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August 29, 2015
Law Profession Quote of the Year.
"As far as I am concerned, associates do not require privacy unless they are on the commode."
--Partner Emeritus commenting to More Bad News For Biglaw Associates? by David Lat at Above the Law
Photo taken in August 1986 believed to be PE.
Posted by JD Hull at 08:14 PM | Comments (0)
August 28, 2015
China Law Blog: China employee non-compete agreements.
This morning Harris Moure's Grace Yang writes about geographic limits in non-compete contracts with employees working in China.
Posted by JD Hull at 12:00 AM | Comments (0)
August 27, 2015
Everyone goes to Rick's.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:27 PM | Comments (0)
Washington Examiner: Ohio GOP Gov. Kasich Rising?
To three older but well-regarded GOP Hill pols, at least, John Kasich is an attractive candidate for president. He's smart, energetic, proven and the governor of a key state for Rs. Has both federal and state chops and very low "jerkness" scores. See "Kasich earning high praise from current and former senators" in yesterday's Washington Examiner, a right-leaning but sane newcomer in Washington, D.C. political journalism. Excerpts:
If elderly current and former senators could pick the Grand Old Party's next presidential nominee, Ohio Gov. John Kasich might have already walked away victorious. For the second time in as many days, the governor has gained the endorsement of a prominent septuagenarian, another Republican politician turned lobbyist.
Former New York Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, 78, endorsed Kasich on Wednesday, following the endorsement his Republican colleague, former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi, 73, made on Tuesday. In a statement released by Kasich's presidential campaign, D'Amato indicated his support hinged on the idea that Kasich remains best capable of winning back the White House.
Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, 80, has not bet the house on Kasich just yet, but he came considerably close on Wednesday. "I'm not going to pick one, but the sleeper in the race in my opinion is John Kasich," Inhofe told Fox 25 in Oklahoma City. "While we have several candidates who are governors, and I like them all, but in terms of what he has done in Ohio, I think, has surpassed them all."
The Buckeye State's governor has performed exceedingly well in recent polling. Kasich's job approval rating matched an "all-time high" in a Quinnipiac University poll released on Tuesday. And a survey released by Public Policy Polling, a left-leaning firm, showed Kasich was the only candidate to defeat the Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton of the 15 Republican candidates tested against her in New Hampshire. Kasich remains tied for seventh place with Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in RealClearPolitics average of national polls.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:27 PM | Comments (0)
August 26, 2015
UPDATED: When are we going to stop treating women lawyers like ne'er-do-wells and screw-ups who require special treatment to succeed?
Look, I would rather work with women lawyers than men lawyers because I think women lawyers, for whatever reason, are generally on balance better planners, thinkers and practitioners, and better with clients, than are men. But who gets to be lead counsel in litigation is ultimately determined by both merit and the client.
When are we going to stop treating women lawyers and other female professionals like ne'er-do-wells and screw-ups who need special treatment to succeed? There's actually a discussion out there on why more women are not lead trial counsel. See this August 1 ABA piece entitled "Why aren't more women lead counsel?" The article grows out of a panel this summer at the ABA Annual Meeting, which in turn had grown out of an American Bar Foundation study. The ABF study among other things found that, unsurprisingly, men were disproportionately appearing as lead counsel in civil cases (based on 558 cases in the Illinois Northern federal district) by 76% to 24%. The study's conclusion is below. Brackets and italics are mine. The italics highlight phrases which I think would be insulting in the extreme to talented women in any profession; the implication in the italics is that women lawyers are ne'er-do-wells, screw-ups and/or congenitally handicapped:
Fostering the success of women litigators redounds to the benefit of clients, who obtain top-notch representation in their cases [Huh? Why does it help clients? More choice?]; to law firms, which have made a substantial investment in hiring and training their women litigators; and to women lawyers themselves, who are able to realize their full potential and advance in their careers. We believe it is imperative for all concerned that women are encouraged and supported in their pursuit of a career in the courtroom and the role of lead counsel at trial.
We hope that this study will heighten awareness about the existence of significant gender disparities in the ranks of lead trial lawyers. We want to spur a dialogue that will result in concrete and effective actions to increase the numbers of women lead trial counsel. These recommended best practices will help women litigators develop their skills and obtain the same opportunities for leadership roles and success in the courtroom as their male colleagues.
