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Hmm. Is there tension in the air, or is it just me?

Relating to the profession that some of us bloggers/blog readers are in, let’s just recognize that this election is important for being yet another reason why people hate the legal profession so darn much. Terry Carter of the ABA Journal (or its electronic version, the E-Journal) notes that lawyers are in the crossfire with the campaign season’s rather sickening (in my opinion anyway) lawyer bashing. I have thought that all this lawyer-bashing is really pathetic – I mean, last I checked, being a lawyer wasn’t against the law. But, the question is:

But [the anti-lawyer bashing has] an impact on what? The jury will be out on that one for a while. But some say the prominence of anti-lawyer ads in the presidential campaign is having an amplifying or synergistic effect on the ever-increasing lawyer-bashing in election races for other offices at the federal, state and even local levels.

“The pervasiveness of attacks on lawyers for political advantage has an inevitable effect on the image of the bar,” says Stephen Gillers, who teaches ethics at the New York Univeristy School of Law. “Trial lawyers, and therefore all lawyers, have been portrayed as the devils in the machine. That’s unfortunate, but it’s politically useful.”

[….]

And while it is debatable that ads with a focus on lawyers will swing the election either way, there is some concern that the messages critical of lawyers might leave a lasting gut feeling in a lot of people.

That might be because the anti-lawyer messages in the various election campaigns are kept very simple and repeated often. And they build on more than 20 years of the same.

[….]

Many remain unswayed by the ads. A recent CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll found that 69 percent of voters say the fact that Edwards is a lawyer will not affect their vote. But that hasn’t stopped Bush and Vice President Cheney from hammering the point. And while it may or may not have much influence on the election, many say it will have one on the legal profession—especially in swing states that are being inundated with political ads.

And, furthermore, the e-Journal includes a humorous yet poignant article: Legal humorist Sean Carter is so concerned about the impact the campaign has on lawyers, he suggests that to spare lawyers from more harm, let’s have the candidates fight it out by the tried and true method of… rock, scissors, paper; not only do we save ourselves from frightening rounds of litigation,

Even more importantly, lawyers won’t take the blame for subverting the democratic process. Some of us may even be able to come ‘out of the closet’ to our friends and family members about what we do for a living, provided we’re not personal injury lawyers.

I look forward to the day when I can stand up in a crowded room and say, “My name is Sean Carter and I’m a … a … used car salesman. Anyone need a ’67 Pontiac?”

Yes, let me stand up and say, I’m SSW and I’m a lawyer. Gasp.

No, I will not be making any prediction. Election Day ain’t like figuring out who’s going to be Time magazine’s Person of the Year.

Anyway, go vote tomorrow. You’ll be glad that you did.

The battle is finally drawn. Literally legions of lawyers have gathered to descend on polling places at sunrise for the final showdown. I know I will be there. Bring a copy of your state’s Voting Bill of Rights with you in case. If there could be only one wish, please make it that someone, anyone, wins big!

Who are we putting up as role models for this generation? Superman? Batman? Masks of Kerry or expressions of Bush? Vote or be killed by P-Diddy running the NYC Marathon last year (the marathon is next Sunday)? Saints played the role of superheros in times past — you recognize them by their back story, distinctive symbols, and their superpowers. In the end it’s not much different than Marvel Comics. Today, I think we need them, more than ever. Miracles happen — look at the Red Sox, who won an unpresidented 8 consecutive playoff wins after 3 consecutive losses, and the Packers D’s who won the Election Bowl barely by a referee call that negated a Redskin R touchdown .

Let’s all be careful out there! Remember to plan to vote on the right day!

We get one extra hour of sleep for one day. Lose more daylight though. Oh well.

Goodbye to October; hello to November. Less than two days to Election Day. Ah, the true day of horror.

In light of Election Day, consider these two articles:

Stephen J. Marmon’s op-ed piece of October 29, 2004, in the NY Times explains how it’s possible that there could be an Acting President John Edwards – a nightmare scenario:

a tie: “Electoral College 269-269 deadlock, and send the tied contests to Congress; the House would choose the president and the Senate the vice president.

“In the Senate, at least 51 votes would be required to elect a vice president. Given current polls, the Democrats can gain control of the Senate by picking up seats in Alaska, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky and Oklahoma, while losing seats in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. Senator Edwards would be elected as vice president.

“The House, however, votes for president by state, with 26 delegations required for election. If members of the House then voted as their states did, President Bush, in this scenario, would carry 28 states, thus leading to a Bush-Edwards administration.”

But – a Congressional deadlock may mean no president in a timely manner –

“The Constitution provides that the vice president becomes president if the president dies, resigns or is removed from office. But the 20th Amendment states that: ‘If a president shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the president-elect shall have failed to qualify, then the vice president-elect shall act as president until a president shall have qualified.’

“The House could remain deadlocked for two years, and perhaps even four, depending on the results of the 2006 Congressional elections. And until the House reaches a decision, Acting President John Edwards would occupy the Oval Office.”

