Go long, and happy new year

I'm closing the year out with a binge of reading. (I confess to an unseemly affection for it, especially for the more analytical nonfiction, whether in magazines like Slate and the New Yorker or in books, and for fiction. Gimme fiction. I can so easily lose myself in reading, which doesn't particularly help my social life, hence the unseemliness. Alas.) I finally let myself read Jane Austen, read a book about Trafalgar, and am now reading a book about New York in 1977, dealing a lot with the Yankees. It's a hoot. I've got at least two other books in the pipeline, too.

I also discovered Joan Didion. Today I finished a book of essays about politics, written from 1988 through 2000. It's called Political Fictions, and it's excellent. She's extremely observant and puts her observations together to paint a precise, convincing picture of a political culture disconnected from reality (and the electorate), where everything's about "message," which seems to have little to do with "content." It's a show put on by politicians and the press for the benefit of politicians and the press.

Of course, since she starts in 1988, it's clear that this is not especially new. Dukakis was the Democratic nominee in 1988, besting Jesse Jackson's outsider campaign, according to her contemporaneous article, not because of his positions but because he seemed electable, declared to be "presidential" by the press. In the 1992 Democratic convention, speakers bragged about record fund raising and the convention and its participants stayed on message. Reminiscent of 2004 much? Beginning with Reagan, Didion also traces the rise of "character" as the key attribute a candidate must have, according to the politickers (the "process"), to be elected. Reminiscent of 2004 much? She also makes clear that, with the exception of Clinton (to whom she's nasty in '92 and nice in '98, at least compared to her evisceration of Ken Starr and that whole pointless exercise), Republicans are much better at playing the process than Democrats. Reminiscent of 2004 much?

She casually but astutely rips into everyone--the Republicans for being generally evil, the Democrats for being generally stupid (what's the matter with Kansas? Democrats don't talk about substantive matters, where they'd have an advantage), the press for allowing itself to be manipulated, and everyone in politics for ignoring and even scorning measurable reality. (Shades of 2005!) The essays allow for interesting reflection on the present day and also remind of the forgotten outrages, serious or, generally, not, of the past. They're definitely worth a read. (Her style's distinctive, though eminently readable, and opens itself to this funny parody. Previously, I mentioned reading another book of hers here.)

I searched Slate for "didion" and found a clever observation in 1999 about Democratic and Republican use of poetry. Republicans use Auden, a liberal, and Democrats, Yeats (everyone's favorite poem, of course), a bit of a fascist. Go figure.

Also, I came across an assessment by John Gaddis, published in February 2002, of student response to 9/11. I wonder what he might say in a fresh assessment, or an assessment of the original assessment. I like seeing a slightly longer view now and then to understand what was right then and now and what's changed.

Josh, Gus, Tracy--it's been a pleasure reading and writing with you this year. You have my best wishes for the new year. I hope it's a better one than last, and I look forward to continuing to be the backseat drivers with you.

Two quick ones

The Times doesn't like von Spakovsky either, but there's no passion in its editorial. It reads like an obligatory end-of-year, oh-look-they're-being-dicks-again-as-usual, we-should-care-more plaint.

Did anyone catch this bizarre story? A soldier comes home to Queens on leave, gets drunk and decides to celebrate by firing an illegally purchased pistol in the air. One of the shots hits and kills a Muslim woman at a fifth floor window. Sounds like a terrible accident to me; more conspiratorial minded say otherwise. Greaaaaaat.

2005 Doozies

Can they top these in 2006?

I'm not sure which my favorite is. For now, it's a tie between "Feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society" and "Bill Clinton 'was a very good rapist.'" This one's a close second: "I think we ought to nuke North Korea right now just to give the rest of the world a warning."

One Korean scientist

Submitted without comment: one Korean scientist's explanation for why South Korea appeared to be ahead in stem-cell research coupled with the real reason.

However, I remain confident that in the final analysis this whole unpleasant incident will be found to be Apolo Ohno's fault.

Fun With Zoning

In the world of clumsy land use controls, zoning takes the cake. These regulations first became popular in the 1950's to prevent "incompatible" land uses from popping up next to each other. For example, a factory next to a grocery store. The question of how often incompatible land uses would occur without zoning is still unclear. The real motivation behind zoning was to segregate residential areas from all other land uses.

Since its inception, planners, zoning boards, and city councils have gotten creative with what zoning is used for, though not everywhere. Houston, for example, does not use zoning. Portland uses a zoning land use code that is so flexible, it's not clear why they need zoning (what does "mixed use" really mean?). Manassas, VA, has something different - they are using their zoning code to prevent extended families from living in the same house. The ordinance is enforced only by complaint, that is, it is enforced when white people complain about their Guatemalan neighbors and their bum nephew who is taking up an extra parking spot on the street.

Given these grotesque abuses, should we have zoning? It is the primary tool by which land use planning is accomplished, but abuses like this are beyond scandalous. It's enough to make you shake your head and say, "There ought to be a law."

The Christmas gift I didn't get

NONE of you picked up on the fact that what I really wanted for Christmas was a can of live bees. None of you. I have been dropping hints about my desire to receive a can of live, humming, fiendishly angry bees with the fury of a thousand suns in their stingers and venom sacs, ready to give their lives to protect their precious honey for at least six months.

What does it take, huh?

PS: Apparently some people received these as workplace gifts. I can only imagine.

PPS: Merry Boxing Day and Happy Hanukkah, all.

PPPS: Also, as has been pointed out, it benefits the struggling American bee-canning industry.

The frustrations of unavailable ID

Someone has been calling my cell phone for at least the last week, at varying times. Who can it be? They never leave a message, and the ring on my cell phone has been set to a noise just different enough from a regular ring tone that every time I hear it (when it isn't set to vibrate) I think, "what can that strange electronic noise be? Wait, there it is again!" before realizing the awful truth. At least once I have been in some kind of fever delirium when the person has called. The suspense is extremely trying. Now, all my ringtones are the same, and I hope for great things from the new world order.

Sure, Seth, give me a call whenever.

Ride's been pimped

Nifty. I'll take it.

Josh, I hope you're feeling better. Let's get together again next week.

Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Oh yeah? Well, I'm banning Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

...from my Christmas card list. Which he probably wouldn't have read anyway.

Be that as it may, Mr. Ahmadinejad's attempt to ban western music from state radio and television stations reminds me of my own fundamentalist beliefs: as an object reminder of the differences between Me and Mr. Ahmadinejad. Not Me as in The Great Satan and Them as in Iranians. No. What a small, illiberal, mean-spirited definition. I'm not even going to tie proficiency in Western music and cultural traditions to economic wealth and efficiency, as some commentators on this news item have.

Rather, here I confess to drawing a distinction between those who listen to the fourth movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and hear the voices of a demonic plot to destroy their religion and culture, and those who hear a deaf man otherwise known chiefly for his irascible nature, quarrels with relatives, and lack of personal hygiene speak simply to you across the centuries about his hope in the brotherhood of all mankind. I draw a distinction between those who listen to a clarinet concerto by a German boy genius* and follow the trickling rise and langourous fall of the clarinet under skilled fingers that reminds me of lazy spring afternoons, and those who hear only a narcotic vapidity.

It's true that I've chosen the high points; but even though by and large Eminem cuts no ice with me, it's true that I would deeply miss various Eminem inspired parodies, such as this one, which, to me, has a deep subtext concerning the American Dream and the place of immigrants in an assimilationist society. Fifty-ton, meat-eating, saurischian immigrants.

But the important difference between me and Mr. Ahmadinejad shouldn't be that one of us is right and one of us is wrong (even though I clearly think a distinction can be drawn). It's that one of us would and has actually imposed his claimed musical preferences on his entire country. Much as I like my iTunes list, I know that forcing the rest of America to listen to The Clancy Brothers, classical music, and spoof rap songs about Middle-Earth would drive 99% of you batty. But that's essentially what Mr. Ahmadinejad has chosen for his country. That's the difference between what this country should be fighting in the world, and the battles we so often choose to fight instead.

Happy holidays.**

*K. 622 in A major with David Shifrin is my pedestrian favorite, for those keeping score at home, though a close second has to be his much less well known canons "Leck mich im Arsch" and "Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schon sauber" which are exactly what they sound like.

**my small part in a quite different war.

Pick-up lines

Apparently "Greetings, Earthling — I have come to infest your puny body with legions of my spawn" does not work as well as I had been informed. I apologize.

