President Obama has made another huge concession to developers and drillers this week. He has abandoned a pledge to restore eligibility for federal wilderness protection to millions of acres of undeveloped land in the West. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who was himself viewed as a decidedly anti-environmental Senator before being picked by Obama, announced that millions of acres will no longer be designated as “wild lands.”
Continue reading “Timber! Obama Reverses Himself On Protecting Millions of Acres of Wildness in New Concession To Developers and Drillers”
Author: jonathanturley
Remember when we were told the bailout of the auto companies was just like a loan and we might even make money on it. Well, the President’s National Economic Council has announced that it will cost $14 billion. That is $14 billion out of the original $80 billion bailout.
Continue reading “Auto Industry Bailout to Cost U.S. Taxpayers $14 Billion”
You have to give this dog points for determination.
Continue reading “Dog vs. Bath: The Legendary Battle Continues”
If you said this is the Milky Way, you would be understandably wrong. This is NGC 6744 — what astronomers are calling the twin of the Milky Way.
Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah is the spiritual mentor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and he is not exactly a kid person. After telling the faithful that suicide bombings are required for Muslims in fighting Israel, he declined to make an exception for children.
There is a bizarre case in Italy where Italian prosecutors have charged the country’s top seismologist with manslaughter for failing to predict a natural disaster that struck Italy in 2009. The massive earthquake killed 308 people and they blame Enzo Boschi, the president of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. Six other scientists and technicians are also charged.
Continue reading “Seismic Charge: Italian Prosecutors Charge Seismologists With Manslaughter For Failing To Predict 2009 Quake”
Now this is a novel citation. The Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church has been fined for “excessive pruning” of its its crape myrtles. The city is demanding fines or replacement of the trees.
Continue reading “Church Cited For Excessive Pruning of Trees In Charlotte”
I pledge not to use The Jerk in the following story. Steve Martin has been named as one of the victims in an impressive international forgery scheme. Martin paid $850,000 in July 2004 for Landschaft mit Pferden (Landscape With Horses). Later he sold it at a loss of 200,000 euros to a Swiss businesswoman. It was then found to be a fake.
Continue reading “Real Men Don’t Buy Campendonk: Steven Martin Named As Victim in Massive Forgery Scheme”
There has long been criticism of the employment rates claimed by some law schools after graduation. However, Anna Alaburda, a 2008 graduate from Thomas Jefferson School of Law, has taken the matter to court with a lawsuit over alleged misrepresentations that led her to go $150,000 in debt. She cites the statistics given by the school to U.S. News and World Report showing an 80 percent employment rate.
Continue reading “Thomas Jefferson Law Graduate Sues Over Allegedly Misrepresentations Over Employment Rates”
One of the most senior figures in Australia’s Church of Scientology has been criminally charged in a case of sexual abuse. Jan Eastgate is accused of encouraging a young girl to lie and deny allegations of sexual abuse in the church. In the meantime, another leading Church figure, Tom Cruse, is being sued in an action unconnected to the cases in Australia by ex-Scientologist, Peter Letterese, for $250 million under a RICO claim that includes allegations of bribing a judge.
Continue reading “Senior Scientology Figure Criminally Charged After Allegedly Telling Minor To Lie About Abuse”
Things were going so well until he tried to climb on his car . . .
Continue reading “How Not To Pass A Sobriety Test”
While Congress continues to plan for hundreds of billions in cuts and states are closing parks and educational programs, we continue to gush billions on three wars. This fiscal year alone the cost of just Afghanistan will be $113 billion. Just this year. Just for Afghanistan.
Continue reading “Cost of Afghanistan War This Year: $113 Billion”
There was a refreshing moment of truthful clarity last week from Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal during an interview on “CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS.” Prince Talal admitted that the Saudis want to lower oil prices to avoid moves toward other energy sources and away from oil. It is the same principle upon which drug dealers offer cut-rate narcotics to keep the addiction going for their customers.
Tiffany Startz, 22, is facing has been charged in a bizarre case after she punched a rapper on a dare last September in Joliet, Illinois — killing John “Fatboy” Powell. It is a modern version of the case of Harry Houdini who reportedly died after a college student punched him repeatedly in the stomach to test his claim of being able to withstand blows. As discussed below, the student was never charged. Startz, however, is facing reckless conduct and battery charges stemming from the incident at a garage party.
Continue reading “The Death of Fatboy: Criminal Charges Brought In Dare Gone Bad”
A British author Alan Shadrake, 76, is the latest victim of a worldwide trend of attacks on free speech. Shadrake wrote a book entitled Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore’s Justice in the Dock detailing the inequities and unfairness of the Singapore justice system. The response of Singapore’s courts was to convict Shadrake and throw him in jail for contempt. The abusive case should be a rallying point for civil libertarians around the world, not to mention any Singaporeans who value free speech and the rule of law. The Singapore government compounded the abuse by banning the book.