Author: ssw15

What? “Retiree Found Guilty, Juror Found Tipsy, and Verdict Stands” – a 9/16/04 article – according to the NY Times article, written by Michael Wilson:

The jury’s verdict on March 2 was guilty: a retired firefighter convicted of stealing souvenirs while volunteering at ground zero. Six weeks later, his lawyers appealed, arguing not over the testimony at the trial, but over the jury that decided the verdict.

Specifically, the lawyers argued, Juror No. 4 was drunk. They said that after the guilty verdict, he approached the defendant, his brother, wife and lawyers, wobbly and glassy-eyed, to apologize for finding him guilty and telling him that he understood how difficult it must have been to work at the World Trade Center site. Someone smelled alcohol on his breath. [At a subsequent hearing, he testified that h]e had drained two-thirds of the bottle during deliberations, and after the verdict was read he took a last “big swig”[.]

Yesterday, Justice Ellen M. Coin of State Supreme Court in Manhattan issued her ruling: the verdict should stand.

The reason? There is apparently no law against drinking while serving as a juror and deliberating the fate of a fellow New Yorker.

Justice Coin ruled that Juror No. 4’s conduct fell far short of being considered misconduct, that it was not inappropriate enough to have altered the outcome of the case.

Prosecutors, pleased with their guilty verdicts against the firefighter, argued that there was no proof that Juror No. 4 was drunk while serving and found court rulings that said it would not have really mattered if he had been.

Umm. Well, I guess this one juror’s idiocy didn’t affect the verdict, but it doesn’t serve the appearance of justice. That’s just me.

I’ve been enjoying the Daisann McLane diary entries “Dispatches From Hong Kong” on Slate.com. Her entry on figuring out Cantonese was really amusing. Makes me feel good that maybe my issues with the mother tongue are justified…

I didn’t quite watch the Emmies last night. The orchestra kept cutting the speeches of the winners, which really annoyed me, so I turned to watching news instead. Lame. So lame to play the violins on speeches just to end at 11:01pm. This is how tv honors itself?

Lovely September days weather wise this week. Enjoy.

Hmm. Will the hurricanes ever stop heading to Florida?? (and do the rains of the dissipating tropical storms have to come to NYC to ruin our otherwise perfectly nice weather of late?).

NY Times — it’s the return of William Grimes, the ex-restaurant critic turned culture critic. In this article, he takes a shine on the learn-how-to-cook-a-meal in 30-minutes shows and books. Apparently, writing those food reviews for years made him (gasp) into a food snob (aren’t all the food critics snobs? well, what do I know). But, give Grimes credit – now that he isn’t hassling the restaurants so much, he seems to have developed a witty sense of humor:

It is worth stating at the outset that there is good fast food and bad fast food, and speed has nothing to do with the difference between the two. Canned onion rings over canned green beans, a casserole dish I recall from childhood, may be the bad fast dish par excellence. At the opposite end of the scale I might place veal chops in sage-butter sauce spiked with a little vermouth, a simple Italian entree I have made many times. Both dishes take about 10 minutes to prepare. One is satisfying and delicious. The other is a crime against nature. No one should ever dine at a quality level lower than veal in sage-butter sauce. At least not at my house.

I am happy to report that Betty Crocker does not call for canned onion rings in her “Quick and Easy Cookbook,” but the recipes do cater to a middlebrow concept of fine cooking that leaves me cold. Betty takes a nonjudgmental attitude toward margarine versus butter. Frozen or canned ingredients she accepts as a fact of life and frozen fish, too. If you don’t want to mince garlic, it is O.K. to buy it minced in a bottle.

Betty has a new look and a new hairdo. She knows about couscous, chipotles and salsa. But her heart belongs to the 1950’s. How else to explain dishes like cheesy tuna broccoli skillet casserole or maple-mustard syrup as a sauce for asparagus? The recipes have a train-wreck fascination to them, and some of the photographs seem almost forensic. Fudge pudding cake, for example, looks like a heaping helping of Alpo.

Geez, Grimes – are you trying to hurt Ms. Crocker’s feelings (or that of the photographers her company retains anyway). Alpo? Lol…

After weeks of speculation (and pretty nasty back cover page coverage in the NYC tabloids), the NY Mets have finally made it official – manager Art Howe is out of here, after yet another Mets lousy season. However, Howe gets to pull a McGreevey – yeah, he’s out of the job, but not effective immediately. (meanwhile, in NJ, Governor McGreevey continues his job; his resignation isn’t official because it’s not in writing; and yet a bunch of lawyers are taking it to court to force him to go already, so to let the NJ’ites have special elections and avoid other succession issues, never mind that this resignation was due to less than pristine circumstances). (as for the Mets, there’s no sense yet of who’ll replace Howe; oh well. I won’t hold my breath on that anytime soon).

And so it goes. I get bemused by the news, whatever I read or watch.

