Author: ssw15

Interesting NY Times articles, law-related and otherwise:

Lenny Bruce, comedian arrested and convicted in 1964 for using obscene language in his stand-up, received a posthumous pardon by Governor Pataki, a first in NY. Considering that much of that kind of language is in stand-up these days, the pardon was probably long in coming. But, what is the precedential value of this, I wonder?

Selection of judges in NY is problematic…

China is a haven for those trying to leave the conditions of North Korea – but it’s not a simple situation, according to Nicholas Kristof.

Christmas poetry: former poet laureate Robert Pinsky presents Thomas Hardy’s “The Oxen” on Slate.com. I like the imagery of the poem.

Christmas music: PBS in NYC is showing “Andrea Bocelli: Sacred Arias.” The tenor has such a nice voice. He’s a former attorney, whose biography indicated that his time as a law student was “fondly recalled as a highly enjoyable period in his life.” Uh, sure. 😉 Either way, listening to a voice like this singing sacred music is very nice.

“The Nutcracker” is on PBS and and other networks, in a wide variety of versions. Watch one of them and you’ll feel good. Really. Or at least watch something with holiday-relevance, if you haven’t already.

Merry Christmas, everybody!!! Happy Chanukah!!! Happy Holidays!!!

US News and World Report has an interesting article on the presidential candidates from Yale University. It’s a fascinating article. Is there any precedence about so many candidates from one undergraduate school, having attended during the same decade? And, there’s always a good backstory about that – for example, I remember watching, about a year or more ago, this interview that Ted Koppel had with Garry Trudeau, the Yale alumnus/Doonesbury cartoonist; one question was about whether he (Trudeau) recalled George W. Bush at Yale. The answer was along the lines of, “Yeah, I remember that he was a nice, fun guy during the inter-fraternity meetings. He selected good beer. Pretty much it.” At least it can be said that Yale must have been quite a place for the undergrads back in the ’60’s, I daresay. (Disclaimer – Yale’s not my alma mater; heavens knows, I’m not silly enough to pick on Yale, since it’s not like my school produces presidents or even candidates for higher office – not the undergraduate schools anyway; the law school produces candidates of an assorted variety, including one named George Pataki, a Yale undergrad alumnus who became the governor of my home state).

Slate.com’s “Ad Report Card” evaluates the Miller beer ad – the one where people are falling like dominoes before the guy at the end avoids falling down and orders his Miller beer. It’s supposed to be an ad where you salute the guy for his having free will and not falling down like an idiot. The Slate.com’s writer’s concluded that it was a decent ad. I see it as silly; then again, I’m too busy still cracking up on the Sprint/Pillsbury doughboy ad. Recall my previous post about this and other fine Sprint ads.

On a more belated observation, check out John Dean’s latest diatribe on the state of Congressional affairs on Findlaw.com. His critique of Congress’ passing the buck on voting on the appropriations bills is a very persuasive argument that the Republican party’s majority is not quite looking out for the public good and that Congress in general isn’t quite doing a superb job as per the Constitution’s own language. Dean is apparently an independent, neither Republican nor Democrat and so he would critique both parties. But, lately, he has been very critical of the Republicans, particularly the Bush administration. He’s now an investment banker, but still talks and writes like a lawyer (I wonder why he no longer practices, but my understanding is that he did minimal prison time for his part in Watergate; that may have put a crimp on his legal career). Dean has a sharp analysis in this article – rather good reading. I had no idea that this was going on in Congress and it sounded rather disturbing.

Three days before Christmas…

Time magazine named the Person of the Year. Now I know no one’s going to believe me as I say this on-line after the fact, but I swear, a couple of days ago, I was telling my family that I think that the U.S. military ought to have be named the people of the year. Like most people, I have certain views of the George W. Bush administration, but I also felt that no matter how one felt about the war in Iraq and how things were going in Afghanistan, one should salute the military for the work done, the fears faced, and the courage and duty with which the troops are continuing to follow through. Of course, I didn’t think Time magazine would really do what I thought should be done. My predictions are never that good (tv shows I like get cancelled; re: 2000 elections; etc).

But, lo and behold – Time did it – the magazine named “The American Soldier” as person of the year. It’s not about one person, man or woman; it’s not about which division or what; or about even in one achievement. Congratulations to the troops; they did so much during the recent years and the work isn’t over yet. Looking forward to the issue in my mailbox.