In General Counsel

Birth Control Mandate is Just the Beginning

2012-02-10T10:41:00.000-05:00

You could be a stone-cold atheist or a fervent pro-choice secularist with low opinion of organized religion and still be outraged about the Obama administration's latest effort to trample on religious liberty guaranteed by the First Amendment. Now comes reports that the administration may revamp its birth control mandate policy after the uproar.

In an excellent editorial Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal warns Americans to get used to such ObamaCare dictates that will be imposed by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services bureaucrats:

The country is being exposed to the raw political control that is the core of the Obama health-care plan, and Americans are seeing clearly for the first time how this will violate pluralism and liberty....

Practicing this kind of compulsion is routine and noncontroversial within [HHS Secretary] Sebelius's ministry. That may explain why her staff didn't notice that the birth-control rule abridges the First Amendment's protections for religious freedom. Then again, maybe HHS thought the public had become inured to such edicts, which have arrived every few weeks since the Affordable Care Act passed...

HS tried to sell it as a compromise when it was announced, and in any case HHS would revive this coercion whenever it is politically convenient some time in Mr. Obama's second term. Religious liberty won't be protected from the entitlement state until ObamaCare is repealed.

The Journal also notes that "The Catholic left was one of ObamaCare's great enablers."

Here is Next Media Animation's take on the controversy:

Regardless of your opinion of sometimes erratic Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, the former GOP presidential candidate, she was right on target when she said that government control of healthcare is the crown jewel of socialism.

Help Wanted: The TSA is Looking for a Few Good Gropers

2012-02-09T21:06:00.000-05:00

The spring/summer travel season is right around the corner, and the TSA--the U.S. Transportation Security Administration--has a new recruitment video for airport security officers.

Actually this video is satire by "Health Ranger" Mike Adams and naturalnews.com.

According to many passengers, TSA also stands for "thousands standing around" or "total sexual assault" among other nicknames.

Update--Grope tax: So-called passenger security fees will be doubled under the administration's budget proposal: "Obama’s budget plan as reported yesterday calls for hiking the ticket fees for passenger and bag security from $2.50 to $5 next year, while cutting federal subsidies to airports. By 2018, the fee would jump to $7.50, raising billions of dollars for the government."

Did Tim Tebow and Tom Brady Vote for Rick Santorum in Minnesota?

2012-02-08T13:01:00.000-05:00

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum won last night's Minnesota caucus. A caucus requires people to show up in person in contrast to an actual primary or general election.

Coincidentally, James O'Keefe's lastest video on vote fraud shows how Tim Tebow and Tom Brady and anyone else can register to vote absentee in Minnesota with no verification.

Minnesota is, of course, the state that narrowly "elected" Stuart Smalley to the U.S. Senate after a shady recount.

Police Taser Non-Compliant McDonald's Drive-Thru Customer

2012-02-08T12:41:00.000-05:00

photo credit: Manila Daily Photo via photopin cc

The lull in fast-food freakouts was only temporary. A North Carolina woman who cut in line at a McDonald's drive-thru last Friday apparently resisted arrest and was Tasered by police.

And in Pennsylvania, a man allegedly stabbed his brother with a steak knife in a dispute over a McDonald's brownie.

The Oscars Broadcast--Must Miss TV?

2012-02-08T12:09:00.000-05:00

photo credit: cliff1066™ via photopin cc

The Academy Awards ceremony is coming up later this month, but other than the fashion police who will be working an overtime detail, does anyone really take the Oscars seriously anymore?

For one thing, as is usually the case, hardly anyone went to see the films nominated for Best Picture. One could also argue that in general the content--as well as the box office--is also anemic. And many of today's actors seem to lack a commanding presence on the screen.

At PJMedia, author/screenwriter Andrew Klavan provides some perspective about how the Oscars are "sinking into irrelevance."

It’s also true that Hollywood’s left-wing and feminist agendas alienate the industry from the mainstream..But low-watt stars, dishonest leftism, and hectoring feminism may be the symptoms of the art form’s decay rather than the causes. Technology and time may have killed the business and leftists and feminists may be the maggots feeding on its corpse — all that remains after the best writers and actors have headed for television, and the brilliant visual guys go into video gaming and apps.

In an unrelated article on National Review Online, historian Victor Davis Hanson notes that Hollywood movers-and-shakers are among the biggest supporters of what he calls "Obamaism," despite the fact that "Hollywood predicates much of its production on the basis of non-union locations."

While dwindling, the Oscars still get decent TV ratings, but the trend is not their friend. Will you be watching this year?

Happy 101st Birthday, Mr. President

2012-02-06T16:09:00.000-05:00

Ronald Reagan, the nation's 40th president, would be 101 years old today:

Watching Something Other Than The Super Bowl

2012-02-06T13:20:00.001-05:00

photo credit: .criga. via photopin cc
Last night's Super Bowl got huge ratings, but unlike most Americans, we were watching something else: episodes of the TV series Breaking Bad on Netflix streaming.

We're late to the party since the series premiered in 2008, but the episodes are addicting--if that's okay to say about an edgy show about drug dealers.

Situational ethics gone wild, Breaking Bad has to be one of the best shows that has come along in a long time. The subject matter is not for everyone, but the writing, directing, acting, cinematography, editing, etc., are all first rate.

Bryan Cranston, the crazy dentist from Seinfeld (see below), plays Walter White, a straight-laced high school chemistry teacher in Albuquerque, New Mexico, who jumps into meth manufacturing to create a nest egg for his family after he's gone. (The White character has lung cancer and also has a son with cerebral palsy). With one horrendous and dangerous escapade after another, the show is intense, but it also contains some very dark humor.

The actors, starting with Cranston as the show's top meth chef anti-hero, do a wonderful job, and the dialogue and the generally unpredictable plotting gives the characters a fuller dimension. This includes White's relationship with his wife (who he must constantly lie to to keep his meth moonlighting under wraps) played by Anna Gunn, and his contentious quasi-father-son relationship with his meth-lab partner Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul). The sleazy criminal defense lawyer/money launderer played by Bob Odenkirk is another great character.

Perhaps one of the most interesting dynamics is supplied by White's brother-in-law, Hank Schrader (Dean Norris) who just happens to be a DEA agent. The Schrader character comes across as an oaf, but he is also a solid, loyal friend as well as a crafty law enforcement operative (whose investigations, at least through the end of season two, have yet to make the connection between meth kingpin "Heisenberg" and a member of his own family).

Here's what some Netflix members posted about the series:

"The writing is fabulous, so ingenous, the characters so deeply drawn, I find myself facinated, repulsed, you name it."
"Excellent character development with constant plot twists. Leaves you in suspense after every episode."
"Entertaining, shocking, suspenseful, heart warming, scary, thought provoking."
"intelligent, artistic, white-knuckled intensity, with a little dark humor mixed in to boot."

Viewer advisory: You have to watch the show from the start; it's not the kind of series that you can pick up in the middle. But remember; it's easy to get "hooked."

League of Legends Gamer Dies at Internet Cafe; No One Notices

2012-02-04T11:45:00.000-05:00

photo credit: Xensin via photopin cc

A year ago this month, an employee of the Los Angeles County government died at her desk and no one noticed until the next day.

A similar fate sadly befell a League of Legends player at an Internet cafe in Taiwan on Tuesday night as per this report from Sky News:

A Taiwanese man who died while playing video games at an internet cafe was left for hours after fellow gamers failed to notice his death...[His] body had apparently been sitting there for up to nine hours without any of the 30 other people in the cafe noticing.

The 23-year-old gamer who had a history of heart problems may have died of cardiac arrest according to an initial police investigation. The NY Daily News indicates that he had paid in advance for 23 hours of web access.

League of Legends is said to have 32 million registered users around the world.

Indiana Becomes Right-to-Work State

2012-02-04T08:22:00.000-05:00

All the media attention this week about Romney's idiotic gaffe concerning poor people obscured a far more significant political development: Indiana passed right-to-work legislation that will end the automatic payroll deduction for union dues. In so doing, it will make the money laundering between Democrats and unions harder. As the New York Times reports, the bill, which takes effect immediately, makes Indiana the country's 23rd right-to-work state.

The legislation, which bars union contracts from requiring non-union members to pay fees for representation, makes Indiana the first state in more than a decade to enact right to work legislation and the only one in the Midwestern manufacturing belt to have such a law.

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels would hardly qualify as "most interesting man in the world" had he run for president, but in this video from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the site of tomorrow's Super Bowl, he talks about the reform measure that he signed into law.

Daniels' website adds that "Seven years of evidence and experience ultimately demonstrated that Indiana did need a right-to-work law to capture jobs for which, despite our highly rated business climate, we are not currently being considered."

Non-Citizens Voting in Lee County Florida

2012-02-03T17:21:00.000-05:00

Right-of-center politicians have to overperform in elections because Democrats tend to feast on vote fraud, which was made easier by the so-called Motor-Voter law enacted during the Clinton administration (which does not require proof of citizenship).

Cape Coral, Fla., in the Ft. Myers area, is a beautiful place to live or visit. But like communities all across the U.S., the integrity of the ballot is at risk because of lax laws and poor oversight as revealed by this local TV investigation about non-citizen voting. In the meantime, head-in-the-sand (or worse) liberals insist vote fraud isn't a problem and fight tooth and nail against reasonable photo ID requirements.

The Real Best People's Court Entrance Ever

2012-02-01T14:37:00.000-05:00

Back around the holidays, a video circulated through the Internet that was touted as the best ever litigant entrance on TV's The People's Court. There was also a second-place finisher too.

At the time, we said that there was a much better one, in which a defendant did a pirouette as he entered the courtroom--and subsequently suffered the wrath of Judge Milian. Despite getting off "on the wrong foot" with the judge, the chastened defendant did win the case, suggesting that the judge didn't hold his initial misbehavior against him.

In response to our request, an In General Counsel reader was kind enough to provide a YouTube link to that bit of performance art.

It can be found here (scroll down to the third video).

Ron Paul for Treasury Secretary

2012-02-01T13:58:00.000-05:00

We were in the car earlier today and heard a radio talk show host float the idea of appointing Ron Paul as U.S. Treasury Secretary in a presumed Romney administration.

This idea apparently is not necessarily new, but it must be gaining some traction. Just for the record (whatever that means!), about a month ago we made this same suggestion to some friends during a casual restaurant conversation..

Ron Paul is retiring from Congress. Putting him in charge of the Treasury Department--if he is interested in the post--and vesting him with full authority to audit the Fed is in his wheelhouse. It would also serve to unify two disparate elements of right-leaning voters.

One the primary campaign is settled, will the Romney inner circle (assuming the former Massachusetts governor emerges as the nominee) be bold enough to reach out to the congressman.

Law School Applications in Downward Spiral

2012-02-01T13:30:00.000-05:00

Blogs like Inside the Law School Scam launched by "LawProf" seem to be having an affect because law school applications are apparently down nearly 17% over last year.

Marketplace forces at work.

There is increasing evidence that law schools have gamed their placement statistics to hide an imploding legal job market. Meanwhile law school graduates on the hook for huge tuition bills are facing years of "debtor's prison."

LawProf's blog makes for compelling reading and repeated visits. LawProf is also reporting that today 12 law schools have been hit with a class-action lawsuit for misrepresentation.

We do respectfully disagree with one contention on the blog. LawProf and the many active posters vehemently reject the premise that a law degree can open doors to alternative careers.

For what it's worth, a law degree has been extremely helpful to us in the writing/editing field, but admittedly the degree may no longer be a viable credential in today's marketplace.

Unlike a lot of the folks on that blog, we have no regrets about obtaining a J.D. perhaps because we attended law school at night (thanks to employer-provided educational benefits) while working full time and had significantly different expectations than those going full time right out of undergraduate college.

The work/school schedule was a long slog. How did we get through it? During lectures we looked forward to attacking the refrigerator after getting home from class and watching reruns of Tom Baker (shown above) portraying Dr. Who in the British science fiction series.

In 2012, in general based on available data, is a law degree worth pursuing? In a word, no.

Most Viewed Posts in January 2012

2012-02-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Visitors to this blog in the month of January 2012 gravitated to these posts the most. Thank you for your continuing readership and best wishes for the new year.

