Category: Bizarre

Bizarre, Politics, Society

Mission Accomplished: Bush Takes In $15M In Speaker’s Fees Despite Vowing to Keep Low Profile

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Former President George W. Bush has a strange way of keeping a low profile. Following his reported sore ego for not being afforded enough credit in the demise of Bin Laden, Bush declined an invitation to go to New York and appear with President Obama at “ground zero.” The ex-President, it was said, wanted to keep a “low profile.” That desire didn’t stop him though from traveling to New York the following week and giving three speeches to hedge fund managers for a cool $450,000.00.

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Bizarre

“You’re Going To Like Where We Land”: United Under Fire For Ad Placed Above Ground Zero

Some New Yorkers were a bit displeased to see a sign put up at the Cortlandt Street R subway stop above ground zero for United Airlines reading “You’re going to like where we land.” The last flight to land at the location was United Flight 175, which struck the south tower on September 11th. This has not been a great week for United, which had to apologize for reinstating the flight numbers for the flights that crashed into the World Trade Center and at Shankville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
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Academia, Bizarre, Science, Society

Dr. Levengood’s Scab: CDC Seizes 180-Year-Old Smallpox Scab

Now this would have made for an interesting tort suit, but the surgical-booted thugs from the Centers of Disease Control (CDC) have spoiled it. After Dr. Paul Levengood of the Virginia Historical Society put on display a small pox scab from 1831, CDC officials covered in surgical garb rushed to the museum, seized the scab, irradiated it and threw it into a “medium security area.” It is not clear if the scab has counsel.
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Bizarre, Lawyering, Society

Illinois Prosecutor Charged With Ethical Breach in “Grandma Ruse”

Illinois Assistant Attorney General Paul Ambrose Rathburn is the subject of an interesting ethical charge after allegedly using the “grandma ruse” to gain evidence against a condominium project for lack of handicapped access. Rathburn is accused of entering the premises under the false pretense that he was looking for a condo for his grandma when he knew the party was represented and sought information under false pretenses.

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Academia, Bizarre, Science

Fat Head? New Study Shows Thinking About Food Can Reduce Cravings For Food

A new study suggests that common wisdom on dieting may be wrong. Many people try to avoid thinking about food but researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh found that imaging yourself eating foods can reduce your cravings . . . but does it give you a fat head?
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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

Don’t Try This At Home: New Law Would Bar Sex in Home By Couples Awaiting Divorce

Wrentham Selectman Robert Leclair believes that there is a long overdue problem that needs to be addressed on Beacon Hill: parents having sex in their homes while awaiting a divorce. One could call this the ultimate nanny state legislation except that it includes sex with the nanny or anyone else while a divorce is pending — Schwarzennegger take note.
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Academia, Bizarre, Lawyering, Society

North Carolina Central University Student Accused of Plagiarizing Commencement Speech

Law Student Preston Mitchum, 25, did not quite have the graduation that he anticipated at N.C. Central University Law School. It should have been his crowning glory as the class speaker at the graduation but has now turned into a nightmare after he was accused of plagiarizing his speech from a Binghamton University student in New York.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

Sanctum Santorum: Former Senator Says McCain Doesn’t Understand Torture

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has stepped up to respond to John McCain’s recent denouncing of both waterboarding and the effort to claim that our torture program led to the killing of Bin Laden. Santorum told an interview that McCain, a torture survivor, just doesn’t understand interrogation and then gave a frightening defense of torture that would have made Pol Pot blush.
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Bizarre, Lawyering, Society, Torts

Appellate Enhancement: Lawyer Wins Reversal In Lawsuit Against “Erection MD”

We previously considered the lawsuit by New Jersey lawyer Harold Hoffman’s lawsuit over his dissatisfaction his male enhancement drug purchased from Supplements Togo Management and World Class Nutrition. It appears that “Erection MD” did not help his juris doctor and he sued. After losing in the court below, the New Jersey appellate court has now revived his flaccid lawsuit. (Ok, that is the last double entendre).
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society, Torts

You Have Your Mother’s Botox: California Mother Loses Custody After Doing ABC Interview on Giving 8-Year-Old Daughter Botox Injections For Beauty Contest

A California mother, Kerry Campbell, has lost custody of her 8-year-old daughter after she injecting Britany with botox to improve her appearance in a beauty pageant. Notably, Campbell triggered the investigation by admitting on ABC “Good Morning America” that she used the botox. The San Francisco Human Services Agency saw the show and launched an investigation.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Philadelphia Police Wrongly Accuse Man of Gun Violation in Abuse Confrontation And Then Charge Him Instead With Disorderly Conduct

There is an interesting audio recording (below) from a man, Mark Fiorino, 25, who was confronted by a Philadelphia police officer about carrying a gun in public. Fiorino is allowed to open carry in the city, but the officers appeared completely ignorant of their own directives and became increasingly hostile to Fiorino’s effort to show them that he was lawfully carrying the weapon. After concluding that he was right, he was released . . . only to be charged later with disorderly conduct based on his effort to show the officers that they were wrong about the law.
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Bizarre, Criminal law

Death Becomes Her: New Hampshire Man Charged With Faking Wife’s Illness and Death

In New Hampshire, Dan Villemaire, president of C&M Machine Co., was quite sympathetic with the plight of his employee Scott Wellington, 31, during the long illness and death of his wife. That sympathy remained strong all the way up to Villemaire being contacted by Wellington’s wife.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society, Torts

California Mother Sues Chuck E. Cheese As An Unlawful Gambling Operation

In California, Denise Keller, says she is trying to keep children safe from gambling. The mother of two daughters has filed a class action against Chuck E. Cheese for games that she says is just a form of toddler gambling. Before those five-year-olds turn “whac-a-Mole” into whacking mob moles, Keller wants the chain to held liable for violating California’s gambling laws. She even found a lawyer in such a Quixotic lawsuit, attorney Eric Benink.

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