Many Americans tuned in to the story about the mysterious death of reality star Anna Nicole Smith. Now that her autopsy has been made public, the media reports are moving on to the next tidbit of tabloid, Anna Nicole Smith’s baby’s father and the legal battle to determine who has custody, visitations, guardianship, and inevitably, the claim to the late J. Howard Marshall’s millions. This exaggeration of the truth is a typical ploy by the media to further exploit and insult the viewers’ intelligence. It is not likely that the baby, Dannylynn, will ever receive the millions that the media has been teasing viewers about. On the contrary, legal experts believe the media is perpetuating what is equivalent to a legal myth. What Dannylynn will find is an exorbitant amount of litigation fees associated with defending her mother’s legal claims against the Marshalls.

Here’s the real deal with Anna Nicole Smith’s legal struggle in probate court. When J. Howard Marshall passed away, Smith’s legal claims against his estate was tenuous. After six months of sorting through testimonies and substantial evidence, the jury trial concluded that Marshall’s will and estate plan was not interfered with. The Texas probate court held that Marshall’s son, Pierce, was the legitimate heir to the estate, and substantative evidence support the contention that this was the true intention of the late Marshall.

In the midst of the trial, Smith went forum shopping and filed a bankruptcy claim in California federal court. The judge in bankruptcy court awarded Smith nearly $450 million she claimed her late husband had intended to gift to her, but for Pierce’s tortious interference with the gift. On appeal, the court federal district court in California vacated the $450 million award, reviewed the case de novo, and reduce the award to $88 million. Still with me? How about this extra bit of footnote here. How did the bankruptcy court and the federal district court take such a short time to go through evidentiary issues that the Texas court took six months to review? Well, due to judicial efficiency, the federal and bankruptcy courts did not allow most of the witnesses to testify and it basically reviewed depositions from the Texas court. Not quite the same result, which was what Smith’s legal team was hoping for.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the highest appeals court in the 9th Circuit which includes California, overruled the $88 million award and held that neither the bankruptcy court nor the federal district court had any ability to make such rulings on this matter because federal “probate exception” denied federal jurisdiction over probate matters. At the U.S. Supreme Court level, the highest court of the land, overruled the 9th Circuit court and stated that their ruling was overly broad and remanded the case to the 9th Circuit to assess the case on its merits. The case is with the 9th Circuit now.

What happened to the Texas probate court’s judgment? Good question. Now that the case is with the 9th Circuit, they will determine whether there was a final ruling on the matter, and most legal experts agree that the Texas probate court jury trial did result in a final judgment. This being the case, Smith’s legal claims are extinguished. Due to the fact that the Texas court had a jury trial with substantial evidence and witnesses, the fact that it was concluded before the federal district court issued its ruling by vacating the judgment award by the bankruptcy court, and judicial efficiency, it is reasonable to conclude that the 9th Circuit will affirm the judgment issued by the Texas probate court.

More importantly, the legal doctrine of “res judicata,” which means in Latin that the matter has already been adjudicated, is primarily at issue here. In this case, the matter was decided in Texas and finding otherwise would violate the intentions of the Constitution, which establishes for litigants a certain finality so that defendants may not have to defend the same claim repeatedly. Why not dismiss the case? Not likely, but the 9th Circuit will probably defer to the findings from the Texas court.

Once Dannylynn’s claims are extinguished, which it inevitably will, what remains is a mound of legal bills incurred by her mother’s legal claims against Marshall’s estate. Lets see how many relatives will fight for custody of her then. Media reports have embellished claims that Dannylyn is worth millions and the biological father or legal guardian, may stake claims to her millions until Dannylynn is of legal age. This headline grabs people’s attention and makes it tantalizing, despite it blatant incongruencies. The media perpetuate this legal myth because no one is questioning the validity of celebrity news. What is specualtion becomes fact, when in actuality, it is pure fiction.

This enchanting book is poignant in its storytelling ability and the compelling lessons in truth, religion, and love. Pi is an extraordinary sixteen year old boy who survived a sinking ship while on his way to Canada to start a new life with his family. He was saved by a lifeboat and in it he finds that his fellow survivors consist of a vicious hyena, an injured zebra, an orangutan, and a 450 lbs Bengal tiger.

Based in India, the story unfolds into a fascinating depiction of survival and Pi’s journey through Christianity, his native Hinduism, and Muslim. The author, Yann Martel injects each chapter with riveting insights into Pi’s psyche as he progresses in his journey to weave his knowledge of wild animals and religion into his survival. To dismiss this book as a discussion of religion is selling it short. To label it as a story about love is short-sighted. To combine love, religion, and storytelling in a conundrum of truths is a masterpiece which enlighten and humor the reader.

