Proud of Obamacare!

Sick children give parents a scare,

Like piranhas the bills strip them bare,

But the insurers who screwed them

By law must include them

Because of our Obamacare!

Happy Labor Day: Get Ready For Local food for the Winter!

Today is Labor Day, a day in which we honor the people who work to make our nation and society possible. Most of us number ourselves among the laboring masses, so let's celebrate our greatness. We don't really need the Aristocracy (today called the 1%) because any idiot can see that without us, they'd starve and without them, we'd get along just fine.

This week's Change the World Wednesday Challenge is about local food:

"This week share ideas on eating locally during the winter months." 

Yard Chard - still growing strong!

We're fortunate in that Seattle has relatively mild winters. Our chard will continue to grow for harvesting for a couple more months. Leaves and other bits that are not beautiful in appearance can be chopped and frozen for winter use; why not? when the professional ag industry has a batch of leaves that aren't perfectly aesthetic, are they more likely to trash them or to chop them up and sell them? 

We're also fortunate in having a farmer's market that persists through the year, although in the winter it's maybe half sized and the product selection is limited. Still there are squash and roots even in the dead of winter, and it is a small joy to stop buy and get something locally grown, not only for the benefits to our environment and the local economy, but also because food that is not optimized for travelling thousands of miles can be optimized for flavor and nutrition.

We also plan to can tomatoes again. Some will be those we grew ourselves, but to fill out our supply we'll be hitting the farmer's market again. A couple of buying tips

• Often you can get a better price if you buy a whole box
• Often you can get a better price if you buy "seconds", that is, tomatoes or whatever that don't have a pleasing appearance, e.g. a lumpiness, but are still perfectly nutritious.

We have used these two tips to get canning tomatoes for about half price.

Another tip for eating local during the winter is to replace our freezer's ice cube tray with a few more bags of frozen, home-grown veggies. Who uses ice during the winter? Wouldn't you rather have another bag of homegrown greens or berries? In a pinch, if you really want something to cool your drink, the frozen berries work perfectly fine ... I don't recommend the frozen chard!

4freeCLE: Your Free CLE Newsletter! September 2, 2012

4freeCLE: Your Free CLE Newsletter! September 2, 2012

In This Issue Webinar CLEs On-Demand CLEs In-Person CLEs Past Issues Theodore Boone:  Kid Lawyer John Grisham, the master of the legal thriller, has turned his hand to young-adult fiction in this bestseller. Theodore Boone, Kid Lawyeris aimed not at lawyers but at people 13 and up, and has spawned several sequels. You can read numerous reviews to decide whether this would interest your child.

