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? Certainly not the legions of Bible-thumpers themselves hoping and praying that he is elected President. A Santorum presidency, you see, will be based on the Bible. Not since the the days of William Jennings Bryan has this species of fundamentalism sold quite so well.
It has a nice ring to it: If something is based on the Bible, it is good, true and righteous. Who can oppose these values?
Biblical fundamentalism is a distinctively American...
February 19, 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 space and time: We see others die, and know we, too, shall meet an end. But the mind reels. It is a living, adaptive instrument. The instinct for survival recoils in the face of extinction.
So I call Christina Symanski a dark sort of heroine. She died late last year, after deciding to starve herself to death.
We don’t normally praise the suicide. Our law is steeped in fictions holding that self-destruction is always...
February 16, 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 morning that he was unplugging his keyboard, I was surprised. I will miss him now that he has gone. Indeed, I suspect he will be back soon enough, perhaps in a new form: The writing bug is hard to shake. I suspect he is enjoying his own wake just now.
When he returns I hope he will turn a new leaf. I liked it when he wrote about cases and controversies involving lawyers doing battle in court. It was when he turned his sights on the Internet...
February 15, 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 fathers are from. In birther-world that deprives them of the status of "natural born citizens," and thus makes them ineligible to become president of the United States.
The fact that Obama’s father was a Kenyan and Romeny’s father was born in Mexico doesn’t matter to most of us. I doubt anyone seriously suspects that Obama is a sleeper cell for a secret Kenyan plot to take over the United States; as to Romney, well, I...
February 13, 2012
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...
February 6, 2012
Friends and colleagues profess confusion: Why would I do it, why cross a line that seems to separate good from evil? Some are angered: How could I do...
February 2, 2012
I am not sure what is going on in the Connecticut Office of Adult Probation lately, but my telephone has been ringing off the hook. Until recently,...
January 29, 2012
Here's the foreward to my new book, Taking Back the Courts, written by an idol of mine, F. Lee Bailey. To say I was thrilled to get this review is an...
January 28, 2012
Journalists and bloggers glory in the role of iconoclast. Nothing falls with quite such a crash as a hero toppled by disclosure of their failings....