Sincerely,

Grapthor of Deneb

Posen update; no more strike

The Times doesn't like him but is impressed by him. Gotta love the drawing at the top of the article.

Also, something about a strike resolution.... Yay!

Wow.

A federal judge has resigned from the court in protest of Bush's illegal use of warrantless surveillance on American citizens. I'd have to say it's pretty big news for a federal judge to resign a job he's guaranteed for life in protest of the actions of our Commander-in-Chief.

The judge is James Robertson, a Clinton appointee on the bench since 1994. He served on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which is so secret that Ronald Krotosyzinski didn't teach it in Con Law.

Don't get killed by a terrorist in Germany

Not if you want him to serve longer than 16 years for your murder, that is. Well, I suppose you won't care, exactly, but what is it with Germany and letting terrorists go?

Recommended holiday shopping

I've already covered Bacon of the Month, and now move to two more products to consider for the special someones in your life.

The Safe Bedside Table. I feel this one is pretty much self-explanatory.



Also, Elizabeth Arden (who is Elizabeth Arden, anyway?) has a fragrance named Provocative Woman. At first, I found this name intensely annoying: after watching a few commercials, however, I have come to a new appreciation of its postmodern commentary on fragrance names. I look forward to its extension into home products that I myself might use, such as Efficient Individual Aftershave, Good Hire Bodywash, and I Will Kill You So Back Off Pal Cologne.*

*Evenings only.

The paleos are against the neos

I never thought I'd be cheering George Will for taking on "An Executive Overreach."

Huzzah!

Live from New York

Your on the spot reporter can confirm that as of 12:20, some trains were still running. Maybe it's a "no more trains start running" sort of deal?

By the way, Seth, congrats on the acceptance news. Are you still in New York? Do you want to see Syriana?

Local news

Less than 20 minutes before the TWU decides whether to go on strike. Of course, last time it opted to have a partial strike and extended the deadline. I don't think it'll be able to do that again. It'd lose all its credibility (and I don't think it has any other workers who could go on strike without triggering the Taylor Law's fines against public employees who strike). I won some money last week betting at work about whether there'd be a strike on Friday (no!), and I figured that meant the MTA and TWU had bought themselves some time to settle on a contract--a face-saving device on both sides. It looks like I'm going to be wrong. This could be pretty awful. Both sides are taking very hard lines. I wonder if they've managed to avoid backing themselves into corners, and I have vague fears that a strike'll go on for a while, then the MTA'll break the union, like Reagan did the air traffic controllers. Regardless, I'm going to work tomorrow (but the Christmas party'll be canceled if there's a strike).

Also, I have received law school admissions news. NYU accepted me, and UVA emailed me to tell me to go to its website to check my status. The website told me a decision was in the mail. I guess I'd better start researching schools to figure out which I'd like to attend. Bleh.

Over-reaching, Not Oversight

At his press conference this morning, President Bush justified spying on Americans without a warrant by saying there was "congressional oversight"

Here's what Harry Reid, Senate Minority Leader had to say about his dealings with the White House on this issue.

“The President asserted in his December 17th radio address that “leaders in Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on this authorization and the activities conducted under it.” This statement gives the American public a very misleading impression that the President fully consulted with Congress.

“First, it is quite likely that 96 Senators of 100 Senators, including 13 of 15 on the Senate Intelligence Committee first learned about this program in the New York Times, not from any Administration briefing. “I personally received a single very short briefing on this program earlier this year prior to its public disclosure. That briefing occurred more than three years after the President said this program began.

“The Administration briefers did not seek my advice or consent about the program, and based on what I have heard publicly since, key details about the program apparently were not provided to me."

Overight my ass. This story is only getting hotter and it can mean very bad news for the President.

Well, somebody had to say it

And at length: Fuck Christmas. (I also want to call out one link from that page especially, since it shows the depths of the obsession with Iraq.)

Why?

Yet the question of why human beings would enjoy watching female gladiators fight dwarfs by torchlight seems like the wrong question.

Because it was awesome, that's why. Roma victa!

Bacon of the Month

A real club. Sadly, this is probably not my Christmas gift from my fiancee. Which is in her best interests, because I'm pretty sure I would die of cardiac arrest by October.

Think about it, though. Bacon. Even President Bush can't take you away from me, you sweet, delicious pork product.



Mmmm.

Anyone?

Vice President Dick Cheney defended the program on Sunday as necessary and legal.

"It is consistent with the president's constitutional authority as commander in chief," he said in an interview that will be broadcast Monday night on the ABC program "Nightline."

"It's consistent with the resolution that was passed by the Congress after 9/11," Mr. Cheney said, referring to the resolution authorizing the president to wage the war on terror. "And it has been reviewed repeatedly by the Justice Department every single time it's been renewed, to make certain that it is, in fact, managed in a manner that's fully consistent with the Constitution and with our statutes."

Under this definition of "necessary and legal," can anyone think of anything that wouldn't be "necessary and legal"?

A Lone Whistle

Vice President Cheney snuck into Iraq yesterday, took some questions and left. I know, big fucking deal.

My favorite part of that story is this line from an article in Forbes covering his trip:

"When he delivered the applause line, "We're in this fight to win. These colors don't run," the only sound was a lone whistle."

Apparently his mother must have been in the audience. I guess its hard to get respect when everyone knows that when it came time to go Vietnam, you "had other priorities."

Things have been better/worse

Obits are often fascinating. Take for an example this obit of Jack Anderson, investigative journalist. He went through J. Edgar Hoover's trash and published the Watergate grand jury transcript--you know, investigation that had a result. Haven't really noticed that in a while. (If torture, with pictures!, doesn't do it, I have my doubts about domestic spying.)

On the other hand, it also puts the Nixon White House's crimes in perspective. G. Gordon Liddy (whose continued semi-respectable public existence mystifies me) plotted killing him! At least this White House hasn't done that yet. (I hope. It's so good at managing information.)

The tree of liberty

Ye darkeners of counsel, who would make the property, lives, and religion of millions depend on the evasive interpretations of musty parchments; who would send us to antiquated charters of uncertain and contradictory meaning, to prove that the present generation are not bound to be victims to cruel and unforgiving despotism,--tell us whether our pious and generous ancestors bequeathed to us the miserable privilege of having the rewards of our honesty, industry, the fruits of those fields which they purchased and bled for, wrested from us at the will of men over whom we have no check. Did they contract for us that, with folded arms, we should expect that justice and mercy from brutal and inflamed invaders which have been denied to our supplications at the foot of the throne? [... General references to perfidious Albion and an now-embarrassing remark about rebel slaves deleted.]

In a state of tranquillity, wealth, and luxury, our descendants would forget the arts of war and the noble activity and zeal which made their ancestors invincible. Every art of corruption would be employed to loosen the bond of union which renders our resistance formidable. When the spirit of liberty, which now animates our hearts and gives success to our arms, is extinct, our numbers will accelerate our ruin and render us easier victims to tyranny. Ye abandoned minions of an infatuated ministry, if peradventure any should yet remain among us, remember that a Warren and Montgomery are numbered among the dead. Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say, What should be the reward of such sacrifices? Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, and plow, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquillity of servitude than the animating contest of freedom--go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen! [...]

Britain is now, I will suppose, the seat of liberty and virtue, and its legislature consists of a body of able and independent men who govern with wisdom and justice. The time may come when all will be reversed; when its excellent constitution of government will be subverted; when, pressed by debts and taxes, it will be greedy to draw to itself an increase of revenue from every distant province in order to ease its own burdens; when the influence of the crown, strengthened by luxury and a universal profligacy of manners, will have tainted every heart, broken down every fence of liberty and rendered us a nation of tame and contented vassals; when a general election will be nothing but a general auction of boroughs, and when the Parliament, the grand council of the nation, and once the faithful guardian of the State, and a terror to evil ministers, will be degenerated into a body of sycophants, dependent and venal, always ready to confirm any measures, and little more than a public court for registering royal edicts....

Our Union is now complete; our Constitution composed, established, and approved. You are now the guardians of your own liberties....

-Samuel Adams, at the Philadelphia State House, August 1, 1776.

Interesting Booker Development

If I may be permitted to geek out over my love of sentencing jurisprudence, the Ninth Circuit on Friday said that post-Booker appeals from a guideline departure should be reviewed by the abuse of discretion standard instead of the statutory de novo review under the Guidelines.

