Patron Saint Of Self Defense

Gore voices left's climate grumbling

Al Gore has gone public with his complaints about President Barack Obama 's environmental record and leadership on climate change - legitimizing a groundswell of grumbling from the left and throwing open the door for more of the same.

Gore has had his own issues of late, including his separation from his wife, Tipper, but he remains something of a patron saint among environmentalists. And his open attack on Obama from the man who was once the next president of the United States makes it safe for others to follow.

It's bad news for the White House - especially coming on the heels of a new poll showing that only 30 percent of Americans say they definitely plan to vote for Obama in 2012.

"President Obama has never presented to the American people the magnitude of the climate crisis," the former vice president wrote in a 7,000-word essay for Rolling Stone . "He has simply not made the case for action. He has not defended the science against the ongoing, withering and dishonest attacks. Nor has he provided a presidential venue for the scientific community - including our own National Academy - to bring the reality of the science before the public."

For Obama to win a second term, he knows he'll need to generate more enthusiasm among a Democratic base that largely sat on the sidelines and watched the Republican wave in the 2010 midterms.

But the mood on Obama's left isn't good.

Liberals booed White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer last Friday over his response to a gay marriage question during the Netroots Nation conference in Minneapolis. And agitation appears to be growing among some top brass in the environmental community, too, over what many see as an unnecessary capitulation to Republicans and industry.

"Unfortunately, President Obama's instinct seems to be to avoid tough battles, relying on the argument that even as his record falls short, his administration is better on conservation than the previous one and better than any likely to succeed him should his reelection effort fall short," Defenders of Wildlife President Rodger Schlickeisen wrote in a long blog post Tuesday.

Betsy Taylor, a philanthropic adviser to several climate donors and foundations, said Obama has disappointed greens by sending them mixed messages.

Obama did call for a clean energy standard during the State of the Union in January that promoted wind, solar and geothermal power. But he also would allow coal and nuclear power into the mix. In the same speech, Obama called for long-standing oil industry tax breaks to be slashed but his Interior Department later gave drillers permits to begin exploring again in the Gulf of Mexico.

Patron Saint of Lost Causes : By Chad Nielsen

For God’s sake, don’t ask Craig McLachlan to spy on your wife. “I am not a private investigator. I am not a private eye, or a gumshoe, or…,” he says, exasperated. Get smart with him—point out The Complete Sherlock Holmes on his shelf—and he eyes you with the hardness of a guy who has been through tougher things than anything you could throw at him.

He fidgets on the edge of his seat. With the shaved head and ’70s mustache he looks like an ex-cop. Also on his shelf: forensics manuals, Encyclopedia of Hypnotism, the Annotated Utah Code. “People don’t know what to call me,” he says. He clicks his teeth, head cocked. “Legal support team? Consultant? I’m a different deal.”

Somewhere in the gray area of today’s judicial system you’ll find Watson & McLachlan, an investigative firm with a St. Jude complex. They specialize in “case structuring”—essentially, building a legal defense that covers everything from research and evidence to jury selection and media exposure. And only impossible cases will do. “The laws are against you, but you’re right,” McLachlan says. “You need to find a way to outthink, out of the boundaries, to research, to deal with people. That’s what we do.”

And you thought your lawyer would do that? You’re just another plea bargain waiting to happen. Take Julia Hazel. In 1993, she ended her husband’s abuse with a knife. Frightened, she accepted a plea bargain for manslaughter. Game over? Not if you change the rules.

The night before sentencing, the public gathered on the courthouse steps for a candlelight vigil. Protesters called for leniency. She’s a battered wife. It was self-defense. It was all over the evening news, with Hazel at the center. When the judge walked into the courtroom he knew he would have to account for his decision in the court of public opinion. Presented with two pre-sentencing reports— one from the prosecution, one from the defense—he favored the defense and Hazel served a token two months plus time served. Don’t call it bias. Call it awareness of public opinion. And McLachlan orchestrated the whole thing.

The first rule: Forget the rules. Not the law, just those quaint ideas about what’s okay when it comes to defending your client. “Back in the day, it was taboo to talk to the press,” McLachlan says. “Everybody was always saying no comment, no comment, no comment. But the fact is, in law you’re dealing with the human mind. And it’s garbage in, garbage out. Or: Truth in, truth out.

Psychic Self-Defense

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