Musings of a Twisted Mind|Here you will find thoughts on current events, sports, politics, court system, theology, and other things.

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An appeals court ruled yesterday that Pennsylvania’s wiretapping law applies to text messages, throwing out evidence police had obtained by sending fake messages over a suspect’s phone.

The three-judge Superior Court panel ruled that police needed a warrant under the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act when reading phone messages from a suspect who did not realize his replies were being read by investigators trying to draw him in.

This is a ridiculous ruling. The owner of the cell phone was now working with the investigators. That should make a warrant unnecessary. It doesn’t matter he was now going to jail. That is the equivalent of having a suspect talk another into a trap.

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President Barack Obama is promising to work quickly and deliberately to name a replacement for retiring Justice David H. Souter who could double the number of women on the Supreme Court, become the first Hispanic justice, or do both.

Conservative and liberal groups are quickly laying the groundwork for a nominee fight that could re-ignite contentious debate on issues from abortion and immigration to gay rights.

Souter, 69, announced Friday that he would step down at the end of the court’s term in late June. His retirement after almost two decades of unpredictable decisions gives Obama an early chance to place his stamp on the nine-member high court, possibly by naming a minority or a second woman.

So a careful choice huh? Does this mean we won’t end up with a left wing loon? Because I didn’t like the right wing loons of Bush. I want people that actually think about the issue instead of voting on party lines. Is it really that hard?

• “I believe there’s a plausible case,” U.S. District Court Judge James Selna said in a Santa Ana, Calif., courtroom, according to The Orange County Register. “What we face at trial and summary judgment is a different matter.”

  Dan Spradlin, attorney for Advanced Placement European history teacher James Corbett, had asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the teacher’s former student. After Monday’s ruling, however, the lawsuit will go to trial.

  Chad Farnan, sophomore at Capistrano Valley High School and a Christian, and his parents sued the history teacher in December, alleging that the educator had fostered hostility toward Christians and promoted “irreligion over religion,” violating the Establishment Clause.

  Court documents cite statements tape recorded by Farnan during Corbett’s lectures, such as “When you put on your Jesus glasses, you can’t see the truth.”

  “Aristotle argued there has to be a God. Of course that’s nonsense” and “We do not invoke the supernatural every time we get stymied. It’s okay for religious people to do that, or magicians. There might not be a distinction. What was it that Mark Twain said? He said that religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool.”

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A man who beat up his ex-girlfriend, cut the phone cord when she tried to call the police, punched and kicked her has been ordered to not have a girlfriend for three years. He has a dependent disorder and cannot handle rejection.

I don’t know. It seems like perhaps he should be in jail for assault. But then I think of prisons as places that are protecting society instead of punishing the guilty. Although they definately are punishment of course.

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A USC student gives birth to a baby and throws it in a dumpster where it dies. And somehow the California judge doesn’t consider it murder and throws out the case.

And this student had a similar event in 2004. She showed up at a hospital with no baby and claimed it was stillborn. No body was ever found. I wonder what happened to it.

Unbelievable.

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A judge is suing a dry cleaners for millions of dollars because of misplaced pants. The pants were later found. And during testimony this judge bursts into tears over the pants and asked for a recess…

And this is someone expected to render judgment in cases? He should be disbarred and then run out on a rail.

I was thinking about this last night. If a jury can’t agree on a verdict, shouldn’t it be seen as reasonable doubt? It just seems like there shouldn’t be another trial since the trial occurred and there’s people on the jury that disagree that the case was proven. So it seems like it should be not guilty and no more money used for another case.

Northview Diary: Pet food recall harassment alleged
Found this using Blogger’s random next Blog button. (Now we’ll see if it does what I think)

You just have to love a company that hides the fact that its poisoning its products and then harasses the people that seek justice with the courts.