Miscellaneous

Someone showed up here looking

Posted on July 13, 2009
Someone showed up here looking for Joseph G. Makowski, the former judge who tried to fix a DWI for a lawyer friend. The DA reckoned that prosecuting a DWI lawyer was more important than going after a crooked judge, and gave Mr. Makowski a walk when he agreed to step down from the bench...

Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with

Posted on July 13, 2009
Don't get me wrong, I'm fine with Al Franken on the Judiciary Committee, but it used to be the only committee in the Senate that had a membership requirement. You had to be a lawyer back in the day, not an unreasonable requirement in my view. When did that change, I wonder?

We've presently embroiled in a

Posted on July 12, 2009
We've presently embroiled in a lawsuit that has me deposing representatives of the Catholic Church, and as I was walking to the office of my adversary the other day I was thinking about the place the Church presently occupies in intellectual discourse...

I am all about Lawyers in Movies

Posted on July 11, 2009
I am all about Lawyers in Movies these days, in preparation for my class, and this makes me want to watch any kind of movie whatsoever that doesn't have a lawyer in it. "North by Northwest" doesn't quite qualify-- there is a lawyer on hand to defend Cary Grant from a DWI charge-- but even so, it is close to time for me to watch it again...

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Howard Dean tells it like it is,

Posted on July 10, 2009
Howard Dean tells it like it is, as is his habit. ESQ: Boil it down, if you would. Why isn't it working even if you do have insurance? HD: Because it's too expensive. The private sector can't manage costs. Health care is one of the few places - defense is another - that the government works more efficiently and more effectively than the private sector...

The simple truth of the matter

Posted on July 09, 2009
The simple truth of the matter is that Ghostbusters is the greatest film ever made. And "Be Kind, Rewind" is runner-up. (Via Kottke.)And speaking of movies, there was a time when you could get a pretty lively discussion going over the question of whether Dustin Hoffman or Al Pacino was the better actor...

Interesting (albeit irritating)

Posted on July 08, 2009
Interesting (albeit irritating) liquor law decision out of the Second Circuit: Arnold's Wines Inc. v. Boyle. The plaintiffs are a wine retailer in Indiana who would like to sell directly to New York consumers and two New York residents who would like to be able to buy and receive wine directly from out-of-state retailers...

We are talking about Public Officers

Posted on July 08, 2009
We are talking about Public Officers Law §§ 41 and 42. § 41talks about the procedure to be followed in filling vacancies in the office of Comptroller and Attorney-General. It is silent on the issue of how to fill vacancies in the office of lieutenant-governor...

I'm not sure where I found Send

Posted on July 07, 2009
I'm not sure where I found Send Me Your Head, and I don't recall when, either, but here it is. Karen Schmidt is an artist who is working on a project that requires her to paint many 3? x 3? portraits, so she is soliciting headshots. I like the fact that she reports what she is listening to and what she is reading as she does each portraits (WHYY and "The View From Castle Rock" by Alice Munro), and I like the way the project combines digital and plastic arts...

Stephen Fry:"So what is quintessentially

Posted on July 07, 2009
Stephen Fry:"So what is quintessentially American? Apple pie or Apple computers? Walmart or Wall Street? Trump Towers or Twin Towers? Jimmi Hendrix or Jimmy Stewart? Opportunity or opportunism? Small town courtesy or small-minded bigotry. Hearty milk and cookies or Harvey Milk and hookers...

Palin and Stanford and Spitzer--

Posted on July 06, 2009
Palin and Stanford and Spitzer-- and I'm sure there are others that I'm not coming up with at the moment-- doesn't it seem like there is an unusual amount of crazy going on in the statehouses lately?

There's been a slew of interesting

Posted on July 06, 2009
There's been a slew of interesting people dying lately: Jacko, of course, and poor Farah, who deserved a weekend news cycle to herself, just on the strength of that Noxzema commercial with Joe Namath. I really should get around to programing a Karl Malden retrospective, and what about Steve McNair?The obit that really grabs me though is Allen Klein's...

The trendy sandwich of the moment

Posted on July 04, 2009
The trendy sandwich of the moment is the bánh mì, a Vietnamese composition which includes thinly sliced pickled carrots and daikon, onions, cucumbers, cilantro, jalapeño peppers and meat (or tofu, in theory). Typically the meat is roasted or grilled pork, ham, and/or paté...

