Free Republic

Monday, July 3, 2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MUCH ABOUT HISTORY Atheist who sued priest over Jesus' reality fined But author refuses to pay judgment, saying it violates intellectual liberty -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: July 3, 2006 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Joe Kovacs -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com An atheist who gained worldwide fame when he sued an Italian priest, claiming Jesus Christ never actually existed, has been fined by an appeals court in Rome. But Luigi Cascioli vows never to pay the $1,900 judgment against him. The fact he was given the maximum fine is "an abuse of authority against every right of intellectual expression...

A 14-year-old Travis County girl who said she was sexually assaulted by a Buda man she met on MySpace.com sued the popular social networking site Monday for $30 million, claiming that it fails to protect minors from adult sexual predators. The lawsuit claims that the Web site does not require users to verify their age and calls the security measures aimed at preventing strangers from contacting users younger than 16 "utterly ineffective." "MySpace is more concerned about making money than protecting children online," said Adam Loewy, who is representing the girl and her mother in the lawsuit against MySpace, parent...

CURVE TO HOLD FRIVOLOUS LAWSUIT NIGHT JULY 2nd AT BCB May 15, 2006 - ALTOONA- Inspired by a Los Angeles Angels fan who filed a lawsuit against the club because he did not receive a red nylon tote bag as part of the major league club's Mother’s Day promotion last May, the Altoona Curve have announced that they will be holding Salute to Frivolous Lawsuit Night as part of their Sunday, July 2nd game at Blair County Ballpark. The Curve’s salute to all ridiculous lawsuits ever filed will include the following: A Pink Tote Bag Giveaway to the first 137...

(Ansonia-WTNH, Apr. 8, 2006 11:20 PM) _ An Ansonia 12-year-old is in some trouble tonight after he claims he was abducted and assaulted by White men in robes. The boy claimed that he was attacked because of the color of his skin. Now, it turns out that Ansonia police have determined the boy's story is a lie. Ansonia police told us earlier today they were investigating a claim of an assault to a child. His mother originally told us her child told her he was the target of racism. In fact, she was so scared she, and the NAACP asked...

Paternity fraud is rampant in the United States, triggering legislation and legal challenges in more than a dozen states, according to family law attorneys and fathers' rights activists. At issue: Men claim women are getting away with trickery -- DNA evidence may show a man is not the father, but the courts are still forcing him to pay child support anyway. "This is the new underdog," said Michigan family law attorney Michele Kelly, who represents mostly men tangled in paternity disputes. "I was a staunch feminist. I marched with Gloria Steinem. But the new victims in America are working men....

WASHINGTON (BP)--Indiana’s John Hostettler is trying for the fifth consecutive Congress to prevent the American Civil Liberties Union from receiving government funds when it succeeds at legal challenges to public expressions of religion. This year, the Republican representative has more hope than before thanks to the American Legion. The country’s largest veterans organization, with about three million members, has aggressively thrown its influence behind Hostettler’s bill, and the persistent congressman is encouraged at his proposal’s prospects. Hostettler’s measure, the Public Expression of Religion Act (PERA), H.R. 2679, is designed to close what he considers a loophole in federal law that...

WASHINGTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union today condemned the continued refusal of the Justice Department to answer basic questions about the National Security Agency’s warrantless program to wiretap Americans. The Department today sent over its answers to questions about the illegal program from the majority and minority members of the House Judiciary Committee. The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office: “The Department of Justice continues to refuse to give honest answers to basic questions, such as how many Americans have had their phone calls and e-mails listened to or read by...

SEATTLE -- The parents of a 23-year-old who was killed trying to prevent the demolition of an occupied Palestinian home have appealed a judge's decision to dismiss their lawsuit against Caterpiller Inc., the company that made the bulldozer that ran over her. "He applied the wrong legal standard and ignored the facts," said Maria LaHood, a lawyer with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights. Rachel Corrie was killed three years ago by an Israeli soldier driving a bulldozer. She was trying to stop him from demolishing a Gaza Strip home while the family was inside; though witnesses said she...

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) -- A Rochester teacher who has taken his employer and his own union to court numerous times over the years has been ordered to come up with $270,000 in legal fees. U-S District Judge David Larimer has ruled that Donald Murphy must pay that amount to the Rochester City School District and the Rochester Teachers Association. Larimer said Murphy targeted the city's entire school system in frivolous legal actions while claiming his civil rights were violated. He called Murphy's case "meritless and without foundation." The judge said Murphy's "antics" were aimed at annoying school officials or calling...