Union Bosses Want Your Personal Info

2012-01-31T09:27:00.000-05:00

Fed up with obnoxious telemarketing calls? How would you like to be harassed by union operatives when you answer the phone?

Speaking of regulatory overreach, while no one was paying attention on Friday afternoon, the union stooges on the National Labor Relations Board announced plans to move forward with a rule that will violate the personal privacy of non-unionized employees.

The Strokes of Candor blog has the story:

Undaunted by the constitutionally-questionable recess appointment of three members to Barack Obama’s National Labor Relations Board, union attorney and current NLRB chairman Mark Pearce declared in an Associated Press interview that he and his union comrades are continuing their assault on the 93% of private-sector employees who are union-free. In fact, if Obama’s union appointees have their way, all employees who are targeted for unionization will have their employers forced to turn over their home telephone number and e-mail addresses to unions...

The depths the NLRB will go to disrupt free enterprise and the backing it gets from Obama is reprehensible and yet another example of this administration’s anti-business sentiment. God help us from four more years.

Supreme Court Decision is Victory for Religious Liberty

2012-01-31T09:05:00.000-05:00

Civil libertarians, including those who aren't religious at all, or perhaps even atheists, would likely applaud the U.S. Supreme Court's recent unanimous decision that protects religious liberty/religious freedom under the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

While employers sometimes act in arbitrary (or worse) ways, that does not justify meddling by equally arbitrary (or worse) government bureaucrats, especially given widespread joblessness and economic dislocation.

The First Amendment states that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Under this amendment, federal appeals courts have traditionally recognized a "ministerial exception" that in general exempts religious institutions from employment laws. In Hosanna-Tabor vs. EEOC, the high court formally validated this exception.

In what may be its most significant religious liberty decision in two decades, the Supreme Court on [January 11] for the first time recognized a “ministerial exception” to employment discrimination laws, saying that churches and other religious groups must be free to choose and dismiss their leaders without government interference.

In the 9-0 decision that completed rejected the position taken by Obama administration lawyers, Chief Justice Roberts wrote in part:

Requiring a church to accept or retainan unwanted minister, or punishing a church for failing to do so, intrudes upon more than a mere employment decision. Such action interferes with the internal governanceof the church, depriving the church of control over the selection of those who will personify its beliefs. By imposing an unwanted minister, the state infringes the Free Exercise Clause, which protects a religious group’s right to shape its own faith and mission through its appointments. According the state the power to determine which individuals will minister to the faithful also violates the Establishment Clause, which prohibits government involvement in such ecclesiastical decisions...

The interest of society in the enforcement of employment discrimination statutes is undoubtedly important.But so too is the interest of religious groups in choosing who will preach their beliefs, teach their faith, and carry out their mission. When a minister who has been fired sues her church alleging that her termination was discriminatory, the First Amendment has struck the balance for us. The church must be free to choose those who will guide it on its way.

This assertion by the Competitive Enterprise Institute is a fitting description of all the radical, overreaching regulators that have infested this administration.

The extreme position taken by the Obama Justice Department in the Hosanna-Tabor case is a reflection of ideologically-based hiring. Under the Obama administration, the Justice Department has chosen to hire only liberal lawyers, not moderates or conservatives, for key Justice Department posts that are supposed to be non-political career appointments. Although many experienced lawyers are out of work in the current economic slump, the Obama Justice Department has hired many liberals who have no real-world legal experience, rather than hiring based on merit.

Lawyer Sues Ex For Online Posting Claiming He Cheated

2012-01-29T18:01:00.001-05:00

Remember that old joke about the fictional law firm by the name of Dewey, Cheatem & Howe?

Well, a prominent Connecticut lawyer is suing two jilted ex-girlfriends for posting negative feedback (is there any other kind?) about his alleged cheating on liarscheatersrus.com--a website that bills itself as "simply a source of support and discussion regarding the topic of infidelity and betrayal of trust."

The attorney's civil lawsuit alleges tortuous interference with prospective business relations.

Regardless of who did what to whom in terms of unfaithfulness, perhaps the most sordid aspect of this dispute is that the women are being representative by publicity seeking ambulance chaser Gloria Allred, who seemingly specializes in press conferences rather than actual appearances in court.

The People's Court: Justice or Just Us?

2012-01-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

photo credit: pvera via photopin cc

$5 million/year for what amounts to a part-time job?

Not bad at all.

That's what former Miami judge Marilyn Milian makes a year for presiding over TV's long-running The People's Court, according to today's New York Post, which claims the show has racheted up the controversy ("harsher and more sexualized in recent years") since the Judge Wapner era.

The Post article delves into how a recent plaintiff has gone to real court to stop an episode from being aired after she was allegedly humilated by the judge. Claudia Evert says that "“It was a nightmare, and I wish I never did it." The article also discusses missing person Michele Parker who disappeared shortly after her contentious appearance in the TV courtroom.

According to the article, the show pays the entire judgment for the loser in cases that originate in real small claims courts around the country as well as a nominal appearance fee to both litigants. This may be a change; some years back we saw a standard contract for the show that set forth a sliding scale of reimbursement based on the judgment amount. Since no money is apparently changing hands between the parties, it's interesting that the litigants still get very fired up when they plead their case on TV.

The long-running show is one of our guilty pleasures. The authors of the Post article aren't particularly enamored, however:

Milian, 50, is the fourth judge in the show’s history, and her immense popularity must be part of some visceral need Americans currently have to be hectored and lectured by well-coiffed middle-aged women (see: Nancy Grace, Judge Judy).

Milian, however, is a far more feminine, flirtatious presence. Although she also exhibits the Grace/Judge Judy brand of explosive, unpredictable female rage, her docket is far more sexed up, it’s cases like mini reality shows.

Our main issue with the show is that the judge sometimes doesn't allow the parties to get a word in edgewise (was that a timer next to her on the bench?). This may also be a function of having the litigants thoroughly pre-interviewed by producers. Yet, as we have written previously...

Okay, so she also showboats, grandstands, and yells at thelitigants, and she sometimes even prevents the parties from introducing all oftheir evidence. Yet, the show is unusually informative for the viewer in thatJudge Milian takes the time to explain how the principles of law apply to eachcase (as does the TMZ guy who does the wrap-around commentary in Times Square).

Another fun aspect of the show is when a plaintiff or defendant claims to have a key piece of evidence that will blow the case wide open, "but I don't have it with me."

Jenny Dell To Replace Heidi Watney on Red Sox TV

2012-01-28T08:09:00.000-05:00

Dude, you're getting a Dell.

Jenny Dell, that is.

According to various news outlets, including ESPN Boston, Jenny Dell will become the new Boston Red Sox in-game reporter on the NESN sports network. She replaces Heidi Watney who returned to the left coast.

Keystone Pipeline is Shovel Ready, but Obama Blocks it Anyway

2012-01-21T12:01:00.001-05:00

U.S. energy independence is both an economic and a national security issue. Canadian pundit Ezra Levant of the Sun News Network raises a basic question in this video: Why does the Obama administration prefer to buy oil from dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia and Venezuela rather than from our friend and ally Canada via the "shovel ready" Keystone XL Pipeline?

Does blocking the pipeline project make sense to anyone outside of radical environmentalists and other ideologues and cronies whose agenda supersedes the best interests of our country.

Levant: "Obama treats enemies like friends and friends like enemies."

If Prime Minister Stephen Harper does eventually go ahead and sell the oil to China instead, where does that leave us?

Writing at Forbes.com, Warren Meyer contends that that environmental impact concerns were exaggerated by those advocating "Medieval Socialism" and that "the Obama Administration could easily have approved the line with conditions or route modifications." Moreover...

The Keystone XL pipeline would have single-handedly carried more energy to the United States than the sum of all the green energy projects funded by the Obama Administration. And it would have done so entirely with private funds rather than the [Administration's] increasingly ill-fated and ham-handed attempts at venture capitalism with taxpayer funds. The fact of the matter is that, for the foreseeable future, opposing fossil fuels is equivalent to opposing energy use.

Let's stop politicizing science.

The Most Interesting Man in the...South Carolina Primary

2012-01-17T08:43:00.000-05:00

[Image ©Glenn Francis, www.PacificProDigital.com]

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum this week called front-running rival Mitt Romney "bland and boring."

Would any of remaining candidates, including Mr. Santorum himself, be considered charismatic?

If you were casting for the Dos Equis beer "the most interesting man in the world" radio and TV commercials, would any of these guys qualify?

We do know, however, that Newt Gingrich (particularly in his performance last night) is the best debater in the group.

The infighting among the the active candidates is one thing; what continues to be disturbing is the intense hostility among the commenters on the right-of-center blogs. "My candidate is perfect--your horrible candidate is fatally flawed." "My candidate is electable--your wretched candidate has no chance in November."

The actual comments aren't that polite.

If Romney is the nominee, we have no idea if he will be a good general election candidate. For one thing, in an ill-advised search for something to brag about in the 2008 presidential election, the former governor messed up bigtime by implementing RomneyCare in Massachusetts.

That being said, given the intellectually bankrupt mainstream media who will protect and push Obama at every turn, the Republican alternative--whoever he is--will have his hands full.

Only one person can get the GOP nomination. To save the country from socialism and crony capitalism, those on the right and in the middle must unite in support of that candidate in the 2012 general election.

To all those Romney bashers, as well as bashers of other candidates who seek "purity" on all issues, do you really want Obama by default spending four more years loading up the federal agencies and federal courts with radical ideologues?

Tim Tebow--All He Does is Win...Sometimes

2012-01-13T14:14:00.000-05:00

Except perhaps for Around the Horn's clown prince Woody Paige, no one is giving the Denver Broncos a chance against the New England Patriots in Saturday's NFL playoff match-up.

That being said, Tebow-mania appears to be here to stay regardless of what happens on the gridiron tomorrow night.

Here is DJ Steve Porter's superb tribute to the both maligned and celebrated former Florida quarterback featuring, among others, Paige's equally low-key ESPN colleague Skip Bayless:

Date Rape Allegation by Casey Anthony

2012-01-13T11:31:00.000-05:00

In newly released pre-trial depositions, America's non-sweetheart Casey Anthony claims that she became pregnant with her late daughter Caylee following what amounted to date rape at a 2004 party. Anthony told the court-appointed psychiatrist and psychologist (who never testified during the murder trial) that she was drugged and passed out at the party and has no idea who the father might have been.

Separately, the New York Post claims that Anthony wants to fire her lawyer Jose Baez because--get this--Baez is too much of a publicity hound to help her cash in on her fame:

Sources tell us Anthony is furious that Baez has been basking in the limelight and rubbing shoulders with top TV talent, but hasn’t nailed down a big interview deal for her.

Anthony is in hiding somewhere in Florida while serving a year of probation on an unrelated check fraud conviction.

New Hampshire Primary Vote Fraud

2012-01-13T11:06:00.002-05:00

New Hampshire's motto is "live free or die." It could also be "vote even you're dead."

In this video made on primary day, muckraker James O'Keefe reveals how easy it is to commit vote fraud in that state--and in other states that require no photo ID to vote or that fail to scrub the voter rolls of ineligible voters.

Only the Alice in Wonderland Democrats (including New Hampshire's governor who vetoed a voter ID bill) oppose reasonable efforts to prevent shenanigans at the polls.

Corrupt or incompetent state officials, aided and abetted by the U.S. Justice Department, are turning a blind eye to vote fraud--although in this case the New Hampshire attorney general claims he will conduct an investigation.

Requiring voters to show a photo ID before voting is one issue; fraud-prevention reforms also need to be made in the distribution of absentee ballots.

Is Illegal Immigration Still Illegal?

2012-01-09T10:00:00.000-05:00

In its ongoing efforts to circumvent Congress, the Obama administration has announced a new rule that would "significantly shorten the time that illegal immigrants would have to spend away from their U.S. citizen spouses or parents while seeking legal status." On the surface, it sound reasonable perhaps.

But Mark Krikorian, president of the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Washington Post that...

the rule change could encourage marriage fraud by taking the risks out of applying for a waiver. 'There’s a reason to make people leave the country when they’re applying,' he said. “If they get turned down, they’ve already deported themselves.”

The rule change, he said, “presupposes the approval of all applicants — and if you don’t get it, you just go back to what you were doing.”

The administration also already tried to implement a stealth amnesty program that undermines the rule of law and national security.

