Drew Conviction Overturned

CNN is reporting that the cyber-bullying conviction of 49-year-old Missouri resident Lori Drew has been overturned by a U.S. District Judge in California today. Drew, as many of you probably know, was convicted under a federal statute normally used to target hackers as a result of posing as a teenage boy on MySpace to harass 13-year-old Meagan Meier. All of this came to light after Meier committed suicide after recieving a message from Drew that the world would be better off without her in it.

Skepticism and the Law

It is something that has not really occurred to me until recently, but there is much to be skeptical about in the realm of law. I have always, or at least nearly as long as I can remember, been a skeptic (and, depending on who you talk to) a contrarian at heart.

It is not as though law exists in a vacuum, though. It is something fluid and it changes society just as society changes it. Often times, our laws are propped by up by claims of necessity and social good, and it is just these types of claims that can be put under a ‘microscope’, as it were. Further complicating matters is the inherently political nature of law and, by extension, the nature of politics itself. Things that aren’t actually true are true nevertheless, at least as far as public perception is concerned. Throw a little fear and religion into the mix, sprinkle with mass media, and a generous helping of corruption and you end up with an area that is just ripe for skeptical analysis.

*I’m* Closed-Minded?

I’m a terrible blogger. I used to update pretty frequently and, well, then school started and it’s pretty much sucked all the creativity and life right out of me (not that I had a whole lot of either to begin with). I have still been getting into the odd flame war here and there, though. Lately, it’s been my favorite group: anti-vaccinationists (oh, excuse me, they’re “pro-vaccine safety” now). 

I Podcast

So I know it’s been a gazillion years (well, maybe not that long) since I last updated. I just came out of my post-law-finals coma and I figured I would throw something up. 

Tortfeasor

Okay, I know that I haven’t written here in ages. I’m surprised that it’s even still here. It’s not that I forgot about it, just that they really don’t make law school easy (not to mention the fact that I never learned how to read). Finals are coming right up, and so I’m currently drowning in words like tortfeasor (which is my new favorite word, by the way).

On that note, I went by The Onion today and saw this little gem. Oh, the things that school has done to my sense of humor:

 

Least Cited Supreme Court Cases

This is sad

What brought me to make a post tonight is…you guessed it…The Kirby. Go over to Respectful Insolence and see why.

Carnival of the Liberals #73

Welcome to the 73rd edition of Carnival of the Liberals! As I’m sure you know, the Republicans had their convention in St. Paul this past week, and boy was it a…well….something. Between Gramps McMaverick and Sarah “Liar, Liar, Lipstick Pitbull on Fire” Palin, I feel pretty good about November. Am I the only one who found it amusing (at least in a sense) that there was a hurricane afoot during the RNC? You’re doing a heckuva job, whitey.

Carnival of the Liberals – Call for submissions

Oh my burning Jesus, I completely forgot that I was hosting the September 10th edition of the Carnival of the Liberals. So, if you happen to be a liberal, and you happen to write, and if you happen to use the internet, you might want to considering going over to the submission forum and sending me something that you think is worthy. There’s no theme or anything like that: just send me anything relating to liberal thought, politics, activism, et cetera. Please try to get your submissions to me by Tuesday the 9th (and the earlier the better, as law school is currently eating my soul).

Run Them Pockets, Fool!

In an earlier post, I noted that one common criticsm of allopathic medicine is that there is too much money involved in the system. I think that’s a criticsm that is largely justified, but then proponents of alt-med use that to springboard into singing the praises of all sorts of quackery from therapeutic touch to reflexology to homeopathy, and so on and so forth.

The Juices, They Flow

So I admit that I have been in a bit of a slump lately. I’ve been working on a couple of other things, and have had a massive case of skeptical writer’s block. Every time I sat down to write something, it just didn’t seem worth writing. I almost wrote a post about 9/11 “Truthers”. Then I almost wrote something about UFOs. It seemed as if my writer’s block would never end.

And then, there was David Kirby.