Category: Society

Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society, Torts

California Mother Sues Chuck E. Cheese As An Unlawful Gambling Operation

In California, Denise Keller, says she is trying to keep children safe from gambling. The mother of two daughters has filed a class action against Chuck E. Cheese for games that she says is just a form of toddler gambling. Before those five-year-olds turn “whac-a-Mole” into whacking mob moles, Keller wants the chain to held liable for violating California’s gambling laws. She even found a lawyer in such a Quixotic lawsuit, attorney Eric Benink.

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Society, Torts

Minnesota Doctor Loses Effort To Sue Patient’s Son For Defamation About His Allegedly Poor Bedside Manners

Dr. David McKee, a neurologist with Northland Neurology and Myology, has failed in his bid to sue the son of a former patient for complaining about his bedside manners, including statements to professional associations and posting comments on the Internet. Sixth Judicial District Judge Eric Hylden wisely dismissed the action.
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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Society

Bird Brain: Oklahoma Defendant Asks For Three More Years So Sentence Will Match Larry Bird’s Jersey Number

In Holdenville, Oklahoma, Eric Torpy surprised the prosecutor and judge when he received a 30-year sentence for armed robbery and two counts of shooting with intent to kill. Instead of complaining about the length of the sentence, he asked that it be increased by three years so it would match the Celtic’s Jersey number of his idol, Larry Bird. Oklahoma City Judge Ray Elliott agreed. He is now complaining that the judge and prosecutor should not have yielded to his demand and asks “Why feed into my game? I’m a criminal.’’
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Criminal law, International, Politics, Society

IMF President Strauss-Kahn Arrested For Assault of New York Hotel Maid

IMF President Dominique Strauss-Kahn last week was widely viewed as heading to the French Presidency. He is now viewed this week as more likely to head to an American jail. In an extraordinary criminal complaint, Strauss-Kahn is described as a sexual predator who spontaneously assaulted a hotel maid. And we thought former World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz was an embarrassment.
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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, International, Lawyering, Media, Politics, Society

Baltasar Garzón Receives Human Rights Award and Criticizes Obama Administration For Violations of International Law

This weekend, Baltasar Garzón, the Spanish judge who ordered the arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, received the ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism in New York. My roughly two-hour interview with Garzón before his receiving the award proved quite newsworthy with Garzón discussing subjects ranging from the charges that he is facing in Spain to current issues of human rights violations by the United States to the threats to assassinate him. Most notably, Garzón criticized the Obama Administration for rolling back on the Nuremberg principles and violating international obligations to prosecute individuals for torture and war crimes.
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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Society

Mississippi Man Forgets He’s Naked As He Waves to Underage Girls

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Forgetful HermanHerman Broadus is a grandfatherly type who loves interacting with all the local kids. Problem is Herman can’t remember to keep his clothes on.  The Moss Point Mississippi man was arrested by police when  the mother of  two young girls — ages 8 and 10 — complained.  The girls claimed they saw the 70-year-old man “standing naked in the doorway, holding something in one hand and waving to them with the other.”

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Animals, Criminal law, Science, Society

Unnatural Selection

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

The idiots that are in charge of determining the traits that pedigree dogs must possess, are abusing dogs. The genetic defects caused by inbreeding are heart breaking. While we have often discussed cases of humans abusing dogs, nothing can compare with the scope and magnitude of the abuse done by kennel clubs and dog shows.

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Academia, Bizarre, Politics, Society

CUNY Trustee Under Fire After Nixing Honorary Degree For Tony Kushner

The trustees of City University of New York have finally approved an honorary degree for the playwright Tony Kushner after a controversial trustee blocked the degree over his personal disagreement with Mr. Kushner’s views on Israel. Many are now calling for the resignation of trustee Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld (left) who has suggested that Palestinians are not human and said that a “teach in” about the 9/11 attacks at the school was an act of “sedition.”
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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Society

High School Student Criminally Charged For Ranking Girls on Facebook

There is a disturbing case out of Illinois where a teenage boy has been arrested for posting his ranking of 50 female students at Oak Park-River Forest High School in Oak Park, Illinois “by their sexual characteristics and alleged sexual behaviors” and posting it on Facebook. It is another example of the criminalization of our society and raises serious first amendment questions.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Former Virginia Legislator Convicted In Scheme With Old Dominion University

There is a revolving door theme in today’s posts. We saw yesterday how Communications Commissioner Meredith Baker was made senior vice president of Comcast-NBC, Phillip A. Hamilton, a former Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, has been convicted of leveraging his office to secure a paying position with Old Dominion University. He now will be sentenced for federal program bribery and extortion under color of official right.
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Bizarre, Congress, Politics, Society

Revolving Door: FCC Commissioner Votes For Comcast/NBC Merger And, Four Months Later, Given Position As Senior Vice President in Comcast-NBC

Critics are charging this week that Federal Communications Commissioner Meredith Baker has given this swamp-based city another glaring example of how to turn public service into personal gain. Just four months after voting to allow the merger between Comcast and NBC Universal, she has been given a high-paid job as senior vice president of governmental affairs by . . . you guessed it . . . Comcast-NBC.
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Academia, Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

Try The 4-H Club Instead: Wisconsin Board Refuses To Approve School-Sponsored Club for Gay Students

In Wisconsin, there is now record of the West Bend School Board ever rejecting an application for a student club at a high school . . . until now. You guessed it, students wanted to form the Gay-Straight Alliance clubs at East and West high schools but were denied approval by a 3-3 vote of the board. Board President Randy Marquardt opposed approval of the club.
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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Society, Torts

Bin Laden’s Son Reportedly Announces Possible Lawsuit Against United States Over Killing and Burial of His Father

Omar bin Laden, bin Laden’s fourth eldest son, has allegedly issued a statement that calls the killing of his father as a “criminal” act and a humiliation for his family. Notably, he indicated the possibility of a lawsuit against the United States.

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Politics, Society

Majority of Americans Still Want Third Major Party

A Gallop poll shows that fifty-two percent of Americans want a third party — a continuing majority from earlier polls showing as much as 58% who oppose the monopoly of power by the two leading parties. The question is how we can call ourselves a democracy when the two parties are able, through ballot barriers and other means, to prevent a major third party from emerging in the United States. I previously wrote about these barriers and the need for a third party.
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