Drifting in the Pacific ocean, Pi contemplated his truths and destiny by creating stories of association and relishing in his hope of seeing his family again. The obscure relationship between the ferocious Bengal tiger and Pi ultimately originated in a desperate need for survival and co-dependency of love. At times gruesome and violent, the perceptive Pi does not provide simple solutions to his predicament even at moments of delusion and despair. Pi survives 227 days at sea and eventually arrives in Mexico. The stories he told the two Japanese investigators about his adventure at sea illustrates his mastery at storytelling.

It is a captivating adventure made more compelling by the philosophical and religious conundrums of eastern India.

The past couple of days has been inundated with media reports and coverage of the latest school shooting at Virginia Tech, a small town with a virtually unknown college. It was until two days ago when South Korean born Hui Seung Cho pillaged the student campus and left 32 dead and killed himself in the process. Today the FBI released the video clip that Cho mailed prior to the second shooting, wherein he blasted the middle class debauchery of the student body and their “hedonistic needs.”

Most people are left baffled by Cho’s bizarre behavior and flabbergasted by the deaths resulting from his destructive violence.

It would be effortless to blame the lax gun control laws in the United States, to blame the college for not responding to students concerns about Cho’s odd writings, to attribute it to ethnic minorities, or to point the finger at the police for not being proactive after the first shooting. No one knows why this happened, everyone is in shock and searching for a plausible explanation.

One aspect of this mayhem that has been mysterious is Cho’s family upbringing. Perhaps Cho was abused as a child, neglected as an adolescent, and ostracized as an adult, all culminating to the estranged man that wielded the deadly weapon. Perhaps he identified with the media’s daily depiction of violence in the entertainment industry and the coverage in the daily news. Perhaps he was socially tormented by his peers and identified with infamous loners such as Timothy McVeigh of the Oklahoma bombing or Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris of the Columbine shooting. Perhaps acquiring the gun was simply too easy and gun laws should be more rigorous. These are questions that will debated and scrutinized by the public until some of the pain, grief and anger subside.

What could have prevented this senseless tragedy? Could it have been prevented? One can ponder for years and experts will analyze it in crime reports and scholarly journals, but in most cases of vicious killings, the truth may never be known.

Michelle Malkin - a hypocritical, raving lunatic of the next neo-conservative generation and contributor to the campaign of spewing blatant lies and twisted truths.

If you haven’t heard about Malkin, you will soon. There’s a website dedicated to her, and you can look at it here. Here’s a bio of Malkin, in case you want to do your own research.

Malkin hails from an educated, well-rounded background, without any known psychosis, yet the claims she makes on national television, in her column, and in her books hint at a larger problem - evil. Malkin is of Asian descent, a middle income suburbia, and painfully articulate in her consistent lies and half-truths.

Case in point, Malkin’s book, In Defense of Internment actually claim that the thousands of Americans of Japanese descent were justifiably placed in internment camps during WWII due to national security. Malkin placed great emphasis on MAGIC intelligence reports that most scholars have refuted as unpersuasive to the government’s argument to intern innocent people. Yet, Malkin claims that these reports were imperative in the government’s decision to question the loyalty of Japanese Americans, alluding to similarity with Muslim Americans and Arabs. Malkin was undeterred despite criticism from the Historians’ Committee for Fairness, an organization of scholars and professional researchers. They wrote an open letter/petition demanding an apology and called her work irresponsible for rewriting history based on the MAGIC reports. The Historians’ Committe complained that Malkin made blatant violations of professional standards of objectivity and fairness. As one blog site noted, Malkin’s book is actually an unsubtle general attack on ‘leftists’ who advocate for civil liberties.

In her first book, Invasion, Malkin’s contentions are even more ludicrous and malicious. Malkin, an immigrant herself, claims that immigrants are destabilizing communities and destroying the moral fiber inherent in middle America in large part because of criminals and terrorists penetrating our weak borders. Her hateful lies alluded to immigrants as terrorists and make the comparison in no subtle terms. Malkin quietly neglected to mention that the majority of immigrants are of Hispanic descent, and no terrorist activities have been linked to Hispanics. Blatant lies by omission.

Malkin has attracted quite a few followers. Her ferocious attack of the leftist has made her ultra conservative position renown with the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, and Ann Coultur. This is the next propaganda of evil.

See’s book, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, depicts the depth and enduring love of two women bound by culture and social circumstances. It’s an emotional account of a relationship that survived marriage, childbirth, and death, infused with the turmoil and tribulations of eighteen century China and the era of foot-binding. It’s based in an historical era where women had to forge a deeper connection with each other as a necessary mechanism to survive.