This means that once a judge authorizes a downward departure for a criminal defendant, it will be a lot harder for the government to have it reversed on appeal.

The case is US v. Menyweather. Check it out for a good overview of post-Booker sentencing procedure.

I Call Bullshit

Alberto Gonzales says that the policy of domestic wiretapping is not "in contravention of our criminal statutes."

He's right, it's just plain unconstitutional.

Apparently, the Bush Administration is going to stick with the line that the power to illegally search American citizens without a warrant arises under his implied powers as Commander-in-Chief.

Now, I'm no lawyer (give me 5 months), but I'm almost positive that when the Constitution declares itself the highest law in the land and your job is outlined in that very Constitution, you probably have to, you know, act constitutionally.

I desperately want this issue to be a big deal. This issue is the proto-typical example of trading liberty for security and could swing about 2 million independents into the Democratic camp.

Everyone from liberally Lefties like me to gun-toting NRA freaks know that once we start spying on Americans, it only gets worse from here.

It's the people who try to justify this course of action that are the real enemies in the War on Terror. They are more dangerous than Al Qeada because they don't know that, while Osama bin Laden can kill thousands of us, he'll never be able to take away what makes us special. These are the people who would walk through a thousand metal detectors buck naked and never see they are the ones who've surrendered.

Making It Up As They Go Along

Props to Think Progress:

When asked Friday about his authorization of illegal, warrantless wiretaps on American citizens, George Bush replied: "I know that people are anxious to know the details of the operation, they -- people want me to comment about the veracity of the story. It's the policy of this government, just not going do it [sic], and the reason why is that because [sic] it would compromise our ability to protect the people."

In his radio address this morning, he not only confirmed that the wiretaps took place, but that he authorized them, and he provided signifcant details.

What happened? Are we safe now? Of course not, the White House needed a little time to organize a P.R. strategy since their hand was forced by a leak. If you ever need to analyze the actions of the Bush administration to determine why they're doing what they're doing, here's a helpful maxim:

"They care more about looking good than doing good."

Remember that and everything else falls into place (i.e., "Mission Accomplished", Tax Cuts, $15 billion for AIDS in Africa (approximately $50 million of which has been delivered), and, of course, MARS, BITCHES!!)

How--?

One should never look for sanity from internet forums discussing President Bush's use of the NSA.

However, I have a question. Recently, I've been coming across more and more people who do not argue positions that can be easily controverted: that is, they take a position that I find so outlandish and reprehensible that I find myself without a counter-argument: which, in turn, gives the callow youth the impression that he (it's always a he) has won the "argument." I submit this example:

oh, JOURNALISM, how cute. I'm sure your even-handed worldview will help you tell us about how "others think" and "some feel"... "journalism" is nothing more than a 12-year-old girl's diary. funny how those who aspire to indocrinate others are the first to cry fascism. are you actually good at anything?--"Captain Napalm" on the career choices of others

I'm sorry, but when I meet people like this I tend to stare like I'm in the chimpanzee section of the zoo. Despite working in a criminal justice related clinic, I remain confounded that people can be either this willfully stupid or heedlessly puerile. And this was an adult with a job! I mean, look at the ridiculous nature of that statement. Even responding to it with a "no, well some journalists are quite responsible really and have done a lot of good" post makes me feel like the terrorists have won.

Am I getting old? Because reading this post made me feel like the fogey with the shotgun that has no more refined pleasure in life than filling some young sprout's hide full of rock salt. But isn't that just an Ann Coulter argument?

As a final, related aside: it frustrates me to no end (and, to be fair, I've seen this done on both sides of the aisle and have been guilty of it myself) where in discussions of terrorism, one side or the other resorts to wishing that the opposing side would die. In that case, should you not be pro-terrorism, the problem being that maybe the wrong persons are dying? "Oh, we hate Osama bin Laden, and we'd do much better at it if 49 (or 51)% of you would just die."

Idiots!

If there's one thing you can count on the Bush Administration for:

The President intends to nominate Hans von Spakovsky, of Georgia, to be a Member of the Federal Election Commission, for the remainder of a six-year term expiring April 30, 2011. Mr. von Spakovsky currently serves as Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice. He previously served the Justice Department as a trial attorney for the Voting Reform Initiative. Prior to that, Mr. von Spakovsky served as a government affairs consultant. Earlier in his career, he was Assistant Vice President, Counsel and Secretary for Confederation Life Insurance Company in Rehabilitation. Mr. von Spakovsky received his bachelor's degree from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his JD from Vanderbilt University.

Review: Methods of staying awake while driving

Experience: Evening on the New Jersey Turnpike, slowly falling asleep. You've been quaffing Rockstar Energy Drink at a rate of about one gulp/15 minutes to stay awake while driving for the last eight hours, and are painfully aware that you have only about a quarter gulp left. It is at least 45 minutes to the next rest stop. Inadvertently, while attempting to tip the last dregs of the can into your mouth, you spill approximately a quarter teaspoonful onto the can lid. Simultaneously startled by a big rig emerging out of your blind spot, you violently inhale the Rockstar Energy Drink into your nostrils.

Immediate sensation: Burning pain. Rockstar Energy Drink, when aerosolized and combined with snot, creates either hydrochloric acid or mustard gas. Your eyes may water briefly. The pain fades slowly over about a five to ten minute period.

Lasting results: Clarity of mind, unimpaired driving ability for at least the next four hours. Rockstar taken nasally is the equivalent of at least a three-hour nap.

Side-effects: Cleared sinus cavities, speaking in tongues. Possibly also cancer.

Final verdict: Like the Korean War, mixed results. Only for use in extreme emergencies.

Review: Syriana

I saw Syriana last night (I can do that because I'm done with finals.) For those who don't know, the film is about a CIA agent (Seth Gecko), an oil analyst (Will Hunting), a Arab Prince (Dr. Bashir), an attorney for an oil company (Jean-Michelle Basquiat), two oil company execs (Delmar O'Donnell, John Laroche), and a suicide bomber (some dude.) Their stories weave back and forth, all focusing on the concept of how oil as a commodity can make and break both countries and individual lives.

I enjoyed the movie very much. The comparisons to 2000's Traffic are apt and should be considered a compliment. The character's stories compliment each other beautifully. As for the performances, there is not one weak link among them -- even Amanda Peet, whom I normally consider a waste of celluloid.

The politics of the movie have been garnering it the most attention. I've read reviews that describe the film as supporting both liberal and conservative points of view in terms of how the American government and American companies deal with oil. I don't see it. This movie is liberal, but not insanely so. It clearly shows both how the American government will quickly dispatch anyone who gets in the way of its oil interests and also how the international politics of the region lead to poor, young Arab men that strap bombs to their chests.

My biggest complaint with the movie is that the multitude of stories and the lack of exposition can lead to some confusion as to what's happening, but you always get the point of the scene. Because so many points of view are taken into account, not one story gets the spotlight. Each individual thread could have been a two-hour movie on its own and they all would have been outstanding movies.

Ultimately, the movie is about corruption. Corruption of business, government, and the human soul. These characters live in a world where it makes total sense to kill an Arab prince and his entire family simply because he talked openly about giving up the royal family's oppulent lifestyle in favor of rebuilding his country's infrastructure and providing jobs to the jobless. In other words, they live in the real world. This movie shines a bright, harsh light on the backroom deals that no one knows about. The deals that lead to thousands of death, tons of hate, and a vicious cycle that won't end until we run out of oil.

Review

Law School Finals:

Strength: Unyielding, exasperating. Anacondalike.

Flavoring: Bitter. Burnt hair and napalm, undertones of old coffee beans. Strong aftertaste of despair.

Taste: Camphor, medicinal. Like a New England herbal cough remedy, circa 1792.

Room note: Fear.

Summation: One more, then never again.

You're kidding, right?

The NYT has a big story today about NSA wiretaps on American citizens. Someone wasn't paying attention in eighth grade civics class. I now hate the Bush Administration more than I thought possible. What's next? Warrantless searches? Secret mass graves? I don't know what else this president can sacrifice in the name of expediency and keeping us "safe."

But here's what I really don't get:

According to officials, F.B.I. surveillance of Mr. Faris, the Brooklyn Bridge plotter, was dropped for a short time because of technical problems. At the time, senior Justice Department officials worried what would happen if the N.S.A. picked up information that needed to be presented in court. The government would then either have to disclose the N.S.A. program or mislead a criminal court about how it had gotten the information.

