Jews For Obama

Thanks to Andrew for the pic. And yes, I am busy at work! We actually have a trial starting on Monday. It only takes 2 seconds to post these things and I post the long ones at night so back off! Let a blogga blog!

Stealing My Thunder

So I just submitted my brief to the Court of Appeals on the issue of a union's waiver through a collective bargaining agreement, of an individual's discrimination claim. Wouldn't you know that less than one week later, the United States Supreme Court granted argument on the same exact issue. Most likely, the NY court will delay its decision until the Supreme Court rules, and then adopt that same exact holding.

I spoke to the lawyer who will be arguing the case and, while he seems to be a nice enough guy, he does not understand the legal arguments at play half as well as I do. He also believes that he's not going to win, while I think there's no shot of him losing. Even the defendant's attorney's don't seem to understand the issues, making arguments that the Eleventh Circuit specifically rejected.

Which leads me to the following conclusion: I know this issue better than anyone else in the entire country. As Lord Chamberlain said in The Dark Crystal, "It should be me."

A Dream I Had Last Night

So I'm at some kind of football field turned into a demolition derby, with lawyers driving relatively fancy cars getting ready to bang into each other. Then I'm called into a mansion off to the side over a hill by Schwartz telling me that Judge Diamond is calling me on the telephone. So I walk through a few rooms to the study and pick up the phone, but its not Judge Diamond at all, but my Aunt Lois calling to tell me that she just won $20 million in the lottery, which I find very exciting. Then family members - I can't tell which ones, but it includes my parents and cousin Bill - pull into the driveway in a car and I go out to meet them. My parents don't know that Aunt Lois won the lottery, but Bill does because she was with him when she found out and I tell him that she told me and we talked about how exciting it was. Then I notice that there's a football game on the field now, where the lawyer demolition derby just was, and we're at one of the corners of the football field, with tall trees lining the boundaries of the field. One of the teams has an "M" on its jersey (I think I knew at the time what that meant, but have since forgotten) and runs an amazing play with a long pass and great run that results in a touchdown. As I turn to Bill to talk about it, Nilda wakes me up.

Thoughts?

Bashing Hillary

It would be too easy to pick on Hillary now, when she's presumably out of the race. But there has been so much out there recently that its hard to avoid. Like the NYTimes article about Clinton's reckless spending ($100,000 in groceries in Iowa, $5 million to consultants in January alone), or this one comparing her to the older sister in Ferris' Bueller's Day Off. So I think I'll just leave it at this video, addressing Clinton's previous claim that Obama is not fit to be President because he "plagiarized" a speech:



We can all thank Irene's endless hours drudging around Gawker for the video.

Oscar Picks

I love pools. Its like playing bingo, but you get to pick the numbers you want. Here are my picks for the annual Academy Awards pool at the office:

Best Picture = No Country For Old Men
Best Actor = Daniel Day Lewis
Best Actress = Julie Christie
Best Supporting Actor = Javier Bardem
Best Supporting Actress = Amy Ryan
Best Director = Joel & Ethan Cohen

Live Blogging The Debate

Due to popular demand, here are my thoughts on tonight's debate:

• Quote of the night, courtesy of the one and only Mary Tomback: "i'm anxiously awaiting your commentary. here's my commentary -- i hate hillary clinton."
• Obama has gotten MUCH better at these debates.
• Obama's declaration that he would meet with leaders of enemy countries, without preconditions, while risky at first, has turned out to be a smart move. His willingness to meet with Raul Castro contrasts his fresh perspective from Hillary's dated stance that we don't negotiate with our enemies.
• Nilda tells me that there's no "o" in "Raul."
• It's hard to blog about the debate and listen to it at the same time.
• Obama is not as cool as Bill Clinton was, but you'd trust him with your daughter.
• I'm surprised at how split the crowd was for Clinton and Obama.
• Campbell Brown is getting annoying.
• I haven't been that hungry today, maybe it was the Claritin D.
• Perhaps I should add Claritin D to my exercise routine.
• Whoever is running Obama's internet campaign should be given a cabinet-level post. Better yet, give him (or her) a military post.
• Clinton makes Obama a better candidate. She forces him to make policy decisions and to focus on substance.
• It's gonna be too late to watch Lost, isn't it?
• Hillary smiles when she knows she's getting her butt kicked.
• SNL is gonna need to get a new black guy to play Obama.
• Obama won this debate. Unless Hillary is able to inspire people, instead of simplying scaring them out of voting for Obama, she'll never be able to beat the excitement he generates.
• I should have set the dvr to go beyond 9:30. What happened at the end?

