About

The Person writing this Blog:

Male, U.S. Citizen, over 45 years of age.



Education & Professional:

Trained in Political Science at the University of Michigan

Trained in the law at UCLA Law School.

Civil law practitioner, for over ten years.


Short, Relevant Biography , Latin American Interests:

Basically I started off small, as a $2 an hour employee, and became an attorney through hard work.  As a result of my own experience, I have a penchant for standing up for the little guy.

My experience included living in South America and seen the conditions there.  As a result I began advocating against U.S. backed undemocratic "coups" and "regime change" tactics employed in the region.

After law school I did some work in the constitutional law area, including some time with the ACLU.  Then I worked in civil law in Los Angeles from 1998 to 2013, helping some people in need, and also working hard to pay rent.

Unfortunately, my taking a stand for people and against injustice ultimately got me into some very serious trouble, as I will outline in this blog.


More:

My family was mixed U.S. Mid West, Latin American, and German culture.  This made for interesting variety of food, drink, and perspective.  My parents were also mobile, so I got a chance to grow up in different places.  I went to seven schools before finishing high school, some of them in South America.

Interestingly, a part of my South American family had been ridiculously wealthy and connected – but I set off to make my own way.

One GED certificate allowed me to start my professional life as a bus boy.  This meant pedaling my bicycle to work in some harsh North Eastern winters, and clocking lots of overtime.  Got my own car and apartment by the time I was 18.  I had been a voracious reader as a child -  so I worked hard at community college classes – looking to create a better future.

I had been focused on the values I learned from my Mid Western grandparents.  Work hard, abide the law, earn a living, buy a home, get married, then raise a family.  So that was my plan: rise through my own effort, and secure a place in an honest community of hard working, law abiding people.  A simple "American dream."

Hard work at school seemed to pay off: the two dollar an hour bus boy ultimately bested some heavy hitters to claim a spot at the University of Michigan.  I kept at it and got admitted to UCLA law school.

I had no connections and no money when I came to Los Angeles.  UCLA is a big-city, big-money law school, making things even more difficult for an outsider.  Many classmates sported multiple generations of wealth and privilege, so I soon learned about the good old boy network.  Still I figured hard work and principle would carry the day.  Tallying things up, the choice of U.S. higher education cost me $200,000 and over a decade of hard work.

By 2007 I had been working for ten years.  It had been an uphill battle, but I stayed honest.  Though earning a living took precedence, I had kept up with my interests in Latin America and the dire conditions there.  I also took and won cases which most laughed at: an abused mother trying to get on her feet, a fleeced consumer trying to get his retirement back, a woman terrified of her ex's threats to shoot her, a grandfather thrown to the pavement by a callous bus driver, an unpopular publisher fighting city hall.

I had also developed an expertise in rooting out rich people who used schemes to hide money, and had some really good results for my clients.  I had actually gotten married, my wife was going to UCLA, and my household was in the six figure income territory.

Then, as I will outline in this blog, my life was utterly destroyed, my "American Dream," demolished.  My stick shift BMWs totaled, my home reduced to a tent twisting in the wind.   Soon I was pouring year-old soup into pancake batter, for lunch; with my holiday dinners reduced to piles of plain oatmeal.

In the next couple of weeks I hope to outline the following:


What happened,

Why it happened,

How it happened, and,

Who done it,


Beyond a cautionary and perhaps interesting situation, you should know that there are some heavy-hitter, national level, usual-suspect politicians that are a significant part of this situation, so stay tune:  You'll want to know.

In the meantime I have to eat and get shelter, so please take a moment to donate equivalent of a coffee, or a bit of fuel, or a small baked good at my gift page at:

Gift Page on this Blog