Al Nye The Lawyer Guy

Make Any Divorce Better! by Ed Sherman

2009-07-15T09:58:10-04:00

Make Any Divorce Better!

By Ed Sherman

Nolo Press

$24.95, paperback, 177 pages, 0-944508-64-0 (2008)

The author has been a family law lawyer since 1967 and he is the founder of Nolo Press. In 1971, Sherman wrote the book How to Do Your Own Divorce in California. Clearly, this is a man who knows his stuff.

This is not a book written for lawyers – it's strictly for lay people who want to represent themselves as much as possible in their divorce. In fact, Sherman bashes lawyers and the legal system so frequently and vehemently that it's difficult to believe he is a lawyer.

Take a look at some of these statements:

Problems in a divorce are almost never legal, almost always about personalities and emotions, for which there are absolutely no solutions in court or in a lawyer's office – zip, zero, nothing. In fact, getting involved with lawyers and courts almost always makes things worse instead of better.

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Neither the law nor attorneys who work in the law have tools to help solve divorce problems. In fact, the legal system and the way attorneys work is almost certain to make things worse. The legal system is based on conflict, arguing before a judge in order to win. You don't want more argument, you want less. Arguing doesn't settle anything. The legal route doesn't work, takes too long, costs too much, and leaves the parties wrung out and broke.

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The secret to a successful divorce is to minimize your use of the legal system and of the attorneys who work in it.

Are you starting to get the idea that Sherman doesn't think lawyers are needed in divorces?

Sherman claims that 90% of all divorce can be completed without court battles or high attorney fees. One important thing to keep in mind, according to Sherman, is that the legal system may be necessary in emergencies or if your spouse is an habitual abuser or controller. In may also be necessary to go to a lawyer for limited advice about a certain issue in your divorce.

Sherman runs through five divorce profiles (early, easy, difficult, domestic abuse, and legal battle) and discusses various strategies for each one. He then provides a roadmap of the legal system and discusses ways to have a successful divorce and provides helpful tips for getting through rough emotional times. This is extremely helpful as my experience in handling hundreds of divorce cases is that most clients are stressed, in shock, angry, hurt, and highly emotional.

Sherman then provides guidelines on divorce law. This is where this book, and all general books on divorce, suffers. Unfortunately, no guide written for a national audience can tell you exactly what the law is in your state. In most cases, it's quite difficult for a layperson to figure out what the law is in their state.

Here in Maine, for example, there are child support guidelines that most folks could use on their own to determine appropriate child support (though the forms are far from simple). However, there are no written guidelines at all that help with determining the amount of spousal support that is appropriate – if any at all. In fact, there are many areas of divorce law that unsuspecting people trying to do their own divorce overlook or never recognize. (I often have these people come to see me sometime after their divorce when this ignored issue becomes important.)

Sherman does an admirable job of providing ten concrete steps spouses can take to make their divorce less painful and also avoid expensive court battles. He also makes common sense suggestions on how to win and survive a legal battle when it is unavoidable. In addition, the book contains a CD with worksheets, sample settlement agreements, sample parenting plans and more.

For anyone considering doing a divorce on their own, this book provides lots of helpful information. The only caveat is that divorce law is somewhat different in every state and is often more complex than you might anticipate. I would urge anyone doing a divorce on their own to at least have their paperwork reviewed by a lawyer prior to obtaining a final judgment.

Buy it on Amazon here.

University of Maine Recommendations Ignore Elephant in Room

2009-07-14T10:15:29-04:00

The University of Maine system now has recommendations from three distinct groups on what can be done to get rid of the $43 million budget gap projected over the next 4 years.

David Flanagan and his 12–member task force produced a 67–page document that urged Maine’s 7 public universities to cooperate in cost-cutting.

Wow — a recommendation to cooperate. The group must have spent months of bouncing ideas back and forth before coming up with that insightful plan.

Here’s are the tak force’s guiding principles:

1. ESTABLISH A PUBLIC AGENDA

2. ACT AS A UNION AND NOT A CONFEDERATION

3. RESTRUCTURE SYSTEM-WIDE SERVICES

4. USE FINANCIAL POLICY TO REALIZE SYSTEM GOALS

5. START NOW

Talk about revolutionary — I’m just amazed they could waste 67 pages on this drivel of obvious advice.

The chief financial officers came up with their own document of proposals. They include such mind-blowing recommendations as this:

To achieve efficiencies, the seven campuses must work like a System in implementing technology solutions and business processes in order to take advantage of economies of scale.

How long did it take this group to come up with that golden nugget?

Academic leaders drafted a third document of ways to reduce costs, including such things as eliminating classes and majors that only have a few students in them and getting rid of those pesky Microsoft Office products on campus computers and using free stuff from the Internet.

