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Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?  I'll bet that nosey neighbor across the street does.  Dang but don't you hate nosey neighbors?  They've got that holier than thou attitude; that I'm going to tattle on you and spoil your fun arrogance that roils everyone. I know just the type.  A buddy of mine lived in a neighborhood with a spinster of a nosey neighbor.  She recorded when people came and went; what car they drove; what they wore; who they talked to.  Really, over the top.  Everyone hated her.  At least, everyone did hate her until that one time her nosy-ness actually paid off for everyone. So, as the story goes, a new couple moved into the neighborhood.  Guy was in his mid-30's and lady was about the same age.  Nice looking couple.  People you'd want living next to you.  Because they never talked to nosey neightbor, she immediately got suspicious and started recording everything the did.   See, I kn...

Have you ever bought a new car and just fell in love with it?  I mean, LOVE it, you do.  You name it, baptize it, send out notices to all your friends that you're in a new relationship, take Christmas card photos with your car. LOVE IT, you do. We had this guy come into the library the other day that just LOOOOOOOVED his car.  I mean, just...wow...he was nuts about his car; couldn't say enough good things about it.  Turns out, he had driven it off the lot a couple months before. He and the dealer had done up the paperwork and the dealer said they'd take care of the financing - and off he drove with his new love. Fast forward a couple months and guy is standing in front of me telling me that the dealer called him today and told him that if he didn't return the car immediately, that they would file grand theft charges against him. Really?  Grand theft?  Dang, but I thought that only the District Attorney could do that!? After a little discus...

It's that time again - time to come up with some new year's resolutions that will, undoubtedly, be broken by the end the of month (if not sooner).   I know, I know - that's pretty pessimistic but when the average is at 64% of persons who break their resolutions by the first month, I'd say I'm OK with that prediction. So when you make up your resolutions, what do you typically resolve to (or not to) do?  Over eat?  Lose weight?  Get up earlier?  Exercise?  Make more money?  Not steal money from your constituents' pockets?   You know, it's funny about this last one given that there are a whole lot of politicians who think they're above the law.  Of course, this brings us to our word of the month:  CORRUPTION .   According to Black's Law Dictionary , CORRUPTION means: Depravity, perversion, or taint; an impairment of integrity, virtue, or watak principle; esp., the impairment of a public official's duties ...

Once upon a time I was in the market for some hiking boots. At the time, I didn't have a clue about what to buy (or not buy), what boots were made of, or that there are different boots for different occasions.  So, to a hiking boutique I went.  I picked this particular boutique because it held itself out as having particular knowledge on the subject of hiking apparel. After trying on a few pairs, the salesguy suggested I try/buy one particular pair.  They were all leather (in that they were all one piece of leather - no stitching at all).  Just one huge piece of leather molded around a bottom sole and each boot was little over 2.5 pounds each.  The salesguy (who was much more knowledgeable about hiking boot than I was) said these would last forever.  All I had to to was "break them in." Do you know what it takes to "break-in" a pair of new hiking boots?  It takes a lot of hiking.  LOTS and lots of it.  Well, on my very first hike up Mo...

As the old saying goes, " If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything. " A few days back, I picked up the LA Times to read an article: " Friend says he and Manafort were criminals " wherein Richard Gates testified that he and Paul Manafort (former Trump Campaign Manager) had engaged in criminal activities.  Note: The testimony was that Gates and Manafort conducted criminal activities - not Trump (which goes back to the Judge's comment a while back that this case against Manafort was a witch hunt and not a drive to arrive at justice. I hadn't gotten past the 4th paragraph when the word "TORTURE" popped in my head.  I mean, why would anyone admit to having committed criminal activity in a Federal case unless they were being coerced into confessing?  Or course, this brings us to the concept of "torture."  See, at least twice weekly, I have someone come into my library who has committed some kind of felony (t...

Once upon a time someone told me that everyone has a book inside of them.  Well, you might have a book in you, but getting someone else to read it is a whole nuther problem. Such was the case with an enterprising young lady.  Seems Lady had caught the vision and started writing a book about farm animals.  The first few editions were stories about raising and caring for farm animals.  Apparently, there were a whole lot of books on the raising and caring for farm animals and so her book wasn't selling very well. Not getting the reviews (or sales) she had hoped for, she started writing about the darker side of owning farm animals.  Specifically, she wanted to write an exposè, of sorts, on the...uh...love and...um...affection certain humans have had with farm animals. Yeah, that's one way to describe it.  Not something I'd want to read but, apparently, there's a market for that sort of stuff. The next edition got better reviews (and sales) from her ...

