Category Archives: Religion

Public Service Announcement: Fitna

March 29, 2008 – 3:21 am

For those who’ve been following the developing debate over Dutch film Fitna, it’s now finished up all over the internet (as I expected it would). Pommy over at the Australian Libertarian Society has a link, as does Saint at Dog Fight at Bankstown. Once I’ve watched it, I’ll update this post. In the meantime, your [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Free Speech | Comments (38)

“You have to die, so that I can live.”

February 20, 2008 – 6:33 pm

Last night, I watched a rather depressing documentary on SBS called The Anatomy of Evil. It was about people who perpetrate genocide. I’ve been morbidly fascinated with this question for a while now, as I’ve explained in an earlier post. I’ve never quite been able to fathom how people could shoot/gas/blow up an innocent civilian.
This [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Middle east, Politics, Terrorism | Comments (19)

Rights or wrong?

January 1, 2008 – 9:34 pm

When I was younger, I was very taken with the idea of a Charter of Rights for Australia. I simply couldn’t fathom the fact that Australia didn’t have certain rights in its Constitution. But now that I’m older, I’m not so sure that a Charter of Rights is the panacea for all ills in society. [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Law | Comments (19)

When PC = “Pretty Clueless”

December 7, 2007 – 10:20 am

What is wrong with this picture? Hmm. Think about it for 5 seconds.
A posh New York food store apparently tried its best to be inclusive and politically correct, but missed the important point that any Jew who is likely to be celebrating Chanukah is unlikely to be eating ham. It’s just not kosher. Yeah, of [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Fark! | Comments (12)

Supernatural suing

September 19, 2007 – 10:11 am

I was talking to a friend, and we both feel a bit sick of all the political jockeying in the news at the moment. So, let’s look at some different news.
1. Luis, Armand and Angel
I wrote a post about bizarre lawyers last year. One was Philipino judge Florentino V. Flores Jr, a trial judge who [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Fark!, Law | Comments (7)

From the sublime to the ridiculous

August 31, 2007 – 12:26 pm

Hmm, maybe that should be just from the ridiculous to the ridiculous…
First ridiculous legal snippet:
An American millionaire has left US$14.8M on trust for her white Maltese terrier, Trouble. But two of her grandchildren get nothing. The other two get $5M each (still less than the dog…) as long as they tend their father’s grave.
This was [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Fark!, Law | Comments (5)

Legalising abortion

August 22, 2007 – 10:39 pm

The Victorian government has decided that it is going to decriminalise abortion in this state, and clarify the legal position. I’m glad. I think it’s best to be totally clear about the exact situations in which abortion will be legal or illegal. Much better than leaving things in a legal and moral vacuum.
I do not [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Feminism, Law, Motherhood, Politics | Comments (19)

Jonathan Mills is a pretentious git, but The Bacchae is great

August 18, 2007 – 12:33 am

When Australian Jonathan Mills was appointed Director of the Edinburgh International Festival, arguably the world’s most high-powered arts job, not a few locals were shocked and a wee bit pissed off.
Watching his excruciating ‘interview’ (billed as ‘conversations with artists’, supposedly designed to illuminate The Bacchae, or rather, the National Theatre of Scotland’s innovative production) yesterday [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Events, Literature, Popular culture | Comments (8)

The thought police are listening

July 15, 2007 – 7:48 pm

It seems pretty ridiculous that Dr Haneef has been charged with supporting a terrorist organisation by leaving his SIM card with his second cousins in Glasgow. I was wondering how they could charge him, and decided to look at the terrorism offences. I’m not a criminal lawyer, let alone one acquainted with the Federal jurisdiction. [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Law, Terrorism | Comments (26)

Carrots that eat milk

July 8, 2007 – 6:53 pm

When my sister and I were little, we came up with the sentence which is the title of this post (during a trip to Jenolan Caves). We found it hilarious because it made no sense. Carrots are incapable of eating, and even if they were capable, they couldn’t “eat” milk anyway. Yeah, we were strange [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Drugs, Education, Law | Comments (12)