Darlene Gardner was charged with animal abuse after she was found to be living with her family (no problem) and 30 animals, including two deer, (big problem) in Northern Idaho. After many of the animals were euthanized and others released into the wild, Gardner has filed a federal lawsuit seeking $2 million. Among other things, she alleges that the original search was conducted without a warrant.
Continue reading “Idaho Woman Found Living With Deer in Double-Wide Sues for $2 Million”
There are two related stories this week of some scientific interest. It turns out that lemmings do not commit mass suicide by blindly following other lemmings over cliffs, as discussed in the article below. However, it also appears that 64 percent of Republicans want Gov. Sarah Palin to run for president in 2012 despite her disastrous impact on independent and moderate voters this election.
Apollo Group Inc. and the University of Phoenix Online have settled a religious discrimination case for $1.89 million. The defendants were accused of discriminating against non-Mormon employees at the University of Phoenix Online division. This would be the largest religious-discrimination settlement in the history of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In Prescott, Arizona, Michelle Felicetta was jogging when she was attacked by a rabid fox, which locked on to her arm. The woman ran a mile with the fox clamped on her arm to get to her car. She then dislodged the animal, threw it into her trunk, and drove to the hospital.
Continue reading “Fox Trot: Arizona Woman Runs One Mile With Rabid Fox Clamped on Arm”
Scientists have made a remarkable breakthrough in the cloning of a mouse that was dead and frozen for 16 years. The successful discovery could lead to a Jurassic Park type program where extinct animals are brought back to life. Finally, Sarah Palin could be proven correct: men will walk with dinosaurs.
Continue reading “Frankenmouse: Scientists Clone Dead Mouse That Was Frozen for 16 Years”
Texas businessman Jeff Hawn has pleaded guilty in one of the largest illegal slaughters of bison in decades. Hawn, who is the CEO of Seattle-based software company Attachmate, admitted that he allowed hunters on his land to shoot 32 bison belonging to his neighbor. He will be sentenced appropriately enough in Fairplay, Colorado.
Continue reading “The Lesson of Fairplay: Texas Businessman Pleads Guilty to Bison Massacre”
In this increasingly bizarre political season, this one is off the charts. An anti-immigration group has linked illegal immigration to global warming. The video explains that their carbon footprint would be lower if they remained in their original countries.
Continue reading “Carbon Politics: Save the Polar Bears, Eat an Illegal Alien?”
After years of de-regulation led to the current financial meltdown, the Bush Administration is now promising to re-regulate the industry. However, it is quietly moving to de-regulate environmental protection laws. These regulatory changes violate a core tradition in American politics. At the end of an Administration, sitting presidents have declined to make major changes or issue new policies that bind the incoming president. Here, Bush is seeking to rollback on environmental rules to cause years of delay before any new president can fully protect the environment.
Continue reading “Bush Seeking To De-Regulate Environmental Protection”
Gov. Sarah Palin lost another environmental fight this week — to the Bush Administration. The Interior Department has decided that the beautiful white Beluga whales are indeed endangered despite Palin’s efforts to block such protection. Earlier, Palin failed in her efforts to block protections for the polar bear.
David Grigorian really loves his marmoset monkey. In January, Grigorian was arrested for shouting criminal threats in front of a house — a practice common among marmoset monkeys but less tolerated in Van Nuys, California. They soon found that he had a monkey named Cheeta but no monkey permit (yes, there appears to be a “monkey permit”). When ordered to turn over the monkey, Grigorian took an idea for countless kidnap movies: he showed a picture of Cheeta holding a Mexican newspaper with Mexican decorations to prove that he was now in Mexico. The Court did not buy it and Grigorian, 43, admitted that Cheeta was hiding out in an undisclosed location in Los Angeles.
Continue reading “Monkey Business: California Man Stages Mexican Picture to Hide Marmoset”
In the appropriately named Bayonet Point, Florida, Joseph Prudente, 66, is in jail indefinitely for the failure to sod his grass. The good (and fully lawned) people of the Beacon Woods Civic Association secured the contempt order because Prudente is required to keep his lawn with a full and healthy display of grass. The problem is that Prudente is on a fixed income, recently had his car repossessed, and cannot afford it. The association lawyer, however, says that such jailing is merely the sign of a fair and serious legal system.
Continue reading “Putting the Prude Back Into Prudente: Florida Man Jailed for Failure to Sod Lawn”
For some environmentalists, there are few people as vile as Scottsdale-based developer George H. Johnson and his associates. Johnson was accused of bulldozing, filling and diverting a 5-mile stretch of the Santa Cruz River and its tributaries. As Joe Biden would say, “let me repeat that” 5 MILES. While the government reached a settlement with a $1.25 million penalty, Johnson and his contractor will not have to admit guilt and will not face any possible criminal charge.
A New York judge has declared a hung jury at the trial of a former minor league baseball player and actor Joseph Petcka for his alleged beating, stomping and kicking his girlfriend’s cat to death during a drunken fury. The jury deliberated for five days on the charge of aggravated animal cruelty in the death of Norman.
Continue reading “Norman Evasion: Mistrial Declared in Baseball Player Joe Petcka’s Pet Problem”
China is again ordering a rash of arrests and resignations after the latest product scandal. In this case, diary producers sold milk containing the industrial chemical melamine, which killed four child and sickened nearly 53,000 others. This is not just another case of rampant Chinese pollution entering the food system. Melamine is sometimes put into milk to mimic high-protein additives.
Continue reading “Latest Chinese Product Scandal: Over 50,000 Children Poisoned by Tainted Milk”
Former Mets minor leaguer and sometime actor Joseph Petcka is on trial for killing his girlfriend’s 8-year-old tabby, Norman. It is a good example of such cases where both criminal and civil charges can be brought. His former girlfriend Sports Illustrated reporter Lisa Altobelli insists that it was intentional while Petcka insists that it was an accident.