-Submitted by David Durmm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Woo, a term used by scientific skeptics for pseudoscience, alternative medicine and New Age beliefs, or a person who holds such beliefs.
Walmart, through their website, is selling Oscillococcinum, manufactured by Boiron, to be used “for flu-like symptoms.” Their image of the package shows that the product “Reduces [the] Duration and Severity of Flu Symptoms,” including “Fever, Chills, Body Aches and Pains.”
It does no such thing.
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
California professional golfer (and former police officer) Lana Lawless is challenging the LPGA’s rule requiring tournament participants to be “female by birth.” The LPGA has ruled, according to Lawless, that as a transgender woman, she is ineligible to compete. The rule seems to fly directly in the face of California’s Unruh Law which holds that all people in the state are “free and equal, and no matter what their sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, medical condition, marital status, or sexual orientation are entitled to the full and equal accommodations, advantages, facilities, privileges, or services in all business establishments of every kind whatsoever.”
Continue reading “Playing It Straight: LPGA’s “Female By Birth” Rule Challenged”
-Submitted by David Durmm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Professor Brian Cox, a particle physicist at the University of Manchester and host of Wonders of the Solar System on the Science Channel, has brought the wrath of the Astrological Association of Great Britain upon himself. Professor Cox, on BBC2’s “Stargazing Live” show, said that “astrology is nonsense” and the Association wants the BBC to commit to “making a fair and balanced representation of astrology in the future.”
There’s a lot of money at stake.
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
For years, the policy reason behind the law’s prohibition against assisted suicide has eluded me. Eureka! I have found the answer — it’s to prevent bear indigestion.
Fugitive and convicted Arizona killer, Tracy Province, had a novel means to accomplish his own demise. Escaping from a Kingman jail with a trio of other desperadoes, Province hatched a plan to drive to Yellowstone Park, shoot up a gram of heroin, and lie down in the national park in an effort to become food for the famous Yellowstone grizzlies.
Continue reading ““Grizzly” Death Averted: Bear-icide Stopped by Divine Intervention”
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Mexican drug smugglers are becoming quite creative in their efforts to get marijuana into the U.S. No more low altitude drops from sleek planes in the Florida Everglades a’ la Miami Vice. Today’s smuggler is more into the “throwback” mode of delivery, so to speak. Invoking the tried and true philosophy of the Middle Ages, catapults have become the air mail vehicle of choice to launch packages of the intoxicating plant into Arizona.
Aurora police officer James Waselkow has been reinstated with back pay after being fired for excessive use of force. Waselkow broke the orbital bone near the right eye of Carla Meza during an arrest and then failed to give her medical treatment. He was later fired after the Chief concluded he had used excessive force and did not have probable cause for an arrest after the domestic violence call.
Continue reading “Colorado Police Officer Reinstated With Back Pay After Being Fired For Using Excessive Force and Breaking Six Department Policies”
Ashley Renee Oxendine, 22, is accused of a rather bizarre criminal act in Gainesville. After fighting with her former boyfriend, she not only physically assaulted him but threw his mother’s ashes out the window.
The Illinois Supreme Court today reversed the decision (below) of the appellate court and reinstated former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel to the mayoral ballot in Chicago. As discussed earlier, the Supreme Court hit on the burden in overturning a factual finding of the lower court.
Continue reading “llinois Supreme Court Puts Emanuel Back on Chicago Ballot”
The government is on the verge of doing away with one of its moronic ideas: the color-coded terror alert system. From the outset, many of us objected that this was a system without logic or use — part of an effort to incorporate every American into a terror-obsessed society. Not only did no one know the meaning of the individual colors, few understood what they were supposed to do differently when it moved from blue (guarded) to yellow (elevated). Yet, the government continually informed us as to the color of the day — spending millions on a nonsensical system.
Continue reading “Fade to Black: Government Plans To Phase Out Color Threat Alert System”
Many have long wondered: “I know our state bird, but what is our state gun to shoot it with?” Now, in Utah, the uncertainty may soon be over. State lawmakers are moving toward adopting the Browning M1911 as the official state gun.
Continue reading “Utah Moves Toward Adopting State Gun”
Many defendants work hard to find the right balance between expressions of contrition and innocence before a criminal sentencing. Zaire Page, 24, decided that brevity was the soul of wit and simply told Judge Vincent Del Giudice to “suck his d—.” Del Guidice declined the offer and instead gave him 107 years.
Continue reading “Actor Tells Judge To Suck His [Blank] . . . Instead Judge Gives Actor 107 Years”
The Office of Special Counsel has found gross and knowing violation of the Hatch Act by the Bush White House and specifically its Office of Political Affairs. The OSC Report found that the Bush White House allowed the office to directly support Republican congressional candidates and even allowed the Republican National Committee to work out of the White House. The violations were found to be a “gross abuse of the public trust.”
Continue reading “Report: Bush White House Committed Gross Violations of Hatch Act”
The Missouri Supreme Court has handed down an important ruling on reverse discrimination — upholding an award of more than $2 million for a white prosecutor, Melissa Howard, who was denied a judgeship in 2006 because the Kansas City Council wanted a minority in the position.
For academics, there is no greater sin than the alteration of a historic document. That is precisely what amateur historian Thomas P. Lowry is accused of doing in writing a “5” over a date of a pardon by Abraham Lincoln – immediately gaining fame for finding the last official act before Lincoln’s assassination on April 14, 1865.
Continue reading “Civil War Historian Accused of Altering Lincoln Pardon”
For civil libertarians, the gradual de-evolution of our criminal justice system just got a bit more medieval. Virginia Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger is upset about the prison budget so he has found a way to trim costs by simply castrating sexual offenders. This is the same proposal vetoed four years ago, but there is now a conservative Republican governor in office and some believe it could pass.
Continue reading “Sen. Hanger Proposes Castration for Sex Offenders”