As a general matter, wild animals are not the basis for tort liability absent possession and control by a third party. However, the family of Sam Ives, 11, are suing the U.S. Forest Service after the boy was killed by a bear in 2007 in a the Timpanooke Recreation Area in Utah.
Continue reading “Family Sues National Forest Service Over Fatal Bear Attack”
Domonique Ramirez, 17, has filed a novel legal action to keep her crown as Miss San Antonio after pageant officials accused her of excessive consumption of tacos and insubordination.
Continue reading “Taco Belle? San Antonio Beauty Queen Sues Over Effort To Strip Her of Crown”
We have yet another citizen left to die in a waiting room in the United States. Witnesses say that a man was left for 16 hours to sit in the emergency room in the University Hospital in San Antonio until other patients informed the nurse that he had stopped breathing.
Continue reading “Man Reportedly Dies After Being Left 16 Hours in Texas Emergency Room Without Care”
Loretta Van Beek insists she is not a Canadian raspberry mule. Indeed, she is suing the United States government after she was questioned for hours and strip searched at the border. Van Beek, 46, had failed to declare a few raspberries discovered by our border police, who became suspicious that she was living illegally in the United States. Illegals are known to be partial to raspberries.
Continue reading “Canadian Woman Found With Undeclared Raspberries and Strip Searches and Barred From Country”
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw), Guest Blogger
I don’t think Barry Goldwater would recognize Conservatism or his Republican Party if he was alive today. Conservatism used to mean belief in safe and sound economic spending and freedom for all from governments getting too large and too restrictive on personal freedoms. Recently we have seen Republicans offer up a brand new and dangerous definition of rape in an attempt to restrict abortions and to restrict government money being used to pay for them. Now we are seeing another Republican attempt to restrict the use of contraceptives under the guise of ending the alleged use of Federal funds to pay for abortions.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Just a reminder for those who may have forgotten. The JEOPARDY! Challenge is this coming week: Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Check your local listings for time and channel.
This is a history making event. You won’t want to miss it. You can watch the NOVA episode “Smartest Machine on Earth”, here.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
Suzanne Mettler, professor at Cornell, has written an article in Perspectives on Politics that highlights the public ignorance regarding the benefits people receive from the state. Different government programs operate indirectly have made the extent of the US welfare state invisible. These government social programs are rarely stigmatized by equating them to welfare. Welfare, it’s not just for the poor.
The table, below the fold, is amazing.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
And it’s getting more difficult with the introduction of DNA spray. DNA spray is an invisible mist dispensed from devices placed in high crime areas. The mist is harmless and visible under UV light and sticks to clothing and the crevasses of the skin. Even after three-a-day showers, the DNA will remain on an offender for weeks. DNA spray provides a unique signature that, after forensic analysis, can irrefutably place the person at the scene of a crime.
The system is popular in Europe and will be coming to the U.S. soon.
Continue reading “DNA Spray – It’s Hard Out There For a Crook”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
The Mississippi Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans has come up with an idea for celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Civil War—known to some as the “War between the States.” The veterans group has proposed that the state of
Mississippi issue a series of specialty license plates commemorating the war. These specialty plates, planned for the years 2011 through 2015, would each have a different design.
What has some people upset is the specialty license plate slated for the year 2014, which would honor General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest, a native of Tennessee, is considered by some to have been a military genius. Others feel differently about Forrest who is “reviled” by some for allegedly having lead a massacre of Black Union troops at Fort Pillow in his home state in 1864. It should be noted that Forrest also served as the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.
Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty, (rafflaw) Guest Blogger
You may recall that after the horrible Tucson shooting massacre, I wrote a piece for this blog suggesting that it might be a good time to consider banning deadly weapons and the high-capacity magazines of the type that the alleged killer used on that fateful day. It was a difficult issue, but I thought then and still think now that it is an important issue that needs to be discussed by not only us, but by the American public through their Representatives and Senators in Congress. With that prior posting in mind, I was shocked to read a story earlier this week about the president of the National Rifle Association, Wayne LaPierre, who blamed the shootings on government policies in a recent speech to the CPAC conference on Thursday, February 10th. Continue reading “The NRA Claims That the Government is to Blame For Tucson Shootings”
Submited by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
NBA star Le Bron James did what lots of professional players would love to do – he confronted a loud mouth fan during a game on Friday night. James, who recently departed his hometown team in Cleveland to a storm of criticism, was playing an away game in Auburn Hills Michigan against the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons, perennial bad boys of the NBA since the days of notorious Bill Laimbeer and kooky Dennis Rodman, are in a hopeless downward spiral this season, while James’ team, the Miami Heat, are favorites to win the Eastern Division.
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
First it was Hope and Crosby, then Rowan and Martin, and now the straight-laced conservative crowd at CPAC (The Conservative Political Action Conference) has its own custom-made comedic duo. Facing a chorus of boos and cheers former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld teamed up once again with straight man (and former VP) Dick Cheney for CPAC’s “Defender of the Constitution Award” to entertain the assembled horde of Brooks Brothers clad “real men” — and a few women, too. Rumsfeld was not fazed by a few jeers at the mention of his name, and Dick Cheney was positively giddy when attendees yelled, “”Where Bin Laden at?” and “Show us the shackles Dick.” Cheney quipped in reply,” Alright, sit down and shut up.” What a card? Predictably those few dissidents (probably illegal immigrants) were drowned out by the ringing, obligatory chorus of “U.S.A,” U.S.A.”! Good enough for a hockey game; good enough for the CPAC patriots. (Oops, hockey’s Canadian– make that football, damnit) Boy, was Samuel Johnson ever right.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
We have previously discussed the death of Kent Schaible, here and here. Kent Schaible, 2, died of bacterial pneumonia because his parents Herbert and Catherine Schaible, a fundamentalist Christian couple, believed in faith healing and declined to get medical attention for their child in Philadelphia. They were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment.
Common Pleas Court Judge Carolyn Engel Temin sentenced them to 10 years of probation. Continue reading “Faith Healers Given Probation”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
In Baltimore, Montgomery County, Maryland, there’s a growing number of cameras set up to catch speeders and red light runners. They work well. They work regardless of the type of vehicle. The cameras can’t detect if the vehicle has flashing lights and a siren, so police have been getting snapped. There’s no “officer courtesy”, where a brother officer would be given a break.
The fine for going through a red light is $75 and speeding is $40. The police are crying foul.
Continue reading “No Break for Police Caught on Red Light Cameras”
In a further example of the rush to the bottom in our political system, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told the Conservative Political Action Conference that he intends to scrap the EPA which he claims has waged a “war on American energy.”
Continue reading “Gingrich Calls For Elimination of The Environmental Protection Agency”