Legal Commentary

Don?t Let the Door Hit You: Less Than One-Fourth of Americans Say That They Will Miss Bush

Posted on December 26, 2008
Over seventy-five percent of Americans say that they will not miss President George Bush and that he cannot leave office too soon. That is 24 four points higher than the 51 percent who said that they would not miss Bill Clinton. Just to make sure that he get the message...

Missouri Police Officer Arrested for Being Laptop to Office for New Software ? The Same Computer He Denied Stealing a Year Earlier

Posted on December 26, 2008
A Missouri police officer is charged with felony theft after he brought a laptap into the Sheriff’s office for the installation of new software. The only problem is that it was the same computer that Southwest City officer Andrew Cummings was accused of stealing a year earlier...

Teacher Beats 11-Year-Old Boy to Death for Not Doing Homework ? Get Six years

Posted on December 26, 2008
An Egyptian court has sentenced math teacher Haitham Nabeel Abdelhamid, 23, to six years after he beat Islam Amr Badr, 11, for not completing his homework. The boy died. The teacher took the boy outside the classroom and hit him violently in the stomach...

FDA Orders Coke To Drop Health Claims

Posted on December 26, 2008
It turns out that Diet Coke is not a health drink. The Food and Drug Administration has ordered Coca-Cola Company to change its labels for its “plus” line of drinks, which refer to their vitamin and mineral content. Coca-Cola has been marketing Diet Coke Plus as “a good source of vitamins B3, B6, [...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Electoral Dysfunction: U.S. Hands Out Viagra to Warloads to Win Allies in Afghanistan

Posted on December 26, 2008
After a long line of stories about the continued marriage of young girls (some below ten) and rape of women as a means of forced marriages, the United States government has found the perfect gift to win over Afghan warloads: Viagra. CIA and military officers are handing out Viagra to warlords to win [...

Santa Shooter Commits Suicide After Killing Spree in California

Posted on December 26, 2008
The first of Pardo’s victims was an eight-year-old girl who answered the door. She will survive by she was injured in the face. For the full story, click here.       

Happy Holidays!

Posted on December 25, 2008
Best wishes to everyone celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah. Our kids get to double dip on both holidays in a play to spread our bets between the two religions of the parents. We have just finished placing the last present under the tree in Chicago. We can now look forward to three hours [...

Have a Merry Christmas or Else: Florida Woman Sues For Being Required to Say ?Happy Holidays?

Posted on December 25, 2008
A Christmas controversy is brewing in Pensacola, Florida where Tonia Thomas, 35, claims that she was fired because he insisted on greeting callers with “Merry Christmas” rather than Happy Holidays. Her former employer, Counts-Oakes Resorts Properties Inc...

Santa Saboteurs: Old St. Nick Spotted Disabling Traffic Cameras Before Midnight Run

Posted on December 25, 2008
Santa has long flaunted his disregard for basic driving laws from speed limits to parking regulations to proper turn signaling. Now, he has been spotted sabotaging traffic cameras in the days leading up to his reckless high-speed run. Arizona law enforcement are searching for the Santa impersonators filmed covering three speed and red light enforcement [...

Driving Miss Daisy: California Doctor Leaves Country After Using Patient?s Fat as Fuel for His Cars

Posted on December 24, 2008
California investigators are interested in speaking with Dr. Craig Alan Bittner. Bittner has an interesting way of “saving the planet”: he used that fat that he removed from his patients in liposuction to fuel his two SUVs. His M.I.P. (Miles to the Patient) was great until officials notified his lawyer that it [...

Salt, Shovel . . . Blowtorch: Massachusetts Man Used Blowtorch for Ice Removal and Burns Home

Posted on December 24, 2008
Twenty-five firefighters were needed this week to put out a fire in New Bedford, Massachusetts after the home owner, Vasco Silva, attached a blowtorch to a 20-pound propane cylinder and used it as a snow and ice remover. The fire did considerable damage to three-story home after the man ignited the vinyl siding...

Kissing Cousins: A New Question of Discrimination In the Wake of New Studies

Posted on December 24, 2008
As states grapple with limitations on same sex marriage, polygamy, and other moral legislation controversies, scientists may have introduced another areas of potential challenge: the ban on first cousins. The premise for barring first cousins was always based on rather shaky science...

Family Sues After Police Arrest and Rough Up 12-Year-Old Girl as a Prostitute Outside of Her Texas Home

Posted on December 24, 2008
Police in Galveston, Texas are being sued for allegedly arresting a 12-year-old Dymond Larae Milburn outside of her home as a prostitute in 2006. The girl did not realize that the plainclothes officers were police and fought back as she screamed for her father inside the house...

Apreciating Valentines: Georgia Judge and Police Officers to be Re-Trained After Muslim Woman Jailed for Refusing to Remove Scarf

Posted on December 23, 2008
It appears that neither judges nor police officers in Douglasville, Georgia have heard of the use of a scarf for religious purposes or, more likely, didn’t care about the religious practice. Lisa Valentine was arrested after she was ordered to remove the scarf, or hijab...

Sopranos Actor Acquitted of Cop Killing

Posted on December 23, 2008
Lillo Brancato Jr. has been acquitted in the 2005 killing an off-duty New York City police officer but found guilty of attempted burglary. The actor from The Sopranos and A Bronx Tale could still be sentenced to 15 years in prison for the lesser offense...

