Author: ssw15

GOP convention…

I’m still bothered by the harsh speech of Senator Zell Miller (D-Ga.). Sort of amused how Slate.com’s “Whopper” notes a delicious example of Miller’s own flip-floppiness (in March 2001, he praised – gasp – John Kerry). On the other hand, I’d note that the quote of praise was a pre-9/11/01 quote, which I’d wonder if that may or may not partly explain Miller’s transformation (9/11/01 changes people – like supposed liberal actor Ron Silver – into being Bush supporters). Or, as this other Slate.com article notes, my thinking that way of Miller maybe likely not be correct (he apparently went more Republican/conservative for awhile).

And, I still can’t keep thinking about Senator Bill Frist’s speech about how trial lawyers are bad for patients and doctors. And, then the President made a mention about those bad trial lawyers again tonight. I mean, jeez, does anyone realize that, as much as it’s easy to hate a litigator (especially for taking a lucrative contingency fee), a litigator isn’t quite the reason why insurance premiums are too high for doctors (I’d blame the insurance industry for that). Corporate lawyers sometimes make good money too, but it’s not like they’re as hated (although, corporate reform’s a big thing these days, it doesn’t bring out cowering doctors like the way medical malpractice does it). And, so I don’t like it that critics seem to hold it against John Edwards just because he was – gasp – a litigator (and a good one, apparently). Fortunately, I can always read this Findlaw.com article by a torts prof of the Alma Mater Law School to be reassured that doctors shouldn’t hold Edward’s being a litigator against him on Election Day.

(no, according to the GOP convention, there are other reasons to not vote for Kerry-Edwards – but I won’t go into that).

Elaine Chao, Secretary of US Dept. of Labor, did not “wow” me with her convention speech the other night. I’ll leave it at that; maybe it had to do with the delivery or tone of it. I don’t know.

Belated news (on my part, anyway; it was in Time magazine when I read it last week, but I found a link and I can note it to coincide with the GOP convention): Hiram Fong, first Asian-American U.S. Senator (Republican to boot) passed away in August, at the age of 97.

NYC still stands – all we need is for the protestors and the Republicans to go shop and pump something into the economy.

Pretty nice weather – sunshine and ok temperatures. TGIF…

Congratulations and best wishes to YC and B-!

Well fed enough, FC? 😉

GOP Convention…

Monday: Senator John McCain – thumbs up, even if I don’t agree with everything he says or endorses – good speech. Rudolph Giuliani – well, I don’t know how swing voters or out-of-staters feel about having watched his speech last night. All I can say is that he was my hometown’s mayor and… well, I’ll reserve final judgment on what I really think. I’ll leave it at that (I know, I know – I’m copping out. I have to reserve some privacy, you know? And if you really want to know, well, ask me in a face-to-face conversation, and I might answer…).

Tonight’s GOP schedule: Arnold Shwarzenegger – again, even if I don’t agree with everything he says or endorses – good speech. (and if you want more of my opinion, go ahead; ask me in a face-to-face conversation…) — the Bush girls – Jenna and Barbara – eh… (and, please, no more hamster jokes! I blame it on the Kerrys for having started this in the first place). Laura Bush – again, even if I don’t agree with everything she says or endorses, nice speech. And, please, let’s not compare Laura Bush and Teresa Heinz Kerry – they’re two different women with different styles. I’ll leave it at that.

More harder or harsher criticism can surely be found elsewhere, but me – I’ll keep it clean.

Oh, and thanks to PBS for making a nice coverage; I mean, really, they even showed the Harlem Boys Choir performance (the choir closed out tonight’s session of the convention). Now that’s something no one else would show, Jim Lehrer!

Good night…

So weird to think that the Olympics are over (or, will be, once NBC’s done showing the closing ceremonies). I was getting so used to the non-stop sports (especially watching the interesting obscure sports – triathalon, canoeing, mountain biking, weightlifting, taekwondo, speeding walking (way weird) and more). Weird men’s marathon too – when the wacko came out to stop the lead runner. At least the runner got back in there and won a bronze (the others were already closing in on him before the wacko jumped him). Well, goodbye to all that Zorba-the-Greek music.

Four more years before Beijing 2008.

And, on the eve of the Republican Convention, Slate.com’s Dahlia Lithwick (at the NY Times as a guest editor) is talking about the U.S. Supreme Court justices and what they do during the summer. Lithwick notes:

The Supreme Court is by far the most mysterious branch of government – its members glimpsed only rarely, like Bigfoot, crashing through the forest at twilight. The court is the one branch that operates in near secrecy – no cameras, no tape recorders, no explanations, no press conferences, rare interviews, no review by other branches. The most powerful branch is also the most enigmatic. They love it that way.

So how do the justices spend their summers? Some travel to exotic locales, where they get paid lots of money to teach at fabulous seaside summer law school programs. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg taught at Hofstra University law school’s program in Nice, France, this summer, while Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist taught at Tulane’s program at Cambridge.

What else do they do with their summers? Since all four justices over age 70 are hostages to their mutually-assured-destruction refusal to retire (each unwilling to give an opposing president the chance to fill a seat), they probably do lots of resting. Even one extra day on that court may mean casting the deciding vote in Bush v. Kerry – a case poised to detonate over the legal landscape this winter, the moment the recount starts in Ohio.

Oh, I don’t know. I’m not eager for a Bush v. Kerry, really, I’m not.

Have a good week. Watch out for my political commentary… (and me wanting to avoid the protestors in town…)