LAWYERBRUCE

www.brucebrennanlaws.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase an interesting and inexpensive read.

http://ebooks.ebookmall.com/ebook/497984-ebook.htm

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard NEW SOURCE FOR BOOK

Check out the site below. Paybox is a new site, competing with PayPal, etc. Sign up is free. It seems good for small businesses or ebay users.

http://www.paybox.me/r/lawyerbruce

“Too much of a good thing is wonderful.”

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

"Where did you get them shoes?"

January 11, 2011: January 11 is … National Step in a Puddle and Splash Your Friend Day.

It is too cold for that where I live.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

Oregon gave Auburn all they wanted but Auburn won the National Championship in big boy College Football last night. It had to be the shoes. I have never seen uglier shoes in my life than those won by the Oregon Ducks. I don’t understand why they had to dress like ducks when Auburn did not have to dress like tigers. I could hear Steeley Dan all night, who once said, “Where did you get those shoes?”

It was still a pretty good game even if the fashion statement was for the birds. Congratulations Auburn.

The Illinois State legislature went home over the week end and heard from the electorates. A 75% tax increase plus other huge raises in corporation taxes and sin taxes was too much. The legislators heard this all week end long. When they got back to Springfield, it was obvious a new plan was needed. Do you think this was the legislators listening to us or were they scared by the shooting in Arizona and did not want to pass this enormously unpopular law with the shooting so fresh in our consciousness? The Illinois Legislature chickened out. They cannot even screw up properly. The old adage that voters have short memories also means voters have good short memories which currently include the Arizona carnage. Taxes are nearly always raised shortly after an election. This provides the legislators with the longest time period available before the next election. This cowardly approach goes on in all States and at the Federal level.

Another worry for parents who live in West Virginia, the Parkersville News and Sentinel reports State Sen. Erik Wells has introduced a bill to yank your driver’s license if your kid misses 10 or more days of school. You'd get a warning after the fifth unexcused absence. No word on how the new law would address sick or injured children, children who leave the State or area because of an emergency, children who are suspended from school or those missing days for religious reasons. The West Virginia legislature considers 2,000 bills a year, about 200 become law.

West Virginia is a small state. You have to wonder if 200 new laws every year are really needed. This does not include county and city ordinances or government regulations from all sources. And, of course, the Federal government enacts hundreds of laws every year along with the regulations that go with the new laws. Sounds like we got away from the concept put forth by Thomas Jefferson, "The government is best which governs least." This quote is also attributed to Thomas Paine, the writer of “Common Sense” Henry David Thoreau wrote a similar quote but not until the 1840s. Whoever wrote it was right but our government officials have decided not to follow the advice. That is too bad. Those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Tom DeLay, the former Congressman from Texas, and U.S. House Majority Leader, was sentenced to three years in prison Monday for money laundering. The only witness testifying on behalf of DeLay at his sentencing hearing was former Illinois Congressman and Speaker of the Houser, Dennis Hastert.

Music at the top of the charts on this date;

1947 For Sentimental Reasons - Nat King Cole
Ole Buttermilk Sky - The Kay Kyser Orchestra (vocal: Mike Douglas & The
Campus Kids)
The Old Lamplighter - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Billy Williams)
Divorce Me C.O.D. - Merle Travis

1955 Mr. Sandman - The Chordettes
The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane - The Ames Brothers
Hearts of Stone - The Fontane Sisters
Loose Talk - Carl Smith

1963 Telstar - The Tornadoes
Go Away Little Girl - Steve Lawrence
Hotel Happiness - Brook Benton
Ruby Ann - Marty Robbins

1971 My Sweet Lord/Isn’t It a Pity - George Harrison
Knock Three Times - Dawn
Black Magic Woman - Santana
Rose Garden - Lynn Anderson

1979 Too Much Heaven - Bee Gees
My Life - Billy Joel
Sharing the Night Together - Dr. Hook
Tulsa Time - Don Williams

1987 Walk Like an Egyptian - Bangles
Notorious - Duran Duran
Shake You Down - Gregory Abbott
Give Me Wings - Michael Johnson

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.brucebrennanlaws.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase an interesting and inexpensive read.

http://ebooks.ebookmall.com/ebook/497984-ebook.htm

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard NEW SOURCE FOR BOOK

Check out the site below. Paybox is a new site, competing with PayPal, etc. Sign up is free. It seems good for small businesses or ebay users.

http://www.paybox.me/r/lawyerbruce

“No great scoundrel is ever uninteresting.”