Brilliant concepts — each and every one of them. Who would have thought to get rid of courses or majors with only a few students in them? Genius, I tell you, simply genius.

I’m so delighted these hard working members of the task force, the financial officers and the academics put their combined educational wisdom and good common sense to use incoming up with inconsequential ideas.

But I what to know one thing. Did each of the groups talk to one another and agree that neither of them would make the only recommendation that really makes and sense?

After all, the things that they’re proposing are really just a drop in the bucket. It’s like recommending that you turn down the thermostat in the winter, keep the windows locked shut, and make sure there is plenty of insulation in the attic — while not noticiing that the front and back doors to your house are totally missing.

I can tell you what the University of Maine system needs to do to save money. I don’t need a task force, board meetings, an academic study or months to ponder the question either.

It’s simple.

Close some campuses.

Maine has 7 public university campuses all doing their own thing. That is at least four or five more campuses than what we need.

Want to close the budget gap and do it fast?

Close some campuses.

Get rid of all the needless administration associated with running seven separate entities that have little to do with one another.

Close some campuses.

Hmmm — I wonder how these three separate recommendations could have missed that simple suggestion?

The 2008 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide

2009-07-13T12:35:17-04:00

For some reason, I wrote several book reviews last year that never got posted to my blog. Here’s one:

The 2008 Solo and Small Firm Legal Technology Guide

Critical Decisions Made Simple

By Sharon D. Nelson, John W. Simek, and Michael C. Sasschke

American Bar Association

$79.95, paperback, 145 pages, 978-1-59031-970-3 (2008)

One of the things I like about this book is that it packs a lot of information into relatively few pages. The chapters include: Computers and Operating Systems, Monitors, Computer Peripherals, Printers, Scanners, Servers, Networking Hardware, Miscellaneous Hardware, Productivity Software, Security Software, Case Management, Billing Software Document Management, Document Assembly, Collaboration, Remote Access, Unified Messaging, High-Speed Internet, Utilities, and Tomorrow in Legal Tech.

Phew! That's a lot to cover in just 145 pages – and the authors do a pretty good job of it.

This book is outstanding for its limited market of the solo practitioner or the small office. This is especially so if you're newly entered into the practice of law and looking to outfit your office, or if you're a small firm wondering if there's something you could be using to be more productive in your practice.

Another thing I like about this book is its concrete advice. As the authors note in their introduction:

We have no dog in the hunt – we have no financial or other interest in the advice we give. We could be wrong – dead wrong – but we are honest as the dickens.

No-nonsense writing like that endears me to this book.

This is the authors' recommendation for a desktop computer:

Computer Model: Dell OptiPlex 745 Mini-Tower Computer

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.13 GHz

Memory: 1-GB DDR2 667 Mhz RAM

Video Card: 128-MB ATI Radeon X1300 Graphics Card

Hard Drive: 80-GB SATA II 3.0 Gb/s with 8 MB DataBurst Cache

CD/DVD-ROM 16X DVD=/-RW Drive

Network: Broadcom 10/100/1,000 Mbps Ethernet Adapter

Other: PS2 Serial Port Adapter, 9 USB Ports

Hardware Warranty: 3-Year Next Business Day On-site Parts and Labor Warranty

Is this the perfect desktop computer for you? It depends.

Are you working solo, do you have a secretary, are you networked, are you in a small firm, do you have case management software, if so, what computer is it loaded on, what type of Internet access is available to you – all these and many other questions go into what type of desktop computer is appropriate for you. So depending on your circumstances, I might argue that you need more memory, or a larger hard drive, or a faster video card. But in general, I concur with the authors.

And one of the things I really appreciate is the author's recognition that the "sweet spot" in buying computers is always changing and that their recommendation might be a little out of date soon. As such, they offer an e-mail address for you to write for current recommendations.

Another great thing about this book is the section on Utilities with various software programs that assist lawyers in their practice. There are lots of programs that are new to me, plus standbys that I use daily (like my favorite: Anagram).

The book also comes with a complete glossary so that you can easily tell the difference between, for example, a router, a hub, and a switch. Soon enough, you'll sound like the office geek. Dude!

The only major fault with this book is that its limited space doesn't allow the authors to deal with any topic in great detail – only the very basics are covered. Even so, for the vast majority of lawyers, the basics are enough to get you up and running.

In summary, if you're looking for a book to tell you where to begin in your quest to have the complete office – look no further than this book to set you on the correct path.

Buy it on Amazon here.

For folks unaware of it, there is a new 2009 guide available here.

Portland Police Do The Right Thing: Freeze Wages

2009-06-30T09:26:28-04:00

I wrote yesterday about the disappointing decision of the Portland Firefighter’s union decision to take a raise instead of protecting their own. I’m pleased to read in today’s Press Herald that the Portland Police union did right by its members and voted to forego the pay raise and instead of having layoffs.

