No coke at UM

My school is going crazy. No more Coke on campus after a student group raised a fuss about Coke's overseas activities. Good job, kids, you accomplished something! And I thought all you did was drunkenly stumble around Ann Arbor and crowd into Big Ten Burrito. Hmm, I guess those were just law students.

San Antonio Travesty

The Alamo Bowl last night was a complete debaucle. Probably the worst officiating I have seen in a football game in recent memory. Michigan certainly had their chances to win the game, but as it turned out, the referees became a costly factor. I'm not the biggest UM fan out there -- I've only really followed the team for 3 years now -- but I'm still mad about it. If I were a lifetime UM fan, I would be downright pissed.

For whatever reason, the Alamo Bowl employed Sun Belt conference refs for the game. I don't even know what the Sun Belt is, but I'm sure it's not a power conference, and their refs have no business calling a game between real teams like Michigan and Nebraska. Even my mother, an unbiased observer if there ever was one, said "There was some really bad calls." Amen.

Twice the replay official couldn't figure out how to signal the on-field referees that he wanted to review a play. Lloyd Carr had to waste two second-half timeouts to get obviously controversial plays reviewed -- two timeouts that would have been useful when Nebraska killed the clock at the end of the game. This was a complete failure of the replay system... it might as well have not been used at all.

The refs also missed a blatant pass-interference penalty on 4th down on the last drive. It blows the mind that they might have missed that call. Absolutely blows the mind. My mind is blown.

And then the final play -- the one with all the laterals and craziness. How can there not be a penalty when the entire Nebraska team was on the field, making the entire right side of the field inaccessible? Even if there were also some Michigan people on the field, there should at least have been offsetting penalties. To say today that the players on the field had no effect on the play, as I've heard some morons on ESPN say, is absurd. The left side of the field was full of red, making Mike Hart run to the right before pitching to Ecker. Bottom line: there should have been penalties.

Perhaps the worst part of all this is that ESPN has been running replays of the 1982 "Play" ad nauseum. The parellels between the plays are striking -- the colors of the teams, the number of laterals, the complete ineptitude of the officials (The Play was called incorrectly for two reasons: a) the dude's knee was down; b) the final lateral was clearly going forward -- released at the 29 and caught at the 26). I suppose it's good for college football lore, but it's also complete crap.

As for Michigan, it was a fitting end to a frustrating season. 5 losses by a total of 21 points. They could just as easily have been 10-2 or 6-6, but they end up 7-5, the worst record in 20 years. Yikes.

Home

I have made it home safely, back to rainy Washington. Because of scheduling issues, we're opening presents on Christmas Eve (today!) instead of Christmas morning for the first time ever. Strange.

This morning, as NFL games started and I had two good games on my TV, I realized something cool: never again will I be stuck watching a Lions game on a Sunday afternoon. Hooray!

All done

I am now 5/6 of the way through law school. One semester to go. As usual, the feeling once exams end is anticlimactic. It's kind of a... now what?... hmmm... so... what do I do now?... feeling.

This semester ended especially strangely because my last exam was for a class I am taking class/fail. Accordingly, I didn't over-study for it, and after the exam I felt like I bombed it. It's weird because I'm sure I passed, and spending more time on it would have been wasteful (re: time I could be spending on graded classes). So, I know it's fine. I just don't like ending on a 'crap, I just got my ass kicked by that exam' note. Oh well.

Heading back to Seattle tomorrow for a break. Hopefully I will not disrupt whatever the Seahawks have going on there (yes, this is a real concern... I am sick, I know).

USC '05 vs. UW '91

ESPN is running a cute little gimmick right now -- how would USC fare against the best teams in college football history? They're starting today with USC vs. the 1991 Huskies. The consensus from the experts is that USC "would roll right through" UW. The USC defense would have no problem stopping the UW offense, and the UW D wouldn't have a prayer against USC's offense. I guess they have to say this, since this is day 1 of an 11-part series (it would be silly if they said, yeah, USC would lose to our #11), but I gotta say, they're wrong. Maybe USC would win, but there's no way they crush that '91 team. I'm no dawg-lover, but that was a ferocious team that could play with anybody.

USC gives up 21.3 points/game; UW gave up 9.2. USC has had close calls with Notre Dame and Fresno State, and they don't think UW'91 could hang? Whatever. That's just stupid. It would be a close game, and I think UW would have a serious shot at winning. That D was simply awesome.

Presidential eavesdropping

With the news of the NSA's secret eavesdropping on American citizens, and Bush's unabashed "Yeah, I did it, and I'll do it again," the administration has presented us with a very clear question about presidential authority... but not many answers. Maybe it's the time of year, but to me, this entire situation feels like an exam question: is it legal?

And the answer, like any exam answer, is, I think: it depends. My feeling is that these searches are probably constitutional, but only because "national security" creates a mammoth exception to the normal Fourth Amendment rules, and the limits on presidential power in this regard are vague and unsettled.

The Fourth Amendment protects citizens from "unreasonable searches," and it's hard to define precisely what "unreasonable" means. Usually it comes down to a balancing test between a person's privacy interests and the government's police interests. And so, as in most balancing tests, the most important factor is probably who is doing the balancing.

Bush tells us in his speech that the Justice Department and White House Counsel say what he did was legal. Well, duh. But let's see what the other branches of the government have to say about it, hmmm? I'm willing to bet they don't say, "Well, if the White House Counsel says it's okay, it must be okay." We all know how Harriet likes to stand up to her pal George when he's wrong, don't we? Oh wait...