But it gets worse. Separately, the Daily reports that there is rampant corruption in the federal government when it comes to granting visas:

Higher-ups within U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services are pressuring rank-and-file officers to rubber-stamp immigrants’ visa applications, sometimes against the officers’ will, according to a Homeland Security report and internal documents exclusively obtained by The Daily.

A 40-page report, drafted by the Office of Inspector General in September but not publicly released, details the immense pressure immigration service officers are under to approve visa applications quickly, sometimes while overlooking concerns about fraud, eligibility or security.

One-quarter of the 254 officers surveyed said they have been pressured to approve questionable cases, sometimes “against their will.”

Once again, this administration puts politics above the rule of law and national security.

The left has a penchant for opening the floodgates to illegal immigration regardless of the consequences. The Labor Party in the U.K. (which was thrown out of office in 2010) did the same thing according to the London Telegraph:

The huge increases in migrants over the last decade were partly due to a politically motivated attempt by ministers to radically change the country and "rub the Right's nose in diversity", according to Andrew Neather, a former adviser to Tony Blair, Jack Straw and David Blunkett

He said Labour's relaxation of controls was a deliberate plan to "open up the UK to mass migration" but that ministers were nervous and reluctant to discuss such a move publicly for fear it would alienate its "core working class vote".

...Critics said the revelations showed a "conspiracy" within Government to impose mass immigration for "cynical" political reasons.

The Clinton/Gore administration apparently fast-tracked about one million aliens for naturalization in time for the 2000 election without going through the appropriate security checks but there was never a full investigation of this shady deal.

Through the White House Looking Glass

2012-01-09T09:22:00.000-05:00

With all the irrational, bad-faith, and unconstitutional actions by the Obama administration, we often thought we might be living in an Alice in Wonderland world--but figuratively speaking only.

Until now.

Apparently, the administration adopted its literal meaning, the New York Post reports:

It was the tea party the Obamas just couldn’t resist.

A White House “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball — put on by Johnny Depp and Hollywood director Tim Burton — proved to be a Mad-as-a-Hatter idea that was never made public for fear of a political backlash during hard economic times, according to a new tell-all...

The book reveals how any official announcement of the glittering affair — coming at a time when Tea Party activists and voters furious over the lagging economy, 10-percent unemployment rate, bank bailouts and Obama’s health-care plan were staging protests — quickly vanished down the rabbit hole.

Facebook Sending Couples to Splitsvile

2012-01-05T19:50:00.001-05:00

Christmas often comes a bit later for divorce lawyers. It is often said that attorneys who handle divorces get to cash a lot of checks in January from new clients. Once spouses with serious relationship troubles make it past the holidays, "it's a land rush," to quote Seinfield's Kramer (in another context).

But the January reverse nuptials may be on the way out. According to London's Daily Mail, there is something else in play beyond a couple on the verge of a breakup possibly feeling obligated to hold on on through the holiday season for the sake of the family. Apparently people are liking each other a little too much on Facebook.

Facebook is becoming a major factor in marriage breakdowns and is increasingly being used as a source of evidence in divorce cases, according to lawyers.

The social networking site was cited as a reason for a third of divorces last year in which unreasonable behaviour was a factor, according to law firm Divorce-Online.

The firm said it had seen a 50 per cent jump in the number of behaviour-based divorce petitions that contained the word ‘Facebook’ in the past two years.

As quoted in the article, the managing director of Divorce-Online added that "'People contact ex-partners and the messages start as innocent, but lead to trouble." He also warned about Facebook postings: "People need to be careful what they put on Facebook as the courts are now seeing a lot more evidence being introduced from people’s walls and posts in disputes over finances and children."

Is this Casey Anthony?

2012-01-05T19:17:00.000-05:00

This video diary allegedly made by Casey Anthony has leaked to the Internet:

[h/t Mediaite]

Erin Andrews Files Lawsuit in Internet Video Case

2012-01-02T10:36:00.000-05:00

[image credit: Neon Tommy]

Whether you are a celebrity or an just a ordinary person, being victimized by a stalker must be a horrible, disgusting experience. The law should come down on stalkers like a ton of bricks.

ESPN's Erin Andrews recently filed a civil lawsuit for invasion of privacy, negligence, and emotional distress against a Marriott hotel in Nashville and the peeping tom who filmed her through a hotel room peephole seeking a total of $10 million in damages. The perpetrator himself is already serving 2-1/2 years in federal prison for his misdeeds.

Reuters reports that...

According to the lawsuit, Andrews said the hotel was guilty of negligence for, among other things, allowing Barrett to know that Andrews was staying in the hotel and then allowing him to book a room next to her own. Andrews was in Nashville to cover a Vanderbilt University football game.

She also said the hotel was negligent for failing to discover Barrett altered the peephole of the plaintiff's hotel room door, allowing the videos to be taken.

The suit said the videotaping and posting of the nude images continues to cause Andrews "great emotional distress and embarrassment."

Presumably hotels around the country have retrofitted the peepholes to prevent this kind of sick activity from happening again to anyone.

The hotel room video went viral on the Internet as everyone probably remembers. In May 2010, Elisabeth Hasselback of The View got into a lot of trouble for saying that the convicted stalker could have avoided jail and seen almost as much of Andrews just by watching her on Dancing with the Stars. Hasselback apologized on air the next day.

Here are Hasselback's original remarks followed by what appears to be a heartfelt apology:

Hasselback, who parlayed a near-win on the second season of Survivor into a talk show career, is the token conservative on The View, which puts her under a lot of unfair pressure even on a good day. Despite the resources that she can likely command for prep work, however, Hasselback is sadly seldom able to effectively refute the usual liberal claptrap (based on the footage we've seen on the Internet) from all the other regulars on that show on a daily basis when the subject under discussion is politics.

In this particular instance, she stumbled into the minefield of political correctness that goes well beyond the usual partisan ideological conflicts (and during which one of the other panelists indicates that it's okay to be half naked if you're being paid).

For some reason, Eric Bolling of FNC'sThe Five described Hasselbeck as "so smart" in a November broadcast, which makes us glad Bolling is not managing our stock portfolio.

Irrespective of her lackluster debating skills, were Hasselback's original comments out of line? Or was she saying what others might have been thinking at the time?

Most Viewed Posts of 2011

2012-01-02T05:29:00.001-05:00

In case you missed any of these "brilliant" contributions the first time around, here are our most viewed postings of roughly the past year (actually more than a year taking into consideration that this blog was inactive for a period of time in 2011). Happy new year.

Dude Makes Grand Entrance to The People's Court

2012-01-02T05:09:00.000-05:00

This is being touted on several websites as the best People's Court entrance ever.

Actually, there is a better one: A defendant did a 360-degree spin as he came through the door as if he is auditioning for one of those talent search shows. When she took the bench, Judge Milian raked him over the coals for disrespecting the court. If anyone has this video, please send it our way.

This plaintiff made honorable mention:

Update: The Real Best People's Court Entrance Ever

A reader was kind enough to provide the link to the video that we discussed above. Here it is:

Most Viewed Posts in December 2011

2012-01-01T08:00:00.000-05:00

Visitors to this blog in the month of December 2011 gravitated to these posts the most. Thank you for your readership.

How to Remove Your Obama Bumper Sticker

2011-12-31T19:51:00.002-05:00

Order your BS removal kit (h/t HotAir.com)--operators are standing by:

But wait, there's more. In a follow-up video, Brad Stine responds to critics of the removal kit (which can actually be ordered from AmericanTees.com):

New Year's Resolution: Stop SOPA

2011-12-31T09:59:00.000-05:00

The attempt by government bureaucrats to get their regulatory hooks into your vitamin supplements is bad enough--now they want to come after the Internet.

Bipartisan opposition does, however, seem to be mounting against the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA)--which could lead to censorship on the web--that is pending in Congress.

Here's what the Electronic Frontier Foundation had to say about this onerous bill:

The "Stop Online Piracy Act"/"E-PARASITE Act" (SOPA) and "The PROTECT IP Act" (PIPA) are the latest in a series of bills which would create a procedure for creating (and censoring) a blacklist of websites. These bills are updated versions of the “Combating Online Infringements and Counterfeits Act" (COICA), which was previously blocked in the Senate. Although the bills are ostensibly aimed at reaching foreign websites dedicated to providing illegal content, their provisions would allow for removal of enormous amounts of non-infringing content including political and other speech from the Web.

...Had these bills been passed five or ten years ago, even YouTube might not exist today — in other words, the collateral damage from this legislation would be enormous.

Important Internet pioneers have also registered their strong opposition according to PCWorld:

What happens when you combine an overzealous drive to fight Internet piracy, with elected representatives who don’t know the difference between DNS, IM, and MP3? You get SOPA--draconian legislation that far exceeds its intended scope, and threatens the Constitutional rights of law abiding citizens. And it may just pass.

An open letter to Congress written by luminaries of the Internet, such as Vint Cerf--co-designer of TCP/IP, and Robert W. Taylor--founder of ARPAnet among others, implores Congress to back off and squash both SOPA, and its sibling PIPA legislation. The letter states, “If enacted, either of these bills will create an environment of tremendous fear and uncertainty for technological innovation, and seriously harm the credibility of the United States in its role as a steward of key Internet infrastructure.”

The letter goes on to ominously caution Congress. “If the US begins to use its central position in the network for censorship that advances its political and economic agenda, the consequences will be far-reaching and destructive."

...If the bill passes, it could have devastating, cascading consequences that ripple across the Internet and affect the freedom and civil liberties of every citizen of the United States. It seems our current elected representatives may just be dumb and/or crazy enough to pass it, though—so speak up and let your representative and senators know what you think of SOPA.

Members of Congress such as Darrell Issa and Jason Chafetz (see videos below) are leading the the effort to keep the Internet open and free. Have you contacted your congressional representative to stop SOPA?

New Year's Flashback: McNuggets Rage

2011-12-31T09:26:00.000-05:00

New Year's Day 2010: At about 6:00 a.m., an Ohio motorist had drive-thru rage when she found out that Chicken McNuggets weren't available on the breakfast menu. According to The Smoking Gun, she later plea bargained to 60 days in jail and three years probation.

More Legal Trouble for Casey Anthony

2011-12-30T18:05:00.001-05:00

Casey Anthony, who was found not guilty on July 5 of her daughter's murder, has apparently not seen the last of the courthouse:

Casey Anthony is being sued for defamation by the man who discovered her 2-year-old daughter's body.

In a lawsuit filed [December 21], Roy Kronk accuses the Florida woman and and her lawyers of slanderously trying to shift the blame for Caylee Anthony's tragic death onto him, Reuters reported.

Kronk, a former meter reader, discovered Caylee's remains in the woods near Anthony's home in December 2008.

Another defamation case, brought by nanny Zenaida Gonzalez, is already pending against Anthony. In that case, a Florida judge ruled today that Anthony cannot be forced to testify while her criminal appeal on charges of lying to law enforcement (the only counts for which the jury convicted her in the murder case) is pending. The case is scheduled for trial in April.

Texas EquuSearch is also suing Anthony to recoup the costs of searching for Casey over five months.

Gonzalez gave a 12-hour deposition back in late November:

Obama's Media Wingmen and Women Continue to Give Him a Pass

2011-12-30T17:38:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder how the journalists in the mainstream media look at themselves in the mirror in the morning? For example, the media went nuts because George W. Bush continued his fitness regimen in the White House when he should have been attending to--according to them--more serious matters.

Have they made a peep about the amount of time Obama spends on the links?

According to the White House Dossier blog, Obama's December 26 outing at Marine Corps Base Hawaii was the 90th time he played golf during his presidency (President Bush, in eight years, wasn't even close).

With this one, Obama reaches a new milestone, having gone golfing 90 times in less than three years as president. That’s about three months of golf, given that the excursions generally take about five hours – much of the useful portion of the day.

What’s more, it’s the 32nd time he’s been on the links this year, a record for the president. His 32 outings eclipses the 2010 mark of 30 and is far ahead of his 2009 tally of 28 rounds as president.

In addition to trotting the very debatable assertion that Obama takes less vacation time than Bush (and virtually ignoring the First Lady's lavish holidays on the taxpayer's dime), the media continues to cover for him in other, more substantive ways. Consider this from RealClearPolitics:

Over the past five months, the Republican presidential candidates participated in 13 debates where they fielded dozens of penetrating questions on every major issue facing the nation, and some not so major...

