Category: Society

Society, Torts

A Startling Lack of Compassion

Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger

Webster’s defines compassion as:

compassion \kəm-ˈpa-shən\, n.,
: sympathetic of others’ distress together with a desire to alleviate it

In yet another instance of corporate callousness, Claudia Rendon, a 41-year old mother from Philadelphia, was fired from her job at Aviation Institute of Maintenance after taking leave to donate a kidney to her son, Alex.  Kidney transplant surgery normally takes six to eight weeks recovery time.  Rendon had discussed taking unpaid leave from  July 19 to undergo the kidney transplant surgery on July 21 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and to return to her job on September 1.  She told ABC News that on her last day of work, her manager presented her with a letter to sign acknowledging that her job was not secure one hour after telling her that she would have her job upon her return.  On August 24, Rendon informed  Aviation Institute of Maintenance that she might not be able to return to work September 1 due to severe lower back pain; a common complication of such surgery.   Aviation Institute of Maintenance said they wanted a letter from the doctor.  The University of Pennsylvania hospital and her short-term disability provider each wrote letters to Rendon’s employer stating she would return to work Sept. 12.  Upon making a social visit to Aviation Institute of Maintenance on September 8, she found out her position had been filled by someone else on September 6.  Alex, who was a student at AIM, has also suffered repercussions of undergoing this lifesaving transplant.  The school is trying to collect $2,000 related to time he took off in addition to trying to charge him $150 to re-enroll. Did  Aviation Institute of Maintenance break the law?  Or are they just another example of a callous employer lacking in compassion?

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, International, Justice, Military, Politics, Society, Supreme Court, Things That Tick Me Off

Recent American History According to Cheney

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty(Rafflaw)-Guest Blogger

 

I admit that I get a headache when I read any news about former Bush administration officials, but it seems that former Vice President Dick Cheney is in the news again and I am left scrambling for my migraine medicine.  He has written a book detailing all the wonderful things he accomplished as Vice President under George W. Bush.  Unfortunately for Mr. Cheney, in his efforts to explain his work as Vice President under George W. Bush, he may have provided an admission of some of the alleged lies that critics claim were being spread by Cheney and the Bush administration in the lead up to war in Iraq.  Continue reading “Recent American History According to Cheney” →

Columns, International, Justice, Politics, Religion, Society, Uncategorized

The Christian Zionist Movement and Jewish Confusion

Submitted by: Mike Spindell, guest blogger

Most people who regularly visit this blog know that I am Jewish. While I am not what one would call a pious Jew, being a Deist in outlook, I have always been very proud of my ethnicity and of the religion, which plays a central part in it. From their infancy, my children were immersed in Judaism both through education and by our family regularly taking part in Jewish Rituals, including regular Synagogue attendance. Where I part personally from normative Judaism is that I view the Torah, The Five Books of Moses, as primarily allegory with some real history thrown in. To me it is a work of some wise and some not so wise men, not the writings of God. I believe and have seen demonstrated in many families though, that the Torah and its 613 Commandments can serve as blueprint for living a fulfilling life.

The issue becomes complicated when it comes to my feelings about Israel. To me the existence ofI srael is a necessity for Jews to have a future in this world and if it comes to it, a final haven to make our last stand. I am an American first, so I would not willingly emigrate away from the country of my birth, unless those who hate Jews come to power. Contrary to the opinion of many, Jews are far from being a homogeneous ethnicity/religion. One cannot for instance refer to being an Orthodox Jew with any precision of description since that movement is in itself splintered on many details of interpretation. This is true of the other main branches of Judaism: Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionism. Perhaps it is because there is no central Jewish religious authority speaking for all Jews, as much as organizations like ADL, AIPAC, et. al. would claim to, that the range of Jewish opinion is so wide on so many subjects.

