Robert Khuu Presents

Dystopian “death panels” … of death.

If anyone’s been paying attention to current events, health care reform is the hot new contested topic in front of Congress right now. Of course, there have been many criticisms, but the one criticism that confounds me the most is the criticism that the universal health care system will create panels of distant bureaucrats that determine the fate of the average American taxpayer’s health coverage. Grandma was denied the critical treatment required to take care of her hypertension by some no good government bureaucrat! Little Susie was denied life saving, I don’t know, antibiotics that would have prevented the spread of the … Hanta Techno-virus by some distant government bureaucrat while he smokes on his stogie, Ho Ho Ho! More »

Even though I survive by absorbing the ambient evil …

The legal profession is probably one of the few professions where it is apparently socially acceptable for people to tell you to your face that you are scum of the earth in a social setting. It is also probably the only profession where it is alright for people, friends and family alike, to tell you to your face that it should be abolished or severely limited. Even my mother has told me that she hates lawyers. Granted, of the times I have been told this, it’s mostly said in jest; however, I can’t help but feel that, deep down inside, most of the people that tell me this, really do mean it.

So that leads me to my question: why all the lawyer hate? I’m not so naive as to think that all lawyers are good, but I would say the vast majority of lawyers do their job in an ethical manner. Of course, what can you really expect? The news tends to focus on the bad lawyers as opposed to the good lawyers, right? Even so, I think lawyers still catch a lot more flak than they should. Think about it. The news reports on stories about teachers molesting their students, about doctors behaving unethically on a regular basis. Yet, no one ever demands that these professions be severely limited nor do they call these professions scum.

I suppose, at the root of it all, I’m just insulted. It’s one thing to criticize my intended profession, but it’s something altogether different when people say to my face that all lawyers are the root of all the problems that this country faces (everything from the Interstate Highway system to the War on Terror). In fact, I’m a sellout for working with someone that has opposing political views! In fact, my focus on commercial law makes me too “practical” (told to me in a negative manner)! Maybe lawyers should just do everything pro bono.

Oh wait, pro bono doesn’t pay the bills.

If any/none of you were wondering …

So, a few things have changed:

1. I’ve graduated from law school, and
2. I’ve moved back to CA.

The first one I am particularly proud of. After three long years of toiling, I’ve managed to get my juris doctorate. Granted, I have yet to do anything with it, but, nonetheless, I am proud of my accomplishment. Now, I just have to get over the “you’re not studying!” guilt-meter that law school installed in my brain.

The trip was actually kind of fun. I decided to drive the entire 2500+ mile trip back to CA. My brother and I took the I-80 to the I-70 to the I-15 to get back. We drove through Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and Nevada. The trip back was actually pretty efficient. We woke up, drove, stopped, slept. Rinse and repeat for three and half days. I’d actually like to do it again (not anytime soon) so that I could do some exploring. All-in-all, a pretty good trip.

The trip back marked the end of a particular phase of my life. I can’t be a responsibility-free student anymore. I just have to figure out what to do for the rest of it. The only thing I’ve figured out is: 1) find a job, 2) work said job, 3) ??????, 4) profit.

The Pirate Bay takes a hit. A fleshwound, really.

In an expected twist, the guys in charge of the infamous Pirate Bay bittorrent tracker have been found guilty of copyright infringement by Swedish courts. This is sort of a significant blow against … copyright pirates(?). I can’t see how this can be spun in a “negative” light. I have no illusions about what was happening on their site. It danced on that fine line between legal and illegal. What I find annoying is the reaction by the Pirate Bay guys. They reacted with an almost teenage level of delusional defiance. Here’s the worst quote:

We see this as a film … [t]his is the first set-back for the heroes. … [i]n the end we know that the good guys will win, as in all movies. Source: Wired.

I don’t know what to say. This isn’t a movie? In real life, good guys don’t always win? I wonder how long his defiance will last in prison. I don’t know anything about Swedish prisons, but I figure prisons are, more or less, the same everywhere: regardless of how many “luxuries” the prisoners get, prison is no cake walk. Prison time is still hard time.

As sort of an analysis of the background chatter, everyone that supports TPB seems to say/think that what they’re doing is “OK” and that content industry needs to change. I tend to agree w/the fact that the content industry does need to change; however, people on the sidelines need to remember that they live in, for the most part, democracies. They need to vote in legislators that will change the copyright laws. In the mean time, no one should make any illusions about what they are doing: under current existing law, they are doing illegal acts. If you think information wants to be free, you have to set up the legal structures to allow for it. Courts, for the most part, interpret law and not your postings on Internet message boards.

In Iowa, the Constitution Trumps Religion

As many of you have probably already heard, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that gay marriage is protected under the Iowa Constitution. Significantly, the opinion references both the Federal Constitution and SCOTUS case law. More »