What was that?

OK, we Dolphins' fans had a questionable time with the draft, but now the Heat as well? Riley may not return, Mourning may not return, Eddie Jones and Gary Payton may leave, and the team is looking to trade Udonis Haslem and Jason Williams for Ron Artest. Come on, I want to be a Miami/Florida fan, but this is getting a little ridiculous.

Leadership Boca Graduation

Today I graduated from Leadership Boca, Class of 2007. For those who have the opportunity, a Leadership program is a terrific development program.

Beware of Frivolous Cases

Today's decision in Pearson v. Custom Cleaners, a/k/a the Missing Pants case, shows a very clear message to plaintiffs who bring frivolous cases: beware! I'm just waiting to see the final award of attorney's fees and court costs.

Faith OK

The Supreme Court ruled in Heine v. Freedom From Religion Foundation that ordinary taxpayers do not have the right to challenge an initiative that helps religious charities get Federal grants. Although I think that Alito got the end decision right, I think he got the reasoning wrong. I really think Scalia's admonition that Flast v. Cohen should be repudiated sounds much more logical and could represent a much more coherent Consitutitonal jurisprudence rather that a hodgepodge of meaningless judicial distinctions.

New Definition of Free Speech

There were two opinions out of the Supreme Court today on free speech. In the first one, Federal Election Commission v. Wisconson Right to Life, the Court held that McCain-Feingold, as applied to issue advocacy (these are those ads that don't support a particular candidate but support a particular position on an issue that is candidate neutral and may apply to multiple candidates across party lines) is unconstitutional.

Next, in Morse v. Frederick, I'm a little troubled by the Court's opinion here. They held that a school principle could restrict a student's speech at a semi-official school event. Despite Justice Thomas' historical contextual concuring opinion, I'm not sure they got the First Amendment right here. Even the dissents got it wrong as well. Justice Breyer tries to weasel out of the case by claiming the student couldn't get damages from the school district which would preclude the First Amendment argument all together. Justice Stevens' dissent agrees with the proposition that the students' banner should have been removed, but goes on to make a rare lucid statement that the school district shouldn't punish the students for their speech, although the rest of the argument falls short.

Hillary's Hillarious Commercial

Hillary Clinton's newest campaign commercial mocks the Sopranos' finale. Of course, a United States Presidential candidate has chosen a Canadian songstress Celine Dion's You and I. Of course if I were running for President, I would choose a campaign song that wasn't American.

Operation Valkyrie

It's official. Germany doesn't consider Scientology a religion. The German Defense Ministery has banned Bryan Singer from filming his film Valkyrie with Tom Cruise and Kenneth Branagh because Tom Cruise is a Scientologist. If things don't work out, then we're going to have to watch a Bryan Singer movie without that realistic feel.

Rotary Induction

I joined the West Boca Sunset Rotary Club. District Govenor Phil Lustig, who happens to be my swim coach, welcomed me into the Rotary family. The installation dinner was held at Gaucho Rodizio. A terrific place for any carnivore.

Haven's Heros

On Friday, June 22, Jim Garvillos of the Haven officially welcomed me as a Haven's Hero. I strongly encourage everyone to donate to the orgainization; it's a terrific cause.

Another New President?

Rumor has it that the Producers for 24 is looking for a new female actress to play their next US President on the show. If he doesn't make a decision soon, Fred Thompson may be available . . .

New Desktop Searches

It looks like Microsoft is giving into pressure to change its desktop default search enginge Instant Search to others such as Google's. The changes should be out in the first service pack to Vista.

Robot Chicken

Robot Chicken's Star Wars special was on last night. There was something majorly wrong about that episode! :)

Planet Earth

Prince's new album Planet Earth will be out on July 24, 2007. The first single, Guitar, doesn't impress me that much yet.

Fantastic Flop

They say that if you had a thousand monkeys banging away at typewriters for a hundred years you'll eventually get the works of Shakespeare and the Bible. The first hundred pages, I'm convinced, would be the Chronicals of Riddick. The next hundred pages is the script for this horrible movie.

