DAY TWO - LABOR DAY SEPTEMBER 3rd

    Day Two began, as all of the rest of the days will, with our delegation breakfast.  Each day we have to pick up our delegate credentials.  With out this bar coded document, you get to go to no events nor do you get to go on any official transport.   Mind you, this is the latest we will get to sleep.  All of the other ones, the buses will leave at 7:00 AM.

    The breakfast is a chance to get everyone (200+ people)  together (a logistical nightmare that resulted in a group of us having to wait for a second round of buses 15 minutes later), fire us up and share info.  The info sharing comes from Chairman Chris Redfern, CEO Bill Demora (and if you meet him, thank him for all of us, organizing this chaos alone should get him
into Heaven), and an army of staff.

    Being Labor Day, and us being Democrats, our breakfast was a Salute to Labor.  And we had some great labor speakers.  Lee Saunders is the head of AFSCME, and brought down the house.  My favorite line was "We are not a you're on your own nation, we are a we are all in this together nation.  This is our country. This is the America we are fighting for."Then again, he had help, an invisible Clint Eastwood sitting next to him.

    Melissa Cropper, who I met the night before, is a teacher who is now the head of the Ohio Federation of Teachers.  She brought down the house with a great speech on teachers and education.  But she also reminded us all about the health of all women.

    We then had Governor O'Malley of Maryland come and get the crowd fired up about not only re-electing The President but about transforming Congress.  I wonder why, as a staff member of a Congressional Challenger, my friend Angela Zimmann, would find this inspiring and all? (Sarcasm hand in the air)

    Despite being a labor show, with too many great speakers to list, two non-union leaders stole the show.  The concept of early voting in Ohio was an idea, mostly created by Republicans (I give credit where credit is due) in response to the disaster that was the 2004 election in Ohio, especially the long lines.  But now, some of it's creators are trying to curtail it, especially Secretary of State Jon Husted.


    The Montgomery County Board of Elections two Democratic Members,  Thomas Ritchie and Dennis Lieberman stood up for the idea of night & weekend voting.  Now, I know what some are going to say, why can't people vote during working hours?  Well, not everyone is allowed to leave work during normal business hours.  Others can't afford to clock out.  We all supposedly want as many people to vote as possible, right? Right?!?!?!?

    Early  voting was a huge success in 2008.  Nearly 1/3 of early voting was the weekend before the election.  So Boards of Elections, who universally say they have money, they've made the plans, Secretary of State Husted said no.  He ordered boards to not offer it.

    When their board did, he fired them.  They gave up good paying jobs to stand on principal.    Dennis Lieberman said that they we're not heroes.  He spoke of those who fought  WW II, those who fought for collective bargaining rights despite physical attacks,  and those who fought for civil rights as heroes.  He said , that they just stood up for what is right.  He finished with, " I can get another job, I can't get another conscience". Dennis, on behalf of Kurt Young, that is what heroes do, they keep doing their job when others quit.

    After breakfast, I decide to lay low.  So I went back to the hotel, rather than join the fun downtown.   There was a great downtown festival, Carolina Fest going on.  But I decided to catch up on internet work, making sure I had a plan for the rest of the week, etc.

    We had armed security everywhere, especially at the hotels we stayed at.  When I came into the lobby of our hotel, one of the police officers asked me for a political pin.  I gave him a Buckeye state pin Kelly Wicks made for me to trade.  He was grateful to us for standing up for police officers in Ohio with last year’s Issue Two/the overturning of Senate Bill 5.  I thanked him for keeping us safe. Another hero thinking we were heroes for simply doing the right thing, with no personal risk to ourselves. 

    After a few hours of laying low, I went across the six lane street separating our two hotels (hey what’s a forty second jog)  and off to the daily “Lemonade Stand” at our other hotel. Sadly, no form of Lemonade, even Lynchburg, was served.  But I did get to have a creation of theirs called a Charlotteini.  Like the Obamaritas my friends at the Lucas County Young Democrats created at the Attic Bar. 

    On  the way out the door, a small group of young people, working for CNN, got me to download an app for my Iphone.  I’ve never been hit up to download an app, by a group of Evangelical Christians, in a hotel parking lot before.  Sadly, not very impressive app, but it was a first.

