This is who I'm listening to this morning. Here's a link to their sound.
Anybody else like 'em?
This is what I'm reading. I haven't seen the film.
Anybody else come across this one?
Found a great blog of opinions - literally, opinions. Legal opinions, you know, for cases, lawsuits.
My kinda stuff. Legal world and humor and real life and perspective and questioning and arguing and briefing and appealing. The list goes on and on andon anon na na na . . .
I'm telling you - I'm in heaven. I could read this stuff all night.
If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.
- Justice Louis D. Brandeis.
Sixth Edition of 1KPTRBYD
Here's a link to my favorite newest shared post in my series of 1,000 Posts to Read Before You Die (see my tag label "Thousand" below for editions 1 thru 5).
It's called the Scruggsies Awards - and it's over at Yall Politics, a superb gatherer of all things political and scandalous in Mississippi, my ancestral burial ground.
The post has a lineup of some of the most newsworthy cheats of the year - and names some awards for the well deserving recipients. These guys are in Mississippi in various and sundry places - at the state's largest law school, at the State Capitol, in the back rooms of no-wheresville, some even in Alabama . . and it's even suggested (if not in there, then here) they were in D.C. -Washington that is. A Lott is questionable.
We'll see.
One name that didn't make the list of awards was that of the law school Dean over in Oxford. I'd add him to the awards list and name the award something special. He has no condemnation whatsoever for a self-admitted briber of a judge (and the Dean's boss not only had no condemnation for the big hairy deal, but he said it would be a complete waste of taxpayer money to send the head honcho briber to jail). To him (and his boss) - I award the "Best Recruiter of Law School Cheats."
After all, if he doesn't have a problem with judge bribers, why should he have a problem with law school exam cheaters? Past, present and future.
Now that I think about it, Scruggs and most of Scruggs et al- all hailed from that law school in Oxford. Good going guys. Good goin.' Ya shoot for less than excellence, then you get even worse.
They keep going and going and going - to jail.
My recent high school grad of a son took this photo with his new camera. It's fabulous I think. He has an artist's eye in the making. Life is good.
You've got a journey to make . . . there's a horizon to change. So go far beyond . . .
Sail your sea. Meet your storm. All I want is to be your harbor.
The light in me will guide you home.
- Vienna Teng (she's the single most amazing singer/songwriter I've heard in
a very long time)
Very talented she is. Truly amazing. Crystal clear voice with equally matched instrumental arrangements that will engage and inspire and lift you to another realm of momentous joy.
Listen. Close your eyes. Be inspired. Now go share.
Awoke early Saturday morning, about 7 o’clock - in rural Mississippi at my parents’ home.
We went there for a visit for the holiday weekend. The night before, on the Fourth, we all sat out down by the lake (parents’ big fish pond) until about midnight and watched my husband and teenage son shoot dazzling fireworks.
The time together was so enjoyable and relaxing. The kids had fun and I had fun watching their glee. Times of joy in a family are so precious.
My early morning Saturday tho greeted me alone. Others were snug in their beds for at least another couple hours. The alone time was a treasure. I walked outside – just my camera and me, after donning a tshirt and cutoff sweat pants (and my flip flops). I hadn’t even taken the time to brush my hair or wash my face.
Out in the back yard is my dad’s tractor stuck where he left it last. It won’t start. It needs a part or something – anyway, it won’t go. Took a photo of the tractor. The tractor sits by the fence, so I shot the fence too. Then I looked beyond the fence at the horizon and captured that too.
I made my way around the house to the front yard and found flowers, lots of flowers – with dew, early morning dew. Of course I had to get a photo close-up.
Walked down to the lake, to the bridge across to the island. When my dad has his lake ‘built’ years ago, he had the lake ‘builders’ build up an island in the middle of the western end of the lake.
The island is about as big as a grand living room in a nice sized home, but it is round with about two dozen trees or so. He only recently built a very nice footbridge from the shore over the island – so he now can mow the island. I think he wants a gazebo out there soon. That may be a while.
Got down on my back on the bridge and just looked up at the sky. Closed my eyes and took in the quiet of my rural surroundings. It was peaceful, tranquil. But the quiet is full of a little chorus of noises. Off to the west and back toward the house, I heard some cows moo-ing. Heard a dog bark.
Pretty soon, I heard a plane, then another plane. There was a jet too – high in the sky. I could barely see it. I tried squinting to hold my focus. Remembered my camera, but by the time I pointed the lens skyward, I couldn’t find the jet. I could still hear the faint roar of it, but could not see it among the high clouds.
Heard some insects buzzing over on the island. A splash or two out in the lake occasionally interjected. The fish were jumping a bit. A car was out on the main road. The little country road is about a quarter mile from the house – then there’s a bigger highway about a mile away.
