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Houston's Clear Thinkers 

Wide-ranging observations on law, business, medicine, culture, sports, and other matters of general interest to members of the Houston business, professional, and academic communities.
Post Frequency: 4.2/day Last Entry: July 20, 2010 at 03:01:00 Recent Entries: 746
By Tom Kirkendall
Go to Houston's Clear Thinkers, find other Legal Commentary blogs, or browse all law blogs.
Saturday Night Dinner
Posted on November 22, 2009My talented wife's lovely salad with a glass of Aymara Merlot Reserve 2006 (Argentina). Delightful!...
Gus Dies
Posted on November 21, 2009Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove is one of the best Texas novels of our time. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was later made into a wonderful television mini-series, which starred Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones as the iconic former Texas...
The headline says it all
Posted on November 20, 2009The fundamental problem with the American health care finance system is that reliance on tax-deductible, employer-based health insurance and government subsidized insurance (such as Medicaid, Medicare) created a culture since WWII in which consumers of health care at the...
What price for taking on this risk?
Posted on October 01, 2009I've never really understood the basis of the widespread criticism that professional football players are paid too much. In light of the pubic disclosure of the findings of a National Football League-sponsored study regarding the high rate of dementia...
Fearless Critic 2010 is here
Posted on September 30, 2009The best local restaurant evaluation guide -- Fearless Critic Houston Restaurant Guide 2010 -- is now available. The brutally honest restaurant guide is put together by a group of undercover local critics who "dine incognito, don't accept freebies, and...
Why pay even more?
Posted on September 29, 2009In addition to being quite frustrating from a purely football standpoint, attending Houston Texans games is incredibly expensive. And as ESPN.com's Lestor Munson points out, if the NFL has its way in the American Needle case currently pending before....
2009 Weekly local football review
Posted on September 28, 2009(AP Photo/Dave J. Phillip; previous weekly reviews for this season are here) Houston Cougars 29 Texas Tech 28 In one of the most entertaining games of the young season, the now 12th-ranked Cougars (3-0) pulled out the victory over...
Porta San Niccolò
Posted on September 25, 2009As seen from a patio of Museo Pietro Annigoni at Villa Bardini on Costa San Giorgio in Florence....
The Duomo from San Marco
Posted on September 22, 2009The dome of Florence?s Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore from inside the former Dominican convent, Museo di San Marco....
San Miniato
Posted on September 18, 2009The view of the San Miniato Church and Piazzale Michelangelo overlooking Florence, Italy from the Ponte alle Grazie Bridge....
Pizzeria I Tarocchi, Florence, Italy
Posted on September 17, 2009Prosciutto and Mushroom Pizza from one of Florence?s best pizzerias. Pure heaven for around ten bucks....
While you're at it, Judge Rakoff
Posted on September 16, 2009The legal and business communities are still buzzing over U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff's scathing refusal earlier in the week to approve the proposed $33 million "settlement" (i.e., sweep under the rug) between the SEC and Bank of America...
Does anyone take John McClain seriously?
Posted on September 15, 2009Please indulge me one last Texans-related post for the week. John McClain, the lead Chronicle sportswriter covering the Texans, condemned this past Sunday's Texans' loss as the worst in the team's history. Now that normally wouldn't be all that...
2009 Weekly local football review
Posted on September 14, 2009(AP Photo/Dave J. Phillip; previous weekly reviews for this season are here) Jets 24 Texans 7 Well, as one salty high school football coach used to put it, "That went over about as well as a fart in church!"...
Townes, Pancho & Lefty
Posted on September 12, 2009The late Townes Van Zandt tells how he met Pancho & Lefty in Brenham. And almost 10 years later, he delivers arguably his best television performance of his legendary song:...
Houston Texans, Year Eight
Posted on September 11, 2009Year Eight of the Houston Texans begins this Sunday with a home game against the Jets, so it's time for my sixth annual preview of the team (previous annual previews are here). Largely ignored amidst the inexplicable interest over...
The Landry's debacle
Posted on September 10, 2009There are bad stock plays and there are horrible stock plays. And then there is Houston-based Landry's Restaurants, Inc. This story began back in July of 2007 when the company announced that it was delinquent in its regulatory filings...
Innovative teaching
Posted on September 09, 2009Having been raised by one, I've always been drawn to great teachers wherever I find them. Jeff Ritter is a young golf teaching professional in the Phoenix area who combines excellent analytical ability with formidable communication skills to provide....
Understanding storytelling
Posted on September 08, 2009When young attorneys ask me how they can become more effective advocates in the courtroom, I usually tell them: "Become better at telling stories." Several years ago, Derek Sivers interviewed the late Kurt Vonnegut, who was no slouch as...
Love at the Five and Dime
Posted on September 07, 2009Born in Seguin and now of Austin, the great Texas singer-songwriter, Nanci Griffith....
Confession and Avoidance
Posted on September 06, 2009As our own country confronts the difficult issues involved in conducting war, it seems appropriate to recall the closing defense argument in one of the all-time great lawyer movies, Breaker Morant....
Crunchy excellence
Posted on September 05, 2009Continuing on the thread of creative advertising, check out this brilliant series of Cinnamon Toast Crunch commercials by McCann Erickson/Campbell Mithun. ...
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Dumb Texas Laws
Stupid Laws in the Lone Star State
Can I be held responsible for paying child support if I signed a birth certificate of a child that was not mine (am not the biological father)?
Get yourself some legal counsil straigth away. Explain you situation to him/her ...
What can I say without libeling?
You moral nazi. Are you kidding me? It is her personal choice, leave her alone. ...
Hi. If a woman is pregnant and the father requests she abort (because he doesnt want to be a father) and the woman refuses, can he still be made to pay child support if: 1. he IS the father 2. he IS the father but his na
Yes if he is teh father he can be made to pay.
It doesn't matter if h...
My father is aging. We both agree we need to secure property that has been in the family well over sixty years. The problem is my uncle name was previously on the property who is now deceased and also took out two loa
buy the house from him . that would pay the old loan and title the property to y...
How to prevent an arrest from appearing in the local newspaper?
Dont know the law in Minnesota but in most jurisdictions an arrest is a matter o...

Can I be held responsible for paying child support if I signed a birth certificate of a child that was not mine (am not the biological father)?
Get yourself some legal counsil straigth away. Explain you situation to him/her ...
What can I say without libeling?
You moral nazi. Are you kidding me? It is her personal choice, leave her alone. ...
Hi. If a woman is pregnant and the father requests she abort (because he doesnt want to be a father) and the woman refuses, can he still be made to pay child support if: 1. he IS the father 2. he IS the father but his na
Yes if he is teh father he can be made to pay.
It doesn't matter if h...
My father is aging. We both agree we need to secure property that has been in the family well over sixty years. The problem is my uncle name was previously on the property who is now deceased and also took out two loa
buy the house from him . that would pay the old loan and title the property to y...
How to prevent an arrest from appearing in the local newspaper?
Dont know the law in Minnesota but in most jurisdictions an arrest is a matter o...