Me personally? And professionally? Look, I would rather work with women lawyers generally than with male lawyers because I think women lawyers, for whatever reason, are generally on balance better planners, thinkers and practitioners, and better with clients, than are men. They tend to write better. Much better with deadlines, frankly. They're feisty. Many are as mean as snakes. But who gets to be lead counsel in litigation is ultimately determined by both merit and the client.
For trial work both women and men should be lead counsel (or first chair) if (a) they deserve it based on skills and (b) clients want it. Plenty of women certainly do deserve to be lead counsel based on merit. Lots. They are legion. Are there stats on this? Of course not. Qualitatively, can we say there is currently as much female as there is male first-chair talent? Actually some kind of parity in terms of skill? Are they roughly equal in numbers? It's a hard thing to measure but, no. Probably not.
Litigation is still way overpriced, insane, male-oriented, overly-testosterone-driven and inefficient; I've no numbers (if you do, show me) but my sense is that women over the past two or three decades in private practice, and certainly in larger firms, have had the good sense to chose transactional work and more efficient forms of litigation (e.g., administrative, regulatory, ADR) than state and federal trial court forums where machismo, sporadic irrationality and other forms of male insanity are well-tolerated whether these modalities are working or not. That may change. I see women choosing both conventional trial and appellate work more and more, and getting as good at it as male lawyers or even better. In the meantime, we can assume that no one will be insane enough to suggest that the imbalance between male and female lead counsel be rectified (read: contrived) by a quota system. Right?
More important is the problem of women who want and deserve on the basis of merit to be lead counsel--but really are thwarted or held back by gender-bias. What then? It's a tough question. Here's the tough answer. Right or wrong, clients--not notions of political correctness and private enterprise-side affirmative action--should drive who serves as lead counsel. Law firms are already under tremendous pressures to embrace mediocrity and settle for something less than clients want and deserve. Firms are under no obligation to force clients to "evolve" so that women in litigation are first chairs--even when they merit lead counsel spots on defense or plaintiff teams in the finest litigation shops. Nor should they be. Granted, it's not a fair answer. But it's a client's call.
The ABA article--which makes some good points about former women prosecutors going to law firms before silly notions of "parity" creep into it and the wheels fall off--is here:
If women want to be trial lawyers, the best place to have first-chair opportunities may be with federal prosecutors, according to a recent ABA study. But considering that many assistant U.S. attorneys eventually join big firms as partners, some wonder why there are few women at big law firms leading trials.
“Most male litigators who serve as federal prosecutors, they get their tickets punched. There’s no absence of female lead prosecutors, and they also get gobbled up by big firms. But what happens to them, and why aren’t they serving as lead counsel?” asked Ruben Castillo, chief judge of the Northern District of Illinois U.S. district court.
Castillo spoke on a Saturday panel at the ABA Annual Meeting—“Women as Lead Counsel at Trial: What You Can Do to Take the Lead,” sponsored by the ABA’s Commission on Women in the Profession—that discussed the lack of women serving as lead counsel. He noted that the event had very few men in the audience.
“I’ve been on the bench 21 years, and I would say I’ve had about 14 or 15 cases where the women before me were lead counsel,” Castillo said, adding that he plans to have some sort of conference on the issue in the future.
The panelists focused on a recent study by the American Bar Foundation and the Commission on Women in the Profession titled First Chairs at Trial: More Women Need Seats at the Table (PDF). The study reviewed 600 Northern District of Illinois cases filed in 2013. Out of the 558 civil cases, 76 percent of the lead counsel were men. For the 50 criminal cases, 67 percent of the lead counsel were men. Out of the 50 criminal cases that went to trial, 79 percent of the lawyers serving as lead counsel were men.
Another panelist, Sandra Phillips, noted that she recently hired two women of color to lead two significant class action cases against her employer, Toyota Motors North America.
Phillips, the holding company’s general counsel and chief legal officer, says that she actively seeks female outside counsel, and occasionally gets pushback from law firms. Often, she added, the firms respond that older white males have the most experience and knowledge about her employer, and it would be unfair to assign the work to someone else. “If we’re going to move the needle on this, we need to dispense with this notion of fairness. It’s not fair that 79 percent of the people who are taking the lead in the courtroom are men,” said Phillips, who is based in Torrance, California.
“Who really wins cases?” Phillips added. “Lawyers who have been around for 40 years and know the company well, or lawyers who can tell a good story in the courtroom, who are collaborative, competitive and solution-oriented?”