Yet, during all that time, the man they hope to defeat next November has rarely been asked by news reporters about many of these issues. Since August, President Obama has held only one formal White House news conference. That came on Oct. 6, nearly three months ago. It lasted 74 minutes, shorter than any single Republican debate, and the president was asked 17 questions, most of them softballs on the economy and his latest legislative proposals to create jobs...

Obama’s ability to avoid tough questions, skate above the fray and look presidential while his potential successors appear to be futilely flailing is not by accident. It is by White House design, abetted by a press corps that seems content with being shut out by the president and being spoon-fed the message of the day, rather than clamoring for more chances to ask him questions during this critical time.

Again, the media would be going bananas if a Republican president was ducking press conferences.

Although the infiighting is troubling (and we disagree to some degree with the premise of "flailing"), the GOP debates are only a warmup for what the the Obama reelection campaign a.k.a. the mainstream media will dish out against the eventual Republican nominee. So to the extent that the primary debates are psychologically toughening up and focusing the ultimate nominee, especially when most of America is paying little attention, they can be a good thing.

The Winner of the Iowa Caucus is...

2011-12-29T11:14:00.000-05:00

Despite President Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment ("Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican"), the infighting among the GOP presidential candidates as voting for in the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary draws near, while profoundly disappointing, is perhaps to be expected. It is also getting boring, which is why most ordinary Americans find themselves disengaged from politics with good reason. The negatives ads that the GOP rivals are dropping on each other in Iowa are only a warmup for what the Obama reelection campaign a.k.a. the mainstream media will dish out in the fall.

But the vitriolic comments on the various right-of-center blogs (and sometimes on TV) have been unbelievable. Perhaps some are paid trolls from the opposition, but the hostility to Candidate A by someone who supports Candidate B (or C, D, or E) seems way out of bounds. Express a preference for one candidate--that's great, go for it, knock yourself out--but hysterical diatribes are something else again.

And to what end? Granted this roster of candidates is far from A-list perhaps. The GOP has a strong roster of governors but unfortunately none of them are ready for this particular cycle. That's the reality. But once there is an official nominee, that person will be vested by default with a certain amount of stature. [As an aside, in an odd way it's kind of like a title switch in pro wrestling from back in the heyday of the 80s and 90s. Suddenly the challenger who "won" the belt (promoters call it "dropping the strap") who might have been viewed as a "jobber" or also-ran becomes elevated to the top of the card.]

Aren't most politicians full of it to a greater or lesser degree? That being said, to rescue the country from socialism and crony capitalism, one has unify around and to vote for whoever the Republicans eventually nominate, despite the flaws of that particular person. It's that simple. If you believe in personal freedom and economic freedom, the stakes are just too high.

Please remember, when you cast a presidential ballot, you're not just voting for one man or woman. You are voting for hundreds/thousands of officials who will carry out the president's policies. Does anyone want Obama to have four additional years, for example, to appoint radical leftists to the federal courts, let alone the Supreme Court?

A commenter on the InstaPundit blog put it well:

You know, I just wish that my friends on the Right—whom all say that they detest the policies of Barack Obama and his supporters—would just soldier their way through this next election. I’m afraid they will sit it out, in a electoral fit of pique because the nominee isn’t conservative enough or is too conservative or whatever.

After we get this gang (and I use that word intentionally) out of the Oval Office, then, my friends on the Right can form their Third Party, or push a candidate that they feel is “conservative enough” and so forth.

2012 is too important. And sitting out the election, or carping about a particular candidate…well, it just makes Axelrod smile. And it smooths the path not toward “Four More Years,” but “Four Worse Years.”

Along these similar lines, Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr is right on target in addressing dissatisfaction with the record of U.S. Sen. Scott Brown who only voted with the GOP leadership 75% of the time:

Next year is going to be a tough fight. Would you prefer someone who’s with you 75 percent of the time ... or 3 percent?

And now the moonbats have settled on one of their own. Professor Elizabeth Warren is just so ... perfect. She’s a carpetbagger, from Oklahoma. And she teaches at (prepare to swoon) Harvard Law School. Yes, the home of Obama, Kagan and Patrick. What could possibly go wrong?

You know that she bragged about providing the “intellectual foundations” to the filthy Occupy vermin who defecated on New York City police cars. More recently she said, “I don’t want to go to Washington to be a co-sponsor of some bland little bill nobody cares about.”

Nobody except the person who asks you to write a letter to the U.S. Naval Academy on behalf of their son. Or who needs some help getting Social Security for their aunt.

This state already has one preening narcissist in the Senate. Do we really need another legend-in-her-own-mind limousine liberal?

I know, it’s early, but all you Brown haters, be careful what you wish for. Do you really want six years of buyer’s remorse?

Appeals Court Reinstates Political Discrimination Lawsuit

2011-12-29T10:13:00.002-05:00

As we mentioned in a prior post about James Franco, adjunct or part-time college faculty (i.e., without tenure or job security) usually have to navigate a public relations minefield in terms of student evaluations to make sure their contracts get renewed.

Getting a college teaching job (and especially qualifing for a full-time or tenured positon) often requires a strong publishing track record, but there's a Catch-22 in relation to political ideology: Try getting hired or promoted in academia if you have right-of-center publications or activity. In general, fuggedaboutit.

So anyone who supports the First Amendment should applaud the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit for reinstating a political discrimination case for trial in federal district court.

As a result of the appellate panel's ruling, Teresa Wagner "who alleges she was denied a job at the University of Iowa College of Law because of her conservative politics can proceed with a discrimination lawsuit against the school’s former dean," The Wall Street Journal reports.

Wagner, a registered Republican and known social conservative, was a part-time instructor at the college's Writing Resource Center who was turned down for a full-time gig despite apparently having the appropriate credentials and recommendations. A lower court judge had dismissed the case but the appeals court determined that there was enough of a dispute over whether then law school dean Carolyn Jones “would have made the same hiring decisions in the absence of Wagner’s political affiliations and beliefs” to put the case back on the trial docket.

According to the On Brief blog, there is only one registered Republican among the 50 faculty members at Iowa's law school.

Justice Department: Vote Early, Vote Late, Vote Often

2011-12-24T13:17:00.001-05:00

In daily life, we in general have to assume good faith in our transactions with others, otherwise as a practical matter we'll be consumed with doubt and unable to get things done.

But can anyone attribute good faith to th U.S. Justice (so-called) Department?

The latest outrage is that DOJ rejected South Carolina's voter ID law on the basis of alleged "racial disparities" according to Assistant AG Thomas Perez. Relying on the provisions of the Voting Rights Act, the agency will likely block similar measures recently enacted in other states.

This phony-baloney decision really amounts to the DOJ under Eric Holder simply wanting to make vote rigging and vote fraud easier just in time for the 2012 presidential election.Again, as we have mentioned previously, if you need to show a picture ID for mundane activities such as getting on a plane, buying booze or cigarettes, picking up a package at UPS or the Post Office, or in some cases completing a credit card transaction, why in the world should any reasonable person oppose showing a driver's license or other valid photo identification at the polls? And isn't it an insult to any individual or group to assume that they can't get it together to obtain a photo ID?

Presenting a picture ID at the polls was "endorsed by the Commission on Federal Election Reform headed by President Jimmy Carter and former Secretary of State James Baker in 2005 to protect the integrity of the ballot," the WSJ adds.

The DOJ action based on make-believe discrimination defies common sense. But it comes from the same fantasy world federal government that fails to enforce immigration law but sues states that do.

Earlier this week (before the South Carolina decision was announced, although the handwriting was on the wall), The Wall Street Journal decried Holder's use of the race card to oppose voter ID in a recent speech:

Mr. Holder says the Civil Rights Division led by Thomas Perez will review the policies and impartially "apply the law." If that's true, Mr. Perez's job should be easy: In 2005, Justice approved a nearly identical law in Georgia. In 2008's Crawford v. Marion County Election Board, the Supreme Court likewise ruled 6-3 that an Indiana law requiring photo ID at the ballot box was constitutional....

That isn't good enough for Mr. Holder, who says his department's priority is to "expand the franchise." But expand it for whom, exactly? The vast majority of voters already have the necessary photo ID, which they need to get through airport security or register for a grocery-store savings card.

Plaintiffs put up by liberal lawsuit shops routinely claim that ID laws endanger the rights of hundreds of thousands, but lawsuits in Indiana and Georgia were dismissed because they couldn't produce a single eligible voter who'd been turned away due to the ID requirement. Turnout has risen in states that have passed the voter ID laws, with no adverse impact on minorities.

Texas is apparently next on the chopping block. DOJ whistleblower J. Christian Adams recommends that "The way to save Texas voter ID is to withdraw the objection, immediately, and file in federal court on Tuesday. The way to save South Carolina voter ID is to file in court immediately. Stop wasting time with the corrupt leftist bureaucrats at the Justice Department."

Hopefully South Carolina, Texas, and other similar situated states will immediately use all the legal means at their disposal to overturn the DOJ bureaucracy.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Chris Christie Schools Mika Brzezsinki on Liberal Bias

2011-12-23T15:03:00.000-05:00

Although the payroll tax cut debate is (for now) moot, America's Governor, Chris Christie, staged an intervention for Obama worshipper Mika Brzezsinki on Morning Joe on Tuesday.

Brzezsinki is hardly the only "journalist" in the media that defines compromise as caving to the Democrats and the administration, however.

Does anyone know why Christie watches this lame show every day?

Fesitivus for the Rest of Us...

2011-12-23T14:43:00.001-05:00

Happy Festivus!

Surveillance Video: Alleged Copper Thief Takes Fall

2011-12-23T07:56:00.000-05:00

Copper thievery seems to be a crime wave in America. A Miami police official told local media that "copper theft has become a major national security and public safety issue."

The Coalition Against Copper Theft explains:

Since commodity prices for copper have more than doubled in the past two years, the theft of copper from telephone lines, electrical substations, highway infrastructure and residential homes has grown exponentially. A conservative estimate by the Department of Energy indicates copper wire theft costs this nation almost $1 billion per year. More importantly is the human cost with a clear and definitive link between stealing copper and illegal drug use, primarily methamphetamines.

In this Miami school surveillance video, a burglar falls about 25 feet in his attempt to cop some coppper. The suspect, who crawled away from the scene, is still at large.

Wisconsin Teacher Threatened for Speaking Out

2011-12-21T11:33:00.000-05:00

A Wisconsin teacher who exercised her First Amendment rights to support Scott Walker and oppose the attempt to unseat him in the recall effort is being harassed and threatened by union operatives using "Saul Alinsky" tactics:

BigGovernment.com notes the irony: "We could have sworn we recently read something about teachers unions in various states working to curb school bullying. Apparently they don’t practice what they preach."

The sky actually didn't fall after Walker's modest collective bargaining reforms went into effect:

Is Law Review Another Scam?

2011-12-21T10:39:00.000-05:00

If you've ever sat down in a college library (as we have) and read through some of the humanities journals, you would have discovered that much of academic scholarship consists of tedious political propaganda masquerading as legitimate research.

We always thought that the legal scholarship as published in (presumed) prestigious and resume-enhancing law reviews was in general different. After all, the material is based on real-world cases--at least as appeals courts review the "facts"--with real-world application.

So in the spirit (or more particularly, dis-spirit) of the season, is it time to stop believing in Santa Claus as it were?

In yet another compelling blog post at the muckraking Inside the Law School Scam, "LawProf" maintains that law reviews are also bogus and, to make matters worse, lack the peer review that is usually standard in other disciplines:

Legal scholarship is produced under pseudo-academic conditions that form a fertile breeding ground for (very heavily footnoted) bullshit. Consider how legal academic publication almost always takes place. People who generally possess no formal academic training beyond what they received in law school (that is, none) write "law review articles." In the vast majority of cases, these articles consist of "doctrinal analysis," i.e., treating appellate court opinions... as texts that deserve to be taken seriously on their own terms. We are already, in other words, knee-deep in bullshit.

