The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that, after once being banned from classrooms, Scientology is back in California classroom spreading its controversial theories on drug use. The program is run by Narconon, an organization that was created by the Church and founded on the theories of L. Ron Hubbard. Narconon offers the lessons for free, but experts say that the theories are not only unfounded but directly connected to the religious organization that some accused of being a cult or criminal enterprise. Scientology has long objected to what it views as discrimination directed against it while ignoring mainstream religions. It also insists that Narconon is a successful and independent and secular organization.
Year: 2014
Perfect symbiosis and balance found in nature.
Best wishes to all on this Memorial Day. It is a sobering holiday as we continue to lose men and women abroad in countries like Afghanistan. The cost to these heroes and their families is a debt that we can never fully repay. However, as we enjoy the time with our families, it is a day that reminds us of what they have given to us in their service to this country.
Continue reading “Happy Memorial Day”
As I have discussed previously, I have participated for years in a program to help train lawyers and judges in dealing with cases involving the “cultural defense” where a defendant claims a tradition or religious practice as a mitigating factor or even an outright defense to crimes or civil claims. We have a new case involving such a claim in Brooklyn after Noor Hussain, 75, beat his wife to death. He insisted that such beatings are considering appropriate under Pakistani culture. We have previously discussed (here and here). Islamic clerics who have defended wife beating as permitted and even recommended under Islamic teachings. In this case, Hussain was reportedly upset because his wife, Nazar Hussain, 66, failed to make him a goat meat dinner that he preferred.
When FBI Special Agent Aaron McFarlane, 41, shot and killed an individual of interest in the Boston Marathon bombing operation, a few police officials were reportedly confused. McFarlane allegedly was collecting $52,488 a year in medical disability benefits under the California Public Employees’ Retirement System after an injury with the Oakland police. Yet, he appeared to be working as a FBI special agent. Oakland officials are reportedly investigating how such double dipping is possible for an officer who was relieved of duty “due to an illness or injury that is expected to be permanent or of an undetermined duration.” Not only have many asked how the FBI could hire an officer with a medial disability pension and a checkered past, but criticize the FBI over what was viewed as obstructive conduct during an investigation of the shooting.
Meriam Yehya Ibrahim, 27, is a mother living in a Sudanese prison with her 20-month old son awaiting for the implementation of the latest example of abuses under Sharia law. Ibrahim is a Christian and a Sharia court judge in Khartoum sentenced her to be hanged for refusing to renounce her religion after she gives birth to her second child and nursed her child for two years. She was given three days to renounce her faith to avoid flogging and hanging. It is that like perverse type of accommodation that has defenders claiming that Sharia law is really more humane and enlightened than Western law. For the rest of humanity, it is an unspeakable atrocity.
Someone posted this flower on Reddit from their garden. It is truly extraordinary.
By Charlton Stanley, Weekend Contributor
As I wrote on this blog a year ago, Memorial Day is the misunderstood “holiday.” Many people confuse Memorial Day with Veteran’s Day. Veteran’s Day began as Armistice Day, commemorating the Armistice signed at the eleventh hour, eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. In our political and military naivete, the Armistice was meant to be the end of the, “War To End All Wars.” Two decades later it started all over again. Veteran’s Day is on November 11 in the US. Veteran’s Day is meant to honor those who served in the military in both peacetime and war, both living and dead.
Memorial Day has a history predating Armistice Day by a half century. On May May 5, 1868, three years after the end of the Civil War, Decoration Day was established. It was named Decoration Day because the day was set aside for the living to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. May 30 was chosen as Decoration Day because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. The tradition somehow spread to honor non-veterans as well. As a youngster, I remember churches and communities where we lived celebrating Decoration Day by placing flowers on graves in all the local cemeteries. I remember attending some of these solemn rituals as a child,. I helped out the adults by placing at least one flower on each grave. Every grave needed at least one flower. It was important to decorate the graves of those who had no relatives left, otherwise, there would be no remembrance of them. The flower was a token of remembrance, even if we didn’t know who they were. Why? Because every life needs to be remembered and honored. In 1971, Memorial Day was established by an Act of Congress. Officially, Memorial Day differs somewhat from Decoration Day as I knew it as a youngster, because it was meant by Congress to remember those who served the country in uniform and have now passed through that mysterious veil.
Now? Nothing says “honor the dead” quite like a mattress sale.