Paula Hinton, a Winston & Strawn litigation partner based in Houston, says that she does sometimes encounter implicit bias, usually from clients.
“They tend to go with what they think is the safe choice of a white male for their lead lawyer who has an established reputation,” she said. “But at trial time, if the case is in a ditch, I get parachuted in. What happens is it’s not going well with what they thought was a safe choice.”
A potential solution mentioned to improve first-chair gender numbers was letting lawyers who write briefs argue them, recognizing that the writing is often done by female associates or junior partners.
“Sometimes when a male senior partner is in front of me arguing, I can see the female associate next to them flinching, as the beautifully written brief they wrote is ruined,” said Sophia Hall, a Cook County, Illinois, circuit court judge.
When judges notice that a first-chair lawyer seems to be having problems making his or her argument, they can ask the lawyer seated next to him or her for further explanation, panelists said. If the associate can do a good job answering the court’s questions, it’s often a sign that he or she will be a good trial lawyer.
“In larger cases where there’s a courtroom full of suited lawyers, I’m looking for someone who is going to help me understand,” added Hall, mentioning one complex case where a “woman piped up, ‘I have a chart.’ “
Hall said: “That got my attention. You can call attention to yourself by having not only a sense of the law but also the context, and present it in a way that’s understandable.
“The other important thing is that a lawyer leading the case can work with personalities. With male lawyers, sometimes you go through testosterone pyrotechnics, and females can sit back and cut to the chase. As judges, we’re looking for a voice of reason that’s calm and intelligent. If you can do that, it will allow you to look really good.”
The issue of calling attention to yourself was also addressed.
“You need to have a reputation that precedes you. You don’t get the reputation by just sitting in your office,” said Stephanie A. Scharf. A litigation partner with Chicago’s Scharf Banks Marmor who co-authored First Chairs at Trial with Roberta D. Liebenberg, a senior litigation partner with Philadelphia’s Fine, Kaplan and Black.
“Nothing is better than trying a case,” said Liebenberg when asked why she never abandoned litigation as a career. “There’s nothing more exhausting, but there’s nothing better.”
Posted by JD Hull at 11:40 PM | Comments (1)
August 22, 2015
I think I'm turning GOP. I really think so.
Sorry. But I thought Ronald Reagan was a type of rare alcohol-fed Irish houseplant that was somehow taught to smile, speak and sign its own name.
Help me figure this out. The first time I could vote, I held my nose a little and voted for George McGovern. Soon after that I worked for Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis) for a spell. Two cycles ago I raised money for Hillary Clinton, who I like and see as a competent and uber-practical if not exceptional manager with a fine mind. In 2003 and 2004, and on a dumb whim, I bypassed John Kerry and raised money for moderate Democrat General Wesley Clark.
(In the summer of 2005 I ran into a blue-blazered Kerry, who was hanging with Joe Biden--cooling it seated a few feet away in blue jeans and shades--in the ACK airport. While Kerry and talked about a rash of US Airways delays, I felt so guilty I almost blurted my disloyalty out.)
I have never voted for a Bush. And never would--they give me the creeps--except for maybe Jeb. And although I never voted for Obama either time either, and once worked for an honest fiscally brilliant moderate Republican congressman from Ohio, I thought Ronald Reagan was a type of rare Irish houseplant that was somehow taught to smile, speak and sign its own name. I still can't get over the fact that genius bluesman Ray Charles, who died the same week as Reagan, didn't merit a bigger funeral.
I do miss Wild Bill Clinton and would be very jazzed if he could live in the White House another 8 years (I bore easily and he never bores me) but at this point I don't see Hillary Clinton's campaign getting past the Benghazi attack, emails and the apparent paralysis of her campaign. Save GOP Ohio Governor John Kasich, who still lacks cred with conservatives and Republicans who watched him use Obamacare's increased federal funding to strengthen Medicaid in his state, at this point I don't see any candidate--R or D--who can go through the American presidential election process without falling apart, seize the nomination and win. But I am open to suggestions. But I think it needs to be a sane R. Or possibly Joe Biden. The pickings are slim.
In the meantime, and for reasons only partially touched on here, I think I'm turning GOP.
Republican. I really think so.
Posted by JD Hull at 04:20 PM | Comments (0)
August 19, 2015
I'm a man. I'm sensitive.