"We have sacrificed our pay raise for this year and are willing to save police officers' jobs," said David Argitis, president of the Portland Police Benevolent Association.

Because the city of Portland is in such a dire financial state, the city manager called on city emoloyees to skip any raises instead of losing jobs. So far, the paper says that six unions have accepted the proposal.

This Portland Police union represents the patrol officers and is the first public safety union to accept the deal. The Portland Professional Firefighters Local 740 (that I wrote about yesterday) and the Portland Police Superior Officers Benevolent Association (the union that represents the higher ranking officers, not the cops on the beat) both voted to keep their wage increase and turned their backs on those in their ranks who might lose their jobs.

In my mind, only the union representing the rank-and-file officers did the right thing by accepting the city’s offer. Protecting the jobs of your fellow officers should be more important than demanding a minor wage increase.

I commend the brotherhood of the Portland Police Benevolent Association and am disillusioned by the self-serving decision of the other two unions.

Firefighters Say "No" To Wage Freeze in Portland

2009-06-29T12:57:59-04:00

Public employees in Portland, Maine were asked by the city manager to forego wage increases in an attempt to avoid a tax increase on residents this year.

The city specifically asked all of its unions to freeze wages to help deal with a projected budget shortfall of almost $1.5 million.

Firefighters were asked to skip a 2.5 percent wage increase they are due to receive on July 1^st. In exchange, city manager Joe Gray said that all the unions and employees who accepted a wage freeze would not be fired.

So for firefighters, the choice was whether to accept current wages (and not get a 2.5 percent wage increase on July 1), and save nine firefighter positions; or, get the raise but see the nine jobs disappear.

As reported by the Press Herald, the firefighters unanimously chose to get the raise. (Just wondering, were the nine firefighers who are losing their jobs part of this unanimous vote?)

With thousands of Mainers losing their jobs and being unable to find other work, or being forced to work less and take pay cuts, or agree to reduced wages or benefits (or both), city firefighters can’t see fit to forego a 2.5 percent wage increase? Are you kidding me?

The nine firefighters who will lose their jobs have my sympathy. Those firefighters who unanimously voted to get their wage increase, do not.

One thing you have to say about Portland firefighters, they sure know how to look out for #1.

35 Valuable Articles for Lawyers To Read About Twitter

2009-06-26T14:33:25-04:00

These articles either explain Twitter generally or more often than not, provide lawyers with helpful advice about using Twitter. Enjoy!

e-book on Social Networking for Lawyers: The How, What, Why and Importance of NOW!

The Ultimate Guide for Everything Twitter

Eight Tips for the Twitter Beginner

Useful Twitter Articles and Tools

Much Chatter About Twitter

Tweeting For BusinessIs Twitter a Valuable Networking Tool or Just for the Birds?

Twitting With Grandma

Tweeting For Business

100 TWITTER TOOLS N TIPS

How to effectively use Twitter to build business relationships (and make friends at the same time)

Tweet 16: 16 Ways Lawyers Can Use Twitter

Should lawyers be afraid of Twitter? No.

Twitter for Lawyers

To friend or Not to Friend – Social Media for Lawyers Part 4: Twitter for Lawyers

Social networking opens attorneys to fresh world

WEB WATCH: Let Twitter Sing

To Tweet, or Not To Tweet?Lawyer 2.0

The Legal Case for Web 2.0

Your Social Media Profiles Can And Will Be Used Against You In A Court Of Law.

50 Terrific Social Sites for Law Students and Lawyers

Lawyer Twitter Practices: 29 Do’s and Don’ts

20 Twitterers Lawyers Should Follow on Twitter

TWITTER - NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND HEADACHES FOR COMPANIES

The First Law School Seminar Paper on Twitter: Twitter and Employment Law Issues

TWITTERING FOR LAWYERS

Legal Marketing, Statistics and Hard Work

10 Awesome Ways to Integrate Twitter With Your Website

A Lawyer’s Guide to Social Networking

Are You Considering Twittering? Ways to Cut Through the Noise

Tweets Create Legal Issues for Lawyers and Employers

Twitter client development success stories - lawyers and legal professionals chime in

Social Networking for Lawyers (Part One of Two)

Social Networking for Lawyers (Part Two of Two)

140 Characters in Search of Some Meaning

LexisNexis Offers 10 Internet Marketing Tips for New, Small-Law Firms

Illegal by Paul Levine

2009-06-26T09:24:35-04:00

Illegal

By Paul Levine

Bantam Books

$22.00, hard cover, 367 pages, 978-0-553-80673-1 (2009)

Paul Levine is a former trial attorney and a talented writer. He has written Solomon vs. Lord and a couple of other books that feature lawyers doing unbelievably unethical and illegal things and somehow always coming out on top. These books were well received and featured the kind of characters that you might see on Boston Legal or Ally McBeal. If you like those shows, you'd like his previous books.