This brings me to an article I read at the PublicEye.org titled: “The New Christian Zionism and the Jews”. Its’ thesis is that many Jewish supporters of Israel and the current Israeli government have allied themselves with Christian Fundamentalists whose “love” for Israel and Jews come from the wish to fulfill the prophecies of The Book of Revelations, where in fact Jews not willing to accept Jesus, will die in a horrid holocaust.  This trend has been one disturbing me for a long time. I have watched Jews and Israeli’s embrace Fundamentalist Christian support, in what to me is a shortsighted and irrational policy. This could be justified by saying that a country takes its allies where one can get them. Sometimes what seems an example of realpolitik is merely an instance of dangerously narrow opportunism, as I will elaborate.  Continue reading “The Christian Zionist Movement and Jewish Confusion” →

Environment, Politics, Society

White House Warned in 2009 That Solyndra Was Poor Investment

For about a week, I have been hesitant to post on the Solyndra scandal. There seemed to be a bit of too much of a pile on due to this being a green tech company. However, it is now serious and new evidence suggests that the White House was not just cavalier with such stimulus funds but willfully blind that this company (run by a major Democratic donor who visited the White House repeatedly before the public support by the President) was likely to fail. At best it was a remarkably moronic move by the President and his staff.

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Media, Military, Politics, Society

General Accuses White House of Pressuring Him To Change Testimony To Favor Company Run By Democratic Donor

There is a disturbing story out this week that four-star Air Force Gen. William Shelton testified under oath that the White House tried to pressure him into changing his testimony on a new wireless project in a way that would benefit a large Democratic donor. There is also an allegation that someone in the Administration leaked the intended testimony to the company.
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Politics, Society

Report: English Police Officers “Barely Literate” Due To Lowering Entry Standards

A new report on the quality of police in England found that some officers are “barely literate because entry standards are so low.” The author suggests that these standards were lowered to allow for greater numbers of minority officers. However, now the lack of literacy is delaying proceedings and causing problems for judges and lawyers alike.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Mao’s Little Mandarins: Chinese Communists Lead List of The Super Wealthy

The concept of a millionaire Communist might not sit well with Mao’s Little Red Book, but it appears to be just fine with the modern Chinese Communist Party. The Forbes China 400 Rich list revealed this week that ‘over 90% of the 1,000 richest people tracked by the Hurun Report are either officials or members of the Chinese Communist Party.” The list reinforces the view that the CCP has become more of a cartel or, in some cases, a criminal enterprise than a true political party. Communist officials are routinely accused of breathtaking corruption and use of state power to force peasants from their land in development schemes.
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Bizarre, Media, Religion, Society

Until Death [or Dementia] Do Us Part? Robertson Says It Is OK To Divorce Spouses With Alzheimer’s

The marriage vows may say “for better or for worse” and “in sickness and in health,” but Rev. Pat Robertson told his “700 Club” viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer’s is just fine. Robertson says that the vows say “until death do us part” and Alzheimer’s should be viewed as a type of death.
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Criminal law, Media, Society

FBI Raids Home Of CBS Correspondent By Mistake

CBS News correspondent Priya David and her husband Alex Clemens got a look at a news story in progress from a unique angle this week — the FBI mistakenly raided their home with eight heavily armed and armored officers. They had the wrong family and appeared to dial down a bit when they were told that the woman upstairs nursing a baby was a CBS correspondent.

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Animals, Criminal law, Environment, Society

Florida Woman Found Guilty of Criminal Neglect In Leaving Dog At Store For A Day Despite Absence of Necropsy

There is a fascinating case out of Florida this week that raises questions over the required proof needed for a criminal conviction — in this case, animal cruelty. Carla Ann Thomas was convicted of animal neglect after her a 5-year-old Akita named Sache was found dead after being left over the weekend at Healthy Paws, Thomas’ health food store for dogs and cats in St. Petersburg. She was convicted despite the fact that there was no necropsy and no one knows why the dog died. The prosecutor says that that is immaterial.
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Congress, Constitutional Law, Courts, International, Society, Supreme Court

Cherokee Tribe Asserts Right To Expel Blacks

The Cherokee Tribe is in an interesting confrontation with the federal government over the right of the tribe to ban 2,800 African Americans from its citizenship rolls. Joe Crittenden, the tribe’s acting principal chief, insists that the Bureau of Indian Affairs has challenged the sovereignty of the tribe and “The Cherokee Nation will not be governed by the BIA.”

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Criminal law, Society

School Allows High School Student To Continue To Play Football After Being Criminally Charged With Rape

In Michigan, parents are outraged by the decision of a high school to allow senior Mitchell Landis to continue to play football after he was arrested and charged with rape. They insist that such arrests could constitute a violation of “good behavior” standards.

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