Venting here. I can't help the way I look. For decades now I've tried hard to be a serious lawyer-lobbyist-writer--and to be taken seriously. However, women and men alike continue to think of me one way. I continue to be crudely objectified, or viewed as a decorative object. That's all. Thanks for listening
American Tragedy: J.D. Cocker. Sexually objectified. Valued solely for his looks.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)
August 18, 2015
China Law Blog: Make contracts with Chinese companies enforceable.
We do prize blogs by experienced practicing lawyers who know what they're doing. Today Dan Harris' peripatetic law partner Steve Dickinson of Seattle-based Harris Moure tells you how to make Chinese deals work in "China Contracts: Make Them Enforceable Or Don’t Bother" at the enduring and always useful China Law Blog. Excerpt on jurisdiction provisions for disputes.
The contract should be enforceable in a Chinese court with jurisdiction over the defendant. This normally means jurisdiction in a court in the district where the defendant has its principal place of business. China has excellent domestic arbitration panels with extensive experience in resolving sino-foreign disputes. But litigation is usually a better alternative for several reasons.
First, in disputes with smaller Chinese companies, there is a concern that the company will dissipate assets before a judgment can be obtained. Chinese courts can order a prejudgment writ of attachment that prevents this. In addition, a prejudgment writ will often convince a smaller Chinese company to resolve the matter quickly.
Second, the plaintiff in a dispute with a Chinese company will often want an order instructing the defendant to take some action such as ceasing to infringe IP rights, return molds or tooling, or appointing a manager or officer of a company. In other words, what would be called injunctive relief in a common law system. Simply stated, a court has the authority to issue such orders while an arbitration panel does not.
Steve Dickinson
Posted by JD Hull at 02:54 PM | Comments (0)
August 17, 2015
The Happiness and Life Hack Industry.
One of the best tech things in my life is my Zite aggregator/curator for media. Zite, however, is not always perfect in anticipating my reading tastes. An alarming number of unwanted articles and posts I receive these days reflect how lame and helpless and confused and lost and unhappy we Westerners are. We all have wonderful instincts about making ourselves happy that do not require explanations about the importance of waking up every day, breathing, peeing, eating, mindfulness, overcoming shyness and social ineptitude, the faux pas of screaming your own name during lovemaking, reading books that aren't garbage, brushing our teeth and drinking more water. Jeez. Get the net, people.
Vinz Clortho (a/k/a Louis Tully), Key Master of Gozer. Vinz/Louis needed all the life hacks he could get. But do you? Image: Columbia Pictures.
Posted by JD Hull at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)
August 14, 2015
For road warriors: "We live in a world that never sleeps."
Reprising Blawg Review #65, The World Cup Blawg Review, July 10, 2006, and in honor of two passed road warriors, Ed and John. Does this description of the global legal landscape in 2006 still stand up? Nine years on? Blawg Review #65 begins:
We live in a world that never sleeps. Most mornings, lawyers at my firm get e-mails from people in all manner of time zones: Hanjo in Bonn, Michael in London, Giulio in Rome, Paul in Cardiff, Angel in Madrid, Claudia in Pretoria, Ed in Beijing, Christian in Taipei, Greg in Sydney and finally Eric, a DC trial lawyer. Two or three times a year, I see Eric, a partner in an international litigation boutique of 35 lawyers.
But I've never seen him in the US. Ever. In the eight years I've known him, Eric has had a plate full of international arbitrations. He could be anywhere when he e-mails--just probably not in this hemisphere. His client could be German with a claim against a Dutch company at a Brussels arbitration venue applying English or American law.
Lawyers sell services--and services are increasingly sold across international borders. In fact, services generally are becoming the new game. In 2004, services, sold alone or as support features to the sale of good and products, accounted for over 65% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in the US, 50% of the United Kingdom's GDP and 90% of Hong Kong's.
Our clients? The sell both goods and services. The growing "global economy", the expansion of the services sector, the Internet and the resulting ability to partner with people and entities all over the world permit our smallest clients to do business abroad.
And lawyers in all jurisdictions can act for interests outside their borders. You, me, our clients and our partners are now international players. Every day we meet new ideas, new markets, new regulatory schemes, new traders and new customs. Our new world may not be exactly "flat" yet. But it's certainly become busier and smaller very quickly.