I saw Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer last night, and wish I didn't. It was awful. It stunk. First the script has holes so large you can drive an 18 wheeler through. Next, the acting was horrible. The actors didn't seem to take it seriously. Jessica Alba and Ioan Gruffud should have been in Team America: World Police. Doug Jones was wasted. Even Stan Lee and Brian Posehn in cameos were nothing.

One thing I hate about comic book movies is the director's almost automatic desire to reboot the franchise and do an origin movie. And to make Gah Lak Tus (as opposed to the more traditional Galactus) a cloud? Come on now . . .

Condo Life

Recently in Broward County, Judge Patti Englander Henning ordered Georgoulis to cover her condo floor with carpets after it became evident that there wasn't enough sound insulation between the floors to sound proof her tile floor from her neighbor's ears.

OK, I haven't seen the Declaration of Condominium for Sherwood Square. But the majority rule, which I agree with, is that if the Declaration provides that unless a guarantee of sound proofing is somewhere in there, there is no protection against your neighbor's sounds. This may be a simple solution, but shouldn't have cost over $10,000 and lasted over 11 years.

Want another Bud?

A European court upheld Anheuser-Busch's right to use Bud and Budweiser on non-beer items over an objection by a Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar. The court ruled that Budejovicky Budvar's appellation of origin argument applied only to beers

No Nukes is Good Nukes with Gary Gnuke

Today is the 25th anniversery of the No Nukes concert held in Central Park, NY, and featured such musical heavy weights as Bruce Springstein, Linda Rondstant and James Taylor. The purpose of the concert was to protest nuclear proliferation because "nuclear proliferation is bad". Of course, it was because of nuclear proliferation that finally freed millions under communist rule in Eastern Europe and caused the collapse of the Soviet Union. And of course it is the remenants of the old Soviet empire that are pushing for the next round of nuclear proliferation by deploying new missle technologies. Also, who could forget those countries like Iran and North Korea that thumb their nose at anti-nuclear proliferation works today. To those musicians that appeared at the concert, we salute you. You did so much to help the cause.

David Chase's Aristocrats

Wow! OK. It works. For years everyone says that there are only three possible endings: 1) Tony dies; 2) Tony's in jail; or 3) go into the witness protection program. Then build up to have a huge finale. Plant information that suggests that Paulie was a turn coat and either working for NY or for the Feds. Plant information that Meadow was going to die. Do everything you can in the episode to build up to that in the finale. Then write an episode that hints and builds up to that information. Then at the end of the show, do the unthinkable: let Tony live, but have him die a coward's death by being afraid of everyone and everything. While keeping the movie concept alive.

Oceans 13

A very good movie. For the first time in a while, Al Pacino doesn't overact. George Clooney actually acts. And Brad Pitt doesn't steal the show, although Matt Damon does tries to get a disproportionate share of screen time.

Al Gore

Al Gore chose a pretty apt title for his new book, The Assault on Reason. Given his political career and the claims he has made, I figure he must be the expert on assaulting reason.

Sean Connery Retiring

It's a sad day at the movies. Sean Connery has chosen not to return for Indiana Jones 4, making it apparant that he has retired from the film industry given his two films in the last seven years, with the last being The League of Extrodinary Gentlemen.

Best Buy Blunder Blows Boocoo Bucks

A word of caution to lawyers: don't alter evidence! In a class action case pending against Best Buy and Microsoft in Kings County, Washington, Best Buy attorney Timothy Block, of Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi, admitted to redacting and/or altering two emails and a memo without letting the plaintiffs know. No explanation has been given to why he did such a thing, but insiders have indicated that because of Best Buy's significant foot dragging in discovery production, and point to the fact that a named partner at the firm, Elliot Kaplan, happans to be a director for Best Buy.

Block has done something very fashionable by admitting liability and then going on medical leave.

Academy of Financial Services

My 7th refereed paper was just accepted by the Academy of Financial Services, and will be presented in Orlando this October. More details to follow.

Computerless iPods?

