Mike Merrill: The Corporate Man

Mike Merrill: The Corporate Man

One of my favorite signs from the Occupy Movement last year went something like this: “I’ll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one.”  So pithy!  So clever!  So iconoclastic!  All at once, it lampoons the legal fiction (yes, this is actually the...
Lying to Jimmy Kimmel

Lying to Jimmy Kimmel

Have you ever been caught in a lie? Yeah, me neither. I’m the George Washington of Jesuits. Hard as it may be for honest folks like us to believe, there are some people who are not always truthful. TJP’s own Tim O’Brien, SJ has highlighted one way of handling tough...
Help Us Find the Next 10,000 TJP Readers

Help Us Find the Next 10,000 TJP Readers

So, this happened yesterday:1 That’s right, 10,000 fans of TJP on Facebook. Well, actually, as of posting this, 10,008. And if you’re keeping track: 3,813 Twitter followers and about 25,000 people a month (our best guess) reading something here at TJP. Not...
America’s Rana Plaza – #tbt

America’s Rana Plaza – #tbt

Today’s Throwback Thursday reminds us that cramped and unsafe working conditions, government patronage, threats against employees, cheap labor, and desperate workers were just as commonplace in the West as they are Bangladesh. While we have seen some good news coming...
It Happens: On Spring and Other Stuff

It Happens: On Spring and Other Stuff

It just happened. I had nothing to do with it and there it was. Life just showed up. It does so from time to time. This Easter it showed up for me on a spring break immersion trip I made with a group of Seattle University students. When people ask what I did for the...
The Man (and Woman) in the Mirror

The Man (and Woman) in the Mirror

All of the photos in this post were taken by Mark Laita, and are part of his project “Created Equal.” No doubt these images stand on their own, even without an intro, or comments, or whatever other clutter we might want to throw in. Still, some more words. What...
A Justice That Restores

A Justice That Restores

Somewhere, somehow, we began talking of law as “Justice.”  The government’s lawyers work at the Department of Justice.  Law enforcement is part of the “criminal justice” system.  We talk of courts “doing justice.”  The Supreme Court speaks of “traditional notions of...
Six Perfect Days: Rio 2013

Six Perfect Days: Rio 2013

There’s an inflight magazine – the kind you find in the seat back pocket that already has the Sudoku finished when you get it – with a monthly feature called Three Perfect Days. It’s all about how to get the most out of a long weekend mini-vacation. Do you ever get to...
Thanks, Ma!

Thanks, Ma!

“Thank you” is a magical phrase. That’s one lesson (of many) my mother taught me when I was growing up. But, mom? I have to break it to you: there are times when “thank you” just will not do. There are moments where these words – repeated...