« July 2007 | Main | September 2007 »
August 31, 2007
Former Durham DA Mike Nifong back in court
See here, from The Chronicle, Duke's daily newspaper.
UPDATE 9/1/07: "Ex-Durham DA sentenced to one day in jail"
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)
Two posts you should read today
How to define your niche, at Jim Hassett's Legal Business Development.
Hey Mister, Can you spare a Dime....Or a Client?, at Tom Kane's Legal Marketing Blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 06:20 AM | Comments (0)
August 30, 2007
Happy Birthday, Minor Wisdom.
Three years ago New Orleans-based Ray Ward, our favorite lawyer-as-human, Renaissance Man, and guardian of the King's English, started his fine Minor Wisdom. "Please don't tell my mother/I'm a saloon and a moonshine lover." --L. Nyro
Posted by JD Hull at 10:37 PM | Comments (0)
Ruthie's Excellent U.S. Adventure
Ruthie of Ruthie's Law, GeekLawyer's former co-blogger, and allegedly both alluring and sexually acquistive, posts about it in part here. Her trip will be in September and to a Midwestern city, where she hopes to meet my boss--who doesn't like the Midwest much and doesn't sound much like The Woodman. But WAC?, currently headed to Monterey, indeed is an accomplished philanderer in any jurisdiction, and does in my view sound a bit disturbed from time to time.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 04:16 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2007
Up in Monterey
Alaska, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and San Diego (think of the latter as Cincy with decent weather, an ocean, much higher prices) within 10 days time in that sequence--and their not so subtle differences in light, space, time zones, flora and fauna--will put the zap on anyone's head. For the next 5 days, and over Labor Day, I'll go to Big Sur and then Cannery Row to re-group, sharpen tools, re-read the rules, meet with some serious idea mongers and try out new ideas of my own.
In addition to marketing, customer service, foreign affairs, IT, global warming, the future of the stage, the history of Europe and fly-fishing as a "now" spiritual exercise, there will be low-keyed talk of politics in hushed tones: Hillary, Obama, Rudy, the old AG/new AG thing, and of course concern and sporadic gloating about the new Bauman-Hinson-esque Foley-Craig congressional closet gay syndrome, which Holden Oliver (allegedly a "D") has already posted about in spectacularly poor taste.
Well, Holden's a fine lawyer, and a funny dude. And like the passable poet he is, Holden is mainly suggestive but correct: when it became painfully clear that the Democratic Party couldn't do anything right for 8 years, the GOP stepped up like champs to help.
Great country or what?
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
"Wretched human, make that next martini bone dry..."
The Dogs of Score. AP reports that Helmsley leaves her dog $12 million in trust.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Humans to blame for hot summer?
That's the word, at least for last summer, from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce. See here, from MSNBC.com.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 04:57 AM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2007
Leave Out the Parts that People Will Skip
Thanks to Pat Lamb for pointing out this post at BlogBloke.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 05:01 AM | Comments (0)
"Name's Larry--I work over near Union Station--just hate the echo in this one, don't you?"
Sen. Craig breaks bad. Here from AP, and here from the Washington Post. And Roll Call, dang!
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:55 AM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2007
John Warner finally gets his mojo working.
He was elected to the Senate from Virginia as an "R" when I worked on Capitol Hill, just before I entered private practice. To me, he was that earnest ex-Secretary of the Navy (under Richard Nixon) who was hardworking, ambitious, nice, smooth and at turns almost too "senatorial". But John Warner was interesting, with something genuine and good under all that polish, and you wondered about him. He had had a few breaks. He had his own bucks, came to the Senate after
the Republican primary winner died in a plane accident, and was married (bonus!) to Elizabeth Taylor, who was a natural as a campaigner and charmed Virginia voters. However, on military and foreign affairs, the areas he loved and worked at, Warner over the years (to me) was not as accomplished as John McCain, Dick Lugar or Joe Biden. But over the past few days, we're thinking he's got serious substance and stones after all. AP excerpt:
WASHINGTON (AP)- Sen. John Warner's suggestion that some troops leave Iraq by the end of the year has roiled the White House, with administration officials saying they've asked the influential Republican to clarify that he has not broken politically with President Bush.
But Warner said Friday he stands by his remarks and that he took no issue with how his views have been characterized.
