Monday punditry, of a delicate and subtle flavor. Like anchovies.  

Paul Krugman:

Tensions are rising over Chinese economic policy, and rightly so: China’s policy of keeping its currency, the renminbi, undervalued has become a significant drag on global economic recovery. Something must be done.

But we owe them. So how does that work?

It’s true that if China dumped its U.S. assets the value of the dollar would fall against other major currencies, such as the euro. But that would be a good thing for the United States, since it would make our goods more competitive and reduce our trade deficit. On the other hand, it would be a bad thing for China, which would suffer large losses on its dollar holdings. In short, right now America has China over a barrel, not the other way around.

So we have no reason to fear China. But what should we do?

Krugman says play hardball.

Ross Douthat goes to the movies:

Our nation might be less divided, and our debates less poisonous, if more artists were capable of showing us the ironies, ambiguities and tragedies inherent in our politics — rather than comforting us with portraits of a world divided cleanly into good and evil.

Don’t blame Hollywood, Ross. Blame Bush and Glen Beck and Fox News. Until you confront the truth, your column will continue to be one dimensional.

WaPo:

Obama’s focus on financial rules, Supreme Court opinion could aid Democrats

Despite holding high-profile meetings last week on energy and immigration reform, President Obama will focus the next few months on two issues that could help his party in November: stronger financial regulations and ways to mitigate a Supreme Court ruling that allows direct corporate spending on behalf of candidates.

It must have pained them to write that headline. In any case, see bobswern’s diary on Chris Dodd’s opening salvo.

Tom Davis (ex-R-VA):

Eight months is an eternity, full of surprises, unpredictable events and chess moves from both sides that can affect the outcome and alter the course of history.

For Democrats, the path is clear but decidedly uphill. For Republicans, the future appears sunny, though storm clouds could gather.

Republicans have to watch out for pitfalls. If the 2010 elections are a referendum on Democratic performance, the year belongs to the GOP.

But Republican leaders need to be wary of traps set by the Democrats to make the elections a choice between competing visions. An election based on choice will significantly temper Republican gains. After all, the voters rebuked the GOP in ’06 and ’08, and memories are not that short.

Davis is a smart guy.

Republican leaders also need to measure their words and actions so that they do not drive away independents or motivate complacent Democrats. The GOP base is already motivated — against the Democratic agenda. Red meat is more likely to awaken the Obama surge voters than to prompt additional turnout among Republicans.

But can they resist? I doubt it, not with teabaggers, Fox News and other right flank loonies pushing them.

Robert J. Samuelson shows why he can’t be depended upon to interpret health reform.

How often, for example, have you heard the emergency-room argument? The uninsured, it’s said, use emergency rooms for primary care. That’s expensive and ineffective. Once they’re insured, they’ll have regular doctors. Care will improve; costs will decline. Everyone wins. Great argument. Unfortunately, it’s untrue.
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A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the insured accounted for 83 percent of emergency-room visits, reflecting their share of the population. After Massachusetts adopted universal insurance, emergency-room use remained higher than the national average, an Urban Institute study found. More than two-fifths of visits represented non-emergencies.

A), that means 3/5 are emergencies and 2) access to care is a different reform than financing, and both are different than quality. (Did you just see A) and 2)? I love doing that.) Most Emergency Departments have “urgent care” fast tracks and they compete with “doc in the box” urgent care centers (which actually give decent short term care) but with better hours. IOW, it’s a feature, not a bug. The 3/5 “true” emergency visits are the health issue. The 2/5 urgent visits are a competitive  business model. You might as well rail about 24 hour stores being open at midnight even though there’s more traffic during the day. And get off my lawn.

Don’t get your ball anywhere near the windmill in this hot new exercise trend.  After seeing nude videos of UFC fighter Chuck Liddell and his girlfriend working out in the buff, and Bengals star Chad Ochocinco (stupid stupid man for making that his name) running around with everything hanging out, funny guy Dax Shepard took [...]