While we're at it, here's a great video Irene sent out today:

My New Workout Routine

In preparation for our cruise in two months, here is my plan on how to get in shape:

• Taking the stairs up, assuming of course that Nilda is not with me.
• Guitar Hero.
• Buying diet tonic for my nightly gin & tonic. But only when they have diet tonic, which they never do.
• Getting a salad for lunch. Unless, of course, I go downstairs and it's cold out, making me want something warm. Or fried.
• Eating more. I read somewhere that you need to keep your metabolism up, so I feel fully justified in having the 5 pound bag of "nuts and chocolate" trail mix at my desk.
• Granola.
• Going back to pilates, which was my Hannuka gift from Mom. Or as I call it, the worst Hannuka gift ever.
• Keeping my gym bag at work, so that if I ever get out of work an hour and a half before I usually do, I'm right there.
• Cutting down on pudding.
• Making repeated and firm committments to work out, and this time, follow through is NOT optional.

On a programming note, Nilda just got me "The Commission" for Valentine's Day, which is a book about the 9/11 commission. Be prepared for the return of the 9/11 obsession.

SPELILING IS OVERATED!!

Enouhg wiht the spellin g and gramaticle erors. Were all goign to half to laern how to deal with errosr.Plus, the spellchcke isnt' working on my blgo, for some reasen. Anhd I'm to lazy to figuere out why. This is fun. I shoudl make a game out ot poitning out the errorrs, a "Wheres' Wadlo" for nerds.

Tuesday Night Thoughts

• McCain is running a predictable, safe and boring campaign, focusing on yesterday's issues that no one is excited about. Short of an attack of some kind, his campaign is doomed to failure.
• We won a huge motion for summary judgment in the SDNY last week, with Hellerstein denying the motion from the bench. That...was awesome.
• Texas' messed up rules for the primary means that there will be caucuses, and that, based on turnout in the last gubernatorial election, certain predominatly Latino districts will have less delgates assigned than predominantly African-American districts. Bottom line, Obama has a shot at winning Texas.
• Nilda knows how to spell "gubernatorial."
• Is McCain's wife hot? I'm still not sure.
• Older, white women will never desert Hillary. Ever.
• Nilda and I saw Michael Clayton this weekend. I love how every movie dealing with lawyers is either (a) the struggling plaintiff's lawyer or (b) the disillusioned corporate attorney. That means that plaintiff's lawyers are the good guys. Sorry, Matt.
• Nilda hates Chris Matthew's turkey neck. She does. She hates his turkey neck.
• In 1992, James Carville's strategy for Bill Clinton was that if they were attacked, they would attack back, to prove that he won't get pushed around as President. Obama is following that same strategy now.
• Obama's ability to remain cool in the face of Hillary's and McCain's attacks is his greatest asset.
• Damn, Friday Night Lights is an amazing show!!
• Given the focus on ideas, particularly in the muslim world, we would be better served with a president who is a campaigner of ideas, rather than as a military leader. The ability to win the battle of ideas now matters more than military experience.
• Light makes me sneeze. Its called a "photic sneeze reflex." Deal with it.
• The tv networks cut off Clinton's speech to focus on Obama's. He just won.

EVIL!!!

Click at your own peril

Potomac Tuesday

• This whole competition between Clinton and Obama is generational.
• What the fuck is up with Huckabee?
• One of Obama's greatest strengths is his ability to convince people outside of his campaign's organization to act on the campaign's behalf.
• I'm getting sick of hearing the same speech over and over again. Obama and Clinton each need a new stump speech.
• Over the weekend, Obama became the front runner. All tonight did was confirm that. Based on that, he should have given a new speech tonight.
• Nilda is watching over my shoulder as I type this, pointing out every friggin typo I make. "You can't spellcheck for your life." I'm gonna beat her so hard.
• Alaska is the most important state to win. It's the state that no one cares about and that no candidate wants to put money into. It's America's gut vote. In 2006, Howard Dean and the DNC decided to campaign in every state, to at least ask for people's votes, which was remarkably successful. Obama did the same thing and won.
• Nilda just gave me a lecture on when to use an apostrophe for "its" and "it's." She is in so much trouble. I don't care if its true, Nilda! I DON'T CARE THAT I SHOULD HAVE SAID "IT'S"!!!
• I am one funny white guy.
• Obama's line about Cheney being his cousin is still funny.
• For all of Schwartz's support for Hillary, she consistently commits his greatest sin of reading off of cue cards.
• If Obama had not been in the race, I would be a Hillary supporter. Or maybe I'd be for Edwards.
• Hilllary should pick Colin Powell as her VP candidate. Now. McCain should wait to announce Condeleeza Rice for his VP choice.
• I have to wash the dishes. Dammit.

