Are You Involved? A View From The Shore

Well... maybe this blog will wait...

2010-01-24T20:27:00.000-06:00

When I started this blog, I was very excited and really looking forward to doing it. I still am. But in the time since I started it, I've encountered a high blood pressure issue that's causing concern and have had to begin daily testing of my blood pressure. I'm finding that as I participate in discussions on the topics like I hope to cover in this blog, and in researching specific cases to cover, my BP is soaring. It's dangerous to let my BP stay high so I've been debating about how to handle this and frankly, it's far too obvious that I can't take chances with my health. If I didn't have two little girls to think about, I might be willing to risk it.

I think there is a shortage of proactive voices working for human rights and hate to lessen mine in any way but tonight I've been having a conversation about this with a friend on Skype as well as in two of the forums I frequent. I guess I was just very excited about this new blog and getting more involved rather than avoiding the topics and now I feel like it's been taken away. But in the end, I'll suspend it for now to avoid damaging my health further as I have to think of my girls as well.If my blood pressure issues drop, I assure you I'll be back to work on it....

Preparing for this blog...

2010-01-21T14:38:00.000-06:00

[This post was meant to run last Tuesday but due to health issues, I was unable to use the PC]

As I discussed in the first post, I am a layperson when it comes to the law. Like many, most of what I think I know comes from watching movies and television. I know that such exposure has certainly skewed my view of how the law, politics and legal proceedings should work. As I was watching the episode of 'Boston Legal' that I am planning to lead off with in two weeks, I came to the conclusion that being a layperson with an entertainment media-skewed perception of the law isn't sufficient for what I want to accomplish with this blog. I need to cast aside my misunderstandings and reactions that are based upon those skewed perceptions and ground myself in the fundamentals of the law and legal research.

To that end, I have obtained two books. The first is 'Law 101' and is meant to provide an unbiased understanding of the law and the United States legal system. Topics include constitutional law, constitutional rights, the litigation process, personal injury/tort law, contract law, property law, criminal law and criminal procedure. It's not meant to be the end-all, be-all of law knowledge. In a way, that's one of the points it seeks to drive home - that the law is vast and hard for anyone to understand it all, but you are well-served if you understand the fundamentals of what the various types of law are about in order to understand and attempt to interpret how they apply. I hope to have a review up on this book sometime next week, but even written for a layperson, it's a dense read.

The second book is 'Legal Research for Beginners' and focuses on the steps required to thoroughly research and understand a legal issue. Topics start at defining the legal issue by summarizing the problem to be addressed, how to learn about the topic, how to find cases and read them, determining what laws affect your issue and how to organize your research to present findings. Needless to say, I don't expect this book to be for the attention-impaired or those who only enjoy light reading. Frankly, the scope of getting into this is quite daunting to me and while I worry that it may all be more than I can absorb, it's important to me to understand it so that I present information appropriately and on-point with the issue I am discussing. That's one way for me to help try and present information in a more complete and balanced way for discussion, if I can.

All that said, I don't think I could finish both of these books in the next week so I'm going to focus on finishing 'Law 101' and then will work on researching and writing up my first issue then read 'Legal Research for Beginners' while working on future issues, putting what I learn from it into action to better my approach. I hope you'll bear with me. I think the payoff will be worth it.

Are YOU involved?

2010-01-15T00:00:00.002-06:00

Welcome, dear reader, to this call to action. My name is Keith and I'm going to admit a few things up front: I've suffered from chronic health problems all of my life, I'm a divorced father, I've been both a senior leader at multiple Fortune 25 companies and I have been unemployed. All of those things inform my way of thinking, but for the most part, I haven't found any of those to be overly objectionable to people. What I am in general, however, seems to piss a number of people off. You see, I'm a liberal. I believe in human rights. I believe in working towards the greater good. I certainly believe that all human beings are equal and deserve respect, compassion and understanding until they provide a strong and compelling reason to remove it. That said, this blog is most likely to appeal to other liberals, but I am going to do my best to present information in a fair manner on any topic I am writing about.

Alan Shore (as played by James Spader)

Please note that I did not say unbiased. I believe it impossible to be completely unbiased about any topic you are passionate about and anyone who says otherwise is trying to sell you something. So why THIS blog? Why is it also called A View From The Shore? The answers quite simple. Having been a Boston Legal fan for it's entire run, I have always found myself mesmerized by the passion Alan Shore (as played by James Spader) had for his beliefs. Sharing most of those beliefs and being moved by his closings (as written by David E. Kelley) to action, I have begun this blog as a means of continuing the call to action I feel he inspired.

So what will this blog talk about? Many things, ranging from volunteer opportunities and charities to examining current human rights issues and political/commercial actions that affect the greater good, whether that affect be positive or negative. This will not be a daily blog. Seeing as I would like to research topics before posting in order to present information as accurately and fairly as possible, with any sources cited, I need time each week for doing that research. Thus, I am expecting that there will be 1-2 posts per week. On Mondays I will try to post the larger and more detailed topic for the week and if there is time, I will post a second time later in the week on other topics such as providing an overview of a charitable organization.

For the next few months, at least, the larger weekly topics will be pulled from episodes of Boston Legal, though not necessarily in any particular order. I'm going to cover the topic as covered in the episode, and then work to expand on it using what references I can find in research, updating information relative to the time of the posting. It is important to note that I am a layperson when it comes to the law. I have no legal training, and at most have reviewed and participated in the development of contracts on a commercial basis. As such, I do not present this information as legal advice in any way, but merely as a researched topic by an individual of interest.

I hope you will continue to follow this blog, and to provide your own thoughts and insights.As an individual, I can effect a small amount of change in the world. As many, we can work to change the world entirely. Even if you choose not to follow this blog, I hope that you to will find your call to action if you have not already, and work from a place of compassion and reason for the good of all. Thank you for considering it.