As if things were not bad enough for Bears’ fans with the loss of Jay Cutler and other mishaps, Bears wide received Samuel Hurd, 26, has been arrested and charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine. Hurd looks like he was sacked in a pretty damning sting operations where he not only is caught arranging delivery of coke and pot but actually accepts a sample (the latter move should have been a tip off of a sting operation).
Continue reading “Thinning The Hurd: Bears Wide Receiver Arrested in Drug Sting”
Category: Society
Today I will be appearing in federal court in Salt Lake City, Utah to argue for standing in our challenge to the Utah statute criminalizing bigamy and cohabitation. I have previously written about the constitutional issues raised by the action. This hearing, however, concerns the effort of the state to avoid review of the law by claiming that the family lacks standing, even though the state has declared their family to be a criminal association and prosecutors have declared them to be guilty under the law.
Continue reading “Federal Court Considers Standing in Sister Wives Case”
A Massachusetts restaurant has made news this week by requiring waivers before people eat its hot food. The waivers are being handed out at the East Coast Grill in Cambridge.
Continue reading “Tort or Torte? Restaurant Requires Waivers Before Customers Try Hot Food”
This poster was made by a teacher to announce the Rock Paper Scissors tournament. Pure genius.
Continue reading “History As An Extension of Rock, Paper, Scissors”
France is experiencing a massive tort scandal after it was discovered thousands of women were given breast implants containing industrial silicone rather than medical silicone. We have seen <a href="In Vassallo v. Baxter Healthcare Corp., 696 N.E.2d 909 (Mass.1998), a court looked at the liability of one such company under an implied warranty of merchantability for failure to warn or provide instructions about risks. The appellate court Defendant did have actual or constructive knowledge.”>such cases in the United States of faux doctors using industrial silicone purchased from auto and home repair stores. Nothing, however, comes close to the French scandal. Over 30,000 women in France (as well as some in Spain and the UK) may have had the defective products from Poly Implant Prosthesis (PIP).
Continue reading “France Facing Crisis After Discovery That Tens of Thousands of Women May Have Been Given Industrial Silicone In Breast Implants”
There was a brief moment when civil libertarians were stunned to see President Barack Obama actually take a stand in favor of civil liberties after years to rolling back on basic rights of citizens and moving beyond the Bush Administration in building up the security state. Obama said that he would veto the defense bill that contained a horrific provision for the indefinite detention of American citizens. While many predicted it, Obama has now again betrayed the civil liberties community and lifted the threat of the veto. Americans will now be subject to indefinite detention without trial in federal courts in a measure supported by both Democrats and Republicans. It is a curious way to celebrate the 220th anniversary of the Bill of Rights.
Continue reading “Happy Birthday, Bill [of Rights]: Obama Breaks Promise To Veto Bill Allowing Indefinite Detention of Americans”
My last column discussed how the Obama Administration is continuing its dangerous effort to appease Muslim allies in establishing limitations on free speech to combat “intolerance” for religion. Yesterday, there was an interesting article from Indonesia where police raided punk parties and took kids into custody to be “spiritually cleansed” in the name of Sharia law. Police insisted that the shaving of their heads and other abuses were perfectly consistent with human rights law because it was benefiting the subjects.
The Chinese government is obsessed with suppressing free speech on the Internet — legitimately fearful that citizens speaking with each other could bring an end to its regime. The recent protests in Russia likely reinforced those fears for the Chinese. Thus, it should come as no surprise that when two men told people online about a huge police presence supporting a wedding, the Chinese government had them arrested.
Continue reading “China Arrests Two Bloggers For The Crime Of Spreading Rumors”
The Saudi Kingdom has now executed yet another “sorcerer” — part of a continuing trend in Muslim countries in arrested suspecting Genies and sorcerers in the name of Allah. In this case, the Saudis appear to have arrested a garden-variety carnival healer — a woman saying that she could heal illness for $800 per session.
Continue reading “Saudi Kingdom Executes “Sorceress””
We have followed a long line of hunting accidents and buck fever cases which are becoming more and more common as housing areas expand into rural areas (here and here). Now in Edinburg, Texas, police have taken two hunters into custody on suspicion of firing the stray bullets that cut down two middle school students at Harwell Middle School.
