Respectfully Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty-Guest Blogger
Following up on the continuing saga of the debt default crisis and our earlier articles, I had a few more thoughts on how the crisis should be handled. The first suggested solution came from President Clinton who argued for it in a recent interview. Continue reading “Can The Default “Crisis” Be Solved Unilaterally?”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
McGehee High School, southeast of Little Rock, Arkansas, would not let Kymberly Wimberly, 18 and black, be valedictorian even though she had the highest GPA. A white student was named as co-valedictorian even though the white student had a lower GPA. Wimberly’s mother, who works at the school as its certified media specialist, heard school personnel express concern that her daughter’s status as valedictorian might cause a “big mess.”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The new toy is Automatic License Plate Reader/Recognition (ALPR), and a cool toy it is. It basically reads every license plate its cameras see and compares that data to a list. That list might contain the license plates of stolen vehicles, the license plates of drivers with suspended licenses or no insurance, and “Amber Alerts.” This all happens automatically, in real-time.
The systems also stores the date and time of every license plate and the corresponding GPS coordinates, even for law-abiding citizens. Therein lies the potential for abuse.
Continue reading “New Toy For The National Surveillance State”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
There is a trend today on television that is disturbing and I think harmful to our Country, yet we are powerless to halt its’ progress. This occurred to me as I watched an edition of ABC’s Primetime-Nightline entitled “Battle With the Devil”, which was advertised as a show that “investigates the belief in satanic will or possession by a demon”. I’d DVR’ed it because from the description, it was supposed to present various people who purport to have had demonic possession and or experiences of Satan. It also promised to include exorcists, psychologists and various other experts. The beliefs and actions of people always interest me. The more bizarre the belief system the more interesting I find the person. I’m fascinated by human extremes and as a therapist I’m always trying to puzzle out what makes someone tick. When the show ended though, I found myself angry at it and feeling somehow abused emotionally. That feeling began my train of thought that led to this post.
Continue reading “Fundamentalist Religion and TV Documentaries, A Problem?”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Rarely do I disagree with our host, but on the Brown polygamy case we do. And not so much on the merits of the case as on the timing of it. I’ve said before I would decriminalize the practice of polygamy and regulate it much as we do other human relationships where there exists real risk of overreaching or exploitation. I think this approach serves the interests of the important right of privacy and protects the vulnerable.
Continue reading “Lessons from Roe in the Brown Polygamy Case”
Here is my column this morning in the New York Times. As is the case (even on my own paper, USA Today), the writer does not select the titles. In this case, “One Big, Happy Polygamous Family” seems a bit mocking. Thus, I have added my own title.
Continue reading “Privacy Without Politics: Why The Sister Wives Lawsuit Is About Privacy Not Polygamy”
Contributed by: Mike Spindell, Guest Blogger
All society’s see themselves as “civilized” which connotes that they are humane in their treatment of all within their purview. One society will compare their society towards another, disparagingly in most cases, seeing the “other” as less “civilized” and more barbaric. We all know the clichés about the cruelties of Mexican, or Turkish prisons for instance and our American tendency is to look down our noses upon the barbarity of those countries in dealing with all prisoners, not just felons. How smug we are in our self-satisfaction that America is a modern culture with no hint of the backwardness and barbarism of less modern cultures. In my view this has been merely the legerdemain of mass delusion. I say delusion because the sad truth we all know is that many of our prisons and many of our Jails are “hellholes”, perhaps only degrees better than certain other more “barbarous” Nations are. Our literature and media have for years dealt with the harshness of our prison system. Indeed our gallows humor puts forth the hardly clichéd image of prison rape as a fit punishment for some. A current story conveys our dilemma in seeing the truth of our own lack of civilization, dealing with those who commit crimes both of heinous and victimless nature. Continue reading “How Should A Civilized Society Deal With Criminals?”
