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Following the 60th anniversary of D-Day in Europe, let’s not forget that WWII had a warfront in the Pacific side, and so the NY Times reports how, with less fanfare, Saipan of the Northern Mariana Islands honors the D-Days of the Pacific. The article notes;

[M]any Saipan veterans and their supporters gathered here on Tuesday said that just as in World War II, the American popular mind continued to relegate the Pacific theater to second-class status…. Jerry Facey, co-chairman of the Saipan’s 60th Anniversary Committee, said that during two years of organizing Tuesday’s events, he received a long series of “no’s” from Washington politicians and Pentagon brass who were invited to attend the ceremonies. Recalling the last big commemoration that he organized, he said: “It is just like the 50th, we were overshadowed by Normandy. We are so remote, people just forget.”

Recollecting the liberation of a region from Japanese occupation, and reflecting after 60 years of lives lost and lives changed:

On Sunday, a memorial was dedicated to the 933 indigenous people who died in the World War II battles and their aftermath.

On Tuesday, this new monument was at the end of the short parade, which saw some of the octogenarian veterans walking, others riding while standing in the backs of two balky World War II-era military trucks.

“It’s changed a lot, but we sure love it,” Hal Olsen, a Navy veteran from New Jersey, shouted down from one truck, referring to Saipan, and perhaps to the open-air thrill of riding in the back of a truck.

Hmm. Must be very nice there at this time of year, a nice one more chance for the veterans to enjoy paradise and recall how it was once not paradise.

The NY news cable channel NY1 is having “Brooklyn Week.” Such a nice coverage, especially the stuff on Brooklyn cuisine, (Brooklyn being a place of different restaurants and livelihoods).

Fascinating story on Simmie Knox, the artist who painted the official White House portraits of the Clintons – who just happens to be the first African-American commissioned to paint a presidential portrait.

Interesting article in Law.com – top-notched law professors being poached, traded, and signed like they’re professional athletes, and the law school deans or presidents who talk about this. Amusing.

Law.com also had this inspiring article about Vanita Gupta, a young Asian-American attorney, and the progress of her legal career.

And so there you go. Some stuff.

Hmm. Could it be – that the LA Lakers are going to say bye-bye to its winning ways? Could it be that the Detroit Pistons are the NBA champions? Hmm.

Linda Greenhouse of the NY Times puts in her two cents on the Pledge of Allegiance case. I like the way she highlights irony in the whole situation:

The competing opinions [between J. Stevens vs. the opinions of Ch. J. Rehnquist, J. O’Connor, and J. Thomas] on Monday were portraits in irony, some probably intentional and some, perhaps, not. Justice Stevens, one of the court’s most liberal members, offered a paean to judicial restraint in explaining why the court should not reach the merits of the case.

The “unelected, unrepresentative judiciary in our kind of government” should not reach out unnecessarily to decide cases, Justice Stevens said, quoting from an opinion written in 1983 by the conservative icon Robert H. Bork, then an appeals court judge. Justice Stevens is a consummate craftsman, and the sly reference was clearly intentional.

Greenhouse also notes:

In her opinion, Justice O’Connor called the pledge a permissible example of “ceremonial deism” rather than religious worship, similar, she said, to the words the Supreme Court’s marshal intones at the start of each session: “God save the United States and this honorable court.”

“Ceremonial deism”? Uh, ok. But, just because it’s ceremonial doesn’t mean it’s constitutional, is it? But, if we had struck down the “under God” of the Pledge, what would it mean for “God save the United States and this honorable court,” and “In God We Trust” – traditionally entrenched, if nothing else (“traditionally entrenched” makes more sense than “ceremonial deism”). Well, I’m not a justice of the Supreme Court.

I’m trying to figure out whether the Jackie Chan version of “Around the World in 80 Days” is worth it or not. Stephen Holden of the NY Times says it’s okay, but Reuters says it isn’t. I liked the David Niven version (1956). It felt more like the book (which I also liked), with Passepartout (even if he was played by a Mexican actor) the French valet doing quirky stuff and the Indian princess charming Niven’s Phileas Fogg. Indian princess, folks – an Asian woman presence (even if she was played by Shirley MacLaine, a white woman). Chan’s version foregoes bothering with actresses posing as Asian women; his Passepartout (yeah, Chan plays a faux French valet this time; will Passepartout ever be played by a Frenchman?) works for a Fogg whose love interest in a French woman (huh?). Oh, and California’s Governor Shwarzenegger makes a cameo appearance (which he did before becoming governor). If someone sees this movie, let me know how it went; hard to say if I’ll see it. (sidenote – a tv version with Pierce Brosnan as Fogg was especially good, if I can remember it).