"I'm not going to issue any clarification," Warner, R-Va., said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:20 PM | Comments (0)
Update: Gonzales is out; Clement is acting AG
From MSNBC.com.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 02:22 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review #123
Blawg Review #123 is up at Todd Smith's Texas Appellate Law Blog.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:03 AM | Comments (0)
August 25, 2007
Redux: GCs: Do you really need Big, Clumsy & Unresponsive in 50 cities worldwide?
If you are a hiring in-house counsel working for a great company doing business everywhere, is there any reason to keep engaging your US or UK-based law firm that expanded in the past few years all over the globe like a spastic hamburger franchise? When those firms expanded internationally, they diluted their talent and "gene" pool, and their value to your company, and you know it. They acquired lawyers and law firms in the US and abroad they wouldn't have looked at twice 15 years ago. Our firm's international group, the IBLC, is a clearinghouse of high-end corporate law talent in smaller firms all over the world.
Hull McGuire PC has been busy helping mold this group for 9 years. We know each other well, see each other often, and work together regularly. There are IBLC members in over 70 cities worldwide. Forty firms are particularly active. Member firms range between 5 and 130 lawyers, all of whom who could work at any mega-firm now or of yester year--and so they charge accordingly. Not cheap. The firms compete on service, not price. There are other tightly-knit international groups, perhaps as many as 400; the IBLC is one of several that works.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)
August 24, 2007
"Farnsworth, Jesus has asked me to talk with you about your performance over the past few months..."
Yesterday we found these two articles at London-based The Economist: "Praying for Gain", on the increasing use (often-outsourced) of corporate chaplains in U.S. companies, and "The Bond Between God and Power", a review of new book by a Rice University prof on the rise of evangelicals in business, government and the entertainment industry. Whether you approve of them or not, these trends just may have legs.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
August 22, 2007
U.S. national anthem when WAC? was in school.
It reigned between 1971 and 1978, I think, but those years are hazy. It's a lot easier to sing than the one a fancy DC lawyer wrote in 1814. Fewer and easier lyrics, notes you can hit. And yeah buddy you can duck walk. It's still Summer. So get out of your cars, offices and bad marriages, and dance around before it's too late. Play it.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:18 PM | Comments (0)
Blawg Review #122 - The Blawg Review Syllabus
See this week's edition of Blawg Review at David Gulbransen's Preaching to the Perverted.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 06:20 AM | Comments (0)
August 21, 2007
That Lawyer Dude's Week.
See That Lawyer Dude's (American Anthony Colleluori) post yesterday "Week in Review". TLD is consistently thoughtful, interesting and fun to read. Anthony's personality shines through his posts. Makes you want to have him over for dinner.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
The Economist: Perth and Cleveland trump Paris and New York in global livability.
"Cities are durable. Most last longer than the countries that surround them, or indeed any other human institutions. But some thrive, whereas others merely mark time (Cleveland, Minsk, Pyongyang), go into apparently long-term decline (Detroit, New Orleans, Venice) or disappear (Tenochtitlán, Tikal, Troy). What are the characteristics of a successful city?" --The Economist, May 3, 2007
They must reinvent themselves. And WAC? thinks it is sad that ex-great republic Venice is indeed becoming a museum piece. Anyway, see this one from The Economist based on 2005 stats. Paris gets a global livability ranking of 16th, increasingly expensive Vancouver is 1st, Frankfurt (Germany) 11th, Pittsburgh and Cleveland are tied for 26th, DC and Detroit tied for 41st, and London is 47th. Huh? Well, as the article notes, you get no points for thrills (although Pittsburgh and Detroit--I've lived in both--are said to be unbearably exciting for ibogaine fanciers). Our all-round favorite based on "livability"? Vienna and Geneva, a tie. Most enduring international cities based on "reality"? That's easy: NYC, London and Paris.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
All eyes on Countrywide Financial
(NYSE: CFC) Here, from the International Herald Tribune.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 05:53 AM | Comments (0)
More Brits on trips: Ormond Castle
And for a peek at English lawyer down time spent more productively, if less spectacularly, see Tessa's write-up on Ormond Castle in southern Ireland at her Landlord Law Blog.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:17 AM | Comments (0)
August 20, 2007
Barrister runs amok at North Yorkshire hotel.
