Legal Commentary

Mein Ringtone: Man Arrested For Having Hitler Speech As Ringtone

Posted on July 02, 2010
A German man may go to jail for six months over a ringtone. The man has been using a Hitler speech as his ringtone on his cellphone. In Germany, it is a crime to display Nazi symbols or Nazi works. The 54-year-old man was reported while riding a train in Hamburg...

Beach Umbrella Impales Sun Bather in Ocean City

Posted on July 02, 2010
A bizarre scene in Ocean City, Maryland looked like it has the makings of the opening of an episode of Six Feet Under. A woman was sunbathing when she was stabbed by a flying beach umbrella in the leg. While the woman was not seriously hurt, it could raise any interesting tort case against either [...

Ohio Murderer Sentenced With Netting and Diaper on Head

Posted on July 02, 2010
This was the image of the defendant that a jury saw in an Ohio murder trial. Neil Simpson was on trial for the murder of a pizza shop owner in course of a robbery. After he spat at the jury, the judge ordered mosquito netting and a plastic diaper put on his face...

Dutch Treat: Obama Administration Accused of Refusing Free Help From Dutch Ships Designed to Clean Water After Spills

Posted on July 01, 2010
While President Obama has finally accepted international assistance in the Deep Horizon spill, there is a disturbing account of how Administration officials turned down generous (and repeated) offers from the Dutch to send a fleet of ships designed specifically to clean water after spills...

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Texas Tech Professor Accused of Watching Porn After Teleconference With Students

Posted on July 01, 2010
Texas Tech Health Sciences Professor Rod Hicks, 50, is under fire this week after students accused him of surfing the Internet for porn immediately after a teleconference from Austin. Hicks is one of the school’s endowed chairs. Students allege that Hicks left the video feed open and then proceeded to surf for porn while students [...

More Wrong that Reich: GOP Accuses Biden of Calling Them Nazis

Posted on July 01, 2010
Some Republicans are expressing outrage today, claiming that Vice President Joe Biden suggested they were Nazis in a recent fundraising letter. Given Biden’s well-known tendency toward gaffes, I was not particularly surprised but it turns out to be entirely manufactured...

Maggots on a Plane: Passenger?s Rancid Meat Causes Stir on US Airways Flight

Posted on July 01, 2010
Where is Samuel L. Jackson when we need him? A US Airways flight was forced to return to the terminal at Atlanta when maggots starting falling from an overhead bin. The maggots were in a container of spoiled meat brought on the plane by a passenger. One report recounts how one woman heard the commotion [...

Legal Warming: Police Re-Open Investigation of Sexual Assault By Al Gore

Posted on July 01, 2010
In a surprise move, the Portland Police Bureau has announced that it is re-opening the investigation into the allegations against former Vice President Al Gore. Gore is accused of a sexual assault by a masseuse who described him as a “crazy sex poodle...

Report: Cardinal Praised Bishop for his Willingness To Go To Jail Rather Than Reveal Information On Priest Rapist

Posted on July 01, 2010
The Pope continues to face allegations of his prior knowledge of abuse by clergy. However, the most striking story in the article below is how Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos allegedly heralded a bishop for his willingness to go to jail rather than reveal information about a priest accused of raping a child...

Australian Prime Minister Refuses To Pretend Belief in God

Posted on June 30, 2010
While both Democratic and Republican politicians have continued to campaign on faith-based politics, Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard has declared that she will not pretend to believe in God to appease religious voters. Gillard insisted “I am not going to pretend a faith I don’t feel...

Report: Body Scanner Radiation Is 20 Times Greater Than Previously Believed

Posted on June 30, 2010
Al Qaeda appears to have found a way to endanger millions of people around the world. According to a new report, the full body scanners being used in airports around the world have a dosage of radiation that is 20 times greater than previously announced...

?Don?t Taze My Granny?: Oklahoma Police Respond to Medical Call And Allegedly Proceed to Repeatedly Taser Bedridden 86-Year-Old Woman

Posted on June 30, 2010
El Reno, Oklahoma police are under criticism this week due to a case alleging that officers tasered a bedridden 86-year-old woman, Lona Vernon. Officer Thomas Duran said he ordered his colleagues to hit the old lady with 50,000 volts after she took a “more aggressive posture in bed...

South Korean Parliament Approves Chemical Castration for Sex Offenders

Posted on June 30, 2010
South Korea’s parliament voted yesterday to approve chemical castration as punishment for convicted child sex offenders. This was a reaction to a 2008 case when a 58-year-old man raped and assaulted an 8-year-old girl. Other high-profile cases recently led to the passage by a vote of 137-13...

Vampires! Colorado Woman Crashes in an Encounter With the Undead

Posted on June 30, 2010
Now, this is a road danger that few Driver’s Ed class prepare you for. A woman in Fruita, Colorado crashed into a canal. Police ruled out alcohol. The cause? Vampires. The woman told her husband and police that see was driving in Fruita when a vampire suddenly appeared in the middle of the road...