A look back at some of the best celebrity pictures of the past week: March 7 – March 13, 2010. The celebrity world is never boring; always crazy and a whole lot of fun to follow!
Don’t forget to bookmark us! We update celebrity gossip 24/7!
Click to enlarge pictures.
photos: Bauer Griffin; Fame; Pacific Coast News

By popular request in comment threads and emails, I’ll be putting together a Saturday digest of election-oriented diaries from now until November. This project emerged from the Community Power! Election Season diary written Feb. 20. Next week I’ll introduce you to a couple of other Kossacks who will be joining me in running the project.

Each digest will include a list of election diaries published during the previous week and categorized by region. A separate section will include diaries written in the previous week by incumbents, new candidates and wannabe candidates. (Diaries by incumbents may or may not be directly related to the coming elections.)

Digests will also focus on a few tips for making diaries more persuasive, informative and written in a way that encourages everyone to read them even if they live 2000 miles away from the spotlighted contest. This week, we’re talking headlines.

Just as with a story in a newspaper or magazine, a headline can make or break a diary. That is, you can attract an audience or drive it away by the words and structure you choose. Crafting great headlines is something even some of the best writers never quite get the knack of, but everybody can train themselves to become better at it. Too many writers spend hours on research and writing their diaries, then slap on a 30-second headline. Spend some time at it. A good practice is to write three or four possible headlines and choose the best one. Happily for bloggers, some of the old rules from the old media – like character counts – don’t apply in wwwLand. But some do. Here are 10 guidelines to think about:

• Headlines are bait. Instill curiosity: “Paternity Test Demanded for Florida Abstinence Campaigner”; “Voters Eager to Punish Liberals, Selves”

• Conversational headlines appeal to the most readers.

• Use the active voice. Good verbs work wonders. “To be” conjugations bore readers.

• There’s power in humor, but serious stories suffer from overly cute headlines. Headlines with a twist of an old cliché reel in readers. But take care not to twist too far.

• Beware. Double entendres can help or hurt. “Cops Pinch Lewd Nude” works; however, “Clinton Wins Budget; More Lies Ahead” has problems.

• Be succinct. Short headlines are punchier and easier to read. Ernest Hemingway told a whole story once in six words – “For sale: baby shoes, never used.” A helluva good headline, too.

• Match the headline to the story. Don’t deceive. Nobody likes being taken for a fool.

• If the diary is about a candidate, the candidate’s and/or district’s name should usually appear in the headline.

• DON’T WRITE HEADLINES IN ALL CAPS. Besides “shouting,” they are hard to read.

• If it’s not BREAKING! don’t lie about it.

From this week’s collection of election diaries, I’ve picked what I think are four solid headlines. But even most of them could be tweaked:

NY-Sen: GOP eyes notorious Bush war-flack Dan Senor. (Perfect)

Sen. Richard Burr: Playing Politics in Right Field. (N.C. Sen. Richard Burr: Playing Politics in Right Field)

A call to Netroots – There’s a Dem willing to fight against DeMint. (Calling the Netroots – There’s a Dem willing to fight DeMint)

Is it all about the Benjamins? The GOP primary for governor in Wisconsin. (Is it all about the Benjamins? In Wisconsin’s GOP primary, yes)

The election digest follows below.

Call it the calm before the storm. Democrats in Washington are going through one of those “It’s quiet out there… too quiet…” cliché moments, as…

After Robert Montgomery wrote in an ESPNOutdoors.com column that the federal government had a strategy in the works that “could prohibit U.S. citizens from fishing…

Christina Ricci at the Jean-Charles de Castelbajac after pary in Paris
Via The Superficial:
Here’s an absolutely shit-faced Christina Ricci in Paris last night, and is anyone at all surprised to see Lindsay Lohan at the scene of the crime? That’s like seeing a fish in the ocean. If the ocean was 3/4ths gin.
Oddly enough Lindsay [...]

