We have been following the trend against free speech rights of students and the disciplining of students for speech outside of school. This includes the opinion in Doninger v. Niehoff with then Judge Sotomayor. Now, the Third Circuit has handed down a major victory for free speech in rejecting a parody on MySpace as the basis to discipline two teenagers in Pennsylvania. The case is J.S. v. Blue Ridge Mountain School District, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 11947 (June 13, 2011).
Continue reading “Court Rules Against School in Disciplining of Teens For MySpace Parody”
Police in Los Angeles are searching for a stolen 780-year-old religious relic of St. Anthony of Padua. What is fascinating is that I cannot find a single article saying what the relic was — clothing, teeth, bone, or other object. I would love to read the police report under description of property. In the meantime, Catholics are praying to the patron saint of lost and missing items . . . St. Anthony of Padua.
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After the disclosure that heroic Amina Arraf, a Syrian lesbian blogger, was actually a guy from Georgia, many believed it could not get weirder on the blogosphere. Then Bill Graber came forward to admit that, like Tom MacMaster, he is also a guy masquerading as a lesbian blogger. With the search for an actual lesbian on the blogosphere, I want to put to rest a growing rumor that I am actually an Iranian lesbian masquerading as a middle-aged professor. It may indeed that all of the actual lesbians are pretending that they are middle-aged men as middle-aged men pretend they are lesbians. However, I am not an Iranian lesbian. That should do it.
There is an interesting torts case in Palm Harbor, Florida where four diners were burned by the banana foster at Ozona Blue Grilling Co. The waiter accidentally added too much rum to the bananas foster causing burns to the people around the table, including one severe burn case of a woman whose dress caught fire.
Continue reading “Banana Foster Tort: Four Customers Burned By Flambé”
It appears that President Barack Obama is having a severe meteorological effect on the nation, according to Laurie Cardoza-Moore, president of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN). Cardoza-Moore has warned that, after Obama’s speech in support of the Palestinian border claims, tornadoes ravaged the United States and weather patterns changed. A coincidence? Not in Cardoza-Moore’ world.
Many of us have been objecting for years that we are closing down essential programs and selling off public lands on the state and federal level while we gush billions to fund wars like the one in Iraq — an oil rich country. The Iraqis, however, have called for billing the United States for damage to their country from the war. When Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a Republican from California, went to Iraq with a delegation he caused a diplomatic incident when he politely suggested that Iraq might want to pay some of the costs back now that it is again selling oil at record high prices. The response was a statement from the government that the entire delegation was not welcomed in the country after making such a “stupid” proposal.
Continue reading “Iraqi Leaders Denounce Congressional Delegation After One Member Suggests Iraq Should Help Pay War Expenses”
In New Hampshire, Wendy Bordeleau and her neighbors are up in arms over the repeated tasering of a 500-pound 1-year-old heifer that had escaped from her herd in Dracut, Massachusetts. People were trying to herd the cow back into the fenced area when police were called and began to taser the animal over the objections of onlookers.
Continue reading “New Hampshire Police Criticized For Tasering Wandering Cow”
Charles DuBose, 55, is accused of the heinous act of shooting Ivhan`e Merritt, 11, for the offense of playing on his front lawn in Cleveland at 10:40 p.m.
Continue reading “Cleveland Man Charged With Shooting 11-Year-Old Girl Playing On His Front Lawn”
China has released the details of the latest food scandal case. Gao Yanjun wanted his meat to look fresh when it wasn’t so he added industrial nitrate used in fertilizer. It produced better color and texture . . . and at least one death. The pig intestine meat cost only 5 yuan or 75 cents and, of course, your life.
Continue reading “Chinese Butcher Sentenced For Using Industrial Nitrates in Meat — And Killing At Least One Customer”
For over a week, an international campaign has grown — with growing media coverage from CNN, NPR, and other outlets — to support Amina Abdallah Araf al Omari, a self-described 35-year-old lesbian who had been abducted in Syria after blogging about her life and dreams. The American-born Amina’s disappearance led to the creation of websites and set off demands for governmental inquiries and sanctions. She has now been found alive and well . . . and a man from Georgia with a rather twisted view of advocacy and integrity. Tom MacMaster, 40, a graduate student has now admitted that there is no Amina, no abduction, and only a very pathetic story about a man from Georgia.
Continue reading “Syrian Lesbian Advocate Amina Abdallah Is Alive And Well . . . And Living As A Man In Georgia”
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The Republican spin machine is in overdrive working on their plan to replace a government-run program (Medicare) that directly pays health care providers with a program that would funnel taxpayer funds to private insurance companies (Vouchercare). They are trying to convince the media that their plan to end Medicare is actually a plan that creates a “new, sustainable version of Medicare.”
As Atrios puts it, “when we replace the Marines with a pizza, we’ll call the pizza the Marines.”
Submitted By Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
The Central Arkansas Coalition of Reason has a First Amendment problem. When the coalition of atheists, agnostics, and skeptics attempted to place advertising on Little Rock transit buses, they were met with an unusual demand. In order to place $5,000.00 worth of advertising, the Central Arkansas Transit Authority (CATA) required them to purchase insurance against angry Christians in the amount of $36,000.00. The policy was needed said the bus company’s ad agency, On The Move Advertising, because a handful of similar ads had been vandalized in other states.
Continue reading “Will Free Speech Have To Make A Bus Stop In Arkansas?”
Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Guest Blogger
Until last week, I had never heard of an organization called Personhood USA. Then I read a post about it on Think Progress titled Anti-Abortion Groups Push To Outlaw Contraceptives By Redefining Personhood. According to the
Think Progress piece, Personhood USA has been quite successful at pushing legislation in a number of states that would “redefine life as beginning at the moment of fertilization…”
Dr. Dan Grossman, an obstetrician/gynecologist at the University of California, San Francisco, said that the medical community has been in agreement that a pregnancy begins “once implantation occurs.” Only about a half of fertilized eggs, however, actually implant into a woman’s uterus and result in a pregnancy. The rest of the fertilized eggs never begin dividing, never implant, or spontaneously abort. In fact, some spontaneous abortions occur so early in a woman’s pregnancy that she may not even be aware that she is pregnant.
Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Anthony Weiner may not be the only politician whose electronic shortcomings could derail his career. The State of Alaska has released 24,000 pages of emails by then-governor Sarah Palin pursuant to a FOIA request. The emails cover all sorts of Palin controversies like Troopergate, Travel Expense-gate, and even the flurry of activity surrounding her eventual selection as John McCain’s running mate. One email details Palin’s frustration with questions from reporters about whether she believes humans and dinosaurs co-existed.
-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
David Barton is an evangelical minister and author who describes himself as “an expert in historical and constitutional issues.” Barton is the darling of the religious right receiving praise from Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, and Michele Bachmann.
In the video, below the fold, Barton makes some remarkable claims.
Continue reading “David Barton Claims Founding Fathers Debated Creation/Evolution”