Yahoo.com gives more for free storage. Ooooh. Awesome. See what happens when capitalist competition works? Yahoo felt threatened by Google’s Gmail, and thus gives the Yahoo’ers more. Yeah!

Pardon me as I go Yahoo…

While having a late lunch of fried chicken with my co-workers, there was a sudden commotion. Loud screeching of brakes… a crash… short popping sounds.. thunk. We all dashed to the balcony to see what had happened. A black car seemed to have hit the side of an SUV, causing it to veer left into a telephone booth. The SUV had done a 360, blowing out its wheels as it knocked over a woman standing on the traffic median. The entire NYPD school safety force happened to be around the corner, so the intersection was quickly swarmed by black vehicles. They didn’t seem to have that much experience in traffic control though. The woman was down for the count: someone who seemed to be a doctor was furiously checking vital signs, but not attempting to move. The other cops had swarmed to her. After five long minutes, a fire truck and ambulances showed up. Six or seven people were taken out in back boards, apparently in serious condition. I hope everything works out for the injured.

The news is out – the Supreme Court has ruled on the Pledge of Allegiance case. The NY Times has this posting up (Linda Greenhouse is probably hard at work on her article as I speak). I have not read the Court’s opinion yet, but the Court apparently essentially came down to this: “Eight justices agreed that Dr. Newdow, a nonpracticing lawyer who is also a physician, cannot qualify as a legal representative of his 10-year-old daughter, on whose behalf he filed suit.” Well, the Associated Press seems to indicate that this is a “technicality.” I thought that Slate.com’s Dahlia Lithwick had a most pertinent conclusion: that Newdow couldn’t win because of the standing problem – that he lacked legal custody of his daughter, which made the Court stuck with custodial issues rather than the substantive matter itself – and in so doing, may arguably be seen as a technicality.

Nonetheless, the Court understandably wouldn’t accept Newdow’s case as the appropriate case to answer the question of the constitutionality. You need standing after all, as my Con Law prof would say (and heavens knows, he spent half the term covering the concept of standing), and I think that this outcome was something that was easily expected. But, would laypeople understand that? First year law students can barely accept that, and I’d agree that this can be irritating of the Court. But, Newdow was a curious party all along (forget the standing problem, he’s something of an eccentric, being the lawyer-doctor). Anyway, the constitutionality question can be explored under better circumstances.

In today’s NY Times, Fascinating article on the history of slavery in America – how slaves lived during slavery, became free, and dealt with what freedom meant – and then they wrote about it in their own slave narratives, which have not been published until the 21st century. I liked how the article traced how a family passed their ancestor’s manuscript in each generation, and the article was nicely noted how the manuscript had the literary value – not just the historical power.

A curious NY Times’ article – NYC’s ex-mayor Ed Koch is in a commercial to get NY’ers to volunteer to facilitate the Republican convention. Quite an idea – the Democratic party town hosting the Republicans, and Koch is telling us to make nice with the GOP tourists. Uh, ok.

Strange weather – cloudiness with sun peaking out now and then. Partly sunny or partly cloudy – technically….

The perfect spring Saturday in NYC! The weather’s so wonderful – sunshine, not too warm, not brisk. Just right. Is Mother Nature holding global warming at bay today? Darn straight she is!

The news junkie that I am – am I amazed by how nostalgic the media has been about the Reagan era this week. They were such lovely times compared to our current state of terrorism, confusion, and polarized politics. Well, and just a thought to put out there: I recall the Ronald Reagan presidency as a warm and fuzzy time, as it was my warm and fuzzy childhood. With his passing, I can say that I can respect the man while withholding judgment on how I feel about his politics.

The passing of Ray Charles – wow, it’s so impressive how his music transcends any one genre.

I saw the latest Harry Potter movie today – it was okay. Pretty art filmy kind of way, compared to the two previous Potter movies. Actor Alan Rickman’s character was less annoying in the 2nd movie; actor Gary Oldman’s character still puzzles me; and actor Michael Gambon – well, he has a presence, but it’s not the same Prof. Dumbledore. Otherwise, I thought that the other characters were all right in the current movie (although that kid playing the Draco Malfoy character is clearly not a physically attractive adolescent – the teenage years never being easy, as they are). I haven’t read the books yet, so can’t say one way or another about accuracy. But, at least Movie 3 is making me want to read the books. Whether I can get to it remains to be seen. (I haven’t read Lord of the Rings yet either, but at least the movies were really great and one felt it so strongly).

