The hardest thing people have to come to grips with is that their relatives have the right to leave their estates to whomever they choose (keeping in mind that most jurisdictions have spousal election provisions which, absent pre-nuptial agreements that waive those rights, do give spouse the right to elect against the Will, and take the share that would have devolved to them in intestacy).  It means that even if it doesn't seem fair, Mom or Dad can leave all their money to charity, or the grandchildren, or the next-door neighbor.

What Marshall did was wrong, and he deserves to be punished.  Is prison the best place for him?  Well, I don't know - seems like a man who thought he was so special that he deserved millions upon his mother's death, did all he could to have the use of her money before she died, and tried to engineer a Will more favorable to him, might be fittingly punished by having to mix and mingle with the great unwashed.

Still, one of the more disappointing moments came from Prof. Krugman himself, my bro, my peep, my all time champeen shrill librul who bore high, when it was not even cool, the liberal beacon as surely as the Repug and DINO talking points just bored.

BTD's earlier thread quoted this Krugman article and this brain-splinter:

And I have to say that much as I disagree with Ben Nelson about many things, he has seemed refreshingly honest, at least in the final stages, about what he will and won't accept.

Oh, Kroogy, no. Is that what Nelson's condemnation of women back to medieval medical torture is to my favorite schmatty? Refreshingly honest???

Hi Ruth:

I didn't get much sleep last night because I was so energized from Michele's and my meeting.
I'm quite tired today and have preparations for company tomorrow..Been needing to take little breaks on and off today. I don't have the energy for the telephone today, but really wanted to share my joy.

What can I say?? We had a wonderful time. We really and truly like each other. What a great day it was and we both want to be each others' life in a big way and plan to do so..

One thing that happened to me was very , very special that I needed to share and maybe its best to do so in writing.

I think I told you that I have had dreams about Don on and off since he was very sick.
Its not a regular occurance, but over the last 20 years I can say that he tops the list in dream appearance.

The night before I saw Michele I had a dream about him, which really didn't surprise me.
I told Michelle. As soon as I did I could see his spark and his essence in her looking right back at me..It was so amazing. Its easy to see myself in her, but here I was seeing him just as vividly. Of course I told her and that totally pleased her..

So thank you once again for all of your loving efforts that have made my life so complete.

Will be in touch.
Love,
Karen

Up is down, down is up.

Last month, Alex Kozinski, chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, ordered the Office of Personnel Management to allow health insurance companies serving federal staffers to provide benefits for same-sex spouses of the court's workers.

But on Friday, the OPM told the attorney for Karen Golinski, a court employee, that the agency would not obey the judge's order.

"OPM must administer the FEHBP [Federal Employees Health Benefits Program] in a lawful manner, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has advised the OPM that providing those benefits would violate the so-called 'Defense of Marriage Act,' " OPM General Counsel Elaine Kaplan said in a statement.

The OPM is between a rock and a hard place because the Obama administration wants to ditch the act, a.k.a. DOMA, something Kaplan subtly made clear by calling it a "so-called" act.

To emphasize the point, she added: "As the President has explained, the Administration believes that this law is discriminatory and needs to be repealed by Congress -- that is why President Obama has stated that he opposes DOMA and supports its legislative repeal."

But in the meantime, the administration feels duty-bound to enforce what it believes is a bad law.

Kozinski, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, doesn't agree with that interpretation. "Even as limited by DOMA," the judge wrote, "the FEHBP permits judicial employees to provide health insurance coverage to their same-sex spouses."

In addition to a responsibility to enforce the law, administration officials say they are within their rights to ignore the judge's order because, they reason, he issued it in his capacity as the court's boss, not in his role as a judge. The judge's decision was not issued as a formal court order because Golinski's complaint went through the court's administrative Employee Dispute Resolution Plan, rather than a judicial process.

Some of the emerging factors: real estate issues; a culture of short-term, scorched-earth gain; the Cheneyesque "So?" attitude, still cruelly viewed and admired as alpha-macho profit-making.

It's not like taking candy from a baby. It's worse.

A lawyer for a convicted murderer suing the state for a sex-change operation said Monday that the surgery is the only treatment that will significantly reduce the inmate's depression and anxiety.

Guess Santa came early this year

Main Street has had a tough year, losing jobs and seeing little evidence of the economic revival that experts say has already begun.

But K Street is raking it in.

Washington's influence industry is on track to shatter last year's record $3.3 billion spent to lobby Congress and the rest of the federal government -- and that's with a down economy and about 1,500 fewer registered lobbyists in town, according to data collected by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Many lobbying firms have escaped the worst of the corporate belt-tightening, thanks, in large part, to the ambitious agenda set out by President Barack Obama -- who, ironically, came to Washington with a pledge to break what he considered the undue influence of special-interest lobbyists.

Plenty of sectors have scaled back their K Street spending, including traditional big spenders like real estate and telecommunications. But Obama's push for legislation on health reform, financial reform and climate change has compensated for the grim economic times.

And that's after Obama kicked off the year with a massive economic stimulus package -- and every major business sector tried to get a piece of the action.

"Lobbyists love it ... when you've got an activist agenda like this, and you've got serious problems like this, and people want to do something about it," said James Thurber, director of American University's Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies.

"It is the most active time that I have ever seen in the advocacy business -- from 1973 on," Thurber added.

"We've never had as good a year," said one lobbyist whose shop deals mostly with financial services and health care issues. "It's been a tremendously busy year, and it's going to keep getting that way," the lobbyist said, noting that both health care and financial reform will remain active as congressional action moves from drafting legislation to implementation to the inevitable fixes.

The year-end lobbying expenditure figures don't come out until late January, but Thurber and others predict that the top line number will exceed the $3.3 billion spent in 2008. Groups spent $2.5 billion during the first three quarters of 2009, which is a slightly faster quarterly pace than 2008, according to CRP.

Two Pierce County sheriff's deputies were shot while responding to a domestic violence incident at home near the town of Eatonville, south of Seattle, said Hunter George, a spokesman for the county.

The incident involved two brothers and a young woman, said Det. Ed Troyer of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.

One of the men invited the officers inside the house, while the other man went upstairs. He returned with a weapon and opened fire on the deputies, striking them multiple times, Troyer said.

The parents in the "Balloon Boy" ruse have been hit with a tab of $42,000 from local, state and federal agencies for their October stunt that briefly left many fearing for the fate of their 6-year-old, their lawyer said Monday.

The Heenes' attorney, David Lane, said the Fort Collins couple isn't ready to pay up, at least not yet.

"Let's see the bills," he said. "They're not paying anything until they see some receipts."