NEW YORK Columnist Ann Coulter made a provocative remark Friday about "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau and editorial cartoonist Ted Rall. Trudeau is shrugging it off, but Rall is considering a lawsuit. Coulter reportedly said Friday at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.: "Iran is soliciting cartoons on the Holocaust. So far, only Ted Rall, Garry Trudeau, and The New York Times have made submissions."

Dear Friends, As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address tonight. I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country. There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened: This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, Lynn brought me a ticket to the State of the Union Address....

Dear Friends, As most of you have probably heard, I was arrested before the State of the Union Address tonight. I am speechless with fury at what happened and with grief over what we have lost in our country. CindySheehan's diary :: :: There have been lies from the police and distortions by the press. (Shocker) So this is what really happened: This afternoon at the People's State of the Union Address in DC where I was joined by Congresspersons Lynn Woolsey and John Conyers, Ann Wright, Malik Rahim and John Cavanagh, Lynn brought me a ticket to the...

Some lawyers say fast food is dangerous. It can make you fat. I say some lawyers are dangerous. They can make you poor and take away your choices. But special privileges for favored industries, such as the bill the House recently passed to protect the fast-food industry, are the wrong cure.I like fast food. It tastes good, it's cheap, and it's, well, fast. That's why McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, KFC and Taco Bell are so popular. People aren't endlessly stupid, so companies serving nearly 100 million people every day must be serving their customers well.Of course, eating too much fast...

MIAMI (AP) — A jury has ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay more than $61 million to the family of a 17-year-old boy killed in a roll-over accident when his friend fell asleep while driving an Explorer.Ford was liable in the accident because it sold a vehicle with poor handling and stability, the jury said Tuesday.The company planned to appeal, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.The family of Lance Crossman Hall claimed Ford knew the Explorer was prone to roll-overs and failed to warn consumers about the vehicle's defects.Ford blamed defective Firestone tires for the Explorer's handling and stability problems, and the...

Lawsuits seeking millions in damages have been filed in federal court in Victoria by survivors of seven illegal immigrants who died in Victoria County's infamous 2003 human-smuggling case. The suits allege that the Savanna, Ga.-based Great Dane trailers, manufacturer of the trailer in which the immigrants rode during their ill-fated journey from the Mexican border, failed to install escape latches inside the fully insulated refrigerator trailer, which had no ventilation system. The oversight left the trapped occupants with no access to fresh air, no means of escape, and placed them in danger of suffocation and death, the suits claim. The...

July 26, 2005 — Can a wife put a price tag on housework? One woman says yes, and is seeking $500,000 for the work she did during 5½ years of marriage. Kathy Thompson previously appeared on "GMA" when she went on strike to get her husband, Gary, to help around the house. Now she wants a divorce, and compensation for her work. "He goes fishing a lot, he doesn't appreciate me I don't think, and so I went on strike," Kathy Thompson said in 2002. The strike ended only when Gary Thompson showed up with flowers, vacation plans and dinner...

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A man who lost part of his finger in a workplace accident was the source of the fingertip used in an alleged scam against Wendy's restaurants, and gave it away to settle a debt, his mother said. "My son is the victim in this," Brenda Shouey said in an interview published in Wednesday's San Francisco Chronicle. "I believe he got caught in something, and he didn't understand what was going on." Anna Ayala, 39, was arrested April 21 at her Las Vegas home on suspicion of attempted grand theft for allegedly costing Wendy's millions of dollars...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The finger that a woman claimed she found in a bowl of Wendy's chili was severed in the tailgate of a truck during a work accident, an employee of an asphalt company said. Pat Hogue, an estimator with a Las Vegas asphalt maintenance company, told the San Francisco Chronicle for a story in Sunday's editions that a man he was working with lost the tip of his finger on a job five months ago. Both men were working with James Plascencia, the husband of Anna Ayala - the Las Vegas woman who claimed she found the...

The Las Vegas man whose severed fingertip ended up in a cup of Wendy's chili gave his mangled digit to a co-worker to settle a $50 debt -- but had no idea it would be used in an alleged scheme to swindle the fast-food chain, the man's mother said Tuesday. San Jose police have refused to name the man whose finger they believe ended up in the chili. But the man's mother, reached by The Chronicle on Tuesday, said the finger belonged to her 36-year-old son, Brian Paul Rossiter of Las Vegas. "My son is the victim in this,'' Rossiter's...

In an effort to teach educators a lesson about the importance of summer vacation, a Whitnall High School student and his father have filed a lawsuit against the boy's math teacher that seeks to bar teachers from requiring homework over the summer. In the lawsuit, 17-year-old Peer Larson and his father, Bruce Larson of Hales Corners, argue that school officials have no legal authority to make students do homework over the summer because the state-required 180-day school year is over. "It is poor public policy," Bruce Larson argues in the lawsuit. "These students are still children, yet they are subjected...