But it gets worse. Who is doing the evaluating of the supposed cogency of this analysis? Law students, that's who. So people who, incredibly enough, are even more ignorant than law professors about the actual legal system are charged with undertaking the equivalent of academic peer review for the purposes of legal scholarship. That contemporary research universities tolerate this charade can best be explained by examining the average law school's balance sheet, which will reveal that a nice chunk of the revenue generated by the school's operations is mulcted by central administrators in an example of what medieval Vikings called "raiding," but contemporary academic bureaucrats refer to as "cross-subsidization."

Read the whole posting here.

James Franco: D Student

2011-12-20T11:22:00.000-05:00

[image credit: Vanessa Lua]

Rise of the Planet of the Apes star James Franco was apparently monkeying around when he was supposed to be in class at New York University--but it was the professor that gave him a D for poor attendance that got into trouble according to a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by the professor.

James Franco’s tired James Dean act got an NYU professor booted from the school last year — after the teacher dared to give the overhyped Hollywood hunk a “D” for blowing off class, a lawsuit charges.

José Angel Santana said he slapped the “127 Hours’’ star with the bad grade because he missed 12 of his 14 “Directing the Actor II” classes while pursuing a master’s in fine arts.Santana said he then suffered all kinds of drama — first from Franco, who publicly ridiculed him, then from his department, which axed him over the “D.”

“The school has bent over backwards to create a Franco-friendly environment, that’s for sure,” Santana, 58, told The Post. “The university has done everything in its power to curry favor with James Franco.”

Santana, who is suing NYU in Manhattan Supreme Court for his job back, asserts that Franco, whose career took off after a 2001 portrayal of James Dean, acted like a rebel without a clue in his other courses, too, blowing off just as many classes. But the star’s other professors at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts still gave him good grades, Santana said.

...“In my opinion, they’ve turned the NYU graduate film degree into swag for James Franco’s purposes, a possession, something you can buy,” Santana said.

Leaving aside the facts or allegations of this particular case, we know from personal knowledge that adjunct professors (who are often on a semester-to-semester contract) often have to run a public relations tightrope if they like and want to keep the gig. While they have to uphold academic standards and treat all students fairly and equally, even one bad student evaluation or a complaint--even if bogus--could result in the non-renewing of the teaching contract.

Santana is listed as a "visiting professor" which is at a much higher level than an ordinary adjunct but nonetheless does not provide the same kind of job security as those enjoyed by tenure-protected faculty members.

Here is Prof. Santana talking about the case with the guys from TMZ:

video platform video management video solutions video player

Added: Here is the take of the Franco case by Taiwan CGI studio Next Media Animation:

Evil Republicans Explained

2011-12-18T20:23:00.000-05:00

If you wonder what makes those greedy, fascistic Republicans tick, Bill Whittle may have the answer in this video:

Whittle also explains the difference between the Occupy movement and the Tea Party:

Near Miss: Motorist Avoids Head-On Collision with Tractor Trailer

2011-12-17T16:18:00.001-05:00

As we head into winter, next time you find yourself getting impatient while driving on a snow- or ice-covered road, you might want to keep this video (from Russia) in mind:

Obamas Fly Separately to Hawaii for Christmas

2011-12-17T15:45:00.002-05:00

Last summer, Daily News columnist and The Five co-host Andrea Tantaros referred to Michelle Obama as a "Modern Day Marie Antoinette" for among other things her lavish vacation in Spain partially on the taxpayer's dime.

Since then, nothing has changed, despite a presidential executive order about avoiding unnecessary federal travel costs. In this video, hapless White House spokesman Jay Carney, a former "journalist," lamely tries to justify the First Lady separately flying to Hawaii on a taxpayer-funded military jet on the family "annual holiday trip" instead of waiting for the president to join her on the same plane.

According to the Hawaii Reporter, "Mrs. Obama’s early flight to Hawaii costs about $63,000 (White House Dossier), but add security and personnel for a total of about $100,000," while the the total cost of the family trip is at least $4 million.

The Daily Mail asks: "With thousands of families struggling to raise funds for Christmas, you would think the Obamas might manage a little thriftiness."

On the subject of vacations, Keith Koffler of the aforementioned White House Dossier blog wrote the following back in August:

First Lady Michelle Obama over the last year has spent a total of 42 days on vacation, or a little more than one out of every nine days, according to a White House Dossier analysis of her travel.

Her vacations, the cost of which are mostly borne by taxpayers, include trips to Panama City, Fla., Martha’s Vineyard, Hawaii, South Africa, Latin America, Vail, Colo., and her visit this week to her brother in Corvallis, Ore.

The total does not include a nine day sojourn in Martha’s Vineyard that the Obamas will enjoy this month. Nor does it include a trip she made to Ireland and Great Britain in May, which I’m counting as official travel...

Mrs. Obama’s extensive vacation travel comes while many America citizens find themselves out of work or having trouble making ends meet as the economic recovery stalls.

Taxpayers pick up most of the cost of transporting the first lady and her extensive entourage – including Secret Service and her staff – to her various destinations. While she may in some cases pay some of the tab for her personal expenses and travel, the amount is dwarfed by the overall cost to the public.

China Gives Failing Grades to Liberal Arts Curriculum

2011-12-17T15:03:00.003-05:00

Does Florida Governor Rick Scott (who wants to de-emphasize state funding for liberal arts degrees) and China may have something in common when it comes to creating real jobs for college graduates?

Much like the U.S., China is aiming to address a problematic demographic that has recently emerged: a generation of jobless graduates. China’s solution to that problem, however, has some in the country scratching their heads.

China’s Ministry of Education announced [in late November] plans to phase out majors producing unemployable graduates, according to state-run media Xinhua. The government will soon start evaluating college majors by their employment rates, downsizing or cutting those studies in which the employment rate for graduates falls below 60% for two consecutive years.

Separately, does this description resonate at all with the U.S. under the Obama administration?

State-controlled media portray China's leaders as living by the austere Communist values they publicly espouse. But as scions of the political aristocracy carve out lucrative roles in business and embrace the trappings of wealth, their increasingly high profile is raising uncomfortable questions for a party that justifies its monopoly on power by pointing to its origins as a movement of workers and peasants.

Supreme Court To Review Arizona Immigration Law

2011-12-14T09:41:00.003-05:00

Instead of securing the border and enforcing immigration law, the Obama administration would rather use its resources to file lawsuits against states that want to get serious about enforcement when the federal government won't do it's job. Similarly, rather than rooting out vote fraud, the U.S. Justice Department wants to make vote fraud easier.

Do you see a trend here?

It's almost as if DOJ lawyers decided to emulate Seinfeld's George Costanza by doing the opposite of what is rational--except that Costanza's reversal made sense in the context of the show!

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear Arizona's appeal of the 9th Circuit ruling that blocked the state's immigration measure. Justice Kagan has recused herself from the case, as she should also do in the upcoming Obamacare appeal.

The expectation is that the High Court will allow at least part of the Arizona law to go into effect, but time will tell.

In the meantime, there are reports that the administration will draw down the token number of National Guard troops at the border.

Barney Frank: Thanks For Nothing

2011-12-14T09:15:00.003-05:00

In the 2008 presidential debates, Sen. John McCain inexplicably failed to inform the American people that Democrats--including then-Sen. Obama, former Sen. Chris Dodd, and Congressman Barney Frank--blocked any reforms to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the quasi-government agencies that helped bring about the subprime mortgage meltdown. While the economy cratered thanks in part to those corrupt government-sponsored enterprises, Democrats continued to use them as as a massive slush fund.

Frank was the genius that claimed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "are fundamentally sound, that they are not in danger of going under."

In the recent debates, Herman Cain appropriately remarked that the much ballyhooed Dodd-Frank financial reform statute still does not rein in either of these key agencies. (He also famously quipped that the other two problems with the bill were "Dodd and Frank.")

The former chair of the House Financial Services Committee, in late November Frank announced his retirement from Congress after serving 16 terms in office.

The Waterbury (Conn.) Republican-American summed up Frank's career as follows:

With his fellow Democrat, former Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Rep. Frank, D-Mass., shoulders much of the blame for today's economic catastrophe and the fiscal crises plaguing governments at all levels. They spent years pushing policies that ultimately required lenders, under the threat of government retribution and political demagoguery, to write mortgages, for borrowers with little or no down payment and no hope of repaying.

To backstop trillions in reckless borrowing, Rep. Frank and then-Sen. Dodd helped establish Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as the No. 1 buyer of worthless mortgages and then blocked any number of attempts to reform those government-sponsored enterprises to keep them from failing.

All the while, they combined to rake many tens of thousands in campaign contributions from Fannie and Freddie, according to the Center for Responsive Politic

Here is, in part, National Review Online's send off for the Congressman:

But though his private life spilled over into his public duties, it is as a champion of a different kind of pay-for-play operation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that the congressman did the most damage to the country. The government-backed mortgage giants were at the center of the housing bubble and the subsequent financial crisis. Representative Frank was a stalwart defender of the organizations, even after the government uncovered “extensive” fraud at Fannie Mae and found that Freddie Mac had illegally channeled funds to its political benefactors. Again, Representative Frank’s personal life intruded into the story: He was sexually involved with a Fannie Mae executive during a time when he was voting on laws affecting the organization. The final cost of the Fannie/Freddie bailouts will run into the hundreds of billions of dollars, and the real damage that the organizations did to the U.S. economy — and the world economy, for that matter — probably is incalculable.

In response to a financial crisis in which he was a significant figure, Representative Frank helped to craft a financial-reform law that bears his name. The drafting of Dodd-Frank began as a punitive measure, evolved into a dispensary of political favors, and in the end did little or nothing to address the problems that led to the 2008–09 crisis or to prevent similar crises in the future. Which means that we may have Barney Frank partly to thank not only for the last financial crisis but for the next one.

After 32 years in office advocating virtually every half-baked liberal policy, Frank finally got something right. He is apparently supporting the repeal of the Obamacare "death panels" (those same death panels that supposedly didn't exist in the socialized medicine scheme according to all the Palin bashers):

Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Barney Frank announced on [November 29] his support for the repeal of the Independent Payment Advisory Board, a significant portion of President Obama’s health care overhaul...IPAB is a 15-member board, appointed by the president, scheduled to convene in 2014. In order to reduce per capita Medicare spending, the board will recommend levels at which Medicare recipients, including seniors, can be reimbursed for health care expenses.

Newt Gingrich Speaks Truth to Power

2011-12-13T11:26:00.000-05:00

He may yet implode as a presidential candidate, but "good on you" (as they say in Australia, at least according to one movie we just watched) Newt Gingrich for some candor about the Israeli-Palestinian situation.Jerusalem Post columnist and Middle East expert Caroline Glick supports Gingrich's "invention" thesis:

His statement about the Palestinians was entirely accurate. At the end of 1920, the "Palestinian people" was artificially carved out of the Arab population of "Greater Syria." "Greater Syria" included present-day Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. That is, the Palestinian people were invented 91 years ago. Moreover, as Gingrich noted, the term "Palestinian people" only became widely accepted after 1977.

Ron Prosor, Israel's U.N. ambassador, recently stated the following:

“From 1948 until 1967, the West Bank was part of Jordan, and Gaza was part of Egypt.” Prosor stated. “The Arab world did not lift a finger to create a Palestinian state. And it sought Israel's annihilation when not a single settlement stood anywhere in the West Bank or Gaza.”

Despite recent anti-Israel remarks by Obama administration officials Howard Gutman and Leon Panetta, Obama vaingloriously praised himself (during yet another fundraiser) for protecting Israel's security. Given the actual track record, Charles Krauthammer says the president is delusional:

Prominent YouTube commentator and gadfly Pat Condell, apparently a former Israel basher (and an atheist) who has reversed course, discusses among other things in this video the "Palestinian public relations industry" otherwise known as the Western media:

Putting differing historical interpretations aside, lets say the two-state solution was implemented tomorrow. Does any reasonable person really believe that this would actually solve widespread Middle East turmoil?

At the End of the Day, It Gets Dark...

2011-12-11T12:23:00.001-05:00

How about a New Year's resolution to give trite or way overused expressions (that particularly pop up in the political season but really all year round) a rest?

As an aside, can we also please get rid of uptalk (a.k.a."high rising terminal")? That is the annoying tendency for the speaker to end a declarative sentence as if it is question.

Getting back to the worn-out or stale phrases, while in general they sometimes fit the situation, more often they often just create noise or doubt.

