In an interview with Rolling Stone, Against Me! singer Tom Gabel speaks out on being transgender, and shares her plans to transition from a man to a woman.

via Against Me!’s Tom Gabel speaks on being transgender – The Marquee Blog – CNN.com Blogs.

I needed a classy, but easy restaurant to take a client to that was near the John Wayne Airport (Orange County) when his plane landed at 11am and our hearing at 3pm.  Agora is like, 10min from JWA.  1st, if you’re a vegetarian, stay the F away, it is so not the place for you.  All the sides (and I had the collard greens, black beans and pickled sun-dried tomatoes — I so backed myself off of that having read many Yelp! reviews) are all served buffet style.  The meat, the main star, is brought to your table by “gauchos” (okay, So.Cal. waitstaff in costume, but it’s not over the top on that “schtick”) but they have mean on skewers…like the thickness of my thumb metal staves  of dripping beefy goodness (and a bit of pork and chicken…although I pity the guy who had the chicken heart skewer duty: I think it’s the you f’d up and you get to take this shit no-0ne want’s around to the tables duty).  The waitstaff though, is knowledgeable, and will guide you through their process without making you feel like you’re in some hi-fanged ride at MouseWitz.

Carnivore coma. The beef is soooo good. Tender, melt in your mouth. Service is great.  We finished lunch at noon and then asked the desk about a coffee-shop with Wi-fi (to do a little last min. research), the manager came over, found us a bar-tender who knew the area, and then walked out into the parking lot with us (it was drizzling) to orient us on the right streets and such.  He then asked for opinions on what we liked and didn’t about the meal…and that’s nice, to feel that connection. I would so go back if i hit that area again.

Superior Court Judge Joan Weber ruled that the defendants in the case were denied a representative jury when prosecutors challenged the selection of a gay man to be on the panel. She said she found the actions of the San Diego City Attorney’s Office “shocking.”

Okay, the legal-ish explanation of what’s going on…in CA at least.  In criminal cases (and some civil cases) you are entitled to a panel of 12 jurors plus (usually 2) alternates (if a case is expected to run really long you may have as many as 6 alternates). Alternates are there in case a juror can’t finish the case so that you don’t have to re-try the whole damn thing. Each defendant and the prosecution gets a certain number of peremptory — as in you don’t have to explain why — challenges.  Depending on the judge/county/type of matter it can be between 4-10 challenges.  Then you can challenge for cause.

>>I once had to do “rock-paper-scissors” with a defense counsel on who had to blow a freebee in order to exclude a hard-of-hearing potential juror who refused the assisted listing devices offered by the court.<<

“For Cause,” means the potential juror has some conflict — like a trial for a gang related murder and a potential juror has lost a family member to gang violence.

Criminal defense attorneys regularly file motions claiming that the prosecutor’s office used either its peremptory or for-cause challenges in a discriminatory manner.  Judges rarely grant them.  For the judge to grant this means that the conduct was blatant, obvious and really gave her pause.  And you will see in the comments on the Union-Tribune several of the potential jurors that day say that the juror questionnaires had many questions that would, when taken as a whole, draw out the sexual orientation of potential jurors.

The judge urged the prosecutor’s office to lessen the charges to infractions (like a traffic ticket) as opposed to misdemeanors (which, if convicted, could net each defendant a stay in county jail of up to a year) by saying:

“I’ve never had so many jurors express concerns about why a prosecutor’s office would move forward and spend time and money on a case of this nature.”

via U.S. News – Judge calls prosecutor’s rejection of gay juror ‘shocking’. and San Diego Union-Tribune – Judge slams prosecutors for dismissing gay juror

Sao Paolo, Brazil CNN — Brazilian police have arrested three people suspected of killing at least two women, eating parts of their bodies and using their remains to make stuffed meat pies sold in the northeastern town of Garanhuns.

via Brazilian police arrest 3 on suspicion of murder, cannibalism – CNN.com.

If I tried to put that in a book, nobody would buy the premise.

found via Joe My God, who maintains a very active political commentary blog, which I follow through my Google Reader. I know, caving to Big Brother, but I just can’t hit 30someodd blogs a day.