In the distance, Zürichberg: suburb of Zürich, Switzerland and FIFA HQ.
Posted by JD Hull at 01:35 PM | Comments (0)
August 13, 2015
John Ralston Pate (1944-2015)
American expat lawyer John Pate was a friend of mine. I met him in 1998, in Vancouver, Canada, and saw him last in 2009, in Florence, Italy. He was suddenly widowed in 2008. During the 2009 Florence trip, I was able to meet his new girlfriend, Sally Evans. Like me, John was a member of a small, expert and enduring invitation-based group of corporate lawyers from business and government centers all over the world. Our consortium, an early global experiment in unbundling legal services, worked. We all met frequently, did business, worked for clients and, in countless instances, became lifelong friends. Together, we sampled the great cities of Europe, the Americas, Africa, Australia, Asia and the Middle East. One of the group's leaders, John was a gentleman, soft-spoken, subtly patrician, smart but reserved. He was, too, an international lawyer--and a great one--before that was cool. John Pate died Sunday in his beloved Caracas, Venezuela. There are scores of articles on his killing from papers all over the world. This New York Times brief from an Associated Press article is the shortest:
Venezuela: U.S. Lawyer Is Killed
A prominent American expatriate lawyer was killed and his girlfriend wounded in an attack at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, the authorities and relatives said Monday.
The lawyer, John Ralston Pate, 70, was found dead on Sunday in an apartment in an affluent neighborhood of eastern Caracas, the country’s public prosecutor said.
Prosecutors identified the woman who was wounded as Sally Elizabeth Evans, 67.
Venezuela has the second-highest murder rate in the world after Honduras, according to the United Nations.
Mr. Pate had lived in Venezuela since the 1970s and helped build up a once-thriving expatriate community.
He moved to Caracas after studying at Brown and Boston Universities, helping found the locally based law firm De Sola Pate & Brown.
“He never wanted to leave,” said his son Thomas Pate, a lawyer in Miami. He added: “His family, we were always nervous. He told us that he couldn’t stop living, but he was being careful.”
Posted by JD Hull at 01:32 AM | Comments (0)
August 11, 2015
Greenfield on Ferguson.
Two days ago was the one-year anniversary of the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, a black suburb of St. Louis. The usual wide if dumb-downed and undiscerning media coverage yesterday and Sunday of protests, looting, one shooting, the beating of a local journalist and arrests gave us all a sense of déjà vu. Featured again were the citizens of Ferguson, local police, the media and the U.S. Justice Department, that new and relatively passive chorus character for race-laced events in America. Whether or not you think that events in Ferguson over the last year have one, two or even several evenhanded explanations for what actually is happening there, do read Simple Justice today. In one of his posts this morning, its founder, New York City trial lawyer Scott Greenfield, writes We've Learned Nothing (A Rant). Besides some things to think hard about, we get a glimpse of Greenfield at his honest and inspired best. Excerpt:
Sweet words were uttered by the Department of Justice, condemning flagrant racism in Ferguson, and then everyone walked away, proud of their fine work, leaving the black people of Ferguson to live the same shitty lives as they had before. Even those sympathetic to the cause of Ferguson prefer official solutions, trusting the peaceful and systemic trick of making the noise of change without actually doing anything. Usually, they give themselves an award afterward for being such good white people to the poor black people. The black people never get invited to the party.
So what have we learned? Not a fucking thing. The cops responded with the same excessive display of force, and use of force, as always, because force is so much easier than thought. And the adoration of calm, peaceful and law-abiding, without regard to the circumstances and motivations giving rise to the protest, plays well to the white public. We hate it when blacks get all angry and disagreeable. Jeez, just because cops keep killing unarmed black people? That’s no reason to upset our happy, peaceful lives. It’s not like they’re doing it to us.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:22 AM | Comments (0)
August 10, 2015
One of us: Bless you, Mr. Trump.
Trump is what happens when we Yanks look in the mirror: good, bad and occasionally a bit ugly.