I didn't.

I'm glad that he decided to write Illegal which has a little more meat to it. The story centers around a trial lawyer named Jimmy Payne who gets in a little trouble and needs to skip town, but not before 12-year old Tino Perez robs him. Perez is in the country illegally and his mother, Marisol, needs his help. She had disappeared in her attempt to cross into the country.

Faced with the choice of staying and going to jail, or leaving and helping the kid find his mother, it's no contest. The trip takes Payne and his young side-kick Perez from Mexico to the site of Marisol's crossing into the U.S. Along the way, Payne learns first hand the dangers of illegal immigration, human trafficking and sexual slavery.

Levine does a good job of portraying the human suffering of those attempting to get into this country illegally. After Marisol and eighteen men, women and children are packed into a windowless white van, Levine describes some of her trip this way:

Marisol lost all sense of time. Inside the van, the air grew stale and unbearably hot. She felt queasy, forced herself to picture trees, swaying in a breeze. Remembered the Mexicans trapped in the trailer truck the summer before. If she died here, what would become of Tino?

Fight off the fear.

Across from her, an Indio woman struggled to her knees, changed something Marisol did not understand, and keeled over, facedown onto the filthy floor. Her lips frosted with white foam and her body twitched.

Marisol squeezed past two men, lifted the woman's head to help her breathe. Someone banged on the wall separating them from Guillermo, the driver. Someone else shouted in Spanish to stop, a woman is dying, but the van continued on.

A Honduran man tore apart the matting that covered the taillight assembly, then punched through a plastic casing and tore out the light by its cord. The pavement appeared through the hole.

Marisol helped carry the woman to the back. Two men held her face close to the opening, begging her to suck in the fresh air. Her body twitched then stilled, twisted into unnatural angles.

Women screamed. Men prayed. Others averted their faces, as if shamed to see the woman so exposed in death.

This novel will do more than just entertain; it'll make you think. And any book that can do both, ranks high on my list.

Buy it on Amazon here.

Support Iran's Green Revolution

2009-06-24T13:41:51-04:00

I had a conversation with someone on Twitter recently about her decision to support Iran’s demonstrators by performing a 1–click green tint change of color to her Twitter avatar.

“Do you really believe adding a color tint to your avatar is doing anything?” I asked.

What about other alternatives? I suggested writing to President Obama, her representatives in Washington, or writing an article for the local paper or on her blog.

She responded that she’s been studying the history of the issue and wasn’t ready to write about it because she wasn’t schooled enough.

“Okay. But what makes you think that a green overlay to your avatar is accomplishing anything?” I asked.

Her response was that all communication is doing something and that U.S. businesses spend billions on colors and slogans and that they expect and get results.

What do you think?

For me, I think that I’m more in agreement with Tom Friedman in his NYTimes column about how to support Iran’s “Green Revolution.” His point is to hit Iran where it hurts: in the wallet.

If these dictators didn’t have the oil money that we keep funneling to them, they wouldn’t be able to keep their people pressed under their thumbs. Friedman uses the Soviet Union as an example.

It’s an interesting read and I urge you to click on the link.

Of course solving our energy needs takes a whole lot more than just one person reducing his or her oil dependency. But if just one person does it, that’s a first step.

And in my mind, it’s a much bigger step than a 1–click green overlay to your Twitter avatar.

Red Sox - Yankees: Who'd a thunk it?

2009-06-24T12:24:20-04:00

Just two weeks ago, the Red Sox were playing the Yankees in a 3–game series where 1^st place was in jeopardy. The Yankees were in first place coming off an impressive number of wins.

The Sox ended up sweeping the series and seem to be cruising — even Big Papi is starting to get back in the swing of things. (Not everything is roses in the Red Sox Nation – Dice K still can’t pitch worth squat and no one seems to really know why.)

The Yankees, meanwhile, have tanked.

From being in 1^st place to now 5 games behind the Red Sox, the Yankees have lost their way. Part of it has to be that Alex Rodriguez is in a horrible slump (little tougher hitting when you’re not on the juice, eh A-Rod?).

Well, the season is still young. But I have to admit that I love that the Yankees spent a gazillion dollars on their new talent and their new stadium and they still don’t have much to show for it. It couldn’t be happening to a better team!

Work to Begin on Unnecessay new school in Portland

2009-06-22T09:44:33-04:00

There’s a nice article today in the Portland Press Herald about the new Ocean Avenue elementary school being built in Portland. It seems that it’s going to be a very nice school and that due to the economy, it’ll cost even less than earlier predicted.

Too bad it’s not necessary.