Lawyer guest to bridesmaid at the Harewood Hall: "I'll show you a white rose..." Well, last week there was bad craziness in England's north country showing that the wild man trial lawyer-uberboozer thing is not limited to America. Courtesy of London's Charon QC and Hertfordshire's Justin Patten, see this story, covered by the Telegraph.co.uk.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2007
Business, Law, Clients and The Blues are now International.
Im gonna write a letter to china
See if my babys over there.
Im gonna write a letter to china
See if my babys over there.
If she aint up in the hawaiian islands,
Must be in ethiopia somewhere.
R. Johnson, "Dust My Broom", 1936
While I was in a part of the U.S. originally settled by Asians, and later conquered by Russians and Scandanavians, Ray Ward in the Big Easy reminded me by e-mail about Dust My Broom, this classic Robert Johnson song that every R&B musician, from dozens of countries, with or without its ever-changing lyrics, wants to cover and re-cast. It's about loss, choices, betrayal, hurt, the world, the stock market, mortgage-backed bonds, the Cosmos and Everything. And, of course, about Keith Richards and Rod Stewart. Well, use your imagination, ok?
Posted by JD Hull at 10:09 AM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2007
Greatness in Wales
Normally, WAC? dislikes most television in any country because it steals our time to create, think original thoughts, become who we really are, and pick up girls. But thanks to Brit TV we learn that Paul Potts, a regular guy from Cardiff, was born and can sing.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
U.S. Exceptionalism and the ICC
Do see "The End of Exceptionalism in War Crimes" by David Scheffer, Richard Cooper and Juliette Voinov Kohler at The Harvard International Review. It's subtitled "The International Criminal Court and America’s Credibility in the World". Excerpt:
Reality is knocking and its name is the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). Any claim that the US may have to moral high ground in foreign policy necessarily requires that the United States join the ICC and do so relatively soon. The United States needs the ICC to help restore its global credibility, discipline its own decision-making, and strengthen judicial intervention against atrocity crimes.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:54 PM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2007
Overheard in a Los Angeles restaurant
"We are all in the business of selling solutions. Products and goods are just details."
Posted by JD Hull at 08:51 PM | Comments (0)
Skype users hit with outage
See here, from today's San Francisco Chronicle.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 09:32 AM | Comments (0)
August 16, 2007
Two Must-Read Posts...
One by Allison Shields (Writing Articles to Increase Your Client Base - Do You Need a Shift in Your Mindset?) and one by Bruce MacEwen (Strategy Means Combining Two Disparate Concepts: And Other Thoughts).
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:33 AM | Comments (0)
August 15, 2007
Jim Hassett: Cross Selling
See Jim Hassett's post on cross selling, a favorite WAC? subject.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 07:57 AM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2007
Blawg Review #121: The Inspired Blawg Review
The Inspired Solo (Sheryl Sisk Schelin) is this week's host of Blawg Review. This edition of Blawg Review is the Theme-Free Review.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 06:10 AM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2007
91% of Lawyers Unhappy about Lack of Marketing Training in Law School
Courtesy Larry Bodine's Law Marketing Portal, see this interesting Daniel Guttman article re: Buy-Laws' recent survey on lawyer satisfaction with marketing training in law school. Daniel's conclusion: "most lawyers, to use a Nixon-era phrase, are left twisting slowly in the wind." We at WAC? particularly enjoyed the comments to the survey at the end of Daniel's article.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:21 AM | Comments (0)
Anchorage, Alaska
627,000 people live in Alaska, and 275,000 of those are here in Anchorage. The people of Anchorage will probably consider naming their next airport after someone no longer living and capable of being investigated by the FBI.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:02 AM | Comments (0)
August 09, 2007
Johnson & Johnson sees red, sues Red Cross
From MSNBC.com, see the story here. J&J is demanding that the Red Cross stop using a red cross symbol on goods it sells to the public.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:40 PM | Comments (0)
Powell secretly writing memoir on Iraq war?
Ex-Clinton wonk Sidney Blumenthal asks in Salon: Will The Real Colin Powell Stand Up?
