Category Archives: Opinion
I am against Prop 19, as in, I don’t think the use of marijuana should be legalized. Why can’t we just leave things how they are? If you need it for medical reasons, then fine. And, even in those instances, there are those fake “prescriptions” but better than just letting everyone use it whenever they want. At least there is some kind of gating process, even if it is sometimes shady. There are those that may think this sounds “high and mighty” but for those who argue that weed is harmless, I am not really getting the argument. Everyone I talk to always has some reason for smoking weed. It makes them feel more relaxed, they get more done after smoking, they are not as stressed out, etc, etc, etc and they always seem out of it to me. I know everyone needs an escape route sometimes so do what you need to do but I am hopeful this law doesn’t get passed.
I get that weed grows in the ground, it’s “natural” and there are people who really need it to relieve pain. I was in Venice Beach this weekend and this medical marijuana guy handed me his card. I started asking him a bunch of questions and the only thing he really said (and he was missing a tooth — just adding visual images for you) was that “weed really can help everyone”. I tried to ask about the process to determine whether someone really needed a prescription for marijuana or not and I really couldn’t get a straight answer. He asked me for a hug, which I politely declined and then I was on my way.
I am just not a fan of adding more laws to condone the use of a substance that makes people seem slow and out of it. It isn’t that I think marijuana is worse than other substances. I know that alcohol and tobacco are not any better but why do we need to add to the mix? There doesn’t need to be a law to help encourage the use of it. People will still use the drug but at the very least, it means that person is taking it upon themselves to endure the consequences — which by the way, in California, sometimes can mean just a fine and no jail time for a first time offender. I would rather have someone want to smoke weed bad enough to want to take that risk than to just make it legal and who knows how many people will start smoking.
Leave a comment | tags: prop. 19, Stephanie Cohen, Weed | posted in Legal Questions, Legal topics, life, Opinion
GO RANGERS. Sorry, I know this isn’t a sports blog but a fan is a fan. So let’s see, what is top of mind this evening. I find it quite interesting that so many websites are dealing with privacy concerns these days. As if they were not thinking of these things when they started their companies. It just seems that their concerns are public now whereas before, perhaps people just hoped that they could get away with squandering all of our information without us realizing it.
However, it is not an easy line to draw in all cases when deciding when technology is working against us in the privacy realm. For example, having zero sense of direction myself, a cell phone provider which offers GPS tracking on a cell phone might be quite helpful. The FCC ruled in 2005 that at least 95% of a cell phone provider’s devices needed to be trackable, for the purpose of helping in emergencies, etc. I see how this type of tracking can be helpful but there are numerous documented domestic abuse cases where a husband has been able to track down his wife with the use of this technology and unfortunately, not because he was just trying to say hello.
So where do we stand on all of this? While I am appreciative of being able to get directions and have the ability to find a friend who perhaps is lost in a forest, I certainly am not an advocate of creating additional ways for domestic violence to increase. Unfortunately I don’t think AT&T will be able to offer a survey anytime soon that asks “Are you prone to domestic violence?” “If so, we cannot accommodate your need for GPS at this time.” It would be nice though.
Leave a comment | tags: cell phone providers, domestic abuse, Privacy, Stephanie Cohen | posted in Legal topics, Opinion
Rapper T.I. talked some 25 year old kid off of a roof today in Atlanta. The news reports say that T.I. appeared out of “nowhere” and I feel bad thinking that this was some kind of planned stunt. I am a big fan of T.I. and for those that know me, I am a big fan of hip-hop in general. I would love to believe that T.I. really just showed up and helped to save this kid’s life. I would love to believe that as I am an optimistic person but it just seems a little strange. Given that T.I. himself is in a bit of trouble for being arrested recently, it would seem that this act of kindness might bode well at a sentencing hearing.
