Category: International

Environment, International, Society

Almost 1000 Dead Pigs Pulled From Polluted Chinese River

China's flagThe environmental problems in China continue to grow worse as the regime spurs industry to keep up production numbers in an economic downturn. We have recently seen environmentalists attacked for criticizing Communist officials for the dismal condition of rivers in China. Now, one city that uses a polluted river for drinking water woke up to find more than 900 dead pigs floating down their river. Chinese officials insist that it is not a case of dumping but curiously say that they have no idea how it happened or where the animals came from.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, International, Justice, Politics, Society

UPDATE – Your Rights Under Attack: What A Difference Judical Review Makes

Stock Photo of the Consitution of the United States and Feather Quillby Gene Howington, Guest Blogger

Recently we discussed the DHS’s self-approval of their draconian and arguably unconstitutional and unquestionably outrageous policy on searching computers within 100 miles of the border (Your Rights Under Attack: What A Difference 100 Miles Makes). This week, a ruling from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals not only showed the DHS was legally wrong in their self-approval of a policy that runs afoul of the 4th Amendment, but also illustrated the true value of the checks and balances created by the Separation of Powers Doctrine that so many in the Executive seem eager to trample these days. The case at bar was U.S. v. Cotterman.  In a breath of good news for civil libertarians, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals en banc ruling held that the 4th Amendment does apply at the border despite DHS contention to the contrary.

Let’s look at this case and ruling. Bear with the long restatement of facts as they are relevant to the holding.

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Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Society

Members Denounce Decision To Give Al Qaeda Spokesman Real Trial

BinLadenSoninLaw_20130308_045031Congress is again showing its traditional contempt for the rule of law this week with members crying foul that Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, an Al Qaeda spokesman and son-in-law of Usama bin Laden, would be actually given a fair trial. Senators like Lindsey Graham (who just yesterday condemned a fellow Senator for standing against Obama kill list policy) has denounced the decision not to give Abu Ghaith a military tribunal trial where basic constitutional protections are denied to detainees.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Politics

Speed Trap: Leading Economist and MP Face Jail In Expanding Scandal Over A Speeding Ticket

220px-Chris_Huhne_MP_cropThere is a verdict in the trial of economist Vicky Pryce, 60, the wife of former cabinet minister Chris Huhne (left). Pryce raised a “marital coercion” defense in saying that her husband coerced her to lie and take his speeding points 10 years ago. It is a bizarre case, not only because you have a successful woman claiming that she was coerced into this act, but also the level of prosecution over that taking of speeding points.

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International, Politics, Society

U.N. Investigator Criticizes Obama For Record On Torture

President_Barack_Obamatorture -abu ghraibWe have been criticizing President Barack Obama for years over the failure of his Administration to prosecute officials responsible for torture as well as the intentional destruction of torture tapes at the CIA. Now a high-ranking United Nations official is joining the condemnation of Obama and his Administration. Ben Emmerson, U.N. special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights, has condemned the failure to prosecute a single person for the official torture program implemented during the Bush years. The Obama Administration has thrown the books at those who leaked the information on our torture program but Obama himself promised the CIA after his election that CIA personnel would not be prosecuted despite our obligations under international treaty.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Society

Four Funerals and a Wedding: Chinese Police Crackdown On “Ghost Weddings”

Divorce-Cakes-7It appears that something borrowed and something blue is often the same item in some marriages in China. Chinese police are dealing with a rather novel crime: people digging up corpses to be buried with dead bachelors. They are called “ghost marriages” and four men have been arrested in this bizarre criminal enterprise.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion

Wałęsa’s Wall: Lech Wałęsa Calls For Gay Lawmakers To Sit Behind Wall

220px-Lech_Walesa_-_2009Lech Wałęsa won the Noble Prize for fighting for Polish independence against the Soviet bloc, a move that ultimately helped bring down the wall dividing East from West. However, he seems to have rediscovered the comfort of a wall in his latest comments calling for homosexual members of parliament to be placed behind a wall to remind them that they are a minority and should adapt themselves to smaller things.”

