Authorities in Gng’an county are concerned about the economy and faltering sales of the local cigarette brand, Hubei. The solution was simple. They reportedly ordered government workers to smoke more or face possible fines.
Continue reading “Thank You For Smoking: Chinese Officials Order Workers To Smoke Or Face Fines”
The arrest of Donna Dull, 59, in Pennsylvania for developing pictures of her 2-year-old getting out of the bath has been the subject of national criticism and a lawsuit against the prosecutors. However, officials added to the controversy by appearing to defend the decision to charge the grandmother despite the fact that the charges were later dropped by Stan “The Man” Rebert after a public outcry.
Continue reading “Dull Tools: Prosecutors Says They Were Right to Charge Grandmother With Pornography For Taking Pictures of Kids in Tub”
There is a trend in the United States to treat fetuses as persons for the purpose of criminal charges. That trend was taken to an extraordinary degree in Dubai where a pregnant woman was involved in a traffic accident and had a miscarriage. Finding that she was following to closely and applying Sharia law, the court convicted her of manslaughter and also ordered her to pay “blood money” for the loss of the baby.
Continue reading “Dubai Court Convicts Woman of Manslaughter and Orders Payment of Blood Money for Death of Her Own Fetus in Traffic Accident”
Leading Pakistani cleric chief Sufi Muhammad of Tehreek-e- Nifaz-e- Shariat-e- Muhammadi has declared democracy, communism, socialism, and fascism to be un-Islamic. Hmmm, that leaves what? Of yes, Islamic rule. He has also reaffirmed that it is unIslamic to be photographed.
Former presidential candidate John Edwards is being asked to answer question about more than $100,000 to his mistress’ company. Rielle Hunter was paid for video production and related services.
Continue reading “John Edwards Faces Federal Inquiry Over Use of Campaign Funds for Mistress”
The ABA Journal has obtained the findings of Judge Greg Brewer, who is recommending that the case of Charles Dean Hood be reviewed in light of an intimate relationship between former Collin County District Judge Verla Sue Holland and former Collin County District Attorney Thomas S. O’Connell Jr. Notably, O’Connell previously denied such a relationship.
In one of the most perverse moments yet in the torture debate, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice took time to explain the need for torture to a fourth grader who was a bit curious why his country tortured people. The question of Misha was considerably more reassuring than Rice’s answers.
Continue reading “Torture Tots: Condoleezza Rice Teaches Torture’s Necessity To Fourth Graders”
Ayman Udas was an award-winning signer and song writer in Pakistan, who was looking forward to a soaring career. Those hopes ended when she was allegedly shot to death by her brothers, who were outraged by her appearance on television a week earlier in the religiously conservative city of Peshawar.
Continue reading “Award-Winning Vocalist and Song Writer Reportedly Killed By Her Brothers in Pakistan for Appearing on Television”
Georgia has a curious candidate running for governor. Neal Horsley has attracted national attention for his “Nuremberg Files” where he published a list of abortion doctors and then crossed off their names when they were killed. He reportedly would like to see the nation dissolved and has spoken about having sex with a mule in his youth on the farm.
Continue reading “Have Mule Will Travel: Georgia Secessionist and Mule Lover Runs for Governor”
The Justice Department is moving to dismiss the case against Steven J. Rosen and Keith Weissman for espionage. The two men are former lobbyists for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC. Recently, Rep. Jane Harman was swept into a scandal when it was revealed that she was intercepted by the NSA alleging bargaining to help get the case dismissed in exchange for AIPAC’s help in securing the Chair position on the House Intelligence Committee.
Continue reading “Justice Department to Drop Espionage Case Against AIPAC Lobbyists”
In an example of colossal stupidity, Iraqi officials have called for the killing of the three wild boars in the Baghdad zoo to protect the country against swine flu. This comes on the heals of the Egyptian government moving to kill every pig in the country despite the lack of any evidence that it would help prevent the virus, which passes from human to human.
Continue reading “Iraqi Officials to Kill Zoo Animals to Protect Against Swine Flu”
Meet the America’s Torture Doctors: Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell. The names of the two psychologists have been released with a report that they played a critical role in establishing the torture program by attesting to its safety. I will be addressing the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association in Toronto in August on the involvement of doctors in these war crimes.
The Pew Forum has released an interesting poll that the more religious Americans, the more likely they are to support the use of torture against terrorism suspects.
Associate Justice David Souter, 69, has announced that he will retire from the Court after 18 years. The announcement comes as a complete surprise because, at 69, Souter is one of the younger members of the Court and was not expected to retire before John Paul Stevens or Ruth Bader Ginsburg. He is twenty years younger than Stevens, who appears intent on remaining on the Court at least for the rest of this term.
Continue reading “Justice David Souter To Retire”
There is an interesting exchange that has surfaced between a Stanford student and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who is a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institute at Stanford. The student confronted Rice about whether waterboarding is torture. She responded with a Nixonesque argument that, if the president ordered it, it cannot be a war crime. It sounds a lot like Nixon’s 1977 statement: “When the president does it, that means it is not illegal.” I discussed the Rice comment on this segment of Hardball.