    At night, we were off  to the NASCAR Hall of Fame for another welcome party.  In case you don’t know, one of NASCAR’s founders is a huge Democrat and they opened up the Hall of Fame to multiple events during the week.  Mind you, Fox News used it for an HQ as well.  What made me laugh hysterically is that the same stage they used in prime time daily was used during the day for Planned Parenthood rallies and concerts.  I wonder if they had a exorcism performed each day, or what. 

    The event was called Light Up the Night.  We got free run of the HOF including getting to play with all of the exhibits.  I got to do a pit stop, qualify, and wave the checkered flag.  I got to hang out with some great folks, including one of my usual “dates” of the week Sandra Wise and we added Yvette Miller, Cincinnati Councilwoman and her colleague Lauren Seifer, who was originally from Walbridge.   Sandra and I had some fun having a talk with Invisible Clint Eastwood, fresh from his appearance at last week’s Republican National Convention.  We also ran into Invisible Bob Lattta, who was his usual talkative self.

    The entertainment was kicked off by Nick Cannon, and no, he didn’t bring the wife, on DJ duty.  As he was leaving I did get to shake his hand and get a little shout out for Team Angela Zimmann.  Later we were supposed to have a concert by John Legend.  However as the first bus back to the hotel was leaving between 10:45 and 11 and would get me back to the hotel at 11:30 for a 5:30 AM wake-up call, I decided to take up Wade Kapszukiewicz’s advice and go to the bus, abandoning poor Sandra and missing John Legend in the process.  Wade dazzled a group of delegates from our neighboring state, not in geography but at hotels and breakfast, Tennessee.  I managed to get my law fraternity brother Ed Anderson a button from them, by doing a little horse trading (hopefully he’s gotten this by now and I didn’t just spoil the surprise).  And then rescued them from Wade being a numbers geek, a good trait in a treasurer I think, and say that Yes, yes we think we’re going to win this year for the President.  Then it was off to dream land to get ready for the first official day of the Convention. 

DNC Day One - Sunday September 2nd

    The Adventure began Saturday as I ran all over Toledo trying to get ready.  Yes, that’s right, imagine that.  I was not ready to go in advance.  Can’t imagine why?  Oh, wait, Husband, Father, Lawyer, General Counsel to a Congressional Campaign Church Marketing Guy, yadda, yadda, yadda.  After running all over town, I packed up, after first deciding it was a good idea to hurt a toe (Sarcasm hand way up in the air), and headed off to Columbus.   I went down the night before as the bus pickup spot was in suburban Columbus and the departure time was 8 AM at the latest.  

    The experience with the bus was fantastic.  First, understand this was not a school bus.  They got us a great charter bus with a great driver, TV’s and WiFi.  My daughter will be jealous as we got to watch her current favorite movie.  As I went to get onboard, I ran into my fellow delegate and friend Lauren, who is the Communications Director at Equality Ohio and professional blogger, and her partner Shannon.  We left Shannon behind, but I knew I would have one friendly face. 

    Then I ran into multiple ODP staffers I knew, including Lauren Harmon, but started making new friends as well.  The woman sitting behind me was Sandra Wise, a State Central Committeewoman and Member of the Sandusky County Board of Elections, who with her husband, has done some farming.  Across the way was State Central Committeeman Dick Kerns, a former millwright, and his wife from Urbana. As the trip went on, I might more new friends including Lupe Williams from Wooster via Puerto Rico, where I spent a few years of my life in the mid 1970's.   Jake Young, no relation, and Kevin Bloomfield were on the bus as well.  Kevin is the youngest member of our delegation, at age 19 and Jake turned 21 just in time for the fun.

    As Will Rogers said “I am not a member of an organized party, I’m a Democrat”.  Well, we were somewhat organized.  Our bus hit the parking lot at our hotel, followed within 2 minutes by the buses from Cleveland and Dayton.  Luckily I beat the half of our delegation that is staying at my hotel to the front desk and delegate check in and managed to unpack, freshen up and head downstairs to start rounding up our Northwest Ohio People for Angela Zimmann, whose campaign I’m working for.

    After working the room for Angela, we boarded buses that were over an hour late (yes, we are Democrats after all) for a party at the Mint Museum.   I had the good luck to land next to fellow Lucas County Delegate Wade Kapszukiewicz, who is our County Treasurer, the man who led that caucus I was elected at, and more importantly a fellow parent at my son’s school and had a great ride Uptown (the locals call Downtown, Uptown as it is on higher ground) talking the changing demographics of the country and voter suppression.  I’m an expert at countering the later, but only knew a few things our treasurer did not and believe me, I learned much.