Webinar CLE Join top experts in learning and earning credit whereever you have web access!  September 5: Bank Secrecy Act and Anti-Money Laundering  Fundamentals. (AFDA's website is undergoing maintenance as of this posting but should be made available by the time of the program). By Association of Federal Defense Attorneys.   September 6: Ethical Issues in California Pro Bono Representation. Professional responsibility obligations of pro bono legal service. Eligible for ethics credit in many states. Also presented in-person (San Francisco). By Practising Law Institute.  September 6: How the Courts Failed Germany. The role of pre-World War II German courts in setting the stage for Nazism. By  Ohio Supreme Court and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. Also presented in-person (Cleveland).  September 7: Presidential Power, Foreign Affairs, and the 2012 Election. Featuring more than a dozen former high-level government officials and leading academics. Also presented in-person (Cleveland). By CWRU.  September 11: FLS Public Benefits Overview for Non-Public Benefits Specialists. Basics of public benefits. By Florida Legal Services Inc.  September 11: Resistance and Rights: Civil Society and the Surprising Resilience of the Rule of Law after 9/11. The role of civil society in restoring the rule of law in post-9/11 America. Also presented in-person (Cleveland). By Institute for Global Security Law and Policy. September 11: Understanding U.S. Export Regulations. Companies and their counsel need to stay on top of U.S. Export Administration Regulations to stay in compliance and avoid potential investigations. By LexisNexis.  September 12: Advanced Tips for Enhanced Legal Research on Fastcase. By Fastcase.  September 12: The Fourth Amendment: Is There A Future? Recent Fourth Amendment developments, and others that may be down the road. Also presented in-person (Cleveland). By CWRU. September 12: The Sunshine Act - Best Practices for Industry Compliance and the Pathway to Improved Patient Care. The Physician Payment Sunshine Act: a step forward for patient care or a step back for the industry? By LexisNexis.  September 13: Selecting the Right Testifying Expert & What You Need to Consider. The differences between testifying and consulting experts, how to research both the other side's experts and your own, and much more. By LexisNexis.  September 24: Boolean (Keyword) Search for Lawyers. By Fastcase. September 27: Preventing Slavery and Human Trafficking Within US Industries - Prevention Efforts and the CA Supply Chain Transparency Act. The role and legal obligations of U.S. companies in preventing slavery here and abroad. By LexisNexis.  September 27: From Anti-Slavery Lawyer to Chief Justice: The Remarkable Career of Salmon P. Chase. Also presented in-person (Cleveland). By CWRU. On-Demand CLE  Since you can view "On-Demand" on your own time and re-view them as needed, they often lectures provide better education than do live lectures.  California and Class Action Litigation: Brinker, Dukes and Beyond. Legal services programs can continue to use impact litigation to attack systemic problems without running afoul of new procedural hurdles. By Legal Aid Association of California. Civil Motion Practice. Strategy, drafting, and timing issues pertaining to some of the more common motions. By Lexvid.  Government Symposium and Legislative Overview.The latest edition of an annual review. By Florida Bar. 4freeCLE's List of On-Demand CLE. Several dozen CLE you can take now - free! In-Person CLEs State-by-State In-person events are often eligible for credit in other states, either by reciprocity or upon attendee application. If you know of an event offering free CLE, email event to the editor! California September 6/San Francisco: Ethical Issues in California Pro Bono Representation. Also available as webcast. By Practising Law Institute.     September 18/San Francisco: Introduction to Landlord Tenant Training and Housing Negotiation Project training. By Bar Association of San Francisco (BASF). September 19/San Francisco: Introduction to Family Law training. By BASF.    Florida September 11/Web: FLS Public Benefits Overview for Non-Public Benefits Specialists. This webcast is of especial interest to Florida attorneys. By Florida Legal Services Inc.  Illinois September 7/Chicago: 2012 Cancer Rights Conference. Approved for credit in several states. By Cancer Legal Resource Center.    Massachusetts   September 10/Boston: VLP Training - Intro to Guardianship of Minors. By Volunteer Lawyer Program (VLP).  September 11/Boston: VLP Training - Fair Debt Collection Practice. By VLP.  September 17/Boston: VLP Training - Fair Debt Collection Practice. By VLP.  September 18/Boston: VLP Training - Family Law 102. By VLP.  September 24/Boston: Unemployment Insurance Appeals. By VLP.  Minnesota September 11/Minneapolis: Searching Westlaw.com and Searching WestlawNext. Two programs back-to-back. By Hennepin County Law Library.  September 11/Saint Paul: A Time to Change: Prosecution of Predators After The Sandusky Case, and Making Institutional Environments Safer. By Hamline University.  September 22/Minneapolis: Empirical Professional Ethics: Ethical Development in the Learning and Practice of Law. University of St. Thomas. Ethics Credit! September 26/Stillwater: A View From the Bench. By Washington County Law Library.  September 27/Minneapolis: New Conversations About Racial Advantages. By Volunteer Lawyers Network & Hennepin County Bar Association.  New York September 13/Brooklyn: Bankruptcy Update 2012 - Part 1. By Brooklyn Bar Association (BBA).  September 18/Albany: Corporate Formation of the LLC 101. By Tully Rinckey.   September 19/Staten Island: Basic CLARO Training Program. By Fordham Law School's Feerick Center for Social Justice.   September 20/Brooklyn, NY: Bankruptcy Update 2012 - Part 2. By BBA.   September 27/Brooklyn: Bankruptcy Update 2012 - Part 3 - Advanced Bankruptcy. By BBA.   Ohio September 6: How the Courts Failed Germany. By Ohio Supreme Court and the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. Also streamed on-line.   September 7/Cleveland: Presidential Power, Foreign Affairs, and the 2012 Election. Featuring more than a dozen former high-level government officials and leading academics. Also available as webcast. By Case Western Reserve University (CWRU).   September 11: Resistance and Rights: Civil Society and the Surprising Resilience of the Rule of Law after 9/11. The role of civil society in restoring the rule of law in post-9/11 America. Also available as webcast. By Institute for Global Security Law and Policy.    September 12: The Fourth Amendment: Is There A Future? Recent Fourth Amendment developments, and others that may be down the road. Also presented as webcast. By CWRU.   September 27/Cleveland: From Anti-Slavery Lawyer to Chief Justice: The Remarkable Career of Salmon P. Chase. Also available as webcast. By CWRU.   Texas September 14/Houston: Justice for Human Trafficking Survivors: Civil Litigation in U.S. Courts. By Tahirih Justice Center, Children At Risk, and the law firm Jones Day Washington State September 5/Seattle: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. By Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.   September 5/Seattle: Navigating Family Law Issues for Military Parties. By McKinley Irvin. About 4freeCLE 4freeCLE is delivered weekly and will always be free!Please forward to your fellow professionals so they may benefit; if this was forwarded to you, get your own subscription for free by signing up now!