To: The imbeciles that support Prop. 8

Personally, I don’t have an overwhelming desire to get married. It’s just not something I feel the need for in my life. I have a girlfriend, a beautiful daughter, a home that we own together, cars, shared bank accounts — getting married at this point feels pointless to me. I don’t subscribe to the notion that you meet, you date, you marry, you have kids — and that’s the way it is — that’s the natural order of things. It doesn’t seem to be a very sound plan and when you consider the divorce rate, it kind of makes me wonder why in this day and age, that formula isn’t challenged more. [Read more →]

Tags: his & hers, on the law by Jaclyn Roth
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I’ll tell you why Pennsylvania State Senator Vince Fumo is going to be convicted by the jury currently considering his guilt or innocence on 137 charges of abuse of power. It’s because no mother would want a son to disappoint her so much. And Fumo is being judged by a jury consisting of 10 women along with two men, all of whom have heard, chapter and verse, about things that would shame a mother. The sins of arrogance and pride, the loss of perspective about what is right and what is not right, the fall from grace by a brilliant man because he thought he was beyond falling. Testimony during the epic trial that began before the Phillies won the World Series has revealed the son for the man he became, an insecure bully of staff and loved ones, a clueless tyrant who compared his misdeeds to spitting on the sidewalk, and excused his paranoia about a former girlfriend that led him to hire a private investigator to stalk her by explaining to the court that he — Vince Fumo — is terribly shy.

Bull-shy. Fumo may be socially inept but “shyness” does not accurately describe his single-minded quest for power or appliances or yacht trips or control over others. The case of the People versus Vince Fumo was settled long ago by the people’s court of Philadelphia. The verdict: the guy is a vindictive creep. The creep factor has loomed large in this trial, from the ALL CAPS profanity laced emails, to his compulsive acquisition of vacuum cleaners for each room of his mansion, to the private eye tailing his ex, to the taxpayer paid staffers and equipment dispatched to hoist a flag at his Jersey shore summer home, to the weird relationship between him and two older men — “surrogate fathers” — one who gave him a million dollars to settle a divorce, the other who testified against him in court. And then there were his favorite initials, OPM, for Other People’s Money. LOL.

But creepiest of all was the former state senator’s testimony in his own defense. “I did what I did,” he said in open court about things most of us would whisper to a priest in confession. Here was the self-proclaimed most powerful Democratic politician in Pennsylvania describing his duties to the chamber he represented and the people he served: “My only obligation as a senator is to go to Harrisburg and vote.” And then there was his Whopper Junior moment when instead of shouting, “I wish I’d never been broiled,” he said, “In retrospect, I wish I never got elected to the senate.” Et tu, Vincenzo?

Tags: on the law, politics & government by Clark DeLeon
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An Oklahoma Law Enforcement Officer stopped a motorist the other day, and confiscated a sign that he saw as a threat to the President.

The sign read “Abort Obama, Not The Unborn.” The officer then called the Secret Service and reported the motorist as a possible threat.

The Secret Service, after visiting the man’s home, found that he was not a threat.

The department has issued a statement saying that the officer was in the wrong, that Oklahomans need not fear the abrogation of their First Amendment rights and the sign has been returned to the motorist.

Now, I am not one of those folks who support frivilous lawsuits and I would have to think long and hard before I ever take someone to court. I am pro-Law Enforcement and have a lot of respect for those folks in the Thin Blue Line. I am even pro-abortion and think the sign was stupid, but the reaction by the officer in question was much more offensive than the sign.

In this case, despite my distaste for litigious idiots who sue at the drop of a hat, I would find the most obnoxious shyster around and before I was done, I would own the officer’s home, his pension and a couple of square blocks of the city center.

Tags: on the law, politics & government by David "Preacher" Slocum
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10. Wanted to prove that the Securities and Exchange Commission is a friggin’ joke.

9. Thinks them there ankle bracelets look really cool.

8. Knew he’d never get hard time, due to corrupting influence on other prisoners.

7. After seeing The Green Mile, thought prison would be kinda neat.

6. Wanted to devise intricate plan to see if his sons could keep a secret.

5. Always hoped to immortalize the family name.

4. Likes “Knock knock” jokes that end “Made-off…with 50 billion!”

3. All that financial stuff is way too confusing.

2. Believed going billions of dollars into debt would make him eligible for government work.

1. Thought a Ponzi scheme had something to do with the TV show Happy Days.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, on the law by Bob Sullivan
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Texting while you drive is dumb. I mean, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist to realize that your eyes should be on the road and your hands (hopefully both of them) should be on the wheel. I have people close to me who text while they drive and it infuriates me. It would be one thing if all you were doing was taking your life into your hands, but you’re not! Philippa Curtis found out, while driving in England, you might just kill someone else on the road.

