Woman gets 20 year sentence for defending herself and shooting

Twelve minutes, that is all it took. Just twelve minutes. In twelve minutes the jury had convicted Marissa Alexander of a criminal offense that carried a mandatory 10-20 year term. Frankly, some juries take longer to decide which restaurant they are going order from. The...

President Obama, please lead on marriage equality and marijuana

Vice President Joe Biden has come out in full support of marriage equality for gays and lesbians in the U.S. Good for him! In an interview Vice President Biden stated: "I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men...

NYPD cops violate civil liberties of Occupy Wall Street activists

This is an interesting case out of New York City, where NYPD cops raid a house because of a six year old open carry violation of alcohol. Six cops in fact. At 6:30 in the morning. Of course, the raid wasn't about a six year old case of open carry. It was because they were...

Today is either National Day of Reason or National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer, it is also the National Day of Reason. Only one of these concepts is our nation founded upon, and no, it's not the former. Our nation is a product of the Enlightenment. Men such as Thomas Paine, James Madison, Ben Franklin and Thomas...

Anti-gay group endorses Mitt Romney

A few stories about gay rights and the opposition to gay rights, in the United States. The Alaska Family Council, an anti-gay group in that state, sent e-mails to individuals that they could register to vote at the polls. While we enjoy this right in Wisconsin, they don't in...

Anti-drug folks deny marijuana to patients and silence critics

"His marijuana trade and propagandist marijuana magazine have generated nearly $5 million a year in profits that bolstered his trafficking efforts, but those have gone up in smoke today. … Drug legalization lobbyists now have one less pot of money to rely on." Those were...

Help the cause of legalizing marijuana today in Colorado today

In the state of Colorado there is an initiative that would make limited amounts of marijuana legal for adults. Well, adults 21 or older, at least. This would be a historic vote, come November. Never before has a state legalized marijuana. Well, you can help the cause,...

How drug sniffing by police dogs is bogus and not probable cause

Dogs are considered by the courts, as proof of probable cause, in drug cases. But, why? The fact is, it is often hit or miss with dogs sniffing for drugs. Their police handlers, intentional or not, can affect how often a dog gives a false positive for drugs in a car, or other...

Can a police chief arrest you if you criticize him, for criminal

One of the most amazing things I find about the law is that in some states, there are still criminal defamation cases. The government can imprison you for defamation, but the defamation often involves public officials. See, if the Constitution means anything it is that those...

Non-violent felons should have their 2nd Amendment rights guarant

I believe in the 2nd Amendment's guarantee of a right to "bear arms". As a progressive, I don't think rights are narrow, but broad. That goes for speech, due process, press freedom and especially the 9th Amendment's protection of rights not previously listed in the Bill of...

Church thinks small children are demon possesed and other stories

These are various stories that have caught my attention, I am putting them all in this one column. I. I wrote previously about a religious rightwing type in Maine who thinks homosexuality is caused by demons. Well an Australian Christian ministry does 4-5 "exorcisms" a day,...

Can the police jail you for a week, after an illegal arrest?

A recent U.S. Supreme Court case affirmed the ability of police to engage in strip searches after an arrest, at a police station, even for minor arrests. I am kind of torn on this, because while I don't support the drug war, along as it exists I can understand police wanting...

Are gays led by demons, some on the religious rightwing think so

Rick Santorum, a man who believes that two men getting married is like a man marrying a dog, is quitting the presidential race. So in honor of the most anti-gay presidential candidate ever, and that includes you Michelle Bachmann, here are a couple of stories that deal with...

Gay marriage is like a child driving? Someone believes that.

Republican Congresswoman Vicky Hartzler believes that same sex marriage is like an uncle marrying his niece and a 50 year old marrying a 12 year old girl. Yes, she said that. She also believes that it is comparable to a 3 year old driving a car. At least, she didn't compare...

Republicans allowing employers to demand passwords from facebook

Thoughts on a variety of issues: I. U.S. Rep. Steven King, a Republican from Ohio, believes that we should not have any laws protecting gays from discrimination, becase they can hide their sexual orientation. So, according to King's logic, it is O.K. to discriminate based...

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