Youth will lead the way to same sex marriage equality

Same sex marriage bans were overturned in California. Good! It's only a matter of time before the last bands of discrimination are lifted in the U.S. That includes yes, states such as Mississippi and Alabama. This column by Leonard Pitts Jr, from last month, takes...

You can be charged with a prostitution offense for not much

In the city of San Francisco you can be arrested for intent to solicit a prostitute. This is something of a thought crime. If the government believes you intended enough to do an action, though you never agreed to do that action, than it is a crime. For example, if you make...

Police once again demanding you don't film them, and want your ID

I wrote recently about police demanding I.D. from citizens without a reasonable suspicion of a crime. Well, this is one more example of what I am talking about. In this case, after a horrible shooting at the state capitol building in Austin, Texas, a Texas state...

The war on prostitution (and sex) needs to end

 I don't agree with John Stossel about everything but I definately agree with him that the government must end the twin wars on drugs and prostitution. Of course prostitution that involves women forced into it is should and continue to be illegal but many sex workers...

Found not guilty, but still have arrest record

Do you know that if you were acquitted of a crime and not found guilty, you have no right to have the arrest record of that alleged crime, expunged or sealed? So, prospects with a future employer would be harmed by a crime that your fellow citizens did not convict you. Or,...

On government promotion of religion and evolution

The first letter is one I wrote for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. They edited out a couple of lines, which I will keep in. The second letter is an excellent letter by a Stephen Ewbanks, of Kokomo, Indiana, published in their local newspaper. His letter deals with myths...

Gay Congressman Frank to marry and marriage equality in WA

 Barney Frank, the longtime congressman (and the first openly gay congressman) is getting married. To his longtime partner Jim Ready. I guess he is now Ready. Sorry, bad pun.While this marriage by Frank (in I assume his home state of Massachusetts) is legal there, it...

Police demand ID without any suspicion whatsoever of a crime

This first video is a clear and present violation of constitutional rights. A journalist named Chris Geo is arrested after he comes to a Federal Emergency Management Agency base to ask a question why they were taking the license plate number of everyone going to a...

Supreme Court Overturns 'Right v. Wrong'

" WASHINGTON—Striking down the judicial precedent that established the legal supremacy of right over wrong more than two centuries ago, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned Right v. Wrong. The landmark reversal—a bitterly contested 5-4 decision that has been ...

Please, don't muzzle us atheists

   In the book,  "Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and the Perils of Piety, by Wendy Kaminer, she cites research from the 1980s showing that Americans believed that freedom of worship  applies to all religious groups,...

Officer dies to protect us from medical marijuana?

Here is a winner for the audacity award. A citizen named Matthew Stewart growing marijuana for personal medical reasons in Utah, has police break into his house after a knock, and a cop unfortunately is shot and killed by him. This is not the first time that someone has been...

Why do Republicans want to take away your condom or pill?

The Republican party likes to say they are the party of small government. Well, that is true when it comes to reducing pollution controls on factory owners, but when it comes to the nation's bedrooms, they are all for a war on sex. Presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who...