So this again is a time when an independent judiciary is invaluable, and this again is a time when I fear a Supreme Court with Roberts and Alito -- two judges who have shown a history of endowing the Executive with nearly endless power. This is actually a time when we should be glad Scalia is there -- my feeling is that he would not be happy about this. But I don't know.

In the end, two things. First, why not get a warrant, Mr. President, before all the spying? Then it would be plainly legal. Second, these are the types of things elections are supposed to cure. Even if it turns out the eavesdropping is legal, it's still the people's job to decide whether they want to live in a place where this kind of spying remains legal. There are a lot of people out there who are thinking this is much ado about nothing: "I'm not breaking any laws, so feel free to spy on me." Others believe in a stronger right to privacy, and believe the government should not be allowed to conduct searches like this without a warrant. This is the type of real issue that's on the line in 2006 and 2008, even though it will likely be swept aside in the news by gay marriage and whether Wal-Mart says "Happy Holidays." I, for one, will remember this when I'm in the voting booth.

Major problems

I stayed up late to watch the Stanford-Virginia Tech game on ESPN, which must surely have been a ratings winner, to find out why Stanford sucks so much. Now I know.

They can't rebound -- VT had probably 20 second-chance points. This is because we have only one guy who can board (Haryasz).

We also only have two good players -- Hernandez and Haryasz. Grunfeld is still hurt, and can't create his own shot any more. The rest of the guys are role players and/or scrubs who shouldn't even be playing.

I think it's going to be a long year, unless the role players can develop quickly. The lack of height is going to be a problem that won't go away, though.

The Lopez twins can't get there fast enough for me, but they're still a year away. It's time to see what kind of coach Trent Johnson really is.

Bavasi's plan...

... to make the team worse is chugging ahead at full speed. Welcome, Jarrod Washburn. Not only do you suck, but now you're also overpaid! Congratulations.

This guy plays too many racing video games

But it's a cool way to see Paris. Buckle your seatbelts. (Quicktime required.)

Goodbye, Leo

Sad news for West Wing fans -- John Spencer died today. He brought a lot to the show.

Sign of the apocalypse

Oh great. Now this has happened.



Did you know: The Seahawks have never been on the cover of SI before?

Snow. And more snow.

We got hit with a heavy snowstorm today -- I think about six inches. It's a wet snow -- it's only about 30 degrees out -- so the streets are really ugly. Piles of slush and hidden pits of melted snowwater all over the place. I walked home today in it, and I've walked home in snowstorms many times before, but this was the worst one yet. I got nailed twice by passing cars driving through puddles -- the second time by a bus, which is like 3 cars because it just kept splashing me for what seemed like ten seconds. By the time I got home, I was a wet and muddy mess. But I had a burrito, so it was all good.

Once again, the power of the burrito. Have you read your burrito fortune lately?

Exam update: only one left, and it's a pass/fail class. Almost done.

Blech

This is awful. The Mariners signed Carl Everett today. What crap. He's a crappy player, both on and off the field. "Today we achieved one of our offseason goals," Seattle general manager Bill Bavasi said in a statement. I guess one of our offseason goals was to make the team worse. Everett sucks. While we're here, Bavasi sucks too.

And while we're still here, the refs who call so many fouls on Danny Fortson suck too. If you ever watch a Sonics game -- sure, he deserves 3 out of 4 calls that go against him, but he gets a really raw deal on the fourth. And he never gets a call his way. If there's any contact, the foul's on Danny.

That's all for today's suckfest.

UPDATE: This is one good thing about Carl Everett that I forgot: he hates Jamie Moyer too. From today's P-I:

On Aug. 14, 2001, Everett, then with the Red Sox, grabbed his crotch as he crossed home plate after homering off Jamie Moyer at Fenway Park. He was later fined.

Reached on Tuesday, Moyer declined to comment on the strong possibility that he will share working space with Everett in the coming year.

"I don't know what's going on, so I shouldn't speak about it," said Moyer, who signed a one-year, $5.5 million contract last week.

Save Christmas!

I haven't commented on the whole "Christmas Under Attack!" thing because it is just so absurd I can't accept it as a real idea. So instead, I offer this Onion article, which says it all. (Hat tip: CG) Damn those activist grinches!

Silence...

I'm not dead, I'm just studying for finals. One might say it's the same thing.

My next final is on Thursday (Crim Pro), and then I have Jurisdiction early next week. Then it's vacation time.

Dammit

The Mariners re-signed Jamie Moyer.

Why. Why. Why.

Why must they do this to me.

I hate him so much.

A couple SCOTUS things

Some news of interest to me:

Dahlia talks about the thing that bothered me most about John Roberts, and how it's true about Sam Alito too: he seems very happy to give the Executive unlimited power in the war on terror. This prospect scares me a bit.

Dahlia also talks about today's oral arguments in the Rumsfeld v. FAIR case, which is of interest to law schools. It's about the Solomon Amendment, which requires law schools to allow military recruiters to visit schools to interview students. Most law schools would rather not allow them because of anti-discrimination policies ("don't ask, don't tell"), but because of this law they really have no choice -- if they refuse, the DOD will revoke a massive amount of government funding. FAIR argues that the Solomon Amendment constitutes a First Amendment violation, and they will lose. Interesting case, though.