The newspaper reviews for the Garfield movie (i.e., the one where Garfield the comic strip cat is computer animated but no one else is) is mostly negative, but Garfield still looks cute to me (more like a stuffed Garfield come to life and very kitty like, so I at least enjoy watching the trailer and commercials, even if I won’t watch the movie; Garfield’s certainly more easier to swallow than what Hollywood did to Scooby-Doo – ugh, cannot believe that Scooby got into two movies and he looks sillier than he ever did). Sort of amazed by how underwhelmed the critics are about it – I mean, at least demonstrate some sincerity about it (one critic made it seem like the vet Liz came out of nowhere – but Garfield followers would know that Liz has been in the comic strip for awhile) – one can pooh-pooh a less-than-average movie only so much. On the other hand, Slate.com has an interesting article noting that Garfield hasn’t really sold out because he has always sold-out anyway. Wow. Talk about putting down the fat cat. I thought that the analysis was really sharp toned stuff.

I can re-read this article and still think it curiously interesting: – YiLing Chen-Josephson did a comparison shopping for Slate.com to figure out which pens are best. I used to be very partial to Papermate pens, but when they’re about to run out of ink, they get all smudgy and ink gets on your fingers. So, I have no favorite pens for now, but Chen-Josephson has given me some thought on what I like about my writing implements.

The poem of the week, on Slate.com – “Holding Hands” by Michael McFee – is nice. I love the imagery and the lyricism.

Enjoy the weather, whereever you are….

Just saw this one — it pretty much encapsulates the Asian American experience in a single scene. It would be a great script for a short film.

http://www.minjungkim.com/archives/001623.html

The weather is way strange in NYC. Today is summer, as opposed to the three previous days of a nice spring. Eh.

–> Asians in the news:

Being the sucker that I am for news on royalty, it appears that Japan’s Crown Princess Masako is just buckling under the severe public and personal pressure that she’s under. A Harvard-educated woman who had a career in Foreign Service until she married the Crown Prince, Masako has since become “dowdy” and has only produced a daughter, contrary to the desires and expectations of the promoters of primogeniture of the Japanese royal bureaucracy. Considering that Crown Prince Naruhito’s brother himself has only daughters and there are no male descendants, Japan is going to have to quit it with the whole primogeniture thing. This Chicago Tribune article (via Yahoo) notes that Masako is “more or less a prisoner of her womb.” It makes me wonder what it means when educated, high class Asian women feel so oppressed, whether or not they put the stress on themselves or that it is their society that does it.

UC law professor John Yoo is in the news about his legal memoranda to the US Justice Department. Findlaw has an interesting analysis by Julie Hilden; she appears to say that while Yoo’s memoranda may be covered under his role as a lawyer advising the government (and therefore not a legal violation and to say otherwise would chill attorneys from advising the government), what he did may be morally wrong. Hmm. May the lay public, forget law students and lawyers, accept the distinctions between morality and legality? Hard to say.

–> Non-Asian-related (so far as I can tell) news: I couldn’t resist reading this article, while I was passing through Findlaw: “Man Charged With Chalupa Assault” – it’s a Taco Bell tort, apparently. ;-D

–> weddings and stuff like that… On Sunday, I highlighted the NY Times’ wedding announcement of the Piepers, of bar review fame (to be more precise, Mr. Pieper’s son – who I heard also teaches some of those classes). Therefore, upon further elaboration: the bride is a medical doctor; Pieper the Younger is a lawyer; plus Pieper the Younger’s parents are, well, dedicated to the family business (the wedding announcement notes that Pieper the Younger’s mom is an editor of the Pieper materials); so, I figure, hopefully, the bride can fit in this family’s activities (she could cover torts, I guess, or treat the students for carpal tunnel syndrome for writing their notes so much). (sidenote: thanks to FC for ruling on the side that the Piepers are public figures who can be referred (see his comment to my post); I had my guess there, considering that they’re in the business and are well known).

Well, June is wedding month (putting aside that it is bar review time, which the Piepers ought to know); congrats to the Piepers and to… [drum roll] J. Lo and Mark Anthony (hmm. was a pre-nup signed there? Any other rules of NYS Domestic Relations Law to consider? Oh, wait – Jennifer Lopez and Mark Anthony weren’t even married in NYS; but aren’t they still domociled in NYS? Oh whatever)….

And, last but not least least, a more or less relevant link (relevant to the lawyers out there): The ABA e-Journal had the latest humor column from Sean Carter, wherein he notes his concerns about law firms’ attempts to get new business. I present parts of it for laughs to start the week:

[….] For the most part, law firms subscribed to the Field of Dreams theory of business development–if you a build a law firm, clients will come.

