Former Vice President Dick Cheney found himself in the same position of not only his aide Scooter Libby but countless criminal defendants. He simply could not remember a thing about his involvement in the leaks involving Valerie Plame. Indeed, he had little recollection of his own actions on 72 occasions — even after shown material with his own writing.
Continue reading “FBI: Dick Cheney Failed to Recollect Information on 72 Occasions in Plame Investigation”
Category: Politics
There is an interesting fight between Planned Parenthood and its former director in Bryan, Texas. (Yes, it appears the same town where the Virgin Mary was recently discovered in bird droppings, here). Abby Johnson worked for Planned Parenthood for eight years, but decided to leave after watching an ultrasound of an abortion procedure. This has led to the filing of a restraining order against her by her former employer after she joined forces with the Coalition For Life.
Continue reading “Planned Parenthood Hits Former Director in Texas With Restraining Order”
It appears that there is no limit to our hypocrisy on torture. While blocking any criminal investigation or prosecution of American officials for our torture program, the Obama Administration is demanding to question the Sri Lanken Army Chief Sarath Fonseka over allegations of the torture in Sri Lanka.
Continue reading “Obama Administration Finally Investigates Torture! . . . Oh Wait, It’s In Sri Lanka”
Dan Delong, an English teacher at Southwestern High School in Piasa, Illinois has been suspended for allegedly allowing students in his English classes to read an article about homosexuality in the animal kingdom. The article that Delong allegedly had his class read was published in a 2006 edition of “The Gay Animal Kingdom” and is available at http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/the_gay_animal_kingdom.
Continue reading “Illinois Teacher Suspended For Assigning an Article on Homosexuality in the Animal Kingdom”
Officer Joshua Rowell in Stockton, Utah (population 443) has been reinstated this week after being fired by Mayor Dan Rydalch. It appears that Rowell had the audacity to ticket the mayor’s son and was fired on the spot by an anger father. He was out of a job until the Top Kopp — Police Chief Heinz Kopp — and others objected.
Continue reading “City Father: Utah Mayor Fires Officer For Giving Son Ticket”
Note to self: have kids skip the Vatican this Halloween. Pope Benedict XVI has joined Kimberly Daniels at the Christian Broadcasting Network in issuing his own warning against Christians participating in Halloween. The Pope wants Catholics to know that the holiday is dangerous to not just their waistline but their eternal souls.
In a potentially important ruling for detainees held by the United States, Illinois U.S. District Judge Michael Mihm rejected prosecution demands and sentenced Qatar native Ali al-Marri to just eight years in jail — with a possible release in less than six years. The reduction from 15 years was expressly tied to the abusive conditions and treatment of al-Marri by the United States while held as an enemy combatant in South Carolina.
Continue reading “Eight Years For Al-Marri: Sleeper Agent Given Low Sentence by Judge Outraged by Abuses of the United States”
Now this is a novel case. Disgraced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick (and current Compuware worker in Texas) has sued lawyer Mike Stefani who leaked steamy text messages to a newspaper — ultimately ensnaring Kilpatrick in the scandal that led to his criminal conviction.
Continue reading “Disgraced Ex-Detroit Mayor Sues Lawyer Who Disclosed Evidence that Led to His Criminal Conviction”
We previously discussed whether England was becoming a “Nanny State.” Now, it turns out that even the nanny is not welcomed. The city fathers (and mothers) of Watford has solved the danger of strangers bothering children by banning parents from playground areas. Mayor Dorothy Thornhill observes simply, “Sadly, in today’s climate, you can’t have adults walking around unchecked in a children’s playground.”
Continue reading “Nanny State Bans Nannies: English Town Bars Parents and Nannies from Playgrounds”
Rep. Jeffrey Wood has achieved a degree of unwanted national fame after being shown in a police dashcam falling down during a sobriety test. From both a legal and political standpoint, falling down is never good during such tests. It does not make it better when this is Wood’s third arrest in less than a year on suspicion of driving under the influence.
Continue reading “Wisconsin Legislator Falls During Sobriety Check in Third Arrest for DUI in One Year”
We have previously discussed the dangers of increasing taxation in places like New York city. Now it appears that the city is facing a tax-version of the China Syndrome where over-taxation may be causing wealthier families to flee, which increases the need for higher taxes on those remaining.
Continue reading “Is New York Facing a Financial China Syndrome?”
Given the recent refusal of a Scientology spokesman to discuss the basis of Church’s beliefs, we are unlikely to get much of a response on the conviction this week of the Church for fraud in Paris. The court convicted the Church and fined it more than 600,000 euros ($900,000). However, the court stopped short in banning the group entirely as demanded by the government.
Continue reading “Church of Scientology and Six Leaders Found Guilty of Fraud in France”
There is an incredible story out of Chicago and my alma mater Northwestern University. The Cook County District Attorney has issued a sweeping subpoena to the Innocence Project at the acclaimed Medill School of Journalism — demanding such things as the grades and emails of students who worked on an investigation of the case of Anthony McKinney. The students found compelling evidence of innocence and the prosecutors are now pounding them with demands for personal information and communications. I just completed doing NPR’s Talk of the Nation on the case with Professor Barry Scheck.
Continue reading “Shooting the Messenger: Prosecutors Subpoena Grades and Emails of Students of Innocence Project”
I guess Black Sabbath will skip that tour in Iran. The Iranian government has arrested a dozen people for “promoting satanism” through underground music and “blasphemous video clips.” Fortunately, the Obama Administration recently supported a resolution supporting Muslim countries in establishing a “balancing” of free speech and respect for religion, here.
Continue reading “Iranians Round Up Satanists (aka Westernized Teens)”
The Islamic al-Shabaab militia is well known for its harsh application of Sharia law in Somalia. However, it turns out that they have the same concerns about the children growing up with the wrong priorities and values as do people in the West. In the case of the al-Shabaab, the problem is a failure of parents to teach children to use weapons and their insistence on educating them on such things as reading and writing. The militia group is now forcing children to watch executions and giving away prizes of automatic weapons and grenades at children events. It is the Somali version of Hooked on Phonics.
Continue reading “Hooked on Automatics: Somalia Islamic Militants Force Children to Watch Executions and Learn to Use Weapons”