Legal Commentary

Some Ask Why, Some Say WiFi: Man Sues Neighbor Over Use of Electronics in

Posted on March 31, 2010
Arthur Firstenberg, 59, has filed a lawsuit raising a claim of the still controversial theory of “electromagnetic sensitivities.” He demanded that his neighbor Raphaela Monribot limit her use of her computer, IPhone and other devices due to his sensitivities...

Drill, Baby, Drill: Obama Calls For Lifting of 20 Year Ban on Drilling Off Virginia Coastline

Posted on March 31, 2010
Civil libertarians have long complained that, as soon as he got into office, President Barack Obama appeared to morph into former President George Bush on everything from surveillance policies to blocking investigations of torture. Now, environmentalist may join that chorus of criticism with Obama want to life a 20-year ban on drilling off the [...

Sumo Suits Barred at Queen?s University As Racist and Dehumanizing

Posted on March 30, 2010
Sumo suits, a common sight on school campuses, have been declared prohibited racist objects by the student government of Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. The student body declared the suits to be both racist and dehumanizing toward the Japanese...

Rice Investigating Korn: Feds To Look into Possible Ponzi Scheme After Lawyer Jumps To His Death

Posted on March 30, 2010
Attorney Jay Korn, 70, jumped to his death last week in Hempstead, New York. After his death, former clients came forward with allegations of a $11 million Ponzi scheme created by Korn. Korn’s end was particularly gruesome after a first-floor awning partially broke his fall...

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Police Burglarize Homes to Teach Lesson to Citizens

Posted on March 30, 2010
Police in Exeter have a curious way of encouraging people to lock their doors — they burglarize the homes. The Exeter police have been going into unlocked homes and putting valuables in “swag bags” and leaving them with crime prevention information as a lesson to the home owners...

Jail Bird: Englishman Faces Six Months in Jail for Flipping the Bird at Arab Student

Posted on March 30, 2010
There has been growing unease in Dubai, particularly among foreigners, over that country’s increasing enforcement of morality codes under Sharia-based laws (here). The latest victim is Simon Andrews, 56, who is facing six months in jail for flipping the bird in public...

HAPPY PASSOVER!

Posted on March 30, 2010
Happy Passover to all of our Jewish bloggers and readers! I will be attending a Seder tonight with friends. There is a long suspicion that I married a Jewish girl because of a notorious addiction to Matzo ball soup. Growing up in a Jewish neighborhood, I developed a lifelong addiction to the stuff — [...

Comedian Charged With Human Rights Violation By Lesbian Insulted At Club

Posted on March 30, 2010
Comedian Guy Earle has been called before the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal for violating the human rights of a lesbian couple with insulting comments at a nightclub. Lorna Pardy, 32, filed the complaint after she was insulted at dinner with her partner...

Teachers Refuse to Rescue Boy in Tree and Then Call Police When Passing Mother Get Him Down

Posted on March 29, 2010
English are quickly replacing the Russians for mindless bureaucracy. Here is the latest. The teachers at Manor School in Melksham, Wiltshire found a child had climbed a 20 foot tree. However, health and school policy barred them from rescuing the child so, under the policy, they retreated to inside the school [...

BOCh RVF 26062002 . . . And We Thought Moon Unit Was Over The Top

Posted on March 29, 2010
Moscow officials have refused a birth certificate to a six-year-old boy because of his name: BOCh RVF 26062002. Officials were ok with Simply a Hero and Viagra but BOCh RVF 26062002 was simply too much. The name translates into a Russian acronym for Biological Human Object of the Voronin-Frolov Genus (DoB)...

Utah Governor Signs Law Authorizing Use of Eminent Domain Over Federal Lands

Posted on March 29, 2010
In the latest sign of how American politics has descended into virtual graffiti legislation, the governor of Utah has signed legislation authorizing the state to exercise eminent domain over federal lands. It is clearly unconstitutional but that seems to matter little to legislators or Gov...

Tea Bagger Identified in Abuse of Man With Parkinson?s Disease

Posted on March 29, 2010
Many of us were shocked by the scene of Tea baggers attacking a disabled man with Parkinson’s disease who held a sign calling for health care reform. One man threw money at Robert A. Letcher, 60, and began screaming uncontrollably that him. The man has now been identified as Chris Reichert and [...

Proof in the Pudding: Couple Arrested for Tampering With Jell-O Boxes

Posted on March 29, 2010
Alexander Clement, 68, and his wife, Christine Clement, 64, have been charged with food tampering with Jell-O boxes. Described as a well-off couple, they allegedly filled boxes with sand and salt to get the $1.40 refund upon returning the items. The couple appears to taste for pistachio and butterscotch ...

Getting Dumped: Boyfriend Picks Wrong Car For Message to Girlfriend

Posted on March 29, 2010
There is only one thing more vile that a guy defecating in the car of his girlfriend as a sign of his unhappiness in the relationship: selecting the wrong car. This is why Hallmark is a good option for people like Austin Purifoy, 18, of Las Cruces, New Mexico...

Ex-Sea Org Members Sue Scientology for Alleged Slave Labor Conditions

Posted on March 28, 2010
Scientology is facing another lawsuit from ex-members that are lifting the veil over its ultra-secret Sea Organization. Fromer Sea Org members say that the Church treated them as virtual slaves and forced them to work 100-hour weeks for pennies an hour...

