LAWYERBRUCE

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Prostitution and the Presidency.

April 7, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 7 is … No Housework Day. A good day for Merry Maids.

According to some experts, Jesus died on this date in 30 AD. In 0030 Jesus was crucified by Roman troops in Jerusalem (scholars' estimate, according to astronomer Schaefer).

Not to be outdone by Schaefer, on this date in 33 AD Jesus Christ was crucified and died, (according to astronomer Humphreys and Waddington).

At least they agree that Jesus Christ existed and he died.

This is not good but we are not guilty by association. One of President Barack Obama's close friends has been arrested in Honolulu on suspicion of soliciting a prostitute. Robert "Bobby" Titcomb was one of four men arrested in an undercover sting operation late Monday and later released on $500 bail, according to Honolulu police.

The White House and President Obama are starting to play the finger-pointing, blame-game as it relates to the impending government shutdown. The Obama administration warned Wednesday that a federal shutdown would undermine the economic recovery, delay pay to U.S. troops fighting in three wars, slow the processing of tax returns and limit small business loans and government-backed mortgages during peak home buying season. The dire message, delivered two days before the federal government's spending authority expires, appeared aimed at jolting congressional Republicans into a budget compromise. Billions of dollars apart, congressional negotiators were working to strike a deal by Friday to avert a shutdown by setting spending limits through the end of September. The last such shutdown took place 15 years ago and lasted 21 days.

I think Washington and the children playing government should be concerned that if the government shuts down for an extended time, the voters will realize we can live without a full-time, over spending, wasteful federal government. The states will pick up any slack. Armageddon will not happen just because someone turns the lights out in Washington DC. What we are doing now is not working for the people that pay for it. Why not try to give the ‘states rights’ concept a try for a while? It could not be any worse unless you sponge off the federal government for a living.

Another campus shooting took place on Wednesday. A man was arrested in a deadly east Alabama shooting Wednesday after he walked up to reporters and told them he was the person police were seeking. The shooting at Southern Union Community College in Opelika killed a 63-year-old woman, wounded two women, ages 36 and 94, and injured a 4-year-old who was hit with flying glass.
Afterward, Opelika police said they were looking for 34-year-old Thomas Franklin May III. The man who surrendered to the media was driving a white Jeep Liberty with the same tag number police had been seeking. Reporters called 911 and within minutes, police arrived, handcuffed the man and led him away.

He appeared to be the same person in a photograph law enforcement distributed of May, but police wouldn't say if he was the main suspect. Photos and video from the scene showed a Toyota minivan with three windows shot out in a parking lot outside a building on campus. Student Quay Thomas said he heard nine shots. "It was terrifying," said the 17-year-old. "I wouldn't think anything like this would happen at a college campus." The victims' names were not immediately released. City spokeswoman Jan Gunter said officers were still trying to sort out details but believed the afternoon shooting was related to a dispute between a man and a woman. "Preliminarily they were pretty sure they knew who the shooter was and what the problem was," she said.

The school closed the campus for the rest of the day.

We can get a handle on this problem by making this a federal crime punishable by death with a provision in the law the accused must be given a speedy trial within 120 days of the shooting or arrest, whichever is latest. Continuances will only be granted for extraordinary circumstances and only for thirty days. It is time to quit handling this situation with kid gloves. The new law would accomplish many things including giving the criminal a reason to kill himself rather than be put to death. That benefit alone saves millions of dollars per incident.

Today we should remember South Pacific. The Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein musical classic of love and war, South Pacific, unfolded on a lush tropical island swarming with Seabees, nurses, natives and coconut trees on this night in 1949. Actually, it was not a tropical island, but the stage of the Majestic Theatre in New York City. Ezio Pinza starred as the suave French plantation owner with a shady past and Mary Martin portrayed the bubbly, pretty, but naive Navy nurse. Mary Martin washed her hair a zillion times as she sang, I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Out of My Hair in 1,925 performances. Many of the 1950 Tony Awards went to the show and its producers, performers, director (Joshua Logan) and composers, nine statuettes in all. It also earned a Pulitzer Prize in the same year and in 1958 was made into a movie. South Pacific caused a lot of Happy Talk and this night, so many years ago, was certainly Some Enchanted Evening.