One, it's interesting that the best evidence they can come up with as to why we should support this program is Ayman Faris, whose master plan, if you will recall, was to go out on the Brooklyn Bridge and manually begin cutting through the steel suspension cables: a task that, singlehanded, I recall hearing would have taken him about three months with the equipment available to him.

Two, why the hell are we bothering with a judge? Obviously, we know the guy's guilty! We heard it on the wiretap! Just show up at his house and shoot him before he gets the opportunity to do any damage! For America!

Wearing Boots of Escaping!

Picture this: you're surfing the internet, maybe just to check on what the President is up to, and then suddenly you turn a corner and find yourself taking an incredibly nerdy quiz on what D&D character you would be.

Actually, the results were surprisingly accurate.

I Am A: True Neutral Dwarf Fighter Ranger


Alignment:
True Neutral characters are very rare. They believe that balance is the most important thing, and will not side with any other force. They will do whatever is necessary to preserve that balance, even if it means switching allegiances suddenly.


Race:
Dwarves are short and stout, and easily recognizable by their well-cared-for beards. They are hard workers, and adept at stonework and engineering. They tend to live apart from other races; generally in deep, underground excavated systems, and as such tend to be distant from other races.


Primary Class:
Fighters are the warriors. They use weapons to accomplish their goals. This isn't to say that they aren't intelligent, but that they do, in fact, believe that violence is frequently the answer.


Secondary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.


Find out What D&D Character You Are, courtesy of Zinious Software corporation

Nat Hentoff

I'll drink to that.

You're not wrong, dude

HAYDEN Christensen does not suffer hecklers gladly. The actor, currently shooting "Awake" with Jessica Alba, was leaving his trailer to do a scene inside Bellevue Hospital the other day when a fan approached. But instead of asking Christensen for an autograph, the fan yelled, "You ruined the 'Star Wars' movies!" Our set-side source says the annoyed Anakin Skywalker "chased the guy down the street and scared him away." A spokeswoman for the Weinstein Co., which is producing "Awake," declined comment.

Well, it's true.

Fun and games with voting rights

Alas, I don't have the documents available for a really good go at this, and they don't seem to be available online. Necessarily, any mistakes I make will be my own.

While I was at the Election Assistance Commission as a lowly intern, one of the things that occurred was the DOJ making noises about preclearing an Arizona voter approved election law, Proposition 200, which among other provisions would require voters to produce identification at polling places before casting a ballot of any type, period, end sentence.

Sounds fairly reasonable, right? Except that, as many commentators have pointed out in the more publicized row about Georgia voter ID requirements, there is a certain amount of evidence that indicates that such restrictions not only fail to prevent meaningful voter fraud, but also disproportionately impact African American voters.

These considerations aside, the DOJ had taken a position that was inconsistent with the federal law, which reads in relevant part:

SEC. 302. 42 USC 15482. PROVISIONAL VOTING AND VOTING INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS.

(a) Provisional Voting Requirements.--If an individual declares that
such individual is a registered voter in the jurisdiction in which the
individual desires to vote and that the individual is eligible to vote
in an election for Federal office, but the name of the individual does
not appear on the official list of eligible voters for the polling place
or an election official asserts that the individual is not eligible to
vote, such individual shall be permitted to cast a provisional ballot as
follows:

(1) An election official at the polling place shall notify the individual that the individual may cast a provisional ballot in that election.

(2) The individual shall be permitted to cast a provisional ballot at that polling place upon the execution of a written affirmation by the individual before an election official at the polling place stating that the individual is--

(A) a registered voter in the jurisdiction in which the individual desires to vote; and
(B) eligible to vote in that election.

Nothing in there about a requirement for photo ID. Despite this, DOJ was going to preclear the law anyway. Thankfully, the chorus of protest from election advocacy organizations got a little too loud, and they reversed themselves.

Lead point of contact between the EAC and DOJ was a guy named Hans von Spakovsky: I'd heard his name bandied about before but never got around to Googling him until now. The results?

I'm shocked, shocked.

Breaking News: Super-intelligent mice have taken over the planet

In an effort to finally make Pinky & The Brain into a live-action feature film, a California scientist has created mice by injecting human stem cells into a mouse's brain.

I've got to be honest, this genetic engineering stuff scares the hell out of me. There is a line that, once crossed, will change existence as we know it forever. Luckily, this isn't it. This is just weird.

Ms. Malkin

Ah, gay as a pejorative. Sigh.

Sometimes, it's best to simply fight fire with fire.





Malkin! From hell's heart I stab at thee!

Code Pink

Is Michelle Malkin (or, as I like to call her, "Aaaahhhh!!! My eyes!!!!!) using this picture to call Howard Dean gay? If so, she should know that if Howard Dean walked around in nothing but ass-less chaps, he'd still be my hero.

By the way, in case you couldn't tell from my recent copious posting, I'm done with school for the semester. So long suckers!

The Boy in the Bubble

George Bush today emphatically declared that he does not live in a bubble and that, "every morning [he] looks at a newspaper."

Three things:
1) If you have to declare that you don't live in a bubble, it's too late.
2) "To be ignorant of one's ignorance is the malady of the ignorant." - Amos Bronson Alcott
3) "Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance is the death of knowledge." - Alfred Whitehead

Politics Over Policy

Josh, don't worry about the gerry-mandering thing. It won't be a problem anymore. See, the Justice Department has banned staff attorneys from giving the opinions and recommendations in cases involving the Voting Rights Act. There. Problem solved. Here's the link.

Par for the course for the Bush Administration.

Totalitarianism 1, Decency 0.

Barack Obama at the Florida State Democratic Party Convention

"We all remember in 2000 when George Bush said he didn't believe in nation building. We just didn't think he meant this nation."

God I love this guy.

Gerry's Salamander

Without a fairly fact intensive examination of the evidence D0J had in its possession at the time it reviewed the documents, plus about a month in the library, it'd be hard for me to say. Districting and what constitutes a validly drawn district is a quagmire for political scientists and lawyers alike.

That said, what I can do is provide the better judgment of several much more experienced individuals I've seen on a private election law forum. [Heavy edit: after reviewing the listserv quoting policy, I'm redacting the direct quotes. Linking to the comment threads should be permissible, and I'll get that up as soon as possible. I apologize for the inconvenient format of many of the links and can only say that I consider them worth reading: consider it the price of virtue. That said,] [s]everal points stand out from the commentary I've been seeing.

1) Career attorneys at the voting rights division of the Department of Justice have a reputation for being both impartial and good at their jobs.

2) The division between career attorneys and political appointees exists and is serious. It also seems to be fairly unique to this administration.

3) Under this administration, career attorneys have been barred from offering recommendations in major Voting Rights Act cases.

4) Given that political appointees are just that, one may draw one's own conclusions about the probability that the DOJ's career attorneys are correct that the districts violate the provisions of the VRA. Some other commentators note that the Supreme Court previously listed the Texas redistricting cases for decision six times, and are seeing something auspicious* in the conjunction of recent revelations about the Bush Administration's Justice Department and the final setting of the cases for argument. Again, caveat emptor: but that's pretty much all I've got. [Edit: that is, except for my own personal experience with the DOJ's voting rights division. Duh. Look for that in a new post after exams tomorrow.]

*In order to fully understand this e-mail note, it may be helpful, as it was for me, to familiarize oneself with (or re-visit) the opinion and particularly Justice Kennedy's concurrence in Vieth v. Jubelier, 541 U.S. 267 (2004). (Full text). If anyone needs or would like more of an introduction to Vieth, please let me know, and, like most bloviators, I will be happy to continue inflicting opinion upon you.

Gerrymandering Before the Court

Josh, since you're the resident election law expert, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Supreme Court deciding to review the Texas re-districting plan that put 5 new Republicans in the House. Every Justice Department lawyer who wasn't a political appointee said the plan violated the Voting Rights Act. What do you think?

The Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam: Less than the dust beneath my chariot wheels

Results from the November MPRE are in: I scored three points above the median, or as I prefer to think of it, seventeen more points than I needed for the New York Bar. To the right you will find a curious visual representation I was able to secure of the grading machine reviewing my score sheet.

Excelsior!