Finally, the court today continued it's crap approach to Federal Indian Law in the Wagnon v. Prairie Band Potawotomi Nation case. The court says feds can tax gas that gets sold on reservations. Boo. I'm not surprised, but I am surprised that Justice Ginsburg dissented -- she has traditionally been awful to Indian tribes. Maybe she's changing her ways?

Semester wrapping up

Tomorrow is the last day of classes this semester. My first final is a week from Thursday, though I have a paper due Monday. I actually kind of enjoy finals time -- I don't have to do any more reading, and it's really just review. The stress/nervousness is the only thing about it that sucks. But I actually get more sleep during finals than I do during the school year, because now I have no reason to get up before 10. Or noon.

Recap of the weekend: saw Dave Matthews Band concert on Saturday at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. It was a fun time. They are pretty damn good.

How about those Seahawks? I hope they can keep it up. I'm still skeptical, though.

What's wrong, Trent

Stanford hoops now has losses to UC-Irvine, Montana, and UC-Davis. What the hell is going on? I can't believe I have to stomach losses to UC-Davis twice in the same year... in different sports.

This one's for Wally

For my Kansas-bred former roommate: scientific proof.

I am not alone

For anyone who thinks I'm off the deep end with my Seahawks nihilism, let me introduce ESPN editor Kevin Jackson, also a diehard Seahawks fan. He and I have the same issues. Take, for example, this:

Three weeks ago, I hit my low point while sitting in the south end zone at Qwest Field during the Seahawks' 31-16 victory over the Rams. . . .

As Alexander broke loose for a 17-yard TD run with 1:18 remaining, the crowd went wild … while I cringed.

See, the Rams had no timeouts and there were less than two minutes remaining -- meaning the Seahawks could have taken a knee and run out the clock (every educated 'Hawk fan learned the take-a-knee chart after the Baltimore debacle). Instead, by scoring, Seattle gave the ball back to St. Louis, which needed a TD, a successful onside kick and another TD and two-point conversion to force OT. (Pretty close to how Dallas rallied to beat Seattle on "MNF" last fall.)

As I explained all this to my friend Victor (who's not a Seahawk fan and thus is 100 times more rational), he just politely shook his head. When I finished laying out these impossibly elaborate scenarios for doom, he quietly said, "Dude, you've got issues."

I watched that game with some friends here in Ann Arbor. They could tell you, I had the exact same reaction when Alexander burst through the line toward the end zone -- NO! TAKE A KNEE! TAKE A KNEE! As my friends stared at me in disbelief, I explained that the game would be over -- OVER -- if Shaun had taken a knee. But now, "all the Rams have to do" is score a touchdown, recover the onside kick, score another touchdown, and convert a 2-point conversion. When they shook their heads, wondering how that could ever happen, I said: "it happene LAST YEAR during the Cowboys game. It will happen again."

Luckily, it didn't. But this is the type of thinking the Seahawks have programmed in me. I'm just happy someone out there has been corrupted the same way.

Sporting news

Quite a weekend in my little sports world. Stanford took Notre Dame down to the last minute, and then blew the game like you knew they would. I was in a room full of Notre Dame fans, and they were very, very nervous. I was being boisterous. This was about the 10th time this season when my team has allowed a last-minute score because the defense can't do a damn thing. Michigan lost at least 3 games like this, and Stanford had 3 as well, I think.

My speculation about the UC Davis game was confirmed by SF Gate this week. If they had won that game, they would have gone to a bowl. Even quirkier, if there had not been 8 Pac-10 teams playing that day, they would have gone to a bowl. (You see, because so many teams were in action, the Pac-10 couldn't send replay review teams to every game. Replays showed that a Stanford player made an interception in the last minute of the game that would have won it for Stanford, but the officials blew the call and there was no one to review it. UC Davis won. Stanford's season was essentially lost. Hilarious.)

Anyway, back to the game. We were snacking on Thanksgiving leftovers, and I noticed that whenever anyone was eating pumpkin pie, Stanford did something good. So when they got the ball back with a minute left, down by 7, I begged that someone in the room eat more pie. The ND fans were believers by then, and they wouldn't touch it. So, even though I was stuffed, I had another piece. It almost killed me. We lost anyway, so the pie didn't work, but after the game I went to meet some friends at a bar. I couldn't stay, though, because I was in physical pain from eating so much. I had to go home, take some Tums, and sleep it off. (The pie came after turkey, stuffing, another piece of pie, cranberry sauce, and five beers, by the way. I wasn't being a total wuss. Just a minor one.)

Then the Seahawk game sapped me of the rest of my energy for the weekend. All the missed field goals that could have won it for the Giants... all the stalled drives for the Seahawks... I was exhausted from yelling and throwing things by the time the game ended. It turns out to be a huge game in the race for home field -- a four-game swing, in effect. If the Hawks lose, they are tied with the Giants at 8-3, but essentially a game behind them when you consider the tie-breaker goes to the Giants. With the win, though, they are two games ahead (9-2 vs. 7-4), plus a tie-breaker, making it actually a three-game lead. 3 games ahead, or 1 game behind... all coming down to field goals. Crazy.

Not that I'm getting excited about the team, or anything. I know they will still try to break my heart. I agree with all the pundits who just aren't sure how good the Hawks are yet, despite the 9-2 record.

Next week... Monday Night Football in Philadelphia. Should be fun.

Links, of a random sort

First, here is delightful article about "teenager repellant." Pretty funny.

Second, here is a fun little gizmo that will sing any lyrics you type. Cool.