In today's news is the story about a woman who got gored (as in killed) by a bison in Yellowstone National Park .  How in blazes did someone get killed by a typically docile animal?   Well, she walked right up next to it.  She got inside its "safe zone," irritating the poor animal to no end and it did the only thing it could do - shake it's head (and, subsequently, tore the woman from crotch to nose). Ouch! You know, if people were a bit more considerate of other animals (humans and otherwise), maybe there wouldn't be so many problems in the world. Take, for instance the couple that came into the library the other day.  Seems couple has a neighbor who has a dog.  Every day for the last 3 years, neighbor walked dog over to couples front lawn, had the dog do its dooty on couple's lawn, doesn't pick-up said dooty, and goes back to her house.   She could have done it on her lawn but being the raging hag (and a bad neighbor) that she was, ...

As a law Librarian, I deal in problems and am a purveyor of solutions.  If you've got a problem, I know where you can go to solve it.   Small claims? I know four resources that can help you. Bankruptcy?  Pick your chapter and I've got answers. RICO, unlawful detainer, criminal, appeals (civil OR criminal), military justice, estate planning, family law, tax, federal, UCC, real property (commercial or otherwise), contracts, personal injury.  Whatever you need, answers I've got. So, the other day, a newly minted attorney came into my law library hoping I was all I was hyped up to be.  Turns out he had just accepted a rather messy case.  I mean, it was one of those cases that if he won, it would put him on the map.  If he lost, well.... So, being newly minted and not knowing the ways of the legal world, I introduced him to the world of Continuing Education of the Bar (CEB) and showed him all the great things they offered like: California Civil D...

I don't know when it started but do you remember when they started putting pictures of missing children on milk cartons?   Of course, most people (and politicians) ignore those things until it's their kid on the carton and then they're all frantic -  running around the neighborhood posting pictures of their kids on everything. I remember one lady at the shopping mall frantically looking for her little girl who had gone missing.  The kid was found in a toy store, but the image of that mother's frantic face was seared on my brain. This, of course, leads us to today's news about an illegal (ooopsy, "undocumented") alien who walked into a Walmart in Louisiana wielding a machete seeking to kidnap children.  You heard right - kidnap children. Seems Billy Yoe Buidier-Herrera walked up to a woman with two children and informed her that if she did not cooperate (i.e. let him kidnap her children), that he would kill her.  A struggle subsequently ensued ...

Remember the OJ Simpson trial?  I do.  I was in law school at the time and it was such a big deal that the law library set up a television for students to watch the proceedings. I remember watching the 15 m.p.h. police chase down the 405 freeway as OJ led the police on the SLOWEST get-away chases in the history of get-away chases.   I remember the subsequent circus/criminal trial in which the prosecution regularly got handed their heads for screwing up simple procedural matters (like not Shepardizing key cases).   I remember the infamous "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit"  quote (that really was the stupidest line in the whole case).   I remember the day the verdict was handed down and OJ hugged his attorneys.  The persons OJ should have hugged was the prosecution.  They couldn't have bungled the case any worse than they did. Heck, I also remember thinking whether the prosecution had been bought off having just thrown...

In today's news is a post about a student hitting another student with a chair in a class room .  What is interesting is that earlier today, I had a couple come into the library.  Seems they have a kid in elementary school who came home most every day with bruises.  Of course, school "administrators" kept saying nothing was wrong and that their kid was just accident prone. Seems that argument fell out the window when, two days prior, they got a call from the school that their kid was being taken to the hospital.  They learned, at the hospital, that all those bruises had been caused by a kid who had taken to beating their kid because it was "fun."  Their kid was now in the hospital with a concussion, among other things. Parents are frothing at the mouth and are seeking vengeance against school district.  Who can blame them?  I know I'd be pissed seven ways from Sunday if anyone took to beating on my kid.  And what about the school "administ...

It's amazing the things people do to mess up their lives. Take, for instance, the young lady who came into my law library the other day.  Seems lady had a husband, beautiful children, and lived in a house.  In summer, they went on vacation back east, in winter they vacationed in Aspen.  It was a great life. Was . One day, lady met a guy at work.  Guy wasn't anything great except that Guy was new.  Lady wanted new.  Apparently, she wanted it so much that, after work one day, she told her husband that she was moving in with Guy and would be back to pick up her 3-year old son. Husband was not happy and he filed for divorce the next day. After lady had been served, she flipped out and attacked husband.  Husband called the police, police arrested lady and charges her with domestic violence under California Penal Code 243  and Husband got a restraining order against lady.  The next night, lady came back and was arrested for violating the re...

About a week ago, I was working with a guy who had come into the library. Seems Guy had been charged with raping a 3 year old baby girl. Three. THREE ! Pretty shocking, right? Took pretty much everything I had to stay on topic as I guided him around our resources to help him develop a defense. Why? Because until he is convicted, he didn't do anything.  Right?  Am I right?! The other day, I was reading a story about another politician who had been accused of sexual misconduct.  The thing is, the words "charged" and "accused" are not the same thing.  Seems Roy Moore had been  accused of engaging in sexual impropriety, including unwanted sexual advance and sexual assault, when both alleged victims were in their teens and Moore was in his thirties. I think the operative word here is "accused" meaning that Mr. Moore had/has not been tried and convicted in a court of law.  I'm sorry but accusations in and of themselves are not worth the paper t...