Review

Budapest is an excellent city, very worth visiting. At first, it was alienating not being able to understand anything (there are few cognates with English)--newspaper headlines, ads, store names (or what they're selling)--but I guess I got used to it. If nothing else, Hungarian's a fun language to look at and listen to. I'll be damned if I can figure out the vowels, though. (I'm not getting into the grammar, which is completely unlike English, or any Indo-European language--it's agglutinative, meaning [as best I can tell] that it uses a lot of prefixes and suffixes to convey meanings that we'd use prepositions and other word changes for.)

They've also got good (cheap!) food. Hungary's a wine country, not a beer one (but it's next to some beer countries), and it's got good wine (in Hungarian, bor). They use more sour cream than I'd like. This is at least somewhat balanced by their liberal use of pork. They're also big fans of paprika (as per the stereotype) and, surprisingly, poppy seeds. Duck and goose are also popular. The fruit and vegetables were good too.

One of the highlights of my trip was delivering those packages I brought (not drugs, honest!). The extended family had slaughtered a pig(!) the day before(!!) in the country, so we had extremely fresh sausage(!!!). Correction: We had three types of extremely fresh sausage: straight spiced meat, rice and liver, and blood, which was the rice and liver with a bit of blood for color. There was stuffed cabbage, stuffed, of course, with pork and rice. We also had some homemade fruit brandy (plum), homemade pickled hot peppers (I left a jar accidentally in Budapest), and homemade applecake. It was really good.

I took no camera, so brought back no pictures. You'll just have to take my word for it that the architecture and city overall are quite nice to look at.

What I liked best, though, was the feel for Hungarian history and "character" I got, largely from visiting museums. This has two sides. First, Hungary is/was intensely nationalistic. I don't mean this in a world-conquering sense, but in terms of being a country, a people, with a very strong sense of being different from its neighbors. The Magyars only arrived in Hungary in 896 a.d., and they remain separated from their neighbors by language and by this history.

They're really big on their history. I went to the Hungarian National Museum, the Budapest History Museum, the Hungarian Art Museum (there's also a Fine Arts Museum, which includes non-Hungarian art), the Hungarian Photography Museum (Hungarian photographers), the Ethnographic Museum, and the Hungarian Military History Museum, among others. The Hungarian National Museum has a room dedicated to famous modern Hungarians. An awful lot of them, like John von Neumann, don't/didn't live in Hungary, but Hungary claims them eagerly.

Their interest in their history isn't new, either. In the early 13th century, about 325 years after arriving in Hungary, some Hungarian monks went to the Volga to find the other Magyar tribes. Have you heard of any other central European people's ever doing this? (I'm not 100 percent sure they found the other tribes, but they certainly found the Mongols.) History really matters.

Which brings me to the second point. Hungary was on the losing side of the three great conflicts of the 20th century: WWI, WWII, and the Cold War. It was fascinating to see both how earlier history led them to that and how they've tried to come to terms with/rationalize that. (For a novelist's very funny view on more or less contemporary Hungarian character, read Arthur Phillips' Prague. My own impressions of this are still more anecdotal than my other arguments here and will pretty much agree with Phillips'.) For instance, the Military History Museum had an exhibit about the 1944 Warsaw uprising. It, of course, discussed the Hungarian role in it. Here's what I picked up. The Germans ordered a Hungarian army to cordon off the city so partisans couldn't get through, but the army let Polish partisans through. Also, the commanders of that army negotiated with the Poles to switch sides, but the politics were awfully complicated, so they didn't. That seems to be about the best any Axis power could spin its role in WWII. (Also, Hungary participated in the Holocaust, but Admiral Horthy, who ruled Hungary for most of the war, until he was overthrown by the Arrow Cross, protected the Jews of Budapest, though not elsewhere. Of course, once he was deposed.... Horthy came off pretty well in what little I heard about him in Hungary--he was in an impossible situation and tried to walk a tightrope. It didn't work.)

As for the earlier history, I have three words: geography, history, and Trianon. The bad luck of geography put Hungary on the wrong side of the Cold War; in general, in the middle of stronger neighbors like Austria, Germany, and Russia; and in the midst of a slew of ethnic groups that, as ethnic groups do, might not always get along. Hungarian history gave me a better understanding of how Stephen Dedalus' "History is a nightmare from which I am trying to awake" applies to an entire country, if not a continent. Budapest has been a cosmopolitan city for centuries; the Ethnographic Museum showed how the effects of feudalism lingered through the 19th century. No wonder Europeans wanted to get the hell out of there and come here! History and culture can be valuable--they're certainly inescapable--but they can also lead to societal instability and centuries'-long conflicts. Trianon is a specific example of that. It was the Versailles Treaty for Hungary. Yeah, it had a lot to do with WWII.

I did a lot of other stuff that was also fun. I also didn't get to do all the things I would've liked. Budapest, Hungary as a whole, was great. It's the most un-Western place I've ever been; as such, it's fascinating. I should go back.

Incidentally, on the plane back I read an interesting Joan Didion book, Where I Was From, which is a memoir/study of California. The meaning and modern history of California are some of the most interesting aspects of American history. It also lends itself to some excellent songwriting, too, by people/bands like Pavement, the Pixies, Frank Black, and X.

Do as I say, not as I do doesn't work

Lies lies lies!

It's more of the same--lies abroad, lies at home. These people just don't learn.

They believe in expediency, little else. Torture is expedient--supported. Paying reporters to make your case is expedient--supported. Controlling foreign media outlets is expedient--supported. The WMD argument for war in Iraq was expedient--supported. The WMD argument for war in Iraq is shown to be false; it's no longer expedient--not supported. Social security, Christmas, national security are all wedge issues, therefore expedient to winning elections--supported. Withdrawing from Iraq while saying you're not withdrawing from Iraq, that's really expedient--supported.

And it's really sad--they know what they should be doing:

One of the first queries, Mr. Limbaugh said, was "How do you balance justice and truth and objectivity?"

His reply: report the truth, don't hide any opinions or "interest in the outcome of events." Tell "people who you are," he said, and "they'll respect your credibility." [From the NYT article.]

But actually doing right and being honest, that's hard--not supported.

Review

For those of you who don't know, law school also causes you to pick up some bad habits. In that spirit, I now present you with an internet review of one of mine. In fact, I think I'll start reviewing a whole lot more things around here, once my digital camera recharges. In that spirit, I present a review of:

McClelland's Virginia Black Cavendish pipe tobacco, in various briars.

Strength: Mild. Often I couldn't tell whether the pipe was still lit or not.

Flavoring: Mild. When I first smelled it out of the bag there was an overpowering vanilla scent, but this mostly vanished in the pipe itself. Other reviews mentioned a toasted marshmallow flavor, which mostly agrees with my experience. As I mostly smoke wussified aromatic Cavendish-type pipeweed, this was more or less up my alley.

Taste: Very mild. By itself, the flavor was rather bland, not at all what the bag scent indicated. Sort of like distant baking bread.

Room note: Mild. The vanilla came through more strongly here. A very pleasing and inoffensive scent.

Summation: Not bad for a second foray into vanilla aromatics. The tobacconist in Providence, where I bought my first pipe, gave me an ounce of a blend called something like Sherwood Forest that I never finished. That had a bit more character than this, though also a bit more of a bite, exacerbated by my pipe packing learning curve and tendency to smoke pipes hot in a vain effort to keep them from going out. All in all, not bad, though my next choice will definitely be in the direction of a Mac Baren.

The Controversy

Gus wins hands down on the danger question.

The other issue is the design. The banner is excellent; the layout good as well. White on black text, though...not so hot. Snazzy and graphically exciting, yes, but hard on the eyes. Josh, can you do a new iteration? (You know, after finals. I've heard from three people about finals--two are not happy, one's studying like a dog [first year, has very strong incentives for doing well]. I'm betting all three do just fine, despite pain.) Also, we're working, at work, on redesigning our website. Must my work and nonwork concerns track each other?! Well, it certainly is convenient in this case.

Finally, now that our Scopes trial's over, I'm looking forward to 2085, when the Hippopotamus/Mosquito-ists try to get public schools to "teach the controversy."

Wow

I think Gus wins. Imagine the head of that animal watching over your daughter. Hope all your finals went well, Gus--I'm sort of screwed. What's this I hear about you not being back up here next semester?

The Most Dangerous Animal in Africa

This debate must be settled once and for all. The most dangerous animal in Africa was my grandfather, Jasper Moses Williams. He's the only man in recorded history to kill 2 elephants with one bullet. He cut off the feet of the elephants and used them as bar stools for the bar in his den made of zebra, lion, and gazelle fur. Since his death, a bunch of his creepy-ass animal heads have ended up at my house and my 19 month old daughter is now watched over by the head of a Greater Kudu. She finds it amusing.