Monday, January 10, 2011

The insanity, F. Lee Bailey and Rod Stewart.

January 10, 2011: January 10 is … Peculiar People Day. We all know someone who this day was made for.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

On this date: 1994 Trial of Lorena Bobbitt who cut off her husband's penis, begins.

The nine year old girl that was killed by the Tucson gunman, Christina Taylor Green, was born on September 11, 2001. She entered this world under tragic circumstances her country could not protect her from. She left this world under tragic circumstances the authorities in her country could not protect her from. She was the granddaughter of former Cubs manager, Dallas Green and had been featured in the book, "Faces of Hope, Babies Born on 9/11, about children born on September 11, 2001.

Activist Judges have for some time now made law from the bench they felt couldn’t get done at the ballot box. Now the citizens, luckily a minute minority, have started using this idea with

one refinement; they are trying to accomplish with a bullet what they cannot get done at the ballot box. This craziness has to stop in a hurry. The police must develop a deadly force strategy. The only legal issue surrounding this shooter’s culpability is his sanity. The insanity defense is rarely used and it is used successfully in less than 15% of the cases it is used in. If the police were to use deadly force in obvious situations, the insanity defense would be used even less frequently. This is the country where the majority rules. I think the majority would have no problem with the shooter being dead right now. It sure would be cheaper and cause less pain and suffering to the victims and their survivors.

It is going to be a few days before this massacre is off the front page. Perhaps it should be that way but when the next mass shooting happens, and it will happen, it should get just as much attention. It is unfortunate anyone was killed but those that died at the hand of the Tucson shooter are no more important than the next group of victims, like those shot and killed outside a Baltimore night club. The dead there included a policeman. Where is that uproar by the press?

F. Lee Bailey is a 77 year old attorney who, it seems, does not want to stay out of the limelight. Bailey first came to the attention of this country when, as a young attorney, he volunteered his services to Albert DeSalvo, the Boston Strangler. He did little good in that case as DeSalvo was never exonerated and was killed in prison in the 70s. Bailey was the attorney for Patty Hearst in her 1976 trial for bank robbery. He lost that trial and Hearst went to prison. She was granted a Presidential Pardon by Jimmy Carter.

Bailey thrust himself into the O. J. Simpson trial. He was given a small role by lead attorney Johnny Cochrane, mostly because he was white. Simpson won his murder trial but not because of Bailey. Bailey is seeking more headlines. I suspect a book is coming soon. He now insists he has proof of Simpson’s innocence. F. Lee Bailey is defending Simpson's 1995 acquittal on charges of murdering his ex-wife and her friend. In his first written account of the trial, but likely not his last, Bailey has posted a 46-page paper on his website in which he presents evidence he says proves Simpson's innocence. The 77-year-old Bailey tells the Portland Press Herald that the document, called "The Simpson Verdict," is an effort to reveal evidence not heard before and to explain why he has maintained Simpson's innocence in the face of attacks from critics. He also wants a few headlines but he does not mention this.

After the Simpson case, Bailey lost his law license for stealing or failing to accurately account for a client’s money. The client was charged with drug smuggling and apparently Bailey was paid in cash that the government wanted back since it was generated by illegal activity. Bailey fought the government and, once again, lost.

Top of the music charts on this date throughout recent history;

1946 Symphony - The Freddy Martin Orchestra (vocal: Clyde Rogers)
It Might as Well Be Spring - The Sammy Kaye Orchestra (vocal: Billy
Williams)
I Can’t Begin to Tell You - Bing Crosby with the Carmen Cavallaro
Orchestra
White Cross on Okinawa - Bob Wills

1954 Oh! My Pa-Pa - Eddie Fisher
Changing Partners - Patti Page
The Gang that Sang ‘Heart of My Heart’ - The Four Aces
Bimbo - Jim Reeves

1962 The Lion Sleeps Tonight - The Tokens
The Twist - Chubby Checker
Peppermint Twist - Joey Dee & The Starliters
Walk on By - Leroy Van Dyke

