Legal Commentary

Federal Judge Samuel Kent Indicted for Sex Crimes

Posted on August 29, 2008
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Samuel Kent became the first federal judge in history to be indicted for sex crimes, specifically abusive sexual contact and attempted aggravated sexual abuse of case manager Cathy McBroom. This ignoble moment will likely be followed by impeachment in Congress, though traditionally the House will wait for the [...

Baccalagerate: University President Resigns After Publication of Beer Keg Chugging Picture

Posted on August 28, 2008
Iowa Central Community College President Robert Paxton has had his share of controversies, including a past indictment for fraud. However, it was a picture of Paxton holding the spigot of a small beer keg over the mouth of a young woman on the boat that finally convinced the school board to let him go...

Blitzkrabs: Europe Threatened by ?Nazi Raccoons? and ?Stalin Crabs?

Posted on August 28, 2008
It appears that Adolph Hitler and Josef Stalin are continuing their respective reigns of terror. Governments are planning a cull of so-called “Nazi Raccoons,” which were introduced by Hermann Goering to Germany in 1934 to ?enrich the Reich?s fauna...

Castro Regime Arrests Outspoken Punk Rocker for ?Social Dangerousness?

Posted on August 28, 2008
Cuban authorities have arrested and jailed punk rocker Gorki Aguila for “social dangerousness,” a charge that could carry up to four years in prison. Aguila has been an outspoken critic of the Castro brothers and their brutal regime. The arrest is a telling reminder to celebrities and gadflies who continue to fawn on [...

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Potty Patriotism: Atheist Thrown Out of Yankee Stadium for Trying to Go to Bathroom During the Singing of God Bless America

Posted on August 28, 2008
A rather fluid first amendment controversy is brewing over police conduct at the Yankee stadium. Fan Brad Campeau-Laurion says that when he tried to go to the bathroom during the singing of “God Bless America,” he was roughed up a bit and then thrown out of the stadium...

ABC Reporter Arrested While Trying to Take Pictures of Lobbyists and Donors Partying at Democratic Convention

Posted on August 28, 2008
ABC News should earn accolades for engaging in serious journalism in Denver: detailing how the party elite has been feted by an array of high-priced lobbyists at expensive parties. One of its reporters, however, was roughed up and arrested when he tried to take pictures of the democratic leaders and their donors...

Body of Missing Iowa Professor Identified

Posted on August 27, 2008
The search of University of Iowa professor Arthur Miller is over. A body found in an Iowa City park has been identified as Miller, who was facing charges related to his alleged offer to exchange good grades for fondling female students. Miller disappeared shortly after charges of bribery were brought against him, here...

Showdown: Judge Orders Harriet Myers to Testify and Congress Moves to Call Her to Hearing

Posted on August 27, 2008
U.S. District Judge John Bates has ruled that former White House Counsel Harriet Miers must testify in Congress — another ruling rejecting the arguments of Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Bates ruled that the House Judiciary Committee may proceed to schedule a hearing with Miers and Chairman John Conyers has indicated that he is [...

Pastor Fakes Terminal Cancer to Hide Pornography Addiction

Posted on August 27, 2008
Pastor Michael Guglielmucci has shocked his flock of faithful at the Edge Church International in Australia that he is not dying from cancer and that he used the fraud to hide a 16-year addiction to pornography. Guglielmucci is internationally known for his hit song, Healer...

Twenty Mile Cancer Belt Found in Pennsylvania

Posted on August 27, 2008
Federal epidemiologists have identified a twenty mile stretch in Pennsylvania between Hazleton and Tamaqua where citizens are 400 times more likely to develop a rare blood disorder called polycythemia vera, or PV — a form of cancer. A local Superfund site is being cited as a possible cause, but no conclusion has been reached [...

Have You Heard the One About the ?Bullman,? the Fattening Hog, and the Humorless Father? It?s No Joke

Posted on August 27, 2008
It appears that parents, police and prosecutors in Harlan, Kentucky have a poor sense of humor and an even worse sense of criminal justice. A recent controversy began with a bad joke by politician and former gubernatorial candidate Otis “Bullman” Hensley at a grocery store...

Mother Arrested for Encouraging Son to Fight

Posted on August 26, 2008
A mother in Indianapolis is criminally charged after a neighbor allegedly witnesses her encouraging her son to fight another boy with a stick. Amy Meehan is neglect and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Her four children have been taken away from her during the resolution of the matter...

Police Arrest Three Allegedly Planning Assassination of Sen. Barack Obama In Denver

Posted on August 26, 2008
Three men have been arrested in an alleged plot to kill Senator Barack Obama by shooting him from a high sniper position. Various guns and equipment were seized by the police in the arrest of Tharin Robert Gartrell, 28, Nathan Johnson, 32, and Shawn Robert Adolf, 33...

Scientists Discover BPS Systems: Bovine Positioning Systems

Posted on August 26, 2008
This has absolutely nothing to do with the law, policy, religion, or any connection to this site with the possible exception of the environment. However, I find it amazing that after thousands of years of herding cattle, scientists have discovered that cows tend to uniformly align themselves in the north-south direction...

Temple University?s Sexual Harassment Police Struck Down as Violation of Free Speech

Posted on August 26, 2008
In an important decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has struck down Temple University’s prior sexual harassment policy as unconstitutional as a limit on the free-speech right of students. Christian DeJohn, a member of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, sued the university, its former president, David Adamany, and [...