What the hell?!

I leave the house for one weekend and I come back to this? I don't know where anything is anymore. My recliner doesn't feel right, it's not the same height. I thought we kept the Cheetos on the top shelf, now I find them in a cabinet. What the hell?!

Josh & Seth, this blog is now just like my marriage. Everything changes suddenly causing massive disruptions, resentment, and bitterness. Like my marriage, it is doomed to fail.

Why bring back the counter now that you've fucked all this up? It will never be accurate. It's like putting a brand new odometer on a ' 72 Chevy. It's already been around the world 3 times, I don't care how many miles the new odometer says.

By the way, hope exams are going well. I'm done and now get a month off to contemplate....um, I'll think about what to contemplate and get back to you.

Also

Who knew that Britain had a Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents?

And I hope you choke on it, Eric Goldwyn

We've had some complaints about the blog's appearance: something about lack of readability. Poltroons! Alas, even though polls are only a snapshot in time, unlike the Bush Administration, we have reconsidered our position on transparent backgrounds.

Vital help with the banner was provided by Tracy.

Gus, I'm sorry, but I deleted your counter when monkeying with the template. Can you get it back?

Disagree with this, Brant, round II

Okay, so I took a bit of a thrashing in Round One. Nevertheless, we have learned a few things about Brant, our most cunning foe:

1) What a jerk

2) He kannot uz korrect orthografy

3) He is sensitive about posts on his non-updated blog implying that he is a drunkard.

4) Speaking of that non-updated blog, he should just trash it and move in here. He'd post more often.

That said, I move on to round 2:

I confidently assert that John Moses Browning was the greatest firearms designer ever.

Great moments in criminal law

The "I'm too fat to go to prison" defense: somehow, not a winner.

Disagree with this, Brant

I confidently assert that the Hippopotamus is the most dangerous animal of Africa.

Racial profiling of suicide bombers

Now can we say it's a bad idea? How about now?

Equity is all I ask

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee just called me.* I was all excited, and then it turned out that it was a fundraising call. Yes, all they wanted from me was $25, not, you know, my active participation or anything. How about this: when you guys get around to sending me even a rejection letter for that resume and cover letter, I'll send you $25.

*or "D-trip" for those of you who are Washington "wonks" who work on the "Hill".

O'Really?

In fact, Gus, we know that Christianity wasn't part of the foundation of the country because the founding fathers as good as said so.

But who cares about facts anymore? That's so 20th century.

Lather. Rinse. Destroy. Repeat.

So, according to this article, the attack on two Navy Destroyers on August 4, 1964 that led to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and a blank check for escalation in Vietnam, um, never happened.

Apparently, while there wasn't a fabrication of evidence to support the attack, officials inflated the intelligence to suit their own needs. William Faulkner once said, "The past isn't dead. The past isn't even past." Damn did he get it right.

Next week I expect intelligence analysts will reveal there isn't actually a Gulf of Tonkin at all and that Vietnam was a CIA code-word for France.

Happy Holidays, Bill

Here's Bill O'Reilly bitching about the fact that some American companies have realized that not every one in the world (in fact, it's less than 1/5th) are Christian and use "Happy Holidays" instead of Merry Christmas:

Here you have a national public holiday signed into law by Ulysses S. Grant in 1870. Christmas, all right? Federal holiday, everybody gets off, no mail delivered, everybody shuts down. Federal holiday. Why is it there? To honor a philosopher, Jesus. Whose philosophy was part of the foundation of our country. All of this is indisputable. Can't dispute it. OK? A man was born, his name is Jesus, he had a philosophy, the philosophy was incorporated by the Founding Fathers to make up the United States of America, U.S. Grant signs into law the holiday, Christmas.

Notice how he skips 100 years between the founding of the country and Christmas becoming a federal holiday. Hey Bill, if it's "indisputable" that Christianity was "part of the foundation of our country" from the very beginning, why did it take 100 years to make it a national holiday? Was Thomas Jefferson too busy waging a war for opium that he never got around to signing the bill? Was George Washington too busy building Masonic temples that he forget to get John Adams a present?

Oh yeah, its because they were for freedom FROM religion. Besides, Grant was probably all liquored up when he signed the law and did it as a dare.

I love Jesus and I love Christmas, but, as is usually the problem with this issue, the tendency is to ignore the substance and favor the form.

Don't worry, Bill. I still got you that loofah you asked for for Christmas.

Aren't We All Really Zombie Food Anyway?

At the risk of distracting myself from studying for my Florida Criminal Procedure exam, Josh, you may wish to revise your zombie victims list. Yesterday's "All Things Considered" on NPR described the Christian peace group as Iraq as actually Christian. You know, like, they follow Jesus' teaching and, thus, don't like war. Although, I don't know how preachy they are, so maybe just leave it Limbo.

Oh wait, you can't leave it in Limbo because the Pope is going to abolish Limbo. When I read this article, I was worried that the Pope was talking about abolishing limbo and I would be left with no party games to display my amazingly flexible spine. But he was talking about the other Limbo.

I never thought it was so easy to abolish a whole Netherworld. If it's this easy, the Pope should really consider abolishing the Phantom Zone because leaving people trapped in a floating pane of glass to wander the universe for all eternity, it's pretty much like Limbo anyway. The Phantom Zone is now officially on notice.

Anyway, the Christians would still run the risk of being eaten by zombies to the fact that they are fragile and have emotional problems......beyond pacifism.

More of the same

Glad to see that package your co-worker gave you to take to her relatives in Hungary didn't net you 10 years in Hungarian prison. As to what you missed, you hit the nail on the head--as did Fred Kaplan, writing in Slate about the president's latest speech before cadets at the Naval Academy:

This is the bottom-line failure of President Bush's campaign to persuade the public: He has still not outlined just what this war is about, what winning it means, and what it would honestly take to do so.--Slate

Incidentally, can anyone remember the last time the president spoke on national television before a non-military audience? I tried digging that up on the White House website, but failed miserably.

And...

I'm back.

A good time was had; jet lag--and gladness to be back in a place where I can read signs and talk to people--is now had; more writing will be had.

So, did I miss anything new or just more of the same? I'm betting on the latter.

On the other hand

This person emphatically deserves to survive the living dead. GENIUS.

Please, let the zombie invasion come now

It’s idiotic, but sometimes idiocy is all we have left. --Harry Hutton

In college, my friends and I would occasionally express our millenialist hope that what we referred to as "the day when there is no law" would come to pass. An example of usage:

Boy, on the day when there is no law, I will set the philosophy department on fire.

We differed on what would bring about the day when there is no law. Some thought a virus outbreak, some thought peak oil. I personally favored zombie invasion, because I still adhere to the perhaps radical view that some people really need to be eaten; to wit, those too idiotic to survive a zombie invasion. And we're currently up to the eyeballs in idiocy, to judge by the news reports. And with that, I present to you a brief list of those who, in my opinion, will fail to survive a zombie invasion.

(1) Christian peace activists who travel without bodyguards in Iraq*

Sad, but true. Evidence, you ask?

"We are angry [said the antiwar activist group that employed the hostages] because what has happened to our teammates [kidnapped, under threat of beheading] is the result of the actions of the U.S. and U.K. government due to the illegal attack on Iraq and the continuing occupation and oppression of its people," the statement said.--WP

I am angry, though, because a group of Iraqis were obviously put to great personal risk and effort to kidnap four Christian activists. They had to get a digital video camera, some masks, and what looks like an RPG. These things are expensive! Plus, there's gas and tolls. These insurgents boldly ran the risk of capture, torture, and death by their American occupiers because no one else was going to stop the Christian peace activists: "Al-Jazeera said a statement by insurgents that accompanied the video charged the men with 'working undercover as Christian peace activists.'". I don't suppose that a group named "Christian Peacemaker Teams" can deny that their employees are, in fact, Christian peace activists. I put it to you, Christian Peacemaker Teams: in this scenario, are not you the aggressor?


(2) Dominique De Villepin

Villepin told the US television network CNN that the wave of unrest in French suburbs this month could not be described as "riots", and that it was not rooted in ethnic or religious divisions."
I'm not sure you can call them riots. It's very different from the situation you have
known in 1992 in LA for example," the prime minister said in the English-language interview. "In France during the two-week period of unrest, nobody died. So I think you can't compare this social unrest with any kind of riots."--Expatica

So let me get this straight:

ri·ot n.