It’s nice to see how well NATO is doing in Libya without the expertise, knowledge, equipment, manpower and money of the United States. This is going to end up as an evasion not just a bombing mission. Either get in there and get it done or get the hell out of the area. Doesn’t anybody remember Korea, Vietnam, Iraq or Afghanistan? If we are going to fight then fight, let’s not just pussyfoot around. Pick the fights worth fighting you can win or stay out.

This is just the first salvo in the collapse of the Tea Party. Once this budget mess in Washington DC is over and the Tea Party is made to look like the naïve daydreamers they are their significance will sink further. Fox News and Glenn Beck announced Wednesday that Beck will "transition off of his daily program" later this year. In a joint news release, Fox News and Mercury Radio Arts, Beck's production company, said that they will "work together to develop and produce a variety of television projects for air on the Fox News Channel as well as content for other platforms including Fox News’ digital properties." Beck, the statement said, would "transition off of his daily program, the third highest rated in all of cable news, later this year." It is not clear what the programs will be, or how many of them there will be. Both Beck and Fox News have been publicly hinting that a split could be forthcoming. One month ago, the New York Times reported that Fox News was "contemplating life without" Beck. Later that month, Beck told his radio listeners that, no matter what happened, they would "continue to find each other." The announcement ends months of speculation about whether or not Beck would continue his Fox News show when his contract was up in December. Beck has drawn high ratings and huge attention to his time slot and to the channel, but he also became a lightning rod, drawing frequent and furious criticism for some of his statements and causing the often talked about tension behind the scenes at the network. Over 300 advertisers also stopped airing their commercials on Fox News during Beck's hour. Still, Beck's television show allowed him to increase his profile substantially. More than many other television hosts, Beck has a very large media empire of his own to fall back on. His radio show is the third-highest rated in the country, he has written many best-selling books, and has a large and devoted fan base. He is the only one that believes that. Fox does not fire a person at the top of his game or the ratings.

Music Chart Toppers over the years:

1945 My Dreams are Getting Better All the Time - The Les Brown Orchestra (vocal: Doris Day)
I’m Beginning to See the Light - The Harry James Orchestra (vocal: Kitty
Kallen)
A Little on the Lonely Side - The Guy Lombardo Orchestra (vocal: Jimmy
Brown)
Shame on You - Spade Cooley

1953 Pretend - Nat King Cole
Till I Waltz Again with You - Teresa Brewer
I Believe - Frankie Laine
Your Cheatin’ Heart - Hank Williams

1961 Blue Moon - The Marcels
Apache - Jorgen Ingmann
On the Rebound - Floyd Cramer
Don’t Worry - Marty Robbins

1969 Dizzy - Tommy Roe
Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In - The 5th Dimension
You’ve Made Me So Very Happy - Blood, Sweat & Tears
Who’s Gonna Mow Your Grass - Buck Owens

1977 Rich Girl - Daryl Hall & John Oates
Dancing Queen - Abba
Don’t Give Up on Us - David Soul THIS IS HUTCH FROM STARSKY AND HUTCH
Lucille - Kenny Rogers

1985 One More Night - Phil Collins
We are the World - USA for Africa
Crazy for You - Madonna
Country Girls - John Schneider

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

http://www.brucebrennanlaw.com/

www.lawyerbruce.wordpress.com

http://www.brucebrennanattorney.com/

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawyerbruce.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase any of my books. The books are interesting and inexpensive reads. My third book should be available later this year, in late 2011. More information will be forthcoming.

http://www.ebookmall.com/ (Do search by my name or book Title)

www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

www.kobo.com

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"Most of one's life is one prolonged effort to prevent oneself thinking." - Aldous Huxley

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Prison Beauty Pageants.

April 6, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 6 is … Sorry Charlie Day

The White Sox managed to lose last night in extra innings.

