Category: Bizarre

Bizarre, Religion, Society

Careful What You Witch For: US Bishops Need More Exorcists

Overwhelmed by the demand for exorcisms, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are putting out the word that “Exorcists Need Apply” and that training in Baltimore is being held today. Down to only six U.S. exorcists the “Good Shepherds” hope to raise that number to 122. Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, thinks each parish should have their own Exorcist in residence. You might remember that Bishop Paprocki said, when asked about who was responsible for the sexual abuse crises in the Catholic Church, that “the scandal was at least in part influenced by the Devil’s taking advantage of the moral weaknesses and psychological instability and sickness of the pedophiliac priest-abusers.”  Like my idol,  comedian Flip Wilson, I see a pattern here — the Devil Made ’em Do It.

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Bizarre, Society

Snow Globe Causes Airport Evacuation: Can Garden Troll Hysteria Be Far Behind?

It was cinematic magic when a dying John Foster Kane uttered the famous word, “Rosebud,”  as he let fall the snow globe down the stairwell  shattering it into scores of broken pieces. Officials at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, aren’t movie buffs it seems. When a TSA employee spotted the suspicious orb in some checked baggage she alerted State Police who evacuated the terminal. Once it was determined that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was submerged in water and glitter, instead of  nitroglycerine, order was restored and flights were again whisking their way to all parts of the real globe.

Source: Courant.com

–Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

Middle School Student Told To Remove American Flag To Avoid Racial Tensions

There is another bizarre story out of our public school system where a school official at Denair Middle School in Sacramento, California told 13-year-old Cody Alicea to remove an American flag from his bike because of fears that it would trigger “racial tensions.” According to this interview with the Superintendent, Cody has now been informed that he can display the American flag after a review of the supervisor’s decision — and a national outcry.
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Bizarre, Politics, Science, Society, Torts

San Francisco Bans Happy Meals and Other Fast-Food Meals Served With Toys

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors have approved a ban on Happy Meals and other fast-food servings that fail to meet nutritional standards. While sympathetic to the motivations behind the legislation, I have serious questions over the constitutionality (and logic) of the ban.
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Bizarre, International

New Policy Questioned After Chinese Officials Face Huge Butt Costs

Chinese officials in the central city of Xianyang thought that they had a simple means of solving the problem of cigarette butts on the streets: offer residents money for each butt collected and turned in as part of its effort to win the “National Clean City” award. After all, they were offering only 5 fen (less than a penny) for each cigarette butt. That was before residents sent in over 7 million butts and demanded payment.
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Academia, Bizarre, International, Science, Society

Blue Plate Special: Scientist Finds New Lizard Species on Dinner Plate

Researchers in Vietnam recently sat down for a simple meal and ended up with a scientific feast. They were staring at a plate of cooked lizard but they had never seen this species before. It turns out to be a unique species of female lizards who are able to reproduce themselves by cloning. The perfect radical feminist species.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Environment, International, Politics, Society, Torts

China Sentences Food Safety Advocate to Over Two Years in Prison

The Chinese have jailed another activist. This time the victim is Zhao Lianhai, the father of a child sickened by one of the country’s food safety scandals. At least six children died from melamine-tainted milk in 2008 and Zhao’s son was injured. More than 300,000 children were left with kidney problems. Zhao has been demanding answers. He just received one in the form of a 2½ years in prison sentence for “disturbing social order.”

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Military, Politics, Society

Obama Fights To Preserve Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Before Supreme Court

President Barack Obama continued his effort to preserve the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in a filing before the United States Supreme Court. A trial court had imposed an injunction to halt the discriminatory policy. The Administration could have allowed the injunction to stand pending an appeal but succeeded in getting the order reversed. Now, it is defending its intention to continue to discriminate against gays and lesbians in an appeal to the Supreme Court.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Religion, Society

In the Grip of Controversy: Indonesian Minister Faces Scandal Over Handshake With First Lady

Indonesian Information Minister Tifatul Sembiring is in the midst of a political crisis over a handshake. Sembiring is a conservative Muslim who often blames natural disasters on a lack of morality and avoids any contact with females outside his family. Then it happened on camera. A smiling Sembiring shaking the hand of first lady Michele Obama. It is enough to send a religious nut into a fetal position. The result has been an insistence that Michele Obama was the hand aggressor — effectively grabbing his hand to his disgust and alarm. The pictures seems to belie the defense — showing a smiling Sembiring who appears to grab the First Lady’s hand.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Politics, Religion

Taking the Rap: Iranians Arrest Teenagers Across Country For Playing Rap Music and Using “Western Musical Instruments”

The Iranian police has found another threat to the Islamic faith: rap music. The morals police has raided parties across Iran to nab kids who just want to play rap music. These teenagers have been meeting in abandoned buildings to listen to the music and dance.
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Bizarre, Science, Society

“You Got Chamydia”: English Scientists Develop Device to Allow Cell Phone to Alert You of Sexually Transmitted Infections

You may want to be a bit more careful in borrowing a friend’s cellphone in the future. Mobile phones will soon be equipped with small devices to allow you to urinate or spit on their phones to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases. The devices are being developed in England for both cellphones and computers. Given my recent difficulties with Apple over my alleged submersion of my IPhone, I am a bit leery in picking up the new P-App.
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Academia, Bizarre, Society

The Twinkie Diet: Professor Loses 27 Pounds on Junk Food Regimen

Thank God, a diet I can live with. Mark Haub, a professor of human nutrition at Kansas State University, has reported astonishing results in a novel diet that he created to show that losing weight is all about counting calories –not what you eat. To prove his point, he went on a “Twinkie Diet” where he only consumed junk food every three hours consisting of Twinkies, Hostess HoHos, Little Debbies, Oreos, Dorito chips and the like. He lost 27 pounds in two months. Around the world, rotund fans are raising their Twinkies and Debbies in salute to you, Professor Haub.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Religion, Society

Collared: Massachusetts Priest Accused of Stealing $83,000 To Support Porn Habit

In Massachusetts, prosecutors are dealing with a bizarre case of a man who allegedly store $83,147 to pay for his pornography habit. What makes the case even more bizarre is that the victim was the St. John the Baptist Church and the alleged felon was its pastor, Rev. Keith LeBlanc.

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