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March 07, 2011

Shrove Tuesday: Let's run this by the gods, shall we?

Neither Mardi Gras nor Lent are commanded in the Bible but come from pre-Christian, pagan customs. What does God think about such pagan customs?

--The United Church of God, in "What is Mardi Gras? Should Christians celebrate Mardi Gras (Shrove Tuesday)?"

The above neo-peasant nonsense from the "UCG" well represents the kind of brainless discussions we'd could be having daily across America if only Germany had triumphed in World War II. It's a very good reason to encourage your family members and friends to think and feel on their own about matters of spirituality. Note how UCG speculates on how God weighs in on the meaning of Fat Tuesday's undeniably pagan origins. Go to the link above.

Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:36 PM | Comments (0)

Jim McElhaney: Write and Practice to the Ear.

In several of its decades, in my view, Jim McElhaney was the only person or thing that saved the ABA from being 24/7 the shamefully uncreative Robot-Suit Wankfest that it still generally is. The Reason? It followed--never led. The Good News? The best lawyers in America were--and often still are--members. The Irony? Those lawyers were employed by the very same firms that were turning the legal profession into a cynical ruse and dodge--even for to-die-for corporate clients we all sought and still seek to service.

No one had learned to reconcile the two hard facts that law was morphing into both (a) a profitable business and (b) a profession. No one even tried. These two facts still collide for clients. The simple question was begged for two decades or more: how do we now align client interests with our own? "Value" to customers was never discussed. Real "class" was never a goal.

McElhaney, a teacher of trial skills, and an ABA star and stalwart, had loads of both. He was the only reason I stayed a member for 15 years or so. Remember him and others in the great "Litigation" quarterly? I still have them all. But I am not an ABA member now; I am a member of four state bars, one international lawyer group I am very proud of, two non-lawyer groups I am also proud of, and the IBA, which makes more sense for me and mine.

See in January's ABA Journal "Listen to What You Write: Your Ears Will Tell You If You’re Communicating Ideas Effectively. It concludes:

Polish the piece again and again. Keep asking yourself, “If I were reading this for the first time, would I understand everything it says?”

Then read it out loud to as many people as you can make listen—one at a time. Your ear will catch the little mistakes and omissions your eye skipped over. And if anything sounds awkward or strange, even if it looks OK, fix it so it sounds right.

Write to the ear so your readers will hear what you have to say.

Posted by JD Hull at 04:26 AM | Comments (1)