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Congress, Environment, Free Speech, International, Justice, Media, Military, Politics, Society, Uncategorized

“The rich are not like the rest of us”

Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger

gold-dollar-signOne of America’s greatest novels in my opinion is “The Great Gatsby” and I think many literary critics feel the same. If you’re not familiar with it, the short synopsis is that it is the tale of Jay Gatsby, a mysterious figure of self made wealth who arrives on Long Island’s North Shore, known as the “Gold Coast”, back in the “Roaring Twenties”. His life intertwines with Tom and Daisy Buchanan, a “golden” young couple with inherited wealth and the best social pedigrees. The interplay between these three leads to ultimate tragedy for Gatsby and more than a few other characters swept into the social vortex surrounding the Buchanan’s. On the last page of this magnificently crafted book, by F. Scott Fitzgerald, the narrator Nick runs into Tom and Daisy who are gaily embarking on a trip to Europe after some cataclysmic events of their causing and he says of them:

“They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
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Criminal law, International, Religion, Society

Australian Court Convicts Four Men For Sharia Flogging Of Fellow Muslim

260px-PelourinhoIn Australia, there is an interesting case involving Sharia. Increasingly, Muslims in Western nations are turning to Sharia justice as opposed to conventional courts to address family and personal problems. In the case of Muslim convert Christian Martinez, he sought punishment and forgiveness from his Muslim religious mentor, Wassam Faayad, for drinking and taking drugs. Faayad and his associates proceeded to give him some old-fashioned Sharia justice with an electrical cord. Then Martinez changed his mind but the beating continued. Now four Muslim men are convicted of assault in a Sharia version of “no, means no.”

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Criminal law, Environment, International, Politics, Society

Chinese Farmer Who Asked Officials To Swim In Polluted River Is Beaten By Baton-Wielding Thugs

170px-AngleseyCopperStream220px-Factory_in_ChinaWe previously discussed how a local businessman shamed the Chinese government by offering to pay the top environmental official 200,000 yuan (around £20,000) to swim in the disgusting river near Rui’an City. The same dare was made by two Chinese environmentalists, including Chen Yuqian, a 60-year-old resident of Pailian village in Zhejiang province. It was a modest suggestion given the rampant environmental hazards and choking pollution in the country, including the dozens of cancer villages (which only this week were acknowledged by the government). However, he received his answer this week. Forty men came to his house and beat him for embarrassing the government — a standard response for Chinese environmentalists and villagers who succeeded in drawing attention to the dire plight of Chinese citizens.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion

New Report Details Global Crackdown On Atheists and Secularists

200px-flag_of_the_united_nationssvgThe United Nations this week heard of rising abuse against atheists, agnostics, and secularists around the world. A report on this abuse, including executions, was given to a panel including Pakistan, Mauritania and Maldives which impose the death penalty on blasphemers. Turkey used the opportunity to call for the protection of “people of faith.”

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Video: Chinese Political Adviser Trashes Airport After Missing Flight

This is a video of how a Chinese official deals with news that he has missed his flight. The man is identified in news accounts as Yunnan Mining Co. Vice Chairman Yan Linkun, a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the political advisory body in the People’s Republic of China. Linkun reportedly missed a flight from Kunming to Guangzhou because he was eating breakfast. He then missed the second flight when he didn’t hear an announcement. It then went from bad to worse.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Religion

Saudi Cleric And Others Denounce Women Serving In Advisory Council As “Prostitutes” and “Filth”

150px-muslim_woman_in_yemenMuslim cleric Ahmed Al-abedulqader is a member of the Islamic Ministry for Da’wah, Guidance and Endowments and he clearly has “issues” with women, particularly when they served in public positions.  Recently, women were allowed to serve on the Shura Council, a formal advisory body  to the King of 150 members who can propose laws and advise him.  It was a significant and commendable act by the King — a hopeful sign of reform for women’s rights.  That appears to be the very reason that Al-abedulqader and other clerics unleashed sexist tirades.  In Al-abedulqader’s case, he took to Twitter to call the women “prostitutes.” Dr. Saleh al-Sugair, a former teaching assistant at King Saud University, also went public and called the women the “fifth of society” for their historic achievement.

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