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Archive for the month “March, 2023”

31 Mar 2023
3 Comments

Templeton Project: The Brazen Eagle Soars

Back in October 2015 I wrote about the inauguration of the Abington Templeton Foundation (see here).  The project is now underway (see here) and I will be posting our writing here.

Check out the latest piece entitled “The Brazen Eagle Soars.”

See also:

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The brazen eagle stood upon the sphere

With wings outspread in readiness for flight,

Upholding on its figure words of light,

The faithful came with solemn hearts to hear.

As sacred text was heedfully proclaimed,

A fiery burst obscured the avian perch

And caused a gasp inside the crowded church.

Stained glass was then by brilliant light inflamed.

So high it flew above the thirsty land

To rain upon the earth God’s greening Word,

Descending on the globe from strand to strand.

The Gospel that has many people stirred,

Saint John as witness wrote by his own hand,

Whose hallowed symbol is that very bird.

In most Anglican Churches the lectern includes the image of an eagle.

Michael G. Tavella, Saint Perpetua and her companions, March 7, 2023

Posted in Templeton Project
30 Mar 2023
2 Comments

YesSource: Yes Tribute – 12/11/10 – Omsk – Arkady Shilkloper – Tribute to YES (live)

Here are my latest uploads to YesSource, my Yes rarities youtube page (about which you can read here).  This post is another addition to my series of Yes music posts and a collection of all my Yes-related posts is here.  Yes, of course, is a, if not the, premier progressive rock band, and I am an enormous fan of it.

You can see all of my Yessource uploads here.

My latest YesSource uploads can be found here:

Posted in YesSource
27 Mar 2023

Certiorari Denied in Challenge by Preacher to University’s Speaker Permit Rule

This is from religionclause.blogspot.com which you can find here:

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied review in Keister v. Bell, (Docket No. 22-388, certiorarari dened, 3/20/2023). (Order List.) In the case, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge to the University of Alabama’s policy that requires a permit in order for a speaker to participate in expressive conduct on University grounds, with an exception for “casual recreational or social activities.” The challenge was brought by a traveling evangelical preacher who, with a friend, set up a banner, passed out religious literature and preached through a megaphone on a campus sidewalk. (See prior posting.) Links to filings with the Supreme Court in the case are available here.  Reuters reports on the Court’s action. [Thanks to Thomas Rutledge for the lead.]

You can learn more about this issue here.

Posted in Reblog: Religion Clause | Leave a comment
23 Mar 2023
2 Comments

YesSource: Yes Tribute – 10/28/15 – Saxlife Plays Yes: Total Sax Retain

Here are my latest uploads to YesSource, my Yes rarities youtube page (about which you can read here).  This post is another addition to my series of Yes music posts and a collection of all my Yes-related posts is here.  Yes, of course, is a, if not the, premier progressive rock band, and I am an enormous fan of it.

You can see all of my Yessource uploads here.

My latest YesSource uploads can be found here:

Posted in YesSource
21 Mar 2023
1 Comment

FAMILY LAW IMPROVEMENTS

                This morning as I was driving by a fire station, there was a handsome young firefighter speaking to a group of small children, who were dressed neatly in white, beige and blue uniforms. They were listening to him with rapt attention and the scene was touching because it conveyed all of the joy, innocence, and enthusiasm of youth.

I compared that scene to the scene in Philadelphia’s Family Court, where I spent a good part of the prior day. Hundreds of people, usually low income and minorities, spend hours and hours waiting in a large room until their cases are called. These members of society are the least able to afford to lose income by taking time off of work or taking off time to seek work waiting and waiting and waiting. When one looks around the room, it is a sad sight of a mass of humanity waiting for an overburdened court system, to govern their lives and families.

