With Friends Like These . . . : Woman Loses Disability Payments Due to Facebook Page

Nathalie Blanchard seems to have had one “friend” too many on her Facebook page. The Quebec woman is on long-term sick leave but posted pictures of herself on the beach and enjoying a show with the Chippendales. One of the viewers was the insurance company paying for her total disability due to depression from her job at IBM.

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Shock Lobster: Company Invents Lobster Stunning Machine

With the increased use of tasers on humans, it was perhaps inevitable that the crustacean set would demand their own stunning device. Simon Buckhaven of CrustaStun has developed a system that allows lobsters to be zapped to death in a device rather than boiled alive. It was such a breakthrough that animal rights groups organized a lobster dinner fundraiser with lobsters dispatched with the CrustaStun device. The problem is that the machines were lost in transit and the sponsors had to boil hundreds of lobsters alive at the event with such participating groups as PETA.

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Court: Corps of Engineers Responsible for Flood Damage in New Orleans

A federal judge in New Orleans has found “monumental negligence” by the U.S. Army’s Corps of Engineers in the operation and maintenance of a shipping channel called the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet. The finding allows residents to collect damages against the U.S. government after their homes were swamped by Hurricane Katrina’s floodwaters in 2005.
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Pat Robertson Claims Islam Not Religion — and Virginia Governor-Elect McDonnell Refuses to Disavow Comment

Pat Robertson has declared that Islam is not a religion but a “violent political system.” For many, such statements are nothing new from Robertson. However, it was a bit more surprising yesterday to learn that Virginia Governor Elect Bob McDonnell has refused to disavow that view. McDonnell was opposed during the recent campaign for having extreme religious views and close ties to evangelical leaders like Robertson.
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Barney The Bovine Canine: Man Barred From Owning Dogs for Ten Years After Overfeeding Dalmatian

John Green 50, has attained the novel status of being banned from keeping dogs for ten years. Green’s victim was a Dalmatian named Barney, who he overfed to the point that he weighed “11 stone” — a stone is roughly the equivalent to 14 pounds. This made Barney look like he ate the other 100 Dalmatians.
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Court: Paranoid Schizophrenic with IQ of 61 and Manic Depression is Eligible for Execution

Donald Giles would appear to have the trifecta of mental incompetence arguments against execution. He is a paranoid schizophrenic with an IQ of 61 and a history of suicide attempts and depression. However, Jefferson County Circuit Judge Martin McDonald has ruled that Giles, 41, may be put to death if the jury so rules in his trial for the 2003 murder and robbery of Charles Goodlett.
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Psalm Like It Hot: Conservatives Rally Around Psalm 109

Conservatives have picked a curious new slogan to oppose President Barack Obama: “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” It is a quote from Psalm 109:8, but conservatives leave off the full passage: “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.” It is a damnation or imprecatory prayer.

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Scout or Scab? Union Threatens Legal Action Over Scout Who Cleared Trash

Nick Balzano, president of the Service Employees International Union’s Allentown chapter, may have picked the wrong target for a threat of legal action by the union. Balzano threated the city with a grievance filing after Boy Scout Kevin Anderson, 17, says he cleared a walking path in an east Allentown, Pa. park so people could walk along the river. That should have been a job given to union employees, Balzano, claimed, and is threatening a legal filing.
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Court Rules Against Arizona Deputy on Swiping Lawyer’s Note — Arpaio To Defy Court

There has been a ruling in the Arizona case where an officer, Officer Adam Stoddard with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is clearly shown on this videotape reading and then swiping the confidential papers of defense attorney Joanne Cuccia in court. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe found against Stoddard and ordered him to either apologize or report to jail — a remarkably light sentence. However, his boss is Sheriff Joe Arpaio who has said that his officer will defy the order.
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