Legal Commentary

Airlines Should Go After Hoaxers, Not Jokesters

Posted on July 08, 2010
Below is today’s USA Today column on the arrest of individuals for telling obvious jokes on airplanes and at airports. On a recent flight to New York, Draco Slaughter, 75, was arrested on terrorism-related charges. His crime? He made a bad joke to a flight attendant...

Followers Sue Church After Doomsday Fails To Come

Posted on July 07, 2010
What do you do when you hand over all your money before a promised Doomsday, but Doomsday never comes? You go find the next best thing: a lawyer. That is the situation in Australia where a court has frozen the assets of Paster Rocco Leo and his associates at Agape Ministries after followers demanded their [...

Do The Prime, Do The Time: India Legislators Move To Criminalize Beef Possession

Posted on July 07, 2010
Picture this scene out of Midnight Express, police surrounding a nervous man late at night on an airport tarmac. Pulling away his shirt, they find taped to his body . . . steaks. A beef mule. That could be the scene in Karnataka, India where the government is about to make the possession of beef [...

Lab Monkeys Escape Japanese Facility By Using Branches to Catapult Over Electric Fence

Posted on July 07, 2010
A group of 15 monkeys at Kyoto University’s primate research institute escaped from a high-security research center by learning how to use tree limbs to catapult themselves over a 17ft high electric fence. One of them was named Dr. Zaius. Ok, I made that last part up but it is clear that our monkey overlords [...

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Say It Ain?t So, Oze: Scandal Rocks Sumo World

Posted on July 07, 2010
First there was the scandal in the hot dog eating world. Now, scandal rocks the Sumo world. Is nothing sacred? Sumo star Ozeki Kotomitsuki, 34, has been implicated in a gambling scandal and has been dismissed by the Japan Sumo Association. Kotomitsuki allegedly bet on baseball as well as the Tokitsukaze stable in Tokyo...

Iran Set to Stone Woman To Death ? After Giving Her 99 Lashes ? For Adultery

Posted on July 06, 2010
We often run Iranian blogs to show clown-like policies such as requiring Islamic haircuts or mannequin mascetomies. However, it is important to remember the plight of women and dissidents under Iran’s medieval Sharia system. There is no more frightening example than the scheduled stoning of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, for conducting an “illicit relationship outside [...

Real Muslims Don?t Wear Mullets

Posted on July 06, 2010
Now you can finally have hair like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian government has released the results of a list of acceptable and banned hair styles for men. The Ministry of Culture has released the listing and pictures of proper Iranian hair styles to fight “decadent Western cuts...

Publish and Perish: Muslim Extremists Chop Off Hand of Professor For Blasphemy in Class Question

Posted on July 06, 2010
College lecturer TJ Joseph was attacked on a roadside in India by Muslim extremists who stabbed him and cut off his hand for insulting Mohammed in a question for a class paper. Police have taken two men into custody — members of the Islamic group called the Popular Front...

Truck Driver Arrested For DWD (Dentistry While Driving)

Posted on July 06, 2010
We have previously followed the dangerous things that drivers do in their cars while driving. An Ontario truck driver, however, added the unique category of dental work. After another driver complained about a truck driving erratically, police in Ontario found that the driver had tied a string to a tooth to wait for a big [...

The Economist Under Fire Over Editing of Obama Photo

Posted on July 06, 2010
The Economist has admitted that it substantially edited its widely viewed cover picture of Obama. President Obama has been criticized for what is perceived as his detached reaction to the spill for the first few weeks. The cover page showed a solitary Obama in deep contemplation...

Obama Administration Challenges Arizona Law

Posted on July 06, 2010
The Obama Administration filed a challenge of the Arizona immigration law in a move that comes with great legal and political risks. As noted in a recent column, the Arizona law remains quite popular around the country and the Administration will be in the unenviable position of arguing that increased enforcement conflicts with its own [...

Biden: We Are Winning . . . Now Everyone To the Bomb Shelter

Posted on July 05, 2010
Vice President Joe Biden was in Baghdad this week to praise the success of the U.S and Iraqi forces in the battle with the Taliban. His speech was delayed in part by the mortar attack on the U.S. embassy compound. Dr. Jill Biden was with her husband for a visit designed to highlight progress in [...

Florida Woman Arrested After Using Craigslist To Have Neighbor?s Trailer Taken Away

Posted on July 05, 2010
We have another case out of Land O’ Lakes, Florida. This time it is the arrest of Vanessa Kimball, 29, who was tired of seeing her neighbors trailer left in her apartment complex loaded with old furniture. Kimball allegedly decided to post an ad on Craigslist for anyone “come get this trailer, attach it to [...

Doctor Who Found Pan Am Bomber To Have Less Than Three Months To Live Now Says He Could Live Another 10 Years

Posted on July 05, 2010
Professor Karol Sikora describes the situation as a bit “embarrassing.” Sikora was hired by the Libyan government to find that terrorist Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi had less than three months to live. While other doctors refused to make such a finding, Sikora did so...