I wish that Independence Day observations

Posted on July 04, 2009
I wish that Independence Day observations didn't center so much on triumphal celebrations of militarism. The least flattering qualities of the Unites States are on display when we march out representatives of the armed services. Everybody's got an army, but nobody else has a constitution that's like ours...

"What Would Keith Richards Do?

Posted on July 03, 2009
"What Would Keith Richards Do? Daily Affirmations from a Rock and Roll Survivor" is an actual book. I really feel like we were so in front of this thing....The author has a recommended playlist, "[A] little bit of Stones music, a little more of Richards' solo work, but mostly...

Tom Robbins makes a good point:

Posted on July 02, 2009
Tom Robbins makes a good point: lost in the story of the New York State Senate's dysfunction is the fact that Steve Pigeon and Tom Golisano's coup has derailed a number of worthwhile progressive changes.Pigeon is the kind of political operative that I find the most despicable-- he's a lever-puller...

Awful Library Books is is a collection

Posted on July 02, 2009
Awful Library Books is is a collection of items that are "old, obsolete, awful or just plain stupid". If by "stupid" you mean "awesome."

This list of The 20 Greatest Dylan

Posted on July 01, 2009
This list of The 20 Greatest Dylan Songs was starting to annoy me, but I liked the fact that "Mississippi" made the cut, and I like the surprise ending.

A happy surprise last night, "Counselor

Posted on June 30, 2009
A happy surprise last night, "Counselor At Law", William Wyler's adaptation of a play by Elmer Rice, featuring John Barrymore, from 1933.

I was not inclined to write about

Posted on June 29, 2009
I was not inclined to write about Michael Jackson. I suppose it is notable that he was some kind of template for so many things-- race, most notably, but sexual persona as well, and other things. How peculiar that a person so unlike anyone else could nevertheless be the focus of so many other people's projections...

The sentencing memo submitted by

Posted on June 27, 2009
The sentencing memo submitted by the US Attorney in the Madoff case makes for pretty amusing reading. I'm inclined to believe that the government tends to over-reach when it comes to sentencing. The US routinely imposes terms which are grotesque by the standards of other Western nations...

Top Ten Worst Rock Star Actors.

Posted on June 26, 2009
Top Ten Worst Rock Star Actors. With a little work I'll bet you could work out an algorithm which would predict this-- the more iconic as a rock star, the worse the performance. I'm not sure I agree with the ranking here-- I found Jagger surprisingly good in Performance...

Slate has been featuring a week-long

Posted on June 25, 2009
Slate has been featuring a week-long discussion among Walter Dellinger, Linda Greenhouse, and Dahlia Lithwick about the Supreme Court term just past, and the Sotomayor nomination. I like Professor Dellinger's observation: "There is no better example of the false triumph of logic over experience than the 1896 decision in Plessey v...

It is early days, but Wilco's "You

Posted on June 24, 2009
It is early days, but Wilco's "You Never Know" is a serious contender for My Personal Hit Single of the Summer.

What kind of gonif steals from

Posted on June 23, 2009
What kind of gonif steals from Sandy Koufax? The Bernie Madoff kind. I suppose one might argue that he prayed upon the greedy, and no doubt there were people and institutions that should have known better, but at the end of the day the magnitude of the money this guy stole is just so staggering that it takes a special kind of chutzpah to argue that the court should set aside the "hysteria" generated by the largest Ponzi scheme in history and give Mr...

Why didn't I know that the Rolling

Posted on June 22, 2009
Why didn't I know that the Rolling Stones had done a Rice Krispies commercial?

Horrible Tattoos. This kind of

Posted on June 20, 2009
Horrible Tattoos. This kind of thing is always hilarious. I happened upon the site in the comments to this, from Ann Althouse's site, also funnier than hell.

I'd like it better if the ratio

Posted on June 20, 2009
I'd like it better if the ratio of Eric Clapton to Lester Bangs was reversed, but this is an interesting clip all the same. (Via rockcritics.com.)

Heavy Rotation: Twenty Writers

Posted on June 19, 2009
Heavy Rotation: Twenty Writers on the Albums That Changed Their Lives sounds like a great idea, but the examples aren't exciting me. I'd say that this sort of thing is better done in the 33 1/3 series. Just the fact that a 33 1/3 author picks the record in question tells you a lot, and then they write about it, sometimes including personal insights, sometimes not...

Timothy Noah provides a good overview

Posted on June 17, 2009
Timothy Noah provides a good overview of the world's health care systems by way of a review of T.R. Reid's forthcoming book. It is extremely irritating to consider that the US system essentially combines the worst features of every other plan out there...

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