By Jonathan Miller, on Mon May 21, 2012 at 9:15 AM ET
Since late in the Belushi years, when I was finally allowed to stay up and watch Saturday Night Live, I’ve probably caught 90% of the episodes — although now mostly in my Sunday morning DVR ritual.
I can’t remember a moment as touching — as human — as the skit from this weekend’s season finale: the final show for seven-year SNL veteran, and now international comedy sensation, Kristen Wiig.
If you haven’t caught it over the weekend’s Facebooking and Twittering, check out this legitimate “Must See TV” below:
By Jimmy Dahroug, on Mon May 21, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
New York will soon become the first state in the nation to require pro bono service with Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman’s recent decision to mandate fifty hours of pro bono work as part of admission to the bar. This is a step in the right direction that can significantly enhance the legal profession.
This new initiative will provide much needed legal assistance for people who cannot afford attorneys. The Legal Aid Society, the nation’s largest provider of free legal services, turns away eight of every nine people seeking help with civil legal matters. Since the recession began in 2008, requests for legal assistance have increased tremendously, especially in the areas of healthcare, work-related problems, and foreclosures. As Judge Lippman pointed out, approximately 10,000 prospective prospective lawyers pass the New York Bar Exam each year. This will result in 500,000 hours of pro bono legal service.
The pro bono requirement will also benefit the attorney and all future clients because it will provide much needed practical experience in legal education. Professionals ranging from surgeons to construction workers receive significant practical training, but as Stanford Law School Dean Larry Kramer explained, “Law is the only profession that gives people licenses to perform services for others that doesn’t require serious, supervised clinical education.” Indeed, top law schools including Stanford have come to recognize the need for experiential training to better prepare attorneys beyond the theory of the classroom. A pro bono requirement helps fill this critical need for practical training.
Read the rest of… Jimmy Dahroug: NY State’s Pro Bono Requirement is Step in Right Direction
The 137th running of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, is this Saturday at Pimlico race track in Baltimore, Maryland. The Preakness can either destroy the dreams of the Kentucky Derby winner’s team or it can set up drama like no other at the Belmont Stakes. There has not been a Triple Crown winning horse since 1978, when Affirmed completed the trifecta. I’ll Have Another, the 2012 Kentucky Derby winner, is hoping to do the same in 2012.
Mitt Romney has locked up the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2012. Just like I’ll Have Another, he is riding high right now. Romney is leading President Obama in a recent CBS News/New York Times poll. His next major campaign move, selecting his Vice Presidential nominee, might decide what looks to be a very close general election. If you don’t believe me, look no further than Sarah Palin in 2008.
So without further ado I give you the “Mitt Romney VP Odd’s Preakness Style” based on the first early morning lines of the race when post positions were drawn. Can there be anything more fun than combining premier US horse racing with presidential politics? I think not.
THE FAVORITES
8-5 Odds – Bodemeister/Senator Marco Rubio (R – FL): Bodemeister led from the gate to nearly the finish of the Kentucky Derby until I’ll Have Another caught him. Just like Bodemeister, Rubio sprinted out to an early lead in the veepstakes and has maintained it up to this point. He is a rising star, has been called the “crown prince” of the Tea Party movement, and potentially delivers the most important swing state of them all. He also helps with the all important and growing Latino vote. Can Rubio seal the deal with Romney or will he get passed in the end like Bodemeister in the Derby? Maybe Romney passes if Mitt can’t handle Rubio’s “star power” potentially outshining him. This pick makes so much sense for Mitt.
5-2 Odds – I’ll Have Another/Senator Rob Portman (R – OH): I’ll Have Another shocked the horse racing world down the stretch of the 138th Kentucky Derby with his closing and finishing speed. Rob Portman is one those guys who has often been mentioned in the running for Romney’s mate, but isn’t as exciting to many Republicans as Rubio. Portman has served his country in the United States House and Senate, as well as in two cabinet positions in the George W. Bush administration. He is from the coveted swing state of Ohio, which President Obama won in 2008. Portman is a lot like Romney when it comes to style and substance, but his experience might make him a tad bit safer choice than Rubio. Portman is closing fast on Rubio in I’ll Have Another fashion.
Read the rest of… Jason Grill: Mitt Romney VP Odds, Preakness Style
By Krystal Ball, on Fri May 18, 2012 at 1:30 PM ET
Angie’s List recently made news and not in a good way.
The popular business referral service has apparently decided to risk the reputation of their own business by supporting Rush Limbaugh’s hate radio.
