The insanity defense is really the American legal system’s equivalent of trying to win Dancing With the Stars by being fat, clumsy, and involved in computers.  It is the “I am doing such a bad job at this defense that it is impossible I could even be serious, and therefore I should win” defense.  It’s also a pretty all-in move: when it fails, it proverbially falls on the proverbial dance floor and breaks multiple limbs and is put to death via lethal injection for doing such a bad job.  What I’m trying to say is, don’t throw poop at the jurors.  Really, do not bank on that working.  One Weusi McGowan, a home intruder and robber out of San Diego, found this out the hard way.

McGowan, who attorneys say suffers from mental illness, had asked for a mistrial because he believed jurors had seen him in restraints when he entered the courtroom.

Several days after his request was denied, McGowan pulled out a bag of excrement he had hidden in his clothing, rubbed it on his lawyer and tossed it at the jury, hitting one juror’s computer case.

The jury responded by throwing the book (not literally) at McGowan…   Continue »

British person Callie Rodgers was the second-youngest individual in that country to win the lottery, at age 16.  1.9 million pounds was her payout (which is, I don’t know, maybe $4 mil?) and she successfully spent it all in only six years.

“My life is a shambles and hopefully now it has all gone I can find some happiness. It’s brought me nothing but unhappiness. It’s ruined my life.”

Indeed, she’s attempted suicide twice.  How did she blast her cash?  In the same way you or I would, of course: houses, cars, plastic surgery, and “partying” (drugs).   Continue »

That Joe Francis!  He sure does know how to live it up at his many, many court trials.  He has a few of them in the mix right now, including one from Las Vegas’s Wynn Casino, which alleges that he owes them $2 million in gambling debts, and another from a group of girls who felt they had been exploited into going wild on Girls Gone Wild.  (Do people still watch those?  I feel like I haven’t seen a “Warning: This Commercial Is Not Suitable for Children” ad in awhile.)

Francis is known for his courtroom antics, but during a 2007 trial, his lawyer said that “he has put a lot of this foolish behavior behind him.”  He went back and grabbed it for this year’s trial, though.  Some of his more ridiculous misbehavior in court, after the jump. Continue »

Hilarious prank, psychological experiment, or just a crazy guy doing crazy guy stuff?  A man in L.A. drove down the freeway throwing money from his car.

About ten people ran into the street to grab it because, cash flying everywhere!  It’s a magic day!  They caused a traffic jam.  And yet it was the driver/rainmaker who was committed to a mental hospital, not the people who ran onto the Los Angeles freeway.  On the other hand, he was tossing out Serious Money…   Continue »

Dinosaur Adventure Land: The Place Where Dinosaurs and the Bible Meet!  That is their slogan, in point of fact, but sadly, it’s about to be the place where dinosaurs and the Bible met. Because the Lord has decided to work in mysterious ways once again by allowing the IRS to seize the park, whose proprietor, Kent Hovind, did not believe in paying taxes to mortal authorities.  Hovind was imprisoned for our sins, plus also tax evasion.

The conviction culminated 17 years of Hovind sparring with the IRS. Saying he was employed by God and his ministers were not subject to payroll taxes, he claimed no income or property.

Learn more about the joyful mission of Dinosaur Adventure Land through this video, after the jump.   Continue »

Whoa, holy sheet!  I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT I’VE BEEN HEARING.  After listening to an entire city counsil meeting in Santa Cruz I am ready to agree that everyone in that city is out of their frign’ mind and I haven’t ben there longer than a few days.  You’d agree with me if you’d have seen this insane video of real people attending Santa Cruz City Counsel meetings.

Check out the video after the jump>>> Continue »

An interesting phenomenon has been identified and it’s not even Swine Flu, which one of my friends contracted!  Actually, it’s called The Quarterlife Crisis and afflicts many overindulgent, self intitled brats in their mid-to-late twenties and early thirities.  These people have most things in life, but find that they are entirely unhappy because they want to be able to have the financial and career their parents and grandparent’s had while living the life of a rock star celebutant!

To hear more about it keep reading after the jump>>> Continue »

MadoffMail.com is a jaunty high-concept website in the vein of “Look at This F*cking Hipster” (which you should certainly look at, if you haven’t yet), except instead of featuring terrible hipsters looking terrible, it has songs from the hearts of pissed-off Jews sounding pissed off.  This it promises:

On June 29, 2009, Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years as inmate #61727-054 at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City.

Whether you were one of his victims or not, now’s your chance to tell him how you feel.

You simply use electronic mail to send your feelings to MadoffMail.  Then…   Continue »

This is a story you’ll hear more about I think: a French tennis player, Mathieu Montcourt, was found dead in his apartment building, of unknown causes.  This is extra sensational because 1) Montcourt was 24 and obviously in a more prime physical condition than most of us will ever see, and 2) Montcourt was recently banned from the French tennis federation for five weeks for wagering on games.  The ban was to take effect the day Montcourt died.

“[His girlfriend] was with a friend in Mathieu Montcourt’s apartment,” Dominguez said. “They came out after a while, having left him messages, and noticed that he was lying on the floor next to his bike … They called the (ambulance), but unfortunately he was already dead.”

So, an unusual place to commit suicide, and an unlikely action to take, given that his suspension was not particularly severe…   Continue »

I have to imagine that these are harsh times for Nigerian email scammers.  Theirs isn’t exactly the freshest game in town – the whole “Repressive government froze my assets and I need to put the remainder of my royal fortune in your bank account for safekeeping” case has a lot of holes in it,  and email scams have been a punchline for as long as I can remember the internet existing.

Plus in these times of economic difficulty, it’s like, sorry your government froze your assets, but SunCruz Casino froze my assets, in a manner of speaking, and… I wish I could help, but I don’t have a “bank account” in the traditional sense.  Any more.  But scammers are wily like its their job, so they’re taking unusual measures to separate your money from you.

“I didn’t think they’d use puppies,”she said.

You never think they’ll use puppies.   Continue »