Apparently, some men still need training on this relatively simple matter. Let's compare two similar scenarios. In the first, Stacy is a college freshman. She goes to a fraternity party and meets Derek, a sophomore at the same college. The pair hit it off. It's a college party, and alcohol is consumed. Stacy, impaired by alcohol, and Derek, who has … Read More
The Golden Issue: Campaign Finance
If the Democrats were smart, they will take this issue and own it. The issue: the recent Supreme Court decision, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, where the Supremes ruled 5-4 that corporations have the same rights as individuals when it comes to political speech and can therefore use their profits to support or oppose individual candidates. The decision appears … Read More
Judges And Their Facebook Friends
Interesting opinion today from the Florida Supreme Court's Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, which was asked this question in a recent case: “Whether a judge may add lawyers who may appear before the judge as “friends” on a social networking site, and permit such lawyers to add the judge as their “friend.” In other words, can Judge Smith, a judge in … Read More
Clinton Campaign Hostage Taker Guy: Fugitive
Remember Lee Eisenberger? The guy who took several people hostage at the Clinton Campaign Headquarters in Rochester NH in 2007? Well…. New Hampshire authorities say the man who took hostages at a Hillary Rodham Clinton presidential campaign office in 2007 has cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet and is a fugitive. Strafford County Attorney Thomas Velardi says Leeland Eisenberg cut … Read More
“Down Under” vs. “Kookaberra”
A judge ruled today that the flute riff from Men At Work's "Down Under" is plagerized from the tune set to an Australian nursery rhyme called "Kookaburra" (also known by its first line: "Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree"). I know "Down Under". I know "Kookaburra". The judge must be high.
Federal Judge Rules Forsyth County Prayers Are Unconstitutional
And indeed, they are unconstitutional: Federal District Court Judge James A. Beaty this morning ruled that Forsyth County is violating the U.S. Constitution by allowing prayers with sectarian references before meetings of the county board of commissioners. Beaty ordered the county to stop allowing prayers under its current policy, which had come under fire from those who said that the … Read More
After 37 Minute Deliberation, Jury Finds Roeder Guilty of First Degree Murder
Breaking news: WICHITA, Kan. – A man who says he killed prominent Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller to protect unborn children has been convicted of murdering the doctor. A jury deliberated for 37 minutes Friday before finding Scott Roeder guilty of premeditated, first-degree murder. The 51-year-old Kansas City, Mo., man faces a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment with the … Read More
ACORN Filmmaker Busted
Remember that conservative filmmaker who posed as a pimp, went into ACORN offices, and secretly recorded what happened? Quite a coup for the guy, whose name is James O'Keefe. He got to be on Fox, he pretty much dessimated ACORN (which, despite a few bad eggs, was a very worthwhile community organization), and just a few months ago, 31 far-right … Read More
‘Sup With The Lack of Blogging Lately?
Oh, a show. Work. Life. Burnout. All that. Plus, not a lot to say that is particularly insightful. Haiti was bad, but I guess everyone knew that. Scott Brown being elected to the U.S. Senate was bad, but not as bad as everyone made it out to be. He's a liberal Republican from Massachusetts, which is on a par with … Read More
Opening Statements In Prop 8 Trial
Apparently, the defense in the Prop 8 Trial isn't doing well. According to liveblogging reports, the opening statement by the defense included this statement: “Racial restrictions were never a definitional feature of the institution of marriage.” This was reportedly met with laughter from the courtroom. It is clearly not true. Even as late as the early 20th century, if women … Read More
SSM in Federal Court
The Washington Post has a nice preview of the federal case involving same-sex marriage, which is about to begin its trek through the federal court system. This will be the first case which attempts to argue that banning same-sex marriage violates the United States Constitution. If it succeeds, then all states (being subordinate to federal law) will have to allow … Read More
Asheville Seeks To Prevent Atheist From Serving On City Council
Here I was thinking Asheville was one of the more progressive little big towns of North Carolina, but nope. Opponents of a man named Cecil Bothwell are seizing on an obscure law to argue he should not be seated as a City Council member today. The North Carolina Constitution, according to this newspaper report, states that a peson is not … Read More
Eating The Evidence
Yup, the guy was a suspected bank robber, and he ate the stick-up note (police say). The tape shows it all. Story here.
New Laws Which Take Effect Today In NC
Let's take a quick look at some of the new laws which take effect today in North Carolina. The big one is, of course, no texting while driving. Now, don't think you can be cute about this. But no, it applies to emailing, too. In fact it applies to any time you "manually enter multiple letters or text in the device … Read More
Bad News For Huckabee 2012 Campaign
That shooter (still on the loose) who shot and killed four cops in Tacoma? The suspect's name is Maurice Clemmons and: Nine years ago in Arkansas, The Seattle Times reported, Mr. Clemmons was released from prison after Gov. Mike Huckabee commuted his lengthy prison sentence, over the protests of prosecutors. Late Sunday night, Mr. Huckabee’s political action committee released a … Read More