« July 22, 2007 - July 28, 2007 | Main | August 05, 2007 - August 11, 2007 »
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)
July 31, 2007
Bancrofts relent, $5 billion, go Rupert--and just whoa.
Dow Jones-WSJ deal just about done, according to the Associated Press. We've followed this because it's important world business news: Murdoch's News Corp. already owns Fox broadcast network, Fox News Channel, The Times in the United Kingdom, the New York Post, the Twentieth Century Fox movie and TV studios, and MySpace. Also, Hull family worries WAC? may be next target.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Germany honors Zappa: "Help! I'm a Berlin street."
Speaking of sound international lawyering, remember the 1960s song "Help! I'm a Rock"? How about "America Drinks and Goes Home" or a profoundly disturbed girl named Suzy Creamcheese. OK, so you're a lawyer who never listened to subversive songs about American sameness and mediocrity, or you're under 40, and missed the fun. Anyway, the Berlin-based Atlantic Review, written by two German Fulbright alums, and WAC?'s Berlin hero Hermann the German, who's just king-hell nuts, both confirm that Berlin finally has a Frank Zappa Street, in the Marzahn-Hellersdorf borough. "Man it's a drag bein' a rock/I think I'd rather be the mayor." Guess you had to be there.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Boston-New Haven-NYC... Blawg Review #119
David Lat, the AUSA turned incredibly popular uber-blogger--and a guy who's possibly lived in more American cities (five that we know of so far) than D.C. lawyer turned vagabond WAC?--hosts this week's Blawg Review at Above the Law. This week's theme is complaining: "Indeed, many attorneys are better at complaining than they are at doing their jobs." Quite right, and it shows.
Posted by Tom Welshonce at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
Blogs changing our profession?
See Bill Gratsch's post at Blawg's Blog, "Blogs, Law School Rankings, and the Race to the Bottom", discussing and linking to an article with the same title by Jay Brown of the University of Denver's law school.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:59 PM | Comments (0)
July 30, 2007
Happy 5th Birthday, Sarbanes-Oxley, you big brute.
It's been five years now; it was signed into law by President Bush on July 30, 2002. Major, sweeping and unprecedented, the business media said. True, no desirable corporate client can ignore it. And SOX changed public accounting forever. So how we doing? At London-based The Economist, reportedly the favorite magazine of Bill Gates these days, see "Sarbanes-Oxley: Five Years Under the Thumb".
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 11:59 PM | Comments (0)
BlawgWorld 2007
Ladies and Gents of the Blawgosphere: WAC? is extremely happy to join in on announcing today's release of BlawgWorld 2007. For those of you new to BlawgWorld, TechnoLawyer/Peerviews Inc. have put together 77 exemplary posts and essays by 77 blawgers into one e-book. WAC? is honored to be included in this incredible group of blawgers.
Last year's edition of BlawgWorld was downloaded 45,000+ times. This year's edition, which also includes the 2007 TechnoLawyer Problem/Solution Guide, will certainly surpass that.
The best part: you can download BlawgWorld 2007 for no charge at this link. Make sure you do that. This is a wonderful e-book you cannot afford to miss.
Posted by JD Hull at 11:58 PM | Comments (0)