Star-Kist only uses the best tuna. Knut may not have been getting the best tuna. A follow-up to the story about the sad and untimely death of celebrity polar bear Knut, Germany’s celebrity polar bear Knut died from drowning after collapsing due to swelling of his brain and falling into his enclosure's pool, an expert said Friday. Pathologist Claudia Szentiks said a necropsy of the four-year-old bear who died suddenly two weeks ago showed he was suffering from encephalitis, an irritation and swelling of the brain that was likely brought on by an infection. Knut died March 19. A pathologist says the polar bear drowned after collapsing. She said it was unclear specifically what caused the brain swelling, but that experts had ruled out rabies, botulism and bovine spongiform encephalopathy, also known as mad cow disease. Szentiks also rejected allegations from animal-rights groups that he was traumatized by living in a zoo environment, saying that there were no indications of any chronic stress. She added that even if Knut had not drowned after his collapse, he would not have survived the damage from the encephalitis. Knut died March 19 in front of visitors at Berlin zoo, turning around several times and then falling into the water in his enclosure. Polar bears usually live 15 to 20 years in the wild and even longer in captivity. Knut, who was born in December 2006 at the zoo, rose to celebrity status as an irresistibly cute, fluffy cub.

Knut was rejected by his mother at birth, along with his twin brother, who only survived a couple of days. He attracted attention when his main caregiver, Thomas Doerflein, camped out at the zoo to give the button-eyed cub his bottle every two hours. The bear went on to appear on magazine covers, in a film and on mountains of merchandise. Doerflein, the zookeeper who raised him, died in 2008 of a heart attack. It sounds like the Curse of King Tut has reinvented itself in the modern world. This could help Steve Martin’s career. March 19^th should be Sorry Knut Day from now on.

What do you know about beauty pageants in prisons? They are becoming popular around the world. I am not aware of any in the United States, but my experience is that our female prison population is short on good looks. However, somebody has to be the best looking ugly girl.

The United States and the individual States should privatize the prison system. We all hear about the $40,000.00 to $50,000.00 per year to house an inmate it costs the prison system. I bet Holiday Inn or Haliburton could and would do it for half of that.

They could then start having prison beauty pageants. Think of the Reality TV potential. Judges could be Charlie Manson, a Roman Polanski film festival night, Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, a going postal night, Mark David Chapman; we could have a Beatles night, John Hinckley, a Jodie Foster night, Sirhan Sirhan, a Kennedy night, David Berkowitz, Son of Sam night. The possibilities are endless.

We would be politically fair, of course, and have gay, lesbian, transsexual and cross dressing pageants to be broadcast on the LOGO network.

Think of it! American Prisoners Got Talent, Prisoners Idol, Dancing With a Murderer and the ever popular Survivor – Alcatraz. The winners would have to donate half their winnings back to the prison general fund so the suits have something to steal. Read on as to how the world is doing this now.

From coilhouse.net is this tidbit of useless information but fun none the less. This concerns the newest innovation in women’s prison reform Women’s correctional facilities are the ultimate sleep-over party with all the trappings: pajamas, bunk beds, in-fighting, sloppy Joes, getting touched up under the covers, and being told when to go to bed. Some prisons even let the girls play dress-up. Miss America, meet Miss Demeanor. To be fair, it’s primarily inmates who organize these shows. It’s an increasingly popular phenomenon, with women’s prisons hosting beauty pageants in Russia, Brazil, Peru, Honduras, Angola and the Philippines, amongst others, with working titles like Miss Captivity. You will notice the United States is maintaining a wait and see approach on this rehabilitation concept. The idea is to ‘boost’ the self-esteem of (at least the better looking portion of) the prison population. There is arguably an obvious exploitative angle in this, one which perpetuates gender and class divisions in a place where women are their most vulnerable. The media is only too happy to join in, throwing the spotlight on the tragedy of a pretty young woman in distress, putting herself on display. A beauty contest under these conditions probably does next to nothing for the self esteem or prospects of the contestants in any meaningful way. It’s almost a perverse caricature of a parole board hearing in a Van Halen video, an effort to charm your way into garnering favour from you captors and respite from your situation by any measure necessary. Having said that, spending years trapped like an animal in a gray, clinical dorm framed in razor wire, any warm-blooded woman would thirst for anything beautiful in her world. Participation in these productions transiently refashions the contestant from a shoplifter or drug addict into a graceful, sophisticated and beautiful person of seeming worth, if only for one evening. Who could condemn the contestants for their humble aspirations and for enjoying an event which breaks up the tedium of Gilligan’s Island re-runs on prison TV?