Well, in typical lawyer fashion, it’s only taken about two centuries for us to realize that this strategy is about as reliable as the 9th Circuit, and just as often wrong. As a result, in the past few years, law firms of all sizes have become more proactive in their marketing efforts. While marketing was once the exclusive domain of personal injury lawyers, attorneys in all areas of the law are beginning to realize that all little “piggies” must eventually go to market.

Interestingly, while lawyers have been slow to embrace this reality, I suspect that we will quickly make up for lost time. In fact, if we’re not careful, we’re bound to become a little overzealous. Obviously, this wouldn’t be good for a profession whose members are currently regarded just above head lice in terms of popularity. (Sadly, head lice have us beat in terms of affordability.)

We lawyers aren’t known for our creativity. By nature and training, we seek precedent. Therefore, I fear some law firms will begin to air knockoffs of famous commercials from the past.

I shudder at the possibility. Will I turn on my television one day to see a little old lady standing at a counter, yelling, “Where’s the brief? Where’s the brief?” Or perhaps, even worse, we’ll see one law firm touting its associates as the lawyers “that just keep going and going and going …”

[….]

Of course, no media campaign would be complete without newspaper advertising. A simple quarter-page ad reading “Integrity. Excellence. Service.” would be great. Yet, I already suspect that soon enough, lawyers will want to get more bang for the advertising buck. Therefore, before long, we’ll start to see law ads in the sports section featuring scantily-clad women with captions that read, “For a hot IPO, call Jackie and her friends at Forrest, Gump and Jennings.”

[….]

OK, OK! Perhaps I’ve taken this a little too far. Except for collections attorneys, none of us would stoop that low. Yet, the point still remains that we should all strive to conduct our marketing efforts with the utmost dignity and class. After all, to borrow a phrase from the classic Right Guard commercials of the 1980s, “Anything else would be uncivilized.”

Uh huh, sure Mr. Carter. ;-D He’s not the same as the ABA Journal’s The Rodent, but Mr. Carter is nicely funny.

Take a moment to reflect on D-Day and the passing of former President Ronald Reagan.

Update: dentist visit took long; cavities filled; dentist giving his tips. Dentist does Sundays because he’s the Chinatown sort who’d be open. (got to love the Chinatown sort, especially when they have suitable American education and training).

More update: Smarty Jones, that Philadelphia horse who didn’t win the Triple Crown after all, is promoted in the NY tabloids as “Smarty Pooper.” Yeah, wit isn’t the greatest strengths of newspaper headlines anymore. But, I suppose congrats goes to the horse Birdstone for being a spoiler.

Flipping through the NY Times wedding sections (I just do that once in awhile in case someone from my alma maters is in there or in case the little blurb has some interesting social implications reflecting modern society), I came across this fascinating wedding announcement. Folks who have done bar review will know what I mean. (not sure if it counts as public info, so I won’t directly refer to the personnages mentioned in this article; what say you, ladies and gentlemen attorneys?).

A link I’ve been meaning to include: StarTrek.com had the latest e-chat with Scott Bakula, actor portraying Capt. Archer on “Star Trek: Enterprise.” The most amusing interlude:

simon c: Is Scott Bakula your real name or is that one of those really cool made up stage names?

SB: My real name is Denny Crane. [The name of William Shatner’s character on “The Practice” and its impending spinoff. ]

;-D Hehehe, Scott Bakula, a.k.a. the ex-Sam Beckett of the series “Quantum Leap,” has a sense of humor (and watches tv!!!).

Tony awards tonight: I watched most of it. Very interesting. “Avenue Q” won best musical – looked like a lot of fun. Was amazed that “I am My Own Wife” won the big awards – it’s a show that pushed boundaries, particularly when its male star played all the roles, including that of an East German transvestite. Ah, and Hugh Jackman, the award show host/star and winner for “The Boy from Oz.” Uh hmm. Jackman’s attractive and a great singer and dancer. May America appreciate its stage traditions again; I’m sorely tempted to see the shows now after having watched the Tony show. Congratulations to the winners.

Been behind on Slate.com articles. But, note the fascinating article analyzing David Letterman. Slate associate editor Bryan Curtis concludes that Letterman has gone soft and becoming Leno-like. I can’t quite agree with Curtis; I don’t know if it’s correct to say that Letterman’s Leno-like, but he has softened around the edges. I also don’t quite like the increasingly obvious promote-my-latest-project stuff of the celebrity appearances on Letterman’s show, but it’s not like his guests have never done that before his surgeries and his current domestic life. I still prefer Letterman’s interviewing over Leno (when Letterman’s interested in his guests, there’s a real sense of conversation and sincerity in the guest and in Letterman).

Enjoy the week…