. The slightest discrepancy in testimony or omission in reporting can bring a criminal charge from the DOJ. The DOJ is particularly keen in finding intentional violations or substitute for intent in federal rules — bending laws to the breaking point to secure indictments. However, when its attorneys are accused of facilitating torture or lying to the court or withholding evidence, the general response is a long investigation and then a slap on the wrist. This week is no exception. Waiting until late Thursday to inform Congress to guarantee a low media coverage, the DOJ announced that it had found no intentional violations by its attorneys in the failed prosecution of U.S. Senator Ted Stevens — despite the contrary finding made by an independent investigation. Instead, the investigation again offered rhetorical punishment as a substitute for true punishment — declaring that the attorneys were only guilty of “reckless professional misconduct.” As a result, Joseph Bottini will be suspended for only 40 days and James Goeke will be suspended for 15 days. Even that level of punishment is viewed as noteworthy for the DOJ given its prior history of whitewashing misconduct by its attorneys. Even the finding of misconduct and brief suspension was contested within the department by Terrence Berg, a lawyer with the department’s Professional Misconduct Review Unit.

Continue reading “Justice Department Clears Its Own Lawyers Of Intentional Misconduct In Stevens Prosecution” →

Environment, International, Politics

Germany Hits Record In Solar Power With 50% Of Energy During Mid-Day Hours

Germany’s economy is viewed as the most successful major economy in the world today and the key bedrock for European recovery. While many conservative leaders in the United States are calling on the tearing up of environmental protections to help our economy, Germany has shown the fallacy of that claim. The Germans continue to set new records on environmental protection. This week the German solar power plants produced a world record 22 gigawatts of electricity per hour — literally half of the energy used through the key midday hours in the country.

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Animals, Environment, International

Experts: Bushmeat May Trigger Mass Death Pandemic

Scientists are warning that the world could face a new HIV strain as a result of the failure to stop poachers from killing great apes and monkeys for “bushmeat.” We have previously seen how bushmeat remains a great draw for Africans even in the United States. However, scientists are warning that it could be humanity itself that will bear the costs of the continuing slaughter of apes and monkeys as humans are exposed to new strains that are highly compatible with human bodies.

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Bizarre, Torts

Video Captures 80-Year-Old Woman Coming Out Of Parachute On Birthday Jump

One of my former students sent me this video of a harrowing experience of an 80-year-old woman named Laverne who almost falls out of her harness in a parachute jump. I have long collected “falling body” cases of torts involving falling human and animal bodies (which we discuss in class). This one will have to go into the negligence section, though ultrahazardous activities might be an option.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Justice, Military, Society

Front Line Ladies

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)- Guest Blogger

It was just a small news item on the blog site, but it had a big impact on me.  It was reported that two female soldiers have filed suit against the Defense Department in an attempt to force the military to allow women soldiers to fight on the front lines along with men.   They are alleging that women soldiers are being denied their Equal Protection rights under the Fifth Amendment by the military holding them back from fighting on the front lines in all military jobs. Continue reading “Front Line Ladies” →

Uncategorized

Marital Discord

By Mike Appleton, Guest Blogger

“Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.”     Shakespeare, Sonnet 116

The year 1648 saw the publication of Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts, a compilation of laws enacted by the colony’s General Court.  The preface reminds us that “there is no humane law that tendeth to common good . . . but the same is mediately a law of God.”  The list of capital offenses included adultery, idolatry, blasphemy, sodomy and witchcraft, with appropriate references to Leviticus, Deuteronomy and other books of the Bible.

And while the Puritan colonists were committed to their religious freedom, they firmly rejected the idea of freedom of religion, with its implication of doctrinal indifferentism.  Banishment was the prescibed penalty for heresy, as carefully defined.  Anabaptists and others opposed to infant baptism were likewise subject to banishment.  A special section prohibited “those of the Jesuiticall Order” and ecclesiastics “ordained by the authoritie of the Pope” from even stepping foot in the colony, with death the penalty for repeat offenders.  (In perhaps the earliest recorded example of compassionate conservatism, however, Jesuits who washed ashore through “ship-wrack or other accident” were permitted to remain until the departure of the next available ship.)

Yet despite the strongly theocratic foundation of their laws, the Puritans reserved to civil authority the solemnization of the most important relationship: marriage. Continue reading “Marital Discord” →

Academia, Science, Society

Scientists Find Deep-Voiced Males Have Lower Sperm Counts

By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

The old joke about male sopranos having feminine proclivities may be just another cultural myth. Researcher Leigh Simmons has developed data which strongly suggests that basses have decidedly lower sperm counts. Working with volunteers at the University of Western Australia, the evolutionary biologist tested 54 heterosexual men.  He first asked 30 female volunteers to rate the men’s voices for sexual attractiveness and masculinity. Not surprisingly, men with deep voices were uniformly rated the highest in sexual allure.

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Animals, Bizarre

Party Animals on the Loose: Bunch of Bovines in Boxford Break Free and Crash Beer Bash

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

People may believe that residents of New England are staid and reserved. That may be true of some but definitely not all of us. It’s also not true of our farm animals—and I have a news story to prove it:

Continue reading “Party Animals on the Loose: Bunch of Bovines in Boxford Break Free and Crash Beer Bash” →

Environment, Free Speech

John Walsh:This Bag Is Not A Toy

By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

One wonders who the man is to the left and why is he channelling SNL’s, Beldar Conehead. Seems John Walsh appeared before the Los Angeles City Council to oppose the use of plastic bags at grocery stores. According to proponents of the bag ban, the flimsy and wind friendly containers have the habit of blowing into tree limbs, sinking into lakes, and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Walsh spoke in support of a measure to ban the bags and allow supermarkets to charge up to 10 cents for the paper variety.

Continue reading “John Walsh:This Bag Is Not A Toy” →