MarieClaire.com recently ran a story about beauty pageants in women’s prisons in Siberia. In the middle of a small room, with dirty-white walls decorated with pictures of Jesus and an array of plastic plants, a young woman stands on a stool. She wears a cotton candy-pink ball gown. At her feet, three other women sew tiny flowers along the hem of her giant hoop skirt. Her lips are painted a circus- clown red; light brown curls frame her face. "A woman should always be beautiful," says Natalya Khapova, 26, as she poses on her pedestal. "Not just outside the fence. Even if she's in here, she should show her beauty. A woman is everything gentle and wonderful -- or she should be." The fence Khapova refers to surrounds the correctional facility UF 91/9, an all-women's prison camp some 20 miles away from the Siberian capital of Novosibirsk. Her ball gown is one of three outfits she will don for the prison's main event of the year: the annual "Miss Spring" beauty contest. As with most women at UF 91/9, the reason for Khapova's stay isn't entirely clear. At first, she says she was "just a witness" to an undisclosed crime. When pressed, she mutters that she was "an accomplice -- or something like that" in an assault and robbery charge. Khapova, who has six-and-a-half years left of her eight-year sentence, is one of more than 1000 female inmates serving time here for everything from drug possession to murder. Today, however, Khapova focuses on something decidedly more appealing than her long-term fate.

This annual pageant, which prisoners begin planning weeks in advance, bears little resemblance to, say, Miss America -- picture instead over-the-top costumes and makeup reminiscent of Cirque du Soleil, a static-filled stereo DJ-ing Russian pop music, and a cast of nervous contestants teetering dangerously in their borrowed stilettos. It's a welcome diversion from the monotony of life inside the jail, and a legitimate excuse for the prison staff to extend the women's curfew -- all the way to 2 a.m., rather than the usual 10 p.m. sharp. The contest also serves another purpose, as the winner's prize is neither money nor a modeling contract, but something far more precious: a ticket to freedom. "Early release" happens only by the recommendation of the prison staff to a special parole board. Foremost among the criteria for consideration is "active participation in the social life of the camp." Hence, the popularity of the Miss Spring contest.

Though more than a decade has passed since the fall of communism in Russia, a vast divide still exists between those reaping the rewards of a capitalist market and those who previously relied on government subsidies and now live in poverty. The economic turmoil has hit women hardest: During the 1990s, 7.6 million jobs held by women (largely "state" positions) were eliminated--one in every five female held jobs. (For men, job cuts affected one in every 100.) In fact, out of the 5.5 million registered unemployed people in Russia, about 70 percent are women, according to the International Labour Organization. Coinciding with this rise in unemployment, the percentage of women committing crimes has also increased. From 1992 to 2004, the number convicted almost doubled, from 193,000 to 376,000 -- although only about a quarter of these women actually do hard time. Their crimes are exacerbated by a drinking and drug epidemic sweeping the country. Alcoholism, of course, is a longstanding tradition in Russia, where the average person consumes more than 17 liters of pure alcohol every year. But the narcotics trade is relatively new. Fueled by more open borders and the new elite's growing disposable income, Russia's drug business has grown into a $15 billion-a-year enterprise. The official number of drug addicts in Russia has raised 15- fold in the last decade to half a million, although experts think the true number is significantly higher. "Experts believe the total could be between 3.5 million and 4 million people," says Valentin Bo by rev, deputy chief of the parliamentary security committee. "The rising tide of drugs has triggered an increase in the number of drug related crimes." Half of the women at UF 91/9 are doing time for narcotics.

Amid these bleak realities, hundreds of women find themselves calling UF 91/9 home every year. Few sources of convict entertainment exist in Siberia, where temperatures in the winter can drop to -40 degrees. "We wanted to find ways to occupy convicts' free time," says Natalya Baulina, the prison's school marmish administrative head. "This contest gives prisoners an opportunity to feel like women, to dress up, put on makeup, and imagine they're connected to Russia's new freedom. "When I first introduced the idea to the women, they were in utter shock," Baulina adds. "The only pageant they knew was Miss Universe--women parading in barely visible swimsuits before male judges. They asked, 'How do you imagine we are going to do that?' I replied, 'We'll invent our own rules.'" The rules include each of the prison's nine sections picking one inmate to represent it, then creating costumes for three categories: "Greek Goddesses," "Flower Gowns," and "Imaginary Uniforms," for which inmates design their ideal prison uniforms of the future. Although the women admit that they'd never heard of many of the Greek myths or exotic flowers they will portray onstage, they are learning fast from books provided by the staff. You can read more at http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/latest/crime-beauty

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

http://www.brucebrennanlaw.com/

www.lawyerbruce.wordpress.com

http://www.brucebrennanattorney.com/

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawyerbruce.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

http://www.ebookmall.com/ (Do search by my name or book Title)

www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

www.kobo.com

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

Envy comes from people's ignorance of, or lack of belief in, their own gifts."- Jean Vanier

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

The Decorah, Iowa eagles.

