The Daily Show of Comedy Central has often taken news and turned it into comedy. However, in a Pittsburgh case, a comedy segment is becoming news after lawyers have sought to introduce it as evidence in religious exercise case. The Church of Universal Love and Music does not want an interview (shown below) with William Pritts shown to the jury — an effort by county officials to show that the church is not a sincere religious organization. Pritts has been holding concerts on the land for fees and, according to officials, did not claim to be a church until he ran into zoning problems with his expansion plans. On the segment, Pritts insists that “God never said you can’t party on.” (Thou Shalt Party On must be the missing Eleventh Commandment).
Category: Religion
The Eighth Circuit has ruled that Wiccans need only three hours to celebrate their faith. Wiccans Lawrence T. Gladson, Darrell Smith, and Scott Everett Howrey at the Iowa State Penitentiary (ISP) in Fort Madison, Iowa brought the challenge and particularly challenged the denial of a full eight hours to celebrate Samhain—the most important of the eight Wiccan holidays. The court found that you can celebrate Samhain in three hours without being viewed a bad Wiccan. Among other things, the inmates alleged that the time limitation forced them to rush the Dumb Supper, which is supposed to be a “lusty and wholehearted feast.”
Around the world, there seems to be an increase in witch burnings, or at least the reporting of such crimes. Recently. a stampede was caused in the Congo due to a rumor of witchcraft in the area. The latest incident occurred in Papua New Guinea where villagers bound, gagged, and then tied a woman to a log — and then burned her alive.
United States resident Raed Jarrar has received a major settlement of $240,000 from JetBlue and officials at the Transportation Security Authority for an outrageous action taken against him in August 2006 when he was forced to cover up a tee-shirt with Arabic script. Ironically, the shirt displayed the words (shown above) “we will not be silent.” However, other passengers felt uncomfortable simply because it was arabic writing and, instead of telling the passengers that they are dysfunctional morons, JetBlue forced Jarrar to wear a shirt over his tee-shirt to cover the writing.
Continue reading “JetBlue and Transportation Officials To Pay Man $240,000 After Forcing Him to Cover Up Tee-Shirt With Arabic Writing”
An editor of has declared that any pity for the Palestinians in Gaza is “unethical and immoral.” The editorial by Adi Dvir appeared in Israel’s largest newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, on January 4, 2009 as the international community has complained about civilians deaths in the campaign and the United States blocked a United Nations resolution calling for an end of all hostilities.
Continue reading “Leading Israeli Newspaper: Pity for Palestinians in Gaza is Immoral and Unethical”
Well, the results are in and weeks of defamatory attacks on our opposing bloggers and the unrestrained use of the politics of personal destruction have paid off: the Turley blog was voted the Number One law professor blog and legal theory blog in the annual survey of the American Bar Association’s survey. Earlier, it was selected as one of the top 100 legal blogs overall. That is not bad for a blog that is only roughly a year old and it is entirely due to our regulars at the cyber bar we called the Turley blog. Your overindulgence, obsessive compulsiveness, and general lack of restraint have made us what we are today, a group of dysfunctional miscreants. But we are now the Number One dysfunctional miscreants in our category. Well done Team Turley (if I may be so bold). Not to overplay the victory, but this is the first key step to total blogosphere domination and eventual control of the time space continuum.
Continue reading “TURLEY BLOG WINS TOP SPOT IN ABA JOURNAL SURVEY”
In a little covered story, a former employee of the U.S. Army’s Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center at the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, New Jersey , Ben-Ami Kadish, pleaded guilty to being a spy for Israel and allowing an agent of the Government of Israel, Yossi Yagur, tp photographed secret papers at his home. Yet, he is only facing five years in prison. He spied for Israel from 1979-1985.
Continue reading “Army Employee Admits to Being Israeli Spy . . . And Faces Five Years In Prison”
For those who believe we are becoming a nation of cringing morons, AirTran has supplied a wonderful case in point. A family was boarding a flight to Orlando, Florida and discussing where is the safest place to sit on a plane. It is a fairly common topic on planes but this family was Muslim and the passengers became alarmed. The family of Atif Irfan was removed from the plane and, even after the FBI cleared them and told the airline that the airline should let them fly, AirTran refused to rebook them. So much for the airline motto: “Go. There’s Nothing Stopping You.” Expect possibly your religion.
Happy New Year to everyone on the Turley blog. This has been an extraordinary first year of the blog which is approaching two million hits annually. The success of the blog is due largely to our regulars who continue to make this one of the smartest and most fun blogs on the web. Even with the invasion by trolls and a few uncivil moments, the blog has remained a special forum for intelligent, civil, and often witty discourse. Our impressive monthly growth (and the obvious irritation of trolls) is a testament to the fact that there remains many people who want to engage in such dialogue. 2008 was our first full year in operation and I am very grateful for the contributions of all of the regulars on this blog.
Marquis LaFortune, 25, has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after she was fired as a teacher with the Central Catholic High School in San Antonio for marrying Benjamin Stakes — a divorced man. The Catholic church forbids such marriages and had warned her that she would have to chose between teaching and love. This raises some very interesting questions of free exercise under the First Amendment.
Continue reading “Putting Down Stakes: Catholic High School Fires Teacher for Marrying Divorced Man”
First Reformed Church of Hackensack, N.J., does not like homeless people who put food before faith. The Church reportedly shutdown the FAITH Foundation homeless shelter after the director, Robin Reilly, allowed homeless people on Christmas Day to eat before the families were required to listen to a sermon and prayer. FAITH was concerned that many people had not eaten in twenty-four hours and that it was difficult for the families to wait to eat under the circumstances.
Kosher hot dog maker Arnie Zaler may have pulled off his greatest scam. Facing 30 counts of bank and wire fraud in Denver, Zaler promised not to leave Denver if he was released on an unsecured bond. He handed over his Israeli passport and then a few days later fled to Israel on a different passport.
Portland Bishop Richard Malone has issued a rare order banning an advocate for people abused by priests from his services and threatening to issue a rare Interdict — banning Paul Kendrick from the right of communion. The Maine diocese recently released the names of eleven priests in the state with credible allegations of abuse.
Continue reading “Who Will Rid Me of This Meddlesome Protester? Maine Bishop Bans Advocate for Abuse Victim From Services”
Mayor Karl Zuber of Avon Lake, Ohio appears not to have gotten the memo on the separation of church and state a bit late. Zuber had a sign put up in front of the city hall reading “Remember Christ is in Christmas.” He then received a series of calls from the city attorney, city council members, and an advocacy group asking him to remember the separation of church and state is in the Constitution.
In New Orleans, a gay couple from California has won an important victory after U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey ruled that their adopted son’s Louisiana birth certificate must bear both of their names as the adoptive fathers. Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith of San Diego will be jointly listed under a full faith and credit ruling that could signal a major advance for gay couples and parents.
Continue reading “Federal Court in Louisiana Rules In Favor of Gay Adoptive Fathers”