That's all.

Props for tight ends

In this P-I article that overrates the value of Jerramy Stevens, it gets one thing right:

Quarterbacks look to [tight ends] as security blankets. Coaches use them to leverage an advantage against a slower linebacker or smaller safety. It all sounds so easy. Try playing the position.

"It's a brutal position when you break it down," said Brent Jones, former 49ers tight end.

They are expected to block with the strength of a tackle one play and show the cottony hands of a receiver the next.

"There's almost nobody that's capable of handling both of those functions at a high level simultaneously," Jones said.

Word. Too bad I didn't get to show off my cottony hands in high school. For some reason, they never threw the ball to me. . .

This time, real snow

It came down heavy today, and actually it's still coming down. Several inches. This is what my neighborhood looked like today:

Only six more months of this. And I know, jokesters, that I only have more of this waiting for me next year. It's just so funny.

A rough day

Ohio State beat Michigan on Saturday on a last-minute touchdown. People around here were very sad. I have never really gotten into hating Ohio State, even though I now consider myself a Michigan fan. After Saturday, however... Oh How I Hate... Ohio State.

After that game I went to a sports bar to watch the Stanford/Cal game. About half the people in the bar were OSU fans, watching the Penn State game. They were loud, drunk, and obnoxious, and they sing the stupidest songs -- something about how they don't give a damn about Michigan because they come from Ohio. I, for one, would never brag about being from Ohio, but that's beside the point. One guy spilled beer all over his pants, and then ran around the bar telling people that he pissed himself because he was so happy his team won.

Meanwhile, Stanford was trying to hang on against Cal. It turned out that I was the only Stanford fan in the place, but there were a few Cal fans sitting near me. I would clap loudly whenever Stanford made a play, which caused them all sorts of pain because they couldn't figure out why a guy in a Michigan hat would be cheering for Stanford. I think they thought I was trying to taunt them. One guy had to stop and ask me why I was cheering for Stanford.

Me: "Because they are the superior institution."
Him: "What?"
Me: "Because they are the superior institution."
Him: "Superior to who [sic]?"
Me: "Cal, of course. And most other places." [If I had been as quick as my friend Chris I would have corrected his grammar for him, but I really didn't expect any better from a Cal fan.]
Him: . . . befuddled silence . . .
Me: [under my breath] "Now go away."

Finally he asked if I had a connection to Stanford, and I told him I went there, and finally he was satisfied. He continued to talk to me for the rest of the game, and as the game went on I had less ammunition for talking shit about the football teams, I had to resort to talking about the seven-game win streak, and about how Cal is, of course, a safety school. Heh, just kidding.

It was a pretty brutal environment -- surrounded by drunk and happy OSU fans, and drunk and happy Cal fans -- and it was a brutal game. Let's just say that several pitchers of Labatt helped me deal with the hostilities.

Stanford now has to hope for a miracle win against Notre Dame, or else it's another year without a bowl. I'm tired of losing Big Game. Walt better get the guys going next year, or I'm going to cut back my giving to the Stanford Fund. I gave $0.00 last year... next year, I might go steal something. Beez stole a urinal divider once.

Dangerous thoughts

This from ESPN:

"I keep discounting the Seahawks because of their tortured history ... and they keep beating the crap out of teams. At some point, it's not luck anymore. And when you think about it, since the turn of the century, the Red Sox, White Sox, Patriots, Buccaneers, Jim Boeheim, Roy Williams, Phil Mickelson, Pete Carroll and Larry Brown all won championships. Clearly, there's no rhyme or reason to this stuff anymore. So why couldn't the Seahawks win a Super Bowl? I'll believe just about anything at this point. I mean, even Clippers fans are about four more wins from printing "Why Not Us?" shirts. This is the century of the Lovable Loser, isn't it?"

I've learned that I cannot afford to think like this. The whole point of Seattle sports torture is that it happens to everyone else, but not us. So even trends like this, where other loser teams finally win, mean nothing. We are our own curse.

It would be fun to fantasize about the Seahawks joining this list of teams who overcame years of failiure, but there's nothing fun about being a Seahawks fan. The best we can hope for is to enjoy times like this -- a five-game winning streak and a 3-game lead in the division -- without looking ahead. Expectations of anything more are futile, and lead to inevitable heartbreak.

Winter!

We had our first snow yesterday. Just some flurries -- not too much accumulation -- but it was damn cold. I was caught at school without my big winter coat, and I had the coldest walk home I've ever had. My car has realized that winter is here now, too -- the locks are sticky, the steering wheel is tight, and the doors are a little frozen shut. And it's only November... it's only going to get worse.

"Activist courts"

I've talked about this before, but I'm going to keep talking about it because I think it's important. The public's opinion about judges, and how they rule, is dominated by buzz words and catch phrases that have no real meaning, but carry a negative connotation. I speak specifically about the Republican obsession with the term "activist." They bring it out whenever there's an opinion they don't like because it sounds bad, but it means nothing. Ex: "What a horrible opinion. Damn those activist judges! They're an unelected oligarchy, and they're taking over the country! We want judges who interpret the law, not make the law!"

This is all crap. Ignore it. It could mean something if the people saying it were principled and consistent, but they aren't. The latest example is this story from Volokh. The same people who decry judges for being "activist" are asking the Ninth Circuit to be activist now.

Rome

Is anyone else watching "Rome" on HBO? This show is awesome. It has way too much violence for, say, my mother, but others would like it.

