Need to buy a typewriter?

Tonight I was at OfficeMax, buying some back to school supplies with my daughters. I was surprised to see that there is still a typewriter section at the store. There are actually two models to choose from. This is going to sound like an "old man" story, but when I started practicing law 30 years ago, the firm of 45 lawyers had no computers. Every secretary worked 0n an electric typewriter. Even in 1990, when I brought my own computer to my law firm, people were wondering why an attorney would have a computer. Now I work at a firm with 14 attorneys, and every attorney has a computer--there is one typewriter (for forms and labels). It makes you wonder, at this rate of change, whether anyone has the ability to predict how the world will look in ten more years.

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The cost of U.S. warmongering

There are several websites that attempt to give real time estimates as to the cost of U.S. warmongering, and these numbers are staggering, repulsive and immoral. Those of us who are not caught up in the zealous tribalism seized upon and revved up by opportunistic politicians and media outlets can see that the alleged need to fight unending wars is a fraud perpetrated on the American People, with an even bigger burden borne by those who are the targets of our weapons, including untold numbers of civilians. It is perfectly clear that America must always have an enemy--that is how our collective mind works--and there must always be war, even when we can't explain why we are going to war. [More . . . ]

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Hello Kitty AR-15 assault rifle

This fellow thinks that legislators are needlessly worked up over assault rifles like the AR-15 recently used in the Denver movie theater massacre. To give emphasis to his point, he painted his AR-15 in a Hello Kitty motif.

So called "Assault Weapons Bans" such as the now expired 1994 Clinton ban and the one still in place in states such as California seek to ban rifles that our misguided legislators feel have no purpose in civilian hands.

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Ralph Nader on Obama’s drone wars

Ralph Nader asks why we aren't hearing an outcry by lawyers, whose duty it is to be the first responders when a politician shreds the Constitution.

The drones have killed civilians, families with small children, and even allied soldiers in this undeclared war based on secret “facts” and local grudges (getting even). These attacks are justified by secret legal memos claiming that the president, without any Congressional authorization, can without any limitations other than his say-so, target far and wide assassinations of any “suspected terrorist,” including American citizens. The bombings by Mr. Obama, as secret prosecutor, judge, jury and executioner, trample proper constitutional authority, separation of powers, and checks and balances and constitute repeated impeachable offenses. That is, if a pathetic Congress ever decided to uphold its constitutional responsibility, including and beyond Article I, section 8’s war-declaring powers. ... Sadly, the bulk of our profession, as individuals and through their bar associations, has remained quietly on the sidelines. They have turned away from their role as “first-responders” to protect the Constitution from its official violators. [The New York Times recently] reported that a weekly role of the president is to personally select and order a “kill list” of suspected terrorists or militants via drone strikes or other means. The reporters wrote that this personal role of Obama’s is “without precedent in presidential history.” Adversaries are pulling him into more and more countries – Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and other territories.

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