Ipsen, Meyers Block Disclosure of Their Disciplinary Records—for Now

I met with Grace yesterday. He showed me a copy of a July 5, 2007 “Letter of Reprimand” signed by Richard Doyle, a division director. Grace had redacted the name of a woman who had been an intern under his supervision with whom he had communicated by e-mail. She complained of sexual harassment. There was nothing of an explicit sexual nature. She had expressed the supposition that she was hired by him based on her “brains, great wit, and humanitarian spirit,” and he responded: “No, you got hired for your smile, shape and great hips.” Ipsen and Meyers certainly can’t be forced to assent to a release of their records. On the other hand, each is a deputy in the Office of District Attorney and is aspiring to head that office. It strikes me—and should strike voters—as audacious for them to withhold consent to a public release of records reflecting on their past conduct, and thus on their fitness for the post they are now seeking. “In 2004, California voters approved Proposition 59, which enshrined in our state Constitution the public’s right to access records of public agencies. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 3, subd. (b).)….The amendment requires the Public Records Act to ‘be broadly construed if it furthers the people’s right of access, and narrowly construed if it limits the right of access.’ ” The Third District opinion says there must be a “weighing [of] the competing interests” of the public and the individual invoking privacy rights. Here, it is not even a close question. The candidates have voluntarily placed in issue their records as members of the DA’s office, and their records include those tucked in their personnel files. Performance evaluations of the six candidates for the past three years, also sought from them by the MetNews, likewise would seemingly be subject to forced disclosure if not voluntarily made…well, except for the request to Lacey. So far, Jackson has pledged to provide his while Lacey has noted that there are no such evaluations for persons, such as she, in management, but volunteers that she’d be happy to supply those from the 1990s. ►It’s no secret that Ipsen has faced a State Bar disciplinary inquiry. The California Supreme Court on March 3, 2005, in a 6-1 opinion in In re Sakarias , took Ipsen to task in connection with his prosecution of two murder defendants, alleged coconspirators, who were tried separately.

Faith and Works: Challenging a Powerful Legacy « James W. McCarty, III

– Martin Luther

This summer I am teaching a Bible study on both Galatians and James, and I have taken these two quotes from the father of Protestant Christianity as my “jumping off point.” While most Christians wouldn’t quite say such provocative things about either New Testament epistle, there is a popular understanding of Paul’s theology of “faith” and “works” that lifts faith up as a virtue that can be divorced from “works.” (The problem with this interpretation is it easily leads to complacency about doing Christian works because they are totally divorced from salvation. In fact, one may avoid works to prove how much they trust in their faith/God’s grace rather than in their own works.) My study of these texts leads me to believe that this is a false dichotomy, and I believe Luther, or at least a certain interpretation of Luther, is to blame. In brief, Christians too quickly confuse Paul’s dismissal of “works of the law” as being efficacious for salvation with “(good) works/works (of mercy and justice).” In actuality, Paul cares deeply about Christian behavior, especially as it relates to relations between the rich and the poor and love of neighbor/enemy, but this often gets overlooked in the pursuit of Paul’s message of grace.

Galatians is a good place to understand Paul’s theology because it is one of his earlier epistles and because it’s kind of a “Cliff’s Notes” version of what gets elaborated in Romans. In this book Paul is writing to combat the teaching that Gentiles who convert to Christianity must abide by the OT Law, specifically male circumcision, to be fully faithful Christians. Paul responds to this teaching with an emphatic, “NO! That is blasphemy!” and elaborates, quickly, his doctrine of justification by faith. The key passage here for the popular understanding I believe is mistaken is Galatians 2:16

(Perhaps for another post, but there is a controversy about a key phrase that appears twice in this verse, “justified by faith in Christ.” There are many scholars that think the proper translation is “justified by the faith of Christ.” I tend to agree with this translation because it better fits in the context of Galatians, especially the immediately following verses about Christ living in us.

The Spirituality of the Cross: Veith explores and presents a true understanding of justification by faith, the m...

Justification by Faith: 3 Perspectives:

JUSTIFICATION: HOW TO HAVE PEACE W/GOD. ...since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.Rm5:1

Obrigado, Jay. Justification by faith alone and social justice.

Justification by GRACE through FAITH is the foundation of the Worshiper.

Justification by faith, the origin and development of a central Pauline theme

In an attempt to overcome the deficiencies of earlier proposals, the work then explores the soteriology of two early Jewish writings proximate to Paul, 1QS and ...

Justification by faith, a charge delivered before the clergy of the Protestant Episcopal church in the diocese of Ohio, and at the Twenty-second annual convention of the diocese, in St. Paul's church, Steubenville, September 13, 1839 ...

. no .^-o NMVAAD C9UI6E LIMMY Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1840, by ISAAC N. WHITING, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of ...

Justification by faith

Justification by faith ...

SERMON DELIVERED BEFORE THE Itjtmit of Mtm fmk rnii "Am %mt% U POUGHKEEPSIE, NY, ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 20, 1852. THE REV. JONATHAN F. STEARNS, DD, ...

Justification by faith