Category: Society

Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Justice, Politics, Religion, Society

Did Martin Luther King’s ‘Dream’ Come True?

Respectfully Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty (rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

On Monday we celebrate the life of the Reverend Martin Luther King and honor him for his work with the Civil Rights movement.  One of his most famous speeches was the 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech that he gave in Washington, D.C. to a crowd of thousands.  In that speech he laid out his vision and hopes for the Civil Rights movement.  I would like to review some of his words and discuss if his dream came true for African-Americans and minorities throughout our country. “I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.” ‘ Huffington Post Continue reading “Did Martin Luther King’s ‘Dream’ Come True?” →

Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Justice, Media, Politics, Society, Supreme Court, Uncategorized

The DHS Wants to Know Who’s Spreading the News (or Expressing an Opinion), Your Rights Optional

Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger

Freedom of speech is a well established right in this country and rooted in the 1st Amendment.  “Congress shall make no law [. . .] abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press”.  The U.N.’s  Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 19 reads, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”  Within the United States and our jurisprudence there are some exceptions to this freedom, but by in large (up to this point in history) the restrictions are both reasonable and necessary: the Miller test for obscenity, child pornography laws, laws prohibiting speech that incites imminent lawless action, restrictions on fighting words, regulation of commercial speech such as advertising, copyright and patent laws protecting authors and inventors control over their work, and the prohibition of slander and defamation.

Let’s be clear here that the subject isn’t just free speech, but anonymous political free speech.

Here at Res Ipsa Loqitur, there is a long standing policy of allowing anonymous posting to comments and protecting poster’s anonymity.   The decision to post under your own name or not is entirely yours.  This policy encourages free speech while allowing that having an unpopular or minority point of view should not have negative political consequences for the speaker or unnecessarily complicate their lives simply for expressing their views.  Many political insiders and Washington professionals have told Professor Turley that they enjoy reading this blog and have enjoyed posting anonymously.  The only posters here required to use their real identities are the guest bloggers and the requirement is voluntary.  None of us were coerced into using our real names.  When offered the honor of being a guest blogger, it was simply (and I think I speak for all the guest bloggers when I say fairly) a requirement in assuming editorial responsibilities.  However, all of this raises an important question.

Do you have a right to anonymous political free speech?

According to the Supreme Court, you do.  According to the Department of Homeland Security, you don’t.  They’ve hired General Dynamics to track U.S. citizens exercising this critical civil right.

Continue reading “The DHS Wants to Know Who’s Spreading the News (or Expressing an Opinion), Your Rights Optional” →

Academia, Columns, Congress, Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Society, Supreme Court

10 Reasons The U.S. Is No Longer The Land Of The Free

Below is today’s column in the Sunday Washington Post.  The column addresses how the continued rollbacks on civil liberties in the United States conflicts with the view of the country as the land of the free.  If we are going to adopt Chinese legal principles, we should at least have the integrity to adopt one Chinese proverb: “The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.”  We seem as a country to be in denial as to the implications of these laws and policies.  Whether we are viewed as a free country with authoritarian inclinations or an authoritarian nation with free aspirations (or some other hybrid definition), we are clearly not what we once were. [Update: in addition to the column below, a later column in the Washington Post explores more closely the loss of free speech rights in the West].
Continue reading “10 Reasons The U.S. Is No Longer The Land Of The Free” →

Academia, Bizarre, Courts, Justice, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Religion, Science, Society, Torts

Robot Love?

Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger

Almost four weeks ago I read an article in Huffington Post entitled: “Can Loving A Robot Lead to Divorce?” by Vicki Larson, a journalist. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vicki-larson/robots_1_b_1150679.html  Ms. Larson introduces her piece by quoting the claims of a current manufacturer of anatomically correct “sex robots”, who presumably speak and move in sexual ways. I followed the article’s link to the website of the robots inventor, Douglas Hines, who enthusiastically discusses his creation and has a few videos (non-explicit) that demonstrate the robot’s “capabilities”. While the HuffPost article links the Company’s website, I’m not doing it here, since publicizing this device is not my aim. Should you want further information it is available at the articles link. The “sex robot” being produced now is but an update on inflatable sex toys, though with a “skeleton”, rudimentary movement and speech added. It therefore is only an opening reference to a real issue that will shortly become scientifically possible.

The next part of this short article is an overview with of the opinion of  Artificial Intelligence Expert David Levy http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=humans-marrying-robots  “It also may be the future of love and marriage, if you believe artificial intelligent (AI) expert David Levy, author of Love and Sex With Robots. According to Levy, human-robot sex, love and marriage is inevitable — perhaps as soon as 2025. He predicts that robots may not only be more lovable and faithful than many humans, but they may even be more emotionally available than the “typical American human male.” Not only will they make us become better, more creative lovers, but they also will offer those singles who feel a void in their emotional and sexual lives and married couples with differing sexual needs new, nonjudgmental ways to be happy and healthy. Although Levy believes that the “availability of regular sex with a robot will dramatically reduce the incidence of infidelity as we know it today,” he also acknowledges there may be some potential sticky points. “Some human spouses and lovers might consider robot sex to be just as unfaithful as sex with another person.”

Levy’s view naturally flows into the conclusion of the article which is an E Mail interview with Sonya Ziaja, a San Francisco Bay Area attorney who blogs at numerous law and policy media outlets as well as her own, Shark. Laser. Blawg.

“And what could be more fraught with legal dilemmas than a love triangle among a married couple and a sexbot? How that might impact a divorce? That’s what Ziaja explores in her paper, “Homewrecker 2.0: An Exploration of Liability for Heart Balm Torts Involving AI Humanoid Consorts,” which she presented at the 2011 International Conference on Social Robotics that took place in Amsterdam at the end of November.