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:38 PM | Comments (0)
August 08, 2007
Tom Kane: Listening
Like any number of lawyers, or people you'll find in a U.S. law school, I don't listen that well, even though it's part of my job. As a first child, I was encouraged to "achieve"--but also to talk-talk-talk, not listen. In my case there are other character flaws in play too numerous or disturbing to list here. But on a bad day, and especially if I am excited about something, my poor listening skills border on both rudeness and world-class dumbness. Well, the always-even keeled Tom Kane reminds us that listening is an art. And Tom even mentions that our mutual friend Jim Hassett, who also writes and coaches on listening, turned him on to the International Listening Association. Blimey! Say what?
Posted by JD Hull at 11:29 PM | Comments (0)
August 07, 2007
Arnie Herz: It's personal.
See this one (along with the linked-to materials) by Arnie Herz at Legal Sanity. I first saw this post last week, got distracted with other things, and then was reminded again today that it's out there and how great it is by the always-vigilant Stark County Law Library Blog.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Murdoch and the "Timeses"
Hey, this is international news, and it affects YOU. In Newsweek, Johnnie Roberts writes wonderfully-entitled "Forward Into Battle". Excerpt:
With plans to expand the [Wall Street] Journal's political and international coverage, Murdoch is itching for a fight with the nation's presumed newspaper of record, The New York Times, as well as the Financial Times of London. "I want it to be more competitive with The New York Times," Murdoch told Times columnist Joseph Nocera on Saturday. Last week, after the deal was clinched, the Journal's editorial page, accusing Murdoch's critics of "commercial" and "ideological" motives, blasted the two Timeses for giving credence to concerns that Murdoch will turn the paper into a mouthpiece for his own right-wing political and business interests.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
Rule Seven: Know the Client
Here.
....Take time out to learn the stock price, industry, day-to-day culture, players and overall goals of your client. Visit their offices and plants. Do it free of charge....Devise a system to keep abreast.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
August 06, 2007
3rd Carnival of Trust
The Editor at Blawg Review is pulling double duty this week, hosting both Blawg Review #120 and the 3rd Carnival of Trust (a monthly blog carnival where selected hosts feature ten of the most interesting blog posts they can find related to trust). Make sure you read both of these great posts.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Losing it in America
AP: French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on holiday in America, loses temper with press. Reuters: Talented actor/world class player Charlie Sheen, allegedly eyeing marriage again (his 4th), loses mind. Washington Post: GAO says U.S. Defense Department loses a whole mess of guns intended for Iraqi security forces.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Sensitive Litigation Moment No. 27: When Men Were Men...
Here, folks: ADR, the old way.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Prof. Kingsfield derides again: Blawg Review #120
So you call me a son-of-a-bitch, Mr. Hart?
Yes, sir.
Well, that's the most intelligent thing we've heard today.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Strongest small business areas in US: Ah, Albany, lad, what's your secret?
Whether 250 years old or a start-up, most professional services firms in the U.S. and Europe--including most people's idea of a large law, accounting or consulting firm--are small businesses. According to BizJournals, the American markets with strongest growth of small businesses per 100,000 residents from 2000 to 2005 were the following. Note that "southern" American urban areas seem to do especially well. One exception: more wintery Albany, New York. WAC?, cursed and blessed with some damn strong Gaelic DNA, attributes this to Albany's large, colorful and hard-working American-Irish population:
Sarasota-Bradenton, Fla. 9.3%
San Diego 8.2%
Jacksonville 7.2%
Orlando 6.4%
Oxnard-Thousand Oaks, Calif. 5.3%
Miami-Fort Lauderdale 5.3%
Albany, N.Y. 5.2%
Virginia Beach-Norfolk 5.2%
Tampa-St. Petersburg 5.1%
Los Angeles 4.7%
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)
August 05, 2007
Update: New Non-U.S. Blogs
Over the last 18 months, WAC? has worked hard to discover and share with you non-U.S. blogs, sites and resources. See here, here and especially here, our "World Cup" Blawg Review of last summer. We list the good ones--active, high quality and preferably in English--on the lower left hand side of this site. Today we add more non-U.S. blogs, 136 to be exact, to our Directory of Non-U.S. Blogs, bringing the total number of non-U.S. blogs and sites to 302.
An important "thank you" is in order to the five sources of nearly all of the 136 new sites: Blawg.com (US), China Law Blog (US), Nearly Legal (UK), Charon QC (UK) and Diane Levin (US).
