Hands Up, Don't Shoot

We're taught to believe the law operates as an adversarial process. We, the public, are to be encouraged by the fact that we have prosecutors who will vigorously seek justice for those who were wronged and by the fact that those who are accused will receive a vigorous defense.  The problem I, and many others, have today is that we are presented with a system in which prosecutors are asked to vigorously seek justice for those who they may perceive as criminals against those who are very often their own colleagues. Perhaps we are asking too much; perhaps what we need is a fundamental change to the way we seek justice when citizens are killed by those who are sworn to protect them.  Much of my professional career has involved protecting information and securing data from the...

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Why I Spank My Kids

There's been an awful lot of talk lately about spanking kids. There has been one voice that has been suspiciously absent despite (what I know to be) a significant percentage of the population: progressive/liberal parents who spank their kids. Of course, you'll say, liberal/progressive minded people don't spank their kids! Bullshit. I know quite a few people who are incredibly modern in their parenting philosophy but still administer corporal punishment on occasion. Let me begin my story by sharing, at least historically, in your disbelief. Before I was a parent, even as I began my journey as a foster parent I was firmly in the "spankings are child abuse" camp. We had a foster parent class we attended and one of the fathers was absolutely in disbelief that you couldn't spank a foster kid....

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Depression. Suicide. Nanu Nanu.

I'm writing this after a long day of work and a tiring night with the kids. This afternoon the world learned that Robin Williams was dead and it's believed he took his own life. Dammit all to hell, but that's a kick in the gut. When I was young I loved Mork from Ork, even more so after finding out that we shared the same last name*. I always wondered if we were secretly related (I was young and had no idea how common Williams was as a last name) and hoped that somewhere, sometime I'd find out that he was my crazy uncle twice-removed or some such thing. Anyway, today is a tough day for a lot of people. Mr. Williams touched a lot of hearts in his relatively short life and almost everyone you meet has a favorite performance or a bit that never fails to make them smile. It absolutely rips me apart...

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