I can only presume that they are hoping to take advantage of Limbaugh’s last distress-sale advertising rates in order to create buzz following their recent Initial Public Offering. In doing so, they have traded dollars and cents for any sense of common decency. Their ad dollars are supporting a man who has called women sluts, prostitutes, and lard-asses.
While Angie’s decision to associate with Rush Limbaugh is revealing in and of itself, a closer inspection of the company reveals that their association with Rush should not be all that surprising. Angie’s List, it seems, has a problem with women too.
Angie’s List was co-founded by Angie (Angela Bowman Hicks) and William Oesterle in 1995. The two came together in order to create a reliable source of business referrals and Angie’s List was born. Though Angie is the public face of the eponymous organization, Bill Oesterle is actually the CEO. Oesterle’s career did not start in business however. It started in Republican politics. (Hat tip to @catsrimportant!)
After graduating from Purdue University, Oesterle took a low-level position with Republican Governor Robert Orr of Indiana. Oesterle apparently rose through the ranks quickly and in 1988 moved from Governor Orr’s staff to the conservative Hudson Institute where he served as Director of Corporate Affairs.
Read the rest of… Krystal Ball: Angie’s List Has a Problem with Women
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri May 18, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
When I have dead time I sometimes bide time trying to figure out what acronyms stand for.
Today I decided to tackle MENSA, the high IQ society. After being unable to think of any series of words starting with M E N S and A that signified high intelligence, I finally conceded and looked it up.
It’s not even an acronym. It’s Latin for “table” or “round table.”
I figure Latin for “round table” for a group name must be something really smart and deliberately obscure. Or the founders of MENSA got really drunk the night they voted on a group name–and are too proud to admit it and change to a more fitting name.
I mean, come on folks! Do you really think only 2% of the population can qualify for a group about a furniture shape?
I have a better idea.
I am hereby creating an even more exclusive organization and calling it BAR MENSA.
That is English acronym and Latin for Bigger and Rounder MENSA (or “round table”).
We only accept applicants who believe they are in the top 1.9% of something—but that the right test to measure that ability hasn’t been devised yet. And people who have already actually qualified to be in the tip 2% of something by an actual test that already exists (MENSA members) are ineligible to join.
By Artur Davis, on Fri May 18, 2012 at 10:00 AM ET
Who knew that Massachusetts provides an opportunity to add a touch of color to the almost all white US Senate?
Who knew that when Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren tailored her professional biography to cultivate ties with people who are “like I am”, she had in mind not left-leaning academics, or advanced degreed professional women, or bankruptcy policy wonks, but Oklahoma Cherokees? There is a rich vein in humor in the Boston Herald’s revelation that Harvard Law School touted the clearly Caucasian Warren as a Native America and that for nine years, Warren listed her ancestry in the same manner in official law school directories.
To be sure, the Warren campaign handled the damage control front with a skilled deflection: Team Warren has professed much outrage over any insinuation that her climb up the academic ladder was lifted by affirmative action (a claim her Republican opponent, incumbent Senator Scott Brown, has not remotely raised) and the New Republic has equated the whole thing with far-right birtherism regarding Barack Obama’s background. It’s a clever dodge that minimizes Warren’s creative accounting of her ancestry while reviving the liberal meme that Republicans have a beef with achievements that don’t belong to white men.
Here’s one hope that Warren doesn’t get away so easily. For all the mirth that has greeted the disclosures, there is a serious thicket of questions here for the professor and an embarrassing glimpse into the East Coast elite liberalism that she represents. One appropriate line of inquiry is whether Warren’s drive to reestablish her Cherokee roots manifested itself in any more tangible outreach to Native Americans in, say, her home-state of Oklahoma, who may not have perused law school association guides. The marginalized young adults in that community would certainly have relished a connected, powerful role model, and it is fair game to press Warren on whether the ethnic pride she described last week ever led her to be that person. And it is equally legitimate to ask whether Warren ever used the Native American identification in any context other than a directory that would have been a primary resource for law school recruiters and head-hunters.
Read the rest of… Artur Davis: Elizabeth Warren, Minority Crusader?
By Jonathan Miller, on Fri May 18, 2012 at 8:30 AM ET
The RP’s column this week in The Huffington Post centers around a special organization that promoted bipartisanship, and how its mission is not being fulfilled…yet.
It’s not just that Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning is a great guy: a warm, humble, often hilarious teddy bear of a man who’s the type of person you’d be proud to represent you in Congress.
It’s also because Bruning was our last great hope to break the infernal “Aspen Curse.”
Never heard of the “Aspen Curse”? Don’t worry; only a few dozen sorry sorts have been tracking its metastasization…until now.