Continue reading “Police Reportedly Take Two Hunters Into Custody In Texas School Shooting”
Ever marvel at how your baby mimicked your spouse? Now you know that the baby was not just copying your spouse but rejecting you as “unreliable.” A new study of behavior in babies found that they sized up parents and adults before choosing who to copy — rejecting some as not credible or reliable.
Continue reading “From The Mouths of Babes: Study Finds That Babies Copy The Most “Reliable” Adults”
Below is my column today in The Los Angeles Times on the conference this week in Washington on religious speech. I have previously written about the Obama Administration’s break with past policies to support Muslim countries in cracking down on speech deemed “defamatory” to religion. While the latest resolution does not repeat the defamation language, the purpose remains unchanged and the dangers for free speech are obvious. The non-binding resolution was passed in March, largely in response to the assassinations of two Pakistani officials who had spoken out against the nation’s blasphemy law. Ironically, however, the resolution will likely reinforce the right of countries to criminalize anti-religious speech and blasphemy laws.
The Supreme Court today accepted cert in the challenge to Arizona’s tough anti-immigration law. In a loss to the Administration, Associate Justice Kagan recused herself from the case.
Continue reading “Supreme Court Takes Arizona Immigration Case — Kagan Recuses”
Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger.
During the Cold War a phrase “The Enemy Within” became popular. It was a reference at first to Communist subversion exemplified by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s witch-hunt. Later it was used with other issues such as in Robert F. Kennedy’s book “The Enemy Within” which dealt with corruption in the Labor Movement, specifically Jimmy Hoffa and his teamsters. Recently, Michael Savage, right wing talk show host, wrote a book using that same title, though in this case referring to liberals and progressives as being seditious. The connotation of this phrase is that the group so labeled represents an internal movement that is so dangerous to the interests of the United States, that it can be seen as subversive.
Some may be shocked then by the title of this post. Almost all of us have grown up thinking of the Chamber of Commerce as a uniquely American Institution. Throughout the US whether in cities or in hamlets, the business community has banded together to promote local commerce and build interrelated networks. When we think of this, we think mainly of local small businesses, which are the backbone of this nation’s economy. To be honest until this week I’ve never give much thought to the Chamber of Commerce until as a MoveOn.com member I received a petition from an affiliated new organization called SumOfUs.
“SumOfUs is a brand-new global movement of consumers, investors and workers using our collective economic power for good. Together, we will work to hold the world’s corporations accountable to the public interest and move our global economic system towards social equity, democratic principles, and long-term sustainability.” http://googlequitthechamber.org/about/
The purpose of the petition was to get Google to follow the lead of other large corporations and quit the US Chamber of Commerce. The petition made various claims regarding the US Chamber of Commerce which I’ll deal with in this post.
However, I wouldn’t present this post without doing some research on the “Chamber” and its’ activity to look into the validity of the claims being made by the SumOfUs organization. In doing this research I came to realize that in my opinion the United States Chamber of Commerce is an organization that does not act in the best interests of this country and that one can call it subversive, even though it is not treasonous. These are my reasons for this belief. Continue reading “The US Chamber of Commerce, the Enemy Within?”
Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
Does art imitate life? When it does, is that imitation in the eye of the beholder or the mind of the artist? Does it make a difference? A new building design raises those very questions.
Two luxury rental towers designed by Daniel Libeskind of Dutch architectural firm MVRDV raised ire this week when the designs were revealed to the public. Scheduled to be completed in 2015 as part of the Yongsan Dream Hub in the South Korean capital of Seoul, the two rectangular towers feature a “cloud” that would connect both buildings on the 27th floor. Some people think the design is evocative not of a cloud, but of the events of 9/11. The fuss started Friday after Dutch newspaper the Algemeen Dagblad published a front-page architectural rendition of the project under the headline: “Inspired by Twin Towers?”
Continue reading “Does Art Imitate Life? – New Building Design Raises Questions”