Every once in a while, a truck could be heard on the highway. I think I could hear a buzz saw somewhere in the woods. Somebody was preparing for winter.
The symphony of nature music and morning routines of all around was exquisite.
Etched the memory in my soul.
Blognosh - I shoulda thought of doing this first. But glad it's there... go read lots and lots . . . good stuff. Take your pick.
Found the link from my new favorite Arizona blogg, Thursday Drive. Love new things.
The good guys got the bad guys. Nothin' better. Go to Y'all Politics for the scoop on the roundup.
Yesterday, my husband and I went out on a date - all day! Breakfast, then a movie, then shopping, then dinner . . . and then - we went quasi house hunting. We're halfway thinking of moving closer to where we work - to save gas and time. Scaling down. All the houses are five minutes from my office and also from my husband's office. Now that's close.
What do you think of my choices so far? There's House One with the cozy porch.
Or House Two with the nifty top.
Or House Three with the crisp look . . .
"From my spot, I could watch everyone who came in or walked out. I listened to the impossibly long orders for coffee, or something like coffee . . . I can never resist a good opportunity to watch people. I like to make up stories about them, too. It’s gotten easier with time and with age, and my guesses are less fanciful these days and more shaped by the common denominators of mid-life. Marriage. Children. Jobs. Paying for the . . . "
- -
Guaranteed
On bended knee is no way to be free
Lifting up an empty cup, I ask silently
All my destinations will accept the one that's me
So I can breathe...
Circles they grow and they swallow people whole
Half their lives they say goodnight to wives they'll never know
A mind full of questions, and a teacher in my soul
And so it goes...
Don't come closer or I'll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you...
Everyone I come across, in cages they bought
They think of me and my wandering, but I'm never what they thought
I've got my indignation, but I'm pure in all my thoughts
I'm alive...
Wind in my hair, I feel part of everywhere
Underneath my being is a road that disappeared
Late at night I hear the trees, they're singing with the dead
Overhead...
Leave it to me as I find a way to be
Consider me a satellite, forever orbiting
I knew all the rules, but the rules did not know me
Guaranteed
- Eddie Vedder
From Into the Wild
- - -
I dreamed last night of an eagle soaring amid the snowy mountain peaks. I heard his cry. I heard the echo. I felt the wind and the cool mist on my face.
Then I heard this music and Eddie's voice. It was beautiful.
A beautiful dream.
- - -
Waking up with tears of joy is a precious gift. I want always to remember.
It's here.
Scruggs is going to jail. His sentence is 5 years. His young partner, Sid Backstrom got 28 months. Bacstrom showed real remorse and seems to take responsbility even for Scruggs's son, Zach - something which Scruggs hasn't shown for Zach.
So sad.
Zach's sentencing hearing is next week.
I'm just sad about it all. But Judge Biggers was Just. Just is a word forgotten. Judge Biggers sent a loud and clear message that judicial bribery will not be tolerated. It will not.
It's a good day to begin again in Mississippi with justice being served and clearing the playing field of the cheaters. Now to move forward, with fair play to all.
One can sell their soul for big success. But, there is a cost. Souls aren't free.
Dickie Scruggs - outed briber in Mississippi is no trial lawyer.
According to one of his own close friends, as reported in the New Yorker online article here, Scruggs has maybe tried 10 cases to verdict.
He's not a successful trial lawyer in the least, never has been. He's a briber. He cheated. He said so. He entered a plea of guilt for it. He led his own son to be a briber, a cheater, a criminal. His son entered a plea of guilt for knowing it.
Why'd he do it some ask. He already had about a billion bucks in being, not a trial lawyer, but a "master of the deal." An intimidator. Well, he did it because he could. It's that plain and simple.
He's operated in Mississippi - with an elected judiciary. He and others like him (and there's more where he came from, a/k/a Joey Langston et al.), kept mastering deals of settlement money - then turned around and invested it in the campaigns of - oh I don't know -- judges.
Someone tagged the region, judicial hell holes. I think that's too nice. Scruggs calls them magic jurisdictions. There's no magic here. It's called money.
I found a quote here at Slabbed, describing this:
"These kangaroo courts offered about the same odds for defendants as the Christians faced when the Romans forced them into the arena versus the lions. Indeed, about the only chance they had to survive was to run for their lives–offering massive settlements rather than face near certain death in court."
Have you tried Pandora Music? It's free. One of my newest favorite things.
Go there - create an account - still free. Tell it a song you like, or an artist - or just the kind of music you like.
It creates a station just for you and keeps playing those kinds of songs. You can vote thumbs up or down on each song if you'd like - or you don't have to. It keeps interpreting your interests based on your pattern of ups or downs.
Also, you can bookmark your favorite songs. As it's playing, scroll your mouse over the song choice album toward the bottom of the album cover - Click the middle button which will give you some options for bookmarking the song or album, and even finding information about the song, artist or album.
