Legal Commentary

Beaver Damned: Wisconsin Teacher Suspended For Picture on Facebook

Posted on February 09, 2009
There is another case of a teacher being punished for legal activities outside of the school setting. The latest case comes from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin where teacher Betsy Ramsdale has been put on leave after someone found a picture of her holding a gun on her Facebook site...

Florida Law Professor Sues for Discrimination

Posted on February 09, 2009
Sherrie Russell-Brown, a former law professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law has filed a racial and sexual discrimination lawsuit against the school and its dean. Her allegations could force the entire faculty to face discovery and a potential trial on actions taken against her and statements made in faculty [...

Taney Bound

Posted on February 08, 2009
Further entries on Sunday will be delayed due to my deployment on the Cutter U.S.S. Taney (USCGC Taney (WPG/WHEC-37)). My two eldest sons and I are scheduled to sleep over on the Taney on Saturday night. Men going off to sea on a warship is nothing new, but not since the Fighting Sullivan brothers has [...

California Bar Association Seizes Control of Office of Attorney Walter Martinez

Posted on February 08, 2009
The California State Bar conducted a rare sting operation recently when it sent fake clients into the offices of Walter S. Martinez and L and M Services. The bar found that clients had no interaction with Martinez and that all of the works was being handled by non-lawyers in violation of state law...

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Two Men Sentenced to Death for Translating Koran

Posted on February 08, 2009
Our ally Afghanistan is given the world another legal atrocity: sentencing two men to death for translating the Koran (Quran). Ahmad Ghaws Zalmai thought that he was helping average Afghans gain access to the work since many do not read Arabic. Instead, the 54-year-old spokesman for the attorney general was arrested and accused [...

Czech Republic Denounced Over Castration Practices

Posted on February 08, 2009
The international community and the Council of Europe’s Anti-Torture Committee have denounced the widespread use of castration by the Czech Republic for sex offenders. The Council has called for an end to what it refers to as invasive, irreversible and mutilating” punishment...

Panel Discloses $78 Billion Over-Payment by Government Under TARP

Posted on February 08, 2009
For those who believe that the stimulus legislation is a thinly veiled effort by both Democrats and Republicans to enrich friends and engorge budgets, they need only read the Congressional Oversight Panel report to confirm their suspicions. The panel has reported to the Senate Banking Committee this week that Treasury in 2008 paid $254 [...

Alaskan Senate Finds Todd Palin and Nine Others in Contempt

Posted on February 07, 2009
A virtually unanimous and bipartisan Alaska Senate this week found the husband of Gov. Sarah Palin, Todd Palin, and nine state employees, including top Palin aides, in contempt for ignoring subpoenas to testify in the Troopergate investigation. Only one Republican voted against the measure...

Dung Damages: English Researcher Seeks Damages for Loss Lizard Dropping

Posted on February 07, 2009
Lawyers are often asked to litigate over cars, cats, and every form of chattel. However, the attorney representing Daniel Bennett is seeking damages over his client’s loss of an invaluable bag of giant lizard dung. Bennett spent years collecting the dropping of the rare Butaan lizard, only to have Leeds University throw the bag [...

Leon Panetta Pledges That No CIA Employees Will Be Prosecuted For War Crimes

Posted on February 07, 2009
CIA director nominee Leon Panetta gave startling testimony in his confirmation hearings this week by retracting a statement critical of the Bush Administration’s rendition policy and proclaiming that CIA employees will not be punished for any war crimes that they committed...

Doctor in Live Birth Abortion Case Loses License

Posted on February 07, 2009
Dr. Pierre Jean-Jacques Renelique, the doctor involved in the horrific live birth abortion case, has lost his license. The Florida Medical Board upheld Department of Health allegations that he falsified medical records, inappropriately delegated tasks to unlicensed personnel and committed malpractice...

Goucher College Professor Arrested on Charges of Genocide

Posted on February 07, 2009
Students at the Goucher College are probably used to faculty being absent to present papers on subjects like genocide, but in the case of Leopold Munyakazi, he was pulled away to present a defense on genocide. Professor Munyakazi has been arrested on charges of genocide in Rwanda...

Soprano Star Vincent Pastore Sued Over Assault

Posted on February 07, 2009
Vincent Pastore, who attained fame as “Little Pussy” on the Sopranos, is in a trial in New York over his alleged assaulting of his former girlfriend, Lisa Regina, 47. She is suing for unspecified damages in the tort action alleging assault by Pastore...

Phelps Suspended and Dropped by Sponsor

Posted on February 06, 2009
As Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps contemplates possible criminal charges, he has already been dropped by sponsor Kellogg Co. (K) (K) and suspended by his team for three months. The complaint released a statement simply observing that the pictures of Phelps smoking pot was “not consistent with the image of Kellogg...

Loss of Consortium? Man Arrested for Making Out With Blow-Up Dolls

Posted on February 06, 2009
If you thought that attorney Harold M. Hoffman had an embarrassing appearance in court, consider George Bartusek, 51, who was arrested for making out with an inflatable doll in the front seat of his 1988 Lincoln Town Car in the parking lot of a Publix store...

Pre-Law Major: Thomas Jefferson School of Law Discovers 500,000 Mammoth Remains

Posted on February 06, 2009
Thomas Jefferson School of Law can now claim that its new school is not just historic but pre-historic in San Diego. Construction workers preparing the site for the new school have discovered a 500,000 year old mammoth at the site. Better yet, it is a Columbian mammoth...

