Uncategorized

4 Bedrooms, 3.5 Baths … Marijuana Greenhouse

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

In an advertisement  on Craig’s List sure to test the boundaries of commercial free speech, a rural property owner has offered a house for sale or rent. Nothing unusual there. What makes it interesting  is that the North Bend Washington property is touted for its marijuana growing propensities:  “Green house is set up for specially growing Marijuana growing, flowers, veggies,” the ad read. “With the legal 45 plants at a time, you can easily grow over $125,000 in crop per summer and take the winters off or grow indoors during the winter.”

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Politics, Society

School Vouchers and the Death of Meritocracy

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

America likes to think of itself as a country where one’s abilities determine one’s fortune. America was founded by those fleeing European countries where upward mobility was restricted by the state.

The opportunity to obtain a good education is essential to a society that values meritocracy.

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Politics, Society

SEALs Elude Mouse

-Submitted by David Durmm (Nal), Guest Blogger

We have previously discussed the attempt by Disney to trademark the term “Seal Team 6″, here. Disney has withdrawn its application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office “out of deference to the Navy.” Several days after Disney filed its application, the U.S. Navy filed its own application for trademarks on the phrases ‘SEAL Team’ and ‘Navy SEALs.’ The Navy had established a beachhead with its longstanding trademark of “SEALs,” which it has licensed to video game producers.

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Politics, Society, Things That Tick Me Off

Florida Governor Rick Scott & The “Private” Town Square

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Florida Governor Rick Scott (R-Fla) may be changing his name to Rick “Scoot” after his rousing speech at The Villages Retirement Center Town Square in central Florida. Crowing over budget cuts to programs for homeless veterans, meals for poor seniors, a council for deafness, a children’s hospital, cancer research, public radio, whooping-cough vaccines for poor mothers, and aid for the paralyzed, the tea-party darling decided the public square was the perfect place to squelch any dissent. Ordering sheriff’s deputies and that endless coterie of blonde Republican fresh-faced staffers to comb the crowd for Democrats and any other persons sporting “liberal looking pins and buttons,” the Governor banned them contending the event discussing the public’s money and re-enacting the signing of Florida’s budget was a very “private” affair among friends.

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Uncategorized

Don’t We Owe our Military Women the Same Protections as the Men?

 

Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty,(rafflaw), Guest Blogger

In the past we have discussed the ongoing war on Women that is being waged by the Right, but this latest example is a tough one to swallow.  When military women are raped while in the service, it turns out that military health insurance does not cover abortions, even when the servicewoman has been raped.  I discovered this sad fact when I was reading the ACLU Blog.  Jessica Kenyon joined the Army in 2005 and while on duty she was raped by a fellow member of the Army and made the mistake of not reporting it. Continue reading “Don’t We Owe our Military Women the Same Protections as the Men?” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Supreme Court

The Right to Record

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

Since the infamous videoing of the Rodney King beating, the power of the video to publicize police brutality, and the subsequent risk of legal and financial repercussions, has led states to criminalize the recording of police. With the proliferation of cell phones cameras and the ability to upload to YouTube, the risk for police is even greater today. If the police have nothing to hide, then there should be no objection to recording them performing their public duties.

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Criminal law, Torts

San Antonio Officer Fatally Shoots Unarmed Teen Who Scared Him — Previously Suspended Four Times From Force

San Antonio is dealing with not just the controversial fatal shooting of an unarmed teen but new disclosures that the officer was previously named four times for termination from the police force. Reports indicate that Officer Daniel Alvarado of San Antonio’s Northside Independent School District has been named on four occasions for termination due to misconduct but was never actually fired. He is now on suspension after he chased 14-year-old Derek Lopez, who punched another teen at a bus stop and ended up shooting him to death in a shed.
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Bizarre, Society, Torts

Joy Ride for Justice? FBI Agent Wrecks Stolen Ferrari After Taking Friend Out For A Spin . . . DOJ Refuses To Pay For Damage

For FBI agent Fred Kingston, it was a sweet assignment. The FBI had seized a stolen 1995 Ferrari F50 — one of only 50 such cars in the United States. Kingston was instructed to move the car from the FBI garage and so Kingston reportedly called Assistant US Attorney J. Hamilton Thompson to come along for the ride. The agent ended up crashing the car — causing $750,000 but now the Justice Department insists that it is not liable for the damage.
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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics

Supreme Court Upholds Arizona Immigration Law

In a 5-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld an Arizona law imposing sanctions on businesses that hire illegal aliens. The decision (below) in Chamber of Commerce v. Whiting, 09-115 was long anticipated because of its implications for a possible ruling in the more controversial Arizona provision regarding the state enforcement of immigration laws — a case making its way toward the Court. I will be discussing the case Friday morning on CNN.
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Bizarre, Criminal law, Society

Rain or Shine: Postal Worker Caught Defecating on Home . . . Retained By Postal Service And Given New Route

The Postal Service is under fire in Portland, Oregon after it decided to retain a postman who was captured on film peeing and defecating on a home on his route and simply reassigning the postman to another route.
Continue reading “Rain or Shine: Postal Worker Caught Defecating on Home . . . Retained By Postal Service And Given New Route” →

Constitutional Law, Courts, Politics, Society, Torts

Kentucky Supreme Court Recognizes Paternity Claim From Adulterous Affair and Puts An End To The “Bastardy Cases”

The Kentucky Supreme Court has handed down an important ruling (below) that Christopher Egan can make a paternity claim even if the child is the result of an adulterous affair. It is the rejection of a long-standing bar on such claims under a type of “dirty hands” rule for adulterous affairs. The court turned its back on a long line of morality based cases once called “bastardy cases.” Justice Bill Cunningham (right) in dissent accused the court of throwing the institution of marriage on the “funeral pyre of modern convenience and unanchored values.” Justice Daniel Venters (left) excellent majority decision is available below.
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Criminal law, International, Politics

Justice Catches Up To Ratko Mladic: Accused War Criminal (Finally) Arrested in Serbia

In a long overdue action, the Serbian government has finally arrested accused war criminal Ratko Mladic, the highest-ranking war crimes suspect still at large from the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Mladic, 69, is accused of genocide, extermination and murder, including the deaths of over 8000 men and boys after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995.

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Bizarre, International, Politics

Gold Farming in The Worker’s Paradise: Chinese Prisons Forcing Prisoners To Play Online Games To Sell Credits

Liu Dali is a Chinese citizen who bravely sought to petition the government over rampant corruption. The Chinese government responded by throwing him into a corrupt prison system where he did manual labor for 12 hours of day and then was forced to play online games to build up credits that were sold by prison officials for cash. If he failed to make his quota of game credits, he was beaten. This may seem like a Monty Python skit but it is deadly serious.
Continue reading “Gold Farming in The Worker’s Paradise: Chinese Prisons Forcing Prisoners To Play Online Games To Sell Credits” →