D.C. Passes Same-Sex Marriage — Despite Do-Over by Marion Barry

225px-marionbarry001The D.C. Council passed a same-sex marriage law unanimously this week — sort of. Ex-felon and current Councilman Marion Barry voted for the legislation only to immediately object that he did not want to vote for same-sex marriage and insisted on a new vote. It passed 12-1.
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Makutu Murder: Family Charged With Manslaughter In Death of Woman During Exorcism

180px-saintfrancisborgia_exorcismNine members of a New Zealand family will stand trial for the death of Janet Moses during a gruesome exorcism rite of the Maori culture called makutu. The rite is supposed to lift a curse and involves pouring water down the throat of the subject and trying to suck the devil out of her eyeballs.
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Republican Politician Calls Justice Souter a Child Molester and Goat Lover

225px-davidsouterMacon City Councilman and Internet blogger Erick Erickson has been listed as one of the 100 most influential conservatives in America (69 to be precise). He is also the editor-in-chief of the site redstate.com. Erickson is unapologetic for his postings on the retirement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter, where he called the jurist a child molester and bestiality deviate.

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Bush Officials Reportedly Working To Water Down Internal Justice Department Report on Torture

sealdojtorture -abu ghraibThe Washington Post reports that Bush officials are working the halls and telephones of the Justice Department with the formal end of the internal investigation into former Justice officials involved in the Bush torture program, including Ninth Circuit Judge Jay S. Bybee, Berkeley professor John C. Yoo and Steven G. Bradbury. They are reportedly working over former colleagues to soften the language and recommendations of the department. I will be discussing disucssed this and other related stories on this segment of MSNBC Countdown.

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Obama Administration Reportedly Block Release of Controversial Pictures of Backup Air Force One

120px-air-force-one-cph-2005The White House has reportedly barred the release of the photographs from the infamous flight of the backup Air Force One plane over lower Manhattan. Despite the fact that the White House approved the flight at the cost of $328,835, it appears to have little hesitation to withhold the photographs to avoid further embarrassment.

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Dull Tools: Prosecutors Says They Were Right to Charge Grandmother With Pornography For Taking Pictures of Kids in Tub

img_srebertThe arrest of Donna Dull, 59, in Pennsylvania for developing pictures of her 2-year-old getting out of the bath has been the subject of national criticism and a lawsuit against the prosecutors. However, officials added to the controversy by appearing to defend the decision to charge the grandmother despite the fact that the charges were later dropped by Stan “The Man” Rebert after a public outcry.
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Dubai Court Convicts Woman of Manslaughter and Orders Payment of Blood Money for Death of Her Own Fetus in Traffic Accident

100px-flag_of_dubaisvgThere is a trend in the United States to treat fetuses as persons for the purpose of criminal charges. That trend was taken to an extraordinary degree in Dubai where a pregnant woman was involved in a traffic accident and had a miscarriage. Finding that she was following to closely and applying Sharia law, the court convicted her of manslaughter and also ordered her to pay “blood money” for the loss of the baby.
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Taze Our Daughters and Sons At Work Day: Police Officer Fired After Shocking Children with 50,000 Volt Taser

180px-m26_taserIn Carrabelle, Florida, Sgt. Walter Schmidt at the Franklin Correction Institution had a novel idea for entertaining kids on a “Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day” tour. He shocked kids with 50,000 volts from his taser.
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Leading Pakistani Cleric Denounces Democracy as UnIslamic and Praises the Former Taliban Regime as the Model System of Governance

180px-election_mg_3455default1Leading Pakistani cleric chief Sufi Muhammad of Tehreek-e- Nifaz-e- Shariat-e- Muhammadi has declared democracy, communism, socialism, and fascism to be un-Islamic. Hmmm, that leaves what? Of yes, Islamic rule. He has also reaffirmed that it is unIslamic to be photographed.

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Parents Charged With Death of Baby After Refusing Medical Treatment in Favor of Homeopathic Treatment

125px-flag_of_australiasvgAn Australian jury is considering manslaughter charges against parents of a baby girl who refused basic treatment of an eczema condition of their nine-month-old baby. The parents — Thomas Sam and Manju Sam — were believers in homeopathic treatment and stayed with their principles unmoved as the baby Gloria Sam died.

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