Today Justice Scalia’s body lies in repose at the U.S. Supreme Court and his funeral service will be held tomorrow. Within an hour of the public announcement of his death last Saturday Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Across the River From Me) announced that the Senate would not take any action on any nominee who might […]
On this Christmas Eve I am with my wife, our son, and my mother-in-law. On the television is TNT network’s annual 24 Hours of “A Christmas Story.” A couple of weeks ago I posted about the personal meaning of the 50th anniversary of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Bob Clark’s film drawn from Jean Shepherd’s humorous […]
Tonight ABC will show the 51st annual network broadcast of the original Peanuts holiday special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” The program first aired on CBS fifty years ago, in 1965. Those who watched it then may recall that the program’s sponsors included Coca-Cola and Dolly Madison snack cakes – two perfect sugary treats for the many […]
As we continue to discuss the proposal to change the name of American Association of Law Libraries to Association for Legal Information, it is fair to say that the larger part of the conversation has focused on fundamentals such as the meaning of library and libraries, whether the organization can and should “expand its tent” […]
The American Association of Law Libraries, founded in 1906 and my preferred professional association home since I joined it in 1989 as a library school student, may be ready to change its name. I say “may” because, of course, it is up to a majority vote of its membership whether to agree with the unanimous […]
As you will know if you’ve read my earlier posts on same sex marriage and so-called “religious freedom restoration laws,”, I strongly believe that acting in the marketplace is a matter of commercial activity and not religious expression. In the case of Kim Davis, the Rowan County Clerk in Kentucky who has refused to issue […]
Caroline Young, chair of the Computing Services Special Interest Section of the American Association of Law Libraries, graciously invited me to be the breakfast speaker at the section’s business meeting during the 2015 annual meeting and conference of the American Association of Law Libraries. Here are my remarks, lightly edited. By now everyone here is […]
Dear Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Greg Abbott, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Gov. Jeb Bush, Ken Connelly, and yes, dear many friends of mine who vehemently oppose the results of the decision reached by the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday in Obergefell v. Hodges. I was once a homophobe, and I once opposed the ability of same-sex individuals […]
The summer season, which astronomically does not begin until the solstice, but for vacationing, socializing, and summer trips begins with Memorial Day weekend, will be an unusual one for my wife Lisa and me. Our son Micah, who is approaching his twenty-first birthday late in the summer, will be spending two months with one of […]
Today likely presidential candidate Jeb Bush tried to shift attention from his flubbing the “what would you have done” question about invading Iraq by blaming President Obama for the presence of and gains made by ISIS/ISIL in Iraq. Bush not only conveniently ignores that it was the 2003 invasion and its aftermath that totally destabilized Iraq, but […]