1. A wild or turbulent disturbance created by a large number of people.
2. Law. A violent disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons assembled for a common purpose.
3. An unrestrained outbreak, as of laughter or passions.
4. A profusion: The garden was a riot of colors in August.
5. Unrestrained merrymaking; revelry, debauchery.
6. Slang. An irresistibly funny person or thing: Isn't she a riot?

I don't know about you, but there seemed to be a "large number" of French youths in the street, and the goings-on seemed pretty wild to me. At the least, there was a profusion of cars on fire. In fact, looking at the list of definitions, I would say that the recent rioting in France and, under defintion 6, Mr. De Villepin himself, are both riots.

(3) People who keep pulling on locked doors hoping they will somehow unlock and open.



Obvious. The zombies would have had him in a second.

Truth: still stranger

Good to see you too, Seth. Yeah, I'll be back in December. There are a bunch of things I'd like to get up on the soapbox about, but time and exam schedules being what they are right now, I'll have to settle for this:

"The trial [of Saddam Hussein] might have an effect of encouraging the insurgency," [Kassim Daoud, an independent Iraqi National Assembly member from Najaf] acknowledged. "So far this morning there have been three" -- he was interrupted by a deep boom -- "make that four explosions." --WP

You can't make this stuff up.

Sabbatical

I'll be away for a week starting....now. Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Josh, great to see you again. Should I look for you again in December?

Ding ding ding

This article pulls the administration's pre-war hype together succinctly and admirably. Now, if it just had some links to Seymour Hersh's New Yorker articles.

We could also use a big, loud, visible piece about torture.

Thanksgiving Break

... has begun. Already my insides are warm with Indian food, which is unavailable in Lexington, VA. Next stop: cheap American Chinese, with a 50% chance of Yemenite shish-kebab by Wednesday.

Cheney and Murtha

So, was it Cheney who gave up Woodward to Fitzgerald?

I argued with my grandfather tonight about Murtha's argument for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq. Basically, Murtha contends that the administration's policy failings have backed us into an unwinnable situation, wherein our very presence in Iraq causes more problems than it resolves. (Republicans respond with their usual ad hominems. Murtha replies by bashing Cheney for being a draft dodger, therefore lacking the "right" to argue with him. Both these arguments strike me as asinine. Though it is quite refreshing to see the Democrat trying to give as good as he's getting.) My grandfather agreed, as well as adding that invading Iraq was a stupid idea from the beginning (no argument there from me--we shouldn't have gone).

While I agree that the administration's sheer incompetence has, bluntly, screwed us over, I don't think that the situation will improve if we pull out now. I think the country would fall apart even more and we would continue to be blamed, with reason, for the chaos and instability that would grow throughout the country. I think it would even spill beyond Iraq's borders. It's not like we've got good options--I don't think the administration's going to come to its senses--but there's still some hope so long as things don't fall completely apart. As matters stand, we keep things above that (minimal) level. If we leave, things really fall apart.

As you wish

I've been spending more time than I should lately on two past-times: looking at and editing a wholly fictional encyclopedia about a wholly fictional fantasy universe invented by the author of my favorite webcomic: an activity so postmodern I can't even think about it.

Also, looking at pictures of extremely intricate model dioramas of World War II. I'm not sure how far these will go towards easing your boredom, but it's all I've got right now.

A Dry Spell

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, guys. School's been busy since classes end on Monday. One advantage of being at a "third-tier" law school instead of a "top-tier" law school is that at Stetson we get 3 weeks to study for finals. At W & L, we had the weekend.

Starting next week I'll be posting alot more.

-G.

Schadenfreude

NY Republicans in disarray! Thanks, George (Pataki)! I knew I could count on you to screw things up for your constituents, but it's good to see you doing the same for your friends, too.

Roger Douglas Groot

Professor Groot was my advisor for a research project involving the federal sentencing guidelies. I quickly learned why he was so respected. The man was a gentleman and a scholar, brilliant beyond words and compassionate beyond belief. He will be sorely missed.

Roger Douglas Groot

Professor Groot, the previous director of my clinic, my boss on the ABA moratorium project, and an honest man, passed away this weekend. The field of capital defense will miss him sorely, as will the students and alumni of this law school. A more complete profile is here.

Update: According to the dean, it seems that Professor Groot went out hunting and never returned. The rumor is that he suffered a heart attack. I personally choose to believe that he wrestled a bear to the death. Hence this tribute

Roger Douglas Groot 1942-2005



"No damned bear kills me and lives"

There. I think that's more in line with how he would have wanted it.

All hail!

Today, November 12th, is the anniversary of the great exploding whale incident.

And my obsession with Austin, Texas, grows

Sigh. Not necessarily top on my priority list right now (to have ambitions was my ambition), but one to stow away for future reference.

Woe unto ye, Philistines

So, Pat Robertson's shot off his mouth again and suggested that the citizens of Dover, PA refrain from calling on God when disaster strikes. Mr. Robertson opined that God would probably not answer, as the citizens of Dover have obviously rejected God from their city. From this, we can deduce a couple of things about Pat Robertson's god:

1) God is indiscriminate. Some of the citizens of Dover must have voted for the intelligent-design board members, right?

2) God's patience is not infinite, but sharply limited.

"God is tolerant and loving, but we can't keep sticking our finger in his eye forever," Robertson said.

Here I thought we were living in the era of the touchy-feely New Testament God. But obviously we are back to the pillar-of-fire Old Testament God, who brings hurricanes down upon New Orleans. (and the surrounding gulf coast, Florida, and my gas prices. See point 1.)

3) God spills his guts to Pat Robertson. Because he obviously knows exactly what the Divine is thinking. They probably had a brief chat on the phone while God was waiting in line at Starbuck's. And then He drank the biggest chai latte ever.

Finally, I love this:

"If they have future problems in Dover, I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe he can help them." [said Robertson.]

If Pat Robertson has medical problems in future, I recommend that he call on God, and perhaps he will heal Mr. Robertson without resorting to uncertain science.

About Al Qaeda: yeah, I'd read that letter--didn't you post it up here when it first hit the shelves? I recall some quote about how someone's greatest good fortune was the stupidity of his enemies. I thought it might have been Napoleon, but I couldn't find it. Anyway, I think that's really our best hope against Al Qaeda: that these people are, at base, a very ignorant bunch.

Al Qaeda needs

... to take its own advice.

In the letter referred to in that post (and here with the updated link), Al Qaeda's al-Zawahiri (allegedly) in Afghanistan/Pakistan writes to al-Zarqawi in Iraq to give advice and ask for a situation update.

Zawahiri concentrates on the importance of public support, saying, "In the absence of this popular support, the Islamic mujahed movement would be crushed in the shadows...."

He points out that popular support, beyond being a necessity for survival, is necessary for success:

If we look at the two short-term goals, which are removing the Americans and establishing an Islamic amirate in Iraq, or a caliphate if possible, then, we will see that the strongest weapon which the mujahedeen enjoy - after the help and granting of success by God - is popular support from the Muslim masses in Iraq, and the surrounding Muslim countries. So, we must maintain this support as best we can, and we should strive to increase it, on the condition that striving for that support does not lead to any concession in the laws of the Sharia.

As a result, Zarqawi mustn't do anything that the "Muslim masses" won't understand, which would jeopardize the all-important support:

Therefore, the mujahed movement must avoid any action that the masses do not understand or approve, if there is no contravention of Sharia in such avoidance, and as long as there are other options to resort to, meaning we must not throw the masses-scant in knowledge-into the sea before we teach them to swim, relying for guidance in that on the saying of the Prophet @ to Umar bin al-Khattab<: lest the people should say that Muhammad used to kill his Companions.

After all,

[W]e are in a battle, and ... more than half of this battle is taking place in the battlefield of the media. And ... we are in a media battle in a race for the hearts and minds of our Umma.

Isn't it nice to know that the other side does stupid things too!

It also points out an advantage we (however you want to define that--tricky!) have: We've already won the hearts and minds of "our Umma." (Ok, also a tricky definition.) We're working on the swing vote--and we just got a little push from an unexpected direction. Here's hoping it lasts.

