Category: Bizarre

Australia Moves To Make Cigarette Packaging “Ugly” With Graphic Pictures and Unattractive Coloring

Australia is upping the ante in the war on smoking. Previously we saw how some countries have put disgusting pictures on cigarette packages to discourage smoking. Now, Australia is set to require “ugly packaging” where companies are prevented from putting their logos on cigarettes and must use the least attractive color found in government research for smokers: dark green. (For the record, dark green is my favorite color and this move is likely to push me toward smoking).

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In the Land of the Armless Men, The One-Armed Man is Gang Leader: Maine Moves To Legalize Switchblades For One-Armed People

Maine lawmakers are addressing what appears to be a pressing public policy issue: one-armed people who want switchblade knives. A bill will allow one-armed persons to possess the currently illegal switchblades knives.
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Obama Embraces Al Sharpton With Major Appearance

President Barach Obama launched his reelection bid this week with a video announcement on the Internet — which generated fewer hits than a parody by the Republicans. Now, in his first major appearance since the announcement, Obama will be appearing with Rev. Al Sharpton and speak at the annual convention of the National Action Network which Sharpton founded. Sharpton’s history of race-baiting and demagoguery has made him one of the most divisive figures in American politics. Yet, the President is about to share a podium with him. For liberals who denounced Republicans for their association with Sarah Palin, the question is whether they will be heard with equal vigor in the association with Sharpton.
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Raiding the Candie’s Jar: Bristol Palin Paid $260,500 To Campaign Against Teen Pregnancy

Many people were a bit surprised when the Candie’s Foundation, a nonprofit group, selected Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol, 20, to be their national advocate against teen pregnancy. Now, the judgment of Candie’s Foundation officials has been put into even greater question with the disclosure that the nonprofit paid Palin $260,500 for this role.
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College Professor Arrested and Charged With Battery Over Allegedly Closing Laptop on Student’s Fingers

Frank Rybick, a college professor at Valdosta State University was arrested charged with battery after he allegedly closed a laptop on the hands of a student in his class. Valdosta State University has also suspended Rybick. However, various students have come forward to support Rybicki.

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Former Nevada Bar Officials Sued Executive Director Over Alleged “Reign of Terror”

There is a bizarre lawsuit in Nevada alleging that Bar Executive Director Kimberly Farmer has subjected her employees to “screaming attacks” and abuse that led to mistakes in grading the February 2010 bar exam — mistakes leading to people who flunked the bar being admitted into practice.
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Graham: “Free speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham appeared to confirm this week one of the greatest fears for civil libertarians in the aftermath of the burning of the Qu’ran (Koran) by Rev. Terry Jones. With Muslims murdering innocent people as a protest to the book burning, Senator Graham has called for Congress to go hold people accountable for such acts. The message is clear and predictable: if someone’s exercise of free speech has caused problems, limit the free speech.
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Take Me Out of the Pretrial Conference

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

HST and Opening Day at Yankee Stadium (1951)

In honor of Major League Baseball’s opening day, here’s a little item from Irvin, Texas Lawyer Darrell W. Cook who’s a huge Texas Rangers fan. Last year when the improbable happened and the Rangers made it to the World Series Cook was taking no chances. Seeing a pretrial conference on his calendar which conflicted with Game 1, Cook filed this emergency motion for continuance excerpted here:

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Utah Man Claims Chase Branch Passed Him a Counterfeit $100 Bill

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

Kipp Hagaman, an Ivins, Utah man, enters a Chase branch with $3 in his pocket and withdraws $2000, in cash,  from his account. He takes the twenty $100 notes and goes to America First Credit Union to pay bills. A teller and the assistant branch manager at America First Credit Union tell Hagaman that one of his $100 bills is counterfeit.

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E-scape

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Spanish police are still trying to figure out how alleged  kidnapper Jose Carlos Serna twice escaped from jail on the authority of a fax. Serna was arrested after police discovered him hiding in a carved out sofa in his home in a Madrid suburb. The reputed head of a kidnapping gang, Serna was freed after jailers received a bogus fax purportedly from the regional court ordering his release. A call was even placed to the jail confirming the fax. Jail officials tried to verify the order with the court but their calls went unreturned.

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Army Sergeant Convicted Of Threatening A Judge Due To One Line In A Song

There is a very disturbing first amendment case this week in Knoxville, Tennessee where a federal jury convicted Army Sgt. Franklin Delano “Dale” Jeffries II of threatening Knox County Chancellor Michael W. Moyers. The threat came in a juvenile song that Jeffries posted — raising very serious concerns over free speech.

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Barking Mad: Mother Kills Autistic Son By Making Him Drink Bleach — Receives Only Seven Years

The Old Bailey appears to have radically changed notions of punishment in the criminal justice system. Satpal Kaur-Singh, 44, confessed to forcing his autistic son, Ajit Singh-Mahal, 12, to drink bleach to kill him. She succeeded in Barking, England. Her sentence: seven years — less than what you get in this country on some burglary charges.

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