Reuters: Supreme Court overrules Obama nominee in race bias case. Conservative critics seized on the decision, authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy, to demonstrate that Sotomayor was “out of sync” with mainstream legal thinking.

I’m not sure how the Sotomayor decision was out of sync with “mainstream” legal thinking. Her decision may have been out of sync with conservative legal thinking. Mainstream? Nah. After all, Ricci v. DeStefano was a 5-4 decision, meaning 44% of the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with Sotomayor. If you want to find someone that is really out of sync with mainstream legal thinking, take a look at Safford Unified School District #1 v. Redding, an 8-1 decision. If 89% of the justices on the US Supreme Court think one way, I think that line of thinking constitutes mainstream legal thinking. In a case that gave new meaning to Perverted Justice, Justice Thomas curiously was not troubled (in a Constitutional sense) with school administrators strip searching a teenage girl.

I am humored by America’s latest misguided foray: the sudden embrace of Mir-Hossein Mousavi. I’m not too sure how Mousavi managed to seduce America. Perhaps, it’s the proverb that the enemy of my enemy (in this case Mahmoud Admadinejad) is my friend, nevermind that this same line of logic led America to bed Saddam Hussein in an effort to counter the influence of Iran. We all know how that dream date ended up…in a cacophony of bitter recriminations. As typical of all bad break-ups, the squabbling couple ended up fighting over their sundry possessions.

GB: I want my WMDs back.

SH: Rummy told me that they were mine.

GB: Do you want me to come over?

SH: I don’t have them any more.

GB: I’ll find them. You can’t hide my WMDs from me.

SH: Remember your ex, Iran? I used them on her.

GB: I’m going to tear your place apart and find them.

So sad. Anyways, back to Iran. Instead of letting the Iranians sort out their internal affairs, the misguided Republican leadership feel a need to send warm fuzzies to Mousavi.

It’s not about us.

The Iranians need to figure out this election by themselves. They need to forge their own path and uncover an Iranian solution to their conflict. WIthout Obama. Without the GOP. Without us.

It’s not about us.

For whatever reason, Americans believe that speaking out about the Iranian elections and showing solidarity with their fellow Mousavites is a “good thing.” Seriously, do the Iranians care about our unrequited love for their green revolution? Are they hypnotized by the erotic beauty of our green-colored Twitter avatars in the faded glow of night’s light?

It’s not about us.

I suspect that the Iranians would prefer America NOT to care because when our nation does care, we certainly have a strange way of exhibiting our affections, such as by propping up pro-Western dictators and undermining less than friendly elected leaders. Sure, we can plead that this time is different, but our credibility is pretty much shot at this point. Nothing looks more like a CIA-inspired plot than when America starts visibly backing a foreign political leader. Leave the Iranians alone. Don’t co-opt and corrupt their movement and make it something that it is not.

It’s not about us.

ChannelWeb reported that “[t]he Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) could be $1.92 million richer after a federal jury Thursday ruled a Minnesota mother of four who downloaded 24 songs violated music copyrights.” Yeah, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy could be real too. And, O.J. still could be searching for the real killer of his ex-wife. In all likelihood, none of the above will be happening. Unless Jammie Thomas-Rasset has $2 million stuck in her freezer, I doubt that the RIAA will be seeing $1.92 million any time soon.

I had a good laugh viewing the Wonder Bread Intoxilyzer video on the Pinellas County Florida Criminal Lawyer Blog. Basically, it shows a man blowing a 0.025 BAC level after consuming a few slices of Wonder Bread. Instead of the Twinkie defense, will we soon be hearing about the Wonder Bread defense. Will drivers start stashing an open container of Wonder Bread in their vehicles so that if they were ever pulled over, they can just blame the bread?

Recently, the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights Subcommitee examined the state of competition in the cell phone industry.

Senator Kohl stated that “[f]rom 2006 to 2008, the price of sending and receiving a text message among the four largest cell phone carriers increased by 100% from 10 to 20 cents per message” even though “the cost to the phone companies to carry text messages is minimal, estimated to be less than a penny per message, and has not increased.”

Here’s the funny part. Verizon and AT&T argued that the price increases only affect a small percentage of subscribers because most people purchase a text message package instead of paying a la carte. Actually, the price increases affect all subscribers because if the carriers charged 2 cents instead of 20 cents per message, then most subscribers probably would not purchase a package. Or, in the alternative, text message packages would be significantly cheaper.

I love humorous law blogs and Legal Toast is one of them. It’s a hilarious, funny-because-it’s-true comic strip that distills the essence of legal practice. Go check it out.

Take a look at this presentation by Seth Godin. I love the part where he talks about companies slapping a warning label on dangerous products instead of fixing the product itself.

Seth Godin at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

Yesterday, Kevin O’Keefe wrote about his efforts to reconnect with his clients by visiting them one at a time. When he mentioned that the United Airlines “Speech” commercial (about having a face-to-face chat with every customer) aired 20 years ago, I was sure he was wrong because that commercial remains fresh in my mind. I looked around online and Kevin was right.

Despite the truth of the message conveyed in that commercial, United no longer does business “with a handshake, face-to-face.” Instead, United pushes all its customers to purchase tickets online. And, if you want to purchase tickets from a reservation sales agent, “the total price will include a $25 call center fee per ticket.” Once on board, United has also slashed its meal service so that if you want food, you either have to bring it yourself or purchase it from United. For the airline, that may save money and reduce wasted food; however, this approach also reduces the amount of service provided to customers and the opportunity for leaving a memorable experience. The net result is that all airlines provide an indistinguishable experience, except for JetBlue.

Another industry that has followed this approach is the banking industry. I don’t know if any banks still continue the practice of charging teller fees, but talk about completing dehumanizing your customer service experience. The funny thing is that a few months ago, I started receiving a lot of calls from banks asking me to open new accounts. Yes, these were banks that had accepted TARP money. But, who’s going to discuss their financial situation with some unverified person on the other end, even if you are sure it’s not a phishing attempt. The best bet for the banks would be for the teller to recommend some new financial products for the customer. But, if you push every one off to use ATMs, then you may need to do business with a handshake again, face-to-face.

How often do you track your stock portfolio? Daily? Monthly? Or, have you stopped looking altogether? Now, how often do you track your insurance portfolio? If you have purchased life insurance in the past, you may have checked the ratings for your insurer at the time of purchase. However, ratings change and if you do not monitor the health of your insurer, you may end up disappointed should your insurer collapse.

The Florida Insurance Law Blog highlighted this issue recently when one of their attorneys learned that the Virginia Department of Insurance had placed Shenandoah Life, the insurance company from which he had purchased a Universal Life insurance policy, under receivership.

A.M. Best rates the credit of insurance companies. You can review their ratings of insurance companies with a free registration. For the insurer in question, A.M. Best had downgraded their financial strength rating from A- (Excellent) to B++ (Good) on September 26, 2008. Two months later, A.M. Best placed their rating under review pending a proposed merger between OneAmerica and Shenandoah Life. The day after OneAmerica terminated its letter of intent concerning the proposed merger, the State Corporation Commission of Virginia was appointed as a receiver for Shenandoah Life.

To avoid getting surprised, visit the Best’s Ratings & Analysis Center to see the state of your insurer.

Sure, hindsight is 20/20, but what about foresight? The Legal Intelligencer published an article in August of 2007 wondering whether associate layoffs were imminent. Well, we already know that answer now. However, let’s look at some gems from 2007.

1. “I would be surprised if there was any kind of a wave of layoffs.”
2. “[Y]ou just don’t let go of [M&A] talent in a downturn.”
3. “[L]ayoffs going on in the financial side of the world…could, however, result in more, not less, work for at least the immediate future.”
4. “Rather than … a burst of a bubble, we’re hoping for a soft landing.”
5. “[S]hort of a ‘meltdown of the global economy,’ firms aren’t going to face layoffs.

Ah, what a different world we lived in 2 years ago. I particularly love the one about “short of a ‘meltdown in the global economy’” which is exactly what occurred. I mean talk about being 100% ironically right. So, what does this all mean? It’s pretty difficult to predict an environment different from the one we are currently in. At some point, the economy will emerge from this slump and we’ll look back at the people prognosticating more gloom-and-doom and wonder why they were so wrong.