    When we got there, and here’s that disorganized thing again, we got horrible directions (just because they have vest and T-Shirt with the right logo on it doesn’t mean they know where they are sending you was the lesson of the day), but we did get to the party eventually.  The Mint Museum is incredible.  It has a great mix of art and they were great hosts.  There was a photo both for us to pose with silly convention type props and I got a great picture with me, Lauren and Sandra, wearing silly hats, glasses (Bootsy Collins has noting on my glasses), etc.   There was great food, fun entertainment and Democrats from about 8 states enjoying each other's company.

    On the way back, we ran into Mayor Mark Mallory of Cincinnati.  Mark is famous not only for being a good mayor, but for throwing a horrible first pitch (didn’t bring that up) and being a guest on “Undercover Boss”.  The group of us asked him about the great dreadlocks wig he wore in part of the episode, but sadly, he doesn’t have it.  Mayor Mallory agreed to pose for the picture (attached) with former State Senator, current City Councilman and fellow CWRU law alum Jeff Johnson acting as cameraman.  I also got to meet Delegate Melissa Cropper who is the new head of the Ohio Federation of Teachers.    

    Mind you, I missed another great experience to get the picture with Mayor Mallory.  I split up from Sandra and Lauren and Lauren ran into MSNBC Host Melissa Harris-Perry at our next stop, the other hotel for our delegation (keeping this vague for security, as they are concerned enough to have armed security with us).  But, my consolation prize was getting to hang out with my friend Mike Zickar who is Wood County Party Chair. There we got to talk to my fellow Methodist "Preacher’s Wife" (Cheri hates that joke), former first lady of Ohio Frances Strickland and of course she brought her husband along for the ride.

    After writing out some notes so I can type this up tomorrow, I was happy to call it a great night on Day One of the adventure.  More tomorrow (these will probably run a day behind as I want to get all of the events of the day and thanks for cyber tuning in.

Final Preparations for Charlotte.

    It’s finally here.  After months of preparations, I’m on the way to Charlotte.  First, thank you to the many people who got me here.  To my family, from my Mother & Mother in Law who’ve given me money to get here and my wife and children who have put up with my absences to get me down here.  Also, to my friends and fellow Democrats who voted for me at the Caucus back at the UAW hall earlier this year, including my friendly competitor Adrienne Hines who drove in from Cattawba Island & Bill Takacs who brought major portions of his firm, and my other friend and Congressional Candidate Angela Zimmann, who against the advice of me and the rest of her team came to campaign and vote for me rather than campaign for herself at her new caucus. 

    For those of you who don’t know, the Delegation selection process is a complicated one.  First, you have to declare your candidacy and pick a Presidential Candidate you want to support.  This year, as a Democrat, the later was an easy decision, we only had one. You then complete a candidate bio and agree to vote for the President if you are elected.  At that point, you wait for the caucus. 

    As you may know, the Constitution calls for us to count our numbers every Ten years in a census and then divide up the representation in Congress by this.  Well, needless to say, the state of Ohio has shrunk, relative to the rest of the country, in numbers.  So, we lost two seats in Congress.  We then had to re-draw the lines for Congress in Ohio.  We’ll talk about that flawed process another day.  But for the purposes of this convention, we used the old lines. 

    So, earlier this year, a group of hopeful men and women assembled together in the old 9th Congressional District.  There were more men’s seats available then women, but we went first.  The objective is simple, you go and get as many votes as you can and the top X vote getters go. 

    Thankfully, I kinda of have a degree in this stuff and also had the resources left over from running, as a sacrificial lamb for state representative (now folks say getting 30% of the vote doesn’t make you a sacrificial lamb, but as the objective was to get as many votes as I could and make my opponent spend six figures pummeling me, rather than winning, I call myself one).  That plus an industrious spouse and daughter meant I was the only caucus candidate with stickers
    So, my merry band, which included my wife, my daughter, her friends, my friends and new allies worked the crowd.  And, what do you know, I made the cut. Now, they didn’t give us the numbers, but they announced the margin was 1 vote for the last one to make it.  They also announced the names with mine last.  Now, it may have been alphabetically, or it may be I was the last one to make it.  Either way, I made it thanks to all of these folks

    From there, we’ve had several meetings to get us organized and trained.  Trained you say?  Well, we’re going to be in buildings that will house, at various times,  ½ the Senate, ½ the House of Representatives, about ½ the Governors, the President and the Vice President.  So logistics and security are a nightmare.  Also, thousands of dollars in costs come next.  No, not a charge from the party, but the costs of getting to Charlotte, staying there, etc.   The airlines, the hotels, etc saw us coming.  The last I checked Priceline, the Motel 6 people would have left the light on for you for the cheap price of $350-500 per night.  The hotel where half our delegation is staying has a breakfast buffet they could feed us, so we could do our required meeting, etc. but they wanted $50 per person. Yes, $50 per person per day.  Yikes. 

