Religious Hypocrites and Their Timeless Tactics: McCrory, Tartuffe, and HB 2

Pat McCrory’s HB 2 reminds me of Molière’s Tartuffe. In both cases unwitting victims are fleeced by people pretending to be virtuous. Tartuffe fleeces a wealthy man named Orgon. With HB 2, Pat McCrory fleeces every worker of employment protections including the right to sue in state court for discrimination based on “race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex or handicap.” (Those still doubting that please click here.) In both cases, the same ancient three-part strategy is used against unwitting victims who can admire (at least at first) the very man that fleeces them. Using Molière’s classic tale to explore this ancient strategy not only arms us against the McCrorys of the world. It also reminds us how classics not only entertain but teach and prepare us as well. Please follow me—this won’t take long.  Click here.

My Thoughts in the Washington Post on HB 2

“This is really a devious bill that harms workers under the guise of regulating bathrooms,” said Harold Lloyd, a professor at Wake Forest University School of Law. See the full article here in the Washington Post.  Katie Zezima did an excellent and thorough job with this piece.

Real Crimes Against Nature: N.C. Republicans Target Renewable Energy

Pat McCrory and Republicans in the North Carolina legislature claim to abhor the unnatural. Thus, they passed HB 2 ostensibly to prevent a crisis that they fabricated about straight men putting on dresses to peep at women in restrooms. (However, as I have noted elsewhere, this bill is really more about taking away workers' rights. See here.) But when it comes to real crimes against nature, at least some of these Republicans take a different tune. As more particularly described here, Two North Carolina Republicans have introduced legislation taking on renewable energy in the state. This is not only mind boggling in light of the common-sense future choices we must make about energy consumption and availability. It is bizarre coming from people who claim to know and defend the "natural." Where is the defense of the natural here? The sun rises in its natural place and freely and cleanly offers up it natural energy. The wind blows naturally, too, and also freely and cleanly offers up its natural energy. By contrast, coal, petroleum, and uranium are unnaturally ripped or fracked from beneath the ground or waters leaving the environment in a mutilated and unnatural state. Let's call out the true "perverts" here.

Running Tally of Billions in Federal Medicaid Money That Pat McCrory Has Thrown Away

Click here for up-to-the moment tally.

McCrory’s House Bill 2: A Brief Outline of Its Five “Parts”

When non-lawyers hear Pat McCrory’s claim that North Carolina’s House Bill 2 is just common sense while at the same time they hear the Department of Justice attacking part of it as illegal, I can understand how easy it is for such non-lawyers just to take the word of the political party they prefer. They probably aren’t sure where to look for the Bill and even if they lack this doubt they understandably might imagine the Bill has much too much legalese for them to tackle.

For remainder of blog, click here.

McCrory's Munchausen by Proxy

Pat McCrory has been dissembling on his Facebook page tonight:

Three Sonnets in Paint

Of course pigment and its forms cannot translate to word.  Paintings must be seen not heard.  Though we cannot speak paintings, we can, speak about paintings.  Thus, I share three sonnets where I try to speak about three paintings.  I picked these three paintings because they themselves seemed to try the reverse impossibility I note.  They try to be sonnets in paint.

The Old Testament & Same-Sex Separation Anxiety

The Old Testament contains powerful examples of deep affection between those of the same sex.  David tells Jonathan: “very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women.” (2 Samuel 1:26).  Ruth tells Naomi: “whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” (Ruth 1:16).  As the halves of each pair would enter Heaven at different times, I wondered how they might address the separation and the fear that one or both might not be admitted.  Of course, these sonnets are my words, not theirs.  As such, and being a Wildcat, I couldn’t avoid language suggesting joinder of #DavidsonCollege and light.  Alenda Lux Ubi Orta Libertas!

Cicero and Classical Rhetoric: A Good Man Is Still Fluent Dead

Much needless suffering (including physical carnage) flows from our inability to persuade with words rather than force.  Much of that verbal inability comes from a lack of basic instruction in the rhetorical arts that the Greeks and Romans perfected long ago.  Their manuals (such as the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Artistotle's Rhetoric) lie too often untouched  though freely available online and in libraries all around us.  Ignoring such works makes no sense, and I hope one day the vast majority of us will rediscover and value what the ancient rhetoricians have given us.  I wonder how Cicero might speak to us now about the power of word over sword (of dropping the "s" from "sword" and using the resulting "word"), and about the need to read, ponder, and perfect the teachings his earlier generations have kindly left us.  I've written the following sonnet hoping to capture some wisdom from that man of words who was murdered by men of swords and whose hands and head were cut off and nailed up for public view.

Cincinnatus: The Other Political Archetype

As we watch today's political nastiness, we should remember there is a better political archetype.  There is the Cincinnatus figure who serves out of duty when he'd rather be doing something else. In the legendary case of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus (who died ca. 438 B.C.) that something else was farming which he twice abandoned out of duty to serve.  Can we not find such persons today to serve?  Perhaps wanting a political office should in itself be disqualifying.  Perhaps at Judgment Day all good politicians will speak as I imagine Cincinnatus speaking at his Judgment Day in this sonnet I have written:

Verse Translation: A Call for Harder Work and Greater Care

Too much verse translation is too free and loose.  We must take the time and effort to preserve both meaning AND form (including meter and rhyme where they exist) without sacrificing one for the other.  Though we can never fully translate verse from one language to another, we can come close if we’re willing to work hard enough.  To illustrate this, I want to give some French to English examples of my own.  I don’t claim they are perfect by any means but I think they make my point.  I ask the reader to pull the original French texts and compare them with what I have done.  I break my examples into seven parts (I-VII).

Overview of Wake Forest Law Review Legal Education Reform Symposium

Wake Forest Law Review Symposium Overview:

“Revisiting Langdell: Legal Education Reform and the Lawyer’s Craft”

By: Steven Verez

On October 23^rd 2015, The Wake Forest Law Review held a symposium entitled:  “Revisiting Langdell: Legal Education Reform and the Lawyer’s Craft.”  Over 200 persons attended the event.  The symposium was hosted by Wake Forest University School of Law Professors Harold Lloyd, Associate Professor of Legal Analysis and Writing and Christine Coughlin, Director of Legal Analysis, Research & Writing.  A symposium edition published by the Wake Forest Law Review containing articles by most of the speakers will be available soon.  A brief overview of some of the speakers’ topics and discussions is set out below.