According to NBC/Survey Monkey polling as of last night, since last week's debates Donald Trump--and even after saying 'inappropriate' things before, during and after the debates--is up one point to a remarkable 23% out of 16 candidates. Amazing. Donald Trump has been around since I was a kid in Cincinnati. As a young man, in fact when he was still a college student, he redeveloped a insolvent project in The Queen City, the Swifton Village apartment complex, which his father had purchased in the early 1960s. After that my timeline for him is simple, and probably like everyone else's: real estate, gambling, bankruptcies, wife troubles, Rosie O'Donnell feud, financial recoveries, part-time pundit and now political candidate pushing 70. I have never liked his real estate, either hotels or office buildings. I don't like him as a television personality. But I have always liked his feistiness. I have liked him as a personality because he is clearly "one of us"--as "American" as you get. Whether we admit it or not, Donald Trump is a living caricature of the American Dream Achieved--loud, proud, out front, in your face, feisty, unapologetic--and exactly how we actually are and how we have been viewed for two centuries going back Alexis de Tocqueville. Trump is what happens when we Yanks look in the mirror: good, bad and occasionally a bit ugly. Love or hate him, you don't get any more authentic in America than this guy.
Posted by JD Hull at 03:12 PM | Comments (0)
Journée du 10 août.
Louis XVI:
My God, it's a revolt!Duke de la Rochefoucauld:
No, sir, it's a revolution.--2 years earlier.
Two hundred and twenty-three years ago today, during the French Revolution, an insurrection at the Tuileries Palace marked the end of the French monarchy until the Bourbon restoration in 1814. An August 10, 1792, a mob supported by the Paris Commune stormed the palace, where Louis XVI and the royal family had been taken two years earlier and put under watch. The family fled to to take shelter at the Legislative Assembly. Three days later, the king was officially arrested and imprisoned. Six weeks later, on September 21, the National Convention abolished the monarchy and established the French Republic. King Louis XVI was executed on January 21, 1793.
The Taking of the Tuileries ("Prise du palais des Tuileries") 1793, Jean Duplessis-Bertaux (1747-1819) National Museum of the Chateau de Versailles.
Posted by JD Hull at 10:18 AM | Comments (0)
August 06, 2015
Washington Examiner this week: "Who Can Beat Hillary?"
Right-leaning political journalism magazine Washington Examiner, a DC-based weekly with daily online reporting, is relatively new, having begun life as a newspaper in 2005. I am now reading at least the weekly magazine--it appears free on stands all over the city--regularly and from front to cover. Aside from having longtime conservative standouts like Michael Barone contribute, it refreshingly (a) prizes reason and even-handedness in both reporting and opinion pieces, (b) rarely if ever contains the kind of emotional partisan outbursts my most brilliant Facebook friends across the ideological spectrum indulge in every week on political issues when you pitch a few to them, and (c) refuses to demonize and make unlikely cartoon characters of the opposition. This week's cover article, by Politics Editor Jim Ante, is particularly good and is entitled Who Can Beat Hillary?
Above art/images by Washington Examiner
Posted by JD Hull at 01:38 AM | Comments (0)
Environmental Protection Magazine: Is fracking worth it?
I once wrote a column for this "pro-fossil fuels/industry" publication for environmental professionals based in Texas. Do visit a feature story last week by Julia Troute, a regular Environmental Protection writer and/or contributing editor. In "Let's Be Frank about Fracking: Is Unconventional Gas and Oil Drilling Really Worth It?", Ms. Troute points out that in approximately a decade the number of natural gas wells has nearly doubled in the United States. As of 2014, over 15 million Americans lived within a mile of a well drilled since 2000. That's more people, she continues, than live in Michigan or New York City. And in a recent study:
Dr. Reynold Panettieri Jr. and a team of researchers compared hospital visits in Bradford, Susquehanna, and Wayne—three counties of rural Pennsylvania—from 2007 (when drilling began) to 2011. They found a higher rate of hospital visits in the two counties with a heavy gas presence.
But the medical issues in these counties don’t stem from water contamination alone; each gas well requires an average of 400 tanker trucks to carry water and supplies to and from the site. Panettieri noted that “[with fracking] there's a lot of diesel exhaust, noise and social stress. Hydraulic fracturing changes the complexion of the town because of the number of people coming through...the idling trucks and the noise."
Relying on 95,000 inpatient records, Panettieri and his researchers called their study "the most comprehensive one to date to address the health impact of unconventional gas and oil drilling...In Bradford and Susquehanna, where there was a substantial increase in hydraulic fracturing and active wells, [there] were more cardiovascular hospitalizations as well as more neurologic," Panettieri said. "The association was in proximity to the wells. The closer to active wells, the more Pennsylvanians are getting hospitalized."
