It has been said there are three kinds of lies -- lies, damned lies and statistics. Maybe we should add a fourth worse than the other three -- the "stolen valor" kind, which, at least as far as an appeals court panel is concerned, are not unconstitutional.
A three-year-old federal law that makes it a crime to falsely claim to have received a medal from the U.S. military is unconstitutional, an appeals court panel in California ruled Tuesday.
A little quiet corruption (Shhh! We wouldn't want to upset anybody) apparently accepted as "business as usual" throughout the Indiana legal system: Civil asset forfeiture is, at best, a morally questionable practice by authorities in seizing the property of people not even convicted of a crime (who then find it almost impossible to get their property back even if they're cleared).
Those country songs just keep bubbling up from Indiana news:
A reunion between an ex-con and the woman he was jailed for beating ended with the woman's arrest this morning, on the Northeastside, police said.
Bertha Sanchez, 44, was arrested on charges of felony battery and criminal recklessness for stabbing her boyfriend after he looked at another woman.
Fort Wayne is one of several Indiana jurisdictions considering a ban on the synthetic marijuana know variously as K2, Spice and Mr. Smiley, and pressure is building for Indiana to join the eight other states that have banned it. But South Bend Prosecutor Michael Dvorak says the substance fits the description of an "analog drug" and is therefore already illegal under state law:
We do not need to wait for a legislative fix in Indianapolis," Dvorak said during a news conference in May.
Former Fort Wayne mayor and prominent gun-control advocate Paul Helmke thinks a "leaderless ATF" has chosen the wrong target:
As I've mentioned before, terrorists have ludicrously easy access to guns in this country.
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Well, here's a headline you don't see every day: "IMPD arrest 2 after post-baptism brawl." Freddy Hernandez and an accomplice, Adea Picasso, punched Jaun Rangel in the face after harassing his wife at the ceremony and chasing him and his children down with their car:
Police, responding to a call, pulled Picasso over in the 8500 of Madison. When he refused repeated warnings to show his hands police doused him with pepper spray.
I thought The Journal Gazette's editorial Sunday on traffic tickets was thoughtful and well-said, and I found myself largely in agreement with it right up until the unfortunate last sentence.
Wow -- wonder how she's gonna word that on her resume:
EVANSVILLE — A judge agreed Wednesday to push back the trial date of former Knight Township Trustee Linda K. Durham so she could look for work.
Durham, 31, was to go on trial Monday on charges of theft and official misconduct.
There was a big dogfighting bust in Indianapolis over the weekend, and that has led animal rights activists to renew their longstanding efforts to strengthen the state's animal fighting laws. Promoting or using animals for fights are felony charges. But attending the fights is a lesser offense:
A public intoxication charge was dropped against Indianapolis Colts reserve defensive lineman John Gill though he was obviously seriously drunk when he was picked up:
