Archive for 2007

THE JORDANIAN BLOGOSPHERE comes of age.

EUGENE VOLOKH POINTS OUT SOME ERRORS in Jeffrey Toobin’s new book. Mickey Kaus thinks that Eugene is excessively “hesitant and mild-mannered.”

MORE ON Google and privacy. “I’d be a helluva lot happier of they had started with the basic principles and mechanisms for ensuring privacy and announced those first – before releasing working code modules.”

SO I SAW THIS Waring wine chiller at Williams-Sonoma the other day, and it looked cool. But when I checked the product reviews on Amazon, they were pretty lukewarm. That’s too bad, as I like the idea.

SO HSU ME:

A Laguna Beach investment firm filed a lawsuit against Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu on Friday, claiming he defrauded investors out of at least $23 million and required them to donate to Democratic candidates.

According to the lawsuit filed by Briar Wood Investments, Hsu persuaded the company’s operator to do business with him by taking him to star-studded Democratic Party events. There, the 56-year-old Hong Kong native was praised by New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and others, the lawsuit said.

As a condition of doing business with the fundraiser, Hsu directed investors to make contributions to certain Democratic candidates, the lawsuit said. The investors turned over tens of thousands of dollars, including $30,000 worth of checks to Clinton’s campaign on a single day.

The lawsuit is the latest in a series of legal troubles that continue to mount for Hsu.

Last week, New York investors filed a similar suit against Hsu. On Thursday, federal prosecutors unsealed a criminal complaint accusing Hsu of operating a national Ponzi scheme and reimbursing investors for donations made in their names. And on Friday, a San Mateo County judge ordered Hsu held without bail in a 1991 theft case. . . . According to the lawsuit, Waters invested with Hsu in part because “prominent persons, including Sen. Hillary Clinton, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, national Democratic political adviser James Carville, film director Steven Spielberg, actor (Tobey) Maguire, grocery store magnate/billionaire Ron Burkle and others introduced and/or endorsed Hsu as a friend, colleague and trusted associate.”

Read the whole thing. When you do, you’ll see that these people are finding it increasingly difficult to remember ever knowing Hsu. By next November they won’t even recognize his name.

“Hsu gave you this money.” “Who?” “Hsu!” “That’s what I’m asking you!”

A VINTAGE PHOTOBLOG that’s worth your time.

WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE.

JAMES CAAN: “Nobody should give a shit about an actor’s opinion on politics.”

STEPHEN GREEN: “It’s somehow with a straight face that the AP reports that Jimmy Carter is as gullible as ever.”

GEE, DO YOU THINK? “UC Irvine chancellor says he ‘bungled’ Chemerinsky firing.”

THE DELUSION OF dialogue.

ANOTHER CALIFORNIA NEWSPAPER editorializes on Larry Summers:

Small but vocal minorities should not be allowed to halt the free trade of ideas that is so critical to higher education.

And what was Larry Summers going to talk about? Competitiveness.

Plus, the San Jose Mercury News on Stanford’s McCarthyism. “Universities should be paragons for the open exchange of ideas, even if they’re controversial or unpopular. And all connected with private and public university communities should protect that ideal.”

RUDY GIULIANI goes after Hillary for her MoveOn support.

FRANK J.: “In the Fred Thompson administration, there will be no need for the leaders of terrorist states to visit Ground Zero; Ground Zero will be wherever they live.”

Hey, do you think Frank J. fits the job description below? Only he has his own taser. . . .

UPDATE: Also, if you do tase Frank J., he just laughs maniacally and says “Beauty! Turn it up to 90 next time!”

ARE ALL RENTAL CARS BAD?