Posted by JD Hull at 12:52 AM | Comments (0)
August 05, 2015
And they're off: Trump plus 9.
Washington Post: Fox News announces its final lineup for August 6 debate. Do watch Ohio's John Kasich. On a good night, Kasich can pick off every one of these guys. But even if he does, he will still be just the most beautiful maiden in a leper colony. With all these players, and some even waiting in the wings, this is the least exciting group (granted, purposely meandering Trump is great fun) of GOP hopefuls in my lifetime:
1. Businessman Donald Trump. Five-poll average: 23.4
2. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush: 12
3. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: 10.2
4. Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee: 6.6
5. Dr. Ben Carson: 5.8
6. Sen. Ted Cruz: 5.4
7. Sen. Marco Rubio: 5.4
8. Sen. Rand Paul: 4.8
9. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: 3.4
10. Ohio Gov. John Kasich: 3.2
Posted by JD Hull at 11:04 PM | Comments (0)
Coal: Still standing. Barely.
In the Saturday, August 1 Washington Post,"New EPA rule on greenhouse gases the latest blow to King Coal". Excerpts:
When coal was king, it fueled more than half of the nation’s electricity. It fired up American industry and powered an ever-growing variety of household appliances and electronics. And American presidential hopefuls paid homage to coal, courting mine owners and miners whose unionized ranks once numbered more than 400,000.
All of that has changed. On Monday, the Obama administration takes on the coal industry with the final version of rules it has dubbed the Clean Power Plan, a complex scheme designed to reduce, on a state-by-state basis, the amount of greenhouse gases the nation’s electric power sector emits. The main target: coal.
Today, more people in the United States work jobs installing solar panels than work in the coal industry. Ideas for using liquefied coal for cars never materialized. Industrial users have become more efficient. And coal’s share of electricity generation is waning, with natural gas and renewable energy taking its place. Only a handful of coal power plants have been built in recent years, and the Sierra Club keeps a tally of canceled coal-fired power plants like trophies on the wall.
The reason for the focus on coal is that it remains the largest U.S. producer of greenhouse gases at a time when President Obama is striving for an agreement at the December climate summit in Paris. In March, the United States submitted its own goal to the United Nations, vowing to reduce by 2025 U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions by 26 percent to 28 percent below 2005 levels. Trimming coal emissions must be a part of that.
"Early Coal Mining, Williams River, West Virginia, 1930s" by Finley Taylor.
Posted by JD Hull at 05:03 PM | Comments (0)
August 01, 2015
Scouting changes again; as usual, the Washington Blade is there.
I was a Boy Scout, and eventually an Eagle Scout, growing up in suburban Chicago and Cincinnati. What I learned in scouting means a lot to me; I use it, probably instinctually, every day. Naturally, national news about changes to BSA's local or field leadership policies interests me.
In the 1960s and 1970s, at least in the Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill, every adult scoutmaster, his adult assistant scoutmasters and all the adult men who pitched in to help at our many, many meetings and (for me, at least) 40 to 50 camping trips, was always a father of one of the boys in my troop. My Dad, who traveled on business nearly every week, pitched in on camping trips from time to time.
So I have little reaction to the BSA decision on July 27th to allow openly gay leaders to participate in scouting. I don't have a good picture of what's happening here culturally. Drawing a blank, if you will. I am, however, amazed how much this traditionally conservative organization has moved in the last few years.
Also, I did like the way this development was covered by the LGBT press. The day it happened, the enduring Washington Blade, almost an underground publication when it started 46 years ago and now arguably the most influential LGBT news source in the world, reported "Boy Scouts to Allow Gay Leaders". In fact, the Blade--a weekly tabloid with daily online reporting--chose the same story 4 days ago on BSA's policy change as the lead article in its weekly edition, which came out last night. The Blade begins:
Members of Boy Scouts of America National Executive Board on Monday voted to end the organization’s ban on openly gay adults from holding leadership positions.
The body by a 45-12 vote margin approved a resolution on the issue the Boy Scouts of America Executive Committee unanimously backed earlier this month.
The new policy, which takes effect immediately, would allow openly gay adults to become scoutmasters and unit leaders within the Boy Scouts of America.
It will also allow gay people who were previously removed from leadership positions because of their sexual orientation to reapply for them.
Posted by JD Hull at 04:16 AM | Comments (0)