Arkansas Moves to Ban Adoption by Unmarried Couples

Posted on August 26, 2008
In a measure clearly targeting gay and lesbian couples, Arkansas voters will vote Nov. 4th on a measure to prohibit unmarried couples from fostering or adopting children. Not only would it prevent gay and lesbian couples from adopting, but it is likely to increase the turnout of evangelical voters at the polls for the [...

The Siege of Jericho: Little League Pitcher Tossed for Being Too Good

Posted on August 26, 2008
Lawyers have been called in to resolve a fight brewing over a Little League call in New Haven, Connecticut. Nine-year-old pitcher Jericho Scott has been dropped from his team on Liga Juvenil De Baseball De New Haven (Youth Baseball League of New Haven)...

Nepal Supreme Court Rules that ?Living Goddess? Has Right to School and Free Movement

Posted on August 25, 2008
There is outrage in Kathmandu after the Nepal Supreme Court ruled that the Kumari has rights. The country has long taken a pre-pubescent girl that declared her a “living goddess” - - a nice status but it comes with a denial of school and other basic rights like freedom of movement...

Appearance of ?Gay Jesus? Causes Uproar In Ohio

Posted on August 25, 2008
The good people of Elyria, Ohio are in an uproar with the appearance of a school poster featuring a “Gay Jesus.” The poster was the work of a student atheist group at Lorain County Community College and the students are now facing allegations of violating school prohibitions of insulting a religious faith...

Human Rights Group: Five Women Burned Alive After Women Tried to Marry Men of Their Choice

Posted on August 25, 2008
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has released a frightening account of its continued investigation into the alleged burning alive of five women in Pakistan after three of the women tried to marry men of their own choosing. The incident reportedly occurred in a remote area of Balochistan province and involved the younger brother [...

California Law School To Be The Setting for Documentary on Porn Star IL

Posted on August 25, 2008
It may not be the type of exposure that West Los Angeles School of Law was seeking, but the school will be the focus of a new documentary “Porn Star Goes to Law School,” the account of Traci Bryant, 38, (known as Anita Cannibal) who is now a IL — studying while continuing to work [...

Total Transparency: Experts Call on IOC to X-Ray Chinese Gymnasts

Posted on August 25, 2008
For many weeks during the Chinese gymnast scandal, lawyers have been scratching their heads over the rather dim-witted focus of the IOC on documents that can be (and have been in the past) altered by the Chinese government. Criminal lawyers are accustomed to expert testimony establishing the age of victims with considerable precision through [...

When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best Complaint: Conservatives Launch Protest Against Same-Sex Hallmark Cards

Posted on August 24, 2008
The American Family Association has launched a crusade against Hallmark Greeting Cards for its decision to introduce a series of cards for same-sex couples. The AFA wants to start with a write-in campaign. Last year, Hallmark started offering “coming out” cards and the company will now offer four designs of same-sex marriage [...

California Officials Bust Major Organic Vegetable Ring and Citing Adolescent Food Felon

Posted on August 24, 2008
Katie Lewis was nine when she became a vegetable villain. Two years ago, she decided to sell organic zucchini and other homegrown produce on a little table in Clayton, California. Responding to complaints from two residents, Mayor Gregory Manning and other officials shutdown her down after a health code investigation...

Texas Murder Suspect Fights Pre-Trial Jailing Due to Half-Ton Weight

Posted on August 24, 2008
Police and lawyers in Edinburg, Texas have an intriguing problem on their hands. Mayra Lizbeth Rosales, 27, is accused of murdering her 2-year-old nephew, Eliseo Gonzalez Jr. The problem is that she weighs roughly 1,000 pounds and cannot fit through the door of her home to be taken to jail and the [...

A Perfect Tort at the Olympics: Cuban Taekwondo Athlete Banned for Life

Posted on August 24, 2008
(I’m No) Angel Matos, Cuba’s leading Taekwondo athelete, handed in a perfect tort performance his week — completing a flawless assault and battery on a referee with difficult aggravated elements. Lawyers gave him a 9.7 — taking away only for the failure to leave the jurisdiction before service of process...

Knoller Conviction Reinstated in Whipple Murder

Posted on August 23, 2008
The on-going litigation over the murder case of lawyers Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel has resulted in another ruling in San Franscisco. A Superior Court judge has reinstated the conviction of Knoller in the 2002 second-degree murder of her apartment neighbor Diane Whipple...

View to a Kill: Seattle Searching for Tree Killer

Posted on August 23, 2008
Seattle is facing a bizarre series of attacks on their trees. Someone has been drilling holes into mature trees and injecting them with a herbicide along the picturesque Burke Gilman trial. It is not a unique crime — often committed by people who want a better view from their homes...

A Bit Too Real: Woman Tries to Kidnap Ex-Virtual Boyfriend

Posted on August 23, 2008
In Claymont, Delaware, police are dealing with a virtual relationship turned violently real. Police have issued a warrant for Kimberly Jernigan, 33, of North Carolina who tried to kidnap her former virtual boyfriend — a 52-year-old from Delaware...

Sen. Vitter Seeks to Use Campaign Funds to Pay for Legal Bills Over Prostitution Scandal

Posted on August 23, 2008
With Sen. Ted Stevens (R. Alaska) and Rep. Don Young (R. Alaska) both asking to create funds to allow contributors to help pay for their legal defenses on corruption charges, Sen. David Vitter (R.La) wants to go one step further — to use actual campaign funds...

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