Back here, I wrote that a religion professor at the University of Kansas (the state where the intelligent design debate is taking place) was planning to offer a course entitled "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies.” According to this article, the professor decided to cancel the course yesterday. Oh, and somethng else happened yesterday, too: … Read More
Sounds Like A Lifetime Movie
In Boston, an 11-year old girl lies in a coma. Like Terri Schiavo (remember her?), there is a court battle over whether her ventilator and feeding tubes should be removed. The twist is that only one person is fighting for the girl’s "right-to-life" — the girl’s father. But he’s more than the girl’s father — he’s the guy who beat … Read More
Rape Victim Found Guilty
Yes, you read that write: rape victim found guilty. Shakespeare’s Sister has been sounding the call on this story, and with good reason. Here’s what happened, as reported here in the Oregonian: BEAVERTON — A municipal judge found a 19-year-old woman guilty Friday of filing a false police report after she said she was raped by three young men. Even … Read More
Something To Consider
In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to execute criminals again. This week, barring any changes in schedule, the 1000th execution will take place since the 1976 reinstatement. And it’ll probably happen here in North Carolina. Fun fact: In the past 32 years, 120 death row inmates have been proven innocent and released. Most of them have been in … Read More
The Duke Is Done
Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham pleads guilty to tax evasion, and taking bribes from defense contractors in order to secure lucrative defense contracts. Josh Marshall, who kept on this story from Day One, is happy, but notes that Cunningham is still on the Appropriations Committee. Not for long, I’m guessing.
Oil Exec Follow-up
As I wrote yesterday, it looks like oil exceutives lied to Congess (not under oath, however). Well, today I can report that the story may have legs: Democrats asked the U.S. attorney general Wednesday to investigate whether top executives from big oil companies lied to Congress when they said their companies did not take part in Vice President Dick Cheney’s … Read More
Badlands
Apparently, if I were home watching cable television news, I would be bombarded with the story about an 18 year old named Dave Ludwig, who killed the parents of his 14 year old girlfriend (Kara Borden), after which the two of them went fleeing in Martin Sheen/Sissy Spacek "Natural Born Killers" mode. Although it is unclear if she went voluntarily. … Read More
Murderblogging
I don’t know why, but I always like reading the blogs of criminals. James Keown was a radio talk show host in Missouri. As the Boston Globe reports: James P. Keown talked regularly about killings and court cases. Every Tuesday, the radio talk show host would interview the local prosecutor about mid-Missouri’s most high profile crimes. But he was arrested … Read More
Hindrocket Wins Wanker Of The Day Award, Again
From Is That Legal, via Atrios: John Hinderaker, yesterday: Tomorrow may bring indictments of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby on charges that can charitably be described as trivial. Tonight, one of our readers urged us to link to President Bush’s great speech to the Joint Armed Forces Officers’ Wives’ group rather than being distracted by the minutiae of the day. … Read More
The Iron-What’s-Her-Face and Tom Delay
Mmmm. This is an interesting turn of events: A DOCUMENT linking Margaret Thatcher to a US corruption probe is so explosive civil servants have been asked to ensure it remains "sealed". The 79-year-old former Premier is said to have met Congressman Tom DeLay in Britain while he was on a suspected favours-for-freebies scam. In return for his free holiday, DeLay … Read More
Pardon Me
Here are 14 people that Bush pardoned yesterday — the day when Delay got indicted. They include 4 drug dealers. Probably not the best timing. Speaking of crime, Bill Bennett posed an interesting solution: But I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could — if that were your sole purpose, you could abort … Read More
Louisiana Nursing Home Operators Charged With Negligent Homicide
The two owners (a husband and wife) are being charged with 34 counts of negligent homicide, because 34 residents of the nursing home drowned. Here’s the story: The charges stem from the deaths of elderly patients at St. Rita’s nursing home in Chalmette, located just southeast of New Orleans. The patients drowned in the flooding after hurricane Katrina struck on … Read More
Not Angry
In response to a comment on that his blog is "full of hatred and anger", Corrente not only denied the charge, but set out to compile a list of things he was not angry about, as well as things he doesn’t hate. It’s not only long, but a work-in-progress, so check out Corrente’s site for the latest revisions and updates: … Read More
It Was A Summary Execution
Mark Honigsbaum Thursday July 28, 2005 The Guardian Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian shot dead in the head, was not wearing a heavy jacket that might have concealed a bomb, and did not jump the ticket barrier when challenged by armed plainclothes police, his cousin said yesterday. Speaking at a press conference after a meeting with the Metropolitan police, … Read More