Timing, they say, is everything. There are no coincidences. Things happen when they do for a reason. Thus the conspiratorial mind reckons. Those of more sober disposition acknowledge the great god Chaos. His method is chance. Life simply happens. We make such meaning of it as we can. Conspiracy theorists and pragmatists rarely see eye to eye on the meaning of events.
So what governs the curious timing of the General Assembly’s attempt to retroactively bless the state’s takeover of the Bridgeport schools and the Supreme Court’s apparent failure to act? Is it chance? Or...
February 27, 2012
A senior federal judge once pulled me aside in the hallway of the court and asked, with a twinkle in the judicial eye, if I didn’t worry about burning bridges when I wrote critical of sitting judges.
"Burned bridges? No judge," I exclaimed. "I know how to swim."
The truth is that poking fun at a judge is like shooting fish in a barrel. It’s low sport for bullies of all stripes, and I can be a bully. The robe-wearing class is prohibited from striking back, at least publicly. Why it might have a distinctively non-judicial appearance to swing at a critic. Judges are...
February 23, 2012
Blame the Internet gods, or, at the very least, my webmaster.
In an effort to accomodate the complaints of several readers who had difficulty posting comments to this page, I requested yesterday that someone fix the settings in the comments section. They did. But at various points last night, every singly entry on this page was identical. (Cynics will say they still are: all filled with gibberish.)
Most posts have been retrieved from deep-space nine, or wherever these things go once they are out of sight and out of mind. We are still missing a handful from the past several weeks....
February 21, 2012
I don’t get to watch as much television as I would like: I leave the house early in the morning, and get home late. My wife and I are addicted to books, so what free time we have is typically spent reading. It is only when astride an exercise bike that I watch the moving screen, and there are usually lots of movies on our list. But this week we hit the wall, and resorted to television. So I watched my first episode of CSI, this one set in Miami.
It scared the hell out of me.
I am aware of the CSI Effect, and have even written about it. Jurors steeped in dramas solved...
February 20, 2012
February 19, 2012
Were I a praying man, I’d utter the following: "Lord, save us from the likes of Rick Santorum." But who would listen to such a prayer?...
February 16, 2012
Death is inconceivable. I am not saying it does not happen all around us every day. But we cannot conceive of death. Life forces propel us through...
February 15, 2012
I detoxed on Scott Greenfield and Simple Justice a year or so ago, and have had few occasions since to go back to his page. But when I read this...
February 13, 2012
I suppose Barack Obama and Mitt Romney ought to just pack up their bags and head, respectively, to Kenya and Mexico. You see, that is where their...
February 12, 2012
I’ve never fully understood what universities are seeking to accomplish with their various honor codes. Yes, it is important to teach students...
February 9, 2012
Against my better judgment, I have stumbled into yet another post-judgment divorce case, this time, on behalf of a former client, now friend, who is...