1970 Raindrop Keep Fallin’ on My Head - B.J. Thomas
Someday We’ll Be Together - Diana Ross & The Supremes
I Want You Back - The Jackson 5
Baby, (Baby I Know You’re a Lady) - David Houston

1978 How Deep is Your Love - Bee Gees
Baby Come Back - Player
You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim) - Rod Stewart
Take This Job and Shove It - Johnny Paycheck

1986 Say You, Say Me - Lionel Richie
Party All the Time - Eddie Murphy
That’s What Friends are For - Dionne & Friends
Morning Desire - Kenny Rogers

Born Roderick David Stewart on this day in 1945, the 5th son of Robert and Elsie Stewart spent his happy childhood doing what he did best: playing football (soccer) and singing. He excelled at the first, becoming captain of his school’s team. Then, for his 14th birthday, Rod’s father bought him a guitar.

That was the start of something big. Music auditions and emulating British and American folk artists convinced young Rod that he needed to play a harmonica. Soon he was singing with The Ray Davies Quartet (The Kinks) as their lead singer – only to irritate some with his now signature scratchy voice.
He was just 18 when he took on another signature – his spiked hairstyle – and earned the nickname, Rod the Mod! From folk music, to rock ‘n’ roll, to rhythm and blues, Stewart was running the gamut of popular music and writing some of his own. However, he wasn’t winning attention in any area until he joined the group, Faces. Going solo in 1969 led to the beginning of winning in every direction for the throaty, extremely versatile singer. From the international smash hit, Maggie May to the even bigger hit, Tonight’s the Night to the 1978 chart-topper, Do Ya Think I’m Sexy, Rod Stewart was charming audiences around the globe. Two more decades of hit songs followed, including a version of Have I told You Lately that made one think Rod was singing only to you.
It would be hard to recognize that the seemingly quiet, retiring artist singing just to you was the same man who performed in 1994 at Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro to the largest concert crowd in history: 3.5 million fans celebrating New Year’s Eve and Rod Stewart.
And, although he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, Rod Stewart was never awarded with a Grammy (he had 14 nominations) until 2005 when his Stardust… The Great American Songbook, Volume III was voted the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. It was also the first time in 25 years that he had another #1 hit. That same year, Rod Stewart was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Today, audiences the world over have made the man with the most distinctive voice in pop music an icon and have purchased way more than 100 million of his records. Rod the Mod, now in his fifth decade as a performer, is still singing, selling more records and gaining new fans. And, he still plays in a senior soccer league in California.

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.brucebrennanlaws.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com

www.lawofficeofbruceabrennan.yolasite.com

www.lawyerbruceabrennan.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.law.officelive.com

http://lawofficeofbruceabrennan.webs.com

http://www.lawyerbruceabrennan.webstarts.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/attorneybruceabrennan

Go to web sites below to buy books by Bruce A. Brennan. It is still a good time to purchase an interesting and inexpensive read.

http://ebooks.ebookmall.com/ebook/497984-ebook.htm

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/ (do a quick search, Title, my name)

www.smashwords.com Do a Title or author search, Check this site out.

https://dtp.amazon.com/mn/dashboard NEW SOURCE FOR BOOK

Check out the site below. Paybox is a new site, competing with PayPal, etc. Sign up is free. It seems good for small businesses or ebay users.

http://www.paybox.me/r/lawyerbruce

“Some rise by sin and some by virtue fall.”

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Congresswoman is shot in Arizona.

January 9, 2011: January 9 is … Play God Day. What is this about?

BRUCE A. BRENNAN BLOG FROM THE WORLD AND MY MIND

The news as I see it and the views as I want them.

Released this week were the abortion numbers for New York City in 2009. They show the overall abortion rate is 41%, much higher among black women; for black women it is close to 60%. Regardless of your position on abortion, a rate where six out of ten births are aborted is unacceptable. Four out of ten is just as unacceptable. This is a lazy, expensive and immoral way to control population growth. The statistics did not point this out but I would bet the majority of the cost of abortions is paid for by the government, one way or another.