Russian Mayor Arrested for Questioning a FSB Resort Endangering Her Town

Posted on July 05, 2010
There is a shocking case out of Siberia this week after a mayor was arrested for questioning the legality of a secret resort run by the the F.S.B., the main successor to the Soviet-era K.G.B. Tatyana Kazakova called for criminal charges after finding that the resort was endangering the village...

Islamic Leaders In Australia Denounce Democracy and Call on Muslims to Accept Only Sharia Law

Posted on July 05, 2010
Leaders of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir met in Australia this week to call on Muslims to reject Democracy and moderate Islam as “haram” or forbidden under the Koran (Qur’an). British Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Burhan Hanif told an audience that Democracy is a lie and that no laws but those in the Koran could govern [...

hair

Posted on July 05, 2010
In an attempt to rid the country of “decadent Western cuts”, Iran’s culture ministry has produced a catalogue of haircuts that meet government approval. The list of banned styles includes ponytails, mullets and elaborate spikes. However,quiffs appear to be acceptable, as are fashioning one’s hair in the style of Simon Cowell or cultivating a 1980s-style [...

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!

Posted on July 04, 2010
Happy Fourth of July to everyone on our blog and other blogs. The Turleys held our annual Fourth of July celebration with fireworks last night (tonight we are going to see the Washington fireworks). We had a ball at the end of our street with our neighbors in a perfect celebration of our Independence Day [...

Feline Fireworks

Posted on July 04, 2010
Ever wondered how cats celebrated the Fourth without fireworks? Unfortunately, yesterday before our Fourth of July party, Molly caught a live bird to celebrate Independence Day. I had to chase her around the yard with the bird flapping in her mouth. I finally got it out and it survived and took off.

GW Student Admits To Drawing Swastikas Outside Her Dorm Room

Posted on July 04, 2010
George Washington is reeling from a minor scandal that has made the national news. Freshman Sarah Marshak triggered the national coverage by reporting that a swastika was drawn outside of her door at the Mitchell Hall dorm. A hidden camera, however, later caught Marshak, who is Jewish, drawing three swastikas...

Video Raises Questions of Liability for Prank

Posted on July 04, 2010
This video (on YouTube) raises a long-standing question of the liability for stupid pranks. This woman is clearly and understandably traumatized by what appears a well-orchestrated prank by what appears to be a television show, She clearly did not consent and is clearly harmed emotionally by the prank...

The World Cup of Drug Traffickers

Posted on July 04, 2010
Columbian drug traffickers now have their own World Cup . . . literally. A replica World Cup trophy made out of cocaine was seized in Columbia. The 14 inch, 24 lb statue was made made mixing cocaine with gasoline or acetone. It was discovered in a delivery crate in an animal warehouse in Bogota airport...

Scandal Rocks Hot Dog Eating World: Kobayashi Arrested Charging Stage at Coney Island

Posted on July 04, 2010
The hot dog eating world has its buns in a knot today after scandal hit the sacred stage at the Nathan’s annual contest in Coney Island. As three-time world hot dog?eating champion Joey Chestnut took the prize over 15 rivals, former champion Takeru Kobayashi rushed the stage and was arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest...

Federal Judge Strikes Down Blasphemy Law

Posted on July 03, 2010
U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson has issued a major decision in favor of free speech and free association. In a 68-page decision, Baylson struck down Pennsylvania’s blasphemy law. While I have written on the encroachment of blasphemy laws in the West, this is a case of a positive move in the opposite direction...

Walmart CEO Makes Average Workers Annual Salary Every Hour

Posted on July 03, 2010
This is an interesting comparison to judge the runaway executive salaries in this country. It turns out that Walmart CEO Michael Duke’s $35 million annual salary constitutes an hourly wage equal to the annual salary of the average Walmart employee...

Can Your Dog Do This?

Posted on July 03, 2010
This is a truly amazing animal. My dog would be rolling on the ground waiting for a belly rub.

Whale of a Whale: Meet Leviathan Melvillei

Posted on July 03, 2010
Buried out in the Peruvian desert is something that can only be called a whale of a whale. “Leviathan Melvillei” has such large teeth that, when uncovered, scientists thought they were elephant tusks. The first discovery was a three-meter long fossilized skull — that is three times the size of a modern killer whale...

Illinois Lawyer Suspended For Calling Judge a ?Narcissistic, Maniacal Mental Case?

Posted on July 02, 2010
Melvin Hoffman, an Illinois lawyer with 35 years of experience, has been hit with a six-month suspension by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission for calling Judge Patrick Murphy a “narcissistic, maniacal mental case” in a telephone conference call on a family law matter...

New York Court Upholds Use of Eminent Domain To Benefit Columbia University

Posted on July 02, 2010
We have another outrageous case involving the government using eminent domain to take property from one private citizen to give to another. This case comes from New York where the Court of Appeals has upheld the right of the Empire State Development Company to seize the Tuck-It-Away Self-Storage building in Manhattanville and give it to [...

Man?s Best Friend: Ex-California Police Officer Charged With Bizarre Series of Crimes

Posted on July 02, 2010
It is not uncommon for former police officers to become private detectives and leverage their connections with colleagues to drum up business. However, Michael Sianez, 53, is charged with using his former service to threaten disgruntled customers and engaging in a series of bizarre crimes, including soliciting women to have sex with his dog...

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