Now computer users will be able to download songs directly to their iPods, bypassing traditional computer midwifery. Palo Alto startup Lala.com will allow users to download songs from the Warner Music Group catalog for 99 cents per song, and allow members to listen to the songs for free and Warners gets a penny each time somebody listens. The software concept is interesting: the download manager does not allow mpegs to be stored on the computer harddrive, the primary source for copyright infringement, thus bypassing the need for digital rights managment.

Preliminary Injunctions Are the Emperperors' New Clothes

In Sole v. Wyner, the press is getting it wrong. Most of the press reported that the Supreme Court ruled against Tami Wyner, a nude protester, and didn't explain the full significance of the case.

Most importantly, the case stands for the provision that a preliminary injunction obtained under 26 USC 1983 does not serve as a final disposition on the merits and therefore doesn't trigger attorneys fees. Here, Tami Wyner was successful in getting a preliminary injunction to prohibit the Department of Environmental Protection from enforcing Florida's "bathing suit rule" which requires at least bathing suits in Florida State parks. In a subsequent hearing, the District Court found that the restrictions in the preliminary injunction proved unworkable and then granted summary judgment to Florida. The district court also concluded that since Wyner won at least at the preliminary injunction level, she should be entitled to some attorneys fees. The Supreme Court held that it's the end result that counts and not the parts when considering the transfer of attorney fees.

KSR International v. Teleflex

In KSR International v. Teleflex, the US Supreme Court issued one of its biggest patent rulings in years by rejecting the Federal Circuit's teaching, suggestion or motivation test in determining obviousness and adopted a more flexible standard that allows the trial judge to make the determination if an invention is obvious or not. Most likely, this will increase litigation and invalidate a lot more patents than I think Congress wanted.

In a companion case, ATT v. Microsoft, the Supreme Court found that software code is not a component and therefore a company could ship software code outside the US for manufacture or infringing products.

Invasion!!!

Wow! Against all odds, the Office of Insurance Regulation approved five new insurance companies to sell homeowner polices. These include:

• Modern USA Insurance Co. of Clearwater
• Keystone Insurance Co. of Ponte Vedra Beach
• Olympus Insurance Co. of Orlando
• Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange Inc. of Plantaiton
• Homeowners Choice Property & Casualty Insurance Co. of Port St. Lucie

There's a sixth company, Sawgrass Mutual Insurance Co. of Hollywood, which has an application pending.

Three other nonresidential carriers have approvals as well:

• Ironshore Insurance Ltd., Bermuda
• Praetorian Specialty Insurance Company - Delaware
• Arch Insurance Company - UK

Just got Maroon Five's New Album

It Won't Be Soon Before Long is Maroon Five's new album, just released today. I give it four out of five stars. The one thing I don't like about it is that the lyrics still are dark like their freshman effort Songs About Jane. Their first single, Makes Me Wonder, is a great neo-funk piece. Check it out below.

Hell's Kitchen

Was it me or did almost everyone look incompetant in the season premier? I wouldn't even except them to work in Springfield Elementary's kitchen. The only ones that showed any hint of promise were either Brad or Josh (whoever took over the appetiser station) and Melissa. But even then, Melissa has shown that she can't be trusted by putting up Tiffany for elimination after telling her she's safe. But what about Julia you may say? Well, after several racist and classicist comments by the women's team, she proved that she won't be able to cut it in the kitchen by her constant breakdowns and "lack of communication" thing. And did I hear them just revoking Aaron's man card?

My Take on the Sopranos Finale

If you watch the comming attractions for the last episode, there's a scene that AJ looks out into the distence with some sort of horrified look in his face, and he's lit weird. Why? My take is that there will be a major terrorist strike such as an atomic bomb or something. Also, I think Paulie is in with Phil. It's funny how Phil selects everyone to get hit but Paulie, and Paulie screws up the hit on Phil.

National Intelligence Estimate

According to pollsters, the low point of the Democratic candidates debate for Hillary Clinton was when she was asked to explain why she didn't read the National Intelligence Estimate prior to voting the on the authorization to use force against Iraq. Her response was, in summary, she knew what was in it allready. Of course she knew! For all the talk that Bush lied or the adminsitration manipulated intelligence data, most of the intelligence data was taken from 1998's NIE which came to the same conclusions: that Sadaam Hussain was a vital threat to the security of the US and should be removed from office as soon as possible. Afterall, he was holding our weapons inspectors hostage outside of Bagdad at the time while shooting at our planes flying in the no-fly zone without impunity, despite the terms of Iraq's surrender at the end of the first Persian Gulf war. So maybe this comes down to what does "is" means again?

