The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
Sorted by date Results 1561 - 1585 of 1678
May 6, 2015: There is an ominous cloud hanging over this legislative session. Last year the U.S. Supreme Court surprisingly agreed to hear a Hail Mary complaint filed by the black legislative caucus over the 2014 redistricting plan. In an even more surprising opinion, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the complainants and remanded the case back to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals instructing the lower court to tell the legislature to try again. The super majority Republican legislature fully...
United States lawyers or attorneys practice in many areas such as insurance defense, consumer issues, elder law, social security, admiralty, estate planning, bankruptcy, tax, business entities, criminal, health law, military, divorce, adoption, probate, immigration, government related and many other areas. As a guess there are probably more than forty or so practice areas. Additionally, beyond the Juris Doctorate (JD) degree or older LL.B (Bachelor of Laws), attorneys may seek a Master of Laws...
A recent opinion piece from James Spann, Chief Meteorologist for ABC 33/40 in Birmingham regarding severe weather explored the various reasons that Alabamians fail to heed the warnings of approaching dangerous storms. Based on meteorologists’ collaboration with social scientists studying why there was such a tremendous loss of life from the April 27, 2011 tornadoes despite the timely warnings of that day, Spann relates that he learned many things. Given that my interest leans towards all t...
In our current episode 'as the corruption churns' in the Heart of Dixie, Big Daddy Bob and step-child Mike Boulevard are having a spat over inability to pay future legal bills without Daddy's help. Seems as serial felony indictments proceed through the process, Mr. Boulevard is having trouble acquiring more unsecured loans and contributions as more political hacks discount the probability he can retain his ‘Spender of the House’ position as auctioneer of future theft from taxpayers. Sad to wit...
On 24 March 2015, Germanwings Flight 9525, an Airbus A320-200 crashed into the French Alps killing all 150 people onboard. Things instantly didn't seem right and almost immediately authorities knew for sure that the 27 year-old German copilot, Andreas Lubitz, intentionally flew the airplane into the mountains. Having flown for Delta for 18 years and 12 years before that in the Air Force, I know a little about the subject of flight safety. I know many of you have questions because I am...
Sometime after William the Conqueror successfully invaded England in 1066, the new line of kings decided they needed help rounding up local criminals to prosecute. Accordingly, they organized groups of local citizens who could keep up with what was going on in the local area to report crimes to the king and his court whenever they visited town. The result was the origin of grand juries. The process evolved so that prosecutors began to utilize the grand jury to bring about indictments....
For months now, my hubby, Brian & I have talked about purchasing a selfie stick. After all, we mainly take photos with our cell phones these days. So, how nice it would be to be able to take photos together ourselves. Recently, I was running errands and went by a popular box store. I saw they had selfie sticks. So I bought one for us. When I got home, I decided to go ahead, open the box & get our new toy working to surprise Brian. Simple right? WRONG! I worked a good 45 minutes...even reading...
Sen. Ted Cruz announcement of his bid for President of the United States wasn’t surprising news, nor were the long knives from critics on the left and the establishment right that were immediately drawn for him. Because I assumed that a Cruz presidential campaign was simply a matter of time, I didn’t watch his speech at Liberty University until later that day, and frankly, it was the social media furor on Twitter that prompted me to take the time to watch it without interruption. I have no int...
April 1, 2015: In recent years, the Republican Party has taken control of the legislatures in all of the southern states. Alabama’s legislature is overwhelmingly Republican. The GOP holds a 25 to 9 majority in the State Senate and an equally dominating 72 to 33 majority in the House of Representatives. Our supermajority GOP legislative body appeared to take on every conceivable ultraconservative reactionary issue during their first four year reign from 2011 to 2014. However, they forgot one. C...
Real estate practice among lawyers can be difficult when determining who has rightful ownership of real property. It’s just about as difficult to begin a generic discussion. The best form of ownership is, fee simple absolute. It is absolute in ownership and allows the owner to sell to whomever and to bequeath to whomever. An earlier form called fee tail, was many years ago abolished in Alabama and called for land inheritance of certain heirs. If those heirs ran out, then the land went back to t...
On July 16, 2014 under the leadership of the US Department of Treasury Secretary, Jacob J. Lew, in an apparent response to Russia's attempts to destabilize the eastern Ukraine as well as its advances in and occupation of the Crimea, broad-based sanctions were levied against Vladmir Putin's government. These sanctions targeted financial services, the energy sector, select areas of the Russian arms industry and identified institutions directly related to the undermining of the Ukrainian...
In recent columns I have concentrated on the economics of law practice. We have discussed the economic motives of plaintiff lawyers, the economic motives of defense lawyers, and the fact that the combination may impact adversely on the ability of the legal system to efficiently resolve disputes. This column will focus on liability insurance and will complete the current discussion of the economics of law practice. Liability insurance companies exist because of litigation, and have a major...
