John Boehner, the presumptive next Speaker of the House, is standing firm on his call for extending the Bush tax cuts, for everyone, permanently. Compare that with David Axelrod who said that the Obama Administration, in order to get tax cuts for the middle-class, would accept an across-the-board tax cut, temporarily.
What happened to the Obama position of not extending the tax cuts for the billionaires? POOF!
Overwhelmed by the demand for exorcisms, U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are putting out the word that “Exorcists Need Apply” and that training in Baltimore is being held today. Down to only six U.S. exorcists the “Good Shepherds” hope to raise that number to 122. Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, thinks each parish should have their own Exorcist in residence. You might remember that Bishop Paprocki said, when asked about who was responsible for the sexual abuse crises in the Catholic Church, that “the scandal was at least in part influenced by the Devil’s taking advantage of the moral weaknesses and psychological instability and sickness of the pedophiliac priest-abusers.” Like my idol, comedian Flip Wilson, I see a pattern here — the Devil Made ’em Do It.
Continue reading “Careful What You Witch For: US Bishops Need More Exorcists”
It was cinematic magic when a dying John Foster Kane uttered the famous word, “Rosebud,” as he let fall the snow globe down the stairwell shattering it into scores of broken pieces. Officials at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut, aren’t movie buffs it seems. When a TSA employee spotted the suspicious orb in some checked baggage she alerted State Police who evacuated the terminal. Once it was determined that Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was submerged in water and glitter, instead of nitroglycerine, order was restored and flights were again whisking their way to all parts of the real globe.
Source: Courant.com
–Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
William Blake may have stood in awe of the ferocity and power of the great cat, but modern man sees quite a different thing. British-based Traffic International, a wildlife preservation group, reports that despite the international ban on the sale of tiger parts, over 1000 tigers have been illegally killed in the past decade. An analysis of seizures of tiger parts — from whole skins to claws, penises, and skulls — yielded the conservative estimate. India, home to half of the world’s tigers, leads all nations with 276 seizures uncovering parts from more than 530 tigers killed. Many Pacific rim nations are not far behind in tiger deaths. Tiger parts are used in many cultures for decoration, traditional medicines and good luck charms.
Source: Daily Mail
–Mark Esposito, Guest Blogger
Reversing a lower court grant of summary judgment, the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has allowed a Wisconsin couple’s “Death by Taser” suit to proceed to trial against the police and Town and Village of Mukwonago, Wisconsin. Their son, 29-year-old, Nickolos Cyrus, suffered from a bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and was well-known to the police for prior delusional — but non-criminal — episodes. When the young man was reported missing, police located him on a construction site. His parents allege that Nickolos was passive, unarmed, and had no history of violence such that multiple taser shocks would be needed to subdue him. The police respond that multiple taserings were a reasonable use of force under the circumstances and that his death was unforeseen.
Continue reading “Seventh Circuit Allows “Death By Taser” Suit to Proceed”
There is another bizarre story out of our public school system where a school official at Denair Middle School in Sacramento, California told 13-year-old Cody Alicea to remove an American flag from his bike because of fears that it would trigger “racial tensions.” According to this interview with the Superintendent, Cody has now been informed that he can display the American flag after a review of the supervisor’s decision — and a national outcry.
Continue reading “Middle School Student Told To Remove American Flag To Avoid Racial Tensions”
The San Francisco Board of Supervisors have approved a ban on Happy Meals and other fast-food servings that fail to meet nutritional standards. While sympathetic to the motivations behind the legislation, I have serious questions over the constitutionality (and logic) of the ban.
Continue reading “San Francisco Bans Happy Meals and Other Fast-Food Meals Served With Toys”
Chinese officials in the central city of Xianyang thought that they had a simple means of solving the problem of cigarette butts on the streets: offer residents money for each butt collected and turned in as part of its effort to win the “National Clean City” award. After all, they were offering only 5 fen (less than a penny) for each cigarette butt. That was before residents sent in over 7 million butts and demanded payment.
Continue reading “New Policy Questioned After Chinese Officials Face Huge Butt Costs”
Yes, this will be our mugshot of the week. Not since the mugshot of Sirius Black from Azkaban has a prisoner made such an impression. Mark Siebenmorgen, 46, was arrested in Milwaukie, Oregon for terrorizing town residents. Who would have guessed?
Continue reading “Meet Mark Siebenmorgen: Our Mugshot of the Week”
The decision to use explosives to take down the 275 foot smokestack of Edison’s Mad River Power Plant in Ohio seemed like the perfect event for children until . . .
Another report (this time from the Inspector General’s Office of the Interior Department) has been published detailing the Obama Administration’s editing of a scientific report to downplay the damage caused by the BP oil spill. The new information also reaffirms the clearly misleading statements made by Obama’s energy adviser, Carol Browner — an issue previously discussed on this blog.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi was criticized on this blog and other sites for her failure to end various corrupt practices such as pork and congressional travel. Indeed, Pelosi added jets to ferry members abroad on junkets and used a personal governmental jet to go back and forward to California. Now, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) has announced that he will take commercial flights. Regardless of whether you opposed the GOP in the elections, it is important to give credit to such reforms. Boehner is to be commended for this symbolic change.
Continue reading “Boehner Promises To Fly Commercial As Speaker”
I have been reading the rave reviews for our guest bloggers — David Drumm, Elaine Magliaro, and Mark Esposito — from last week. This was a trial effort to follow up on suggestions for a couple days in which some of our regulars might also post on the blog. Given the success of last week, I have offered to let David, Elaine, and Mark post on weekends. They have agreed to do so. This weekend will be the first such installment.
Continue reading “Weekend Specials At The Turley Blog”
Researchers in Vietnam recently sat down for a simple meal and ended up with a scientific feast. They were staring at a plate of cooked lizard but they had never seen this species before. It turns out to be a unique species of female lizards who are able to reproduce themselves by cloning. The perfect radical feminist species.
Continue reading “Blue Plate Special: Scientist Finds New Lizard Species on Dinner Plate”
The Chinese have jailed another activist. This time the victim is Zhao Lianhai, the father of a child sickened by one of the country’s food safety scandals. At least six children died from melamine-tainted milk in 2008 and Zhao’s son was injured. More than 300,000 children were left with kidney problems. Zhao has been demanding answers. He just received one in the form of a 2½ years in prison sentence for “disturbing social order.”
Continue reading “China Sentences Food Safety Advocate to Over Two Years in Prison”