You see, Portland schools have been having fewer and fewer students enroll each year. When Jack Elementary school on Munjoy hill closed in 2001, the students were put in other city elementary schools until the East End Community School opened in 2006. It didn’t overburden the school system or cause so much overcrowding that kids didn’t still anything.

In 2003, the decision was made to close Baxter Elementary (where this new Ocean Avenue school will be built). I don’t recall why exactly the school needed to be closed — mostly complaints about the facility as I recall (though I noticed that adult educational programs moved into the school without too much trouble).

No, the city of Portland could easily get along without another elementary school. Ocean Avenue school is being built for one reason and one reason alone: the state will pay for it.

In 2008, city and state officials approved a plan to spend $20.2 million to build the Ocean Avenue school. The state would reimburse the school district for up to $19.8 million of the cost and Portland would only need to pony up the remaining $400,000.

Hey, if the city can get a new school and pay nearly nothing for it, why not, right? I agree — to a point.

What I’d like to see the city do is more though. Not just replace the old Clifford School with the new Ocean Avenue school and keep the same number of teachers, administrators and students. But consolidate even more and close another elementary school and have the students go to one of these new elementary schools. Reduce the number of teachers and administrators and save the city some real money.

But that, of course, would be too political, too controversial, too drastic.

To which I respond: too bad.

Sox Win, Dice K doesn't

2009-06-22T09:19:25-04:00

Nick Green hit a walk off homer in the bottom of the 9^th to give the Red Sox a big win over Atlanta. Said Green (as quoted in the Globe):

“To be honest with you, I didn’t realize what was going on,’’ Green said. “I didn’t even comprehend the fact that I had swung at the first pitch and it was a walkoff. I just knew that we still had to hit. When I hit second base, everybody’s standing at home plate, then I realized what was going on.

Meanwhile, Daisuke Matsuzaka has gone on the DL — again. They’re calling it a right shoulder strain, the same thing they said back in April when he was on the DL and missed 5 weeks. My opinion is that he’ll probably miss at least that much time again before trying him out on the mound … perhaps significantly more.

In eight starts, Matsuzaka is 1-5 with an 8.23 ERA. Last year, he was 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA and a major league-best .211 batting average by opponents. Clearly, his pitching this year is a mess.

Matsuzaka is in the third season of a six-year, $52 million contract he signed after the Sox paid $51.11 million for the right to negotiate with him.

The Red Sox are blaming the World Baseball Classic (where Dice-K was MVP) since he’s done nothing but go down hill since then.

But please.

Matsuzaka throws way, way too many pitches each time he’s on the mound. He made a career in Japan throwing complete games with pitch counts around 125 and higher before signing with the Sox.

The concern with Dice-K isn’t that he has a “mild right shoulder strain” or “shoulder weakness” that might take some time to remedy. No, the real fear is that he’s thrown too many damn pitches in his lifetime so that he’ll never be able to quite recover the velocity he once had.

For all the money they’ve spent on Matsuzaka, the Sox need to take whatever time is necessary to fully determine, and hopefully resolve, his physical problems.

Sox Win All Three Against The Yankees

2009-06-12T08:30:47-04:00

After the Sox won the first game of this series, Monica Bay was pouting and I let her know that it wouldn’t surprise me if the teams split the next two games so that they again shared the lead in the AL East. For awhile last night, I thought I’d be correct in my prediction.

Then CC Sabathia finally got a little winded in the 8^th with the Sox down 3–1. That’s when the the home team tapped CC (Chubby Checker?) and his relief for 3 runs to make it 4–3.

This sweep of the series makes it a perfect season against the Yankees — eight straight wins against them in 2009, and nine straight overall. That’s a special kind of sweetnees.

Red Sox beat Yankees 6-5 for 2-0 lead in series

2009-06-11T08:37:19-04:00

Now the Sox have a one game lead in the AL East with their win over the Yankees yesterday.

You know, anytime the Red Sox win it’s sweet — but there’s something extra special about defeating the Yankees. It just puts a little extra spring in your step first thing in the morning and for the rest of the day.

Mainers are Complainers

2009-06-10T07:42:17-04:00

I was born in Maine and except for going to law school for three years in Boston, I’ve lived here all my life. This gives me a unique perspective on Mainers that those “from away” might not appreciate.

Mainers have many enduring traits: we’re hard working, often surprisingly generous, fair minded, friendly (but not overly so), and we use our common sense. All in all, we’re pretty decent people.

We’re also complainers. Yep, I said it. Mainers are complainers — we complain about everything. The weather, of course, is the number one complaint. If it’s cold outside, people will be grumbling and begging for warm weather. When it’s warm for several days in a row, folks will nit pick and call it a heat wave.

Mainers are complainers — but with a twist. We want things to change for the better but we don’t want to do anything major that will change the very things we like about Maine.