By Michael J.W. StickingsPhoto from The Globe and Mail: “A car passes by a giant transformer, made of discarded old cars and scrap metal, outside the town of Yuzhny, Ukraine, some 40 km south of the Black Sea port of Odessa.”Forget the Missile Gap. For…

When I was 14 and weighed 297 pounds. I’m now 17, and I’ve weighed 145 pounds for the past two years. Getting and staying fit has been tough, but it’s easier than a lifetime of obesity.

We all hear that we shouldn’t drink and drive, text and drive, or even talk on your cell phone and drive. There is something else we need to be cautious about. Don’t try and shave your private parts and drive. I thought that was just common sense but apparently not. I [...]

Ed. note: This post is written by Will Meyerhofer, a Biglaw attorney turned psychotherapist, whom we profiled. A former Sullivan & Cromwell associate, he holds degrees from Harvard, NYU Law, and The Hunter College School of Social Work. He blogs at The People’s Therapist.

A <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/health/views/06depress.html?emc=eta1
“>New York Times article from a few weeks ago holds enormous potential ramifications for lawyers bent over their desks at big law firms. The tentative conclusion of the piece was simple: if you are dealing with minor depression, or in fact, with anything other than massive, serious depression, popping anti-depressant pills is probably a waste of time. In fact, a placebo might do you more good.

How many lawyers are currently taking anti-depressants? According to the admittedly anecdotal evidence from the lawyers I’ve seen over the years in my private practice, quite a few.

It’s such a lawyerly thing to do. You figure out you’re depressed, so you do something about it – march over to your doctor, or maybe a high-powered shrink with a top reputation, get diagnosed, and get your pills. The whole thing takes a few minutes, and you’re back on the job. No wasting billable hours, no whining and complaining on a therapist’s couch – you take care of the problem and move on. Take a pill and knock it off with the martyr routine.

However, there are a few problems with anti-depressants…

First, like I said, they might not work. Don’t believe me? Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Some widely prescribed drugs for depression provide relief in extreme cases but are no more effective than placebo pills for most patients, according to a new analysis released Tuesday.

The findings could help settle a longstanding debate about antidepressants. While the study does not imply that the drugs are worthless for anyone with moderate to serious depression — many such people do seem to benefit — it does provide one likely explanation for the sharp disagreement among experts about the drugs’ overall effectiveness.

Second, the side-effects. This includes the “sexual side-effects” – which might mean, if you’re a guy, erectile dysfunction, and whichever gender you are, inability to reach orgasm. And there are “regular” side effects, too – like weight gain.

Third, anti-depressants only work while you’re on them. I’ve heard of people staying on anti-depressants for decades, but I have no idea what the long-term effects are because no one knows. If you’d like to experiment on yourself, I’m sure the pharmaceutical industry would be fascinated to find out.

Fourth, to the extent they do work, it’s by erasing feelings. Anti-depressants tend to narrow the bandwidth of what you feel, chopping off the top and the bottom – no more highs, no more lows. That can bring relief, but at a cost.

Fifth, other than the vague explanation that they “affect neurotransmitter levels,” no one really understands how they work. Anti-depressant medications, especially the new generation of drugs, are a relatively recent development, and the exact mechanism that produces the results isn’t fully understood.

Is there another option?

Read on at The People’s Therapist.

Mental health – Health – disorder – Depression – Mood

How can the organizations which are funding a primary challenge to Senator Lincoln ignore the fact that only 17% of our Senate is women? It would be progressive to get that down to 16%?

The first couple welcomed guests to the White House on Monday, marking International Women’s Day. Mrs. Obama looked ravishing in a grey draped dress by Lanvin.

They kicked off the event with this adorable exchange. Pictures and full transcrip…

Pop Quiz, hotshot: You’re a law school dean with a graduating class of 3Ls who aren’t able to find jobs upon completion of the expensive education you’ve provided. U.S. News is breathing down your neck, asking for “employed upon graduation” statistics. You’re terrified of plummeting in the rankings and losing your job, and you know better than anybody how difficult it is to find a job with a J.D. on your resume right now.

What do you do? What do you do?

Well, if you’re an actor that now isn’t even as accomplished as Sandra freaking Bullock, you probably start popping caps at your unemployed 3Ls. Anything to reduce that denominator.