Curtis, 21, made a couple of calls, sent a flurry of text messages, and then smashed into Victoria McBryde’s car, which was stopped because she had a flat tire. Even after McBryde’s death Curtis claimed she could send and receive messages without taking her eyes off the road. Is that just a bad defense? I mean, I can probably send a text message without looking at my phone, but does anyone know how you would receive a message without actually looking at the phone? And I don’t mean just accepting the text, I mean, how did she know what to write back if she didn’t read the text?

Curtis told the court “I can’t really describe in words how bad I actually feel. I just feel awful that I was involved and I can’t really imagine how the family must feel.” Honey — you weren’t only involved — you were the cause of the accident. Had you not been on the road and had you not been using your phone, this 24-year-old woman would likely still be alive today. Certainly, you wouldn’t have killed her. Twenty-one months in jail and a three-year driving ban does not make up for the young life lost.

People, if you need to send a text, just pull over or let the person on the other end of the line wait. It’s not Jack Bauer waiting for information that will save the world. Really, what you have to say is just not that important.

Tags: on the law, technology by Amy Boshnack
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A 93-year-old WW II veteran was found dead in his home, from hypothermia, after the electric company put limiters on his heat. The temperature inside his house was 32 degrees and the water in his sink was frozen. Good Morning America reported that the man, Marvin Shur, owed over $1,000 to the utility company. My question: is $1,000 worth his slow and painful death? And does the utility company have some accountability to bear here?

Bay City Electric Light & Power is the first to point out that they didn’t do anything illegal; but what is their moral responsibility? As a utility company they have a lot of power (no pun intended) over the people they serve. Should there be safeguards in place to ensure that the elderly are taken care of?  Are there no checks and balances in place to ensure the safety of their customers? It’s just unacceptable to me that they shut off the heat while a 93-year-old man was living there. I am not sure what their recourse should have been — but it’s not like the utility company doesn’t make enough money to look out for the people in the community in which they serve. I am not saying this man had the right to live free of charge, but couldn’t the power company have been more aware of the consequences of their actions?

Tags: money, on the law by Amy Boshnack
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I’ve talked about sex offenders — a much more serious topic than this — but I absolutely could not resist writing about a man in Australia who was arrested under the suspicion of having sex with blow-up dolls. Really. I am serious. Jungle Jane is apparently the one he fancied the most. You just can’t make this stuff up!

The 23-year-old suspect allegedly broke into an adult shop, blew up several Jungle Janes, and took them out back to do his business. And then, like any other well-respected blow-up doll lover, he cleaned up his mess and left them in the back alley. Unfortunately for him he didn’t clean up as well as he could have and his DNA gave him away.

I wonder how they’ll try this guy. Is this a sexual offense or is it breaking and entering and tarnishing property? Clearly this man has some psychological issues, and not because he had sex with some dolls. I mean, people get off in different ways and if the dolls do it for him then more power to him. But really… can’t he go out and purchase one? Or maybe that would be too embarrassing?

Tags: his & hers, on the law by Amy Boshnack
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Thanks to a friend I am now obsessed with a website called Family Watchdog. The site allows you plug in any address you like and spits back a map, with different colored squares, indicating all of the registered sex offenders in the area. It distinguishes offenders by their type of sexual offense: rape, sexual battery, offense against children, and other. It also indicates if the location they are highlighting is where the offender works or resides. Plus, you can see perpetrator mug shots and the age of the offender and their victims. This site has been around since 2005 and I am sure it has its critics.

I wish I could say that I don’t think we need a site like this. That people have the right to live where they please, in anonymity, once they’ve served time for their crime. But really, I am glad I have easy access to this information. I am also glad my map didn’t show any red, yellow, blue, or green squares in my neighborhood. I guess, as I search every address I’ve ever lived, what I wonder the most is what would I do if I pulled up the map and found there was a rapist on my block or someone who committed a sex crime against a kid. What could I even do, other than feel disgusted and terrified?