For example, we criticize the lack of business growth in our state, but don’t want our cities and towns to change much (if at all) by having new buildings and too many homes go up. We don’t want big box stores everywhere, but whine about the prices the little guys charge.

We crab about the stagnent population (Maine had a little over a million people in the state when I was a kid — still does), but we don’t want to invest in the industry and technology necessary to keep our young people in the state and really develop a business climate. We also don’t want housing developments going up where we’re used to seeing open fields.

Why? Because it would change the character of the state. Portland, for example, is the state’s largest city. When I moved here nearly 30 years ago, the tallest commercial building was the 14–story “Time and Temperature” building in Monument Square. In the time I’ve live here, probably no more than a dozen major buildings have gone up in the city (if that many). Know what the tallest one is now? You guessed it, the same Time and Temperature building.

I’m not saying that you need a 60–story skyscraper in order to show growth. But even in the best of financial times over the last 30 years, the reason there isn’t a much larger building is mostly because Mainers don’t want that kind of change.

Just try to propose something as outlandish as a 30–story commercial building in Portland and the howls of complaint would be heard all over the state. Right now, if you want to build a defining commercial building in Portland that is significantly taller or grander in scope than what currently exists, you’d have a better chance of beating Kobe Bryant in a little game of one-on-one.

Mainers want big business in the state, they seek a growing economy, they’d love to have a vibrant private sector — but not if it changes the character of how they live on a day to day basis.

So what is all this rambling leading to, you might ask? One thing: taxes. Because if Mainers complain about anything, second only to their misery with the weather, it’s taxes.

Every time you read about state taxes, there is something mentioned about how high Maine taxes are. And people protest and moan incessantly about the outrageously high taxes — how they’re preventing businesses from coming to the state, how they’re hard on small businesses, and draining the incomes of workers.

Yet no one really wants anything to change if it’s going to adversely affect them in any way.

The legislature finally listened to the unending complaints about high taxes and came up with a proposal that would lower income taxes from 8.5 percent to 6.5 percent. In order to do so and keep roughly the same amount of money going to the state, the bill would apply the sales tax to a variety of new items, and also increase the meals and lodging tax from 7 percent to 8.5 percent.

Seems to make sense, doesn’t it? I mean if the state takes in $100 in income taxes, but reduces the income tax rate so it only takes in, say $80, it has to raise taxes somewhere else to make up that lost $20. (Unless it cut $20 of state services or laid off state workers to save the $20. Think anyone would complain about that idea? You bet they would.)

So what happens now? If you don’t know already, you haven’t been paying attention.

As reported in today’s Press Herald, a coalition of business groups have asked Gov. John Baldacci to veto the bill. The business groups say the bill could hurt the tourism sector, that it shifts taxes “from one area to another.”

Duh.

If you want lower income taxes without a loss of state spending, you need to get the money from somewhere, don’t you? The business groups also find fault for the proposed increase in the real estate transfer tax for homes worth more than $500,000, calling it "unprecedented."

Give me a break.

What do you bet that some of this business owners in this unhappy coalition happen to have homes themselves worth more than $500,000?

Finally — and how cute is this — the group calls itself the “Not This, Not Now Coalition.” How precious is that?

What do you bet that when the Not This, Not Now Coalition reads about Maine’s income taxes being among the highest in the nation, they’ll be one of the first to piss and moan about it?

It all just goes to show what I’ve been talking about.

I’d appreciate any comments about this article. I hate to sound as if all I’m doing is complaining. But, after all, I’m a Mainer.

Dice K gets hammered -- again!

2009-06-08T10:11:55-04:00

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: what is wrong with Daisuke Matsuzaka? He got hammered by 10 hits yesterday in the Red Sox 6–3 loss to the Rangers.

As the Boston Globe noted:

Yesterday he was an alternate version of the Dice-K we've come to know and, shall we say, put up with since he's become a member of the Red Sox. We are accustomed to maddeningly high pitch counts in relatively few innings. We are used to a ridiculous number of walks. And we are used to seeing teams have a very hard time putting the ball in play.

But the Dice-K on display in the Sox' 6-3 loss to the Rangers at Fenway Park was a very different creature. For only the sixth time in 74 career Bosox starts (regular season and postseason), he walked nobody. He faced 27 batters and he only had three-ball counts on four of them. This is the man who issued 103 walks in 183 2/3 regular-season and postseason innings a year ago.

What they did was hit him. The Rangers had 10 of their 12 base knocks off Dice-K, including three doubles (all authoritative), a Nelson Cruz triple off the garage door in dead center, and a Michael Young homer into the Red Sox bullpen. This is the man who led all American League pitchers last year with an opponents' batting average of .211.

I agree. Dice K has gone to hell. He (and Big Papi) need to get their acts together over June and July. I’m amazed that the Sox are only 1/2 game out or first place.

