It has been said that hard cases make bad law. The ruling by the EFTA Court that the Icelandic government had no obligation to ensure payment of a minimum compensation to depositors after the collapse of the Icelandic online bank Icesave in 2008 is a case in...

Jesus warned his followers: "Do not judge lest you be judged yourselves. For in the way you judge, you shall be judged; and by your standard of measure, it shall be measured to you." (Matt. 7:1-2).

Wise words, but often forgotten. Maybe it's human nature, but the more a...

This must be such an interesting time for mental health professionals. Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen wrote last year that "someone ought to study the Republican Party. I am not referring to yet another political scientist but to a mental health professional... The GOP needs an intervention."

Unfortunately...

Quackery is lethal, as the families of three individuals who in 2009 attended a "personal growth seminar" given by "self-help guru" James Arthur Ray, can attest to. Last November, Ray was sentenced to two years in jail after having been found guilty on three counts of negligent homicide...

The Minnesota GOP's new Chairman, Pat Shortridge, has proposed a revolutionary solution to solving the party's disastrous debt problem.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune the party is $1.3 million in debt -- much of which has gone unreported -- and owes another $719,000 in legal fees...

Sometimes I doubt that all the amazing communications technology the world has seen in the last decade has resulted in increased or better communication, and I mean real communication, not just "HUD, GGN, H&K, LY2!" (How You Doing, Gotta Go Now, Hugs & Kisses, Love You Too!).

I say...

After the recent Reykjavik District Court decisions penalizing a journalist for reprinting publicly-available information and presenting both sides of a domestic dispute, the Icelandic Supreme Court has taken some baby steps towards establishing a free press in Iceland.

The newspaper DV reported that Iceland's most successful soccer player, Eiður Smári...

That there's no limit to banks' bottomless greed is not exactly a newsflash, but this fee hike is.

Wells Fargo is raising their fees for foreign money transfers by 125%. I walked into a WF branch this morning to send a little money to my college kid over in...

Icelandic courts have problems with the truth.

In two recent decisions, the Reykjavik district court has, in effect, ruled that truth is not a valid defense to libel. Instead, it ruled that newspapers have a duty not to publish statements about private individuals that would tend to damage their reputations...

The results of the recent Icelandic elections to determine the members of the Constitutional Convention schedule to open next month were nullified today by the Icelandic Supreme Court. The election drew 522 candidates for 25 slots, and the resultant logistical nightmare ruled to have violated Icelandic election law.

The...

If the Icelandic government decides to hold a second election for the Constitutional Convention, it is to be hoped that the powers-that-be go beyond simply tweaking the ballots and the voting booths. The first election had the lowest turnout of any election in Icelandic history, in large part because the...

It was a running joke on my university campus: To collect donations from young, healthy students, the blood bank regularly sent a truck that made the rounds on campus, stopping "everywhere except at the law school," the nurses said. "It's not worth the time and effort, because the blood will...

The hot item in the news in Iceland these days is the American government's attempt to obtain information about Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a member of Iceland's parliament and of that body's foreign relations committee, from Twitter as part of its campaign against WikiLeaks. Her sins? Birgitta has personal ties...

European Parliament Member and Investigative Judge Eva Joly received the Global Financial Integrity 2010 Exemplary Leadership Award in Washington DC earlier this month, in honor of her tireless work against corruption and fraud. "Ms. Joly's career is distinguished and defined by her work against corruption," said GFI Director, Raymond Baker....

The concepts of liberty and justice are somewhat contradictory. If I am completely free, I should not have to justify myself to any tribunal, or suffer any consequences for any harm I may have inflicted on others. Anyone who gets in my way deserves whatever punishment I dole out.

The...

The financial crisis that hit Iceland in 2008 revealed many weaknesses inherent in Iceland's system of governance. The professional political class that had arisen since Iceland's independence from Denmark in 1944 had become intolerably entwined with its dominant business class, and had acquiesced to (and sometimes actively participated in) the...

Sarah Palin and Marilyn Monroe in the same breath? Huh? I am, of course, aware that Ms. Palin is enormously popular with many Americans. Well, you know, different strokes for different folks, I suppose... For example, a lot of people, for reasons that are to me utterly inexplicable,...

"My most heartfelt wish is to be allowed to read Nordic studies at the university, because it is my unwavering belief that doing so will cultivate my soul and I will become a more competent fighter in the battle for my existence. And since life here is an eternal struggle..."

The patience of the Icelandic people is wearing thin.

After three years of waiting for justice, nothing fundamental has changed. The bankers and businessmen who bamboozled depositors, borrowers, and investors in Iceland and abroad remain firmly ensconced in their mansions and in their jobs, while the rest of the country...

This summer's special income/tax issue of the Icelandic business magazine Frjáls Verzlun is at once a bottomless source of nauseating news and a testament to the pervasive incompetence and disgraceful cowardice of Iceland's political class. The magazine reveals that the con artists who bankrupted the nation were in...