The gay-rights movement has suffered a harsh defeat at the hands of voters in Maine. The voters repealed a law that allowed for same-sex marriage — reducing the states allowing same-sex marriage or civil unions. Maine is now the 31st state to reject same-sex marriage. [The two men on the state seal are now strictly prohibited from marrying each other in the State of Maine].
Continue reading “Maine Voters Repeal Law Allowing Gays to Marry”
Category: Constitutional Law
A Saudi court has reviewed and upheld the sentence of a 22-year-old man to be beheaded and crucified for the raping of five children. It is the latest medieval measure from the Saudi Sharia courts.
Continue reading “Saudi Court Upholds Planned Beheading and Crucifixion of Convicted Rapist”
This is one of the most incredible videos that I have seen. In the video above, Officer Adam Stoddard with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is clearly shown reading confidential papers of defense attorney Joanne Cuccia while she is addressing the court on behalf of jail inmate Antonio Lozano (accused of fighting with another inmate). He then pulls a sheet from the file on the defense table and gives it to another deputy to be copied.
Continue reading “Video: Arizona Officer Swipes Document From Defense File Behind the Back of Defense Counsel in Courtroom”
Former Vice President Dick Cheney found himself in the same position of not only his aide Scooter Libby but countless criminal defendants. He simply could not remember a thing about his involvement in the leaks involving Valerie Plame. Indeed, he had little recollection of his own actions on 72 occasions — even after shown material with his own writing.
Continue reading “FBI: Dick Cheney Failed to Recollect Information on 72 Occasions in Plame Investigation”
There is an interesting fight between Planned Parenthood and its former director in Bryan, Texas. (Yes, it appears the same town where the Virgin Mary was recently discovered in bird droppings, here). Abby Johnson worked for Planned Parenthood for eight years, but decided to leave after watching an ultrasound of an abortion procedure. This has led to the filing of a restraining order against her by her former employer after she joined forces with the Coalition For Life.
Continue reading “Planned Parenthood Hits Former Director in Texas With Restraining Order”
The University of Akron has taken the radical step of demanding that all faculty and employees submit a DNA sample — causing one adjunct professor Matt Williams (who teaches four communications and continuing education courses) to resign. Williams notes “It’s not enough that the university doesn’t pay us a living wage, or provide us with health insurance, but now they want to sacrifice the sanctity of our bodies.” He’s right.
Continue reading “Akron Professor Resigns Over New Policy Requiring DNA Samples From All Employees”
Dan Delong, an English teacher at Southwestern High School in Piasa, Illinois has been suspended for allegedly allowing students in his English classes to read an article about homosexuality in the animal kingdom. The article that Delong allegedly had his class read was published in a 2006 edition of “The Gay Animal Kingdom” and is available at http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_gay_animal_kingdom.
Continue reading “Illinois Teacher Suspended For Assigning an Article on Homosexuality in the Animal Kingdom”
In a potentially important ruling for detainees held by the United States, Illinois U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm rejected prosecution demands and sentenced Qatar native Ali al-Marri to just eight years in jail — with a possible release in less than six years. The reduction from 15 years was expressly tied to the abusive conditions and treatment of al-Marri by the United States while held as an enemy combatant in South Carolina.
Continue reading “Eight Years For Al-Marri: Sleeper Agent Given Low Sentence by Judge Outraged by Abuses of the United States”
In yet another blow to confidentiality on the Internet, Tennessee Judge Thomas Brothers has ruled a married couple that runs a real estate business and a halfway house for recovering drug abusers may confirm the identity an anonymous blogger critic. The critic used a blog called Stop Swartz to accuse Donald and Terry Keller Swartz of Old Hickory, of committing arson, evading taxes and being drug addicts themselves.
Continue reading “Big Brothers? Tennessee Judge Strips Blogger of Anonymity in Defamation Case”
There is an incredible story out of Chicago and my alma mater Northwestern University. The Cook County District Attorney has issued a sweeping subpoena to the Innocence Project at the acclaimed Medill School of Journalism — demanding such things as the grades and emails of students who worked on an investigation of the case of Anthony McKinney. The students found compelling evidence of innocence and the prosecutors are now pounding them with demands for personal information and communications. I just completed doing NPR’s Talk of the Nation on the case with Professor Barry Scheck.
Continue reading “Shooting the Messenger: Prosecutors Subpoena Grades and Emails of Students of Innocence Project”
I guess Black Sabbath will skip that tour in Iran. The Iranian government has arrested a dozen people for “promoting satanism” through underground music and “blasphemous video clips.” Fortunately, the Obama Administration recently supported a resolution supporting Muslim countries in establishing a “balancing” of free speech and respect for religion, here.
Continue reading “Iranians Round Up Satanists (aka Westernized Teens)”
In an attack both on free speech and the free press, Saudia Arabia has ordered a female journalist to be flogged 60 times for airing an interview with a man who bragged about his sex life. Rosanna Al-Yami was also given a two-year travel ban for her role in the episode of “A Thick Red Line,” a popular show on social taboos.
Continue reading “Saudi Journalist To Be Flogged for Airing Interview Involving Sexual Boasts”
Ok, it may be early in the morning before sufficient caffeine, but this video is a little creepy, right?
Continue reading “The Watchers: The LAPD Releases IWatch in a Rather Orwellian Video”
As Guam debates legislation recognizing same-sex marriage, the Catholic Church appears to have reached out to some strange sources of support in its opposition: Islamic terrorists. In a letter being circulated from the Archdiocese of Agaña, Catholics are told that Islamic extremists may engage in suicide bombings but that they at least “value self sacrifice” and punish homosexuals with death. In a second letter without the Al Qaeda angle, Guam Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron still insists that homosexuality is dangerous, unhealthy, and immoral. He further adds a constitutional point of interest: saying that “the first amendment of the United States does no more than simply forbid the establishment of the state religion.”
Former Bush Attorney General Michael Mukasey now appears to be blaming our legal system for the 9-11 attacks as opposed to documented failures by the FBI and the failure of the Bush Administration to heed direct warnings of an imminent attack. In an op-ed piece this week, Mukasey puts the blame squarely on the shoulders of our rights-infested legal system.
Continue reading “Mukasey: Our Laws Brought About 9-11 Attacks”