Insurance Rates Are Now Adverse Actions?

The Supreme Court may have got this one wrong. And its rare that unanimous courts get things wrong. In Safeco Insurance v. Burr, the Supreme Court unanimously found that if an insurance company sets it rates using a credit score, the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970 applies to insurance companies in that insurance companies must make proper disclosure under the Act that explains the adverse action. Now, I'm not on the Supreme Court, but how can this be an adverse action? Inherit in the term adverse, there has to be an a priori situation. I can see them resetting an insurance rate based on a credit score, but not the initial one.

Fleeting Expletives

In Fox Broadcasting v. FCC, the 2nd Circuit vacated the FCC's decisions to fine Fox, CBS and NBC for the use of "fleeting expletives" (when somebody on live TV or radio makes a spontaenous profane utterance) because the FCC failed to articulate a reason that wasn't arbitrary or capricious under the Administrative Procedures Act. Although legally I agree with the result in this case for primarily different reasons, doesn't it say a lot about a society that says you can't be held accountable for what you say?

So This Is Daffy Duck

William Jefferson (D-La) was indicted today on charges of racketeering, soliciting bribes and money laundering. Actually, I think is was more like money freezing because if you remember he was the one where they found $90,000 in his freezer. The 16 counts could keep him in jail for up to 200 years. And didn't our new Speaker of the House put him in a sensitive intelligence committee spot?

Guantanamo Bay

OK. Another technicality. Col. Peter Brownback, one of the judges at Guantanamo Bay for the military commissions charged to try enemy combatants ruled today that Omar Khadr could not be brought to trial because he was not classified as an "unlawful enemy combatant" but merely an "enemy combatant". Every prisinor at Guantanamo is classified only as an "enemy combatant" so there are major reprocussions across the board. Furthermore, a party has only 72 hours to appeal a decision to the Court of Military Commissions Review, a court which doesn't even exist yet.

. . . and the Treo morphs into the iPhone

If you didn't hear, Palm just sold 25% of itself to a private investment group Elevation Partners, and joining the company is Jon Rubenstein, who was the project leader for the iPod. Over the past few months, Palm has distanced itself from the Windows OS platform and hired Paul Mercer, one of the original designers for the iPod, to develop the next post-Treo generation of products.

And some people have been asking me about the iPhone. Ed Colligan said, "our Palm Treo already has 90 per cent of Apple's iPhone features at a much lower price". I really can't say I argue with that logic.

UN, Dutch Sued

Survivors of the Srebrenica massacre just sued the UN and Dutch governments over allegations that neither attempted to prevent Srebrenica massacre despite it being a UN protected zone and the Dutch military serving to protect it. In fact the allegations go further and allege and that the 250 Dutch soldiers, faced with a division of over 5000 Serbian troops, helped seperate men from women and children, and loaded the men onto busses where they were summarily shot by Serbian forces. Is their a legal and moral obligation of the UN and the UN member nations to actually do what they claim they are going to do, especially in military protection? Or maybe we realize that the UN cannot do everything its charged with doing in its current structure and that reforms are desperately needed to prevent further tradegies like this one.

Musical Acts in Vegas

Nevada finally passed SB053 that provides that musical acts must:

• have at least one member of the recording group to which they claim a connection;
• label their band a "tribute" or "salute";
• own the trademark to the name of the musical act; or
• have permission from the original recording group.

Failure to satisfy these conditions would constitute a deceptive trade or business practice in the state. With all the musical acts that perform in Las Vegas and other casino-tourist spots in the state, it will certainly help the consumer to make sure they are seeing something close to the original.