April 5, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 5 is … Go For Broke Day. I like this concept.

I was wrong on the college basketball championship. UConn beat Butler and they are the 2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champions. Congratulations. Now, the UConn head coach gets to sit out the first few games next season as punishment for NCAA recruitment rules violations. Cheaters sometimes do win.

A month ago I wrote about a live streaming web site of an eagles nest in Iowa. At that time, the nest contained three eggs. Two of the eggs have hatched and the third should this week. The site has become an Internet sensation, being covered by Aol, NBC News, WGN News in Chicago and other news organizations. Check it out. The address is: http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

Some days you just have to lighten up a bit. This happened in Los Angeles. It's harder than ever to get a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. But while the court turns away 99% of 10,000-odd petitions filed each year, there are cases many justices find irresistible: fictitious ones. Justice Anthony Kennedy came here Jan. 31 to conduct a mental-competency hearing for Hamlet, accused of killing Polonius. Billed as "Justice Anthony M. Kennedy's the Trial of Hamlet," the production featured real-life celebrity lawyers including the deputy district attorney who's prosecuting Lindsay Lohan for shoplifting and, as a bleeding-heart juror, Oscar-winning actress Helen Hunt. For some Supreme Court Justices, their hobby is a lot like their day job. They run mock trials of characters drawn from works of literature. Exhibit A: Hamlet on trial for competency, Justice Anthony Kennedy presides. WSJ's Neil Hickey reports. Shakespeare's tragic hero is just one of many literary and historical figures to make the mock docket. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg once donned a 19th-century major general's uniform to preside over Col. George Custer's mock court-martial. Justice Samuel Alito has tried Socrates for corrupting the youth of Athens, while Justice Antonin Scalia put Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon in the dock for conspiring to destroy francophone culture in the New World. The trial was conducted mostly in French.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor is the latest to get in on the act. Next month, she'll join Justices Ginsburg and Alito to hear an appeal on a blackmail conviction from Mrs. Cheveley, from Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband." Unlike many people, some of America's top jurists enjoy spending their off-hours pretending to do their day jobs. Justice Kennedy talks with Hamlet's defense team: Dr. Saul Faerstein, Richard G. Hirsch and Blair Berk. Actor Graham Hamilton played the Dane.

.Several justices say the faux trials, which often raise money for causes like the Supreme Court Historical Society and Washington's Shakespeare Theatre Company, provide a convenient excuse for pleasure reading. "When you're reading all these briefs," says Justice Ginsburg, pointing at a stack of legal filings in her chambers, "it's nice to take time off and read something great or delightful."

The mock cases often are argued by experienced advocates, such as former Whitewater prosecutor Kenneth Starr, and some panels include lower court judges, too. Participants usually have dinner together before the evening sessions. "I have one, or maybe two, glasses of wine. That would be unthinkable at the real court," says Justice Ginsburg. "It's fun," adds Justice Stephen Breyer. "The arguments are usually presented quite spectacularly."

Last year, conservative Justice Alito joined liberal Justice Ginsburg in affirming Henry V's war-crimes conviction for executing French prisoners of war. While Shakespeare considered Henry a hero, "we applied the 'evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a maturing society,"' says Justice Alito, referring to a 1958 precedent on cruel and unusual punishments that many conservatives still dispute. In 2007, former Solicitor General Theodore Olson was defending the title character from Marlowe's "Edward II" when Justice Ginsburg surprised him with a citation rebutting his argument: It was an opinion that Mr. Olson himself had written while working in the Reagan administration. "There was a gleam in her eye," Mr. Olson says. "She knew that the audience would get it." For Washington litigator Eugene Scalia, a mock trial was probably as close as he'll ever get to a real Supreme Court case. Until Justice Scalia decided to retry Aaron Burr for treason, "my only chance to argue a case in front of him was at the dinner table," says the 47-year-old Mr. Scalia.