Auto-ban: 68-Year-Old Woman Flunks Driving Test 771 Times

Posted on February 06, 2009
There comes a time when you just take public transit. A 68-year-old woman in South Korea is planning to take the country’s driving test for a 772nd time, having flunked the test 771 times since 2005. The woman has spent thousands of dollars on fees for the best has never been able to score the [...

The Rat Has Rights: 10-Foot Inflatable Rat Prevails in New Jersey Supreme Court

Posted on February 06, 2009
The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a 10-foot inflatable rat. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union was using the giant rat in protests when the officials at the Lawrence Township informed the union that the rat violated a ban on banners, streamers and inflatable signs, except those announcing grand [...

?Terrifying? Report: More Soldiers Dying From Suicide Than Combat

Posted on February 06, 2009
The military has released figures showing record suicide rates that show more soldiers are dying by their own hand than those of the enemy. In just the Army alone, 24 soldiers are believed to have committed suicide in January. That is six times the number from 2008...

Abortion or Murder? Clinic Reportedly Delivers Live Baby By Mistake and Then Throws Her Into the Trash

Posted on February 06, 2009
A horrific case has emerged in Florida that may unleash a new round of legislative demands on restrictions of abortion clinics, a continual point of contention in the state. According to media reports, Sycloria Williams, 18, went to an abortion clinic outside of Miami and paid $1200 for an abortion...

Fairey Use: Associated Press Sues Over Use of Image in Iconic Obama ?Hope? Picture

Posted on February 05, 2009
Perhaps the most iconic image from the inauguration was the “Hope” poster by artist Shepard Fairey. It will now be the most litigious. Associated Press has charged the artist with copyright infringement over the use of one of its pictures taken by Manny Garcia at the National Press Club in Washington...

Officer Rams Van Full of Children, Brandishes Weapon, Arrests Father on Baseless Charge, and Receives No Punishment

Posted on February 05, 2009
The video below shows a curious police chase. Minnesota State Patrol Sgt. Carrie Rindal says that she was forced to ram the van of a man attempted to flee in his van and then succeeded in arresting him. The only problem is that Sam Salter was only suspected of an unlawful lane change [...

Assaulted Walmart Greeter Sues Police Officer and Chattanooga Police Department

Posted on February 05, 2009
There has been general outcry after the Chattanooga Police Department refused to charge Officer Kenneth Freeman with assault after he knocked down a seventy-one-year old Walmart greeter and threw another man through a glass door. Now, Bill Walker, 71, is suing Freeman and the police department for $21 million...

Roman Polanski Loses Bid To Dismiss Criminal Case

Posted on February 05, 2009
Director Roman Polanski’s latest bid to get his 31-year-old sex case dismissed hit a bit of a snag. If he wants to have it dismissed, he will have to appear in person in court. It is not something that the fugitive director wants to do and face a high likelihood of a criminal [...

Motion to Enlarge: New Jersey Lawyer Loses Bid Against Defective ?Enlargement? Device

Posted on February 05, 2009
Englewood attorney Harold M. Hoffman has achieved a curious notoriety in legal circles after his prolonged effort to sue a company for false advertising of a penis enlargement product that did not meet his expectations. He lost another round before the New Jersey appellate court...

Stanci Scheme: Eighteen Year Old Faces 300 Years Over Facebook Sexual Blackmail

Posted on February 05, 2009
This week, we have yet another example of the dangers of Internet sites like Facebook. Anthony Stanci of New Berlin, Wisconsi is looking at a potential of 300 years for a scheme where he allegedly used Facebook to extort money from other teenagers and was charged with five counts of child enticement, two counts [...

Foul Balls: New Disclosures Strengthen Criminal Cases Against Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens

Posted on February 04, 2009
There have been major develop- ments in the cases of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens that could spell serious problems for both former major league players in the ongoing controversy over steroid use. A federal judge reportedly plans to unseal hundreds of pages of court documents, including a urine sample from Bonds in 2003 that tested [...

Taking Back Ben Stein?s Money: Ben Stein Pulled As Commencement Speaker for the University of Vermont

Posted on February 04, 2009
After a revolt among students and alumni, comedian and game show host Ben Stein has withdrawn as the paid spring commencement speaker and recipient of an honorary degree. Critics have cited Stein’s attacks on the theory of evolution and controversial views of science...

Seventy-Five-Year-Old Doctor Jailed in India for a 51 Cent Bribe Taken Twenty-Four Years Ago

Posted on February 04, 2009
Balgovind Prasad, 75, has been sent to prison for three months for accepting a bribe of 25 rupees (or 51 cents) from a street sweeper in 1985 to issue a federal medical certificate. He was originally sentenced to a year, but the court recently reduced the sentence due to the small size of the [...

Chinese Official: Baby Born Every 30 Seconds With Birth Defect Due to Pollution

Posted on February 04, 2009
In a remarkable admission from the Chinese government, a Chinese health official has said that China’s lethal levels of pollution is the reason that a baby is born with defects every 30 seconds in the country. Jiang Fan, vice-minister of the National Population and Family Planning Commission (NPFPC) made the shocking admission at a [...

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