We will see how this story develops but for some reason I am just questioning the validity of all of this. But, at the very least, I am happy if he was really able to save that guy’s life! I saw It’s Kind of a Funny Story, has anyone else seen it? I never understand it when they call a movie a “dramatic comedy”. I feel like it should either be a drama or a comedy but nonetheless I decided to see the movie. It addresses issues about depression and this kid who thinks he wants to kill himself (if you want to see the movie, stop reading this). He ends up in an adult psychiatric ward and learns that things are not so bad after all. It touches upon ideas surrounding people who have suicidal tendencies and it makes you want to tell people who may feel that way that things will get better. Life is worth living! Perhaps that is what T.I. told that kid on the roof, in fact, based on the news reports, I am thinking that is exactly what he said…and I am also starting to feel bad that I was saying that it was all a made up story. We will see.
On one other note, I find it interesting that despite the joy and magnitude of how all of the Chilean miners were rescued, there is already drama surfacing. There are already reports about whether a miner’s wife or mistress was there to greet him. Really??!! I guess the celebration only lasts so long before that isn’t interesting anymore.
Leave a comment | tags: chilean miners, rapper, Stephanie Cohen, suicide jumper, T.I. | posted in entertainment, Music, Opinion
Who has seen Social Network? I haven’t seen it yet but want to know your thoughts. Facebook is really random. You connect with people and then that’s that. Although, I did connect with a college friend of mine who I probably never would have talked to if I hadn’t been on Facebook. If you are noticing the past tense sense of that sentence, yes, you are correct. I am not on Facebook. I was on Facebook and decided I didn’t like it anymore.
2 comments | posted in Opinion
I used to like to buy CDs. I liked the cardboard packages they came in and the idea that I actually got to be able to open a package to get to the CD. These days if you want to buy music, there is only one place you go to pretty much and that is to your computer. I actually said to my sister that one day, I was going to open a music store and her response was “Why”?. Suffice it to say, the music business sure has changed. There are developments though that would indicate that just passing around music for free isn’t going to be tolerated much longer. The US District Court in New York ruled that Limewire and its chairman were responsible for inducing copyright infringement.
The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) says they are trying to find a legal way to share music. That is great but the real problem is that all of the thousands of people on Limewire already do not have a problem with downloading music for free. In fact, it is sort of an accepted norm rather than inducing some type of guilt feeling by any Limewire downloader. It is hard to compete with free or to explain to all of those thousands of people that were using the service that they are doing anything wrong. How did we come to that place? How could it be that the accepted practice used to be that you would pay $18.99 for a CD to now thinking, hmm, I need some music and it should just appear on my doorstep without paying for it.
The money in music these days is with touring and licensing. The good news is that people love music and it isn’t going anywhere so for music artists who are really passionate about what they do, they can keep on doing it. It’s the business people who have to figure out their side of it, or maybe not and that is for the best.
Leave a comment | tags: entertainment, limewire, Music, Stephanie Cohen | posted in Legal Questions, Legal topics, Music, Not so legal, Opinion
If you will recall, a few posts back I wrote about Lady Gaga and her relationship gone bad that lead to a lawsuit. Her boyfriend/manager/agent/some guy who was helping her and then wanted to take all of the credit, decided he was entitled to more money since he supposedly helped launch her career. He probably just still loved her but somehow weaved the love into a lawsuit. The parties settled, all is well in Gaga land but there was no mention of whether there was any monetary settlement. Why did she wear meat to the VMA’s by the way? Super disgusting.
I digress. The point is, don’t have your boyfriend manage your career and think that when you make tons of money that he won’t try to say he is responsible for it. Or, if you are going to have him manage your career, at least get two separate attorneys that can represent both parties and you can negotiate a fair management agreement. It would have saved all the time to file the complaint, have the parties go back and forth to only then settle at the end.
Leave a comment | tags: entertainment, Lady Gaga, lawsuit, Stephanie Cohen | posted in lawsuit, Legal topics, Opinion
First, I would like to say I am really bummed the Cowboys lost tonight. However, let’s focus on other topics. The California Medical Board is suing the doctor of the Octomom. It would be hard to believe that someone wouldn’t know who the Octomom is but just in case, she is the woman who decided to get pregnant and happened to have eight babies given the wonderful help she had from her fertility doctor. On the upside, I can’t fault someone who wants to have children but how you could think it would be a good idea to have eight at one time gives one some cause for concern.
