Archive: March 25, 2007 - March 31, 2007
Is Marijuana Kosher For Passover?
This Year it Could Be a Pot-Free Pesach Don't Smoke Mara-juanic-ah! (New Line Cinema) In Israel they won't be passing many dubbies this Passover. The country's pro-pot Green Leaf Party ("Aleh Yarok") has sent a mass e-mail to its members warning that hemp-related products may be a no-no for those who keep Kosher during Pesach. According the party's spokeswoman, "we are considering announcing a ban on everything containing hemp just to be on the safe side. We are going with the rabbis on this. People should remove all cannabis and hemp from their homes." Oy Vey! Pesach, starting Monday at sundown, is the seven-day Jewish holiday (eight days outside Israel) commemorating Moses's Exodus from Egypt which, as the story goes, was made in such haste that the Israelites did not have time to let the bread rise. Therefore, traditionally during this early spring festival, observant Jews avoid eating leavened breads...
By Emil Steiner | March 30, 2007; 8:30 AM ET | Comments (5)
Transgender, Gay Marriage, Divorce, Oh My!
Does a Sex Change Operation Negate Alimony? An New Case of the Is She or Isn't He? Once upon a time, marriage and gender were permanent things. While those days may be long gone, some people still pine for that simpler time and in response try to make laws that preserve those "traditional" institutions. But as the following case illustrates, when such nostalgia laws are released onto contemporary society, the legal results can be something akin to the chaos of bringing dinosaurs back to life in Jurassic Park. For example, when Lawrence Roach divorced his wife Julia in 2004, he agreed to pay her $1,250 a month in alimony. However, since then Julia has had a sex change operation and has legally become Julio Roberto Silverwolf. As a result, Roach sued to stop payment because, in his opinion, "[w]hen she changed to man, I believe she terminated that alimony." Silverwolf's...
By Emil Steiner | March 29, 2007; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (44)
Thursday Breakfast Bender
Welcome to March 29! On a snowy night 23 years ago today, the Baltimore Colts packed all of their belongings into Mayflower Transit trucks and moved the team to Indianapolis. Fans in Baltimore have never forgiven them. Here's Your Thursday Top Five: 5) Could Hell Be A Place On Earth?Bad news for all you sinners out there! Pope Benedict confirmed earlier this week that, in fact, hell "really exists and is eternal, even if nobody talks about it much any more." Not only that, but apparently sinners really do burn in an everlasting fire. On the plus side, though, Vatican officials clarified that in the new catechism of the Catholic Church damnation is actually a "state of eternal separation from God," which exists "symbolically rather than physically," so more mental anguish than pitchforks and brimstone. Size Matters! 4) Tall Dark & Spoken ForSorry ladies, Bao Xishun, the tallest man on...
By Emil Steiner | March 29, 2007; 8:04 AM ET | Comments (2)
Connecticut School Censors Iraq Play
Free Speech Tested at Wilton High It Can Be Hard Work Finding Balance In Iraq (Reuters) While the Supreme Court ponders its "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" decision, another first amendment conflict has arisen from a Connecticut high school, questioning the extent to which students can express themselves on stage. Wilton High's performance of "Voices in Conflict," an original work of collected Iraq war stories, was canceled because of questions about the content's "political balance." But members of the advanced theater arts class, who spent this semester compiling the work from veterans' interviews and letters -- including those of a 2005 graduate who was killed in Iraq -- are claiming their play was unjustly censored. Principal Timothy Canty originally green-lighted the project when approached by theater teacher Bonnie Dickinson earlier this year. Her goal had been to showcase people around the students' age who were "experiencing very different things in their...
By Emil Steiner | March 28, 2007; 10:53 AM ET | Comments (27)
Wednesday Breakfast Bender
Welcome to March 28! On this day 29 years ago, the Supreme Court ruled that U.S. judges cannot be sued for judicial actions made in error, with malice or in excess of authority. Stump v. Sparkman started after an Indiana Judge (Stump) ordered the surgical sterilization of a 15-year-old girl because her mother alleged she was "somewhat retarded." Here's Your Wednesday Top Five: 5) Only in HollandWith tax season upon us, many Americans find themselves searching high and low for deductions. In the Netherlands, it appears they need only search high. A court in Amsterdam has ruled that "a professional fisherman convicted of smuggling drugs could deduct the cost of buying and shipping hashish" from the taxed income on his upcoming return. I'm not sure the IRS would be so generous, but I guarantee anyone who tries it in America will win an automatic nomination in this year's Idiot of...
