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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.
And you thought the TSA was bad?
Posted on July 20, 2010The silliness of the federal government?s security theater policy has long been a common topic on this blog. But if you thought that the government?s security theater jobs program is bad, check out this first installment of the Dana Priest-William Arkin/Washington Post series on the explosion in the hiring of...
The SEC's strike suit against Goldman
Posted on July 19, 2010As noted in April when the Securities and Exchange Commission brought its lawsuit against Goldman Sachs, the case was destined to settle with Goldman paying a hefty settlement, which the SEC announced last week. But Larry Ribstein expands on that thought in this timely post on what the proposed settlement...
Restrepo
Posted on July 18, 2010I caught this remarkable documentary on Friday night at the Angelika. Anyone interested in the issues addressed in this earlier post will not want to miss it....
Fiddling with the Road Hole
Posted on July 17, 2010Geoff Shackelford provides a good overview of how the R&A's fiddling with St. Andrews' iconic 17th hole is likely to have unintended consequences during this weekend's Open Championship....
On the future of education
Posted on July 16, 2010Jesse Schell, who teaches game theory at Carnegie Mellon, provides his spot-on observations regarding the future of teaching and education. (H/T Jon Taplin)....
The Rational Optimist
Posted on July 15, 2010Following on this recent post, here is Matt Ridley's TED lecture:...
Boomtown D.A.
Posted on July 14, 2010After Le Affaire Rosenthal and the ensuing change at the top levels of the Harris County District Attorneys Office over the past couple of years, it?s easy to forget that the local D.A?s office was a model of stability and excellence during the previous generation...
James Brown's Hell
Posted on July 13, 2010Does the end of convicting a business executive of a crime justify the means by which government prosecutors accomplish it? James Brown, the former Merrill Lynch executive and one of the defendants in the Enron-related criminal case known as the Nigerian Barge case, has to be asking himself that question...
The largest psychiatric hospital - America's prisons
Posted on July 12, 2010An insightful Fault Lines segment examines how prison systems have become America's largest psychiatric hospitals, with a substantial focus on the Harris County and Texas prison systems....
The Most Dangerous Man in America
Posted on July 11, 2010From First Run Features (H/T Rhetorics and Heretics)....
The Politics of Ignorance
Posted on July 09, 2010If you tire of the seemingly endless demagogic blather that governmental officials and pundits often pass off as discussion of key societal issues, then be sure to read this insightful Will Wilkinson post on the politics of ignorance: The problem [of ideologues elevating doctrine over wisdom] is heightened by the...
At least tell him that he is a sacrificial lamb
Posted on July 07, 2010Regular readers of this blog are familiar with the technique that federal prosecutors used in the post-Enron era to score easy convictions against businesspeople. Threaten to go Arthur Andersen on a company, offer to let the company off the hook under a deferred prosecution agreement in return for offering up...
"People are actually now sicker as they die"
Posted on July 06, 2010As noted in earlier posts here and here ? as well as in connection with the final years of Dr. Michael DeBakey -- one of the thorniest issues facing reformers of the U.S. health care and health care finance systems is the extraordinary allocation of health care resources to end-of-life...
Is the wild ride of Landry's investors finally over?
Posted on May 25, 2010Owning an interest in Houston-based Landry?s Restaurants, Inc. over the past several years has not been for the faint-hearted. But maybe ? just maybe ? the patience of long-term holders of Landry?s stock is finally going to be rewarded. This story began back in July of 2007 when Landry?s...
The human cost of the criminalization of business
Posted on May 24, 2010In the news and public relations business, Friday afternoon is a good time to float news that someone involved doesn?t want many folks to notice. News tends to die over the weekend. Monday brings new news. Friday?s news is already old. This past Friday?s news along those lines was...
Getting ready to grill steaks?
Posted on May 23, 2010Get some pointers on grilling those Memorial Day Weekend steaks from Epicurious.com?s Elizabeth Karmel....
Au revoir, Roy O
Posted on May 22, 2010Inasmuch as the Stros have been one of the worst teams in Major League Baseball in three of the past four seasons, it?s understandable that longtime Stros ace Roy Oswalt has asked the club to trade him to a contender. Although it almost happened one time before, I was...
Iceland volcano time lapse
Posted on May 21, 2010Check out Sean Stiegemeier's phenomenal piece of time-lapse photography. Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo....
Is freedom possible without wealth?
Posted on May 20, 2010From the fine HBO John Adams mini-series, Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton debate the relative importance of the creation of wealth to American society. Amazingly, the debate lives on today....
So much for the presumption of innocence
Posted on May 19, 2010This post from late last year noted this self-righteous NY Times Magazine piece in which Andrew Meier decried the Russian government's unjust prosecution and treatment of former Yukos chairman, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Meanwhile, the Times and most of the rest of the mainstream media have largely ignored the United States...
The shameful state of the Incarceration Nation
Posted on May 17, 2010The troubling U.S. incarceration rate ? a direct result of the governmental policy of overcriminalization ? has been a frequent topic on this blog (here, here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here and here). In this post from last fall, Scott Henson notes that Kings College in London...
Robert Furst's nightmare ends
Posted on May 15, 2010So, after seven years, the Department of Justice finally rolled over with nary a whimper and agreed to end the absurdly unjust prosecution of former Merrill Lynch banker Robert Furst. As usual, the deal to dismiss all charges against Furst will receive a small fraction of the publicity that the...
The War on Drugs goes viral
Posted on May 14, 2010The perverse damage that federal and state drug prohibition policies impose on American citizens and our neighbors has been a frequent topic on this blog over the years. In this must-read Reason.com article, Radley Balko reviews how America?s drug prohibition policies are increasingly being used as a basis for...
The truly interesting question about Tiger Woods
Posted on May 13, 2010Is not how and when he is going to settle up with Elin. Or even when he is going to play again. No, the most interesting question about Tiger is this -- What has happened to his golf swing? As noted earlier here, I haven?t been comfortable with the...
The Medicaid Contagion
Posted on May 12, 2010This earlier post decried the failure of the Obama Administration?s reform of the U.S. health care finance system to address one of the fundamental problems with the system ? the over-reliance on third-party payor of health care expenses. Take Medicaid, which is the foundation of Obamacare?s insurance-for-all principle...
My favorite Mayor
Posted on May 11, 2010Is unquestionably Las Vegas? Oscar Goodman: Q: Prior to politics, you represented accused organized crime figures. What?s the biggest difference between politics and the mob? A: My clients gave me their word, and their word was their bond. They always paid me...
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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...
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is===1Can 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...
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