Oops! My bad.

Violate a protection order and strangle a woman?
Claim it was an accident and that the goal was to knock her unconscious with a “sleeper hold.”
Sentence: 5 years.
Selling an ounce of marijuana will get you more time than that.
Ergo, it’s worse to get someone high than to kill a woman.
Times like this I’m ashamed to live [...]

The right to privacy while raping your property

This story just makes me sick. The District 4 Court of Appeals in Wisconsin has ruled unanimously that the police violated a man’s right to privacy when they installed hidden cameras in his wife’s nursing home room to prove that he raped her at least 3 times since she fell into a coma following [...]

It’s time for real parity

In 1996, Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici succeeded in getting the Mental Health Parity Act passed into law. The law did not require insurance companies to cover mental illnesses, but if they did, they could not set lower dollar limits on care than they did for other conditions. Insurance companies responded by removing [...]

Who is entitled to vote?

Who should be allowed to vote? That question has haunted the US from the inception of the Constitution. In 1787, only white males over the age of 21 had the right. The 15th Amendment, in 1870, added African-American men to the voting pool. In 1920 the 19th Amendment granted suffrage to [...]

Need to know only should apply

I remember when the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) passed in 2003. My pharmacist gave me a written copy of the pharmacy’s privacy policy, and the store put a tape line 10 feet back from the cash register so that those behind me in the queue couldn’t listen in on my discussions [...]

Well duh

From the Seattle PI:
The House, on a 90-8 vote, passed a measure Tuesday banning text messaging while driving after signing off on Senate changes. The bill heads to Gov. Chris Gregoire, who is expected to sign it.
“This is absolutely dangerous behavior,” said the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Joyce McDonald, R-Puyallup.
The bill would make texting [...]

Keeping the devil from going down to Georgia

There are those who believe karaoke should be illegal just on general principle. Those so inclined might want to consider a move to Lilburn, GA. Liburn has outlawed karaoke, pool, trivia, and other party games in establishments that serve alcohol. Already they’re opposed to bars; only restaurants which receive at least 50% [...]

How about some priorities?

From Your Daily Camera:
An associate municipal court judge in Lafayette (Colorado) resigned Monday in protest of stiffer penalties for marijuana possession in the city.
Leonard Frieling, a Boulder criminal-defense lawyer, said he is resigning out of principle after more than eight years as a backup to Lafayette Municipal Judge Roger Buchholz.
“I cannot in good conscience sit [...]

You need the money, so you can’t have the job

Maybe you’ve been out of work for awhile and have fallen behind on your bills. Maybe you’re living on your credit cards until you can find a job. Maybe you’ve just having trouble making ends meet. With 20% of employers, that’s enough to knock you out of the running and keep you [...]

Turn about is fair play?

Last year, the Washington Supreme Court came down with an affirming decision on the state’s same sex marriage ban, saying that the state has a legitimate interest in limiting marriage to those capable of having and raising children together. Taking that idea to it’s logical conclusion is the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance, which [...]

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