Naughty List: California Man Arrested for Flashing Gang Symbols on Santa?s Lap

Posted on December 23, 2008
No Noel for Uriel. Uriel Oliva, 18, was arrested early has been arrested for a curious probation violation: flashing gang symbols while sitting on Santa’s lap. The picture was spotted by his probation officer on a keychain during a probation check...

Pastorius Elementary: Boy and Girl Caught Having Sex in Stairwell So School Suspends the Boy

Posted on December 23, 2008
There are objections being raised on how school officials have responded to the discovery of a young boy and girl having sex in a stairwell at Francis Pastorius Elementary School in Philadelphia before Thanksgiving: the boy, Walter Goss (13), was expelled but the girl was allowed to continue at the school...

Not-So-Brigthon: City Makes It A Crime To Be Annoying

Posted on December 23, 2008
There appears to be no lawyers living in Brighton, Michigan or within telephone range of the city council. The city elders have made it a crime for anyone to commit acts that “seriously annoy another person and that serve no legitimate purpose...

Iraqi Judge: No Abuse Probe In Case of Shoe Thrower

Posted on December 23, 2008
While the family of Iraqi journalist of Muntazer al-Zaidi (or al-Zeidi) (including a brother who visited him) have alleged obvious signs of abuse and torture, investigating judge Dhiya al-Kenani has refused to allow an investigation into the matter — saying that such accounts are completely baseless...

Saudi Court Refuses to Annul Marriage of 8-Year-old to 58-Year-Old Man

Posted on December 22, 2008
A Saudi court has refused to annul the marriage of an eight-year-old girl who was married off by her father to a 58-year-old man. The Unayzah court says that it would prefer the girl to remain married to the man until she reaches puberty — a curious solution to child abuse...

Bidder No. 70: Environmentalist Stops Bush Administration Lease-Off of Pristine Land

Posted on December 22, 2008
If nationalists in Iraqi have Muntadar al-Zeidi, environmentalists in the United States have found Tim DeChristopher, 27. DeChristopher didn’t throw hiking boots recently to stop the controversial Bush lease-off of public lands for drilling. He used a bidding paddle...

Happy Anniversary: Iran Raids Leading Human Rights Organization

Posted on December 22, 2008
The Iranian regime celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in true Iranian fashion: they shutdown the respected Center for Defenders of Human Rights in Tehran. The group was planned a celebration of the Universal Declaration when the police raided their office and charged it with such unspeakable [...

Iowa Rules Against Husband Who Secretly Videotaped Wife in Bedroom

Posted on December 22, 2008
There is an interesting tort case in Iowa where Jeffrey Tigges of Dubuque, was found by his wife to have secretly mounted cameras in their bedroom and filmed them in private. A court awarded Cathy Tigges (now divorced) $22,500 for invasion of privacy...

Judge Nottingham Silent on Bar Charges Threatening His License

Posted on December 22, 2008
Former Chief U.S. District Judge Edward W. Nottingham Jr. has not filed a response to misconduct allegations that may lead to him losing his bar license. Nottingham resigned after a long scandal involving prostitutes and strip joints. The Colorado Attorney Regulation Counsel in such a circumstance would have an uncontested record and may feel obligated [...

The Cheney Gene? Scientists Repeat Milgram Test Showing Inclination of Ordinary People to Inflict Pain on Others

Posted on December 20, 2008
One of the most famous clinical studies in psychology was Yale University professor Stanley Milgram’s work, published in 1963, on the willingness of people to inflict excruciating pain on others. The new test shows that 70% of people were willing to increase the voltage for an actor who pretended to be screaming in pain [...

Baked Alaskan: Levi Johnston?s Mother Arrested on Drug Charges

Posted on December 20, 2008
Sarah Palin’s soon-to-be in-law, Sherry Johnston, has been arrested on drug charges in Wasilla, Alaska after what is described as a long investigation. Her son, Levi Johnston, is having a baby with Bristol Palin and their impromptu marriage became an issue during the campaign...

Planned Parenthood Suspends Two Staffers While Prosecutors Explore Possible Criminal Charges in Video Controversy

Posted on December 20, 2008
Planned Parenthood of Indiana is reeling from the disclosure of an undercover video showing a counselor telling a woman posing as a 13-year-old girl that she doesn’t care about the age of the man who impregnated her — a violation of state law...

Brown Seeks to Overturn Proposition 8 as L

Posted on December 20, 2008
In a surprising reversal, California Attorney General Jerry Brown asked the California Supreme Court on Friday to overturn Proposition 8 on the grounds that it violates basic rights guaranteed in the state Constitution. Brown had said that he would be duty bound to support the initiative in the courts...

Classic Model 271: Turkish Company Struggles to Meet Demand for ?Bush Shoes?

Posted on December 20, 2008
It appears that, just as O.J. Simpson proved a bonanza for Bruno Magli shoes, Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi has triggered a run on brown, thick-soled ?Model 271? shoes — the type that he hurled at Bush. Istanbul-based producer Baydan Ayakkabicilik San...

Pray to Play: Texas School Defies Supreme Court on Prayer at Games

Posted on December 20, 2008
School officials in Celina, Texas have not only decided to violate federal law but they have decided to flaunt their refusal to comply with constitutional rulings of the Supreme Court. The school continues to incorporate Christian prayers into its games...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.