On May 2, 2005, the New Jersey Supreme Court heard arguments on the Court’s
complainants from disclosing the existence of their complaints (under pain of criminal
contempt charges), unless a formal complaint has been issued. Explaining R.M. vs.
“The rule makes a grievance against a lawyer secret until an ethics
committee determines it is backed up by reasonable cause and issues
a formal complaint. In the vast majority of cases, that never happens.
Either the grievance is dismissed as unfounded or, as happened in R.M’s
case, the lawyer agrees to correct a minor ethical lapse and no formal
disciplinary action is taken.
” ‘R.M. can never criticize the ethics committee for not doing more regarding
her grievance,’ [R.M’s attorney] said. “In a free society, government may
not constitutionally prohibit people from discussing a topic simply to protect
people’s reputations.”
ethicalEsq stated his opposition to such “gag rules” early and often (see post), as has
the legal reform group HALT. In May 2004, HALT reported in its eJournal that they had
submitted Comments to the NJ Supreme Court, asking the Court to declare the discipline
gag rule unconstitutional as applied to complainants. HALT also suggested commentary and
- click here for the rest of this post, which concludes:
There’s no excuse for such disciplinary gag rules. Take
a look at the Doe case from Tennessee, if you need further
persuasion. Remember to subsitute the name of another
profession, if you’re a lawyer who doesn’t want to give up our
Family’s little penchant for secrecy.
To the N.J. Court and Bar: “Please give up the decoder rings
and pinky rings. Secrecy breeds contempt, not respect.
No More Omerta.”
p.s. The same goes for Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Montana,
Nebraska, Nevada, South Dakota and Washington, which have
similar gag rules – and the 27 state grievance committees that
strongly advise or request consumers to keep their grievances secret.
after the big flock
silence
geese flying north
the village of nondrinkers
is silent . . .
plum blossoms
I don’t know whether there was a connection between tomorrow’s Cinco de Mayo
Social Security.
Pinatas are often featured in Cinco de Mayo festivities. Although they can come in
all shapes and sizes, I bet the White House will be going with the traditional Mexican
favorite pictured above.
I’m writing a day early about Cinco de Mayo, to remind you to prepare for the
celebration, San Marcos, Texas has a State Menudo Cook-Off. Click here to learn
about the wonderful Mexican Menudo soup and find recipes. This should whet your
appetite:
“Every culture has great restorative stew of humble
origin and ingredients.Menudo is a wonderfully aromatic soup made
of tripe, hominy and chili, and is stewed for hours with garlic and
other spices. the broth is rich, red, papery, and glistens with fat. It
stimulates the senses, arms the insides, and clears the head.
“Menudo is served in big open bowls brought to the table steaming and
fiery. It is usually eaten in the wee hours after a night out on the town
and widely proclaimed to be an antidote for hangovers.”
Maybe George or Steve in California could suggest a hearty wine to go with
Menudo.
Heaven’s River
of stars
in my soup
I lean
into the soup’s steam…
snow flurries
- Gary Hotham
- from breathmarks
pea soup fog
the sound of a map
unfolding beside me
Ed Markwoski
his dusty cookbooks:
soup can
in the sink
plum blossom scent–
slurping it in
with the vegetable soup
potluck
Even if you won’t be accepting any invitations to whack a pinata
with a stick, I hope you’ll take up George Fool-in-the-Forest Wallace’s
literary tastes. Here are questions for The Stick:
1. You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do
you want to be?
2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
3. The last book you bought was…?
4. The last book you read was…?
6. Five books you would take to a desert island…
7. Who are you passing this stick on to and why?
Editor is a “humbug”. I will gladly cop a plea to curmudgeon.
I never noticed before how much “paypal” looks like “papal.” Just coincidence? Of
course, if you ask “y?” he’ll say God works in mysterious ways.
which asked “Should the United States Congress exercise veto power
over Supreme Court decisions?“ Previous polls a PoL looked more
like leading questions for Catechism students on current events. Today,
I tried to find out the results for the Veto poll, since they’ve moved on to
a new question on the home page, but the results are not (yet?) posted on
the
PoL results page. Maybe thinking participants failed to skew the results
the way Fr. Frank Pavone had expected. I’ll check there again soon.
I don’t know whether there was a connection between tomorrow’s Cinco de Mayo
Social Security.
Pinatas are often featured in Cinco de Mayo festivities. Although they can come in
all shapes and sizes, I bet the White House will be going with the traditional Mexican
favorite pictured above.
I’m writing a day early about Cinco de Mayo, to remind you to prepare for the
celebration, San Marcos, Texas has a State Menudo Cook-Off. Click here to learn
about the wonderful Mexican Menudo soup and find recipes. This should whet your
appetite:
“Every culture has great restorative stew of humble
origin and ingredients.Menudo is a wonderfully aromatic soup made
of tripe, hominy and chili, and is stewed for hours with garlic and
other spices. the broth is rich, red, papery, and glistens with fat. It
stimulates the senses, arms the insides, and clears the head.
“Menudo is served in big open bowls brought to the table steaming and
fiery. It is usually eaten in the wee hours after a night out on the town
and widely proclaimed to be an antidote for hangovers.”
Maybe George or Steve in California could suggest a hearty wine to go with
Menudo.
Heaven’s River
of stars
in my soup
I lean
into the soup’s steam…
snow flurries
- Gary Hotham
- from breathmarks
pea soup fog
the sound of a map
unfolding beside me
Ed Markwoski
his dusty cookbooks:
soup can
in the sink
plum blossom scent–
slurping it in
with the vegetable soup
potluck
Even if you won’t be accepting any invitations to whack a pinata
with a stick, I hope you’ll take up George Fool-in-the-Forest Wallace’s
literary tastes. Here are questions for The Stick:
1. You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451. Which book do
you want to be?
2. Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?
3. The last book you bought was…?
4. The last book you read was…?
6. Five books you would take to a desert island…
7. Who are you passing this stick on to and why?
Editor is a “humbug”. I will gladly cop a plea to curmudgeon.
I never noticed before how much “paypal” looks like “papal.” Just coincidence? Of
course, if you ask “y?” he’ll say God works in mysterious ways.
which asked “Should the United States Congress exercise veto power
over Supreme Court decisions?“ Previous polls a PoL looked more
like leading questions for Catechism students on current events. Today,
I tried to find out the results for the Veto poll, since they’ve moved on to
a new question on the home page, but the results are not (yet?) posted on
the
PoL results page. Maybe thinking participants failed to skew the results
the way Fr. Frank Pavone had expected. I’ll check there again soon.
That whipper-snapper 
Blessed Are the Poor in Spirits: