Massachusetts has done it again! By ruling that a company can be guilty of "libel" (the written form of "slander") even though they wrote the truth, the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston has set the First Amendment back over 100 years. Basically what happened was that Alan S. Noonan was fired from Staples for lieing on expense reports (essentially stealing) and for some reason, one of the higher ups decided to email 1500 employees why he was fired. The judges on the appeals court applied a 1902 law that defines "actual malice" as being mean, instead of applying the 1964 law that every other court in country uses which defines "actual malice" as disregarding the truth.

But wait...does that mean that Alan is going to sue me next?

Massachusetts has gone unnoticed for a while. But today, it comes roaring back to the website when an 8 year old kid at a gun club was given a fully automatic Uzi to shoot. As he fired, he lost control of the gun and shot himself in the head.

Over time, I have changed my perspective on guns and think that, generally, they are a good thing. But I think 9 years old should be the minimum age for handling fully automatic weapons.

Newly apponted "Chancellor" of Cambridge college is using her Ministry of Magic former FBI training to discover the identity of Dumbledore's Army the author that wrote a detailed newsletter that exposed everything that was wrong with the college.

Boston is trying to stop the damage done by the sub-prime housing crisis by passing a new foreclosure relief law. It states that any bank that forecloses on a house that has renters in it has to continue renting until they sell the house or the directive expires. You could make some arguements against this but overall, that's not a bad idea. Protecting good renters from being kicked out because their landlords suck is OK, I guess. But check out THIS part:

"However, the measure would also cover individual homeowners who fell behind on their own mortgages."

Ruh, roh! It looks like this bill would allow anyone in Boston who can't really afford to pay their mortgage to let the bank foreclose, become a renter, and then not pay their rent. Wait, what? It is RIDICULOUSLY difficult to evict a renter in Massachusetts.

For those of you who have read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, see if these quotes from Michael Ross sound anything like Wesley Mouch:

“The United States is facing a national housing emergency (and) the City of Boston is facing a serious public emergency in regards to foreclosures,”

“Lenders have an obligation to fix what’s going on... They’ve crippled the American economy.”

The Boston Fire Department has concluded that the deaths of two firemen had nothing to do with the alcohol or cocaine in their blood. Why? Because the Department chose not to include the toxicology report in the official report.

It's been a while since Beantown has embarrassed itself but I had faith, and Boston came through. The oversight committee setup to review potential abuses of police authority in Boston is so shrowded in secrecy that the public isn't allowed to attend and no records of the meetings are kept. That's some great oversight-work, Lou!

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ordered all state and federal employees to drive home at exactly the same time...on unplowed roads. Be on the lookout as I search my archives...I may actually add a Massachusetts category.

Yet another reason why I should make a Massachusetts category: A Mass judge ruled that a man convicted of rape in 1990 who only served 2 months doesn't have to complete his 20 year sentance.

Does your Daddy touch you like THIS? Yet another reason why I should create a Massachuesetts category. Pediatricians in Mass are encouraged to ask your children if you drink, have guns or finger bang them...without any corroborating reason to do so.

I don't know if this deserves a "Corrupt Cop" category or a "Boston" category (since Boston just LOVES to come up with silly stories). In today's story, an off-duty Boston cop, Thomas Griffin, crashed into a disabled car on the way home from a bar, killing the occupant, Michelle Vibert. That didn't stop his buddy cop friends from covering it up and placing the blame on her. Imagine if she had a lightbright in her car!