In no particular order, here are some of the prime offenders in the media or periodically in ordinary discourse:

"To be honest with you" "To tell you the truth" or "Honestly..." [big red flag--especially when the speaker is under oath]
"Absolutely" [What's wrong with just "Yes"?]
"Basically..."
"Exactly right" [why is "exactly" necessary?]
"At the end of the day..."
"It is what it is"
"singing Kumbaya"[this is NOT funny any more if it ever was]
"That being said..." [zinger follows]
"Throwing [someone] under the bus" [that bus is responsible for a huge body count]
"Comfortable in his own skin"
"Tax cuts for the rich"
"He's a good character guy," "he's a class act" -- variant "He's a good clubhouse guy" [from sports--but no longer used to describe the same player after the inevitable DUI or domestic violence arrest occurs]
"Thanks for taking my call" [from talk radio, where the whole idea is to take calls]
"How ya doin'" [this was old when The Sopranos was new]
"Existential threat" [Please let us not hear this in the presidential debates ever again.]
"I don't have a dog in the fight"
"I have your back" or "You have my back"
Sports fans who oddly use the word "we" to describe their favorite team even though they aren't employed by the team, have no family employed by the team, or own stock in the team.
"Beyond the pale"
"Politics ain't beanbag"
"I'm not gonna lie"
Starting a sentence with "I mean"

We may continue to add to this list "going forward"-- or is that now "moving forward"?

Please let us know your least favorites too!

Update: By coincidence, shortly after the above was posted, Marist College came out with its annual survey of the most annoying words or phrases in casual conversation based on a sample of about 1,000 adults. The Marist Poll results indicated that the top five most annoying words (in order) are:

whatever
like
you know
just sayin'
seriously

Further update:At year-end, Lake Superior State University (Michigan) released its list of banished words for 2012 as follows:

Amazing [yes, this overused word should have been on our list too]
Baby Bump
Shared Sacrifice
Occupy
Blowback
Man Cave
The New Normal
Pet Parent [haven't heard this one in common use at all]
Win the Future
Trickeration
Ginormous
Thank you in advance

ACORN Vote Fraudsters Gearing Up For 2012

2011-12-11T12:10:00.001-05:00

Speaking of vote fraud, this report by Matthew Vadum from The American Spectator is guaranteed to make your blood boil:

Leaders of the resurrected radical group ACORN are lobbying the Obama administration in what appears to be a concerted effort to game the electoral system to help Democrats, new evidence suggests.

At least five Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now leaders have visited the White House this year alone. One of those ACORN officials has been involved in vetting Department of Justice hires who may help to enforce the voter fraud-enabling National Voting Rights Act (NVRA), also known as the Motor-Voter law. The Department has come under fire for refusing to enforce Section 8, which requires states to remove the names of ineligible felons, the dead, and non-residents from voter rolls, while zealously enforcing Section 7, which requires states to register voters at welfare offices.

Vadum adds that the ACORN-afilliated Project Vote "have filed a rash oflawsuits recently in several states in an attempt to pressure stateofficials into backing off investigations into voter fraudallegations."

Bill Clinton signed the Motor-Voter legislation into law.

Read the whole article here.

Dude Signs Walker Recall Petitions 80 Times

2011-12-11T11:44:00.000-05:00

More fraud in the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall: You're only supposed to sign once under state law of course, but this guy claims he put his signature on Scott Walker recall petitions about 80 times. It's all fair game to "cheat to get Scott Walker out of here," he says.

Democrats say they are "discouraging" this practice and are weeding out duplicate signatures.

Would you like to buy a bridge?

Defense Department: Ft. Hood Massacre was Workplace Violence

2011-12-07T17:42:00.000-05:00

Remember when the Obama administration inexplicably renamed a terrorist attack as a man-caused disaster?

Well, believe it or not, U.S. military officials appear to have doubled down on political correctness by referring to the Ft. Hood massacre as merely "workplace violence."

Congressional leaders weren't pleased reports Fox News:

Sen. Susan Collins on Wednesday blasted the Defense Department for classifying the Fort Hood massacre as workplace violence and suggested political correctness is being placed above the security of the nation's Armed Forces at home.

During a joint session of the Senate and House Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, the Maine Republican referenced a letter from the Defense Department depicting the Fort Hood shootings as workplace violence. She criticized the Obama administration for failing to identify the threat as radical Islam...The chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, Connecticut independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, said the military has become a "direct target of violent Islamist extremism" within the United States.

The BlackFive military blog adds this comment about homegrown terrorism:

I really don’t know what more to say other than I agree with Senator Collins. What happened at Ft. Hood wasn’t a case of “workplace violence”, it was a case of a radicalized Islamist going on a murderous rampage because of his radicalization. It was also a total failure of leaders to recognize the threat and act on it well before it ended in the death of 13 at the Texas military installation.

If the Obama administration was in charge on December 7, 1941, what absurd terminology would they have dreamed up to describe the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor?

Added: Political correctness-bonus coverage:

Pearl Harbor 70th Anniversary Tribute

2011-12-07T17:16:00.000-05:00

Life.com commemorates Pearl Harbor Day, December 7, "a date which will live in infamy," with these rare and heretofore unseen photographs.

And here is some newly discovered footage of the actual attack:

U.S. Rifles Diverted to Drug Traffickers

2011-12-07T16:14:00.001-05:00

As if the Fast and Furious scandal wasn't bad enough, CBS News reports that the U.S. State Department gave a green light to "direct commercial sales" of weapons to Mexico even though many of these guns were falling into the hands of drug cartels.

Democrats Probed For Obama Petition Fraud

2011-12-07T15:38:00.001-05:00

In a parallel to the identity fraud that may be involved in the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall, Democrat operatives are under under investigation in Indiana for allegedly faking signatures on petitions that got Barack Obama on the ballot in the 2008 primary.

"Celebrity Apprentice" Contestant Sentenced to 14-Year Prison Sentence

2011-12-07T15:14:00.001-05:00

Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat, today received a 14-year federal prison sentence for trying to cash in on appointing someone to fill Barack Obama's open U.S. Senate seat. As heard on a wiretap, the governor famously called the opportunity to make the appointment "f*****g golden."

Shortly before Thanksgiving, another one of Obama's Chicago associates, Tony Rezko, was sentenced to 10-1/2 years in prison on corruption charges. Presumably both men know a lot more about political misdeeds (otherwise known as the "Chicago Way") particular as they related to the Obama organization than they publicly revealed during the legal proceedings.

"Blago" was fired during the third season of The Celebrity Apprentice mainly for not knowing how to use a computer, something he now will have plenty of time to learn.

In 2010, Republican Mark Kirk defeated the Democrat machine candidate in the election to fill Obama's term. He also won a full six-year term in office.

Added: NewGeography.com executive editor Joel Kotkin writes in part:

Most critics of Barack Obama’s desultory performance the past three years trace it to his supposedly leftist ideology, lack of experience and even his personality quirks. But it would perhaps be more useful to look at the geography — of Chicago and the state of Illinois — that nurtured his career and shaped his approach to politics. Like with George W. Bush and Texas, this is a case where you can’t separate the man from the place.

The Chicago imprint on Obama is unmistakable. His closest advisors are almost all products of the Windy City’s machine politic...All these figures arose from a Chicago where corruption is so commonplace that it elicits winks, nods and even a kind of admiration...Crony capitalism constitutes the essential element of what the legendary columnist John Kass of the Chicago Tribune has labeled both the “Chicago way” and the “Illinois Combine”, not primarily an ideology-driven movement.

Read the whole article here.

Collect Welfare, Live Large in Million Dollar Lakefront Mansion

2011-12-06T10:13:00.001-05:00

The American people who are generally compassionate would be more receptive to a tax increase if it went for a proper purpose. But before that happens, the government needs to root out all the corruption and waste--including crony capitalism/corporate welfare and individual welfare fraud. We also need to find out what these bureaucrats in social service agencies actually do all day.

Case in point: A Seattle woman on federal and state welfare is living large in Seattle:

Read more here.

Who or What Derailed the Cain Train?

2011-12-05T11:58:00.001-05:00

[Image Credit: Gage Skidmore]

Have you ever winged it when faced with a tough question in a job interview?

Of course you have. Everyone has.

That doesn't make you a bad person. It is often irrelevant to how well you would perform on the job if offered the position.

So at times, former GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain seemed to be improvising during the debates, especially in connection with foreign policy.

That notwithstanding, he seems like a fine man with a glowing business resume--unlike the incumbent who has virtually no resume and zero private-sector job experience--which could be just what the country needs with the economy in the tank.

So it remains to be seen if Mr. Cain was smeared or he was a player/philander while he was on the road for the National Restaurant Association and his wife was back home in Atlanta. Then again, remember that during the Clinton administration all the liberal situational-ethicists insisted that lying about sex was okay.

The most unsettling/disappointing aspect about Cain dropping out of the campaign (technically a suspension of activity) is that Obama operatives have a track record of sabotaging rivals well before any votes take place. This was addressed back in 2008 by the zenpundit blog:

The model for this strategy is the previous Obama senatorial campaign in Illinois, where Obama’s two most formidible, centimillionaire, rivals, Democrat Blair Hull and Republican Jack Ryan were personally destroyed in the primaries when salacious details from their sealed divorce records were mysteriously leaked to the media, which then pressured for their full release, notably in the pages of the Chicago Tribune. Thus, ultimately permitting Obama to run against an out-of-state, clown candidate, religious conservative firebrand Alan Keyes, in the general election.

Was the Cain Train "railroaded"? Time will tell. It's also worth noting that American law makes it very difficult for a public figure to recover damages in court for libel or slander.

DOJ Documents Suggest Fast and Furious Misdirection

2011-12-05T11:40:00.001-05:00

In yet another Friday night document dump, the U.S. Justice Department admitted it mislead Congress over the Fast and Furious investigation. Attorney General Eric Holder once again testifies about the gunrunning scandal before the House Judiciary Committee on December 8.

According to The Ulsterman Report and the confidential "White House Insider" source (who may or may not be on the level), it is only a matter of time before Holder submits his resignation:

Regarding Attorney General Eric Holder, Insider made our last communication very specific - we are reaching the-the moment of truth on Holder. Just today there are new reports indicating one of the killers of Border Agent Brian Terry – using guns provided them by the Obama administration, was in fact an FBI informant. According to these reports, both the FBI and ATF knew of the dangers posed to U.S. Border Agents – but did nothing to intervene. A known ambush against border agents that lead to the death of Brian Terry resulted. Is it any wonder the Obama Justice Department so recently sealed all records relating to the murder of Agent Terry? And can there be any remaining doubt a full-on cover-up by the Obama administration has been underway since the failed gunrunning program story broke?

British Civil Servants Lose Public Support

2011-12-03T14:22:00.001-05:00

Government unions on both sides of the Atlantic seems to feel that they should be immune from marketplace forces. Ordinary middle-class individuals and families who are barely making ends meet under the current economic conditions should be -- according to organized labor-- forced to pay for unlimited benefits for the entitled public-sector workforce no matter what.

Despite predictable efforts by the left-wing media, it is interesting that a strike by public sector workers in the U.K. over pension reform this week apparently turned out to be a big flop. London Telegraph blogger James Delingpole describes the public mood in Britain:

I got my answer from a chance remark made by Jeremy Vine after our interview. He was telling me about the phone-in he'd done the day before during the public sector workers' strike and what had astonished him was the mood of the callers. If I remember what he said correctly, one of his studio guests was a nurse on a £40,000 PA salary, with a guaranteed £30,000 pension, and this had not gone down well with the mother-of-three from Northern Ireland struggling as a finance officer in the private sector on a salary of £14,000 and no pension to speak of. The callers were very much on the side of the private sector. In fact, they were on the whole absolutely apoplectic that privileged, relatively overpaid public sector workers with their gold-plated pensions should have the gall to go out on strike when the people who pay their salaries – private sector workers – have to go on slogging their guts out regardless.

Sound familiar?

Petition Fraud in Walker Recall?

2011-12-03T13:48:00.001-05:00

[Image Credit: Megan McCormick]

Vote fraud is a huge problem in our elections, but here's a new wrinkle: Petition signature fraud seems to be in play in the effort to recall Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin.