Save Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights is the best show on television. Check it out on Netflix or even nbc.com and you'll see why. Seriously. But NBC never promoted it properly, putting it on Friday nights when no one's watching. It belongs on Thursdays at 10:00 pm, as a replacement for the aging and stale ER. It is the most complling drama on tv, rivaling even the Sopranos, and would have totally taken off if given the spotlight.

Anyway, the problem is that it might not come back on the air, a casualty from the writer's strike. That's why everyone needs to SIGN THE PETITION from our good friends at best week ever to save the show. Just think, what would Riggins do?

Oh, and Hillary had a bad week. She abandoned the states in play after February, thinking that she should not invest the money since she didn't have a chance. This gave all the momentum to Obama, even for states that did not matter, which in turns game him all the fund-raising momentum , since no one wants to give money to the candidate who's losing. Gulliani followed this same failed strategy and this is the real reason why Hillary fired her campaign manager. Kisses!

The Thing About Hillary

After a long and lively discussion today with Schwartz, I think I finally understand the die hard motivation behind the devotion to Hillary (he's a huge fan): she represents the best of her generation, even more so than Bill. She's the smartest, strongest and most dynamic leader they have ever had, and is the first real feminist with a shot at the White House. They cannot understand, and feel threatened by, the support for Obama, who they perceive as weak, since he was not forged from the turmoil of the 60's. He represents the first real challenge from the next generation, and they fear losing their shot at glory.

Did you notice the new counter on the blog (shout out to Irene!)? Now I can see when Nilda, Andrew, Irene AND Harley log on.

Super Tuesday

Here's what we learned from Super Tuesday (note: all data not plagiarized from the internet comes directly out of my ass):

The Democrats came out to vote in far greater numbers than the Republicans. The total votes cast among the GOP was 8,370,022. Compared to the 14,622,822 votes among the Democratic primaries, the Democrat race drew 76% more voters than the Republican race. This reflects the dissatisfaction that many Republicans feel towards all of the candidates. Perhaps the only candidate capable of galvanizing the base is Hillary Clinton. But even then, who knows if McCain would go after her the way Bush went after Bill.

Obama and Clinton received equal numbers of votes. Obama received 7,294,851 votes (49.8%), while Clinton received 7,347,971 votes (50.2%). Among all the millions of voters, that's a difference of 53,120 votes. That's less than .01%. For all the talk about winners and losers, it's a dead heat, and the Democrats are split down the middle.

Finally, here's my response to the argument that you should support Clinton because America is not ready to vote for a black man:

1. That's not true, as proven by Iowa and the fact that most of Obama's support has come from white men.
2. People who won't vote for a black man probably won't vote for a woman, either, so that the argument would not even favor Hillary.
3. As much as it tries to blame the racism of others, this argument perpetuates the racism that the Obama campaign is trying to combat. Not voting for Obama because others have a problem with his race, is the same as not voting for Obama because of his race.

Thank you for your kind words of support and generous donations. It's hard work hosting the most important blog in the country.

Quote of the Day

"I don't like to listen, I just like to talk."

-Nilda

From the People Who Brought You Tetris

This game is called "Warehouse No. 18," and its essentially a puzzle game to figure out how to get the moving pieces into their designated spots. The words are all in Russian, but its pretty easy to figure out and completely addictive. GET TO WORK!!!!

Boywonderesq Officially Endorses Obama

After much speculation and courting by both sides, Boywonderesq.blogspot.com officially endorses Barack Obama for the Democratic Presidential Candidate. While Hillary Clinton would make a great president, she is cut from the same partisan politics that have dominated for the past two decades. Obama, the first candidate from Generation X, represents the first attempt to transcend that mold of politics and turn the page to the next stage of American History. As aptly put in today's Doonesbury, Obama is "the first black Kennedy."

Some may question the influence of "special interests" (Nilda) on this endosement. The truth is that it has taken many months to arrive at the bold and courageous action taken herein. Indeed, that fact that the "special interests" are on strike from cooking bears witness to the impartiality of this endorsement. But that's for another post.

Superbowl

I'm torn on this one, I can see it going either way. Ultimately, however, I'm going to have to go with the Patriots to win. As much as the Giants have surprised everyone this postseason, the Patriots are just too forceful and experienced at this level to bet against. But it would be nice to see Eli Manning prove me and everyone else wrong.

All in all, though, I'm still more excited about Tuesday's election than I am about the Superbowl. Go Eagles.

Dorks In Common

The following is a transcript of a conversation I had with a client of mine:

Client: "I've finished working on the narrative of what the company did, and it really shows what they did wrong."

Brian: "Ok, great."

Client: "I'm telling you, holding this document is like holding concentrated evil."

Brian: "Like in Time Bandits?"

(pause)

Client: "You and I are going to get along just fine."