Continue reading “Memorial Day 2014. A Day of Remembrance Everyone Seems to be Forgetting.”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Weekend Contributor
Yusef Komunyakaa, the author of the poem Facing It, was born in Bogalusa, Louisiana on April 29, 1947. He “served in the United States Army from 1969 to 1970 as a correspondent, and as managing editor of the Southern Cross during the Vietnam war, earning him a Bronze Star.” Komunyakaa began writing poetry in 1973.
Here is a video of Komunyakaa reading his poem Facing It, which is about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Continue reading ““Facing It”—A Poem by Yusef Komunyakaa in Honor of American Veterans”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The Washington Department of Health Medical Quality Assurance Commission issued an ex parte order of summary action, suspending the medical license of a Gig Harbor, Washington psychiatrist following his arrest for allegedly making death threats and threats to bomb the Molina Health Care’s facility in Bothell. The summary suspension was sought by the Attorney General’s Office and granted three days after his arrest. It will be effective pending further action.
Police allege Dr. Said Farzad M.D. threatened employees of insurance provider Molina Health Care. In a series of phone calls in April and May, Farzad complained about paperwork problems associated with his patients, and then began threatening to shoot employees. He was arrested by Bothell police the following day.
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw)- Weekend Contributor
It has happened again. A mass killing at the hands of a person armed with knives and three semi-automatic handguns and 400 rounds of ammunition. This time the alleged shooter stabbed three to death and then went on a shooting spree that ended with at least three more dead and a total of 8 injured/wounded people from gunshot wounds and 5 more injured by his knives or by being hit by his car. Continue reading “The NRA Has Blood on its Hands”
Every Sunday, I do a break of dawn hike somewhere around Washington. We have extraordinary trails in this area. One of my favorite is Billy Goat Trail. Here are a few pictures of the dawn on Billy Goat this morning at 6 am.
Submitted by Kimberly Dienes, guest blogger.
Sometimes, paradoxically, the most difficult times in our lives can lead to some of the happiest occurrences and memories. Although I had heard about Jonathan Turley from my father many times, I met him at my father’s funeral. Some of you may have seen his wonderful blog about my father, Charles Thomas Dienes (http://jonathanturley.org/2014/04/24/farewell-to-tom-dienes/). Jonathan suggested that I join his blog as a contributor and publish my eulogy for Dad.
The key message of the eulogy is this: it is not easy to love. Many words, phrases, and stories in our culture might lead you to believe it is, falling, instant, first glance, but love takes much more than effortless submission to a greater force…it is an act, and sometimes that act can be difficult. The act requires vulnerability, it requires communication, it requires thought and time. Loving can be so very difficult, especially in a fast paced modern world that puts a premium on speed and ease. There is a wonderful book by Eric Fromm called “The Art of Loving.” My mother read it before she married my father, and I read it before I met my husband. It carries the very clear message that loving is an art, that it takes effort, that it is more than something that happens to us, but is something that we do. That is my father’s greatest legacy. He loved and he knew how to love, how to communicate that love to those around him. Therefore, as my first act as a guest contributor on this blog, I would like to publish this eulogy in his memory.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
Law enforcement video recording of witnesses and suspects has a long history of controversy and judicial scrutiny. Not only can this be an issue in the field but also within the courtroom.
A recent interview of a witness brings these issues to light. This is especially noteworthy in jury trials and for accuracy in police reports forwarded to prosecutors.
Video below the fold…
Continue reading “The Importance Of Recording Witness Statements”
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
The confusion as to what constitutes lawful medical marijuana grows with federal deference and ten year punishments for doing so, the United States Department of Justice is prosecuting five rural Eastern Washington residents accused of growing sixty-eight medical marijuana plants in a private collective. The accused include a seventy year old man who states he uses the medicine to treat pain from a job related injury, his wife for her arthritis, and their son.
What compounds the severity for these five individuals is that within the thirty-eight acre property, two of the defendants’ residence had inside several firearms, including rifles which are used by the family to hunt and for protection from wild animals. Firearms are very common in residences in rural Eastern Washington. Yet, the firearms in relation to the marijuana grow add an additional five year minimum sentence, adding to the defendants’ minimum of ten years imprisonment, something the senior defendant claims to be a “death sentence.”
What is rather extraordinary in this effort by the department of justice, despite guidelines in not allocating resources to prosecute medical marijuana patients, the defendants claim it was a misunderstanding of Washington’s medical marijuana laws that caused them to go from legal users to being potentially imprisoned for ten years.