“If the doll’s owner becomes enamored with the doll, and leaves his spouse, can the spouse sue as she or he would be able to if the interloper had been human? And who would be sued? The manufacturer? Inventor? The AI itself?” she questions. “So long as we’re intent on adding socially interactive AI into situations that would ordinarily be only human. … socially interactive robots need to be ‘safe to play with’ in a way that manufacturers of toaster ovens never had to imagine.”

Thus we are presented here with a legal quandary instigated by the advent of revolutionary technology affecting serious legal, moral and ethical issues. How should we view this inevitability and how shall we deal with it as a society? Continue reading “Robot Love?” →

Bizarre, Society, Torts

Employment Discriminaton Filing: Snack Maker Accused of Firing Employee For Wearing Prosthetic Device

Now this is going to be an interesting case. Pauline Davis, 45, has filed a gender discrimination case against J&J Snack Foods after the company (making churros and other frozen snacks) allegedly fired her for wearing a prosthetic penis to work. She seems to have a viable case.

Continue reading “Employment Discriminaton Filing: Snack Maker Accused of Firing Employee For Wearing Prosthetic Device” →

Bizarre, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Police Seek Culprit Who Seriously Injured Man In Spontaneous “Dwarf Toss”

There is an interesting criminal and tort case being investigated in England. Martin Henderson was celebrating his 37th birthday when he found himself airborne — thrown by another man in the bar who saw him as a dwarf for the tossing. Henderson suffered injuries as a result of the toss and the man fled.
Continue reading “Police Seek Culprit Who Seriously Injured Man In Spontaneous “Dwarf Toss”” →

Academia, Society, Torts

Ben Stein’s Money: Actor Sues Japanese Company For Dumping Him For Another Nerdy Economist

Ben Stein is an actor who often appears at conservative conferences and events — often speaking against such things as global warming. Stein’s hard-right politics has made him a hero for conservatives and a villain for liberals. Now, however, he is suing after a company decided that his political advocacy undermined his value as a spokesman. While some conservatives might view such discrimination lawsuits and emotional distress claims as another sign of our litigious society, Stein is suing Japanese company Kyocera Corporation and the New York ad agency Seiter & Miller for the loss of a $300,000 gig. He says that Kyocera then tapped a University of Maryland economics professor whom his lawsuit portrays as a Stein lookalike or clone. Stein declares in his lawsuit that he is “the most famous economics teacher in the world.” Sure there were Adam Smith, John Kenneth Galbraith, and John Maynard Keynes. There were even people like Karl Marx who fashioned themselves as well known economists. But none of them appeared in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.”
Continue reading “Ben Stein’s Money: Actor Sues Japanese Company For Dumping Him For Another Nerdy Economist” →

Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Society, Supreme Court

Justice According To Thomas: Dissent in Case Overturning Murder Conviction Highlights The Twisted Jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas

The extreme views of Justice Clarence Thomas were put into sharp relief yesterday when he stood alone in an 8-1 decision to overturn an outrageous conviction from New Orleans. In the face of shocking misconduct by prosecutors under Harry Connick Sr., even the most conservative members lined up to denounce the case . . . all but one.

Continue reading “Justice According To Thomas: Dissent in Case Overturning Murder Conviction Highlights The Twisted Jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas” →

Academia, Constitutional Law, Politics, Religion, Society

Brava, Jessica Ahlquist: Rhode Island High School Student Wins Separation Lawsuit

Rhode Island high school student Jessica Ahlquist has taught her school officials a useful lesson on civics this week. The Cranston High School West student won her challenge to a large prayer mural displayed at the school with a federal judge ordering its removal as a violation of the separation of church and state.
Continue reading “Brava, Jessica Ahlquist: Rhode Island High School Student Wins Separation Lawsuit” →

Politics, Religion, Society

Tennessee City Manager Criticized For Ending Regular Prayer Meetings For City Employees During Work Hours

Michelle Williams, was the city manager of Mt. Pleasant, Tennessee for only one full week when she tackled a controversial practice: prayer services during office hours of the employees at City Hall. For years, the local chaplain has been holding prayer services during work hours and Williams pointed out that such observations violated the separation of church and state. She got the local chaplain to agree to hold the daily prayers either before or after work hours. This manifestly reasonable request has led to opposition from some, including City Commissioner Bob Shackelford who wants the prayer sessions to continue.
Continue reading “Tennessee City Manager Criticized For Ending Regular Prayer Meetings For City Employees During Work Hours” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, International, Politics, Religion, Society, Supreme Court

Too Sooner For Sharia? Tenth Circuit Rules Against Oklahoma’s Anti-Sharia Law

We previously discussed the law passed in Oklahoma barring state judges from considering Islamic and international law in their decisions. Now the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has blocked the law. The three-judge panel upheld an injunction barring certification of Question 755. The decision has some important language for both standing and free exercise claims.
Continue reading “Too Sooner For Sharia? Tenth Circuit Rules Against Oklahoma’s Anti-Sharia Law” →

Constitutional Law, International, Politics, Society

Women Barred From Speaking At Gynecological Conference in Israel Due Pressure From Orthodox Jewish Groups

A conference on “Innovations in Gynecology/Obstetrics and Halacha [Jewish law]” will be held this week to discuss such things as “how to choose a suitable contraceptive pill” but women will be barred as speakers. Bowing to ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders in Israel, the Puah Institute has barred female speakers and ordered that women are to be segregated in female-only areas. With the ongoing protests over the mistreatment of women and girls by Orthodox Jews in some areas, the conference only magnifies the tensions in the country.

Continue reading “Women Barred From Speaking At Gynecological Conference in Israel Due Pressure From Orthodox Jewish Groups” →