While See did a superb job of underscoring the poignant nuances of female companionship, it would have been rewarding to contrast it to the relationship between their male counterpart. One can only imagine how men dealt with the stress and hardship of their time, but then again, perhaps See’s purpose is to allow the reader to draw their own conclusion.

Contrasting this to Amy Tan’s numerous novels on the mother-daughter interconnection, See uses historical China to sequence the growth of female companionship of women in the same age group while only skimming the mother-daughter relationship. Advancing the notion of women solidarity in these relationships, See also delved into the communication method used to connect these women - the secret fan. While foot-binding is also a fascinating topic, it was merely a footnote to illustrate the social history and difficult circumstances women endured to achieve marital status and fulfil familial obligation. The secret fans carried a unique language that women created for women, but were inevitably burned when the women died, thus leaving a critical gap in the artistic phenomenon.

Written in the narrative format, See uses an abundance of historical detail to enlighten her readers that eighteen century China was not all about foot-binding, that something beautiful and artistic were created by ordinary women.

Ever since starting this blog, there’s been apprehension and anxiety about the content and the prose inserted into each post. Words can convey soft images, sentiments, and forgotten memories that are personal and unique to each reader. The selective use of words is a litmus test for the writer’s vocabulary and ultimately, his/her intelligence. Since the inception of this blog, there’s been posts with very endearing messages and those with progressive opinions about this writer’s perspective on varying issues.

Writing is a building conjured up by a powerhouse of words.

While the initial intention of this blog has been to include quirky incites into my world, it has been a hodgepodge of different ideas and thoughts that may not be linked in any order. I aspire to write about relevant issues to which I’m experiencing or pondering.

At the moment, I particularly enjoy just reading. I read fiction and non-fiction, but mostly fiction. I read political satires, autobiographies, memoirs, and an abundance of internet news. Particularly refreshing is when I find a writer that strikes a balance with humor and personality and an injection of originality and insight. I don’t have a single favorite author, I have a handful that changes through the years. Some books are mainstream and some are not. A hodgepodge, like my posts.

If you perform an Internet search of people who buy and read glossy magazines, people who subscribe to the Oprah fan club, and people who are opinionated and up to date with celebrity gossip you will find that the majority of them are women. Women speak fondly of Oprah and all the wonderful charity work she has done for the children and women in Africa and the extraordinary educational projects she has accomplished in the United States. Very rarely do we find any begrudging complaints from viewers about Oprah’s diva behavior or plight for racial justice at any cost. Did you notice that most of the viewers in her audience are female? To be fair, there was a woman that filed a civil action recently claiming she was injured in her mad pursuit to grab a coveted, desirable chair when the doors were open to allow the audience in.Lets assume that the majority of celebrity news readers are female. Lets move on to whether it affects male and female differently.

Based on readership, men subscribe and read magazines along the lines of Forbes, Economics, and Wired. They are usually wired to be sensitive to market trends, business analysis, and anything that has to do with fronting a n economic edge. That’s just the tip of the entrepreneurial iceberg. Most men care about whether is affects them financially, while most women generally worry about the social norm it might impose on the sociala nd personal status quo. Therefore, it’s plausible to conclude that most men would not be the target audience for supermarket tabloids and junk news. Discontent with this sexist presumption, I decided to search the Internet and talk to some of my friends to placate my curiosity.

For the sake of research, I approached 5 nurses and asked them about this Anna Nicole Smith saga. They gasped in horror to learn of her demise (apparently they had not heard the breaking news on every media circuit because they were at work) and proceeded to discuss intimate details about the celebrity’s life prior to her death. I inquired with a few friends regarding their knowledge of the Oprah syndrome (something along the lines of raising her to virtual god status) and the a few of my friends agreed that Oprah should run for office. They would vote for her.

To be fair to women, entertainment news is not all that bad, albeit not substantative nor relevant either. It numbs the brain and replicate the process on a continual basis as to replace the ability to critically or logically have a meaningful discussion about anything. Personally, I’d like to use entertainment news as that, entertainment. It illustrates all the moronic behavior that people with pretty faces and skinny bodies will do in their Hollywood bubble. Once in a while, one of those pretty faces and skinny bodies will surprise you by doing something interesting and quasi altruistic - like promote Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth or the famine and AIDS epidemic in Africa. To be fair, you can hardly blame the celebrities as their images are involuntarily distorted and at the mercy of the media. They’re either portrayed as sexual objects, or scathing bitches or divas. It’s a no win situation.