Tags: on the law by Amy Boshnack
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I just discovered that Facebook has a breast controversy.

According to several news sources, the social networking site deletes photos of women if they are breastfeeding… or is it that their babies are breastfeeding?  Okay, I’m a bit confused on the verbiage, but Facebook is not confused about the Terms of Use.  If you have a Facebook account, you agreed to the Terms of Use, which includes the provision that “photos containing a fully exposed breast” are subject to removal from the site.  No caveat for when the breast is being employed in a mammary fashion versus the Girls Gone Wild display that was certainly the impetus for the rule in the first place.  And thus, controversy.

[Read more →]

Tags: on the law, technology by Jason Sterlace
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What kind of work environment could possibly lead to this situation?

A Buffalo man told police two men, including his manager, forced him from his home Friday evening and drove him to the restaurant where he works and told him to clean grease off a Dumpster.

The man… said the pair forced their way into his bedroom by kicking open the door.

He also told police when he was done the manager gave him his paycheck and instructed him not to go to the police or “he would end up dead somewhere.”

I’ve heard people joke about this sort of thing as a solution to truancy in the public schools, but it just doesn’t work in restaurants. The reality is that this is a terrible way to motivate people. Even in tough economic times, when forcing your employees back to work may seem charitable — after all, who couldn’t use the overtime? — it’s just not effective.  And Friday evening was awfully darn cold in Buffalo. While I am sure there is a bit more to this news story, whatever’s missing can’t possibly justify this managerial response. He was probably going way against company procedure.

Still, as wrong as the manager’s actions may seem, I’d like to thank him and his accomplice for what they’ve done. It’s stories like these that help the rest of America to keep a positive view of our own jobs. Even on the worst day, I will always be able to say that my boss just isn’t the breaking-and-entering-and-stealing-my-phone-and-dragging-me-to-work-and-threatening-my-life-and-then-paying-me type of guy.  He really, really isn’t.  That’s probably worth a “thank you.”

Tags: all work, on the law by Jason Sterlace
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The report of the imminent terrorist WMD attack on U.S. soil by 2013 recommends stationing at least 15,000 trained military troops, prepared for quick response, inside the country by 2011, in addition to the National Guard and local law enforcement. The imminent, of course, gives rise to the inevitable: legitimate questions and concerns about violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which precludes the federal government from using the military for domestic purposes.

But I’d be much more inclined to get in a tizzy about the potential suspension of the Posse Comitatus if this story didn’t come on the heels of Black Friday, during which those of us who holed up at home, still grooving on the turkey, were treated to the news of a deadly gunfight at a Toys ‘R’ Us in California and an equally deadly stampede at a Wal-Mart on Long Island that ripped the doors off their hinges and trampled to death a Wal-Mart worker untrained in crowd control and unprepared for quick response. (I’ll leave the Mumbai situation out of this, since it’s not a U.S. soil issue.)

If this is how people behave when low-priced goods are at stake, what are the chances they will behave in an orderly fashion and cooperate with the authorities — whose competence in these matters is justifiably suspect — to contain and control the damages when the imminent and inevitable panic strikes?

Somehow, while the memories of the Wal-Mart pileup are still fresh, the long-term dangers of potential abuse of the Posse Comitatus loom less threatening than they should.

Just sayin’…

Tags: on the law, terror & war by Olga Gardner Galvin
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It is important that we remain happy, as it apparently helps other people be happy. So I thought I would share some happy news. The Bratz dolls may soon die.

I’ve hated the Bratz dolls from the moment I saw them. I didn’t even have kids at the time. It’s just that they are always dressed in some slutty outfit with some provocative look on their face. Bratz dolls represent the teenager I don’t want my daughter to become — so I am holding out hope that a new ruling in the case against MGA Entertainment, the Bratz manufacturer, will really make them go away.

Mattel, the maker of the Barbie Doll, sued the maker of Bratz for copyright infringement and after more than four years, has won. The court order says “MGA may no longer manufacture, sell, advertise or license its core lineup of Bratz dolls or any other product with the Bratz name.” And although Mattel can always change its mind, company executives did ask in court filings “for permission to destroy the dolls.”

Good riddance to you, Bratz.

