» Government Rants

Did He Mention It Was Just Plain Evil Too?

Jamison Koehler put up a post earlier today about Washington, D.C.’s “post-and-forfeit” statute being upheld in federal district court. A lawyer had sued D.C. after being arrested for disorderly conduct and given the “choice” pursuant to the statute of either paying $35.00 to be released and resolve the case or hanging around in jail for bit. As is often the case, Scott Greenfield wrote a post about the case over a year ago, not too long after the lawyer first filed suit. Whereas Scott expressed concerns about the law and its potential problems in his post, Jamison’s post wasn’t really about the law at all. He focused on how people shouldn’t pick unnecessary fights with police officers or bring stupid lawsuits. Discussing the plaintiff-lawyer’s decision to file … Read entire article »

Filed under: Courts, Government Rants, US Constitution

Discharging Student Loans in Bankruptcy

According to the ABA Journal, Senator Richard Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, has been trying to drum up support for a bill to allow the discharge of private student loan debt in bankruptcy. I wish him luck. I think he’s going to fail, however, seeing how banks seem to run everything. The government happily lets them dip into its resources whenever the negative implications of their own poor decision-making come back to haunt them, and the poor graduates who are struggling with their loans don’t exactly have the kind of money it takes to elect themselves a congress. Regardless, I’m glad Senator Durbin is at least bringing up the topic. I have student loans, and I dutifully pay them each month. I probably wouldn’t take advantage of the … Read entire article »

Filed under: Government Rants, Practice in General

The Conveyor Belt

There’s a dead person. That’s what starts the conveyor belt. People don’t just die anymore. Unless you’re a hundred years old with cancer and dementia and doctors gather around remaking about how incredible it is you’ve held on so long, death is murder. People are murdered by their greedy next of kin. They’re murdered by corrupt businesses. They’re murdered by drugs that are fun or helpful, occasionally the drugs that stop the murderers themselves from suffering. People are always murdered by an enemy of some kind. The enemy can be disease or lightning, but if it isn’t, the enemy is a person. When it is, we often still look for a person to blame. The person we find is guilty. The person must die too. The person needs … Read entire article »

Filed under: Death Penalty, Government Rants, Practice in General

Better Safe Than Sorry

As a society, we lack the ability to deal with our problems without resorting to the blunt instrument of the criminal justice system. We must be failures as parents and as human beings in general, because we can’t seem to trust each other with even a little bit of freedom. We’re even suspicious of relatives, friends, and neighbors. Often, we’re especially suspicious of them. The only people we trust with our well-being are members of the fabulously wealthy, power hungry ruling class. When we get scared, they draft up oppressive, dangerous placebos we think we can’t live without. Nowhere is it worse than with sex crimes. We’ve criminalized everything, and we’ve ratcheted up the punishments. The system now hands out life sentences like it’s … Read entire article »

Filed under: Courts, Government Rants, Sex Crimes

Understanding the System

The criminal justice system excels at creating frustrating situations. It might be the only thing it does well. I recently ran up against a situation that was not only frustrating, but also a perfect example of a Catch-22. To get a client released from custody, I needed to get her accepted into an approved rehab facility. She could only get into the approved rehab facilities by doing an intake appointment. The facilities only set intake appointments for people who are out of custody. Initially, I would encounter similar situations and become angry. I assumed they were caused by incompetence and thought the people in charge would fix it if they knew what they’d done. Although my anger began to diminish as I encountered those situations over … Read entire article »

Filed under: Clients, Courts, Government Rants, jail

Fines

I have no problem with the idea of a court ordering someone pay restitution to a victim. Making an aggrieved party whole seems like exactly the kind of stuff a decent justice system should try to do. Probation also makes sense to me as a sentencing option. If we care about rehabilitation, services and some sort of supervision seem essential. I even understand the need for incarceration as part of the sentence in some cases. Although jail and prison terms are routinely and unfairly ordered to excess, I can see the logic in removing a dangerous person from society. I understand retribution and the idea that there may be a deterrent effect in taking away someone’s liberty. Also, when it comes to time, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Courts, DUI, Government Rants

My New Plan

I’ve been reading the news a little bit lately. Anyone who knows me is probably going to tell you that isn’t a good sign, as the news normally depresses me, but that isn’t the case this time. This time, the news has inspired me. Thanks to the news, I see that I’ve been going about things all wrong. I’ve developed a new financial plan that I intend to implement immediately. From now on, I will purchase whatever I want no matter what it costs. The days of budgeting and saving are over. I will make sure I open many accounts and make my finances as complicated as possible. I will borrow more than I can afford to pay back. I will borrow it … Read entire article »

Filed under: Government Rants

Awareness

Over the past couple of years, I’ve become interested in auto sports. Not racing, really, but just taking a car around a road course. It’s a major niche market for the firm, which is why I started it and why I continue to do it, but it’s also a good time. I’m certainly no expert. However, I have learned quite a bit. As is often the case when learning something new, I’ve been continually surprised by how much there really is to learn. Driving once seemed so simple, but I now know that it really isn’t. How much braking power do you have? How much acceleration do you have? How does the road surface feel? How does your car feel? Do … Read entire article »

Filed under: Government Rants

We Can’t All Be Weiners

I could make childish jokes about congressman Anthony Weiner all day long. With a name like “Weiner,” it takes every ounce of control I have not to go to just go to town writing pun after pun about the poor guy’s love of sending x-rated photos of himself. Maturity has never been my strong point. I still laugh inside seeing the ubiquitious word “Camelback” here in the valley of the sun because it’s close to the word “cameltoe.” Yeah, that’s the level of sophistication you’re dealing with here, readers. I’m going to exercise some self-control, luckily, and write more than bad jokes. You see, representative Weiner wants to take leave from the house of representatives. I’m disgusted, and it isn’t because of the photos. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Government Rants

Everybody Has a Boss

Once upon a time, I believed judges could do things. I thought they could rule on motions and even continue trials. Sadly, the world is not as it once seemed. I sat in chambers last month and listened to a seasoned judge talk about how he’d love to continue a trial but couldn’t because “they” were getting onto him about granting too many continuances. This is a man who can, and probably has, imposed the death penalty at some point. He clearly has a boss. Probably more than one. His bosses tell him how to do his job. Given the fact judicial retention elections are not exactly close calls, his bosses aren’t the voting public. Some group of people I don’t know is … Read entire article »

Filed under: Government Rants

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