Framing the Dialogue

Posts Tagged ‘lawyers’

Moochers Lament

Way back in the early 1980s I worked at a restaurant atop Pittsburgh’s tallest building.  The food was decent; the service was good; the view was awesome!  The U.S. Steel Building now sports a “UPMC” (University of Pittsburgh Medical Center) sign acknowledging their biggest client.  The famed building was recently acquired by UBS Real Estate Securities Inc. based out of New York.  Pittsburgh’s Tribune review reported that the investing group has skillfully locally recorded “is a consignment of leases and rents by the lender in the deal…UBS also recorded a mortgage document for a $220 million loan UBS provided for the acquisition to Manhattan-based Karasick and his partners.”  Neither action requires the payment of transfer taxes which was estimated to be $10 million. 

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Known and Unknown

I debated whether to read Donald Rumsfeld’s memoir and passed it several times as it laid on display at Costco.  I think like many people I was tired of hearing about the Bush Administration and wanted to look forward to 2012 rather than rehash the past.  Obviously I relented and I was very surprised at the long and varied career of Mr. Rumsfeld.  His story chronicles some of the seminal events in American history and he often had a front row seat which helps explain some of the vitriol spewed at him over the last few years. 

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IRS Offers Revised Plan to Tax Cheats

In this series I choose a current news article and you decide via a multiple choice format which terms were used and whether others would have been more accurate…….

NEW YORK — The IRS unveiled a new __________ (initiative, set of rules for politicians, plan to hire thousands of agents, kinder-gentler enforcement approach)  yesterday that’s intended to lure tax evaders, but with stiffer penalties than in a previous program.  Americans with hidden offshore accounts have until Aug. 31 to report the accounts to the Internal Revenue Service in exchange for penalties below what __________ (politicians, Hollywood stars, they would, we) ordinarily pay.  Defense lawyers had been ________ (wondering how to make money on, speculating about, getting ready to turn themselves in, suing someone over)  a possible new program after recent statements by IRS officials.  The agency created the latest program amid a widening crackdown on offshore accounts sold to wealthy Americans.

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Mad Mex

A recent newspaper article made me think of a rather old Mel Gibson movie.  Mad Max was filmed long before the ranting and raving Gibson of today or at least he had better P.R. people back then.  Mad Max depicted a post-apocalyptic world of lawless gangs battling for what was left of valuable resources.  Most of the memorable parts of the movie involved extreme highway chases using pumped up cars, trucks and motorcycles.  Of course it was a story about good versus evil.

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News Briefs Volume XV

News briefs are a collection of interesting news stories…

Brief 1:  “The King is gone but he’s not forgotten.   This is a story about Johnny Rotten.   It’s better to burn out, cause rust never sleeps.  The King is gone but he’s not forgotten.”  Sometimes the left is so out in left field and it is fun to watch them try to “eat” one of their own only to have it thrown back in their face.  Famed Sex Pistols front-man, Johnny Rotten apparently was criticized for planning a concert in of all places, Israel.  It is very posh to be anti-Jewish and Pro-Palestinian on the left, but Mr. Rotten would have none of it;

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Life Without Lawyers

“momentum has carried us to a point where we no longer feel free in daily interaction.  Almost any encounter carries legal risk.  Lawyers are everywhere, both literally – the proportion of lawyers in the workforce almost doubled between 1970 and 2000 – and in our minds, sowing doubt into ordinary choices.  Americans increasingly go through the day looking over their shoulders instead of where they want to go.”

Author Philip K. Howard proposes to liberate Americans from too much law in his book Life Without Lawyers acknowledging that law is vital to freedom, but can also destroy freedom.  As in the above quote from this book who has not stopped himself from saying something thinking that it might be taken wrong? 

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Extreme Measures

Torture, enhanced interrogation, or Extreme Measuresare different ways to describe an attempt to gather information from an enemy using techniques that may make many squeamish.  Most of us are abhorrent to any methods that involve knives, bullets in sensitive areas, whips, or even razor blades.  What if the enemy had knowledge that you needed right away to save your father, mother, wife, or child?

What then would you do to get that information?  If you only had 20 minutes to save your loved one and the person wanted his lawyer would you provide one?  My guess is that you would do pretty much anything to save your child.  I would.  So what happens to you after the dust has settled?  You have broken the law.  Vince Flynn tackles this subject with CIA operative Mitch Rapp.

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No Gulf Trip

Exxon Valdez, Hurricane Ivan, Ruby Ridge, Monica Lewinsky, Iranian U.S. Embassy take over, Bay of Pigs, and Hurricane Katrina were all disasters faced by White House different administrations.  Besides the worst economy and near 10% unemployment Obama has his first “natural” disaster. 

So what has Obama done so far?  Not much. Over a week after the disaster he has promised to escalate the federal response to the spill.  The citizens of the Gulf coast should feel pretty good as Eric Holder has sent a team of lawyers to “monitor” the oil spill.  That’s really what the wildlife, citizens, fishermen, and responders need is a bunch of lawyers.  My guess is that there are plenty of ambulance chasers there already.  This move should tell you all that you need to know about this administration.  Lawyers!  Really?

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I Am From The Government – Try to Fire Me

Now that I am no longer a government employee I feel very comfortable criticizing government employees.  Actually I have always been comfortable criticizing government employees only now I cannot get in trouble…

I recently was honored to witness one of my former colleagues speak at a conference for technical people.  This person is not an technical person, but a lawyer.  The presentation was to provide information on common problems so that they can avoided by the attendees.  The attendees paid to attend the conference. 

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Americans With Deep Pockets Act

“A Florida nonprofit that has sued more than 700 businesses claiming they violate disability access laws targeted at least two Pittsburgh hotels in its latest round of court action.”

That is the first paragraph in a story carried in our local paper about a group that targeted two Holiday Inn Hotels for violations of the Americans With Disabilities Act.  When you look at the surface of the story it sounds like a worthy organization (it is a nonprofit) is suing a big corporation (it is for profit) on behalf of disabled people.  A few things jump out from the article:

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