Al Qaeda needs

... a good copyright and trademarks lawyer.*

I've said it before, but maybe not on this blog. McDonalds may be the key to hanging Osama bin Laden's body in a gibbet from the Washington Monument after all. No corporation--say a chain restaurant like McDonalds, for example--will take on a franchisee without being able to control intimate details of that franchisee's operation under its trademarked business name. Al Qaeda? Not so picky.

Corporations insist on this for a pretty good reason: it's hard to maintain your brand identity when your franchisees don't live up to the same standards. When they don't, consumers blame the brand as a whole, not the individual restaurant, and overall business suffers.

Hundreds of angry Jordanians rallied, shouting, "Burn in hell, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi!" after the claim of responsibility was posted. --CNN

Now query if, with this week's bombings in Jordan, Al Qaeda is about to learn the same rule about popular consumption and brand identity. Why, they even killed three Palestinians, including Bashir Nafeh, apparently the head of military intelligence for the Palestinian Authority. And I know Mr. bin Laden cares about Palestinians. Right? Right?

The blood pouring out of Palestine must be equally revenged. You must know that the Palestinians do not cry alone; their women are not widowed alone; their sons are not orphaned alone. --Osama bin Laden

And especially not when orphaned by Muslim terrorist organizations, I wager.

*also a good killing, but one rant at a time.

Popcorn in the microwave

A Kilgore loss may convince some Republicans that Bush is more liability than asset. "If both these races go south, in New Jersey and Virginia," said a GOP consultant who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid, "that'll be a real signal to Capitol Hill and that's when the rats will really jump off the ship." (WP 11/8/05)

I, for one, welcome the coming rodent exodus.

Now the Bad News

A ban on gay marriage in Texas was passed (no shock there).

The Ohio ballot initiatives look like they're facing resounding defeat (bummer, it'll hurt our chances in this important swing-state).

Bloomberg wins in NY (he's practically a Democrat anyway).

No word yet on California.


..... a little more good news, St. Paul mayor Randy Kelly (D) was booted out of office for his overwhelming support of President Bush. He's replaced by another Democrat, city council member Chris Coleman.

Democrats Win

The Virginia Governor's race has been called for Democrat Tim Kaine. The New Jersey Governor's race has been called for John Corzine. It's a good day to be a Democrat and be able to watch a collective moment of realization from millions of your countrymen. I stand by my prediction that this is a good bellwether for next year's Congressional races. At the very least, it creates the media frame that Democrats are coming back into power.

The interesting thing about the New Jersey race is that Corzine now gets to name his successor to the Senate. It's widely believed to be Lt. Governor Dick Codey, as polling shows him the man to beat against all Republican candidates in 2006.

I'm going to go drink a beer.

Republicans Can't Do Anything Right

To update Seth's post:

Turns out the leak of the secret prisons came from (wait for it) a Republican Senator. Trent Lott's been running his mouth, much to the chagrin of Bill Frist and Denny Hastery, that the secret prisons story came out of a Republican Senators ONLY luncheon last week where info from Cheney and other Republicans was printed almost word for word in the Post story.

Bill Frist, who along with Hastert, wrote the letter demanding an investigation is now saying he never signed the letter. Thus, no investigation.

These guys can't even pull off sleazeball politics anymore. The Republican party is dying from the inside.

In Which Republicans Twist The Plame Affair To Their Ends

Regarding our network of secret prisons, G.O.P Leaders Seek Inquiry on Leaks of Government Secrets. I think we agree that this is a good leak--whistleblowing--while the Plame leak was done for rank partisan purposes--not a good, whistleblowing leak. As others warned (specific to leaking names, but, with the section 641 issue, very relevant here), however, the Plame investigation opens the doors for prosecution of any sort of leak, and the Republicans are (cleverly) trying to take advantage.

Incoherent rage

"The thing I like about this fella is he's from Virginia and he grew up on a farm," Bush continued. "That means he's a down-to-earth person. He doesn't have a lot of fancy airs, a person who knows how the common man thinks." Bush also urged the crowd to turn out other voters, saying, "It's your time."

Ah, yes. George W. Bush. The common man.

Election day

Every night before an election I go to sleep hoping to wake up and see something like this:



I am perenially disappointed. Nevertheless, tomorrow I hope to do my civic dooty and cast a ballot for Tim Kaine, quite against my interest in preserving my right to own assault rifles, but much in my interest in not having a howling death-penalty psychopath as Virginia's governor.

It's too bad they don't hand out whiskey at the polls any more.

Tomorrow/Schools

I will be voting for Bloomberg. He's not perfect--a lot of his development ideas are flawed--but he's competent--he dealt with the budget crisis very well--and he's better than Ferrer. Besides, as you point out, Gus, he's a Democrat. (At least, he hits my demographic squarely--white liberals with a technocratic bent.)

W&L sent me a recruiting thing, and I liked it. I'm not going to apply there, though. I'm particularly interested in using the law as an entry to urban planning and policy, since the law governs those fields. Planners propose; lawyers dispose. That's how I see it. (Of course, having the flexibility a law degree affords is very attractive.)

That said, I don't really have a top choice. I spoke to a few lawyers who deal with urban stuff to get their advice. They didn't think that there was any one school that was any better than the others in terms of land use issues, that it takes hard work to make it work that way, and that school reputation, for better or worse, matters.

Here are my 10:

• Columbia
  
• Georgetown
  
• Harvard
  
• NYU
• Northwestern
  
• Penn
  
• Stanford
  
• UT-Austin
  
• UVA
  
• Yale
  

Odd Year Election

Don't forget, Tuesday is election day and there are some important races going on across the country. Favorable results for Democrats could be a strong signal for next year's congressional races.

Here are the races to watch:

• New Jersey Governor: Sen. Corzine (D) has generally been leading Doug Forrester (R) in the polls, but Forrester has been pulling a last minute negative ad blitz (can second-string Republicans win a race fair and square?). Despite this, latest polls have Corzine with a strong lead - 9% in one and 12% in another. My money's on Corzine.
• Virginia Governor: This race has been a dead heat for months with each side occasionally pulling a small margin. I think this race is the most important in terms of Democrats chances next year. Since Warner is term-limited, a Democratic victory here without the benefits of incumbency is a statement.
• California Special Election: The Governator has basically staked his office on this election regarding some constitutional amendments. Since he's one of the least popular governors in the country, I think Arnie's going to take a big hit from this and the effects will cost him reelection. Everything he's touched since taking office has turned to shit and Californians really don't like him.
• New York Mayor: Turn-coat Bloomberg (R) by a landslide.
• Ohio Redistricting: Democrats have been pushing ballot initiatives for a while. This includes non-partisan redistricting and some election administration changes. This race is also a big bellwether for 2006 and 2008 in the important swing state.

Hopefully I'll be posting some good news Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. Keep your fingers crossed.

One L

Seth, where are you applying? I hope you'll keep W&L in mind. It's a pretty special place to go to law school.

Done!

10 apps checked out!

Happy Guy Fawkes Day!

...off a cliff.

WE MEAN IT

And, of course, some people draw entirely the wrong lesson from the rioting in Paris. I should have expected it, but I didn't: the white/conservative backlash against "immigrants" and the din of back-slapping among nativists. Immigration is now, has been, and will always be the great strength of this country. Those who fail to remember the panic that ensued when those who immigrated first realized that they had to let others into the party resurrect, like clockwork, the same old tropes. Incredibly, it bears repeating: unless you're a Native American, you came here on a boat, and your ancestors were little different, by and large, from today's huddled masses. Anyone remember this canard, for example?



We may not always handle immigration well. There is room for improvement. But unless we want to end up like Europe, anti-immigrant hysteria is not a productive use of one's time.

Is Paris Burning?

Wanted to take a moment to talk about something that's just starting to break into the mainstream news: a week's worth of arson and rioting among French citizens of North African and Middle Eastern descent, mostly in the Parisian suburbs. I've thought for a while now that the available evidence indicated that Europe would encounter trouble with their growing minority population. I'm not pleased to be proved right, but hopeful that as unrest grows the French government will be less disposed to turn up their Gallic noses at the untidy "melting pot" model of immigration the United States has espoused.

And then again, maybe not:

The Foreign Ministry said it was concerned that foreign media coverage was exaggerating the situation. ''I don't have the feeling that foreign tourists in Paris are in any way placed in danger by these events,'' ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said, adding that officials were ''sometimes a bit surprised'' by the foreign coverage.

Well, to be honest, Jean-Baptiste, for once our history



may be a little more informative than yours.



They're your new citizens, guys: good luck.