Uh… yeah… Hopefully unlikely, but it can happen. I guess.

Plus, today’s column in the NY Times – Thomas Friedman endorses… George (H.W.) Bush, due to his courage in domestic and foreign politics (even if Bush the Elder didn’t have total finesse, he had sense and sensibility). Interesting. First Senator Lincoln Chafee, now Friedman – going for Bush the Elder…

October reading: The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini – a lovely first time novel by an Afghan-American physician, who writes of the coming of age of two Afghan boys; the time of war-torn Afghanistan of the early 1980’s and the Taliban of the 1990’s. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling – I liked the movie; the book filled in lots of stuff – better than the other two books, I daresay; now I’m heading into book 4 of the series – let’s see if I really can finish the series by the end of the year… Plus, one romance novel – Dearest Love by Betty Neels (I couldn’t help it; I needed some kind of transition before plunging into Harry Potter Book 4 – the size of the thing is intimidating…)

Have a good week…

“Star Trek: Enterprise” – wow. Amazing episode. The whole digital filming thing has made the picture really stunning. Plus – this time, the writing’s tight and plotting really interesting, which made for pretty good acting. Scott Bakula was his strongest as Capt. Archer (I had liked him when he was Sam Beckett in “Quantum Leap” – so seeing him tonight as an able character was just great Archer wasn’t a Janeway, so to speak (and longtime Trekkies will know what I mean – and I’m someone who didn’t really hate Capt. Janeway). Brent Spiner (the former Data of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”) – he’s quite an actor. Oh, and the rest of the cast and guest cast were pretty good too (again, good writing helps). I can almost forgive the Trek folks for the ridiculous cliffhanger of last season and the weird alternate WWII history episodes.

Notice how nicely that I haven’t given away anything plot-wise? 😉 Seriously, it was a good episode – and I think we’re supposed to get more of Spiner for another two episodes. Maybe continue with this stronger Archer… for the rest of the season. If you missed the episode tonight, catch the re-broadcast (Channel 9, 7pm, in NYC metro area).

Oh, and I forgot to mention this in the Wednesday night post — I was at the alma mater law school Wednesday night for a reception, and of course there’s the excited chatter about the new building and that there’s a bed in the student lounge to sample the new bed for the new dorm… So, when I left the law school, and passed by the lounge, I had to just stand there and realize, Good Grief – the dean wasn’t kidding – there was a bed in the lounge. Gosh, I remember all the times just about everybody has slept in the sofas of the lounge and the library and how my classmates would joke that they ought to put beds… and there was a real bed right there…

Eh. So the world changes; the rest of the law school looked pretty much the same (oh, ok, so the last time I was there was just six months ago, but I look for the little changes, really I do).

TGIF.

I never quite thought that I’d see it in my life time, but apparently it has actually happened – the Boston Red Sox has won the World Series. The world may not have ended, but the world as we knew it indeed has ended. Maybe pigs will start flying now or something like that. God forbid, maybe even the Chicago Cubs will win the World Series someday now. I will spare non-Bosox fans any links to some heart-wrenching articles (at least, assuming I don’t find anything worthy of reading).

Well, enough of the melodrama on my part.

100 yrs of the subway. Cool. And, it’s also been 100 yrs of the plane (the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk, NC, was 100 yrs ago). So, if we think about it – it’s been 100 yrs of planes, (underground) trains, and automobiles…

Lunar eclipse. Cool.

Umm – is this for real? Anthropologists have discovered an early human or human-like species – that resemble hobbits. Methinks that someone out there have been reading/watching way too much Lord of the Rings.

Other stories:

I can’t get over this story – how a British police officer, Sgt. Colin Webber (whose wife, Claire, is a constable – both of whom are of the Leicestershire constabulary) managed to stop a fleeing knife-stabber assaulter when Sgt. Webber and the missus were in the jewelry district browsing (they were on vacation – as off-duty as two cops could have been). Check out the more expansive version of this story on NY Times. NY1.com has some footage too.

And, the prize for least-surprising story of the day – “Study: Sleepy Doctors Make More Errors.” – apparently, it takes a funded study to prove what years of “ER” and other medical dramas (and “Scrubs”) and common sense have long known about those people in the hospitals who are overworked – they don’t quite function up to snuff if they’re that tired. D’uh. The real problem is how do you reform it, when the reality is that training medical doctors takes so much time and effort – not too mention risk (they do learn from their mistakes – you just hope nothing fatal occurs or at least a causal link to death type of occurence).

Ok, let’s just get through this Thursday without incident – especially to those in Boston…

Dropped by the New York City Transit Museum during lunch – it was free today for the centennial. Most of it were the same since the last time I visited. The new exhibit was about the opening celebrations 100 years ago , including the solid silver control handle used on the first ride, and several hefty silver Tiffany mermentos. I picked up some centennial first day covers from the postal workers there. I also like looking at the maps – my childhood house was near the juncture of two overhead lines, so I like trying to find it on old maps.