The culprit is the media, obsessed with transforming the ridiculous lifestyle of the rich and famous into a fallacy that it can be achieved by the average women readers. They impose unrealistic expectations on what is considered beauty and success, and more importantly, reality. They lie and lie so they can sell their magazines, then they misrepresent and distort the truth so to make the story more enticing. They add sex and booze to each article, sprinkle in a bit of violence, and they have tabloid trash. What I find most interesting is that 7 times out of ten, these articles are about female celebrities. It confounds me that even in celebrity news that women are targeted and degraded as sexual objects. These media vultures circle the females and criticize their physique, promote the skinny bodies, and chastise them from their childrearing decisions to their personal decision in men. While I realize that they are public figures, not comprehensively protected by any privacy rights, but if you’re going to villify celebrities then bring in the men too! It’s a sexist media.

This disproportionate depth of negativity and hostility toward women is fundamentally unfair and cruel. Case in point, Anna Nicole Smith was villified in the media, but her boyfriend, Howard K. Stern, has barely been mentioned even though he has been with her for over a decade and as intimate in her personal affairs as any spouse. Only recently have they questioned his motives once they realized what caused her death. Nonetheless, the meaty criticism has been focused on her. It was her yo yo dieting, her drug induced lifestyle, or her disregard for her children that killed her. Like I said, it’s endless. Another case in point is the debacle surrounding Madonna’s adoption of an African child. In a search on Google, her conduct was apparently equivalent to a kidnapper, quasi-criminal, an indifferent shopper looking for her latest accessory, etc., while her husband was merely mentioned as an afterthought. Character assasination is the media’s mechanism to grease the wheel that keeps good women in the shadow.

The fact that women celebrities, just like any other woman, are subjected to a higher and more vicious level of criticism is despicable. There’s no sexual equality in the media, only financial interests and exploitation. Additionally, because the tabloids are focused on women readers, they are encouraging their target audience to be hostile to other women. This is the grease that keeps the hate wheel rolling. They set unrealistic standards of beauty and galvinize women to buy into the media hype of starving yourself thin. The media continue to reinforce this morbid notion that being famine thin is attractive and desirable, that women who have not achieved this level of thinness are not beautiful.

Women have spent too long in the shadow of men and should collectively boycott media outlets that perpetuate the oppression and further displacing women.

This scathing book evoked horrifying images of simple disregard for human kind and egregious cruelty to animal. The author advanced his arguments with facts and data along with extensive research on the issue of what goes into our fast foods and, more importantly, what does not.

Schlosser exposes the insidious lies and fraudulent misrepresentations corporations are spewing from their high posts. He takes the reader on a journey of the history of the fast food world, the people behind the famous burgers and the evolution of the burger from its drive-up days to its present day drive-thru, fast food, conglomerate. The homogenization of the business and the monopoly of the market has made McDonald’s as powerful in business as it is in American politics. Schlosser noted the trend that McDonald’s has penetrated markets in Asia and Europe and has wielded more and more political power through its injection of capitalism in the local economy. Provocative and thought provoking, this book stands out above the rest. It descriptively and honestly discusses the corporate McDonald’s that only few can fathom.

Schlosser does not use clever writing, twists, or plots to evoke the imagery in the minds of his readers - the truth speaks for itself. Once you read this, you will never look at a burger the same.

Fast Food Nation, by Eric Schlosser

Recoverd from the virus and was attacked by a foreign stomach ailment immediately after. Am I doomed to suffer the agony of malaria next? Are my small nephews sabotaging my meals in their futile attempt to remove me from their residence? On the bright side, at least I lost 4 lbs. since coming here, an attribution I place on the Thai diet wherein I remove fries, hamburgers, and Mexican food from the table. I’m still hopeful that McDonald’s will catch on and open the Chipotle chain here any day now. I love McDonald’s version of the fresh and spicy burrito. In case you are misled, I read Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Many have commented that sarcasm does not transcend via internet.

After surrendering my psyche to nothing but reading, eating, sleeping, and lounging by the pool, I committed the ultimate holiday sin - I inquired about compensable work!! This easing into living in Bangkok has taken its toll and the thought of infinite time unspent on logical and reasoned analysis and renumeration has made me indignant. Whilst many would prefer to have this lifestyle, I’m fast approaching cabin fever and started inquiring with a few firms regarding potential employment. Perhaps after grinding away 60 hours a week will afford me the appreciation of my lazy days.

In all reality, the last two months has not gone without emails and inquiries from a few colleagues and clients alike. My work was never completely wrapped when I boarded the flight to Bangkok, however, in this line of work, it truly is impossible to accomplish such task in a few months. While the residual work is dwindling, the next chapter is about to began.

While normally I have trepidation writing about issues related to my profession, the advocacy process has come to fruition and education is the final stage of this process, in order to galvinize the public to form a collective voice. If you’re interested in reading about it, it’s aptly named SSAD.ORG.