Tags: on the law by Amy Boshnack
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What the hell is wrong with people? You can’t just decide you no longer want to be a parent. Raising kids can be tough — especially as they get older. Kids don’t stay four years old and adorable forever. They grow up and have attitudes and problems and test you down to the bone. Hopefully you, the adult, did a good job during those formative years and that leads to an easier tween/teen experience; but really, that may not even make a difference. Some kids just rebel and it’s the parent’s job to deal with it.

People of Nebraska, are you crazy? You can’t just get rid of your children! USA Today did a great job reporting on the latest surrounding a Nebraska law that was meant to protect infants — so they aren’t found in closets wrapped in garbage bags. The law, as written, allows parents to leave children 17 and under at hospitals without fear of prosecution for abandonment. Parents seem to be making the most of this generous offer by the state and have been for months.

This is why some people should be required to take a “road test” before being allowed to conceive.

As a society we are always saying that our children are our future. How will a legally abandoned 14-year-old look at the world as an adult, assuming he’s not incarcerated within a couple of years?

Tags: family & parenting, on the law by Amy Boshnack
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When I first learned that Prop 8 stood firm in California, I was livid. I immediately hit the Internet and began researching why. What happened? Who was responsible for this?! The media immediately pointed at the large turnout of African Americans, and the irony that an oppressed minority group came out to vote for a black man, while simultaneously helping California write discrimination into its constitution. I could barely contain my anger. How hypocritical can you be? After all, up until 1967 blacks and whites couldn’t marry. The states wanted to protect the sanctity of marriage. Sound familiar? The very right you voted to take away from gays has only been yours for 40 years!

I blamed African Americans too. After all, 69% of African Americans voted for Proposition 8. Who else should I blame? Well, I gave it some thought and I came up with a whole bunch of people to blame. [Read more →]

Tags: his & hers, on the law by Jaclyn Roth
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I never really much liked politics. The current election started years ago, and I’ve been resolved to apathy all the while. However, having spent the last two months surrounded by the local chapter of Cheerleaders for Obama, I feel compelled to voice my views.

I am truly unsure of what my political views are. The foundation of my views is best summarized by Mr. Justice Douglas: “The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom.” Pub. Utils. Comm’n of D.C. v. Pollak, 343 U.S. 451, 467 (1952) (Douglas, J., dissenting). However, as to what end this leads me, I am unsure. On the one hand, it could lead to the individualistic views of libertarianism. On the other hand, it could lead to some view of communal living or some other utopian society. All I know for sure is that it does not lead to the sort of mediocrity that today’s politics is made of.

As we near Election Day, you really have to struggle to see the policy differences between Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama. Sure, they have very different ideologies, will select different judges and justices, and will push for different legislation. However, the legislation will all be fundamentally flawed — a product of compromise and moderation. Fundamentally, I have no idea where the candidates stand, beyond the fact that one is a bit to the right and the other a bit to the left.

We are far from the wisdom of Mr. Justice Black, who reminds us of a day when things were much simpler: “[The First] Amendment provides, in simple words, that ‘Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.’ I read ‘no law . . . abridging’ to mean no law abridging.” Smith v. California, 361 U.S. 147, 157 (1959) (Black, J., concurring). Politics and law today are an exercise in pragmatism, rather than principles. I feel this exercise is doomed to fail, as society becomes an ever-increasing hodgepodge of regulation without any real basis in fundamental principles.

Tags: on the law, politics & government by Brett Hartman
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An article in the Chicago Tribune has me chuckling this morning. It seems that law makers in Nebraska got more than they bargained for when passing recent ‘Safe Harbor’ legislation designed to protect unwanted newborns.

Parents are abandoning teenagers at Nebraska hospitals, in a case of a well intentioned law inspiring unintended results.

Over the last two weeks, moms or dads have dropped off seven teens at hospitals in the Cornhusker state, indicating they didn’t want to care for them any more.

While this latest snafu by law-makers shouldn’t really shock anyone, I am sure it is raising a few eyebrows. Those on the right will be grinding their teeth and muttering about Family Values and the destruction of the traditional family unit while secretly wondering if they can talk their mistresses in to relocating, while those on the left will surely be cheering the ‘alternative parenting model that frees parents to reach new heights of self-actualization’ or some such tripe.

