In a previous, I expressed profound doubt over the latest installment of “Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin: Action Hero.” If you recall, after his being featured a race car driver, great white hunter, jet pilot, oceanologist, martial artist and Hell’s Angel, Putin was shown as a scuba diver. While only having dived three times, Putin was filmed at an ancient Greek Black sea site and . . . you guessed it . . . he “discovered” two sixth century urns under the water — one of which was in pristine condition with nary a seaweed adhering to its surface. Most of us laughed at the display of unrestrained megalomania, but the Russians insisted that it just shows how superhuman Putin is. Now, after ridicule outside of Russian, an aide admitted it was staged.
Continue reading “Putin’ On A Show: Russian Aide Admits Putin Discovery of Ancient Urns Was Staged”
Category: Society
I was very saddened to very of the loss of Steve Jobs, one of the most influential and brightest minds of our generation. I had the first Apple computer and have had every major model since the start of the company. In other words, he had me at hello.
Continue reading “Farewell and Well Done”
Well, we finally have been cited as the inspiration for reforms in England. Prime Minister David Cameron is suggesting a “fat tax” on foods to combat obesity and to avoid becoming like the United States — a nation of fat people. He appears to be unaware that we prefer to call ourselves a Rubenesque nation.
Continue reading “PM Cameron Calls For Fat Tax To Prevent England From Becoming . . . Well . . . Us”
Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor has created a firestorm of controversy in Topeka, Kansas by announcing that his office will no longer prosecute domestic abuse cases and other misdemeanors due to a lack of funds. Notably, Taylor was faced with a 10 percent budget cut, but elected to simply bar prosecution of crimes like domestic abuse.
Continue reading “Topeka District Attorney Refuses to Prosecute Domestic Abuse Cases After His Budget is Cut”
Below is today’s column in USA Today (to run in paper form on Wednesday) on President Barack Obama’s claim to the right to kill citizens as dangers to the nation. Ironically, the day after I wrote the Los Angeles Times column on Obama’s disastrous impact on the civil liberties movement in the United States (including his assertion of the right to kill citizens on his own authority), the U.S. killed two citizens in Yemen. Notably, Ron Paul (who has emerged as the only candidate discussing these issues from a civil libertarian perspective) suggested an impeachment inquiry based on the killing of the two citizens. Below is the column in USA Today.
Continue reading “The Hit List: The Public Applauds As President Obama Kills Two Citizens As A Presidential Prerogative”
Researchers led by MIT professor Daniel Nocera have announced the creation of “artificial leaves” that can convert the energy of sunlight directly into a chemical fuel that can be stored and used later as an energy source. The leaf uses abundant material and could prove a breakthrough in the search for new fuel systems.
For the second time in two years, a visit by the Dalai Lama has been blocked by the South African government — only a week after South Africa’s Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe visited with Chinese leaders in Beijing. However, the government insists that it was under no pressure from China and the visa was simply not processed fast enough.
Christine Hemming, 53, may be the ultimate cat burglar. The wife of Member of Parliament John Hemming is allegedly shown in this video breaking into the mistress of her husband and stealing her kitten, Beauty.
Continue reading “Cat Burglar: MP Wife Convicted of Stealing “Beauty””
An appeals jury in Italy this afternoon overturned the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito in the killing of Knox’s roommate Meredith Kircher four years ago. While it has shocked many, it was a victory for the rule of law given the lack of evidence and serious mistakes of police in the course of the investigation. What was interesting, however, was the fact that slander convictions against Knox and Sollecito were upheld.
U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford verbally lashed the Fullerton Police Department in its handing of allegation by sexual misconduct of an officer, calling the police department actions as “shocking” in its failure to take serious steps to preserve and act on evidence.
Continue reading “Federal Judge Criticizes Lack of Response of California Police Department To Allegations of Sexual Abuse By Officer”
I was just sent this video by a friend of a 29-year-old woman who is filmed as she hears her own voice for the first time with the use of an ear implant.
Continue reading “Video: Woman Hears Own Voice For First Time in 29 Years”
Thad Holmes and Clem Parnell are Alabama conservation enforcement officers . . . and part-time human ballistic burial experts. Holmes and Parnell have founded Holy Smoke, LLC, a company that loads the ashes of your fried or loved one in shotgun shells, and rifle and pistol cartridges to be used in one last hunting trip or just target practice. For a small sum, it is resurrection and reload . . .
Continue reading “Ballistic Burials: Alabama Conservation Officers Sell Ammunition Filled With the Ashes of Your Loved One”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Ex-con Bruce Price is a principled guy. He spent a decade as a prison chef while serving time for assault. Many of those meals were for condemned men in the Texas penal system. We’ve recently discussed Texas’ knee-jerk abandonment of the Last Meal for condemned prisoners here on the blog. Seems Price was reading about it, too.
Continue reading “Have Ladle, Will Travel: Texas Chef Calls State’s Hand On Canning Last Meals”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Bank of America is leading banks all across the country in instituting new monthly fees for customers who use debit cards. BoA will start charging customers $5 a month while Wells Fargo and Chase are testing a $3 a month fee, Regions a $4 a month fee, and SunTrust a $5 fee.
Below is today’s column in the Washington Post (Sunday) exploring the growing infusion of religious pitches and policies in the presidential campaign. With the anniversary this week of the Danbury letter, this is a particularly good time to take account of the condition of the wall of separation. Today is also the day of the “Red Mass,” the annual religious service held with members of the Supreme Court before the start of their term and leading Republican and Democratic politicians. While the separation of church and state is not mentioned in the Constitution, this exchange cemented the phrase in our legal and cultural lexicon. The piece below does not delve into the meaning of the First Amendment and whether it can be read broadly or narrowly given its language and history. Even if one accepts that the establishment clause was only designed to prevent the creation of an official church, there remains the long-standing principle in politics and government against the intermingling of church and state. To put it simply, religion is back in politics. While the targeted religious minorities may have changed from Baptists to Muslims, the fight over separation has resumed with the same politicized piety that once tore this country apart.
Continue reading “Separation of Church and State? Not on the 2012 Campaign Trial”