Did the justice pull punches for his son? "Point No. 1: I lost," says Mr. Scalia.

The Supreme Court forbids cameras at real arguments, but mock trials have been videotaped since 1987. "I think it would be a lot more important to let the public see the court in Bush v. Gore," grumbles former Sen. Arlen Specter, the ex-chairman of the Judiciary Committee who spent years hectoring the justices to televise arguments. "They should leave Hamlet to the high schools."

While most justices are satisfied to be performers, Justice Kennedy is the impresario behind "The Trial of Hamlet." He says he got the idea in the early 1990s, when psychiatrists were revising the definitions of mental disorders. A forensic examination of Hamlet, he figured, could be a teaching device. "I had the idea that I could write a play, but there are so many different ways to go," Justice Kennedy says. Instead, he devised an improvisational structure where prosecution and defense attorneys would call psychiatric experts to the stand.

Justice Kennedy work shopped the concept 17 years ago in a Supreme Court conference room, and later staged it in Boston and Chicago. After selling out a 2007 performance at Washington's Kennedy Center, the justice pitched it to Ben Donenberg, founder of the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles. January's production proved the biggest yet, filling the 1,200-seat Bovard Auditorium at the University of Southern California with tickets selling for $30 to $100. Hamlet was represented by celebrity lawyer Blair Berk. In preparation, she consulted one of her clients, Mel Gibson, who played the Danish prince in Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 screen adaptation. "He knows it on a level you couldn't imagine," says Ms. Berk, who negotiated the "Lethal Weapon" star's no-contest plea to misdemeanor battery for striking ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. Mel Gibson, who attended the USC performance, sent Ms. Berk A.C. Bradley's 1904 commentary on Hamlet's erratic behavior. Alas, the jury voted 10-2 against the prince, played by Graham Hamilton, seen on HBO's "Big Love."

Chatting before the show, the costumed Mr. Hamilton told Justice Kennedy that Hamlet's "antic disposition" is a ruse rather than a symptom of diminished capacity, Justice Kennedy—often a swing vote on the Supreme Court—wasn't so sure. "I've gone back and forth," he said.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

VISIT ANY OF THE SITES LISTED FOR REVIEW, RESEARCH, ORDERING MY WRITING PRODUCTS OR TO CONTACT ME.

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

http://www.brucebrennanlaw.com/

www.lawyerbruce.wordpress.com

http://www.brucebrennanattorney.com/

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawyerbruce.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

http://www.ebookmall.com/ (Do search by my name or book Title)

www.barnesandnoble.com (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search.

www.kobo.com

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard

Book Titles:

Holmes the Ripper

A Revengeful Mix of Short Fiction

"Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air." - John Quincy Adams

Monday, April 4, 2011

Drinking in the military.

April 4, 2011

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

April 4 is … Tell-A-Lie Day. Why wasn’t this April 1^st but it is a good day for lawyers.

The White Sox quit scoring but at least the Cubs blew one.

In a news story somewhat related to the story in yesterday’s column about the Montana legislator that wants to lessen the penalties facing those arrested for DUI, an Alaskan legislator wants to lower the drinking and smoking age for military personnel in Alaska. Defense Secretary Robert Gates doesn't support lowering the drinking age for U.S. troops, but that hasn't deterred one Alaska lawmaker from renewing the debate over whether military members old enough to fight and die for their country are responsible enough to drink and smoke. The argument dates back decades to the Vietnam War, and now Alaska state Republican Rep. Bob Lynn is proposing a bill that would allow military members in his state under 21 to legally drink and smoke there. Alaska residents can't legally drinking until they're 21 and legally smoke until they're 19. Lynn has been careful to note that neither he nor his bill promotes drinking or smoking as a habit. But, he says, the bill would "enable all active duty warriors in our U.S. Armed Forces to be treated as adults, regardless of age." "It's outrageous that a member of our military can be subjected to the horrors of war but can't legally have a beer or smoke a cigarette," Lynn wrote in his blog Monday. "Any soldier who braves military combat and risks their life for our country should be treated like an adult in every sense of the word."