Lock and Learn: English School Fakes Shooting Death of Science Teacher As Lesson

Posted on March 28, 2010
We have another case of English teachers accused of terrorizing students with a fake violent crime. We previously saw this curious pedagogical technique in Sheffield, here. Now, teachers at Blackminster Middle School in Evesham, Worcester are under attack for faking the killing of a teacher in front of screaming children aged 10 to [...

Drunk Wolfe Tries To Resuscitate Dead Possum in Pennsylvania

Posted on March 28, 2010
Donald Wolfe, 55, was arrested this week in an act of mercy. Police found him giving the kiss of life to a dead possum on the side of the road. He also tried what appeared to be a seance to revive the animal. Oh yea, he was reportedly as drunk as the [...

Jury Awards Houston Woman $9 Million Against Wal-Mart in Dispute Over $200

Posted on March 28, 2010
A Houston jury has ruled against Wal-Mart in a case where the store falsely accused a woman of trying to exchange counterfeit money. Nitra Gipson, 24, was awarded $9 million in the case where she was jailed for two days on the allegations. Prosecutors later learned that the money orders at the [...

FELINE FATALITY OR FRAME UP?

Posted on March 28, 2010
It was only after the family dog was arrested and taken to the pound that Tinker Bell miraculously got up and walked away . . . The cat was lucky that Donald Wolfe (here) was not in the vicinity.

Gay Barracks? Marine Commandant Promises to Force Gay To Live in Separate Housing

Posted on March 28, 2010
Marine Corps? commandant Gen. James Conway has declared that, if Congress allows openly gay personnel, those marines will be given separate rooms to avoid forcing straight marines to share quarters with homosexuals. Conway is a known opponent of repealing the law and insisted “I would not ask our Marines to live with someone [...

Ninth Circuit Rules Police Officers Were Justified in Tasering Pregnant Women Three Times Over Traffic Ticket

Posted on March 27, 2010
The United States Court of Appeals has ruled that three Seattle police officers were justified when they tasered a pregnant mother three times when she refused to sign a traffic ticket. Malaika Brooks was driving her son to Seattle’s African American Academy in 2004 when she was stopped for doing 32 mph in a school zone...

Vaya Con Dios, Rush: Congress Passes Fix in Health Care

Posted on March 27, 2010
The departure of Rush Limbaugh for Costa Rica is now imminent with the passage of the second health care legislation — the so-called fixes of the original bill. Limbaugh threatened earlier that if Congress dared to pass the legislation he would leave for Costa Rica, here...

Things You Do Not Want Your Dog Bringing Home

Posted on March 27, 2010
I can take the occasional dead bird, but the police cruiser is a bit much for a dog to leave at my door step. This video from Chattanooga, Tennessee shows Winston, a pit bull mix, ripping the bumper off a police car. In all, Winston left four cars (including two police cruisers) with flat [...

Why Are British Veterinarians Killing Themselves?

Posted on March 27, 2010
There is an interesting story today about the startling suicide rate for British veterinarians — 400 percent the rate of the general public. Researchers believe that the cause is the combination of high stress and easy access to drugs. In any given year, five or six of Britain’s 16,000 veterinarians kill themselves...

The New Senator No: Reid Again Votes No On Health Care By Mistake

Posted on March 27, 2010
Ted Stevens has competition as “Senator No.” This one votes no even when he means yes. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, for the second time, mistakenly called out “no” on the health care legislation. He quickly changed his vote to yes on the “fixes” to the health care legislation this week...

Church Bars Father From Taking Daughter to Easter Mass

Posted on March 26, 2010
We previously followed the dispute between Joseph Reyes and his ex-wife over the religious upbringing of their daughter, here. The judge in the case has now barred Joseph Reyes from bringing his daughter to Easter mass in a ruling that raises some troubling questions under the first amendment and parental rights...

Sour Milk: Bulgarian Official Fired For Milking Virtual Cow

Posted on March 26, 2010
This one may be a bit difficult to explain on your resume. A Bulgaria official was fired after he was spotted milking a virtual cow in a committee meeting. The official is a virtual farmer who was simply tending to his stock as part of FarmVille. The internet game FarmVille has turned [...

California Teacher Arrested for TWI (Teaching While Intoxicated)

Posted on March 26, 2010
Teacher Tonya Neff, 40, of Toro Canyon Middle School is the subject of a curious charge: teaching while drunk. She is accused of taking prescription drugs and alcohol before teaching. Coachella Valley school district Superintendent Ricardo Medina says there was never a threat to Neff’s seventh-grade students...

A Cat Fight in Kalamazoo: Owner Faces Criminal Charge Over Feline Fight

Posted on March 26, 2010
Sarah Hill allegedly has been harboring and feeding a dangerous criminal: her eight-year-old cat Cameron. She has been criminally charged under a Kalamazoo city ordinance after a neighbor reported that Cameron had attacked her cat. She could face 90 days in jail and a $500 fine for the cat fight...

Chavez Critic Arrested For Criticizing Chavez At Press Conference in Aruba

Posted on March 26, 2010
Hugo Chavez has continued his crackdown on free speech with the arrest of one of his leading critics in the media for remarks deemed “offensive” to the wannabe totalitarian leader. Guillermo Zuloaga, owner of Globovision, was arrested for statements he allegedly made while attending an Inter American Press Association meeting on the Dutch Caribbean island [...

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