By Emil Steiner | March 28, 2007; 7:57 AM ET | Comments (2)
Of Mormons, Angels & Marketing
Can the LDS Trademark Angel Moroni? Is it Red Bull or Coffee that Gives Angels their Wings? (TWP) There is a line of thinking in marketing that goes something like this: Come up with the most funny and offensive logo you can think of, and stamp it on all your products. Most customers will laugh, some won't care, and some will be so enraged that they'll cause a stink, which will then generate a buzz. The louder they yell, the more you sell. I jokingly refer to this as the "Parental Advisory Explicit Lyrics" approach, and just like it helped sell rap music in the suburbs, it also helps sell coffee in Utah. The Just Add Coffee store in Taylorsville, Utah sits next to a Starbucks. Co-owner Ed Beazer knew they would have to come up with something special to compete with the industry giant, and so he commissioned local...
By Emil Steiner | March 27, 2007; 11:00 AM ET | Comments (27)
Tuesday Breakfast Bender
Welcome to March 27! On this day 17 years ago, the U.S. government launched TV MartÃ, which broadcasts daily news and current affairs programs in Cuba. Here's Your Tuesday Top Five: 5) Poop PaperIf you don't like how newspapers stain your fingers, you're really not going to like this. Researchers at a giant panda reserve in southern China are in talks with paper mills to process "their surplus of fiber-rich panda excrement into high quality paper." Supposedly panda's bamboo-heavy diet can produce a very fine grain of higher quality than elephant dung paper. And with the 40 bears at Chengdu's Giant Panda Breeding Base producing about two tons of it per day, this scheme is not so much about making a profit as it is about "recycling the waste." New Take On The Crocodile Belt 4) Is That a Crocodile in Your Shirt, Or Are You Just Glad to See...
By Emil Steiner | March 27, 2007; 8:17 AM ET | Comments (1)
Tony Dungy Tackles Gay Marriage
Are Dungy's Religious Beliefs Discrimination? Super Bowl Champ Can't Stomach Same Sex Marriage (Getty Images) Last week, Indianapolis Colts Head Coach Tony Dungy voiced his support for banning gay marriage during a speech at the Indiana Family Institute, a socially conservative organization associated with James Dobson's Focus on the Family. Dungy accepted the "Friend of Family" award remarking "I embrace that stance... we're trying to promote the family -- family values the Lord's way." Jerry Falwell has come out in support of the 51-year-old, who became the first African American coach to win a Super Bowl this February, calling his remarks "constructive," while gay advocates have, not surprisingly, voiced strong opposition. Though Dungy's position may not constitute "gay-bashing" per se, it certainly implies that homosexual Americans are not entitled to the same rights as heterosexual citizens, much the same way as conservatives have in the past condemned mixed racial marriages...
By Emil Steiner | March 26, 2007; 12:19 PM ET | Comments (266)
Monday Breakfast Bender
Welcome to March 26! On this day 31 years ago, Queen Elizabeth II sent out the first royal e-mail from the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment. Here's Your Monday Top Five: 5) Chalk Board Jungle FeverFour teachers in a remote Albanian village have been censured "for drunken and lewd behavior" after students caught them having sex behind a classroom blackboard. According to fourth-grader Elton Cuka, "I saw them acting shamefully through the window and I told my friends and parents... They saw me and threatened to expel me from school." Mouse Bites Back 4) And the Mouse Ran Away with the TeethIf there was a picture in the dictionary next to "persistence," it should be of this mouse who continues to run amok in the home of a New England senior couple. Thus far the Exners, of Maine, have captured it on three occasions, but each time the determined rodent...
By Emil Steiner | March 26, 2007; 10:00 AM ET | Comments (1)