Next week is the season finale -- and Caesar better watch out. Brutus is pissed.

One more semester

It's that time again... what classes should I take during my last semester? I'm already signed up for Supreme Court Litigation, so I need 2-3 more. I think I know what I'm going to take, but it's always interesting for me to hear what other people, especially non-law students, think would be interesting. (Yes, Wally, I know... IP sounds great... heh)

Almost bowl-eligible

Somehow Stanford won another football game today. The team now has five wins... unchartered territory since Tyrone left. It also means that the team needs one more win to be bowl-eligible, with games against Cal and Notre Dame remaining. The Big Game will actually mean something this year.

If Stanford loses the next two games, though, it will mean that the loss to UC Davis would keep them from a bowl. This would be both appropriate -- they don't deserve a bowl if they lose that kind of game -- and tragic. Hopefully it won't come to that.

So my schedule next Saturday will be: 11:00 - tailgate. 1:00 - Michigan vs. Ohio State at the Big House. 7:00 - Big Game at local sports bar. It's my last Football Saturday as a "college student," gotta go out in style.

Bad Senate

Continuing on theme from the last post, here's news about the Senate's vote (49-42) passing an amendment that would eliminate the statutory right to habeas corpus for alien detainees held by the DOD at Guantanamo. This is a legislative answer to the Supreme Court in Rasul v. Bush, which made clear that detainees have habeas rights (the case is on remand now).

This is a disturbing vote. To quote the SCOTUSblog article I linked to: "this would be a very momentous development, and would probably mean that most or all of the Administration's decisions on, and conduct regarding, detention, interrogation and abuse at GTMO, would be impervious to judicial review and oversight."

I'm at a loss for why our legislature continues to strip other branches of government of power to make the Executive the only player in this huge issue. Clearly the legislature disagrees with the Supreme Court's holding in Rasul, but this amendment simply invests too much power in the Executive, which has proven to be a dangerous idea.

McGee of the Day

"Last month, the Senate voted for a ban on torture 90-9. You heard me correctly: Nine United States Senators refused to vote against torture. Those senators included Illinois Democrat Thumbscrews McGee, Iowa's Cattleprod von Analpair and, of course, Ted Stevens [of] Alaska."
---Jon Stewart

Ah, good ol' Thumbscrews.

Fatigue

I have oral arguments for moot court all this week. I had my first one tonight, and although it's only ten minutes of talking, I am worn out. I came home and fell asleep. I woke up long enough to work on tomorrow's plan a little bit, and now I'm heading back to bed.

Oral argument is fun, but tiring. I was happy with how my team did tonight, but I'm also excited to have three more this week to see how much better we get. This is one of those things that takes practice.

Improv skills translate a little, but the thing about improv was that you could make almost everything up as you go (you just have to remember character names, events, space objects, etc.). Here, you actually have to know the law and make sense when you talk about it. You basically have to memorize an area of law, and then be able to access it, analyze it, and make conclusions about it extemporaneously. When done well, it's fun to watch. This is why I post links to SCOTUS oral arguments sometimes. That, and because I'm a dork.

20 questions with Vader

I have been busy with moot court and classes lately, so it's been a little slow here. In the mean time, try this amusing diversion. It made me chuckle. (Best with sound up)

Call of the Wild

My pursuit for employment after law school has come to an end; I'll be clerking for a judge on the Alaska Court of Appeals in Anchorage starting next fall. Apparently I'm trying never to live in a warm climate ever again.

Come visit!

James K. Polk Day

As I'm sure you know, today is James K. Polk's birthday. Young Hickory would have been 210 years old today. He whipped up on Henry Clay in the 1844 election to become the eleventh President of the United States. During his presidency he annexed the Oregon territory south of the 49th parallel, and successfully fought Mexico for California and New Mexico. Manifest Destiny was realized under his charge.

He made a campaign promise that he would only serve one term, and so he did not run for another. Instead, he died of cholera three months after leaving office. Worked himself to death, I'd say. You'd be hard-pressed to find a more successful single-term president.

You probably also know that I'm related to "Napoleon of the Stump." How odd that his birthday is my half-birthday, hmm?

Happy Halloween!

Hey Mario! (I'm on the left.)

The might of the right

I'm reading this CNN article about how the religious right believes they own the SCOTUS nomination process -- they're threatening to "swing into action again" if Bush doesn't pick a conservative judge to their liking.

Although I understand why they feel so powerful -- it certainly can be argued that Bush bowed to them this time -- I don't think that was the case. Senators make the decisions, not interest groups. The problem with Miers wasn't that she wasn't conservative enough; the problem was she wasn't qualified enough. If she had been more articulate, if she had had any experience with constitutional law, if she had ever argued before the Supreme Court before... no amount of righty squawking would have prevented the nomination. She would have been confirmed.

I guess the question now is what Bush thinks about all this. I don't think he wants people to believe he's actually the puppet of the far right -- and I'm sure he's pissed at the right because Miers didn't pass. So I think there's a chance he again picks someone he likes, regardless of what the right thinks. This time, the nominee has to be smarter, though.

So... my prediction... I'll go with Samuel Alito. I think Michael Luttig would be too tough of a battle, but Alito would be a little easier. Or he could surprise us again and pick his barber. You never know.

Lost Doonesbury

Trudeau had a week of Miers-related strips ready to go... before she pulled out. Check 'em out.

