This piece here was amusing to me on a couple of fronts. Not merely because the ABA article is of old news. Years ago when I was working for a law firm that handled consumer phone calls for a group legal plan, I would review the calls and the responses that the handling attorney made. I was astonished at how often the firm’s attorneys would fail to spot common con games and scams from the callers initial description.
Evidently Western society collapsed recently, and someone forgot to tell me. In Switzerland, a researcher was required to demonstrate that his experiment would not “trample” upon a plant’s dignity. Wall Street Journal report
Dr. Keller recently sought government permission to do a field trial of genetically modified wheat that has been bred to resist a fungus. He first had to debate the finer points of plant dignity with university ethicists. Then, in a written application to the government, he tried to explain why the planned trial wouldn’t “disturb the vital functions or lifestyle” of the plants. He eventually got the green light.
The rule, based on a constitutional amendment, came into being after the Swiss Parliament asked a panel of philosophers, lawyers, geneticists and theologians to establish the meaning of flora’s dignity.
“We couldn’t start laughing and tell the government we’re not going to do anything about it,” says Markus Schefer, a member of the ethics panel and a professor of law at the University of Basel. “The constitution requires it.”
It is unfortunate that they did not laugh at this ridiculous lunacy. Because failing to laugh at it, is what makes it take on more life and spread.
Now that Steve Warshak got 25 years prison sentence for 93 counts stemming from the fraudulent sale of “Enzyte” male enhancement drug.
Federal prosecutors accused the company of bilking customers out of $100 million through a series of deceptive ads, manipulated credit card transactions and refusal to accept returns or cancel orders. Judge Spiegel ordered the company, along with other defendants, to forfeit more than $500 million — a figure based on how much Warshak and the company took in.
“This is a case about greed,” Spiegel reportedly said as he reviewed the case. “Steven Warshak preyed on perceived sexual inadequacies of customers.” Spiegel said one aspect of the fraud relied on the reluctance of customers to come forward, which would mean admitting they ordered the sexual enhancement pills.
Personally, “Bob’s” wife would have given me physical performance issues.