The “Aspen Curse” refers to a plague that’s infected the membership of the Inaugural Class of the Aspen Institute’s Rodel Fellowship program. The initiative was launched in 2005, with a stated goal “to enhance our democracy by identifying and bringing together the nation’s most promising young political leaders … committed to sustaining the vision of a political system based on thoughtful and civil bipartisan dialogue; and to help America’s brightest young leaders achieve their fullest potential in public service.”
Eighteen young mid-level elected officials– nine Democrats and nine Republicans from across the country — joined together for a series of events, seminars, and visits to places ranging from New Orleans to Beijing to Jerusalem. (Don’t worry — your tax dollars were not involved.) We studied, debated, argued, drank, told jokes, and built some long-lasting friendships. And when our program ended, we promised to use our bi-partisan spirit and relationships to advance the country’s interests as we moved toward higher office.
And then…the Curse. One by one, we ran for more prominent elected positions. And one by one, we lost.
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu May 17, 2012 at 3:00 PM ET
The Politics of Tech
HBO co-president Eric Kessler responds to concerns about HBO’s access to content as well as the “cord-cutting” phenomenon. [Forbes]
Staying on point with the previous story – HBO’s Game of Thrones is on track to become the pirated show of all time. [TechDirt]
In keeping with the theme – Time Warner’s CEO has stated that in order to combat piracy DVDs need to be released very soon after a movie leaves theaters. [Deadline New York]
“Apple has to patch Siri to stop saying the Nokia Lumia 900 is the ‘best smartphone ever'” [The Verge]
Police in Chicago have purchased a sound cannon in anticipation of protests surrounding this weekend’s NATO summit. [Salon]
The first ever attempt for a privately-owned rocket to dock with the International Space Station is set to happen on May 19, SpaceX and NASA have announced. [CNET]
By Zack Adams, RP Staff, on Thu May 17, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
The Politics of Pigskin
Brandon Jacobs and Mario Manningham chose to skip the Giants’ championship ceremony in favor of meeting with the 49ers. [49ers.com]
Minnesota’s governor has signed the bill that will give the Vikings a new stadium to play in. Finally. [ESPN]
The Vikings’ new stadium deal means they are officially out of the running to relocate to Los Angeles and give LA a team once again. The next team in line? The Rams. [PFT]
Drew Brees is growing more and more frustrated at contract negotiations with the Saints. [NOLA.com]
Jay Cutler acknowledges that the NFL is a rough game and that he understands the risks of playing, particularly concussions. [PFT]
Indianapolis reportedly lost $1.1 million hosting the Super Bowl. [ESPN]
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu May 17, 2012 at 12:00 PM ET
The mathematics of dieting (or the value of a rationalizing mind)
Apparently–and this is important if you didn’t learn this in school–addition and subtraction; multiplication and division all can have nuanced exceptions apply to their normal functions when calculating caloric intake.
For example, let’s say you buy a pastry at Starbucks that you know has 400 calories.
For dieting purposes that is potentially 300 calories you will need to record for yourself if you eat the entire pastry (because you aren’t really exactly sure it’s 400 calories and it’s a smaller than usual looking pastry–and you are just trying to be honest with yourself).
However, if you only eat half the pasty, that only counts as about 100 calories (not the usual 150 or even 200 you might assume would apply using “regular non-dieting math.”
Why?
You look at the pastry and feel you ate the “smaller half.”
But, if you come back to the pastry and decide to eat 3/4ths of it (and not just 1/2), you must add another 10 calories (because the math has gotten so complicated and hard to remember that it’s OK to use shorthand at this point). So, you eat another 1/4 of the pastry and duly note the additional 10 calories. (The fact that it is 1/4th of the “bigger half” isn’t necessary to factor in at this point because you really forgot about this small fact anyway.)
And if you decide a few minutes later, “Screw it , I’m eating the whole thing” and pop the last tiny morsel in your mouth (or final 1/4 of the pastry), you will have to make yet another adjustment. Since you will recall that you just added 10 calories from eating an additional quarter of the pastry a few minutes earlier–and since you have to remain mathematically consistent— you must add another 10 calories for the final quarter of the pastry.
At this point, all you can remember is that you just added 10 calories for eating the final quarter (1/4) of the punier than usual pastry–and can’t recall what the old total calories calculation was to add to.
But that’s the beauty of math. You don’t have to remember. There’s a shortcut. If you know that one quarter (1/4th) of the pastry is 10 calories, you can be sure that the entire pastry (4/4ths) is exactly 4 times that number–or 40 calories.
So, write down 40 calories for eating that entire Starbucks pastry that was really 400 calories.
This is why so many people fail at their diets.
It not only takes willpower to succeed dieting. But you have to be really good at math, too.