To top off the ominous potents, tonight there was a total eclipse of the moon. I was looking at it, the ‘hunters moon’, and it had turned dark red. Some of the best viewing was had along Ocean Parkway. Once the moon was dark, the stars came out in a way you don’t get to see any other time. Historically, eclipses and comets mark tramatic events on earth — will it occur again? Like those typhoons, something you have to experience for yourself.

A real assortment today:

The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow : It’s a play about a wired agoraphobic adopted asian american trying to find herself and her Chinese birth mother by creating a robot version of herself. OK, that’s pretty wierd, but it won two best new play awards, so there must be something to it. It’s playing at Yale; maybe it’s an excuse to check out New Haven.

Grecian Formula: New York Times reports on Physics World’s poll of the greatest equations of science. Some of the bogus entries included 1+1 = 2 . The real winner was Euler’s Equation:

e ^πi + 1 = 0

I remember my high school calculus teacher used it as a proof of God’s existence: how could so many physical constants be so perfectly interrelated without some sort of plan? I don’t know, but it’s really cool regardless.

Ms. Subways: subway guerrilla theater artist Caroline Sanchez-Bernat wins the Ms. Subways contest, which was revived by the MTA for tomorrow’s centennial of the subway. She beat out Asian college student Elaine Chan and two other contestants. The owner of Ellen’s Stardust Diner was a former Miss Subways; she has posters of all of the other winners, which included Helen Lee from November 1949: “At Columbia she majored in Chinese. Now she’s studying voice — training her mezzo-soprano — hopes for a musical comedy career. Favorite pastime: Interior decorating (modern) — and football games (escorted by Yale beau).” Fascinating.

Taiwan in the news: Colin Powell touches off a firestorm on CNN regarding Taiwanese independence; Taiwanese legislators throw eggs and lunch boxes at each other in food fight; NYU Taiwanese students host “Enchanting Taiwan” exhibit at the student center.

Could Kerry be hoping the Red Sox lose? If the American League Red Sox break the curse, it may seal Kerry’s fate. However, supposedly the Washington Redskins predictor is more accurate — it has been right since 1936. The deciding game is this Sunday vs. the Green Bay Packers – Redskins for Bush, Packers for Kerry. For more deciders, check this column out.

No World Series tonight; tomorrow is Game 3 in St. Louis.

Some interesting links and comments:

On Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004, NYC’s subway is having its 100th anniversary (amidst depressing budget woes). Joe McKendry provides a cool look at the subway in his NY Times’ Op-ed on 10/23/04:

One hundred years ago next Wednesday, at precisely 2 p.m., a wall of sound shook New York City from Battery Park to Harlem. Church bells and the sounding horns of ferryboats competed with the steam whistles of hundreds of power plants and the firing of salutes. Cheering citizens flooded the streets, creating what this newspaper described as a “carnival” atmosphere that had the city “in an uproar from end to end.” [….]

For all the excitement on opening day, it didn’t take New Yorkers long to revert to their jaded selves. On Oct. 28, the day after the subway opened, The Times reported: “Men on the trains were quietly getting out at their regular stations and going home, having finished what will be to them the daily routine of the rest of their lives. It is hard to surprise New York permanently.”

There are interesting slides/graphics – check them out before NY Times archives them…

A NY Times article by Joseph Berger on America’s Asian Indian community and how they’re dealing with assimilation of America and its socialization/dating mores versus the caste system – which takes into account arranged marriages to preserve caste, commonality, and culture.

Daily News has an interesting story on a Filipina-American, Consuelo Dungca, who has a number of accomplishments – a colonel in the Army Reserve’s 8th Medical Brigade; the city Health and Hospitals Corp.’s senior assistant vice president for clinical affairs; wrote “U.S. Army Nurse Corps Standard of Nursing Practices,” a text for training Army nurses, and co-authored “Standards of Critical Care,” a text used by health professionals in and out of the armed forces; earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate in nursing education from Columbia University’s Teachers College. Her doctoral dissertation was titled “Leadership Behavior Style and Job Satisfaction”; and…. a less-than-5 ft. tall woman who is “expert marksman with a .45-caliber pistol. She can fire it standing, sitting, kneeling and lying down.” Okay. Cool stuff.

Slate.com’s “Ad Report” reviews the Emerald Nuts ads – wherein Emerald Nuts tries to compete with Planters with willy ads “Encouraging Norwegians Love Emerald Nuts” and “Egostistical Normans Love Emerald Nuts.” While “Ad Report” liked the EN ads, I haven’t been thrilled with the EN ads – they make me want to avoid the stuff. (Of course, the new version of Mr. Peanut of Planters – who debuted during the NCAA tournament this year – looked scary in that Bizarre Pop Art way). Umm, I like nuts otherwise, no matter the brand.

An amusing Slate article – could it be that having Democrats for parents mean more successful kids (re: nerdy elitist snobs) v. lenient Republicans who let kids be kids (re: you know, drinking, driving, drugging, whatever). Hmm.

Monday will be over soon…