However, it doesn’t really matter whether I, my neighbor or my friend down the block thinks it is a good idea for someone to have eight kids. The real question is how a doctor could think it would be a good idea and whether he actually advised here in any kind of way that could have maybe meant she could have only had two kids instead. Luckily the California Medical Board is getting involved at least to raise the issue that clearly there should have been some additional criteria to be considered by the Octomom’s physician. I figured it was only a matter of time before they brought the claim against him so looks like the time has come.
Leave a comment | tags: ca medical board, fertility doctor, octomom, Stephanie Cohen | posted in lawsuit, Legal topics, Opinion
Roman Polanski. For some of you, his accolades as an accomplished director, producer, writer is what comes to mind or perhaps for some of you, you only see that he effectively evaded being arresting for the assault he committed against a 13 year old girl over 25 years ago. The victim wants everyone to leave the case alone and is fine with the fact that the Swiss won’t extradite him to the US.
When is it a good idea just to leave things alone? Not in this case in my opinion. I understand that the victim doesn’t want to deal with this anymore but how is it possible that this guy can just go on without any consequences to his actions. At least something? I mean, why not let the Grim Sleeper go off the hook as well? After all, all of his neighbors were “shocked” and “surprised” at the news. They said he was good with helping around the house and being a good dad. Is that enough to get him off the hook too? I realize that Polanski committed the crime a long time ago but I am not sure if living with the mental stress of knowing about the crime he committed is enough.
Leave a comment | tags: 13 year old girl, assault, crimes, roman polanski, Stephanie Cohen | posted in Legal topics, Opinion, Stephanie Cohen
I made the mistake of listening to the Mel Gibson recording where he sounds like a raving lunatic. I really, really hope this sheds some light on domestic violence as I couldn’t even listen to the whole thing. It is hard to understand or imagine how someone could speak to someone in that way. It was so disturbing. Not to make this post too much of a PSA but here is a link to check out if you know anyone that is suffering from domestic violence: http://www.ncadv.org/
I hope for anyone who is in an abusive relationship that they can find the strength to get help 
!
Leave a comment | tags: domestic violence, mel gibson, Stephanie Cohen | posted in Opinion, Stephanie Cohen
*I realized I mis-read Michelle’s comment after I posted this…she was actually saying that there is no way Lindsay will serve the full ninety days…and I agree.
Thanks to Michelle from Madison who thinks Lindsay Lohan will serve the full ninety days*. Does anyone else want to chime in here? I am just curious if actually serving 90 days in jail would really keep Lindsay Lohan out of trouble. I think I have changed my mind since my last post in that at first, I thought rehab would be more helpful. I still think she needs rehab but I would imagine that being in jail for a full ninety days would certainly give her enough time to think.
Enough about Lindsay for the moment…I wanted to bring up the story about Scott Rothstein. Scott Rothstein is an attorney from Florida who pleaded guilty to perpetrating a 1.2 billion dollar Ponzi scheme. He was disbarred from practicing law in Florida and faces a potential 100 year sentence. The fact that he was disbarred is the least of his problems. Mr. Rothstein would convince investors to invest in non-existent sexual harassment and whistleblower cases. No wonder people don’t like attorneys as Mr. Rothstein is the perfect example of a disgrace to the profession. It is embarrassing. I often bring up cases like this because I just wonder when Mr. Rothstein ever thought about what he was doing or how he could feel good about buying his latest Ferrari knowing that he was screwing people out of their money.
There are plenty of attorneys who do a great job so let’s not let this guy ruin the whole bunch but for the love of god, please research the background of any attorney you hire. Get references, find out what kind of work they do before you work with them. It doesn’t matter if they have the best reputation as it is still worth doing some type of investigation and checking with your gut instinct. Mr. Rothstein admitted to using his clout in his community to get people to invest and let’s face it, it usually seems easier to believe someone who has a well-known reputation. It still shouldn’t matter as you have to do your research. Onward and upward!
Leave a comment | tags: attorneys, jail time, Lindsay Lohan, ponzi scheme, Stephanie Cohen | posted in life, Opinion, Stephanie Cohen
Let's make the law entertaining, shall we? 
