Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman took a startling position in the GOP debates last night — he suggested that the party not “run from science.” After candidates have lined up to reject everything from global warming to evolution, Huntsman is a standout in his Galileo moment in the GOP.
Continue reading “Galileo and the GOP: Huntsman Takes Stand For Science”
Police in Ogden, Utah, were called to a man’s home when neighbors say that they heard a moo, a shot, and saw the man cutting off a cow’s head. The police came and declared that the man is allowed to butcher the animal at his home. And you thought your neighbors’ lady leg lamp in the front window was disturbing.
Arkansas weatherman (KARK 4) Brett Cummins is at the center of a bizarre case after he was discovered in a hot tub with a dead naked man wearing a dog collar around his neck. It is still unclear what killed Dexter Williams, but (even if not charged in a homicide) Cummins could face charges on drug use or possession given a witness’s statement to police.
Continue reading “In Hot Water: Arkansas Weatherman Found In Hot Tub With Dead Man Wearing Dog Collar”
Magistrate Judge Anthony Peters of Catoosa County has been removed from office for misconduct. For our regulars on the bench, fear out. Peters, a non-lawyer, set the standard pretty high after smoking pot, kicking in doors, and pointing a gun at his own head.
Continue reading “Georgia Magistrate Tossed Off Bench After Record of Pot-Smoking and Bizarre Conduct”
We have previously discussed studies showing high levels of mental illness in the United States. Now a Europeans shows a similarly high rate with “almost 165 million people or 38 percent of the population suffering each year from a brain disorder such as depression, anxiety, insomnia or dementia.” What is interesting is that the rate is higher in Europe as compared to the U.S. study cited earlier. The European study however appears to be broader in considering neurological conditions associated with illnesses like stroke.
Continue reading “Study Estimates Roughly 40 Percent of Europeans Suffer From Mental Illness”
It may be true that “Ye cannot serve God and mammon,” but Jay Sekulow, the advocate for conservative religious causes, seems to have found a way. A new report alleges that Sekulow and his family have reaped millions in defending religious organizations and fighting the separation of church and state. What is clear is that his decision to fight for religious groups did not involve a vow of poverty.
Continue reading “Making Millions From Mammon? Jay Sekulow Accused Of Funneling Millions To Family”
A leaked EPA memo is being cited by scientists as smoking gun evidence of likely cause of the massive die-off of honeybees. The culprits, these researchers claim, are Bayer CropScience and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Continue reading “Did Bayer (and the EPA) Kill The Honeybees?”
This extraordinary picture was just released by NASA showing the footprints, moon buggy ruts, and garbage left by the Apollo astronauts from 1969 to 1972. Not exactly low impact camping, but pretty cool. Of course, there will be some who will insist that this is just a photoshopped image to continue the lie that we ever went to the moon.
Continue reading “Moon Shot: New Photo Shows Preserved Footprints and Evidence of Apollo Landings”
There has long been controversy over high-speed chases by police that result in the deaths of innocent drivers. Some jurisdictions have sharply curtailed the circumstances under which police can engage in such chases. Those concerns are likely to be heard in the aftermath of a tragic death of Larry Collins, 63, after a police cruiser collided with his car during a chase of a robbery suspect. The police were chasing Brian Lipp on a highway . . . going against the traffic.
Continue reading “Toledo Police Chase Results In The Death of Innocent Driver and Seven Other Injuries To Innocent Bystanders”
We have followed the cruelty of people who leave their pets in over-heated cars. Now we have Imene Nouis, 31, who was arrested after going into a tanning salon and leaving her 1-year-old baby in a car with closed windows and an internal temperature of 135 degrees.
Continue reading “Mom Tans While Baby Cooks: Colorado Mom Arrested After Leaving Baby In Car With Temperatures Reaching 135 Degrees”
A judge in Nice has not only granted a divorce but damages to a 47-year-old wife for insufficient loving by her 51-year-old husband (known only as Jean-Louis B.). The damages appear to work like a type of loss of consortium claim against a spouse and was issued under article 215 of France’s civil code, which states married couples must agree to a “shared communal life.”
Continue reading “La Loi D’Amour : French Judge Awards Damages To Ex-Wife For Lack of Sexual Relations With Former Husband”
With the approach of the ten-year anniversary of September 11th, this chapter of a new book may be of interest. I agreed to join authors from both sides of the debate in a discussion of the legacy of the attacks, though the book is heavily weighted with conservatives ranging from John Ashcroft to Michael Mukasey to John Yoo. I was not aware when I agreed to do the chapter that Yoo would join Dean Reuter as an editor on the book. Despite my strong feelings about Yoo’s infamous role in the torture program, I felt that I had to fulfill my promise so I wrote a chapter on torture and the torture lawyers, including Yoo. The book is entitled Confronting Terror: 9/11 and the Future of American National Security.
Continue reading “Nuremburg Revisited and Revised: The Legitimation of Torture in the United States”
An opinion piece by University of Texas economics professor Daniel Hamermesh makes a novel argument that, because studies show that “ugly” people are paid less and receive lower benefits, the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) should extend protection to them in the same way of workers protected from discrimination for conventional physical disabilities like blindness. This would lead to a new term “ADA Ugly” to replace “coyote ugly.” Yet, it might be a bit premature to cancel that botox and cosmetic surgery.
Continue reading “ADA Ugly: Texas Professor Proposes Extending Federal Protection To Unattractive People”
With increasing reports that the Libyan rebel forces include extreme Islamic elements and ties with Al Qaeda, a new press report is not going to help matters in the creation of the first new government vis-a-vis the United States. Rebels say that they have discovered documents in intelligence files that show that the U.S. and Britain helped capture and turn over dissidents to the regime. The papers also reportedly show that the CIA used the regime in rendition cases where suspects were handed over to be tortured.
Continue reading “Libyan Rebels Claim To Find Evidence That CIA Helped Capture Libyan Dissidents and Used Regime For Renditions and Torture”
In the Netherlands, scientists are close to producing the first artificial meat — stem cell sausage grown in the lab without the need to slaughter animals. The question is whether this means that vegetarians who now refuse to eat meat for philosophical reasons would be able to eat a ribeye without moral qualms.
Continue reading “Guiltless Meat? Scientists Developing Stem Cell Sausage As First Artificial Meat”