Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger
I don’t know about you but I was certainly happy that I woke up this morning. For a few years now there has been great speculation that the world was going to end yesterday. As I fell asleep about 1:00pm last night it was with knowing that in Mexico it was three hours earlier and so that the dread prediction of the world’s end by the Mayan Calendar still may have been possible. The whole idea was a blatant misrepresentation of Mayan belief and hoax-like, yet that didn’t prevent many from making this non-story into yet another way to frighten people. Frightening people with made-up nonsense seems to be a human trait and certainly has been exploited throughout history for one sort of gain or another.
Fear not though, because just as the collective We has just bitten one bullet, another comes along to frighten us once again with disaster and that “disaster” will occur on December 31, 2012, as we come to the end of another turmoil ridden year in societal intercourse. I’m writing, of course, about the “Looming Fiscal Cliff” that has been so very prominent in what our mainstream media calls “news and commentary” and our leaders of both parties call governance. My opinion and that of many others with far more economic expertise than myself, is that the “Fiscal Cliff” is a mere “bogeyman”, used by those politicians on the Right and the Left as leverage to accomplish their particular political agendas.
Since one of the interests of this blog is the Constitution and the consequent Rule of Law that should be its’ result, this comes within our purview because serious issues of national interest are being driven by false mythology grown to myth like proportion. Let’s look at what is behind this mythology and its propaganda. Continue reading ““The Fiscal Cliff” an Example of Myth and Propaganda”
We 
Oakland, California is in the midst of a crime wave and remains the fifth-most crime ridden city in America. Nevertheless, the city fired one-fourth of its police department — over 200 officers. However, in the latest example of the lunacy of public subsidies for professional football and baseball teams, the city is forking over $17.3 million for the National Football League’s Oakland Raiders and Major League Baseball’s Athletics. These owners are racking in huge profits but Oakland and other cities continue to subsidize the teams despite studies (
There is an interesting and tragic case out of Northern Illinois University in Dekalb where 22 members of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity have been criminally charged in the death of student David Bogenberger, 19, after a frat event with excessive drinking. It is one of the largest such prosecutions, if not the largest, that I have seen for a hazing or frat drinking death. The question is whether this is a matter that should be addressed on the criminal opposed to the civil docket as well as school proceedings for expulsion.
We have 
Belgium is considering an expansion of its decade-old euthanasia law to allow minors and Alzheimer’s sufferers to seek permission to die. The Socialist Party’s proposal appears likely to be approved to remove the age limit (of 18 years) for electing euthanasia.
Yesterday, a great man in this country passed: Democratic Senator Daniel Inouye. He was a GW grad, a war hero, and the U.S. Senate’s most senior member. Through the years, I had numerous occasions to sit down with Inouye and I liked him a great deal. He was to put it simply: a good man. He cared about people and was deeply worried about the direction of our political system for both parties. He was 88 and he will be missed. His last word was reportedly “Aloha” — both “hello” and “goodbye” in traditional Hawaiian.
Lawyer Juan Carlos Noriega was apparently a bit surprised by an August 2 article that appeared on Huffington Post. The biggest surprise is that he was listed as the author. The lawyer from Panama is suing Huffington Post, which he claims not only ran the article under his name but then failed to respond to his efforts to have his name removed. He says that the article criticizing the federal government has jeopardized his relationship with the Department of Homeland Security and is suing for $3 million and a full retraction.
It takes a lot to get most of us to give a Tinker’s damn for the homophobic extremists at the Westboro Baptist Church. However, the people may be close of doing just that. Citizens are passing around petitions to have the church declared a hate group and strip it of its tax exempt status. This type of political movement targeting an unpopular vote raises all types of alarms for civil libertarians. Declaring certain groups as “hate groups” by popular demand smacks of majoritarian dominance. It also reaffirms the concerns, which I have ![praying_hands[1]](https://i0.wp.com/jonathanturley.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/praying_hands1.jpg?resize=125%2C150)
The murder of 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary has spawned an array of commentary from calls for 
Joel Brodsky, former counsel for Drew Peterson, has had a tough year. First, he 
We are only five days away from the Mayan Apocalypse and many are just realizing that they have not voted for our blog in the ABA competition for top “News/Analysis” blog. IT IS NOT TOO LATE! We are only 30 votes out of second place (and pulling ahead of Above the Law — perhaps the largest legal blog in the world). You do not want to meet your Mayan ancestors before cleansing your soul, do you? Think of the awkward stares and uncomfortable silence in the afterlife. Don’t risk it. Click 
It appears that Chicago has emerged wiped crime, the bad economy and the educational crisis. Even 
I have just finished my weekly exercise of self-flagellation in watching my Bears go down to yet another defeat to the Packers. It was a familiar feeling. While Aaron Rodgers is an amazing quarterback, the Bears lost this game again due to their own mistakes from recurring penalties (including one that cost us a touchdown) and continued sacks of Cutler. The question is whether it is time to a change in the head coach of the Chicago Bears at the end of this season. I like Smith and even allow my students to take “a Lovie” to pass on cases if the Bears win that week (a diminishing opportunity to be sure). However, this game shows how long-standing problems, including our porous offensive line, have gone unresolved. It has now gotten so bad that I am hoping for the Mayan apocalypse just to stop the Packers.