Portland Foolishly Wants To Pay Green To Go Green

2009-06-03T08:17:55-04:00

The City of Portland is considering the idea of hiring a full time coordinator to help make the city “greener” and improve its efforts to become more earth friendly.

Please — where do these people come up with these ideas?

Is going green important?

Sure.

Would I like the city to explore new ideas and avenues for ways to promote energy efficiency, reduce waste and improve sustainablity?

Yes, I would.

Do I think the city should hire someone full-time to be a green coordinator?

No!

Come on people — aren’t you paying attention?

The economy is in the toilet, unemployment is rising, state and local budgets are being slashed, cities and towns are promoting reduced staff and no-tax-increase budgets to cope with the economic downturn. Major business, like GM just this week, are going through bankruptcy. The housing market still hasn’t bottomed out and foreclosures are commonplace.

And the city wants to hire another full-time employee to coordinate going green?

City Councilor David Marshall says that the city could hire the green coordinator for three years using part of some money from federal stimulus funds the city hopes to receive over the next few months. The City Council could then decide “whether to keep the position at the city's expense after three years.”

No way. Hire a person for three years and it’ll be next to impossible to let that person go. I say don’t do it.

Apparently students from the Muskie School of Public Service recently compared Portland’s environmental efforts to some other U.S. cities and found that Portland could do more.

Well, duh!

Of course there are other cities in the country that do more environmentally than we do.

But guess what? I bet if you did a study on crime, homelessness, poverty, road maintenance, access to public transportation, or any other topic you want to choose, there will be cities in the U.S. that do a better job than we do in Portland.

So what?

The Muskie School of Public Service found that a coordinator “could help make a long list of changes, from expanding community gardens to keeping dog waste and other pollutants out of Back Cove and Casco Bay.”

Here’s a thought.

Instead of hiring a coordinator to make that long list of changes, what if we asked City Councilors to consider those changes themselves each time they’re faced with making decisions that impact the environment?

I mean seriously — are our City Councilors so overworked that they can’t consider green options on their own without hiring someone to do that for them?

The Press Herald article talks about the many excellent envoromental things being done right now in Portland. It appears that we’re making great progress.

Before hiring someone to improve on something we’re already doing quite well, let’s consider putting our efforts to work in areas in the city that need substantial improvement.

Social Media for Lawyers – What Are You Waiting For?

2009-06-01T10:54:32-04:00

You've heard the hype. Print media is dead. The Yellow Pages are passé. You have to be on-line to survive.

Websites aren't enough. After all, everyone has a website – big deal. The only thing a website provides is an on-line brochure of your firm. The typical website provides little or no ability to interact with current or potential clients.

You need something more. So what should it be – a blog perhaps? Or what about all those popular social networking sites you've heard about, like: Facebook, My Space, LinkedIn, and Twitter?

Do lawyers really need to do that stuff?

They do if they want to survive. I've read estimates that over 80% of people begin their search for a lawyer by using one of the popular search engines like Google or Yahoo. If someone searched for a lawyer on-line under your specialty, would your name come up at the top of the listings?

Even if you have a great website, the likelihood is that you need to do more to attract new clients and consistently be at the top of the search engines.

The lesson is clear: lawyers who ignore social media do so at their peril. Your legal competitors are on-line and using social media and are gaining new clients that in the past might have come to you. So stop what you're doing, become a little tech-savvy, and start getting involved in things. Now. Time's a wasting.

Oh, I hear your response.

"I don't even really know what social media is – how am I going to be part of it?"

I'll wager you know more than you think. Remember listservs, email groups, and message boards? Ever heard of wikis – like Wikipedia, the on-line encyclopedia that anyone can edit?

Well, those are the precursors of social media. After that came blogs – which as many of you know are basically websites that can be updated anytime using simple software. Blogs also allow comments to be made by readers. There are millions of blogs on the Internet – and thousands written by lawyers on every imaginable legal topic.

"I can't possibly do all those things and still have time to practice law, can I?"

Yes, you can. And if you want to succeed, you'll have to.

Just as surely as computers have replaced typewriters, as email has taken over as a routine means of communication, and as legal research has gone from going to the law library to going on-line, social networking is here to stay. And if you don't participate, you'll be left behind – wondering why you don't have as many clients as you used to, why your bottom line keeps getting worse every year, and why your practice is slowly dwindling.

Social networking is not just a passing fad. It's being used by millions of people every single day – and it's being used by your current and potentially future clients too.

Social networking is just an extension of listservs, email groups, message boards, and blogs. But unlike those methods of communicating, it's often faster, more interactive, and provides quicker feedback between the participants.

