It sounds like the lead of a hundred bad jokes: A Muslim imam, a Catholic priest, and a Buddhist monk walk into a television studio . . . However, this is the setup for a new show “Penitents Compete” on Turkish television station Kanal T where the clerics are put into a room with 10 atheists to convert them. It is the ultimate Survival: Salvation show. Continue reading “God is My Co-Host: Turkish Show Under Fire for Syndicating Salvation”
Category: Society
Happy Independence Day!
U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts in New York has enjoined the publication of a sequel to The Catcher in the Rye as a copyright infringement. She found that the sequel used the original work and was not a parody.
Continue reading “Caught in the Rye: Court Enjoins Sequel to Salinger Masterpiece”
The midget wrestling world is reeling from the news that Mexican midget wresters Alberto (aka ‘La Parkita’ — “Little Death”) and Alejandro Pérez Jiménez (aka Espectrito II) have been found dead in a hotel room — the apparent victims of a gang known alternatively as The Leak or The Drops. The police believe that two women posing as prostitutes went to their room and then gave them spiked drinks. Usually the johns wake up with a headache and no money. The dose, however, appears to have been too great for the under-sized wrestlers. Both were in their thirties.
Continue reading ““Little Death”: Mexican Midget Wrestlers Killed By Fake Prostitutes”
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has announced that she will resign from office on July 26th. The news has led bloggers and comedians to breath into paper bags and use emergency dial-ins for their analysts across the country. Palin has been God’s gift to bloggers, including this blog. But fear not, this announcement may actually promise more not less Palin!
Continue reading “Sarah Palin Resigns As Alaskan Governor Effective July 26th”
This is just too bizarre to pass up. A Swedish couple has long opposed “the artificial construct of gender.” So, they have refused to disclose the gender of their child, who is being called Pop in the Swedish media. They are dressing Pop with dresses as well as non-dresses — and have given the child feminine and non-feminine hair styles alternatively. Only a few close relatives know the child’s true gender.
Continue reading “It’s Pop! Swedish Parents Raise “Genderless Child””
The judicial council of the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has cleared Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the 9th Circuit of wrongdoing in the long investigation over sexually explicit materials on his personal website. However, the council found that he acted with “carelessness” and was “judicially imprudent.”
Continue reading “Judge Kozinski Cleared of Wrongdoing By Judicial Council — But Admonished Over Website”
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has come up with a sure-fire way to improving the performance of students in the low-ranked state: lower the academic standards so more students can pass.
Continue reading “The New Math: Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal Solves Low School Passage Rates By Lowering School Standards”
Pennsylvania State Sen. John Eichelberger (R) has refused to apologize after a statement that the public has allowed gays to exist. Eichelberger is pushing a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and made the statement after being asked by Sen. Daylin Leach (D) who gays should be treated.
Continue reading “Republican State Senator: We Allow Gays To Exist”
It appears that, despite the extensive litigation over assets seized by the U.S. government to pay victims of Bernard Madoff, Ruth Madoff had one more claim to make before being kicked out of her $7 million Manhattan home — her fur coat. While it is the dead of summer, Madoff insisted that she wanted to leave with the coat but the Marshals made her surrender the coat as part of the assets of estate.
Continue reading “Ruth Madoff Clings to Fur Coat — And Claim of Innocence”
In the ultimate proof that law is not a popularity contest, U.S. District Judge George H. Wu has tossed out the conviction of the much-despised Lori Drew — the woman behind the cyber-bully case that led to the suicide of 13-year-old Megan Meier.
The Washington Post is accused of arranging for meetings between power brokers, lobbyists, and politicians, including Post reporters and editors for $25,000 to $250,000. These meetings are billed as off the record, non-confrontational access to “those powerful few” in the Beltway. Called “Salons,” the entire program is raising eyebrows in both the media and business areas.
The members of Congress are once again facing the dangers of public service from sunburns to shopping overload. Our public servants are again planning their summer vacations at public expense. Many of us have been concerned about the runaway spending of this Administration and Congress. For prior columns, click here and here. Even if one accepts some spending was necessary for stimulus, Democrats have used the economic recovery as an excuse to pile on spending programs and pork projects. Now, it appears that overseas travel expenses are up tenfold since 1995. Congressional delegations, or “codels,” have increased 70% since 2005.
Continue reading “Vacationing for the Public Good: Members Massively Increase Travel at Taxpayer Expense for Themselves and Family”
The Justice Department is again being accused of withholding evidence and making false statements to the court. Judge Emmet Sullivan sharply questioned Justice Department lawyers about whether they are in violation of the D.C. Rules of Professional Conduct by making false statements to the court or failing to correct false statements. The Justice Department has faced such objections in various cases, including the now dismissed prosecution of former Senator Ted Stevens before Judge Sullivan. The latest allegation comes in the conspiracy cases against businessman Zhenli Ye Gon, accused in an international drug trafficking scheme.
The New York Republican Senators are up in arms over what they insist was a Democratic trick: using the brief appearance of a Republican Senator to break a long-standing stalemate. Sen. Frank Padavan of Queens says that he was on a quest for a Coca Cola, not voting, when he cut through the Senate floor on the way to the member lounge’s soda machine. The Democrats immediately counted him as the 32nd vote and unanimously passed 125 bills in three hours with Republicans absent.
Continue reading “The Real Thing? New York Republican Claims Democrats Misconstrued a Coke Run as Political Statement”