I think this whole situation is hilarious. Parents who would give up the kids probably shouldn’t have had them in the first place and the kids will be better off out of a home where they are not wanted. Plus it is sure to give the elected officials many sleepless nights, and that is never a bad thing for politicians.

Meanwhile, parents across the nation who are feeling overwhelmed when dealing with recalcitrant teens can be heard yelling, “One more outburst like that and we are moving to Nebraska!”

Tags: family & parenting, on the law by David "Preacher" Slocum
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This article in the Economist got me thinking…

The Palin appointment is yet more proof of the way that abortion still distorts American politics. This is as true on the left as on the right. But the Republicans seem to have gone furthest in subordinating considerations of competence and merit to pro-life purity. One of the biggest problems with the Bush administration is that it appointed so many incompetents because they were sound on Roe v Wade. Mrs Palin’s elevation suggests that, far from breaking with Mr Bush, Mr McCain is repeating his mistakes.

Well, it is true that abortion is a very dangerous topic in American politics. Neither major party likes to tolerate dissent on the issue—at least, from spotlight personalities like the presidential nominee. We won’t see a pro-choice Republican ticket any more than we will see a pro-life Democratic ticket.

But what I currently find alarming is the perception on the Left that we are on the brink of overturning Roe v Wade and sending young women to bleed to death in back alleys across America. That’s simply not the case, and the dire anti-abortion warnings about the McCain-Palin ticket are either misplaced or disingenuous. [Read more →]

Tags: on the law, politics & government by Jason Sterlace
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You’ve probably heard by now about the awful incident at Binghamton University (my alma mater), where a 6’9, 280 lb. sophomore center on the basketball team stomped on the head of a 5’9, 130 lb. senior. The smaller man now lies in near-comatose state

To make matters worse, the basketball player, Miladin Kovacevic — with the help of his parents and Serbian consulate officials — has fled to his native Serbia and is fighting extradition. Kovacevic’s mother said, “My son is not running away from justice, he’s running away from injustice,” while CNN.com also reports that, “Kovacevic’s parents said their son was threatened and disdained because of his nationality and they felt they had to rescue him.”

Injustice is afoot, but not the kind the fugitive’s mother speaks of.

The victim, Bryan Steinhauer, a Brooklyn-raised accounting major, is “unable to drink or eat on his own. “ His father says, “He has enough awareness to realize what situation he is in, especially when he sees us…He starts yelling out and crying out with a tortured look on his face. He’s starting to realize what has happened to him.”

All this over a girl who may have been pinched or groped. All this at one of America’s best state universities. All this two weeks before graduation. Injustice indeed. [Read more →]

Tags: education, on the law by Terrence Cheng
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The Supreme Court ruled last Thursday in District of Columbia v. Heller that the District of Columbia’s almost de facto ban on handgun ownership violates the Second Amendment. While some liberal commentators have expressed abhorrence toward this ruling, I think it is important to actually discuss what the ruling said. In that vein, we must first look to what Mr. Heller was suing over. [Read more →]

Tags: on the law by Brett Hartman
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UN Classifies rape a ‘war tactic’

A recent BBC News article outlined how the UN Security Council had voted unanimously to classify rape as a weapon of war.

Does that sound odd to anyone else? I guess it would make more sense if they had, instead, classified it as a war crime, but to classify it as a weapon of war?

I can only assume that the UN is using the Security Council as an attempt to add weight to their stance that ‘someone’ should do something about the epidemic of rape in the DR Congo. Since simple censure and vocal condemnation has not stopped the wholesale rape of women in Africa, by co-opting the Security Council and declaring rape as the moral and legal equivalent of an act of war, the Security Council can send in troops under the guise of peacekeeping.

While I would never belittle the horror of the act of rape, it is a criminal act akin to murder and should be dealt with as such. Not only does this open the door to adding other criminal acts to the new list of weapons of war, it actually adds legitimacy to the use of rape as a tool of war. I think most people would agree that the very idea is abhorrent.

I suppose the next step is to declare AIDS as a weapon of Mass Destruction so that the UN can levy greater funding from the more affluent member nations to effect social change by force of arms.

To mis-use a phrase made popular by the new Indiana Jones movie, the UN has ‘nuked the fridge‘. The UN has long been working towards complete irrelevance and this latest act has done nothing to stop the downward spiral.

Tags: on the law, politics & government by David "Preacher" Slocum
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