    But $1,500 in costs plus later, and months of effort later, I’m headed off to Charlotte.  More from North Carolina. 

Blogger, Begin Again

Alright, I surrender, I'm back on my own blog.  I blog weekly on The Village Church's blog site, but have done NOTHING with this blog in nearly 4 years.  Why?  Because I could not imagine a world where anyone cared what I said on squat.  But, as I get more and more active in politics again and have more and more interesting experiences, I'm back.  For example, right now, I'm down at the Democratic National Convention at Charlotte.  So, hopefully you'll enjoy this one now that it is reborn.  If not, well, . . . I'm back anyway.

BEING ELITE VERSUS ELITISM

I missed something somewhere. I missed the day when being elite at your job and suffering from a condition “elitism” became an automatic conclusion. That day when being one of the best at what you do became a bad thing because you automatically become stuck up.

Being “elite” is not a bad thing, quite the opposite. The Delta Force, the Naval Seals, Marine Force Recon, The Green Berra’s are all elite special forces units. These are the best soldiers, sailors and marines we’ve got. If I am being held hostage by terrorists or the like, I don’t want a volunteer unit comprised of the folks of my town or my friends to come get me. I want these elite troops coming after me. Does this make me a bad person?

In college basketball, when my team makes the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament (for my friends and readers who don’t follow college basketball, the final eight teams left standing in the NCAA Basketball Tournament (a.k.a. March Madness)), should I be ashamed now rather than proud? Are they bad men & women for doing this? Do they no long represent humble, small town values?

Elitism on the other hand, the bad side of which Webster’s dictionary defines as “the selectivity of the elite ; especially : snobbery , elitism in choosing new members, . . ., consciousness of being or belonging to an elite”. Now, that is the problem. I have had very intelligent, talented friends who unfortunately fall into this. They assume incompetence when they hear a regional accent or that someone is from a humble beginning or a small town. This is dangerous stuff.

But being one of the best at something, having graduated from one of the best schools, best programs, etc. This is something we should want. We should be ok with an inexperienced Senator from Illinois, who comes from a humble background, who can give good speeches and have an impressive brain in his head. I’m not talking about Obama, but a guy by the name of Abraham Lincoln. We should be Ok with a presidential candidate handling a major economic and foreign policy crisis whose middle name is strange and has it’s origin in a foreign power we are worried about. No, again not Obama but Franklin D. Roosevelt. His middle name is scarily not anglo, but gasp, from when of rivals at the time. We should not be afraid of a guy who went to elite schools and has risen quickly to the Senate, but is young running the country through a crisis, because I am talking about a guy named John Kennedy

By the way, when I think of elitism, I usually think of those with power and privilege. Those with multiple houses, multiple cars, whose families have walked the corridors of power for decades. I don’t think of the son of a single mom, who had to go to schools on scholarships, who worked in the inner city with the poor, who slept a night or two on the streets, who even when he makes it has only one house and one car.

Thus far, in American History, these elites who graduated from great schools, at or near the top of their classes, who speak well, who think, who listen to dissenting voices, and who rise quickly, are not the problem. They have been the solution. They are, Republican and Democrat, the kind of people who end up on the sides of mountains, on coins and bills, etc. So, how about we give a new one a chance? I voted early and already did. How about you?

A few thoughts on Palin

The local paper in Wasilla, Alaska, The Frontiersman is anything but a liberal, big city newspaper. You know the kind that attacks poor, innocent conservative candidates A brief glance at it’s website, at least in the first week of September 2008 and you find articles you would expect to see in a local paper: prep volleyball teams getting ready for the season, local concerts and events, an article by a local pastor on the evils of Contemporary Christian music (I kid you not, Michael W. Smith is leading us all to hell?). There is even a Op Ed talking about how wonderful it is to have a local on the ticket with McCain, as it has been a tough year for Alaska with all of the corruption scandals and all. But, look at some old print and you find a different story.

