In light of today’s controversy over Sen. Richard Shelby’s hold on 70 nominations (here) due to a disagreement over Air Force tankers, this 2001 column may be of interest.
Continue reading “Seeing Red Over Blue Slipping”
Category: Politics
Senator Richard Shelby really likes air tankers. Shelby reportedly is blocking 70 nominations in a dispute over the long-controversial Air Force tanker deal. This contract has been criticized for years as wasteful and unnecessary. Shelby is supporting the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company against Boeing in the dispute because the Europeans are promising to build the tankers in his state.
Continue reading “Sen. Shelby Accused Of Blocking 70 Nominations Over Air Force Tanker Deal”
Religious groups are sounding the alarm over the release of a soul-sucking, spirit-crushing new product released by those heathens at Hasbro. It is a pink version of the Ouija board that has corrupted millions of children in this country and turned them into satanic, soulless zombies. All that for just $19.99!
Continue reading “Perdition in Pink: Religious Groups Protest Release of Pink Quija Board”
After her husband former Prime Minister Tony Blair declared secularists to be an equal or greater danger than terrorists (here), his wife Cherie Booth is under fire for granting leniency to a man accused of criminal assault because he is religious. Her statement in court would suggest that, if the man were an atheist or agnostic, such leniency might not be appropriate.
Continue reading “The Good Faith Defense: Cherie Booth (Wife of Tony Blair) Under Fire For Sparing Man Due to the Fact That He is Religious”
The New York authorities have finally caught up to Alexa Gonzalez, who saw her open life of crime end with an arrest in her junior high school in Queens. Gonzalez was caught doodling on her desk with erasable marker and promptly cuffed and taken downtown.
Continue reading “Not So Sharpie: New York Police Arrest Lime-Green Marker Menace”
Scott Maxwell at the Orlando Sentinel has an extraordinary story about the lengths that social conservatives and anti-gay advocates will go to block the adoption of children by gay couples. Vanessa Alenier and her partner, Melanie Leon, are affluent and loving parents who were awarded custody of a child who was in their foster care in Florida. One problem for the Florida Family Policy Council, it appears, is that they are also attractive, so (on the left) is the picture the council posted with their calls for opposition to the adoption while (on the right) is the actual couple.
Continue reading “Family Group Accused of Using False Picture of Lesbian Couple”
We have another Islamic honor killing, but this one adds a horrific element: burying the victim alive. Turkish police believe that the 16-year-old girl was buried alive in south-eastern Turkey in a town called Kahta.
Continue reading “Sixteen-Year-Old Turkish Girl Buried Alive in Honor Killing”
Today in a congressional hearing, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair acknowledged that the U.S. may, with executive approval, deliberately target and kill U.S. citizens who are suspected of being involved in terrorism. I discussed this story in the segment on MSNBC Countdown below.
Continue reading “Obama Administration Claims Right to Kill Americans Suspected of Terrorism”
Saudi Arabia and Bangladesh seem to be vying for which country is the most repressive in the application of Islamic Sharia law. The Saudi courts have ordered a Filipino woman to be lashed 100 times after she was raped. The Bangladesh courts outdid their Saudi counterparts and ordered a girl lashed 101 times for being raped. At what point does the Obama Administration publicly denounce these countries for systemic human rights violations against women?
Associate Justice Clarence Thomas appeared to take on President Obama this week in discussing the ruling in Citizens United — contradicting the President’s portrayal in the State of the Union. In my view, the President did overstate the holding (not unheard of in the halls of Congress), but I continue to despair over the increasing public role played by justices (here). In my view, Thomas should not be engaging in such a public debate and should allow these decisions to speak for themselves.
Continue reading “Clarence Thomas Defends Recent Ruling on Campaign Finance”
Harris County criminal Court-at-Law Judge Reagan Helm has resigned after protests over his allegedly taunting remarks to victims of domestic violence. Helm, 68, reportedly admitted to suffering from dementia and having “medical issues.” He was accused of extreme bias against women in these cases. In one instance, Helm told men accused of domestic abuse that these women have them “by the balls.”
Continue reading “Houston Judge Resigns After Claims of Bias Against Domestic Abuse Victims”
There is an interesting investigation in Brooklyn where Internal Affairs is looking into allegations that Brooklyn police officers refused to take criminal complaints and downgraded crimes to lower crime statistics. It brings a new meaning to officers warning people not to become a statistic.
Continue reading “Fighting Crime . . . One Statistic A Time: Brooklyn Police Accused of Fixing the Books”
A church in Oregon has the infamous reputation of killing children in the name of faith. Now, two parents — Jeff and Marci Beagley — have been found guilty of negligent homicide. Their case was discussed in this prior column. It is a welcomed charge (often religious parents are given lesser charges in the death of their children due to faith-healing), but the likely sentence is likely to be relatively low given the history of this church and the loss of life.
Continue reading “Faith-Healing Parents in Oregon Convicted of Negligent Homicide”
In a disgusting pornographic collection called “the Misty series,” a little girl named Amy was photographed by her uncle who then distributed the pictures worldwide on the Internet. As discussed earlier, now an adult, Amy has succeeded to securing restitution not from her uncle but from a man who was found in possession of the pictures. As reported by John Schwartz in the New York Times article below, it has raised serious questions from lawyers and law professors (including myself) but the Obama Administration is now supporting such claims.
Continue reading “Pay Misty for Me: Courts Mull Over Restitution Payments to Victims of Child Pornography From Possessors”
France has been stepping up its opposition to the Muslim tradition of women wearing full veils. It has not only moved toward a ban in public places, but it has now denied citizenship to a Moroccan man for his attitude toward women, including forcing his wife to wear a veil.
Continue reading “France Refuses Citizenship to Moroccan Man Who Forces Wife To Wear Veil”