As published in the Winter Park/Maitland Observer, Thursday Jan. 3, 2012 Edition Offers... Read More »
Articles in category 'Literature and the Law'
Book Review: And the Dead Shall Rise
In the same year that Congress enacted the income tax code a thirteen year old Atlanta factory worker named Mary Phagan was found dead in the basement of the National Pencil Company. Ever since I saw the television miniseries The Murder of Mary Phagan back in 1987, the case of Leo Frank (pictured at right at trial with…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Book Reviews, Literature and the LawF. Scott Fitzgerald’s Tax Returns
“There are no second acts in American lives.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald – In 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote what is arguably the greatest American novel ever written: The Great Gatsby . Now a man named William J. Quirk, through a friend of a friend of Fitzgerald’s daughter, Scottie, has come into possession of the author’s 1919 through…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Literature and the LawH.L. Mencken: Quotes from a Contrarian’s Contrarian
Nobody reads H.L. Mencken anymore, but that’s not because they shouldn’t. Henry Louis Mencken – the Sage of Baltimore – was an early 21st century journalist, newspaper man, editor and author, who invented the op-ed and aneviscerating prose style feebly imitated today by the likes of admitted plagiarizer Maureen Dowd, and not so feebly by British born contrarian Christopher…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Literature and the LawJudge Souter, Shakespeare and Conspiracy Theorists
I will jump at any chance to talk about Shakespeare and I just found a doozy. The Wall Street Journal law blog has an interesting post on the apparent obsession of some Supreme Court justices with the Shakespeare authorship issue. Listen: Souter and Shakespeare: A few weeks ago, Jess Bravin, the WSJ’s Supreme Court reporter wrote an…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Literature and the Law, Opinion20 of My Favorite Poems
I need a break from tax talk now and then and I know of no better way to do it then to read great literature. Here are 20 of my all time favorite English language poems: Dulce Et Decorum Est – Wilfred Owen – If you like war now, you won’t after you read this…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Literature and the Law, PoemsThe Online Tax Canon: The 10 Essentials
The Western Canon of literature has been all but emasculated in recent decades by left-wing PC forces that rule academia. Dead European White Males are, in some cases, automatically excluded from curricula on the grounds that their formerly high regard is merely the product of patriarchal white society that has historically discriminated against women and minorities. Translation: Maya…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Literature and the Law, Opinion, Top Ten Lists‘Twas the Night Before an Obama Christmas
With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore, here is my version of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas: ‘Twas the Night Before an Obama Christmas “Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, Not a tax break was stirring not even inn’ spouse. The Bush cuts weren’t permanent, stim checks weren’t enough. The economy was…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Legislative Watch, Literature and the Law, Tax Humor, Tax PolicyThe 3 Most Underrated Movie Lawyers of All Time
Apologies to Raymond Chandler, but best-movie lawyer lists are about as common as an annoyed look on a bank teller. And what’s worse the lists are not even original: Almost all of them include Atticus Finch of To Kill a Mockingbird, Frank Galvin of The Verdict, and Lt. Daniel Kaffee of A Few Good Men. I…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Literature and the Law, Movies and the LawDid Shakespeare Really Hate Lawyers?
I confess, I’m a bardolater. When I’m not blogging or representing one of my clients in Immigration Court or Tax Court, it’s a good bet you’ll find me reading something to do with Shakespeare. Now how does Shakespeare find his way onto a lawyer’s blog? I’m glad you asked. It’s because of this line in…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Literature and the Law