According to The Frontiersman’s articles and editorials during Sarah Palin’s administration, they were not really enthralled with this “experienced executive”. To quote a long, scathing editorial, “Palin promised to change the status quo, but at every turn we find hints of cronyism and political maneuvering. We see a woman who has long since surrendered her ideals to a political machine”. The piece continues “The Mayor’s [Palin] administration has been one of contradiction, controversy and discord. While she will blame everyone but herself, we mostly see Sarah at the center of the problem”. Finally, my favorite quote, “Mayor Palin fails to have a grasp of something very simple: the truth”.- Frontiersman editorial 2/7/97.

Think maybe they had a rough day with her, then read more “Wasilla is led by a woman who will tolerate no one who questions her actions or authority.” Further “Palin continues to lose public faith by sticking by her philosophy that we are either with her or against her.” Frontiersman editorial 3/7/97. Further the paper accused her of padding her resume to get the mayoral job in the first place. She claimed to have executive experience running a lodge. The problem is the lodge did not have a license nor pay taxes during the time she supposedly ran it. Frontiersman articles 1/22/97 & 2/5/97.

But, you know a mayor can run afoul of the local newspaper, even one of a similar ideology. So what did other papers say about this wonderful reformer, the woman cleaning up Alaska’s political mess? In 2002, she ran for Lt. Governor unsuccessfully, the Anchorage Daily News, the state’s high circulation newspaper (paper’s website confirmed by Wikipedia) ran a series of articles detailing her running of the campaign from Wasilla City Hall. Mayor Palin was found to have used city funds, resources and personnel to further this bid. She held meetings with vendors, used phones, faxes, computers and staff to further the campaign - Anchorage Daily News 7/14/06, 7/21/06, 7/28/06, 8/9/06, 8/18/06. Whoopsie, is using your government office to run your campaign not reform?

There are 46 Republican members of the United States Senate with more experience than Governor Palin, and 17 Republican Governors. Even take out McCain, his colleague from Arizona who can not constitutionally run on the same ticket as him, and Arnold who can not Consitutionally be president (and they're is surely a team working on that), that leaves almost 60 more qualified current Republican Governors and Senators (Electoral-Vote.com). Ah, but he wanted to make history, fine, that leaves 6 women governors in senators in that pool with more experience. Factor religious views and ideology, and you are still at 5. Factor in former or current members of congress, former governors, former senators, cabinent secretaries, people who have been to Ireland for more than refueling stops, etc. Well, you get the picture. When asked if this was the best the party had to offer, a Republican Member of Congress answer “Well, it’s Senator McCain’s choice”. Boy, I feel the confidence now.

Never mind the pregnant teenage daughter, I will not value judge, nor should anyone else according to my Christian beliefs. However, Oh my God can you imagine James Dobson or Rush Limbaugh if this was a liberal Democratic Governor, even if they were going to keep the child and get married? Or how about the specials needs newborn at home? Again, I don’t think we could restrain Dobson or Limbaugh if this were Obama’s running mate, but the Palin family should run the Palin family’s life, even if my decision would be different (ok, the wife says she would not just divorce me but borrow Palin's favorite hunting riffle and she's a paficist, my wife not Palin). Never mind “Trooper gate”, you know where she may have used her office to try to get her ex-brother in law fired during a custody battle and then fired his boss when he did not fire the ex-brother in law, and which will result in her facing criminal charges or not about October 31st, you know 4 days before election day (sorry, but run on sentence required here, as is the effort to stall this investigation until after November) . Never mind the lawsuits for discrimination, etc while she was mayor, even a great mayor could face those. Please, despite the fact that I snicker to no end about these, don’t even think about her brother in law on a reality dating show, her husband with the 22 year old DUI (but both parties have their spouse embarrassments), her saying that Alaska lacks culture and class on the way to see Ivanna Trump at the nearest Costco, the fact she smoked pot and liked it (like others running for or who got the job before) or the fact that she set up a marketing business whose fancy name means literally “red neck” (I love the Blue Collar Comedy tour and my ex brother in law is the best parts of a red neck).

No, focus on the serious, please. Her “executive experience of the past” is a joke. Small towns, contrary to what you may think of me as a liberal city boy (mind you the son of a small town, country boy), would say, are not backwards. Folks from the country, with accents that sound funny to some of you, are acutally smarter than a lot of you know. But this woman ran her town and it’s of more like 7,000 than 8,000, ineffectively. Also, this woman was in no way vetted, contrary to McCain’s statements. She met him personally once, 6 months ago for 15 minutes. She was interviewed briefly by his campaign staff on the day he picked her, without him present. This is the kind of rock solid judgment we get with John McCain? I agree with his former top aide who says that the worst thing about this is that it diminishes what John McCain has been about and is about cynical political gain.