Need a jinx?

cgnost: touchdown cardinal!
dave mcgee 22: touchdown
cgnost: holy shit, they're going to win
dave mcgee 22: shhhhh
cgnost: dude - how badly will i be beaten for jinxing this if they now lose?
dave mcgee 22: you'll just have to write my half of the brief
cgnost: ugh
cgnost: can't you just hit me with a sack of doorknobs?

* * *

dave mcgee 22: touchdown UCLA. i'm collecting doorknobs
cgnost: oh shit
dave mcgee 22: 3 and out... where is that sack...
cgnost: have faith
dave mcgee 22: touchdown UCLA
cgnost: oh shit
dave mcgee 22: thanks, dude
cgnost: have faith

* * *

cgnost: i'm sorry
cgnost: i ruined it
dave mcgee 22: yes you did
dave mcgee 22: touchdown
cgnost: dammit

* * *

dave mcgee 22: TIE GAME
dave mcgee 22: after a 21 point lead
cgnost: i still have faith
dave mcgee 22: jeez

* * *

cgnost: ot
dave mcgee 22: FG stanford
dave mcgee 22: uh oh
cgnost: uh oh

* * *

dave mcgee 22: you jinxed everything
dave mcgee 22: game over
cgnost: no!
dave mcgee 22: touchdown ucla
cgnost: NO!
dave mcgee 22: wow.
cgnost: wow indeed
cgnost: that's so amazing that it couldn't have been my fault
cgnost: right?
dave mcgee 22: i'm not sure. last week you said scooter libby was going to be fine
cgnost: that's not true
cgnost: come on
cgnost: i did say harriet miers would be confirmed, though

New M's coaches

The Mariners hired new pitching and hitting coaches today. I've never heard of them before, but I was surprised that the new hitting coach was most recently the hitting coach for the bruising Kansas City Royals. Oh, and the Royals fired him. Jeez. I have high hopes.

I'm perfect

I can't prove it, because I didn't discuss it with anybody or write it down anywhere, but I correctly predicted every series of the Major League Baseball postseason. You may not believe me, and I would have no way of convincing you otherwise except for promising that this is truth. At the close of the regular season, I thought to myself:

Angels over Yankees
White Sox over Red Sox
Cardinals over Padres
Astros over Braves
White Sox over Angels
Astros over Cardinals
White Sox over Astros

What can I say? I am a golden god.

Big ad

This might be the best commercial I've ever seen. Certainly in the top 10.

A "good series," part two

Several months ago I posed the question about what makes a good championship series. I said the key factor was the length of the series -- i.e., if it goes seven, it will be better than any series than only goes four. Others disagreed, saying the key factor was how close each individual game was. So now here we are, with the White Sox poised for a sweep after three close games. If they end up winning in four, will this series be better than the Detroit-San Antonio series, which went seven but featured only one close game?

I stick to my guns, saying the length of the series is the key factor. A four-game sweep, no matter how close and dramatic the games are, just doesn't match up with a seven-game series, even if the games were blowouts.

Never watch the 6pm SportsCenter

Or 3pm, for you west coasters.

I don't want to turn into FireJoeMorgan.com, but what a waste of time. Today's show will be 90 minutes long. No games have been played today -- there is absolutely nothing substantive to report about. So they fill it with Michael Irvin's review of the best and worst of yesterday's endzone dances, and the top 10 World Series walkoff homers. Wow.

Today's show started like this: "Today, HUGE news from college football, as Texas takes over the lead in the BCS standings." What crap. Anyone who knows a thing about college football, or how these rankings are compiled, will tell you how this is no news at all. It's a complete non-story. First of all, it doesn't matter at all, and won't matter until after the regular season. Second, there is no reason for outrage -- much to ESPN's disappointment. You have two undefeated teams, and one has played a tougher schedule so far. Ergo, one team is ahead of the other. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this picture.

As a side note, I don't understand the incessant outrage over the BCS. The computer factors were added when people realized that voters are not objective judges -- they're influenced by regional biases and the (relatively) arbitrary pre-season rankings. Computers measure the team's season performance more objectively, but of course they're not capable of measuring everything. So it make sense to have a balance between human and computer rankings. But whenever the human rankings are usurped by the computer's -- which is exactly what they are supposed to do in certain situations -- we hear that the sky is falling. The BCS is fine, people. Leave it alone.

Well played

I recognize that I risk jinxing everything, but I have to pause and reflect on a quality sports weekend. It's rare when all the good guys win, so I must salute it.

Michigan pulled out an overtime win on Saturday -- the fifth consecutive game that has been won on the last play of the game. What a crazy season we're having here in Ann Arbor... people look disheveled, their hair all messed up and bags under their eyes. Every game (except the creampuff games against EMU and Northern Illinois) has been tight. Michigan may yet make some noise in the Big-10 race.

I remain dumbfounded by the Stanford turnaround. After the UC-Davis loss, I thought we'd just pack it in. But three wins later (after Saturday's win over Arizona State), Stanford is in fourth place in the Pac-10, behind only USC, UCLA, and Oregon, who have a combined record of 21-1. The bad news is that we still have games against USC, UCLA, Cal, and Notre Dame (plus Oregon State). So getting the two wins necessary for bowl eligibility may be tough. It might come down to the Big Game, which I think is on the same day as Michigan-Ohio State. I might not survive that day.

