Monthly Archives: December 2014

It is understandable, although perhaps undesirable, that thousands of police officers go to New York to mourn the assassination of two of their own. The problem with their show of unity as a national interest group in today’s world is that it suggests these officers are separated from the local peoples they are expected to serve and protect. The open hostility of police against the mayor of New York for having previously criticized the use of an illegal choke hold which resulted in the death of a civilian, is and should be a grave concern to the vast majority of American citizens. This administration’s militarization of law enforcement in communities across the continent with weapons of war to be used against local people upon command betrays those covenants necessary for any legitimate claim to governance with the consent of the people. The Declaration of Independence documents a free peoples’ abhorrence of standing armies and mercenaries as a means of governance. Yet this appears to be the role our leaders have chosen for police. Although a biased media would have us believe that we are only dealing with issues of race; I think it more likely that the media is publicizing police violence (and immunity)  as a way to let us all know we will not be free (or possibly even alive) if we do not acquiesce to their will or whim. Surely, both the police and their superiors must know that at some point immunity from injustice will be seen … Continue Reading

I had not expected when I was younger that some day I would be the oldest guy left working in an office of lawyers. Nor did I expect that this mere happenstance would force me to evaluate the wisdom, if any, I had accumulated over the soon to be sixty six years of my existence. I remember speaking with one of the young lawyers who works with me shortly after he was hired in the Spring of 2014. He told me he did not believe in “good and evil.” Given the area of law we work in this surprised me until I remembered back to when I was his age — mid twenties. I, too, back then was reluctant to define “evil” and give it a face. When I was younger I avoided having to confront the concept of evil by believing in the basic goodness which I thought, without the evidence of much experience, was “lowest common denominator” of beliefs upon which all humans, no matter our various races or cultures, could agree upon. I thought humanity’s appreciation for the sanctity of human life, the opportunity to love, and the the absence of cruelty were things we as a species could agree upon. Over time, both through my study of history and the observations of my lifetime I have come to the conclusion that evil does exist in this world and that it is imperative that it be recognized and called out. The young lawyer and I did not … Continue Reading