The new blogs come from 19 countries, including Bangladesh, Denmark and Moldova:
Argentina: 1 new site
Derecho y Tecnología, Francisco de Zavalía
Australia: 9
The Australian Professional Liability Blog, Stephen Warne
Australian Technology and IP Business, David Jacobson
IPwar’s, Warwick A. Rothnie
Lightbulb, Noric Dilanchian
Moral Dilemma, Mirko Bagaric
Bangladesh: 2
Bangladesh Open Source Intelligence Monitors Blog
Law Chronicles Online, Adnan Karim
Brazil: 4
Blawg do Escritório Cassiano & Maciel Advogados Associados, Lucas Cassiano
El Derecho Al Derecho, Claudia Duran
Canada: 25
Atlanteknology, R. Charles Perez
C'est é-patent!, Adam Mizera
Chaire en droit de la sécurité et des affaires electroniques, Vincent Gautrais
The Co-co Banana, Jarvis Googoo
CultureLibre, Olivier Charbonneau
Duty to Consult, Ooneesheh Oonaheh
Excess Copyright, Howard Knopf
Hoyes Michalos Ontario Bankruptcy Blog
La pub et le droit, Natalie Gauthier
Now, Why Didn't I Think of That?, Sander Gelsing
Rule of Law, Stan Rule
Venture Law Lines, Suzanne Dingwall Williams
Wines and Information Management (WIM), Dominic Jaar
Wise Law Blog, Gary J. Wise
Chile: 1
Conflictologos, Juan Enrique Egaña G.
China: 42
All Roads Lead to China, Richard Brubaker
Beijing Newspeak, Chris O’Brien
A China Blog on Suzhou Expat Life, Ryan McLaughlin
China Briefing Blog, Dezan Shira & Associates
China Business Blog, Jeremy Gordon
China & Hong Kong Competition Law, Peter Macmillan
China Machete, Xiao Zhu
China Redux, Ben Landy
China Rises, Tim Johnson
Chinese Law Prof Blog, Donald C. Clark
DiligenceChina, Andrew Hupert
Jottings from the Granite Studio
The Opposite End of China, Michael D. Manning
This is China!, Bill Dodson
The Useless Tree, Sam Crane
Denmark: 1
England and Wales: 29
Conflict of Laws, Martin George
IMPACT, Freeth Cartwright LLP
legal spy – UK law from the inside
Prisonlawinsideout, John Hirst
Pupillage and How to Get It, Simon Myerson
European Union: 2
EU Case Law, Lucia Martin
Sociaalrecht, K. Salomez & K. Nevens
France: 2
La protection des marques sur internet, Simon Gobert
Germany: 8
Weblawg.de, Stefan Deyerler
Verschmelzungsbericht, Olaf Mueller-Michaels
Ireland: 1
cearta.ie, Dr. Eoin O’Dell
Italy: 1
Korea: 2
Korea Law Blog, Brandon Carr
Moldova: 1
Law in Moldova, Alexei Ghertescu
Peru: 1
Portugal: 1
Lex Turistica, Manuel David Masseno
Scotland: 1
South Africa: 1
Jacobson Attorneys, Paul Jacobson
Spain: 2
Centro Europeo para el Derecho del Consumo
Posted by Brooke Powell at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
August 04, 2007
China Trade Myths
See "Trade With China: 7 Myths and Facing Protectionism" at Richard Brubaker's All Roads Lead To China and interesting links in his post. Myth No. 5: China doesn’t allow American companies operating there to be profitable.
Posted by JD Hull at 07:44 PM | Comments (0)
August 03, 2007
Crime in SW England: "Serial cyclist groper banned from talking to women for five years"
Can British editors craft headlines or what? Via London-based Ruthie's Law, which has offered commentary in "Sex Pests from the West Country", see this item about an innovative if mildly crazed young Swindonian in the UK's Daily Mail:
A cycling sex pest has been banned from talking to any women for five years after committing a string of mounted indecent assaults.
Paul Jennings, 23, rode up behind five women jogging, cycling or walking around his local park and grabbed their bottoms one evening last April.
He would slam on his brakes when confronted by an angry victim, hurl verbal abuse, blow them a kiss and peddle off.