But if you’re Rebecca H. White, dean of the University of Georgia Law School, a smart move is to start openly begging your alumni to help you out.

That’s precisely what Dean White did …

Dean White sent out this letter to Georgia Law alums:

As all of us are aware, we continue to face a difficult economy that has affected employment opportunities for law students and graduates across the country. At Georgia Law, we too are feeling the impact acutely through reduced employment opportunities for law students and upcoming Georgia Law graduates.

Many of you have been able to continue your support of the law school through hiring, and I want to express my appreciation for your participation in our on- and off-campus interview programs and for posting job announcements with the Office of Legal Career Services.

The hiring slowdown has resulted in an unprecedented number of highly credentialed law students who still seek summer and post-graduate positions. Our students are available for project work, for summer and full-time positions, and in certain circumstances for unpaid work for academic credit or as volunteers. Our Legal Career Services staff is eager to help you connect with well qualified students to fill any hiring needs you may have.

If you would like assistance or information regarding Georgia Law’s hiring services, I urge you to contact our Director of Legal Career Services, [Redacted]

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

–
Rebecca H. White
Dean and J. Alton Hosch Professor of Law
University of Georgia
School of Law

One Georgia law student quipped:

Glad to see the law school is trying to encourage alumni to hire our graduates, but project work and volunteer positions for people who thought they were going to be able to get full time jobs after graduation is a little depressing.

I believe Athens natives R.E.M. have some words of wisdom for Georgia law students. I just don’t know if the song is Everybody Hurts or It’s the End of the World.

Meanwhile, Northwestern has also tapped into their alumni network. But they’re looking at steps down the road. Northwestern got a couple of grads to give them money to help fund 1Ls and 2Ls who would otherwise be facing a summer of poverty and no legal training. Here is part of the letter from Northwestern Law Dean David E. Van Zandt:

I am pleased to inform you that Don Reuben JD ‘52 and Kellogg ‘49 has provided a $100,000 donation to the Law School that allows us to increase our funding for 1st- and 2nd-year students who pursue volunteer public service positions during the upcoming summer 2010.

Because the current economic circumstances have reduced the number of law firm opportunities for 1st- and 2nd-year students nationwide, we anticipate that more students will pursue unpaid positions within the public sector this summer. Don’s gift anticipates this possibility and provides significant financial assistance to our students during this difficult period.

As a one-time opportunity, the Law School also has decided to double our contribution to Student Funded Public Interest Fellowships (SFPIF) and to provide up to $100,000 to support 2nd-year students, through a mix of institutional funds as well as targeted fundraising efforts that we are undertaking. We anticipate the combination of SFPIF’s tremendous fundraising efforts this year and an increased contribution to them from the Law School will allow SFPIF to support most qualifying 1st-year SFPIF members. The gift from Don Reuben and the Law School’s development efforts will allow the Law School to provide up to $4,000 toward living expenses for as many as 50 2nd-year students.

Of course, if 2Ls want to get a cut of this found money, they better act fast:

Eligibility details for 2nd-year students: Funding for 2nd-year students will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. To apply, students must provide proof of full-time employment at an external government agency, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization, an international NGO, or the Bluhm Legal Clinic to Cindy Wilson by April 15, 2010. If a student is being paid an amount less than $4,000 for the summer by their employer, the student may apply for an award to bring their total summer income to $4,000. The application for these grants is located on the Career Strategy Center public interest funding web page.

Now, I can only think of one summer where I got by on anything close to $4,000. It was after my freshman year of college and I distinctly remember a homeless man telling me to “cheer up” as I sullenly ate an apple for lunch near the Capitol.

But law students should talk to some Ph.D candidates about how to go about “funding” a summer. You get a little bit of fellowship money here, tutor rich children trying to up their SAT score there, drive a cab, put on a some clear heels and attack the pole — pretty soon you’ve got a budget you can live on.

It’s not easy, but if law school deans can beg for money, so can you.

Earlier: Northwestern Law Gets ‘Proactive’

Law School – Law – Education – United States – California