Gunning for Votes: Arizona Republican Shown as a Weapon of Mass Destruction in Video

Posted on June 30, 2010
Arizona Republican candidate and state lawmaker Pamela Gorman appears to be running for a position on a SWAT Team in this video where her skills with machines guns and pistols are highlighted. She is heralded in the video as a “conservative Christian and a pretty fair shot...

Egyptian Police Drag Blogger From Internet Cafe and Allegedly Beat Him To Death on Alexandria Street

Posted on June 29, 2010
The European Union has called for an investigation into the death of Khaled Said, 28, at the hands of Egyptian police, who pulled him out of an Internet cafe. The police insist that Said choked to death on a bag of narcotics he swallowed when he saw them...

Marilyn Monroe?s Chest and Pelvis X-Rays Sell for $45,000

Posted on June 29, 2010
This x-ray would not normally attract much attention but for the subject: Marilyn Monroe. This week, three x-rays of Monroe’s chest and pelvis were sold in auction for $45,000. The auction took place at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas...

Oklahoma State University Fires Employee For Spending On Extracurricular Items

Posted on June 29, 2010
The Oklahoma State University was shocked recently to learn that a university employee was able to use a university credit card to buy tens of thousands of dollars of lingerie, sex toys and other personal items. Cynthia Low, 44, allegedly used the taxpayer-funded card to buy an impressive amount of such items before being caught...

Polka or Perish: Scientists Line Up To Dance Their Degrees

Posted on June 29, 2010
Professors around the world are collectively known as high school geeks who couldn’t dance (even if we could find someone willing to dance with us). Now, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has announced the third annual “Dance Your Ph...

Show Time: Kagan Hearings Begin Today

Posted on June 28, 2010
Today the Senate will begin one of the longest running Kabuki shows in history. Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan goes to the Senate Judiciary Committee for her confirmation hearings — a process long ridiculed for its ritualized and exaggerated content...

L.A. Driver Hits Disabled Man and Then Does Donuts To Shake Him Off Windshield

Posted on June 28, 2010
A driver in Los Angeles hit and killed Tyrone Jones, 38, and (according to the victim’s family) did donuts to try to shake him off the window. The crime occurred at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday. Jones, 39, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver fled but police found the vehicle — a green Chevrolet [...

Reports Of My Death Have Been Greatly Corroborated: Mexican Singer Killed After Denying Death Rumor

Posted on June 28, 2010
Mexican country singer Sergio Vega, known as “El Shaka,” performed “narcocorridos” — songs that celebrated the lives of drug lords. Singing narcocorridos can anger rival drug gangs and result in such killings. Vegas was shot in his red Cadillac after appearing on a radio station to deny the rumor of his death...

Philadelphia Jury Rules City Cannot Evict Boy Scout Chapter

Posted on June 28, 2010
A federal jury has given the Boy Scouts a major victory: ruling that Philadelphia cannot evict the organization under a non-discrimination law. I have written about this case previously, including a column on the tension between non-discrimination laws and free association...

Texas Federal Court Upholds Denial of Certificate to Institute for Creation Research Graduate School

Posted on June 28, 2010
Creationists have lost a major battle after a federal court in Texas upheld a decision by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to deny the Institute for Creation Research Graduate School a certificate of authority to offer master’s degrees in science...

Carp Czar: Durbin Asks Obama For A New Position To Take On the Asian Carp

Posted on June 28, 2010
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D., IL) is calling for yet another czar in an already czar-heavy administration. This appointee might feel a bit insecure and self-conscious around the Afghanistan Czar, Border Czar, and Car Czar. He would be the Carp Czar tasked with tackling the influx of Asian carp in Lake Michigan...

Tough Audience: CEO Passes Out During Biden Speech

Posted on June 28, 2010
First there was the confrontation with a manager over an ice cream cone and taxes. Now, Jim Campbell, the President and CEO of General Electric’s Appliance and Lighting Division, passed out during a speech by Biden. I have to say that it was a bit bizarre to see Biden struggle to get back to his [...

Supreme Court Rules Against Christian Law Students

Posted on June 28, 2010
In another 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled against Christian law students at Hastings Law School in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez. Justice Ginsburg ruled that Christian students must adhere to non-discrimination policies if they are to accept funding or benefits from the school...

Supreme Court Strikes Down Chicago Gun Law

Posted on June 28, 2010
In a 5-4 decision, the United States Supreme Court has struck down Chicago’s gun law and extended its earlier ruling on the Second Amendment to all states as a fundamental right. It is the decision that some of us anticipated as consistent with past rulings on fundamental rights...

Officers Tackle Jogging Teenagers in Search of Felons

Posted on June 27, 2010
A case in Ohio has triggered charges of racism over the treatment of two kids. DeAngelo Mattox, 16, and Nechia, 12, have filed complaints that they were out for a job when police tackled them, put guns in their faces, and handcuffed them. Police were looking for felons...

Double or Nothing: California Moves to Stop Welfare Recipients From Using Cash to Gamble

Posted on June 27, 2010
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has moved to stop a legitimately disturbing trend: welfare recipients using state-issued debit cards withdrew welfare payments on cash from casino floor. Since October 2009, welfare recipients have withdrawn more than $1...

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