Every so often, a book comes along that makes you want to retroactively drop the ratings of pretty much all your books on Goodreads by a star, because now you know what five stars really looks like (pretty much all; not actually all… *cough* JK Rowling and Patrick Ness and Laini Taylor are exempt *cough*).
ILLUMINAE is that book.
It’s a five star book. Really, it’s six stars. All the stars, in fact, and appropriately enough, because this is, simply put, a rollicking, gripping, adrenalin-rushing, heartrending and emotionally bad-ass space novel. It’s YA sci-fi, in space, and then some. No spoilers here, but the novel opens with an attack on a remote mining outpost, deep in space. The occupants scramble to escape as space fights erupt in the skies above.
Space fights, people. Space fights.
The survivors make their escape on three different spacecraft, but the attackers won’t give up so…
Hello folks. As many of you know, I am a volunteer for the Christian Legal Clinics of Philadelphia; you can learn more about us here. We help literally hundreds of people every year try and secure justice in the legal system through pro bono or low fee legal services. We are always trying to improve our services, help more people, and be able to do more for the people we are already helping.
We just celebrated our third annual autumn Philadelphia banquet and out second annual Bucks County banquet! At the banquets we had opportunity to hear clients’ stories told by them personally, stories of attorneys who served our clients, and how God has blessed the clients, attorneys, and the Clinic.
Last year at this time the Clinic established a daring budget and goals for 2015. We opened more clinics; we recruited more attorneys; and, despite taking a risk on our budgeted expenditures, we will meet our expenses through the gracious gifts our donors and, more importantly, God.
It is amazing just how much God has blessed the Clinic, and our clients through the Clinic. For a glimpse into our work, please check out the videos below, especially the 2015 video which is brand new!
2016 looks to be another great year! We hope to expand into Camden and another two locations in Philadelphia. We serve hundreds of people each year, and there are many more we can reach through our services and, more importantly, many more we can reach with the Gospel of Christ.
Of course, like any charity organization, in order to help others we need your help to do it. Please come out to one of our Clinic locations to see what we are doing first hand; our Clinic locations are described here. If you can, help out by volunteering; also, we are always in need of money to fund our ministry. If you feel led to donate, you can do so here. If you cannot do these things, please pray for us and our ministry.
Finally, the Clinic exists to help people secure justice in the American legal system here in the Philadelphia area. More importantly, however, the Clinic exists for people to be the face of Jesus to those who need it and to help people, not just through their legal issues, but through their spiritual ones as well, which so often are closely related to their legal issues. Help us heed Christ’s call to help “the least of these” and pursue religion “that is pure and undefiled” by giving to our efforts. Always remember that Jesus identified himself as among those called “least” as they, in the end, will be great.
Please be sure to watch these great videos as they show a few of the personal stories of the people the Clinic has helped. Thanks and God bless.
What is appropriate social behavior in our current society? I think we are pretty much living in a free-for-all society where everyone does whatever they want. People rarely ask others for advice on how to conduct themselves and seem to surround themselves with people who act the same as they do, or don’t have a clue how to act, and are too busy fawning over someone or taking advantage of them to impose limitations on their behavior. We no longer have role models, and we certainly can’t look to people in the entertainment industry or in politics as role models, who routinely exhibit boorish or obnoxious behavior, and are often rewarded for it to boot. In fact, the behavior of some of these people seems to constantly border on the outrageous, not simply for shock value, but because they think they can get away with it.
This is from religionclause.blogspot.com which you can find here:
“In Holland v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, (D WV, May 29, 2015), a West Virginia federal district court, applying the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling, issued a permanent injunction barring federal authorities from enforcing the Affordable Care Act contraceptive coverage requirement, as in effect June 30, 2014, against a West Virginia auto dealership. The complaint (full text) in the case was brought by Joe Holland Chevrolet, Inc., a closely-held corporation, and its 91% owner who became a born-again Christian in 1996. Joe Holland objects to providing coverage for Plan B and ella, contraceptives that he considers abortifacients. Charleston Daily Mail reports on the decision. Liberty Institute issued a press release on the decision.”
This is from edwardfeser.blogspot.com which you can find here. This blog is written by Edward Feser who is a Christian philosopher who I have been recently introduced to who I think provides effective clear, sobering, and direct responses to the advance of secular culture.
Here is a portion of recent piece of his which I thought was rather edifying:
“You can never watch Blade Runner too many times, and I’m due for another viewing. In D. E. Wittkower’s anthology Philip K. Dick and Philosophy, there’s an article by Ross Barham which makes some remarks about the movie’s famous “replicants” and their relationship to human beings which are interesting though, in my view, mistaken. Barham considers how we might understand the two kinds of creature in light of Aristotle’s four causes, and suggests that this is easier to do with replicants than with human beings. This is, I think, the reverse of the truth. But Barham’s reasons are not hard to understand given modern assumptions (which Aristotle would reject) about nature in general and human nature in particular.
Barham suggests that, where replicants are concerned, a four-cause analysis would look something like this: their efficient cause is the Tyrell Corporation and its engineers; their material cause is to be found in the biological and mechanical constituents out of which they are constructed; their formal cause is the human-like pattern on which the Tyrell Corporation designed them; and their final cause is to function as human-like slave laborers.”
We’re really excited to reveal all new covers for ALTERED and CORRUPTED! Here they are… feast yer eyes on these beauties!