Subway reading is all right. My reading of the Harry Potter series is delayed due to other reading (obviously I wasn’t going to finish the series by the end of the summer; perhaps I can pull it off by the end of the year?). I’m in the middle of “The Da Vinci Code.” Hmm. I’ll probably have an actual opinion on it once I’m done. Right now I just feel manipulated by the author (which means he’s not a bad writer, but he’s really working it so that this ends up being a Hollywood blockbuster movie with action scenes to pick).

TV viewing — well, I’ll say more once I get a better sense of what is going on the tube. (“Everwood” – got to catch the season premiere on my videotape; that “Jack & Bobby” show on WB – umm, yeah, I think I do have an opinion there).

Other projects otherwise take up time (the writing stuff and other artistic endeavors – oh, who am I kidding there on that end – the frustrated artist in Brooklyn — no new changes to the website, leave it as is)…. can’t wait for Friday…

It’s been awhile since a new posting, huh?

– Tuesday was Insane Commute Day, as New Yorkers endured with the pouring rain of the remnants of Hurrican Frances (in a short interval) flooded subways. Massive delays. A 45-minute commute took… 2 hours. N/M/R/D line not working? Can I get the F train? No, the platform’s too crowded and no train’s coming for at least 20 minutes. They’d say that the IRT’s working – but, how the hell does one get to the IRT when the N/M/R/D line can’t even get you the IRT line (even though one is a mere two local stops away… if only the stalled train can move…) and one can walk faster than the buses… Fortunately, it’s all better now. ‘Nuff said. (not like I want to go into greater detail on the trauma)…

— Today’s NY Times had some interesting stuff:
– Article on the litigation involving or regarding 9/11: “In Nation’s Courtrooms, Wounds From 9/11 Persist.” Writer Leslie Eaton closes poignantly:

Many 9/11 lawsuits have been disposed of this year, decided by judges or settled by plaintiffs and defendants. But history suggests that others may be around for a decade or longer.

After all, earlier this year a State Supreme Court justice refused to dismiss negligence claims against the Port Authority in what is known as the World Trade Center bombing litigation. It deals with the first terrorist attack on the trade center – the garage bombing in 1993.

– And, there’s this other article about World Trade Center and the memory of it, “Lost From Skyline, But Not From the Landscape.” Do you erase the image of the two towers from book covers and symbols and logos and so on, because they no longer exist in reality and the sight of the two towers causes pain, or do we preserve the images precisely because they are part of memory? David W. Dunlap writes with a lot of poignancy; at the risk of copying and pasting the last half of the article, Dunlap observes:

[The Alliance for Downtown New York, downtown Manhattan business improvement district] had to figure out what to do about street signs – designed by Pentagram and installed around the trade center site two months before the attack – illustrated with photos of the twin towers. Complicating the question is that visitors, perhaps more than ever, rely on these signs for direction in the absence of the towers themselves, which served as a kind of pole star.

“How do you picture absence?” asked Michael Bierut, a partner in Pentagram. At first, as an exercise, he tried to substitute the famous photograph of three firefighters raising the flag. But that felt exploitative, he said. After a few months, Mr. Bierut said, “It seemed that the more obvious thing to do was to use the picture we had used.” [I added the italics]

The Lefrak Organization [landlord/property manager] was ready to remove the mural [of World Trade Center] from 395 South End Avenue [in Battery Park City], which was vacated for months after the attack. “We thought it would be especially right,” Mr. LeFrak said. “The building that happens to have the artwork is the one that got the most damage.”

But tenants thought otherwise. “It would seem like giving up if you’d taken it down,” said Tammy Meltzer, who has lived in the building since 1996 and worked as a senior manager in the catering department at Windows on the World.

“It’s part of our history, part of our neighborhood, part of our community,” Ms. Meltzer said, “an integral part of what was and what will be again. Remembering where you’ve come from and remembering the past is never inappropriate.” [again, I added the italics]

Except for one original detail that simply had to be painted out, Mr. LeFrak said.

Two airplanes. On the horizon.

Poignancy; the Times is really packing its punches this week.

— The Towers of Light are ready for the tribute this weekend. Quite a sight.

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…)

The NY Post a couple of days ago had the info on the new “The Apprentice” contestants – and it turns out that one of them is an alumnus of my Alma Maters. I’m especially impressed that she came from the same law school; Donald Trump’s lawyer, George, must have attracted people from our alma mater law school…

Vote for your favorite ad icon and ad slogan at the Advertising Week website. Too cool…

Duke U. giving I-Pods to freshmen at orientation, expecting them to use them for academic reasons. Yeah, right. Guess one is just hoping the kids won’t abuse using I-pods. Couldn’t Duke think of something else to do to promote technology?

