Bio on Rich Ackerman I'm the managing partner of Ackerman, Cowles & Lindsley, a law firm located in Temecula, California. Our firm practices in the areas of family law, public interest law, complex business and fraud litigation, civil litigation, and transactional law. I grew up in Santa Ana, California, and a few of my old friends are on this site. I also taught philosophy for over nine years for the Rancho Santiago Community College District. As you can see, life has brought me a very valued and diverse group of friends, colleagues and associates. I am very happily married with four children and we live in Southwest Riverside County. About my Legal Practice

Spending time with wife and my four children, going after bad guys, tending to my koi pond, playing piano and guitar, and glass etching.

Black Flag, Rollins Band, Correlli, Vivaldi, David Hykes Choir, Albert King, B.B. King, The Cure, Allman Brothers, Creedence Clearwater, TSOL, Koko Taylor, Ice-T, Lynyrd Skynyrd, John Easedale, Rolling Stones, Seether

Godfather, A Bronx Tale, Gladiator, The Firm, Traffic, Scarface, Matrix, Lord of War, Gangs of New York, Devil's Advocate, Casino, Falling Down, Anger Management, Saving Nemo

Sanford & Son, Good Times, M.A.S.H., Criss-Angel, ESPN Boxing Classics

Bible, Men of Iron, Fresh Wind-Fresh Fire, Paradoxes (Sainesbury), Opus Dei, St Augustine's Confessions, Lord's Supper

Bear with me on this one: My favorite quotes come from the words of the Books of Matthew and II Peter and Charles Finney's works aren't too bad either. See Link to NAB Bible and King James Version and The Works of Charles Finney. In my humble opinion the KJV's words are the most reflective of my conservative view of the Christian worldview. II Peter gives us some of the clearest warnings about what happens when we become backsliders. Matthew is the clearest roadmap, in my opinion, for what is expected of as Christians. Finney's works are as valid today as they were when he warned the people of his time about their evil ways. Please read his works on being a good preacher at On Preachers. However, being a former philosophy professor and a lawyer, I feel compelled to recognize the historical value of the Catholic Church and its contribution to the development of our Faith. I think Luther took things a little bit further than intended and caused a dilution of what was actually good about the Catholic church (i.e., the focus on meeting Grace halfway with our works). Nobody can be saved merely by works alone, acceptance of salvation must be coupled with proof of a life changed by Christ and our adherence to the Word as given to us through God (primarily) and as seen through the acts of the saints, miracles and human history (secondarily). ... These things said, the Catholic Church presently has a huge management problem and has become more focused on its power than on the spiritual needs of the faithful and makes it rather difficult for anyone to put trust in it as an institution founded by Christ through Peter. Seemingly the concept of mortal sin (an act so bad that one is completely separated from God) doesn't apply to admitted child molesters and folks like Cardinal Mahoney, who ostensibly cares more about power than doing the right thing before God when it comes to protecting God's "little ones" as described so vividly in Matthew 18:1-10. Failing to protect children, and hiding evidence of the same, is no venial sin (infraction). How can a Church make itself a bastion of faith or promote a universal church, when it won't even protect the most pure and innocent of its believers? More on Rich's Philosophy of Life.