Blog Posts

This week's poll asks readers to select the most dangerous sin of all from among the Seven Deadly Sins. I'm sort of surprised that no one has thus far selected Sloth. Of course, I voted for Pride; vanity and I are close companions. But I hesitated before I voted. Sloth, properly understood, is as...

If you are looking for a lawyer with common sense in Nebraska, try knocking on Stu Dornan's door. He just scored a temporary victory in the on-going battle against sex-offender hysteria.
Nebraska lawmakers want each and every so-called sex offender in the state, regardless of the offense of...

I cannot get used to death, even though I know I must. We all owe nature a death. And, sadly, live long enough and those close to you die. It is the way of the world. And it hurts.
A neighbor died last night. He was a good man. He loved his wife, his children, his land, and his horses. He died...

Term limits are a way of circulating elites in a political system. We fear that should folks serve in positions of power too long they'll lose touch with the broader currents pulsating in a society. Yet term limits impose a cost: experience matters. If we impose term limits do we deprive ourselves...

Most lawyers are not really honest about what they see day by day in their practices. They fear that if they told the truth, they'd have no more work. What most lawyers will acknowledge, privately, when only other fellow lawyers are around, is that there is simply too many of us. The result is that...

I was inclined to greet news that a Nebraska federal judge issued an order enjoining the state from enforcing part of its new sex offender law with good cheer. "Finally," I thought, "a judge with the sense to see through the madness of these new laws." But then I read the decision, and I am now...

I was inclined to greet news that a Nebraska federal judge issued an order enjoining the state from enforcing part of its new sex offender law with good cheer. "Finally," I thought, "a judge with the sense to see through the madness of these new laws." But then I read the decision, and I am now...

Can a godless man conceive of sin? Frankly, I don't see why not; although I confess a healthy respect for God might help enliven the sense of one's transgressions. But sin as a sense of transgressing boundaries, however those boundaries are set, is alive and well.
I've been struggling of late...

Do we bear witness for our clients at trial?
The literal answer is no. If we were witnesses, we would not be trying the case. The Rules of Professional conduct see to that. We're not supposed to vouch for our clients either. A prosecutor who does so faces the prospect of a mistrial. On the...

There was grumbling a plenty in my household this morning.
"What about me?" Penelope growled, as she leaped onto me and began licking my nose.
"And me,too. C'mon, Dad." Odysseus's eyes are two sweet dew drops.
These dogs greeted me as they do each morning, with a frenzy that belies the...