Category: Politics

Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Majority of Nobel Committee Reportedly Objected to Awarding Obama Prize

225px-official_portrait_of_barack_obamanobel-medal_thumbnail_0Various people, including civil libertarians, have criticized the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama given his expansion on Bush policies and his opposition to war crimes investigations. Others have criticized the fact that he was nominated after less than two weeks in office and selected after less than a year in office. Now, it appears that the majority of the Nobel committee had the same objections and had rejected him for the award.

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, International, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Military, Politics, Religion, Society

Obama Moves to Change Law to Avoid Supreme Court Ruling on Withheld Detainee Photos

225px-official_portrait_of_barack_obamatorture -abu ghraibPresident BarackN Obama, the world’s newest Nobel peace laureate, is again expanding on the policies of former President George Bush and fighting to conceal evidence of U.S. torture and abuse. As did the Bush Administration, the Obama Administration is seeking to change the law after courts rejected its absurd argument that the President can withhold photos of detainee abuse simply because they are embarrassing to the United States. Democrats in Congress are assisting in the effort to try to stop the Supreme Court from considering the issue by preempting the litigation.

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Bizarre, Politics, Society

Canadian Trucker Fined for Smoking in a Workplace: His Own Truck

180px-Red_truck_USAcigaretteWhile we recently discussed criticism of the evolving “nanny state” in England, it appears that Canada may also have a degree of runaway paternalistic regulations. Truck driver Brad Weber, 44, was fined recently for smoking in his workplace. Of course, his workplace is the cab of his truck, which he owns and operates alone.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society, Torts

Detroit’s $18.5 Million Solitaire Game

180px-KPatienceDetroit has long held the reputation as one of the worst run cities in the nation, particularly with its top politicians continually the subject of corruption scandals and criminal indictments, here. Now, an internal report has revealed that the city spent more than $18.5 million on an in-car computer system that is so poorly designed and used that investigators found that “its most common use today is a platform to play solitaire.”

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Lawyering, Politics, Society

Murder, She Spoke: Court Overturns Convictions Due to Prosecutors Use of Defendant’s Nickname “Murder”

gavel2There is an important decision out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit where the conviction of Laval Farmer was overturned due to the prosecutors’ repeated use of his nickname “murder.” After all, his nickname is not “Attempted Murder” Farmer, which is what he was tried for. My only regret is that he was not represented by Richard “Racehorse” Haynes so that the prosecutors could have told the jury not to let “a race horse clear murder.”
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Academia, Bizarre, Media, Politics, Society

School Suspends Six-Year-Old For Bringing Cub Scout Kit to School

t25183aSchool officials in Newark, Delaware have given the nation another example of mindless “zero-tolerance” abuse. In this case, officials suspended 6-year-old Zachary Christie because the boy brought his new cub scout camping utensils to school to eat his lunch. Because the utensil had a small knife, he was suspended and ordered to spend the next 45 days in the district’s reform school.

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Bizarre, Congress, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Media, Politics, Society

Tall Tale or Felony Crime? Colorado Man Charged With “Stolen Valor” After Making Up Heroic Stories

strandlof-richRichard Strandlof lived a life of distinction. He spoke to children and the media as a survivor first of the attack on the Pentagon on 9/11 and then survived a roadside bomb that killed four fellow Marines. He will now add a further distinction as a defendant in a rare “stolen valor” prosecution after his claims of service were proven false.

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Academia, Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Justice, Media, Politics, Religion, Society, Supreme Court

Simply Sonia: Sotomayor’s Colleagues Pick Docket Virtually Tailored To Force Her To Choose Sides

250px-Sonia_Sotomayor_in_SCOTUS_robe Here is this week’s column from Roll Call. It explores the interesting selection of cases this term for the Supreme Court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s colleagues could not have selected cases more carefully to address areas of uncertainty from her confirmation hearing. Whether by accident or design, this docket is front-loaded with cases that will force Sotomayor to show her true colors in the first few months of her tenure as an associate justice.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, International, Media, Politics, Society

Question of the Day: Besides Woody Allen, Who Is The Last Guy Polanski Would Want as a Character Witness?

180px-Frédéric_Mitterrand_2008-1It appears that when I suggested Woody Allen was the last person Polanski who want as an advocate (here), I spoke too hastily. As the French continue their campaign to force the return of Roman Polanski to their country (and avoid extradition to the United States for his rape of a 13-year-old girl in 1997), a new controversy has emerged from the Sarkozy government. The culture minister advocating for the famed director is the nephew of the late Socialist French president Francois Mitterand — Frédéric Mitterrand. Mitterrand appears to have more than a platonic interest in the underlying controversy.

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Courts, International, Justice, Military, Politics, Society

Netanyahu Vows to Block Any War Crimes Trial of Israeli Official

225px-BenjaminNetanyahu125px-flag_of_the_united_nationssvgIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow any Israelis to stand trial for war crimes even if demanded by the United Nations or world court. It is a position that defies the entire basis of international legal process created by the Nuremberg Tribunals since no country has a right to determine its own innocence. As previously noted, the Goldstone Commission found credible evidence of war crimes in the Gaza campaign.

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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics, Religion, Society

Drop Kick Me Jesus Through the Goal Post of Life: School Board to Meet on Christian Cheerleader Controversy

150px-Enloecheer210px-Meister_des_Reliquienkreuzes_von_Cosenza_002This week, the Catoosa County School Board in Ringgold, Georgia will meet on controversy over the cheerleaders of Georgia’s Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe High School who use Biblical verses as part of their displays to root for the football team to “commit to the Lord” and “take courage and do it.”
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Academia, Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Teen Happy Hours: Study Proposes a Weekly Alcohol Allowance for the Children

250px-cocktail1Given our earlier story of how English parents are no longer allowed to buy alcohol with their teenagers present at the store, this may be a bit of a mixed message. A study has concluded that parents should supply alcohol to their teenagers at home rather than have them venture out for more dangerous liaisons. The researchers propose a weekly alcohol allowance for teens.

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Academia, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Politics, Religion, Society

Bible Battles: Students Use Free Gideon Bibles in Texas Schools to Beat Jewish Students and Roll Joints

200px-Gideon140px-Family-bibleTexas parents are complaining that a program to distribute free Gideon Bibles at schools may have backfired. So many Bibles were distributed to students in Plano and Frisco that students reportedly began to use them as weapons, sold them, or even uses the pages to roll joints. In one particularly disturbing account, a Jewish boy was attacked by Christian students throwing the bibles at him.
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