One issue I have with the legislation is that it doesn't solve problems like the Klymaxx issue. If you recall, Cheryl Cooley has been trying to tour with a band name Klymaxx or the New Klymaxx Band, where Bernadette Cooper, Lorena Stewart, Lynn Malsby and Joyce Irby (the other original members of Klymaxx) has been using their name. Because there is no currently active trademark on file, Cheryl would technically be allowed to perform as Klymaxx. That is like Paul Peterson touring as The Time or Dick Taylor as the Rolling Stones. Imagine going to Vegas and finding out that Klymaxx is performing at five different hotels simultaneously!

Yes, there is technical compliance with the statute if the multiple performance scenario would happen, but the consumer is still at a major disadvantage thinking that there is some substantial link with the original group where the tickets being bought are really for a small part of the original act. I would like to see this legislation, and others like it across the country, beefed up a little and provide either a more substantial connection to the recording group or enhanced disclosures of the constituancy of the band.

I guess this is just a good lesson for musical acts to learn to file trademarks up front and handle dissolution proceedings at the end better.

American blogger `Washingtonienne' files for bankruptcy

In dregging the bottom of the barrel for news stories, it turns out that Jessica Cutler filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in New York, mudding up even more so the current case against her in DC where her ex-boyfriend and fellow DeWine staffer Robert Steinbuch is suing her for more than $20 million for publishing initimate details about him in her online blog.

At stake in this case is the principle of what are the boundries of privacy in an online world. Namely, what happens if two people have a relationship and one publishes details of it over the internet? At first blush, I think this is nothing more than a ploy to drive Jessica Cutler to economic ruin, rather than having any basis in legal theory. For me, it is no different if I publish a tell-all memoir or publish the same information on the internet, so long as it's true. And I didn't see anything in the complaint to allege that it wasn't true.

Microsoft and Linux

Xandros, Inc., a Linux distributor, will license software code from Microsoft to ensure that open source software will work more smoothly with Microsoft systems. This will also promote a translation system between XML and Open Document Format.

John Dean Got It Wrong

In a recent article on Findlaw, John Dean makes an extensive argument that Valerie Plame was a "covert agent" under 50 USC 421. I find John Dean's comments highly disturbing.


First, Valerie Plame's status was not as a covert agent as intended by the statute. Victoria Toensing, former Chief Counsel for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, was a key drafter of 50 USC 421. In her testimony before the US House Committee on Government Reform, Toensing stated that Plame was not a "covert agent" under the intent statute.


Second, if Valerie Plame's job was covert, she didn't do a good job at keeping it covert. In a March 11, 2006, article in the Chicago Tribune, John Crewdson blows holes in the theory that she was in deep cover. As he points out, simple internet searches came up with a lot of things that indicated Ms. Plame was not a covert agent but actually connected with the CIA. Russian and Cuban intelligence agencies long before this issue came up. Andrew McCarthy wrote that the CIA durring the Clinton administration exposed Valerie Plame to the Casto government. Furthermore, a careful reading of Robert Novack's collum did not indicate that Valerie Plame was a covert agent. It wasn't until Robert Corn's piece in the nation that indicated that Valerie Plame was a covert agent. And who was his source? Hmmm, Could it be Amb. Joe Wilson himself? After all, he was the primary source for the article.

And let's look at who didn't support the law making it a crime to disclose covert agents names. Do the names Joseph Biden, Gary Hart or Daniel Patrick Moynihan sound familiar? Isn't it funny the hypocrasy of Joe Biden attacking the Bush administration for the Plame affair for a law he didn't support because he thought that US agents in foreign countries should be outed?

Speaking of Amb. Joe Wilson, if you read his declassified CIA report that he filed after his trip to Niger, he claims that Prime Minister Ibrahim Hassanne Mayaki told him that although the Iraqi government has not directly contact him about purchasing Uranium, but third parties did contact him about "expanding commercial relations" with Iraq. Prime Minister Mayaki took that to mean selling Iraq Uranium through these third parties. Then Amb. Wilson contradicted himself in his July 6, 2003, op ed piece by stating that there was no evidence Iraq tried to develop nuclear weapons by purchasing Uranium from Niger. Three seperate investigations all came to the same conclusion: Prime Minister Mayaki was right and that Iraq through third parties tried to purchase Uranium from Niger.

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