The case I was involved in resulted from allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct by a child toward his sibling. The family consisted of 5 children. That conduct was reported to the Department of Human Services. That report set in motion a process which involves numerous individuals who are appointed by the court to monitor, oversee, analyze, and represent various members of the family. This doesn’t include the judge and other members of the court system involved in monitoring and scheduling these type of cases. In this case four of the children have been sent to foster homes, and the fifth child is living with his greatgrandmother. The parents’ rights are in the process of being terminated, and one of the childrens’ aunts who lives in another state is seeking to adopt them. I represent the maternal grandmother.  Although each case is different, the pattern is similar.  The pattern involves spending large amounts of money in a system which is very slow and ponderous.  The persons who are being paid by the system include representatives of various agencies, child advocates, court-appointed lawyers for the parents, social workers, attorneys for the children, therapists, case workers, foster parents, and various agencies offering services. When one is involved in the system one cannot help but wonder if there is not a better, efficient, less emotionally taxing and far less expensive way of assisting these families, many of whom are impoverished and lacking in education and life’s skills. Yet, no one seems to have been able to suggest and/or implement such a system.  And one wonders who would be interested in doing so, as most likely it is not individuals who are being paid by the system. Of the cases I have been involved in I am the only one being paid privately; everyone else is being paid by the taxpayers, which includes me.  I am not suggesting that people involved in the system are overpaid, as that is not the case, and court-approved lawyers do not get rich through the system, and many of the people involved are dedicated to their taxing jobs. But, the sheer number of people involved in assisting each family, adds up to lots of effort and money. If the process was more streamlined or efficient, perhaps more private lawyers could become involved, because family members could afford their fees. As it currently stands, we have attended two hearings in a month which have both resulted in continuances after hours and hours of waiting. We are billing our clients to sit and wait, but as “a lawyer’s time and advice are his stock in trade”, a saying attributed to Abraham Lincoln, we have no choice.

__________________________________________________________________

Faye Riva Cohen has provided personalized, creative, and zealous legal representation to clients in the areas of Employment and Labor Law, Civil Rights and Discrimination, Estate Planning and Litigation, Real Estate, and Family Law for more than four decades. She enjoys a well-earned reputation for successfully litigating multi-faceted, complex cases against large and powerful adversaries, often in David and Goliath situations.

Please feel free to get in touch with Faye at: frc@fayerivacohen.com or 215.563.7776

Posted in Reblog: Toughlawyerlady
20 Mar 2023

Massachusetts Supreme Court: Church May Relocate Cremated Remains Over Objection of Families

This is from religionclause.blogspot.com which you can find here:

In Church of the Holy Spirit of Wayland v. Heinrich, (MA Sup. Jud. Ct., March 14, 202), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rejected claims by families attempting to prevent the disinterment and relocation of cremated remains sought by a church in order to facilitate the sale of its churchyard property. The court said in part:

This case concerns the scope of rights conveyed by a set of burial certificates, as sold by a church to its parishioners. After dwindling membership compelled the Church of the Holy Spirit of Wayland … to close and sell its property, do the certificates permit the church to disinter and relocate the cremated remains buried on that property despite the objections of the decedents’ families?Although we acknowledge the sensitive — even sacred — nature of the subject matter of this dispute, we conclude that the burial certificates’ unambiguous language permits the disinterment and that no common-law right held by the families prevents it.

You can learn more about this issue here.

Posted in Reblog: Religion Clause | Leave a comment
17 Mar 2023
5 Comments

Templeton Project: Emptiness (A Sonnet)

Back in October 2015 I wrote about the inauguration of the Abington Templeton Foundation (see here).  The project is now underway (see here) and I will be posting our writing here.

Check out the latest piece entitled “Emptiness (A Sonnet).”

See also:

_____________________________

That day when I looked out, the branch was bare.

The green before the empty winter left

And caused my woeful heart to feel bereft.

I could not bear this keen and wan despair.

So there I sat, reflective of my lot

And wondered at the futile course of life,

Commotions, fruitless strain, and blaring strife.

Then comes the dismal day when I am not.

It was when on the branch the green returned

That I in summer mood began to sing

And Lachrymose with joyful Ardor spurned.

I thought of what my winter humors bring–

By patience through the Spirit overturned

That makes in winter place for verdant spring.

Michael G. Tavella, Lent 2, March 5, 2023

Posted in Templeton Project
16 Mar 2023
2 Comments

YesSouce: Yes Tribute – 10/23/18 – A Life in Yes: The Chris Squire Tribute

Here are my latest uploads to YesSource, my Yes rarities youtube page (about which you can read here).  This post is another addition to my series of Yes music posts and a collection of all my Yes-related posts is here.  Yes, of course, is a, if not the, premier progressive rock band, and I am an enormous fan of it.