Then, most delightfully, the Seahawks won a game they always seem to lose. They scored 10 points in the last minute of the game to beat Dallas... this is exactly what they usually do to lose games. I think the Seahawks are trying to seduce me into thinking that the bad mojo is over, and this could be the year. Noooooo, stay away devil! I will not let these flashy wins corrupt my good judgment. I will not. I still expect the Seahawks to blow this season somehow, somewhere, in a way that would make a lesser man (read: me, last year) cry. I will stay strong in my pessimism.

And yet... Go Seahawks!

As a post-script, if anyone cares (um, yeah, no one does), my bowling scores from Thursday: 133, 128, 157. Better...

My friends are smarter than Harriet Miers

I'm sure she's a lovely woman. I'm sure she's a great coworker. I'm sure she's a blast at the holiday party. But a Supreme Court justice? We'd be better off with some Michigan Law School 3Ls than Harriet Miers.

She turned in her questionnaire to the Senate. Holy crap. We all work harder on our taxes than she did on this thing. I work harder when I take an Internet IQ quiz. Is she kidding?

True, it's 57 pages long. Maybe she thought nobody would read the whole thing. But damn. This thing is ugly. The Senate wants a do-over. Has that ever happened before?

And it's not like she was incomplete with some of her answers -- she was plainly and completely wrong with some of her answers. How does that happen?

1. She talks about a "proportional representation requirement" of the Equal Protection Clause. Uhhh... what? Let's just say it: "'There is no proportional representation requirement in the Equal Protection Clause,' says Cass R. Sunstein, a constitutional law professor at the University of Chicago." Yep, that's about it. It doesn't exist. In fact, you could even make the case that she's saying that affirmative action is required by the constitution. Surely she doesn't mean that... especially when George Bush "knows her heart." There ain't no affirmative action in her heart, is there?

2. In her response to a question asking about "judicial activism," something I also have wondered about, she stumbles again. When she clerked for Federal District Judge Joe Estes, his "first task—and therefore mine in assisting him—in every case before him was to examine whether the case was properly in court," Miers wrote. "Was there a party with standing? Did subject matter jurisdiction exist? Was venue proper?" If the answer to any of these questions was no, she continued, "the case was dismissed promptly."
And that's, again, just wrong. Anyone who has taken a class in Jurisdiction can tell you that a mistake in venue does not necessarily doom the case, and does not call for an immediate dismissal. It's not a fatal flaw. Usually, if venue is incorrect, the judge will just transfer the case to the right venue. Most often, as the comments over at Volokh point out, the defendant actually has to make a motion to change venue. In any event, an error in venue does NOT call for dismissal. This may seem like a minor mistake, but there is a big difference between a transfer and a dismissal. It's not a mistake anybody would make if they wanted to get an A in Jurisdiction, and I'd like to think my Supreme Court justices would get an A in Jurisdiction since they, like, make the rules and stuff.

Needless to say, I'm not impressed. And there's no wondering why Senators called her answers "insufficient" and "insulting." If nothing else, however, the confirmation hearings should be awesome. In the meantime, my girl Dahlia Lithwick has a questionnaire that Harriet might be able to handle. Examples: "True or False: Barbara and Jenna totally don't appreciate how cool their mom and dad are." "If Jesus and President Bush got into a fight, who would win?"

After all this, I'm confident in saying that there are a lot of people walking the halls with me who seem to have a better grasp on constitutional law than Harriet does. I'm not saying I do -- because, hell, I can't even get a clerkship for next year -- but there are a bunch of people here who do. If only they were friends with George Bush!

Indictment bingo

Is anyone interested in playing Indictment Bingo (a.k.a. "Fitzmas Bingo") with me?

Nice

Just when the Seahawks seem to be running on all cylinders, Ken Hamlin has to go get his brain bruised. And his skull fractured. Good work.

Wow.

I never thought I'd see the day when beer pong is covered in the New York Times. This article makes it out as if beer pong were a bad thing, but whatever.

Dammit.

October 15, 2005: this is the date on which I first noticed that I have gray hairs. I generally don't study my head very often, so I've probably had them for a while, but this is the first time I've ever noticed them.

And that Nioxin stuff, which was supposed to awaken my slumbering hair follicles? It's crap.

We're number one!

Well, actually, we're not. We suck. But that doesn't stop us from celebrating a pretty awesome win over previously undefeated Penn State. One second left in the game... down by four... at the PSU ten yard line... TOUCHDOWN. Bedlam.

Almost more shocking is that Stanford won again. Buddy never would have let this happen. I also note that Stanford is now 2-1 in the Pac-10, and the poor Golden Bears are 2-2. Hmm.

The Miers nomination

I've said it before -- I don't really care that much about a judge's personal views on issues x, y, and z. All I care about is whether the judge can make sound judgments and then express them in a coherent opinion. I have no reason to believe, at this point, that Harriet Miers is capable of this.

I don't mind that she's never been a judge -- I think that's good, actually. But she has never held a position where she needs to think and reason independently; she has always represented one side of the issue. I think this is a major fault. I wonder if she'll be able to sit in a conference room with certified legal geniuses like Stephen Breyer and Antonin Scalia and hold her own. I fear that she'll be easily pushed around by whichever argument is most persuasive -- regardless of whether it's right -- and she won't have the skill or confidence to disagree.