You may remember that the "Democrat-Union Complex" came unglued when Walker sought to implement modest collective bargaining reforms that avoided a budgetary disaster in the state. Walker ultimately prevailed, but now organized labor wants to kick him out of office before the end of his term. It seems the apparently misnamed Wisconsin Government Accountability Board isn't going to do much about petition shenanigans either.So who will watch the watchdogs?

The state board overseeing the potential recall election of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker tells the MacIver News Service that they will rely upon temporary workers to scrutinize recall petitions and those individuals will not be expected to catch any duplicate signatures submitted by recall organizers.

This revelation comes as one statewide liberal group is actively promoting the collection of duplicate signatures, paving the way for a lengthy process wherein Walker supporters will challenge the validity of the recall petitions...

[GAB spokesman]Magney told MNS said that the pro-union groups obtaining recall signatures will be expected to self-police the collection of duplicate signatures.

However, neither the state Democratic Party nor the pro-labor organizations steering the recall drive have disclosed any process by which they will identify and discard the duplicate signatures they obtain.

When was the last time a union successfully "self-policed" itself, especially during electioneering? The same GAB spokesman earlier said that "the burden of proving the validity of signatures will fall on Governor Walker, not those filing the recall petitions." State law grants Walker a mere 10 days to challenge ineligible signatures.

Recallers need about 540,000 thousand valid signatures to get on the ballot.

Added: in writing about the Democrat-union "perpetual hissy fit" manifested in this instance by the Walker recall, libertarian Tim Nerzenz writes that he does not stand with Scott Walker. Instead, Scott Walker stands with him:

I stand for the right to work. I stand against compulsory unionization. I stand for the right of every employee to join a union, and for the equal right of every employee to work free of union impairment. I stand for the right of every union to collect its own dues directly from its members. I stand for the right of every business owner to deal directly with his/her employees or to work through an intermediary as he or she sees fit. I stand for the right of any business to refrain from political activity altogether without being targeted for boycotts by extortionists...

So no, my dear Democrat friends, I will not be signing your recall petitions. When you come to my door I will not be ungracious; I will not be unkind. I will not tell you “I stand with Scott Walker” and slam the door in your face. I will tell you instead that I stand for Liberty, and then I will ask you why you will not stand with me. It is a reasonable question, and I expect you to answer it. It is the least you can do if you want me to help you turn the whole state upside down to rehash your grievance over again for the umpteenth time.

Read the whole piece here.

Update: A grassroots organization of volunteers is forming check the validity of all signatures submitted in the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall. To participate or find out more about this effort, go to verifytherecall.com.

Washington Bureaucrats Coming After Your Health Supplements

2011-12-01T10:40:00.001-05:00

[Image Credit: Ragesoss]

Imagine going to your local health food store or supermarket and finding the shelves normally containing your favorite vitamin and nutritional supplements completely bare.

There is still time to sign an online petition opposing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's draconian supplement regulations that threatens access to dietary supplements. It wouldn't hurt to contact your member of Congress too.

As Citizens for Health explains...

[The FDA] is attempting to drastically change existing law by saying that finished product manufacturers must make a submission for every product that contains a [New Dietary Ingredient--NID] or whenever a formula is changed, if an NDI is present. If this guidance is not withdrawn and its misinterpretation of law is backed by the FDA's own policy, review and enforcement powers, it would cause major disruption in the dietary supplement market; force a significant number of products off the shelves; and result in revenue losses of over a billion dollars and the unemployment of over 100,000 Americans.Neither American consumers nor the dietary supplement industry should stand for this unconscionable attempt by the FDA to, via various NDI-related side doors, effectively re-write [the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994], maim the health-food industry and drastically reduce consumer choice.

While supplements by themselves aren't always a complete panacea (and some products are hyped up or lack quality ingredients), FDA bureaucrats who routinely allow toxic pharmaceutical drugs into the marketplace seem hell-bent on getting their hooks into the supplement industry. Supplements can and do form one part of an overall healthy lifestyle.

If Obamacare is not repealed, and rationing and death panels become the norm (as has occurred everywhere where socialized medicine has been tried), health freedom and taking charge of our own health with more natural approaches will become even more important.

As one of the comments on the Citizens for Health website indicates: "No one has the right to tell us what supplements and vitamins we can have. That isn't protecting us, it's restraint of trade and is big pharma's way of growing even more powerful and corrupt."

Have you noticed how the same lapdog "pro choice" mainstream news media that seems to accept virtually every job- and freedom-killing Obama administration initiative at face value also regularly helps to demonize generally safe supplements at the behest of Washington bureaucrats and "Big Pharma"? Along these lines, responding to a recent widely publicized American Medical Association study of questionable methodology that sought to discredit vitamins, Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com wrote in part:

Caught yet again, the mainstream media has been exposed pulling off a juvenile, simplistic hoax that attempts to scare people away from good nutrition. To accomplish this hoax, they took a poorly-constructed "scientific" study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine which was itself based on erroneous conclusions...and then blatantly misreported what the study data actually showed.

Exit Heidi Watney

2011-12-01T09:08:00.001-05:00

In the aftermath of the September beer-and-chicken collapse, the Boston Red Sox lost Tito, Theo, and closer Jonathan Papelbon. Other departures are expected. But forget the players and coaches for a moment; NESN viewers may miss stunning reporter Heidi Watney the most. Today is her last day on the job. Although she was unable to officially confirm yet, Watney is apparently returning to California to work for the Lakers, but expect to see her on other high-profile media gigs. Watney appeared for an hour on WEEI's Dennis & Callahan sports radio show (which is simulcast on NESN) this morning to reflect on the season and take calls from fans. Heidi's final NESN assignment will be covering incoming manager Bobby Valentine's press conference this evening.

Here is a portion of this morning's WEEI/NESN farewell interview:

Perhaps her most famous YouTube moment:

Gov. Christie: What Are We Paying You For, Mr. President?

2011-11-29T18:08:00.001-05:00

While delivering remarks from a commercial kitchen (apparently Denny's in Newark) may not be a good visual for the portly New Jersey governor, Chris Christie's remarks on failed presidential leadership seems on target:

Along similar lines, Donald Trump was less than pleased with the scheduling of a presidential fundraiser on the same evening of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting:

Added: Investor's Business Daily also wasn't thrilled with the fundraiser with the crony capitalist 1% either:

President Obama jammed traffic in Manhattan on Wednesday. State business? No, he was raising campaign funds. It's just the latest example of his questionable strategy of running for re-election by taking from the public.

And no, the public was not invited. Three stops the president made were strictly for fat-cat donors who paid as much as $36,000 a plate for the privilege, while reporters weren't even permitted to cover the protests outside the hotels.

But the trip was hardly just between Obama and his donors. The three trips disrupted rush hour traffic in New York City and the annual lighting of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, something that very much cost the public time and money. The only winner was Obama, who flew home with $2.4 million.

That's emblematic of the arrogance of this president and the kind of re-election campaign we can expect him to conduct: always leaning on the public and its government to get his.

Dr. Conrad Murray Gets Maximum Sentence in Jackson Death

2011-11-29T17:49:00.001-05:00

A Los Angeles County judge today sentenced Michael Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray, to four years in jail (the maximum sentence under the law) for involuntary manslaughter. Because of California prison overcrowding, however, Murray will serve his time in county jail rather than a hardcore prison and likely be released early no matter where he winds up. House arrest is also a possibility. Murray would have received a harsher sentence had he been tried and convicted of a crime that requires specific intent to do harm, otherwise known in the law as malice aforethought.

ABC Reporter Questions Presidential Campaign Travel

2011-11-29T10:04:00.000-05:00

Here's some breaking news: a member of the usually compliant White House press corps finally asks a tough question. Congratulations to Jake Tapper of ABC News who asked administration spokesman Jay Carney if Obama was "campaigning on the taxpayer's dime" after The Wall Street Journal wrote about Obama's record-setting swing-state visits.

Considering the Obamas charge the taxpayer for their lavish vacations and a never-ending series of fundraisers and White House parties, is this any surprise?

By the way, what is up with political hacks like Carney (and many others) relying on the thumb-index finger gesture for emphasis?

Black Friday Shopping Rage 2011

2011-11-29T09:31:00.001-05:00

In case you were wondering, yes, some bargain-hunters went completely nuts at Walmart and in other venues on Black Friday.
Videos like this makes us wonder what kind of anarchy could happen in the aftermath of a widespread national disaster, a "zombie apocalypse," or God forbid a terrorist attack when food and water could be in short supply.

Business Owner Won't Hire Until Obama Leaves Office

2011-11-29T09:22:00.000-05:00

A Georgia businessman is not a big fan of Hope and Change: He says he can't afford to add new employees to his company until economic conditions improve under a new president.

Artur Davis: Democrats Cooking the Ballot Box

2011-11-29T09:03:00.001-05:00

Organizations similar to ACORN allied with the Democrats are likely gearing up to commit vote fraud in the 2012 election. Former Congressman Artur Davis says that the real problem in voter fraud, at least in his home state of Alabama, is in the absentee ballot process, and that no "progressive" should oppose voter ID laws.

Again, if you need to show an ID for mundane activities such as getting on a plane, buying booze or cigarettes, picking up a package at UPS or the Post Office, or in some cases completing a credit card transaction, why in the world should any reasonable person oppose showing photo identification at the polls?

People's Court Defendant Goes Misssing

2011-11-29T08:34:00.001-05:00

The cases heard on The People's Court and other TV judge shows sometimes have less to do about money and more about the tawdry implications of the relationships involved. We get the sense that the producers who are scouring small claims court dockets around the country specifically look for the latter to some degree. In a recent episode, a couple in an ongoing dysfunctional relationship had a fight at a science fiction convention, culminating in the defendant tossing an engagement ring out of a hotel room window (she was apparently aiming for the plaintiff). Judge Marilyn Milian ruled that since both parties shared some responsibility for the incident, each should split the $5,000 cost.

After the episode aired, the defendant, Michelle Parker, 33, vanished. Orlando, Fla., police are investigating:

video platform video management video solutions video player

Update: The ex-fiancee is lawyering up according to press reports now that the police have identified him as the prime suspect:video platform video management video solutions video player

Here's the episode in question of The People's Court , which originally aired on November 17, the same date of her disappearance:

Law Firm Releases Confidential Information as Scrap Paper

2011-11-20T12:30:00.001-05:00

Here's a disturbing privacy violation that has nothing to do with digital hacking for once: A Minneapolis-area personal injury law firm apparently donated "scrap paper" to a local elementary school that contained client medical records and other sensitive information.

[Note: If the above video does not appear in your browser, it can be found here].

Presumably this form of reckless recycling is a possible violation of HIPPA as well as a breach of attorney-client confidentiality that the firm will wind up paying for big time.

The Correct Answers are Barack Obama and Bill Clinton

2011-11-19T16:12:00.001-05:00

[image credit: David Shankbone]

If you listen to the mainstream media (who, for example, aren't putting much effort into reporting the entire scope of the Solyndra green energy scandal), you would conclude that only Republicans are in the back pocket of corrupt Wall Street bankers and other crony capitalists.

Back in April at a Tea Party rally in Madison, Wisc., Sarah Palin told the sometimes too-quick-to-compromise GOP to "learn to fight like a girl" (a reference to the Univ. Of Wisconsin's championship women's hockey team). In a recent speech in Florida, she was equally frank with the left, noting that the so-called Occupiers should consider occupying the area outside the White House:

"Barack Obama is owned by Wall Street,” she said. “The fat cats, as he calls them, they’re his friends. They’re his pals. That’s where he gets his campaign donations. And he’s very generous about giving these cats their cat nip: bigger returns on their investments in bailouts.”

The Washington Examiner further explains:

As the Washington Post recently reported, Obama has accepted more money -- more than $15.6 million -- from these people than all of the Republican presidential aspirants combined (aided significantly by the fact that contributors can give to both Obama and the Democratic National Committee). No wonder Opensecrets.org ranks the financial sector as one of the five most generous industries in contributions to the Obama re-election effort. By comparison, the most successful GOP fundraiser, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has generated a mere $2 million from the Wall Street fat cats. Obama has even gotten more campaign money from Bain Capital, the consulting firm Romney managed before becoming a presidential candidate, than Romney has.