You can see all of my Yessource uploads here.

My latest YesSource uploads can be found here:

Posted in YesSource
14 Mar 2023
1 Comment

Justice for the 99%ers

The civil legal system has become very costly for the average person, or the 99%ers, as I will refer to them. The Occupy movement lobbies for financial relief and assistance for 99% of Americans, as compared to the wealthiest 1% of Americans. Although small claims courts exist which have inexpensive filing fees, and do not require legal representation (although I recommend hiring a lawyer because they are still courts and involve the legal process), either party, whether victorious or not, can appeal from those decisions.  The court one would appeal to is far more expensive to litigate in due to formal rules and procedures, and one should definitely be represented by a lawyer in that type of court. 

                The news media often carry articles and stories about law firms, but much of this coverage is due to news releases sent by marketing departments or public relations agencies hired by these firms.  Most law forms who can afford these types of services are large law firms or occasional, specialized firms who handle cases in areas of the law where verdicts can be large, such as catastrophic personal injury.  Therefore, it can appear to the average person that these types of firms rule the practice of law.

Yet, statistics are surprisingly to the contrary.  Of lawyers in private practice, estimated to be 70% of all lawyers in America, or 635,000 lawyers, 48% of them, or 435,000 lawyers, work alone (they are called solo practitioners). The remaining 22% of lawyers, or 200,000 lawyers, practice in law firms of between 2 and 20 lawyers.  I would guess that of that total, a high percentage of the 70% represent individuals and small business rather than large corporations.  Yet, the myriad of rules and the high costs associated with participating in the legal system is prohibitive for average Americans, or the 99%ers.  Although I am not advocating that the legal system be Occupied, perhaps the 70% of private lawyers practicing individually and in small law firms, and the 99% of average American, should work together to find a way to make the legal system more user friendly and less expensive to clients and their lawyers.

__________________________________________________________________

Faye Riva Cohen has provided personalized, creative, and zealous legal representation to clients in the areas of Employment and Labor Law, Civil Rights and Discrimination, Estate Planning and Litigation, Real Estate, and Family Law for more than four decades. She enjoys a well-earned reputation for successfully litigating multi-faceted, complex cases against large and powerful adversaries, often in David and Goliath situations.

Please feel free to get in touch with Faye at: frc@fayerivacohen.com or 215.563.7776

Posted in Reblog: Toughlawyerlady
13 Mar 2023

Certiorari Denied in Challenge to Police Department Prayer Vigil

This is from religionclause.blogspot.com which you can find here:

The U.S. Supreme Court today denied review in City of Ocala, Florida v. Rojas, (Docket No. 22-278, certiorari denied 3/6/2023) (Order List.) In the case the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated and remanded a district court’s Establishment Clause decision that had relied on the now-repudiated Lemon test. The district court had granted summary judgment to plaintiffs who challenged a prayer vigil co-sponsored by the Ocala police department held in response to a shooting spree that injured several children. (See prior posting.) Justices Gorsuch and Thomas filed separate opinions (full text). Justice Gorsuch, while agreeing with the denial of certiorari, contended that the district court should also reconsider the question of plaintiffs’ standing as “offended observers,” saying in part:

“… [M]ost every governmental action probably offends somebody. No doubt, too, that offense can be sincere, sometimes well taken, even wise. But recourse for disagreement and offense does not lie in federal litigation. Instead, in a society that holds among its most cherished ambitions mutual respect, tolerance, self-rule, and democratic responsibility, an ‘offended viewer’ may ‘avert his eyes’ or pursue a political solution.”

Justice Thomas dissented from the denial of review, saying in part:

[W]e should have granted certiorari to review whether respondents had standing to bring their claims. Standing is an antecedent jurisdictional requirement that must be established before a court reaches the merits….

I have serious doubts about the legitimacy of the “offended observer” theory of standing applied below.

You can learn more about this issue here.

Posted in Reblog: Religion Clause | Leave a comment

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