The father-of-two, from Swindon, was given a sexual offences prevention order forbidding him from approaching any woman he does not know in the open air unless for legitimate reasons.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Mother of All Blogs - Part II: The Poland-Iran Axis
Also, verbatim, from a letter/comment to Iranian president Ahmadinejad at his most merciful and excellent blog:
First of all, I would like to apologise. I cant speak Persian nor Arabic so please excuse me for writing in English. I would like to say that I truly respect you, mr. President. You are a person of deep faith and you keep to your point of view. That is what I value the most. From what youve written on your blog, I can notice that the Iranian people and people from my home country Poland are mentally very similar. I hope our two countries will both keep on developing. Greetings from Poland!
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 10:48 PM | Comments (0)
Surprises: Assume that GCs hate them.
No surprises. If you're an an associate, secretary, assistant, or other employee, it's a good overall rule to keep in mind on the way to work. Partners, from laid-back Perry Como types to volcanic James Woods ones, hate surprises. And the in-house counsel the partner works hard for doesn't like surprises either. Our friend and Chicago trial lawyer Patrick Lamb points out that "no surprises" is a GC's rule; if you've worked with many good GCs--and Pat has--you know what he means. See Pat's post "Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! The Worst Word In The Inhouse Lexicon" at his In Search of Perfect Client Service.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:59 AM | Comments (0)
August 02, 2007
"And as the Greek philosopher Plotinus, who I also heard about at the Deke House at State, said many centuries later..."
The AP reports re: ongoing hearings on the U.S. Attorney firings that today "Bush aide offers little in testimony to Congress". And before an unamused Senate Judiciary Committee, this young guy cites, sort of, the poet Homer, apparently a favorite at the Bush White House:
“I hope that you can appreciate the difficulty of my situation,” [J. Scott] Jennings said. “It makes Odysseus’ voyage between Scylla and Charybdis seem like a pleasure cruise.”
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:58 PM | Comments (0)
Hillary and Rudy each pull ahead
NBC reports that here, based on a Peter Hart/Neil Newhouse bi-partisan poll. "Only" fifteen months to go until November 2008. Nonetheless, ex-political junkie and burned-out fundraiser WAC? just called from an undisclosed hotel in Puebla, Mexico and confidently predicted: new character attacks on Giuliani very soon, that the attacks don't work, and that you now have your two candidates. "And forget about Mitt Romney"--he is sincere and talented, but painfully annoying, and "way too weird for Peoria".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:14 PM | Comments (0)
Most wired American counties are...
The maddeningly-entitled but excellent beSpacific noted last week that the Center for Digital Government announced the below winners for digital innovation in county government. The DC area did especially well:
1st: Montgomery County, Maryland
2nd: Orange County, Florida (tie)
2nd: Anne Arundel County, Maryland (tie)
3rd: Fulton County, Georgia
4th: Fairfax County, Virginia
5th: Snohomish County, Washington
6th: Oakland County, Michigan
7th: Sacramento County, California
8th: Westchester County, New York (tie)
8th: Tulsa County, Oklahoma (tie)
9th: San Diego County, California
10th: Wake County, North Carolina
Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
August 01, 2007
Mother of All Blogs: Iran's new China strategy.
Iranian officials-religious leaders have gone a bit digital. So we'd like Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (listed on lower left of WAC? in international directory) to post a bit more on his personal blog. No posts since March 16. What's the deal? At least Dr. A. still has the blog, and some of the e-mails/comments it attracts are pretty good. From a Chinese student, and verbatim, this is our second favorite:
Dr. Ahmadinejad, it is a pleasesue to read your bolg. I am a Chinese student. I think you are a great person. You give Iran peope many good thinks. I like you very much. I want to make friend with you.
Posted by JD Hull at 05:49 PM | Comments (0)
Happy 2nd Birthday, WAC?
Our first post was two years ago today.
We still think that (1) client and customer service is deficient everywhere, but that lawyers seem to have more trouble executing than others, (2) many of you in smaller firms (under 150 lawyers) are bottom-feeding and bored, and should get off your knees and hunt bigger and more interesting game, and (3) America is just one of many playing fields in the great global game; we are not alone, and your clients already know it.
Finally, we have no idea whether or not blogging is important. We just like it. It's an escape, and turned out to be a great way to meet girls in Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)