Religion, Supreme Court

The Hedge of Separation?

-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger

Statue of Roger Williams

The earliest North American advocate of the separation between church and state was Roger Williams who founded not only the first Baptist Church on the continent, but also the colony of Rhode Island. In his 1644 book, The Bloody Tenent of Persecution, Williams used the phrase “[A] hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world.”

Fortunately, Thomas Jefferson didn’t use “hedge” in his famous letter in reply to the Danbury Baptists. However, “hedge” does fit into Williams’ metaphor that uses garden and wilderness.

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Bizarre, Courts, Criminal law, Justice

Well, What Do You Expect? She’s A Forger.

Submitted by Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Forty-one-year old Michelle Astumian sure has moxie. Facing a sentencing hearing in a San Luis Obispo, CA court for two counts of forging drug prescriptions and one of passing a fraudulent check, she presented Judge Barry LaBarbera with a doctor’s note in an effort to delay the proceeding. The savvy Judge dispatched a deputy DA to verify the note and was quickly told it was a fake. Nonplussed, Astumian collapsed when the Judge ordered the $45,000.00 bond revoked and her into custody. No word on the nature of her mysterious ailment, but her trip to the hospital granted her wish to delay the sentencing. I’d call that winning the battle only to insure losing the war.

Source: KVEC

~Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger

Bizarre, International, Military, Politics

We’re NATO and We’re Here To Help You: General Admits It Killed Over Dozen Rebels But Says It Had No Idea They Had Tanks

Rear Adm. Russell Harding, the deputy commander of NATO forces in Libya, admitted today that NATO killed over a dozen rebel soldiers but refused to apologize. What struck me as the most odd was his statement that NATO did not know rebels had tanks when I have seen numerous pictures in the popular press of rebels driving tanks. It is a bit disconcerting that NATO intelligence is worse than mine.
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Bizarre, International, Politics, Society

Russian Ministry Awards Art Prize To Group That Painted 210-Foot Penis on Drawbridge — While Criminal Charges Are Pending

The radical art collective Voina is facing charges for hooliganism after the group painted a 210-foot penis a drawbridge in St. Petersburg. The group, however, will also receive an art prize from the Ministry of Culture and the National Center for Contemporary Art.
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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics, Society, Supreme Court

Fifth Circuit Rules Against Lawyer and Client in Public Criticism of An Indictment and Its Motivations

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has handed down a ruling against both a client and his lawyer for the violation of a gag order. The ruling against Don Hill, the former Dallas official, and his lawyer, Ray Jackson, could have implications for lawyers defending their clients in public against alleged governmental misconduct. Hill was given 30 days on top of the 18-year prison sentence in 2009 for corruption and Jackson was given a $5,000 fine levied by the trial court as well as a 120-day suspension from any client appointments in the Northern District of Texas

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Politics, Society

Mississippi Polling: Roughly Half of Polled Republicans in Mississippi Believe Interracial Marriage Should Be Illegal

A poll released this week shows that 46% percent of Mississippi Republicans believe that interracial marriage should be illegal. That staggering number is accompanied by only 40% who believe that adults should be free to marry who they want. This poll just happens to come out on the anniversary of the argument in Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967), where the Supreme Court in a 9-0 vote struck down Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statute.
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Constitutional Law, Politics, Society

Idaho Passes Strict Anti-Abortion Measure After Sponsor Invokes “Hand of God”

The Idaho House just passed a sweeping anti-abortion bill that grants no exceptions for rape, incest, severe fetal abnormality or the mental or psychological health of the mother. As if to avoid any question of the religious basis for the measure, the sponsor state Rep. Brent Crane, R-Nampa, explained to the House that this was God’s will.

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Criminal law, Lawyering, Society

Former Judge and Prosecutor in Newark Confesses To Arranging False Confession By Innocent Man To Clear Career Criminal

Former prosecutor and judge Clifford J. Minor has confessed to taking a bribe, procuring a false confession, lying to investigators, and falsifying documents. Before serving as a prosecutor and a judge, Minor was a police officer. He later ran for mayor of Newark.
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Bizarre, Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Lawyering

Michigan Lawyer Found To Have Rendered Ineffective Counsel After Allegedly Expressing Happiness Over Client’s Conviction

There is an extraordinary ruling in Michigan where the Michigan Court of Appeals has found the defense attorney Susan Prentice-Sao rendered ineffective counsel to Jeffrey Gioglio, who was convicted of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. To her credit, prosecutor Christine Bourgeois raised concerns over the case after Pretice-Sao allegedly told her that she considered Gioglio guilty, held back on her defense, and expressed happiness with the verdict (stating “He’s toast” to the prosecutor).

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Bizarre, Criminal law

Florida Woman Accused of Bilking Elderly In-Laws To Support Multimillion Gambling Habit

Jennifer Dennison appears to be the face of gambling addiction in an extraordinary case where she is accused of stealing more than $500,000 from her elderly in-laws to gamble at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa. Police say that she won roughly $13 million over two years — but lost $14 million.
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Bizarre, Society

Australia Moves To Make Cigarette Packaging “Ugly” With Graphic Pictures and Unattractive Coloring

Australia is upping the ante in the war on smoking. Previously we saw how some countries have put disgusting pictures on cigarette packages to discourage smoking. Now, Australia is set to require “ugly packaging” where companies are prevented from putting their logos on cigarettes and must use the least attractive color found in government research for smokers: dark green. (For the record, dark green is my favorite color and this move is likely to push me toward smoking).

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Politics, Society

In the Land of the Armless Men, The One-Armed Man is Gang Leader: Maine Moves To Legalize Switchblades For One-Armed People

Maine lawmakers are addressing what appears to be a pressing public policy issue: one-armed people who want switchblade knives. A bill will allow one-armed persons to possess the currently illegal switchblades knives.
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Bizarre, Politics

Obama Embraces Al Sharpton With Major Appearance

President Barach Obama launched his reelection bid this week with a video announcement on the Internet — which generated fewer hits than a parody by the Republicans. Now, in his first major appearance since the announcement, Obama will be appearing with Rev. Al Sharpton and speak at the annual convention of the National Action Network which Sharpton founded. Sharpton’s history of race-baiting and demagoguery has made him one of the most divisive figures in American politics. Yet, the President is about to share a podium with him. For liberals who denounced Republicans for their association with Sarah Palin, the question is whether they will be heard with equal vigor in the association with Sharpton.
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Society

Ten-Year-Old Boy Uses College Money To Buy “The Fridge’s” Super Bowl Ring . . And Returns It To The Ailing Bears Linebacker

For those of us who are lifelong Bears fans, there are few icons quite like William “The Refrigerator” Perry. It is well-known among Bears fans that Perry hit tough times financially and then was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome. I saw this story on Reddit and was moved by the kindness shown to Perry by a Cliff Forest, 10, who saw that Perry’s Super Bowl XX ring was being sold. Realizing that Perry may have had to sell it, Forest used $8,500 from his college fund to buy the ring . . . and then tracked down Perry and gave it to him.
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