Stuff You Won’t See on TV Soon

This video was made by the cast of “All in the Family,” but never made it on the air. Gee, I wonder why.

Thanks go to Lee Goldberg for this.

And speaking of things that won’t be shown on TV during the “Family Hour” (or any other time) . . . at the risk of offending the highly sensitive . . . check out this new product. I’m wondering, does Ronco know about this?

Dystonia on ‘Oprah’

Got this great news from my contacts with both the Baltimore and DC-area dystonia support groups.

On Tuesday, March 31st the Oprah Winfrey Show will feature a young
woman with dystonia, as well as Michael J. Fox and Dr. Oz.  The
discussion will surround personal accounts of living with dystonia and
Parkinson’s Disease.

It’s about time the word got out about dystonia. Nice to see this being televised at a decent hour (as opposed to 2 a.m., Sunday morning, when my local PBS station showed Twisted), on a program that millions watch.

Although, from the looks of this preview, it would appear it’s being pitched as a longevity and anti-aging show. (Sigh . . . well, I guess dystonia will get a mention in there, anyway.)

Supreme Court to Hear Student Strip Search Case

Here’s one for the books. Two female school employees (a secretary and a nurse) performed a strip search on a 13-year-old female student, in search of prescription-strength ibuprofen pills (one of which is equivalent to two Advils). The girl had to strip to her undies, pull her bra out and move it around (nothing hiding in those cups!), then (in the girl’s words) “[t]hey made me open my legs and pull out my underwear.”

Good grief. Isn’t middle school enough of an ordeal without this?

A lawsuit followed (what a surprise). The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found that the search was unreasonable. The majority wrote: “It does not require a constitutional scholar to conclude that a nude search of a 13-year-old child is an invasion of constitutional rights.” The majority also found it “a violation of any known principle of human dignity.”

The dissent admitted the case was “a close call,” given the “humiliation and degradation” the girl suffered, but concluded that it wasn’t “unreasonable for school officials, acting in good faith, to conduct the search in an effort to obviate a potential threat to the health and safety of their students.”

The school district has taken this matter up to the Supremes, who will hear arguments on April 21.

Professor Richard Arum, who teaches sociology and education at New York University, says the high court should handle this matter with care.

“Do we really want to encourage cases,” Professor Arum asked, “where students and parents are seeking monetary damages against educators in such school-specific matters where reasonable people can disagree about what is appropriate under the circumstances?”

Hmm. Here’s another question: Do we really want to encourage school staff members to err on the side of strip searching adolescent girls to find prescription-strength ibuprofen? Based on the word of another girl who was actually caught with pills, then blamed her former friend (the plaintiff in this case)?

There’s a real tension here, between the need to police drug use on school grounds and student privacy rights. Where does one draw the line?

Regarding the circumstances leading to the search, the girl says the school didn’t even consider that her disciplinary record was spotless.

The school district’s response: “Her assertion should not be misread to infer that she never broke school rules, only that she was never caught.”

Oh, please.

Think Before Swallowing

Here’s something to think about–I always check where my produce comes from at the supermarket. If I can buy local, I do. If not, I favor U.S.-grown produce. (To avoid “circle of poison” issues–pesticides used overseas that would not be used here.)

We try to avoid eating too many processed foods and check the ingredients on those rare occasions we do. But I’ve never really thought about what goes into over-the-counter medications.

This LA Times column about one man’s lengthy search for information about who made his acetaminophen and where they made it gave me cause for concern. Makes you wonder–just what is in those pills anyway?

Frantic Friday Roundup

This is cool–Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has announced the new California Green Corps program, a statewide effort to train young people (ages 16 to 24) to work in the state’s fledgling green-tech industry.

And in other news pertinent to California and some other states, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says it won’t prosecute pot sellers operating under state medicinal marijuana laws. (High time, I say. No pun intended.)

According to this psychologist, drugs don’t help with dementia as much as human contact will.

Dave Pogue writes about how the infrastructure for charging electric cars (streetside charging outlets!) is being built in six countries and two U.S. states.

And the recession hits the recycling industry. (Buried at the bottom of this article is this hopeful sentiment: “Regardless of the market, an unexpected benefit of the recession is that the environment still comes out ahead when people are producing and consuming less.”

This op-ed raises the question: just how much should we worship the rich, anyway? The writer concludes by saying, “Certainly the claim of the rich to play an indispensable role in the American economy will be treated with more skepticism than in the recent past, and their ability to preserve their loopholes and other advantages in the tax code will diminish.” Hmm. This cynic isn’t so sure, but we can always dream, can’t we?

Finally, this one’s a gas. (Pun quite intended.) Does the ACLU know about this?

Wheels of Justice Get Tangled in the Web

You know, there’s this process attorneys go through when they pick a jury. Each side tries to size up the potential jurors and pick the ones who’ll probably decide in their favor (or, at least, not support the other side).

Okay, duh, right? But the thing is, a lot of thought can go into this process. A whole lot of thought. Some lawyers even hire jury consultants. We’re talking about a whole type of litigation support service just for picking juries. (Whether it works or not is another matter. I’m not going there.)

And jury deliberations are supposed to be secret. When I was a juror, we were told not to discuss the case outside the jury room–with each other or anyone else. And the only evidence jurors are supposed to consider is evidence admitted at trial.

So, given what we know about the process, what frakking idiot juror would think it’s okay to Twitter or post online about a trial while it’s going on?

Jurors are also gathering evidence on the Web to use in deliberations–another no-no. The evidentiary rules were created to assure jurors only consider the most reliable and relevant facts in a case. I understand people get curious about what they’re not being told, but these rules do serve a purpose.

And what part of “Don’t talk to anyone or look for outside information on this case” don’t these people understand?

Virtual Law

Well, it took a recession, but it looks like some lawyers are closing their offices and forming “virtual firms.” (Wish they’d thought of doing that while I was practicing. Oh, well. So it goes.)

High time they did this. Of course, the last several years have been rough  for law firms. They’ve had to deal with issues from changing the billable hours model to grappling with work-life issues to keep associates. Not to mention electronic filing, discovery and document retention.

Lawyers tend to stick with tradition. But technological change has forced the lawyers to change with it.

Give them some credit. They’re trying.

Who is John Galt?

For those of us who went through the whole Ayn Rand/Atlas Shrugged phase in our misspent youth, I bring you this fabulously funny rejoinder from Colbert Nation. (Love the “comb over” line.)

Thanks go to the Heavy Metal Librarian for this one.

Austerity–It’s All Relative

The degree to which people are suffering in this recession depends on who they are. Some people are fortunate enough to choose austerity, instead of having it forced upon them. But this version of austerity and this one clearly differ.

Imagine–going to restaurants that take coupons (gasp!) or wearing a 10-year-old dress to a party (my God!).

Oh, the humanity. These sacrifices shouldn’t go unnoticed. But I suspect that once we start to recover, it’ll be back to overconsumption as usual for many of these folks.

Not Going to Speculate

I’m re-posting a re-posting from Lee Goldberg’s blog.

His headline is “Holy Crotch, Batman!” But I’m also wondering . . . what’s that coming out his rear end?