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.

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 »

Pinko Commie Litmus Test

While I tend to think that I’m a left leaning moderate, apparently, the Center for American Progress’ political quiz says otherwise. According to the test, I am:

I suppose my main criticism of the test is that it doesn’t account for my willingness to compromise w/the opposition in favor of practical solutions. Maybe that takes me out of the extreme left? The questions and answers are pretty simplistic. For example, there’s a question that asks how much we agree w/the basic statement that “unions are good” (or was it bad?). My views on labor unions are far more complex than that simple dichotomy (e.g., the more skilled the labor, less of a need for a union). The test only really checks for pure ideology and not so much political realities. FiveThirtyEight has a pretty good analysis that basically says:

If conservatives and liberals had fundamental disagreementson [over] most major political questions, you’d expect to see a statistically significant inverse correlation in their responses. But you don’t see that. Conversely, if they agreed on most of these fundamental questions, with the differences being only around the periphery, you’d expect to see a statistically significant positive correlation in their responses. But you don’t really see that either. Source: FiveThirtyEight.

So that whole bit about the “culture wars” and the “disconnect” that liberals (or conservatives) have from the “true” America? Garbage.

Don’t wanna hurt no kangaroo

I recently started listening to more Randy Newman. You know who he is, right? He co-wrote “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” for Toy Story. I was never a big fan until I heard this song:

I loves me the political satire!