Perfectly Imperfect, one of my favorite Oregon friends (and a former Mississippian) asked how I'm getting the album covers (stage right) to show on my blog . . . Here's what you do. After you've created your station, go to Profile, then look for the link on the left that will show you how to blog your music feeds. If you've bookmarked songs, the feed will grab them and display them on your blog.
There are a few options, so have fun with it.
- - -
Now, do tell me if you like some of my music - and I always appreciate recommendations of new music.
As you might've already ascertained, I'm a big fan of music with folk roots and acoustic guitar. Beautiful melodic voice and piano - and violin (or fiddle, depending on where you're from) are always relaxing.
To me, one of the most beautiful pieces in the universe is Ashokan Farewell. You may remember it from the Civil War documentary by Ken Burns, with Shelby Foote's telling of our nation's enormous self imposed catastrophe.
My tastes are quite varied tho - I appreciate some upbeat Indie mixes from time to time, and I can rock out with the best of 'em to the likes of Christina Aguilera - Ain't No Other Man, It's True.
You never can tell about me. I'm unexpected and often underestimated and always striving to learn more. Ya know, you gotta watch the quiet ones.
And that's ok.
It's all good.
Yes, let's.
I have acute writer's block. What to do. I don't know.
I sat and sat and sat today thinking of what to say. Nothing was said. So, finally - I decided to say that nothing was said. That's something.
Brainstorming was one thought, but I thought that would be too boring or sound silly.
Amazon book searches proved uninspiring. My music is always good, but I think it's too much in the background to write about.
Reading my favorite blogs is always fun - but that's reading, not writing my own stuff. I find that other people's thoughts are so much more interesting than my own, sometimes.
Guess I was a bit down today. Husband is working this weekend. Son is working too. Daughter is at basketball camp. Dog died in the spring. Cat(s) abandoned us months ago. Sister's in Texas. Mom and Dad are in Mississippi - with brother and sister-in-law. It's just me.
Just me.
And HGTV. And What Not to Wear. And CMT. And Fox News. And Whose Wedding Is It Anyway. And Design on a Dime. And Tora Tora Tora.
Thought about writing some silly stories my family is always telling and re-telling. You know, the stories that never stop being funny or interesting. But the thing is, they're usually just funny to family, not to outsiders. Oh I don't know. Maybe others would like them.
But can I remember the details of them . . . I'm tired. Another day perhaps.
Law school. It is always law school that's in my soul. I so miss it. I have no idea what to do. My age advances every day. My kids are invested and rooted in this place. I can't think of tearing them away from their home and trying the law school thing all over again in a new place. The local schools are too expensive. My first year school is too far away - the gas prices are too prohibitive to commute again. There is one local school, but it's not ABA approved. I can sit for the Bar exam in my state, but not others. Not Oregon. Not Mississippi. Only here. It's not really what I would want to do. I do think about it tho. I wonder. I try to think of a way.
And then I think I should clean my house better. I should cook more. I should have more vegetables and fruit in our meals. I should . . .
It's too much. The sacrifice is daunting. The expense is mind boggling.
My son starts college soon. How will I afford that. I spent every last dime I had on law school and grad school. I did. Why have I waited this long to grow up.
How do I keep him from being my age by the time he figures out what to do with his life. I don't know. I honestly don't know. Well, I do know, really. The answer is that I can't. He'll do what he does. I've done what I could. But I can do more. I can always do more.
Where is my confidence. Who took it from me. Was it me. Why did I do that. What is my purpose.
" . . . When I was just a little girl, I asked my mother - what will I be? Will I be pretty? Will I be rich? Here's what she said to me. Que se ra, se ra, whatever will be will be. The future's not ours to see . . . "
The where's and the why's are so many.
Any my Oregon. The sea. When will I see it again. Is it in the cards. I have no family there. Probably never will. My kids aren't interested. They have their own dreams. And they should. They absolutely should. I should help them more with their dreams. How do I do that. What is the balance. Is it a secret. It seems a secret, and yet it's not to some. Some people have cheat sheets it seems. Some people got lucky breaks. Life. How to do it.
What is holding me back. Why am I always so hesitant. Why am I down. Why am I not satisfied.
Because I can be better. Because I enjoy the challenge. Because I have a passion for being a winner. Because I just want it. Because I do. Don't we all. I'm not alone. I know I'm not.
I just feel like it. Others do too.
Thought maybe an M.A. in History would be the next best thing to law. It isn't. It won't be. It's not happening. I like history, am quite good at researching it - but I don't want to get a degree in it. Not. Absolutely don't. Won't. So, here I sit.
Just sitting. In the dark. Thinking. Typing.
Just writing words.
Write?