Happy Easter! To many this time of year means the Easter bunny, a day of food, and celebration. For some it is an obligatory church-attending holiday, after which life goes on as usual. How sad that we have so quickly forgotten the true meaning of Easter. Our God reigns! Jesus Christ died, yes. But even more importantly, He rose again and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father, as we say in the Lord's Prayer. Jesus Christ literally defied death. But He did more than just a Houdini...
As I have increased my participation in the political process over the last six years, the realization of just how little our citizenry knows or even cares about our system of government is probably the most frustrating, and at times, the most discouraging aspect of politics. My discouragement has little to do with the lack of involvement in party politics but rather in the basic knowledge and understanding of the system of checks and balances at the federal level envisioned by our Founders...
March 18, 2015: Alabama may be in the lower tier of the country in some categories but not when it comes to providing health insurance for children. In that one category we excel. Brian Lyman with the Montgomery Advertiser provided an excellent study revealing that Alabama leads the south in taking care of its young people when it comes to giving them health coverage. A recent Georgetown University study showed that Alabama leads the south when it comes to healthcare for children. Remarkably we...
The Constitutional law in Alabama bans marriage between two people of the same sex. It is law. The Amendment was overwhelmingly approved by Alabama’s voters. As a law, there was no decision by the Alabama Supreme Court that the law was unConstitutional. Now a Federal District Court Judge has made a ruling based on a case in Mobile County. Judge Callie Granade’s ruling was based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution which states, “Section 1. All persons born or natural...
Over the past several months, I have become increasingly embarrassed, and to be quite honest, ashamed of the majority of people running this great country of ours, Democrat and Republican. With every passing day, another item makes its way to the forefront of the news to further anger and disillusion most of us who pay attention to what is going on in the world around us. With that in mind, here is a not-so-complete list of some items that bug me right now. – I am ashamed that we have an ad...
I applaud our Alabama counties refusing to issue govt. licenses to marry. I implore other counties to follow this course to get out of the marriage license business. True Christians do NOT look to government for definition, permission and validity to affirm and proclaim God’s blessings. Sad so many seem compelled to side with one of two flawed arguments as the next round of Roy Moore v. Myron Thompson, et al "Duel of Wits Between Two Unarmed Opponents" unfolds... just as BOTH sides were wrong a...
Last month we explored the economic motives of defense attorneys. This month we will discuss the economic motives of plaintiffs’ attorneys. Both defense attorneys and plaintiffs’ attorneys must operate their offices as a business, if they are to be successful. They are both motivated to earn a living practicing law. There the similarity ends. Defense lawyers serve corporate America and liability insurance companies, in large measure. They must practice law in a way that is pleasing to corporate...
As a child of God, you have the power within you to overcome the world. That includes everything in the world and everything the world brings your ways. I John 5:4 tells us, “….for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” The Bible says that faith comes by hearing the word of God. As you hear the word of God and store it in your heart, your faith in God grows stronger. When the enemy tries to attack you through sickness, fear,...
In 1996 the Defense of Marriage Act was passed by Congress, which stated that States did not have to accept same sex marriages performed in States that allowed such. Section 3 placed into law a non-recognition of same-sex marriage for all federal purposes, which included governmental employee insurance benefits, social security survivors' benefits, bankruptcy, immigration, and the filing of joint tax returns. This also excluded same-sex spouses from the laws that protect families of federal...
This column continues the discussion of the economics of law practice. It is the fourth in a series. First, we described the strong ties between law and economics. We pointed out that because the practice of law is a business, the economic motivation of the lawyers handling the litigation can actually make the legal system less efficient for conflict resolution. Quick resolution of legal disputes does not promote the economic interest of the law business. Defense lawyers who charge hourly rates...
As I’d like to make this an uncharacteristically short column, I’ll not address all the flawed reasoning from extremist who’ve successfully imposed the unconstitutional result we observe today. All FEDERAL gun laws are prohibited as guaranteed by our 2nd Amendment civil right. Republicans giving us the first unconstitutional gun laws in their successful effort to assert federal hegemony and set us on our soviet path are generally accepted by Lincoln apologists to be defended at all cost by pr...
Along with millions of Americans, my husband and I recently viewed the movie “American Sniper” which portrays the four deployments of U.S. Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. As many have expressed on various social media sites, we also left the theatre in silence as we struggled to express the impact of the film and the ugly reality in which our men and women in uniform, along with their families, live their lives in service to our nation. Whether you agree or disagree with our overseas military strategy mat...
With the study of history, we often think of the past as places where our heroes have risen above all obstacles by the very nature of their superior moral, physical and/ or spiritual qualities. We have a high regard for the hero while we somehow ignore or forgive them for their faults and shortcomings; no matter how glaring. We put them on pedestals and think of them, or wish for them, attributes and characteristics that may not exist. In turn, it becomes increasingly easy to give them credit...