Awhile ago, my sister and I were watching “Meet the Press” and Tim Russert interviewed Senator Zell Miller, the conservative Democrat – so conservative that one wonders why he doesn’t just switch parties. Slate.com explains why Miller hasn’t made a switch (and apparently it partly has to do with his disinclination to be just another southern Republican).

And, a legal “Explainer” on Slate.com, wherein we find out “How long do cops keep evidence?”

Oh, and sing along with me, to the tune of “Santa Claus is coming to town” – “The protesters are coming to town…” or “The Republicans are coming to town…” I feel befuddled by all of this either way.

So, YC and FC – any updates on the Asian front? …. 😉

You’d think that because I had a short work week, I’d be more on the ball with work. Eh. Summ-summ-summertime…

And, of course, NY’ers fleeing town because of the upcoming Republican conventions. Eh. Weird photo in today’s Daily News (too bad I have no link for it) – it’s a photo of Victoria’s Secret with two armed male cops (and I mean armed, with their weapons on hand and helmets on their heads) ready and steady at the door; Daily News caption: “Victoria’s Secret at W. 34th St. and Sixth Ave. gets a no-frills security detail as authorities make presence known in midtown in advance of Republican National Convention.” Umm. Right. I’m real worried about the security of Victoria’s Secret. (well, ok, so it is located close to Madison Sq. Garden, but still, the photo looked odd and without the caption, you would think it was any Victoria’s Secret and would end up wondering about that pair of cops).

Sometimes I wonder if the differences between NYC and D.C. can be… exaggerated. Or maybe not. I can’t tell. This NY Times article by David Carr that I’m linking seems to portray the stereotypes – NY’ers as “snarling” boors (as Carr quotes Tucker Carlson, the political talking head on CNN) or sophisticates vs. the D.C.’ers as silly boy scouts or super serious G’men. “‘The contempt is mutual,’” a D.C. journalist says. (actually, I have no contempt for D.C.; there’s no love lost either, frankly, but contempt’s a little strong a word). Then, Carr says that Democratic standby, James Carville, observed “that the version of Washington that will be arriving in New York will hardly need directions. ‘Just about anybody in the Washington contingent is up here 10 or 12 times a year,” [Carville] said. ‘They are on the shuttle all the time. When you’re here, people stay up later, talk louder and eat more. Everybody likes to have fun.’” So glad to know that D.C.’er love the shuttle and can find that they do more in NYC. (well, no, not really; I mean, I feel that they can do as they please, so long as they don’t hurt people; live and let live, you know?).

So weird to think that once the Olympics are over, I can just change channels from NBC to PBS and just watch Convention stuff during the prime time hours. My non-stop (near non-stop anyway, since, again, I lack cable) massive-event tv isn’t going to stop. Gosh, I’m a junkie. I am SSW and I’m a tv marathon junkie. I’ll sit down now.

These NBC commercials for the upcoming “The Apprentice” (season 2) are scary. You get little clips of the latest contestants (West Point graduate; Wharton School grad (trying to impress The Donald, a Wharton alumnus?); nerd; geek; the usual eye candy men and women; argh…), plus everyone’s favorite The Donald, George, and Carolyn. And to think that this was once the network of Must-See-Tv (stuff like “Friends,” “Cheers,” “Seinfeld,” and “Cosby”…). But, I am getting real pumped by the NBC commercials for the new “Medical Investigations” show (it looks like an action-thriller loaded portrayal of the Center for Disease Control (CDC)’s work) – the return of Neal McDonough on tv. Missed him from his “Boomtown” days. Missed his clear blue eyes and wacked out intensity. So he’s playing a raving scientist instead of a lawyer. Ok, I’ll go with it and see what happens.

Etc., etc., etc….

“American Bryan Clay Grabs the Decathlon Silver” – notably, Clay has a Japanese-American mother and an African-American father and hails from Hawaii – an APA who was a good watch. Cool.

Lest ye think that I’m playing hooky from work by blogging in the middle of the day, be advised that I’m on so-called vacation for a couple of days…

More Polyphonic Spree (we keep talking about this odd musical group on this website, don’t we?) – they’re coming to the NYC area – and when such a group gets in the NY Times, that has to mean something. Of course, that fact that no one can get over that they’re a little on the strange side… well…

A strange hug between President Bush and Senator McCain. They say pictures say a 1000 words. Maybe they do, as these series of NY Times photos indicate. I’ll leave it at that. You make your own opinions.

The modern state of the newspaper comic strip – when old-fashioned soaps like “Mary Worth” and “Judge Parker” are losing their old places in the newspapers and newer strips are trying to establish themselves and the newspapers are struggling to keep readership and prices – these are not easy times for the funny pages, as this NY Times article shows.

An article on the Republican Party moderates. I’d suppose that they’ll be seen and heard at the convention, but the question is what are the consequences?

And, having moderates or independents means you can have loopy elections, as seen in Maine, as Slate.com notes.

Enjoy the week.