There is growing speculation that the Office of Professional Responsibility will recommend the disbarment of Professor John Yoo who currently teaches at Berkeley law school. The release of new memoranda from the Justice Department has increased calls for disciplinary action. The memoranda concludes that the President can (1) use military forces domestically to deal with any individuals President Bush considers a terrorist threat, (2) suspend free press and free speech rights, (3) arrest citizens without legal process or access to the courts, and (4) a variety of other tyrannical measures. I discussed the memoranda on this segment of Countdown.
Continue reading “Will Justice Seek John Yoo’s Disbarment?”
Category: International
For many months, denizens of this blog have mocked my crusade against exposure to Barry Manilow songs (Friends Don’t Let Friends Listen to Manilow). Now, the New Zealand city of Christchurch is going to play Manilow songs to drive off teenagers from a mall area.
The British medical journal has found that more than 100,000 young women were killed in fires in India in a single year — a rate three times men. Notably, the women fell within a 15-34-year age group, the very group often involved in marital disputes.
Continue reading “Study: Over 100,000 Women in India Killed in Fires in a Single Year”
Roxana Saberi, 31, a freelance journalist who has reported for National Public Radio and other media outlets, remains missing. Her father, Reza Saberi said that she was arrested after she bought a bottle of wine.
Continue reading “American Journalist Roxana Saberi Reportedly Arrested After Buying Bottle of Wine”
As R.J. Reynolds is marketing dissolvable nicotine in mint-like packages, Ruyan Group Ltd., is now marketing electronic cigarettes that will allow people to inject a nicotine-infused mist directly into their lungs. Miao Nan, executive director of Ruyan Group Ltd., insisted that the electronic cigarettes is better for you because it does not produce cigarette smoke — allowing smokers to smoke in movies and smoke-banned areas. Health officials are rising objections over the health claims.
Continue reading “E-Cigs: The Newest Craze in Nicotine Delivery”
The Herald Newspaper of Malaysia has reportedly prevailed in its long battle with the government to be able to use the word “Allah” in its Catholic publication. However, the government insists that it must state clearly on the front cover “For Christians.”
Continue reading “Malaysian Catholic Paper Wins Right to Use Word “Allah””
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is considering legislation that would criminalize publication of anything that would “harm the economy.” Such an offense would be punishable by fines of up to 1 million dirhams (roughly $272,000).
Continue reading “Dubai Moves To Criminalize Publishing Anything That Would “Harm the Economy””
The Nobel Prize winning organization Amnesty International has accused Israel of committing war crimes during its attack on the Gaza Strip. The allegations largely center on the use of white phosphorous that was dropped by IDF aircraft. The group is now calling on President Obama to suspend military shipments and sales to Israel.
The Vatican has filed a formal complaint with the Israeli government about a private Israeli TV show that it claims blasphemed Jesus and Mary. On the program, the host challenges the idea that Mary was a virgin and Jesus walked on water as a “lesson” for Christians who deny the Holocaust. The host was upset about the Pope lifting the excommunication of a bishop who denied the holocaust. The Israeli government’s response, however, is worse than both the program and the objection.
Continue reading “Vatican Filed Complaint Over Blasphemous Program and Israel Moves to Censor Show”
We have yet another case of a person who was scammed out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by Nigerian con artists. This one involved a love scam. The middle-aged divorcee in Edmonton was conned out of $300,000 before realizing that she had found larceny rather than love. The Nigerians con artist even took money for a fake son’s funeral.
Continue reading “False Flame Scam: Woman Conned Out of $300,000 in Nigerian Love Scam”
There is a story that is roaring over the Internet that seems like a hoax. A website Adnkronos reported yesterday that Saudi imam Mohammed al-Najimi A Saudi imam has issued a fatwa or religious edict banning the use of alcohol as a fuel substitute for petrol. While I am always fascinated by fatwas, I did not run the story because it seems to me to be a hoax, even quoting a Saudi daily called “Shams.” Yet, various sites have picked up the story today.
Continue reading “Fun with Fatwas: Saudi Imam Allegedly Issues Fatwa Against Using Alcohol as Fuel”
Japan’s Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa has announced that he will resign after getting drunk at last weekend’s G7 summit in Rome. The video is below. It may be a bad economic sign when the finance ministers of major countries are self-medicating in this fashion.
Continue reading “Last Call: Japanese Finance Minister Resigns Over Alleged Drunken Scene at G7”
A Chinese businessman named Fan decided this year that the economic downturn required him to downsize, so he told his five mistresses that he would have to reduce his private harem to just one mistress and one wife. I know that this sounds like a Chinese parable, but this is a real case from Qingdao, China when one of the women named Yu took the contest on a murderous path.
Continue reading “No Fan, Yu: Chinese Woman Loses Private Mistress Contest and Attempts to Kill Lover and His Four Other Mistresses”
Recently, Canadian and United States courts have refused to relieve men of their responsibility to support children that were found to be the children of other men. Now, a Spanish court has taken the opposite approach – awarding high damages (for Europe) against a woman who was found to have kept the same love for six of 14 years of marriage. Three of the couples four children were fathered by the lover and not the husband.
Continue reading “Spanish Court Awards Husband €200,000 From Unfaithful Wife”
Mohammed Fagirad, 30, a vice consul at the Afghanistan Consulate, in New York has been arrested for beating his 22-year-old wife for 15 hours in their Queens home. Police report that Fagirad told them that his “wife was a dog and he was going to treat her like a dog,”
Continue reading “Afghan Diplomat in New York Arrested for Beating Wife ‘Like a Dog” for Fifteen Hours”