Education, training, religious teachings and sterilization must be incorporated into a stop-the-abortion campaign. People have to learn every action has a reaction. For the action of casual, unprotected sex the reaction is disease and pregnancy. We license your car, your privilege to drive, your privilege to hunt, your privilege to fish, your dog, your business, your barber, your doctor, your lawyer, your minister, your plumber, your electrician, your bartender, your florist, your dentist, your pharmacist, your stock broker and your real estate broker plus others but we do not license parents.

College football fans know the Florida Gators are orange and blue, but that, of course, is just a uniform. n the wild, Florida alligators are a grayish black on top, with a lighter-colored belly, usually. One alligator in Venice, Fla., defies that rule. On Tuesday, 74-year-old Sylvia Mythen discovered an orange alligator sunning itself in a pond near her home. Experts believe someone actually dyed the alligator for the college football bowl season.

You can find the orange alligator if you just Google “orange alligator” for a picture and a story about this freak of nature.

New Orleans is no longer the defending Super Bowl Champions. Indianapolis is out of the playoffs also. No Super Bowl rematch this year.

I can understand peaceful protest. I can understand civil disobedience. The shooting in Arizona of the Congresswoman, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, at a public appearance is another example of this country going to hell in a hand cart. Multiple deaths and injuries plus the pain, suffering and grief of the victim’s families are too big a price to pay regardless of your political leanings. The Tea Party will cease to exist if this is in any way tied to it.

According to authorities, anonymous spokespeople, rumors and press releases, the shooter, firing a semiautomatic weapon, targeted Giffords as she met with constituents around 10 a.m. Saturday outside a busy Tucson supermarket. Authorities said Arizona's chief federal judge and five others were killed and 13 people were wounded, including the Democrat lawmaker. Among the dead was a nine year old who was attending the event with a neighbor because she was just elected to the student council and had an interest in politics and government.

Giffords, who is married to astronaut, Mark E. Kelly, had won re-election in November for her third term. The campaign was littered with threats and immature behavior. She was targeted for defeat by Sarah Palin. During a recent interview on MSNBC Giffords said, "For example, we're on Sarah Palin's targeted list, but the thing is, that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gun sight over our district. When people do that, they have to realize that there are consequences to that action," That seems prophetic.

Her opponent also held campaign events centering around guns as is his website. Arizona is a State where gun ownership and gun rights are taken seriously. Giffords is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment right to own guns.

The shooter’s attack was stopped after two people tackled him. Too bad the gun he was holding did not ‘accidently’ go off, hitting the gunman.

I will say a Hail Mary or two for the victims today. Please join me.

Important events on this date:
1936 - The United States Army adopted the M1 semiautomatic rifle this day.
Important births on this date:
1944 - Jimmy Pagemusician: guitar: group: Led Zeppelin: Stairway to Heaven, Whole Lotta Love, Immigrant Song, D’yer Mak’er, Fool in the Rain
Music Chart Toppers on this date in history:

1945 Don’t Fence Me In - Bing Crosby & The Andrews Sisters
There Goes that Song Again - Russ Morgan
I’m Making Believe - Ella Fitzgerald & The Ink Spots
I’m Wastin’ My Tears on You - Tex Ritter

1953 Why Don’t You Believe Me - Joni James
Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Perry Como
Glow Worm - The Mills Brothers
Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes - Skeets McDonald

1961 Wonderland by Night - Bert Kaempfert
Exodus - Ferrante & Teicher
Will You Love Me Tomorrow - The Shirelles
North to Alaska - Johnny Horton

1969 I Heard It Through the Grapevine - Marvin Gaye
For Once in My Life - Stevie Wonder
I’m Gonna Make You Love Me - Diana Ross & The Supremes & The
Temptations
Daddy Sang Bass - Johnny Cash

1977 You Don’t Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show) - Marilyn McCoo &
Billy Davis, Jr.
You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - Leo Sayer
I Wish - Stevie Wonder
Broken Down in Tiny Pieces - Billy "Crash" Craddock

1985 Like a Virgin - Madonna
The Wild Boys - Duran Duran
Sea of Love - The Honeydrippers
Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind - George Strait

BRUCE A. BRENNAN

DEKALB, IL 60115

Email: brucebrennanlaw@aol.com

www.brucebrennanlaws.com

www.bruceabrennananddekalbilandtheworld.blogspot.com