In other countries, the minimum drinking age for U.S. troops is 18 unless an international treaty, agreement or a local situation determined by a commander sets it higher, according to a Pentagon directive issued in 2009. Two state House committees are considering Lynn's bill now. Mothers Against Drunk Driving, or MADD, opposes it. "MADD fully supports the courageous work of our men and women in uniform," a MADD spokeswoman said in an email to FoxNews.com. "However, we believe that all Americans, including members of the military, should adhere to the federal 21 minimum drinking age law, which saves lives and protects still-developing young minds." The Feds haven't always had a say in setting the drinking age. During and after the Vietnam War, 29 states lowered their drinking ages below 21 in the face of baby boomers protesting that they should be allowed to drink if they can be forced to risk their lives abroad. But after the debate shifted to drunken driving, the federal government intervened. In 1984, Congress passed the National Minimum Drinking Age Act that required all states to raise their legal drinking age to 21 by 1988 or face a 10 percent reduction in federal highway funding. For Alaska, that means the state would risk losing nearly $50 million of the state's $495.3 million in 2010 federal highway funds if Lynn's bill passes, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told FoxNews.com, noting that it doesn't make a difference whether the law is applied to military members only or the general public. "NHTSA estimates that the 21-year-old minimum-drinking-age laws have reduced alcohol traffic fatalities by 13 percent and have saved an estimated 27,677 lives since 1975," the agency said in email. "In 2009, an estimated 623 lives were saved by minimum-drinking-age laws."

Some statehouses have considered bills lowering the limit since 1988 and a few – Kentucky, South Carolina and Wisconsin -- have targeted members of the military, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. But none of them have succeeded. U.S. lawmakers have also tried to lower the drinking age. Most recently, Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., proposed a bill last year that would have allowed U.S. troops who are at least 18 to drink beer and wine on military bases. The bill died, but Kingston is planning to re-introduce it in the current session now that Republicans control the House, his spokesman told FoxNews.com but Gates, a former president of Texas A&M University, said he doesn't want to encourage drinking among the troops. "One of the things we're seeing as a result of repeated tours is not just an increase in suicides but an increase in risky behaviors, particularly by young men. And so that would be a concern of mine," Gates said at a House committee hearing this month under questioning from Kingston.

MADD should learn to pick their fights better. They need to open their minds a little and accept that everything wrong with the world is not caused by alcohol or alcohol and driving. People die in alcohol related auto accidents but people die in war, in peace, in terrorist attacks, in natural disasters, in criminal acts, medical reasons and for no reason. It is called natural selection. It is not nice to fool mother nature.

From FOX News on March 31, 2011. What a weird world we live in. I would like to see the girlfriend, just for grins and giggles.

A morbidly obese Ohio man has died after police found him fused to a chair he had not moved from in two years and were forced to cut a hole in the wall of his house just to get him out, WTOV-TV reported Wednesday. The unnamed 43-year-old man's roommates called police who found him unconscious. He was taken to Wheeling Hospital in nearby West Virginia, where he later died.

A hospital spokesman would not comment on the man's death.

The man apparently lived with two able-bodied roommates including his girlfriend, who officials said fed him since he never got up in a home in Bellaire, Ohio. I do not believe the roommates have a legal obligation to do anything in this situation but, if they can, the local authorities will try to charge somebody with something. The roommates called police upon finding the man unresponsive on Sunday.

Officers who responded to the scene said that the man's skin was fused to the fabric of chair and that he was sitting in his own feces and urine with maggots visible, WTRF-TV reported earlier. One officer said it was the worst thing he had ever responded to. Another told the local TV station he had to throw away his uniform after helping remove the man from the chair. "The living room where the man lived in his chair was very filthy, very deplorable. It's unbelievable that somebody lives in conditions like that," Jim Chase, a local city code enforcer, told WTRF. "I instructed the landlord this [Monday] morning and the two people, the tenants at the house, they had to get it cleaned, there's no way they can live in something like that, and so they are working on it," he added. "I'll be going back daily, checking on it, making sure that they get it cleaned it and serviceable. If not, they must get out." The landlord said the man used to be an active person and said she had no idea how bad his condition was since he covered himself with a blanket every time she came to visit.

What a world?

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

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