A federal judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a polygamous family made famous by the reality TV show “Sister Wives.”
via Judge won’t dismiss suit against Utah bigamy law – Houston Chronicle.
Unlike cheating at Stuyvesant High School in New York, when you’re caught cheating at a national Scrabble tournament, they throw your ass out.
In Minnesota, Illinois and California, playground equipment that’s being replaced gets donated to other countries. It’s good for the environment, and it’s today’s UN-BiteMe.
Used Twin Cities play sets go where fun is in short supply | StarTribune.com.
“Twelve Chicago Public Schools principals and assistant principals have been removed from their positions for allegedly falsifying forms for free and reduced lunches for their own children, the school district and Inspector General’s office announced in a joint statement this morning.”
It ain’t just Wall Street types who cheat to get ahead.
12 CPS officials accused of lying to get their kids lunches – chicagotribune.com.
I’m against the Volstead Act (U.S. alcohol prohibition) and believe that it led to the rise of the Mafia.
But what about the Mexican Drug War? There are over 50,000 dead and a half dozen major crime families have been established. Should we — or the Mexicans — give up? Or is it too late for that? Should the drugs be legalized?
I don’t like legal gambling. But now that it’s mostly legal, are things better? Worse? Or maybe legalized gambling is neither better nor worse for society than illegal gambling — except for saving us the high cost of enforcement.
I like Bloomberg’s efforts to reduce illegal handguns in New York City. But maybe that’s just another form of prohibition and will lead to violent gangs devoted to gun running.
I invite our reader to weigh in on this . . .
Mississippi has the US’s highest unintended pregnancy rate. They could be working to bring that number down, but instead they’re fighting to close their last abortion clinic. How sad.
BTW, Mississippi also has the nation’s highest poverty rate.
via Mississippi’s sole abortion clinic faces closure – Chicago Tribune.
On the question of legalizing marijuana, NJ Gov. Christie says he’d veto such a bill, saying “the state should be in the business of undercutting the federal government on that policy.”
But on sports betting, Christie favors legalization: “I don’t think any of us are of the illusion that betting on NFL games isn’t happening every week in New Jersey.”
For the Gov’s hypocrisy, Jon Stewart and the Daily Show took New Jersey’s Biggest Bully to task. Read all about it here: ‘The Daily Show’ calls out Gov. Christie over differing stances on legalizing gambling, pot | NJ.com.
Your Bitemaster, being a bit of a prude, doesn’t approve of either marijuana use or gambling. But he REALLY disapproves of self-righteous hypocrites.
Kevin Costello complained to police about money missing from his bank account. An investigation revealed that he had received a $545,384 refund after filing four fraudulent state tax returns in 2008, according to authorities. He’s been indicted on money laundering, theft and tax charges.
And the bank teller? She’s been charged with theft by deception for taking nearly $100,000 over a two-year period after making a duplicate debit card for Costello’s account.
“David Gibson, a Religion News Service correspondent, said the crackdown shows that concerns about poverty and economic inequality are taking a backseat in the church. ‘There’s so much riding on the gay marriage battle, and on abortion rights, and on contraception that [bishops] want everybody in the church to be doubling down on those issues and not being distracted by social justice,’ Gibson told msnbc.com.
“Bishops have been playing defense for years in the wake of the church’s sexual abuse crisis, and Gibson said they’ve been looking for issues on which they can reassert their moral authority.”
via U.S. News – US priests reportedly behind Vatican crackdown on nuns.
Myrna Pérez of the Brennan Center has written a touching eulogy for the late Chuck Colson.
Yes, the same Chuck Colson whose zealotry was so extreme that it was said that he would walk over his own grandmother to re-elect Nixon. Colson, Nixon’s hatchet man. Colson, who worked for decades to destroy John Kerry. Colson, who wanted to hire thugs to beat up anti-war demonstrators. Colson, organizer of the burglary of a doctor’s office. Colson, who went to jail for obstruction of justice.
While in prison, Colson found God. But did that temper his self-righteousness or cool his zealotry? No. It caused him to redirect it.
He again hobnobbed with presidents, but this time it was to score taxpayer funds for his Christian ministry. He fought against homosexuality, premarital sex and masturbation. He called gay marriage the “greatest threat to religious liberty we’ve ever faced” (while saying we should have a “civil discussion and to disagree without calling one another names . . .“). He claimed that gay marriage would lead to a destruction of private property rights. He railed against Darwinism, claimed that “Christians have been the vanguard of securing women’s rights” and worked to get the Bible into the public school curriculum.
Lastly, Colson portrayed himself as the successful leader of Prison Fellowship, the ministry that claims to have reduced recidivism rates in prisons. But there are claims that their numbers were cooked.
I’m sure that Colson believed he was doing the right thing, but he made the world worse not better. And for that, he can Bite Me. And for being gullible, Myrna Pérez can Bite Me, too.