We love them; they really capture the tone and feel of the books. We hope you like them too! If you want to find out more, check out the details below!
ALTERED is book one of the YA sci-fi series ALTERED SEQUENCE.
Reese has a plan: keep his grades up, work hard on the basketball court, apply to his favorite Ivy League college, and don’t get arrested.
There’s just one problem: Reese knows things no one should know. He always thought he just had good instincts, but he’s noticed that it’s been getting worse. Lately it seems like something else.
This is from religionclause.blogspot.com which you can find here:
“The American Humanist Association announced yesterday that it had filed a lawsuit against the Joplin, Missouri public school system challenging a middle-school field trip to a Christian sports complex. The complaint (full text) in Doe v. Huff, (WD MO, filed 5/27/2015), alleges that the middle school’s policy of scheduling student field trips to Victory Ministry and Sports Complex violates the Establishment Clause. The suit seeks an injunction and punitive damages.”
As every lawyer knows, the statute of limitations is the death knell for any case if the deadline it sets to bring a lawsuit is missed.
Collecting on money owed pursuant to a contract is generally governed by a four (4) year statute of limitations which begins to run upon the breach of that contract. One way to extend that four (4) year statute is to find a way to toll it. The case of In Re Michael Angelo Corry Inn, Inc., 297 B.R. 435 (W.D., PA 2003), provides one innovative way to try and toll it. Specifically, the Court in the above case analyzed whether acknowledging a debt and promising to repay serves as a way to toll the statute of limitations.
The underlying case involved the filing of a proof of claim by a creditor against a debtor who has filed for bankruptcy. The fact that the context of the case was bankruptcy has no effect or relevance on how the statute of limitations for a contract claim functions and/or applies. The issue was the fact that the creditor did not pursue the alleged debt with any alacrity and many years passed with no action taken on the loan and/or its repayment. The time that elapsed from the potential breach was longer than four (4) years in this case and, therefore, on its face, any action to pursue the contract claim would then be barred by the relevant statute of limitations. In order to avoid the contract claim from being a non-starter due to being barred by the statute of limitations, the creditor attempted to argue that the aforesaid statute is tolled by an acknowledgment of the debt made my the debtor.
The Court agreed that the statute of limitations on contract claims can be tolled if the debtor acknowledges a debt. The caveat, however, is that acknowledgment is more than merely expressing a willingness to pay it.
The acknowledgement doctrine requires a debtor’s acknowledging the existence of, and obligation for, a debt to be clear, distinct, and unequivocal, along with a promise to pay that is similarly doubtless. The Court made it clear that there must be no uncertainty in the debtor’s identification of the specific debt owed, acknowledgment of his own obligation to pay that debt, and a clear promise to pay. A debtor who simply declares an intention or desire to honor his obligation is not considered to have made a promise to pay sufficient to toll the statute of limitations under the acknowledgment doctrine.
So, when litigating a breach of contract claim for an unpaid debt, if one thinks the case can no longer be pursued due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, remember to fully explore the acknowledgement doctrine. It may allow a creditor to successfully pursue a debtor far beyond the four (4) years permitted by the statute of limitations.
Originally published on September 8, 2014 in The Legal Intelligencer Blog and can be found here.
This is from religionclause.blogspot.com which you can find here:
“Kim v. The True Church Members of the Holy Hill Community Church, (Cal. App., May 21, 2015), involves a dispute between two factions of a Los Angeles congregation that was part of a presbytery of the Korean American Presbytery Church. The congregation owns valuable property on Los Angeles’ Sunset Boulevard. The dispute involved attempts by one faction to excommunicate members of the other and an attempt to withdraw the congregation from the parent church body. The California state appeals court affirmed the trial court’s decision deferring to the determination by the parent body of the congregation.”
This is from religionclause.blogspot.com which you can find here:
“A Jewish teacher in a southern Colorado school district filed suit yesterday in federal district court alleging that the Florence, Colorado High School extensively promotes evangelical Christian activities through arrangements with a church, The Cowboy Church at Crossroads. The complaint (full text) in Basevitz v. Fremont RE-2 Schol District, (D CO, filed 5/26/2015), alleges in part:
The Cowboy Church at Crossroads is lead by Pastor Randy Pfaff, and meets every Sunday in the cafeteria of the School. The Church is advertised by two large signs that are hung on school property and are clearly visible to motorists….
The cornerstone of Pastor Pfaff and the Church’s “mission work” at the School is daily morning prayer in front of the School, at the flagpole. Either Pastor Pfaff or another member of the Church has been present for this ceremony every day for the last three years. With the School’s support, Pastor Pfaff has led these services, ministering to the School’s students and staff while holding a bible and using a public address system to preach his evangelical Christian messages…. Numerous faculty members, in including Principal Schipper, participate in services…..
… Pastor Pfaff and the Church, with the support of the School’s administration, routinely minister to staff and students through the distribution of flyers promoting their evangelical Christian views…
Through the Fellowship’s front group, Pastor Pfaff and the Church also hold weekly lunches at the School. The students refer to this event as “Jesus Pizza.” This meeting is promoted to the School’s students and staff through the presence of a large sign in the hallway that reads “God loves you and has a plan for your life. Jeremiah 29:11.” …. During these “Jesus Pizza” sessions, which are led by Pastor Pfaff, he preaches to and prays with Florence students….
judicialsupport 