LinkedIn, for example, allows lawyers to put up their resume and have it act sort of like a website where other can be invited to "connect" with you. You can send and receive recommendations, write email, join groups that interest you, ask and answer on-line questions, and in general be part of a wide-ranging professional social networking site.

Less professional and definitely more social, are sites like Facebook and MySpace where lawyers can post more personal information about themselves and let others – including clients that might be on the sites – get to know them better. They're often informal places where it's easy to discuss non-legal topics: interesting movies or on-line videos, local or national politics, favorite restaurants, the latest N.Y. Times bestseller … whatever.

The latest and (at least at this writing) most popular social media site is Twitter. On this site you post just 140 character messages about anything that interests you. Like other social networking sites, you have "followers" and interesting people you follow so that it becomes easy to follow what they're doing as you post what is happening in your life.

Twitter has been described as something like being at a big party with everyone talking at once. You're in the center of the room and have the opportunity to pick out a few folks at this huge party and carry on a conversation with them – while still being aware of all the hubbub going on around you.

Of all the social media tools, Twitter is the most immediate. It's sort of like instant messaging to as many followers as you have (which for some people is in the thousands) and seeing who responds. From there, the conversation can go anywhere. Hopefully, if you make enough connections, it'll lead to legal work.

Ultimately, all these social media sites are just another way for you to interact with people and promote yourself. Each site has its own rules or etiquette needed to fit in. But it's not much different that joining your local Rotary club, Chamber of Commerce or being a volunteer at the soup kitchen or any other involvement in your community. You become a part of a group to be part of a group, help your local community, make new business contacts, do something that is interesting, and hopefully meet some new friends.

With social media sites you do the same thing – only you do it on-line. So what are you waiting for?

This post supported by Injury Claims Lawyers.

Weekend Sports Roundup

2009-06-01T07:58:43-04:00

So the Lakers are in the playoffs. Ho hum.

And the Magic are in too — interesting.

Clearly, the Magic were the big-time underdogs against Sir James and the Cavaliers. Unfortunately for the the Cavs, as I wrote in a pervious post, one great player can’t carry a whole team.

James just didn’t get enough support from his teammates. Mo Williams should have let his ball playing talk instead of his mouth. His guarantee that the Cavaliers would win Game 4 and the series was just plain stupid. You never rile up the other team in such a public way unless you’re absolutely 100% sure you can back it up. I know that the Cavs sailed through the early rounds – but can’t Mo remember last year’s series against the Celtics?

While it may not be what the networks hoped for (Lebron v. Kobe), the Magic/Lakers series will be fun to watch.

————————

Now on to the Red Sox. They finally won last night 8–2 after dropping the two previous games against Toronto. About time!

They lost their 1^st place ranking over the weekend to the dreaded Yankees. That bites.

And Big Papi still stinks at the plate. He went 1–5 last night and is batting .185. Is there another DH in baseball with such a poor average? I doubt it.

With a change in the lineup having Pedroia leading off (and belting a home run in the game), the Sox swung their bats the way they must in order to win games.

Hey Francona, want another hint on how to increase the offensive production? Sit out Ortiz until he can get his act together.

Either Big Papi is still hurt and needs work, or his confidence is shot and he needs a boost, or something else that no one knows is going on. Whatever it is, he needs time to get his hitting back. Send him to the doctor, send him to the minors, send him on a vacation, whatever you want; but first thing is first: send him to the bench.

This isn’t a summer pick up game where you put up with your friend on the team that can’t hit because you like him so much and he’s a great guy. This is Major League Baseball. Numbers matter.

And when a career .283 batter is hitting .185, how long are you going to wait to pull the plug?

Do You Wanna Play Some Football? Brady style.

2009-05-29T09:49:22-04:00

Here in New England, all eyes were on Tom Brady yesterday at the Patriots' organized team activity (read: practice) where he spoke for the first time to the press since being injured in the opening game last season.

The result: The three-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback and 2007 NFL Most Valuable Player said his knee feels good and he’s ready to go.

Brady’s back, baby.

Bill That Would Allow Non-Citizens To Vote Is Rejected

2009-05-28T14:13:14-04:00

I wrote about this unusual bill a couple of months ago here. A new state senator proposed a bill in Maine that would allow non-citizens the right to vote in municipal elections if the city or town approved it.

The sponsor, freshman Sen. Justin Alfond, said the bill would give non-citizens an opportunity to get involved.

The Senate overwhelmingly rejected the idea.

Without mincing words, the chairman of the Maine Republican Party, Charlie Webster, called it a "lame-brained proposal."

Links for 2009-03-06 [Digg]

2009-03-07T00:00:00-08:00

Wearable Friend Finder Devise Helps You Find Love
University of Maine students have developed a wearable gadget that lights up when you're near someone with compatible interests. A YouTube video shows how it works. Just imagine being able to find love by walking around and seeing who lights up!