Category: Society

Will Free Speech Have To Make A Bus Stop In Arkansas?

Submitted By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

The Central Arkansas Coalition of Reason has a First Amendment problem. When the coalition of atheists, agnostics, and skeptics attempted to place advertising on Little Rock transit buses, they were met with an unusual demand. In order to place $5,000.00 worth of advertising, the Central Arkansas Transit Authority (CATA) required them to purchase insurance against angry Christians in the amount of $36,000.00. The policy was needed said the bus company’s ad agency, On The Move Advertising, because a handful of similar ads had been vandalized in other states.

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Redefining When Life Begins: A Post about Personhood USA and Legislative Bills That Could Make the Use of Some Contraceptives Illegal

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

Until last week, I had never heard of an organization called Personhood USA. Then I read a post about it on Think Progress titled Anti-Abortion Groups Push To Outlaw Contraceptives By Redefining Personhood. According to the Think Progress piece, Personhood USA has been quite successful at pushing legislation in a number of states that would “redefine life as beginning at the moment of fertilization…”

Dr. Dan Grossman, an obstetrician/gynecologist at the University of California, San Francisco, said that the medical community has been in agreement that a pregnancy begins “once implantation occurs.” Only about a half of fertilized eggs, however, actually implant into a woman’s uterus and result in a pregnancy. The rest of the fertilized eggs never begin dividing, never implant, or spontaneously abort. In fact, some spontaneous abortions occur so early in a woman’s pregnancy that she may not even be aware that she is pregnant.

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The Palin Chronicles

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Anthony Weiner may not be the only politician whose electronic shortcomings could derail his career. The State of Alaska has released 24,000 pages of emails by then-governor Sarah Palin pursuant to a FOIA request. The emails cover all sorts of Palin controversies like Troopergate, Travel Expense-gate, and even the flurry of activity surrounding her eventual selection as John McCain’s running mate. One email details Palin’s frustration with questions from reporters about whether she believes humans and dinosaurs co-existed.

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Maternal In-Stink: Woman Steals Foul Ball from Little Girl

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Here's How A Real Adult Handles a Foul Ball

All’s fair in love, war, and now baseball. As the video below shows, notions like being kind to children at ball games is now passe.’ Gone are the days when the fan would be happy with making a great catch of a foul ball and then flipping the ball to a starry-eyed kid to make his day. Nope, here the unidentified sweetie grabs the ball from the little girl’s hand and then celebrates her big win over an apparent six-year-old. Brava!

 The crowd wasn’t so impressed. They booed for five minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6locBvdMJtw&feature=player_embedded

Source: SF Gate

~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Report: Many Americans Will Now Have To Work Until Their 80s To Support Retirement

A new report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute suggests that many Americans will have a pretty brief retirement since they will have to work beyond the average life expectancy of a citizen before they can afford to retire. The report entitled “The Impact of Deferring Retirement Age on Retirement Income Adequacy,” says that a large percentage of Americans will have to work into their 70s and 80s to afford basis costs of living.

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TSA Agents Strip Mentally Disabled Man Of Toy Six-Inch Plastic Hammer

We have yet another horrific encounter with TSA. This time the incident occurred in Romulus, Michigan where a family was going to Disneyland and found two denizens waiting from them at the airport from the Unhappiest Place on Earth. Dr. David Mandy was walking his 29-year-old severely mentally disabled son through security when two agents spotted him.
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Ohio Strikes Down Application of Statutory Rape Law To Minor Defendants

In an important decision, the Ohio Supreme Court has struck down the statutory rape law as applied to defendants younger than 13 years. We have seen continued abuses of statutory rape laws where two minors are involved, but prosecutors charge the boy for sex with a minor. It is an opinion (below) that could be considered by other courts to consider this use of statutory rape laws as well by governors considering commutations for defendants charged as minors.

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Long Island Superintendent Makes More Than $500,000 A Year

While teachers in various states fight for collective bargaining rights and benefits, Syosset schools superintendent Carole Hankin is fulfilling every stereotype advanced by critics of public teachers. She is pulling in over $500,000 in annual pay and benefits in a compensation package that is $300,000 more than the head of the entire New York City school system.
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Minnesota Man Charged With Killing Wife With Totem Pole

Carl Muggli, 49, has been arrest for second-degree murder in Minnesota of his wife, Linda Muggli, 61. Spousal murders are unfortunately nothing new, but the weapon in his case is rather novel: a 3,000-pound totem pole. While a woman was killed this week by her husband’s casket, totem poles remain an unexplored area of criminal weaponry.

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California Family Hit With SWAT Raid . . . Ordered By The Department of Education

In Stockton, California, Kenneth Wright was at home with his three young children ages 3, 7, and 11 when a SWAT team burst into his home at 6 a.m., dragged him out on the lawn, threw him to the ground, and put the family (including the kids) in squad cars. His alleged crime: default on student loans. On top of the overkill in using SWAT teams to target defaulting students, the city got it wrong. They were looking for Wright’s estranged wife. The D.O.E. now insists that it was not just about loans but part of a criminal investigation that it was carrying out.
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