Legal Humour News - December 7, 2009

Odd or Amusing Legal Headlines from the Past Week (or Two):

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1 - See You In Court!

Judge blocks law allowing guns in bars
A judge has blocked a Tennessee law that allowed people to bring handguns into restaurants and bars. The law that took effect in July allowed handgun owners with permits to pack their pistols in places serving alcohol, providing the establishments made more than half their profits from food. Nashville Judge Claudia Bonnyman said the law was "fraught with ambiguity" and ruled in favour of a suit brought by restaurant owners who argued gun owners would not be able to determine if an establishment met the criteria.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5AM3SV20091123

2 - Crime and Punishment

Groom beaten in parking lot by ex-wife
Edwin Ortiz was just about to utter "I do," but the mother of his two children and her relatives had a different message: "Oh, no you don't."  One moment, the 27-year-old Peruvian was sitting happily in a large wedding hall with 17 other couples, declaring his love for his wife-to-be to TV cameramen in the southern town of Miraflores. The next, two women relatives of his ex-partner burst into the room, rushed up to Ortiz and began pounding on his head and back while screaming at him.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2009/12/02/12013076-ap.html

Space alien search costs man his job
A former Arizona school district employee is accused of using school computers in an experiment to find space aliens, costing the worker his job and the district more than $1 million.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2009/12/02/12009786-ap.html

3 - Politics, Law, and Governance

China pays web surfers to find porn: report
Chinese authorities have offered rewards of up to 10,000 yuan (1,465 dollars) to Internet users who report Web sites that feature pornography. Within the first 24 hours, a hotline set up Friday by Internet Illegal Information Reporting Centre was flooded with more than 500 phone calls and 13,000 online tips
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/091206/oddities/china_internet_censor_pornography_offbeat

U.S. Gov. sent callers to telephone sex line
Oops! In an embarrassing blunder, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist mistakenly directed parents of uninsured children to call a toll-free sex line. People calling the governor’s office heard an on-hold recording of Crist promoting the toll-free Florida KidCare line. Except two numbers were transposed. The recording on that second phone number begins, “Hey there sexy guys” and says the caller can have a more graphic conversation with a woman for $2.99 a minute.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2009/12/04/12042571-ap.html

Prostitutes to offer free sex to UN climate summit participants
Prostitutes of a Danish sex workers association will offer their services for free to delegates of the UN climate summit in Copenhagen. The move is meant to protest an anti-prostitution initiative undertaken by Copenhagen city hall.The city, host of the December 7-18 UN climate summit, distributed postcards in Copenhagen's hotels that said "Be sustainable: Don't buy sex." It also sent letters to hotel managers inviting them to take measures to avoid prostitutes meeting clients in their establishments.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/091205/oddities/un_climate_warming_denmark_prostitution_sex_offbeat

Britain pulls plug on UFO hotline
The truth — and the UFOs — may be out there, but nobody in the British military is listening anymore. The Defence Ministry has quietly shut down its UFO hot line as a cost-cutting measure and will no longer investigate any sightings.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2009/12/04/12038761-ap.html

Vanuatu PM 'loses seat' through paperwork blunder
Vanuatu's prime minister recently lost his seat in parliament due to a simple paperwork error, officials said, throwing the tiny Pacific nation's politics into turmoil.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/091127/oddities/vanuatu_politics_offbeat_1

Obama mistakenly leaves human rights event early
President Barack Obama is getting used to leaving events before they end, even when he does not have to. He recently mistakenly left a White House ceremony honouring two activists' work in Zimbabwe. After finishing his remarks in the East Room, he walked with first lady Michelle Obama into the grand hallway across the main floor of the Executive Mansion. He returned a moment later, a bit sheepishly.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2009/11/23/11895181-ap.html

Bulgarians name brandy after PM after tax victory
Bulgarian villagers have named their home-made rakia brandy "Borisovka," playing on the name of Prime Minister Boiko Borisov to thank him for stopping parliament from raising taxes on alcohol.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5AQ35O20091127

Serb deputy fined for hurling shoe at speaker
Serb authorities fined a right-wing lawmaker 350 euros after she hurled a shoe at parliament's deputy speaker in a protest that echoed the infamous footwear attack on George W. Bush in Iraq. Gordana Pop Lazic, a deputy for the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), told reporters Thursday that she wanted to stage a "symbolic and innocent" protest to denounce the way in which Gordana Comic had chaired a session of parliament.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/091127/oddities/serbia_politics_parliament_offbeat_1

4 - And Now for Something Completely Different

Up in arms over kangaroo, emu "Coat of Arms" chips
Some Australians are up in arms over a new kangaroo and emu flavoured chip, horrified that people are encouraged to eat the nation's coat of arms which depicts the iconic Australian animals. Complaints to Australia's Advertising Standards Bureau said the "BBQ Coat of Arms" chips were degrading for native wildlife and sent the wrong message to Australian children. But the company manufacturing the chips rejected the charge, saying the kangaroo and emu flavoured chips celebrated Australia's heritage.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/091205/odds/odd_us_australia_chips

Groom creates viral storm twittering from altar
A Maryland groom has created a viral story storm after he interrupted his wedding last month to update his Facebook and Twitter accounts from the altar. Dana Hanna, who works for a pet website, also posted a short video of the ceremony on the Internet. It showed him reaching into his pocket for his phone as the minister was about to pronounce the couple husband and wife.
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5B24SI20091203

Competitive Britons send nativity costs soaring
Gone are the days of shepherds in tea towels and tinsel-clad angels. Britain's competitive parents are forking out on luxury pashmina shawls and velour dressing gowns to make their child the star of the annual nativity play.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091203/od_nm/us_nativityplays