Two of my clients in the pilots litigation flagged an article by conservative Republican activist and attorney Debbie Schlussel reporting that I am funded by the Bin Laden family and using the Brown family as a front for an Islamic radical agenda. Ms. Schlussel previously attracted national attention by writing in the aftermath of Bin Laden’s death “1 down, 1.8 billion more to go.” She was also denounced for her statement that CBS reporter Lara Logan deserved to be raped while covering the protests in Egypt — a statement rightfully criticized by David Drumm (which she attributes to me). The article by Ms. Schlussel is clearly defamatory and neither she nor her attorney has responded to inquiries over the last couple days.
Continue reading “Turley Demands Retraction and Apology From Conservative Attorney and Radio Host Debbie Schlussel”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
The abortion issue is not solely about a women’s right to choose, it is about the hatred and fear of women’s sexuality. There is a subtext to this movement, shown plainly by the actions of many Anti-Abortion supporters, that goes way beyond the issue of whether abortion is murder. This is not asserting my opinion as to the validity of either side in the Anti-Abortion debate. It is not to stir up a debate for or against abortion. I’ve commented here enough for people to know where I stand on the issue. What has bothered me for a long time on this issue has been whether it is just about being for or against a women’s right to choose? If it is only about the right of choice, then I could at least accept that those who would deny it have sufficient beliefs to justify their actions, without there being another unspoken agenda. Indeed, the original initiator of the anti-abortion issue was the Roman Catholic Church.
Continue reading “Does the Anti-Abortion Movement Hate Women’s Sexuality?”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
With the Fourth Amendment a mere shadow of its former self, its time to apply the same erosional process to the Fifth Amendment. The Justice Department has asked a federal judge to compel Ramona Fricosu, charged with bank fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering related to a mortgage scam, to decrypt the files on a laptop found during a raid on her home. Fricosu now faces the cruel trilemma: perjure herself by claiming she doesn’t know the passphrase, incriminate herself by decrypting the files, or face contempt of court for refusing to decrypt.
In an enormous embarrassment, the Justice Department forced a mistrial in the trial of baseball star Roger Clemens after its attorneys committed a flagrant violation of the court’s orders. Clemens will now have to be retried after U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton found that the Justice Department severely undermined a fair trial for the accused. The sanction is a sharp blow to U.S. Assistant Attorney Steven Durham and his team — and a rare example of a court imposing such sanctions against the government. Defense attorneys often complain that prosecutors engage in such conduct — including some intentional slips — because they are confident that the jury will simply be told to disregard the evidence. It is not known if this was an intentional or simply negligent act by the prosecutors.
Continue reading “Justice Department Forces Mistrial After Violating Court Order in Clemens Trial”
Thomas M. Cooley Law School has gone to court with an interesting defamation case against the New York firm, Kurzon Strauss, and anonymous bloggers after it was accused of misrepresenting the success of its graduates. The firm had posted a draft class action against the law school. The litigation raises a host of issues of privilege and free speech.
Continue reading “Cooley Law School Sues Law Firm and Bloggers Over Alleged Misrepresentations on Grad Placement”
Harvard University Professor Dr. David Ludwig is under attack for his public call this week for some obese children to be taken from their parents to protect their health. Ludwig stated that “[i]n severe instances of childhood obesity, removal from the home may be justifiable, from a legal standpoint, because of imminent health risks and the parents’ chronic failure to address medical problems.” That legal standpoint may need a bit more work.
Continue reading “Harvard Professor Under Fire After Calling For Obese Children To Be Removed From Homes In Severe Cases”
Republican Jeff Stone is a member of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors and wants to be a citizen of South California, the 51st state. Stone is part of a movement in thirteen conservative counties to cleave off the conservative part of California into its own state. Of course, that could have a wee problem under the United States Constitution without congressional consent.
Continue reading “California Legislators Ask To Form 51st State”
Today, we filed the complaint below in the challenge to Utah’s criminal polygamy law. I am still in Salt Lake City for the filing. With me today is our local counsel Adam Alba, an outstanding young attorney and one of my former students. As noted earlier, the lawsuit is on behalf of my clients, the Brown family. The Browns are featured in the TLC program Sister Wives as an openly polygamous family.
Continue reading “Brown Family Challenges Utah’s Polygamy Law”