Politics, Religion

Ayn Rand and Christianity

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

The GOP hearts Ayn Rand. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and his father Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), all mention the works of Ayn Rand as being influential in their lives. Even Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas references her work as influence in his autobiography. Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, is an acolyte of Rand’s thinking and knew her personally.

I would like to focus on one aspect of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, and its implications for Christianity.

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Animals, Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering

Ohio: Let Sleeping Police Dogs Lie

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Twenty five year-old Ryan James Stephens will probably never be confused with actors Rex Harrison or Eddie Murphy but he may be the new Dr. Doolittle. Stephens has been charged with violating Cincinnati’s ordinance prohibiting citizens from “talking” to police dogs.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Society

Odor Of Marijuana Not Enough For Probable Cause

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has issued an interesting decision concerning the prerogative of police to order a suspect to exit a car after smelling marijuana smoke coming from within. Seems the opinion turned on the Bay State’s decision to  decriminalized possession of less than one ounce of the wacky weed in 2008.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Torts

Fast Food, Slow Rescue: McDonald’s Employees Shown Standing By As Woman Is Repeatedly Attacked In Restaurant

The disturbing video below shows a women being beaten by two other women as McDonald employees do virtually nothing to help her. While a manager makes a minimal effort to stop the fight, he then walks away and does not offer help to the woman on the ground. The girls then return and resume the beating. Other employees are shown doing nothing but watching the scene. The attack occurred in Baltimore, Maryland. The victim has now been identified as Chrissy Lee Polis, 22, who has been identified as a transgender woman. A manager at the Rosedale McDonald’s said she was “not allowed to speak to a reporter.”
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Academia, Bizarre, Society

Princeton Professor Commits Suicide After Termination of Contract — Raising Questions Over His Treatment By University

There is a very sad story out of Princeton where Professor Antonio Calvo, 45, has committed suicide after the university refused to renew his contract — a decision that not only meant the loss of his directorship of the Spanish program but his having to leave the United States since the move terminated his visa. He had taught at Princeton for ten years.

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Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Liberté, égalité, beuverie! French Riot Police Threaten Strike . . . To Protect Their Right To Drink On Job

This is the quintessential French story. Anyone who has gone to France knows that you can expect that someone will be striking and shutting down parts of Paris. However, the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité (CRS) police force is taking a stand on a matter of French privilege — the right to drink while on duty. After all, if the French cannot have a glass of wine while fighting terror, the terrorists have won.

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Bizarre, International

British Tourist Catches Falling Baby in Florida

Helen Beard, an English tourist in Orlando, caught more than a tan in Florida this week. Beard showed that legendary English backbone when she caught a 2-year-old child who fell from a fourth-floor balcony of at the Econo Lodge on International Drive in Orlando. Beard is an inspiration to us all and a fine representative of that stalwart people of Britannia.
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Bizarre, Congress, Criminal law, Torts

Ensign Announces Resignation From Senate Due To On-Going Investigation Into Affair

Two-term Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., has announced he is resigning from the Senate, effective May 3rd. This follows a prior pledge to remain in the Senate and a rather forced defense that he had not “done anything legally wrong” after he allegedly had an affair with the wife of his top staffer, Doug Hampton.
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Animals, Bizarre, International, Society

Taking Dogs For a Wok: Chinese Animal Activists Stop Truck Load of Dogs Sent To Slaughterhouse

The consumption of dogs in China has long been a point of disgust with many Westerners. Animal rights activists have a particularly difficult time in China, but succeeded this week in forcing action to save hundreds of dogs being sent to a slaughterhouse in terrible conditions on a truck from Henan province.
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Bizarre, Society, Torts

The Ultimate Floodgate Litigation: Will MRP Realty Be Liable For the “Great Flood of 2011”?

Now that Georgetown’s Washington Harbor complex has dug out and dried out after the “Great Flood of 2011,” there remains the question of the liability of MRP Realty, the company responsible for raising the flood walls at the complex. The walls were not raised despite forecasts of flooding.

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Bizarre, Congress, Politics, Society

General Electric Profits Up 77% But Company Avoids Paying a Penny in Taxes

President Barack Obama has been unabashed in his close association with General Electric CEO Jeffrey R. Immelt, including naming him to head the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. Obama has continued to shower such honors and attention on Immelt despite the fact that GE has avoided paying ANY taxes. Indeed, GE has demanded a tax benefit of $3.2 billion. Now, GE has posted a 77% increase in profits while paying less taxes than any of its factory workers.
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Criminal law, Society

Camden Police Reportedly Fired Over 30 Rounds To Kill 8-Month-Old Puppy — Hitting Homes and Cars in Terrified Neighborhood

We have another controversy over a police officer shooting a pet. Sherronda Aycox’s 8-month old blue pit bull Capone was killed in a hail of bullets that also hit vehicles and houses, including one house with a family inside. This is only the latest in a long list of such cases.
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Bizarre, International, Society, Things That Tick Me Off

Things That Tick Me Off: American Airlines

It is time for another entry in the category Things That Tick Me Off where I vent against absurdities or abuses that I have personally witnessed. (It is remarkably therapeutic). This week’s winner is American Airlines. Months ago, Leslie and I set out to arrange for a trip that would use our carefully saved frequent flier miles to go to England and France with the four kids. It was the trip we had been planning for years once the kids were old enough to appreciate it and we saved over 700,000 miles to achieve the dream under American’s SkyMiles program. What followed as a nightmare in dealing with American, which seems to have made the “bait-and-switch” a structuring corporate principle.

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