Ask yourself, given that statistical tables say there is a 33% chance that John McCain will not make it through two terms (Metlife actuarial tables per Electoral-Vote.Com), due to the natural aging process, in fact he hits average male American life expectancy in term one. Also, he has had three bouts of the most serious, and often fatal form of skin cancer. So, feeling the love of the “Hockey Mom” now? The job of President is all about judgment. Some of our greatest Presidents, you know the ones on the mountain side and money, have had the lowest experience. So, guess it cuts both ways, but for my money, give me the guy running a 3,000 employee business, with the 4 years in the Senate, 8 years in the state senate, and years fighting poverty door to door (and sorry to my conservative, Christian friends but the button is right "Jesus was a community organizer and Pontius Pilate was a governor"), and the almost three decades in Washington running mate, versus the albeit decorated war vet with less experience than the running and the self-described “Pit bull with lipstick”.

Oh, by the way, think this is the guy’s view from Ohio, thousands of miles away, read the woman from her hometown’s view at http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/kilkenny.asp.

Who is this new guy

Ok, never in a million years did I think I would be blogger, let alone a political one. Don't get me wrong, I've been involved in campaigns since the age of Twelve or Thirteen when a guy running for Norfolk, Virginia City Counsel took the time to stop and talk to a group of us, and in doing so get a door to door lit team for the afternoon. No, it's just the idea of thinking that anybody out there would care what I have to think. However, after a big of encouragement, from a number of friends, here I am.

So, who am I. God, I hate to type the following, but I am a middle age, slightly balding, slightly overweight upper middle class guy from the Industrial Midwest. Ah, but from the swing state of Ohio. You know us, the one's who screwed up the 2004 election, not to be confused with the ones who screwed up the 2000 election. No, we just gave the current occupant of the White House 4 more years. And I take no blame, I spent 14 hours on election day and probably 140 hours leading up to it, trying to make sure everyone's vote should get counted, who knew we could a miss a few hundred thousand, but when your state's chief election law officer (thankfully no more) is the state chair for that guy's campaign (and you would think they would learn from 2000, but no) well, a few votes can get "lost".

I am a Christian. Don't run for the exits yet. I am the type who scares the fundamentalists. I read the Bible as saying we are all God's beloved children. That, gasp, heaven is full of muslims, jews, agnostics, pagans, gays & lebsians and, say it ain't so even Democrats. I believe that you can not use just selected quotes from a holy book to justify what you want, but have to read the whole book. As such, I support workers, the poor, the elderly, the disabled, the environment, etc. And, I am helping found a church that believes that too (see my other blog).

I am a military brat. My father was career U.S. Navy, served a tour in Vietnam, got all the medals the U.S.N. has to offer save the Navy Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor, including two purple hearts (oh, wait we are not supposed to be impressed by that any more or so the voices from 2004 told me). That means, that gasp, for a liberal, a support the military and the use of military action, when needed. However, by "supporting the troops", I don't mean the put a magnent on your car and thump your chest. I mean only use them when absolutely needed, take care of them when they come home, look at for their families, etc type. As I said to our friend (WARNING: Here's a name drop) Jim Wallis (author of "God's Politics", don't be too impressed for the few who got this, Jim's wife Joy (the real Vicar of Dibley) and mine have been friends for years, "There is unfortunately a level of evil on this Earth that can not be loved into stopping, it can only be stopped by our best and bravest crawling on their bellies, in horrible places, and helping put weapons onto target". So, drum me out of the liberal club if you will.

I am a do gooder lawyer. What does that mean? Well, in the words of John Wesley, and as the "preacher's wife" of a lifetime Methodist minister I am duty bound to drop in a Wesley reference from time to time, I "do all the good that I can". I represent working men and women who get hurt on the job and have to fight government bureaucracy and corporate greed to ensure that they get the treatment they need and get back to work. All at a barely for profit status.

My job description is "finder of desperate, last minute solutions, to impossible problems, created by other #%@*#%* people", thank you Tommy Lee Jones in Under Siege. So, if you dare, read on. Or fall asleep from boredom, but I hope it's read on.