Constitutional Law, Courts, Free Speech, Justice, Religion, Society

Will Free Speech Have To Make A Bus Stop In Arkansas?

Submitted By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

The Central Arkansas Coalition of Reason has a First Amendment problem. When the coalition of atheists, agnostics, and skeptics attempted to place advertising on Little Rock transit buses, they were met with an unusual demand. In order to place $5,000.00 worth of advertising, the Central Arkansas Transit Authority (CATA) required them to purchase insurance against angry Christians in the amount of $36,000.00. The policy was needed said the bus company’s ad agency, On The Move Advertising, because a handful of similar ads had been vandalized in other states.

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Criminal law, Politics, Society

Redefining When Life Begins: A Post about Personhood USA and Legislative Bills That Could Make the Use of Some Contraceptives Illegal

Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger

Until last week, I had never heard of an organization called Personhood USA. Then I read a post about it on Think Progress titled Anti-Abortion Groups Push To Outlaw Contraceptives By Redefining Personhood. According to the Think Progress piece, Personhood USA has been quite successful at pushing legislation in a number of states that would “redefine life as beginning at the moment of fertilization…”

Dr. Dan Grossman, an obstetrician/gynecologist at the University of California, San Francisco, said that the medical community has been in agreement that a pregnancy begins “once implantation occurs.” Only about a half of fertilized eggs, however, actually implant into a woman’s uterus and result in a pregnancy. The rest of the fertilized eggs never begin dividing, never implant, or spontaneously abort. In fact, some spontaneous abortions occur so early in a woman’s pregnancy that she may not even be aware that she is pregnant.

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Politics, Society

The Palin Chronicles

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Anthony Weiner may not be the only politician whose electronic shortcomings could derail his career. The State of Alaska has released 24,000 pages of emails by then-governor Sarah Palin pursuant to a FOIA request. The emails cover all sorts of Palin controversies like Troopergate, Travel Expense-gate, and even the flurry of activity surrounding her eventual selection as John McCain’s running mate. One email details Palin’s frustration with questions from reporters about whether she believes humans and dinosaurs co-existed.

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Politics, Religion, Science

David Barton Claims Founding Fathers Debated Creation/Evolution

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

David Barton is an evangelical minister and author who describes himself as “an expert in historical and constitutional issues.” Barton is the darling of the religious right receiving praise from Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Michele Bachmann.

In the video, below the fold, Barton makes some remarkable claims.

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Bizarre, Society, Things That Tick Me Off, Uncategorized

Maternal In-Stink: Woman Steals Foul Ball from Little Girl

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Here's How A Real Adult Handles a Foul Ball

All’s fair in love, war, and now baseball. As the video below shows, notions like being kind to children at ball games is now passe.’ Gone are the days when the fan would be happy with making a great catch of a foul ball and then flipping the ball to a starry-eyed kid to make his day. Nope, here the unidentified sweetie grabs the ball from the little girl’s hand and then celebrates her big win over an apparent six-year-old. Brava!

 The crowd wasn’t so impressed. They booed for five minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6locBvdMJtw&feature=player_embedded

Source: SF Gate

~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering

Public Integrity Prosecutor Accused Of Using Conflicts Case To Pressure Firm To Hire Family Member

Deputy Dist. Atty. Juliet Schmidt, a member of the L.A. district attorney’s Public Integrity Division, is under fire after sending a letter to a law firm in a conflict-of-interest case that first suggested that its client “might” be exonerated and then asked if the firm would give her nephew of job. That is, of course, a conflict of interest itself.

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Politics, Society

Report: Many Americans Will Now Have To Work Until Their 80s To Support Retirement

A new report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute suggests that many Americans will have a pretty brief retirement since they will have to work beyond the average life expectancy of a citizen before they can afford to retire. The report entitled “The Impact of Deferring Retirement Age on Retirement Income Adequacy,” says that a large percentage of Americans will have to work into their 70s and 80s to afford basis costs of living.

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Bizarre, Politics, Society

TSA Agents Strip Mentally Disabled Man Of Toy Six-Inch Plastic Hammer

We have yet another horrific encounter with TSA. This time the incident occurred in Romulus, Michigan where a family was going to Disneyland and found two denizens waiting from them at the airport from the Unhappiest Place on Earth. Dr. David Mandy was walking his 29-year-old severely mentally disabled son through security when two agents spotted him.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics

Virtual Flasher? Can Weiner Be Charged With Federal Violations In Tweets

The New York Times has an interesting twist on the Weiner scandal: one of the women, Gennette Cordova, stated that she was sent the infamous underwear pictures without any invitation or prior sex talk with Weiner. That raises the question of whether a charge could be investigated for a type of virtual flashing or other offense. I will discussing this issues tonight with CNN’s Eliot Spitzer.
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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, Politics

Tennessee Makes Posting Images A Crime If They Are Viewed As Distressful To Third Parties

Tennessee legislators have passed an extraordinary law that makes it a crime to “transmit or display an image” online that is likely to “frighten, intimidate or cause emotional distress” to someone who sees it. Violations can get you almost a year in jail time or up to $2500 in fines. The law, in my view, is unconstitutional and a direct threat to free speech.
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