Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Nearly three decades ago—when my daughter Sara was just three years old—I received a Mother’s Day gift that I will never forget. It wasn’t a piece of expensive jewelry, a gift certificate to a designer boutique, or a weekend at a beauty spa. No…it was a nondescript ceramic mug selected by my young daughter when her “daddy” took her shopping to buy me something special for that special Sunday.
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty,(rafflaw), Guest Blogger
This entire week the torture enthusiasts have been back on all of the news channels exclaiming their happiness that their “enhanced interrogation techniques” worked. Of course, they are talking about waterboarding and other methods of torture. Why are Michael Mukasey, John Yoo and other members of the George W. Bush administration once again declaring that torture is good policy and that it was successful in helping to get Osama Bin Laden? Continue reading “Torture is still Torture, and it is Still Illegal.”
Having just given my final torts exam last night, this story caught my eye. In Madrid, a 25-year-old Spanish man from Andalusia sued his parents after they stopped giving him allowance money and demanded the resumption of $588 a month.
Continue reading “Law Student Takes Parents To Court To Force Them To Resume Paying His Allowance”
By Mike Appleton (Guest Blogger)
In 1773 the British East India Company was broke. In an effort to prevent bankruptcy, and the resulting loss of the crown’s investment, the British government eliminated all taxes on domestic tea sales and granted the company a monopoly on tea shipments to the American colonies. In December of that year radicals boarded ships in Boston harbor and threw $75,000.00 worth of tea overboard. The first Tea Party was a violent reaction to monopolistic economic power protected by government.
Continue reading “Why the Tea Party is Dangerous”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Poets know how to say things best–and the best poets know how to pack a punch with their words, which are often quoted. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge once said: “I wish our clever young poets would remember my homely definitions of
prose and poetry; that is, prose,—words in their best order; poetry,—the best words in their best order.”
When speaking, politicians don’t always use the best words. They tend toward uttering their “talking points” and “staying on message.” They are often caught off guard when someone asks them an unexpected question that they aren’t prepared to answer. Rick Santorum found himself in an awkward position recently. Santorum was speaking at an “ECON-101” Town Hall meeting-style event Thursday sponsored by the Center for Civic Engagement at New England College in New Hampshire when he was tripped up by a student who asked him if he knew that his campaign slogan “Fighting to make America America again,” was borrowed from the “pro-union poem by the gay poet Langston Hughes.”
Solano County Superior Court Judge Robert S. Bowers was arrested yesterday in Vallejo on suspicion of domestic violence — a charge that he denies. The Vallejo Police Department said that his wife has a minor but visible injury to support her claim.
Continue reading “California Judge Arrested For Alleged Domestic Abuse”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Republican governors in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, New Jersey, and Florida have been getting a lot of media and press attention lately because of their proposals for drastic budget cuts, big tax breaks for corporations, or for their attacks on public sector workers and their unions. One newly elected Republic governor who has remained pretty much under the radar is Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania. A few weeks ago, a story about Corbett at ProPublica caught my attention. I thought it was a story worth investigating.
Last December, Governor Corbett announced his very first political appointee—a man named C. Alan Walker. Walker, an energy executive, was chosen to head the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development. What’s particularly interesting about this appointment is that Corbett also gave Walker supreme authority over environmental permitting in the state of Pennsylvania.
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Fed Lifts Veil of Secrecy (December 1, 2010)
“Almost two years ago I asked Chairman Bernanke to tell the American people which financial institutions and 
corporations received trillions of dollars as part of the Wall Street bailout. He refused. Today, as a result of an audit-the-Fed provision I put into the financial reform bill, we finally learn the truth – and it is astounding.”
— Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), author of Fed disclosure provision
Lifting the Veil of Fed Secrecy
Speaker of the House John Boehner is being widely quoted as explaining that the United States does not have to fear protests by citizens for better government because many are too “poor and lazy” to act. This seems pretty unbelievable and a likely hoax. If so, it is a remarkably vicious act.
Continue reading “Muslims Protest Burning of Quran By Florida Preacher By Killing 20 People”
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
A couple of months ago, my daughter recommended that I take a look at an adoption case that was just ruled on by the Missouri Supreme Court. I did not have a chance to look at in-depth until recently and it is both interesting and heart wrenching. It involves a Guatemalan immigrant mother whose baby was born in the United States while she was in the country illegally and the baby was adopted while the mother was in prison. Thankfully, the Missouri Supreme court ordered a new adoption hearing which could still be another hurdle for the biological mother, but she now has a chance at regaining custody of her son. Missouri Supreme Court Continue reading “Adoption Nightmare for Guatemalan Mother”
There is an interesting ruling out of Oregon where the Court of Appeals ruled that teeth cannot be treated as a dangerous weapon for the purposes of establishing a basis for first-degree assault conviction of Scott Russell Kuperus II. It is a clear case of prosecutorial over-charging and a trial judge who failed in protecting against such abusive claims.
Continue reading “Taking the Bite Out of Crime: Oregon Court Rules Teeth Are Not Dangerous Weapons”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Rudy: Hey, Jack, did you hear about that naughty dog named Denver who ate a whole bag of cat treats while his owner was out of the house? Well, his owner figured out who the culprit was and gave him a timeout in the kennel. Maybe Mom and Dad should do the same thing to you when you empty my food dish!
Jack: Aw…you don’t mean that, do you, buddy? We Labs are active dogs. We need continual sustenance so we can maintain our high energy level.
Rudy: Energy smenergy! I’d like you to stay the heck away from my cat food!
Jack: Rudy, little bro, I may feed from your food dish—but I’d NEVER eat a whole bag of your kitty treats! Trust me.
Continue reading “A Sunday Jack & Rudy Post…Including a Guilty Dog Video”
Submitted By Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
When someone mentions the United States Chamber of Commerce to me, I automatically think of the recent claims that were made that the Chamber solicited campaign donations from foreign corporations during the last election cycle. “A ThinkProgress investigation has found that the Chamber funds its political attack campaign out of its general account, which solicits foreign funding. And while the Chamber will likely assert it has internal controls, foreign money is fungible, permitting the Chamber to run its unprecedented attack campaign. According to legal experts consulted by ThinkProgress, the Chamber is likely skirting longstanding campaign finance law that bans the involvement of foreign corporations in American elections.” Think Progress While that may be an atrocious and possibly illegal funding of domestic elections with foreign money, I am not currently interested in that “activity” of our friends at the Chamber of Commerce. Something else caught my eye! Continue reading “The United Chamber of Hacking?”
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez appears to have run out of Earth-based disasters to blame on capitalism. Chavez’s latest unhinged rant concerns Mars, which he has suggested had a thriving civilization that was wiped out by Martian capitalists.
Continue reading “Hugo Chavez Takes On Martian Capitalists”