Filmaker Evan Coyne Maloney recently visited Zuccotti Park to give a pop quiz about who really gets the most campaign cash from the Wall Street greedheads:

Maloney explained to Mediaite.com the intent behind the filming:

Maloney...wanted to set the record straight that he was only trying to expose the hypocrisy of Democratic politicians championing the Occupy Wall Street movement while still receiving thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from the banks...

Maloney said that the media “propagates this perception that Republicans are in bed with big business, and that Democrats are for “the little guy,” when in fact the establishment of both parties are corporatists."

Walmart Black Friday Signage

2011-11-19T15:53:00.001-05:00

It won't be long before YouTube sadly becomes loaded up with videos of obsessed discount-hunting shoppers going wild at Walmart and other stores on the day after Thanksgiving, a.k.a. Black Friday. In preparation, Walmart is apparently trying to further explain what express checkout really means for those consumers who might be linguistically challenged:

[h/t Bob's Blitz]

Eric Holder Was Against Apologizing Before He Was For It

2011-11-11T17:40:00.001-05:00

Does being Attorney General mean never having to say your sorry?

Lost in this week's headlines was U.S. AG Eric Holder's testimony on Capitol Hill about the Fast and Furious gunrunning scandal linked to the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, a former Marine. During testimony, Holder--whose Justice Department continues to stonewall the investigation--admitted that he had not apologized to the family.

Holder seems to have no difficulties apologizing to terrorists, illegal aliens, or those engaged in vote fraud or intimidation, however. Since his remarks before the Senate Judiciary Committee went semi-viral on the Internet, Holder has decided to apologize after all, according to Politico and The Daily Caller, although the letter was leaked to the media before it reach the family.

11-11-11 Veterans Day Salute to Troops

2011-11-11T16:43:00.000-05:00

Customer Sends Message to George Zimmer of Men's Wearhouse

2011-11-11T09:25:00.001-05:00

Men's Wearhouse commercials often feature the clothing chain's founder George Zimmer saying "You're going to like the way you look; I guarantee it." Commercials have also featured voicemail messages left for George from satisfied customers. The dissatisfied consumer in this video, however, no longer like they way he looked once the retailer went public with its support of the chaos at Occupy Oakland. So he returned his purchase to his local store. As he says "You have to take a stand, no matter how insignificant you may think it is. Take a stand."

Zimmer is apparently a big Democrat campaign donor.

Two footnotes: The manager seems like a nice person, and his nothing to do with setting corporate policy, so perhaps the customer could have been a bit less abrupt with her. Also, while this is irrelevant to his Occupy counter-protest, there doesn't seem to be any paperwork exchange before the customer left the store. Did the customer get a refund slip, cash back, or any written proof that the charge was removed from his credit card?

Herman Cain Passes Lie Detector Test

2011-11-10T13:39:00.001-05:00

In his press conference, Herman Cain expressed willingness to take a lie detector test. A private investigator using voice analysis software that he claims is more accurate than a traditional polygraph says that Cain is innocent of sexual harassment charges:

Gloria Allred's Stimulating Press Conference

2011-11-08T10:37:00.000-05:00

Celebrity ambulance chaser Gloria Allred is at it again, with another splashy, trashy press conference (that often lacks a logical follow-up). Most, but not all, of Allred's controversial grandstanding has a political motivation, such as her efforts to undermine Meg Whitman's campaign for California governor. Apart from the latter instance (which was a set up by organized labor bosses and other Democrat operatives), we wonder how these quasi-plaintiffs get connected to Allred so fast, not to mention establishing their "credibility"? Do they just call the main switchboard?

As Michelle Malkin writes, Allred is "scrambling to hop aboard the Cain Train." Allred's comment about a "stimulus package" was funny, but a rush to judgment int his case may be premature, however. For example, reports are surfacing that Herman Cain's accuser hugged him like an old friend or a long-lost relative at a political event last month.

By the way, during the Clinton administration, even though an active civil lawsuit against the-then president was in play, didn't the liberals insist it was okay to lie about sex?

Law School: Our LSAT Data was Bogus

2011-11-08T09:12:00.001-05:00

More gavels falling on law school admissions malfeasance?

The University of Illinois acknowledged Monday that its law school reported and/or published inaccurate admissions data in six of the last 10 years.

The university, in a prepared statement, said it had determined that Paul Pless, the law school's former assistant dean for admissions and financial aid, who resigned last week, was solely responsible for the inaccuracies...

Investigators concluded that Pless, who was responsible for reporting the information, "knowingly and intentionally" miscalculated key data to make it seem as if the University of Illinois was showing steady and occasionally dramatic improvement in the main factors used to gauge the academic credentials of a law school class.

Back in 2009, the same law school was accused of corrupt, politically motivated admissions practices.

Your Mileage May Vary

2011-11-07T12:12:00.001-05:00

"Breaking" news:

A Norwich [Connecticut] man who police say intentionally drove his pickup truck into the front of the police station was arrested, police said.

Kevin Vary, 51...was arrested after driving his full-sized, Chevrolet pickup truck into the front glass door entrance about 9:30 p.m. Sunday. No one was injured.

The front entrance of police Hq. sustained extensive damage in the incident. Police charged the man with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief, and reckless driving.

Sources: Hartford Courant, WTNH

Machete Attack at Paterson, NJ, Restaurant

2011-11-04T09:41:00.002-04:00

As we have noted before, it is not just the fat and salt that poses a danger at fast food restaurants--other customers can be hazardous to your health. Police say the perpetrator of this machete attack at US Chicken in Paterson, New Jersey, is apparently still at large.

Expert: World War III Will Be Cyber War

2011-11-03T10:20:00.001-04:00

The massive power outages in the Northeast following the freak October 29 snowstorm showed just how personally and professionally dependent we've become on our electronic devices. Left without electricity, Starbucks (and other similar venues offering a Wi-Fi oasis) in the affected areas were jammed with strung-out people 50% of whom were suffering caffeine withdrawal and the other 50% suffering Internet cravings.

But the disruption after a natural disaster is only a minor part of a a national and international security menance according to SkyNews in the U.K. in an interview with Internet security expert Eugene Kaspersky:

"I don't want to speak about it. I don't even want to think about it," he said.

"But we are close, very close, to cyber terrorism. Perhaps already the criminals have sold their skills to the terrorists - and then...oh, God."

Speaking privately at the London Cyber Conference, Kaspersky told Sky that he believed that cyber terrorism was the biggest immediate threat to have emerged to confront nations as diverse as China and the US.

"There is already cyber espionage, cyber crime, hacktivisim (when activists attack networks for political ends) soon we will be facing cyber terrorism," he said.

The New Eden: the Bloated Public Sector

2011-11-02T19:03:00.002-04:00

Each time reasonable people seek to shrink bloated federal (or state) workforce costs, the fearmongers trot out the usual "police and firefighter" scare tactics. Although public safety pensions appear to be a time bomb, one of the primary concerns involves deskbound pencil pushers in make-work government jobs, those "unessential" employees that never have to report to work in bad weather. Large segments of the media never seem to question vast amounts of taxpayer money spent on or by self-serving bureaucrats. Ross Douthat of The New York Times nails it:

The public-sector workplace has become a kind of artificial Eden, whose fortunate inhabitants enjoy solid pay and 1950s-style job security and retirement benefits, all of it paid for by their less-fortunate private-sector peers. Some on the left have convinced themselves that this “success” can lay the foundation for a broader middle-class revival. But if a bloated public sector were the blueprint for a thriving middle-class society, then the whole world would be beating a path to Greece’s door...

The story of the last three decades, in other words, is not the story of a benevolent government starved of funds by selfish rich people and fanatical Republicans. It’s a story of a public sector that has consistently done less with more, and a liberalism that has often defended the interests of narrow constituencies — public-employee unions, affluent seniors, the education bureaucracy — rather than the broader middle class.

Finally: A Democrat Who Supports Voter ID

2011-10-30T10:26:00.004-04:00

What's more bogus in contemporary politics--made-up stories about Tea Party transgressions or the delusional reasons that the Democrats and the ACLU types use to justify their opposition to reasonable requirements for showing a photo ID before voting?

Former Congressman Artur Davis, a Democrat who unsuccessfully ran for Alabama governor, no longer buys into the left-wing mythology (which is just a smokescreen for voter fraud) about the latter according to this opinion piece in a Montgomery newspaper:

I've changed my mind on voter ID laws -- I think Alabama did the right thing in passing one -- and I wish I had gotten it right when I was in political office.

When I was a congressman, I took the path of least resistance on this subject for an African American politician. Without any evidence to back it up, I lapsed into the rhetoric of various partisans and activists who contend that requiring photo identification to vote is a suppression tactic aimed at thwarting black voter participation.

The truth is that the most aggressive contemporary voter suppression in the African American community, at least in Alabama, is the wholesale manufacture of ballots, at the polls and absentee, in parts of the Black Belt.

Voting the names of the dead, and the nonexistent, and the too-mentally-impaired to function, cancels out the votes of citizens who are exercising their rights -- that's suppression by any light. If you doubt it exists, I don't; I've heard the peddlers of these ballots brag about it, I've been asked to provide the funds for it, and I am confident it has changed at least a few close local election results.

To his further credit, Davis apparently was the only black Democrat to vote against Obamacare.

Occupy Wall Street Goes to School

2011-10-30T10:08:00.002-04:00

Do you think that the Occupy Wall Street (and other cities) protesters have the awareness that Barack Obama received more contributions from Wall Street fat-cats and crony capitalists than any other candidate in history?

In any event, in this video financial guru and former U.S. Senate candidate from Connecticut Peter Schiff provides the protesters with some most-needed continuing economic education (suggestion for Mr. Schiff: lose the jacket and tie; business casual is a better look).

In this video, a man with personal experience of living under socialism schools another protester:

Obama advisor Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Scott Brown's likely opponent for the Senate seat in Massachusetts, claimed that she provided the intellectual foundation for the OWS movement. In today's Boston Herald, Howie Carr asks, "What intellectual foundation? Riots, rapes, robberies, sexual assaults, naked vagrants armed with knives, ugly anti-Semitism, death threats to the Boston cops ..."

Back in October 2008, CBS News aired this report on Obama's corporate fundraising haul (but left unmentioned allegations of online credit-card fraud and illegal foreign contributions).

The Washington Post, which usually worships all things Obama, brings the corporate campaign cash story up to date here.

January Jones' Baby Daddy is....

2011-10-26T17:08:00.002-04:00

Could Ashton Kutcher, Demi Moore's presumed estranged husband, be headed to family court sometime soon for a paternity test? There is some speculation on the Internet that the actor (who took over for Charlie Sheen on Two and a Half Men) might have to cough up some child support--unless he is being punk'd, that is.

January Jones (Betty Draper on Mad Men) gave birth to a baby boy in September but left the name of the father off the birth certificate. According to Findlaw.com, the dad may or may not be Kutcher.

BlindGossip.com ran a story on October 17 that speculated about a "married actor" who had a "one-night stand with one of his exes." It went on to specify that the actress is on an "acclaimed television show."

The story went on, explaining that the married actor's wife found out about the baby, and both husband and wife tried every tactic including "money, lawyers, threats to ruin her career" to get the ex to terminate her pregnancy. Then an online gossip blogger posted another item that succinctly read: "all signs point to January Jones."

Must be something about TV shows with "Men" in the title.

[image by watchwithkristin]

Juror Names in Casey Anthony Murder Trial Released

2011-10-26T16:38:00.001-04:00

Juror identities in high-profile cases are sometimes kept private out of concerns for death threats and other forms of intimidation or privacy violations. After waiting about 90 days for things to cool down, Judge Belvin Perry unsealed the names of the Casey Anthony jury yesterday. As the Tampa-area media reported, "The public outrage over the not guilty verdict sent some into a panic, many became prisoners in their own homes."

Since at least theoretically the judicial system should be about protecting people, why not keep the juror names under wraps permanently? And what business is it of the media (particularly the St. Petersburg Times newspaper which petitioned to have the names released) to force the jurors into the public domain? Judge Perry himself earlier stated that Florida's public record laws might be too broad in this regard.

In related news, another Florida judge will be deciding by the end of the month if Anthony's October 8 deposition in the pending civil defamation case can be released to the public in either transcript and/or video form. Anthony apparently wore some sort of disguise during the proceedings.