The fact that the White House's biggest selling point is her "loyalty" to the President is... um... not good. Although I still have my reservations about John Roberts, he appeared to at least understand the importance of an independent judiciary. Roberts is happy to give the Executive as much power as the Constitution allows, but he still knows there is a limit. We have nothing that suggests Miers would ever stand up to the President if she had to. He's the "most brilliant man he's ever met" (shudder), and she'd do anything for him. At least, that's what the White House tells us.

The other selling point is that she "won't change" over the next 20 years. And this is a good thing? I suppose it is for conservatives, who have Souter-phobia. But it sounds horrible to me.

The confirmation hearings should be interesting. Whereas Roberts didn't have to say anything in order to be confirmed (and so he said nothing), Miers will have to talk to convince people she's qualified. I'd be willing to bet she is studying pretty hard right now -- she has a nationally televised bar exam in a couple months.

The dean of the law school said this week that he'd "bet the house" that she gets confirmed. I didn't think it would be such a sure thing, but he knows what he's talking about.

Lastly, if you haven't seen it, check out Harriet Miers' blog. Pretty funny.

Wheels have come off

Last night I bowled an 88, 96, and 130. I am officially a bad bowler. This is a distressing development.

Still busy...

... but here's the coolest video I've seen in a while. (Quicktime required.)

Busy times

I would love to be blogging right now about baseball and football and Harriet Miers and Gonzales v. Oregon... but I'm busy as hell. Hopefully tomorrow...

Holy crap

Stanford won a football game. I'm stunned.

Turning a corner?

Last night's bowling scores: 159, 143, 128. It's not good that I got worse with every game, but at least I didn't totally suck. Maybe I'm heading back to respectability.

Seahawks... I'm healed

It took me four days to recover from last week's debacle in DC so that I'm again looking forward to this weekend's game against St. Louis. I am a masochist. This is the only explanation. And just so I don't appear that I'm in my own world of self-pity, here is an outsider's opinion on the Seahawks:

On the phone this week, ESPN.com editor and (long-suffering Seattle fan) Kevin Jackson and I tried to remember all the painful Seahawks losses from the past two calendar years, eventually coming up with six beauties: Last week's crushing missed FG against the Skins; Engram's drop in the 2004 playoff game; Hasselbeck's INT TD in Lambeau; Anthony Wright's unfathomable comeback against them in Baltimore (2003); Vinny's even more unfathomable comeback on Monday night last year; and the crushing collapse against the 2004 Rams that started last year's mini-slide. Six of the most memorably devastating NFL losses in the last 24 months happened to the same team! How does this happen?

Exactly. As anyone who has watched a Seahawk game with me recently can tell you, I now expect them to lose in the most painful way possible. And then they do.

Anyway, the game this week should be good. Rams-Hawks games are always wacky, with lots of offense and one or two big defensive plays. The Seahawks D has been okay this year, but they haven't forced hardly any turnovers. 2 turns in 4 games, I think. That's got to improve. You can't make the offense go 70-80 yards for every touchdown. The offense is good -- 2nd in the league in yards right now. If they could just work with better field position, they could really put some points on the board. So the key to the game this weekend will be turnovers. If the D can force 2 or more, Hawks win. If not, I cry myself to sleep... again.

And as a post script to my last post about how sad my sports life is... my dad points out that I have been to a Rose Bowl and a Final Four -- two things he has never done. Fair point. However, I'd also like to point out that Stanford lost both times. My complaint with my teams is not that they don't have good regular seasons. How could I -- the Mariners won 116 games one year! But they lost in the ALCS in depressing fashion. My complaint is that my teams never win championships. And among major sports cities, only Cleveland can compare with Seattle in championship futility. Cleveland.

That's all.

Fall is here

Today is the last day of warm around here. The weatherman made this announcement tonight: "The warm is gone." Today, the high was 83. Tomorrow, the high is 56. Just like that.

The leaves had already started changing colors, so it has been a good time around here. But now the spectre of winter is upon us. It won't snow for another couple months, but it's coming.

I'm going to try to take more pictures of Ann Arbor and the law school this year. I might post the better ones here.

Mmmm, gator

This is the craziest thing I've seen in a long time. It's also exactly how I felt after the infamous Annihilator Challenge.

Leland gone

Ted Leland is stepping down as Stanford's AD. This is sad in that the university's sports program is the best in the country, and has been since he got there. This is not sad in that we no longer will have to deal with his nepotism when it comes time to choosing football coaches.

Overall, he's been good. He has helped renovate Maples Pavilion and Stanford Stadium, we have seen a Final Four and a Rose Bowl, and we have a streak of 11 straight Director's Cups. But right now, we have a really bad football team.

And, what the hell, he wanted to go back to Stockton?! Okay dude.

New term

The Supreme Court is back is session, which is fun. CNN has a nice list of some of the more high-profile cases coming up.

Seahawks

This blog's masthead mentions that I am a "tortured Seattle sports fan." The great thing is that no one has ever disputed this claim. If I meet someone here and mention that I follow Seattle sports, I generally get a pat on the shoulder and a, "I'm sure you'll win something someday" look. How pitiful I am to them.

I've got to figure out how to make the torture less painful. Yesterday, I was in a complete funk all day after the Seahawks blew the game to Washington. Friends went out to a bar, but I stayed in and tried to work. I didn't want to see anyone; I couldn't feign the social happiness necessary to avoid being the grouchy guy nobody wants to talk to. All because the goddamned kicker missed a field goal.

Every time they lose, I tell myself not to care as much. I decide this is the last time the team will jerk me around. And then the next game starts, and I sit on pins and needles waiting for the next 3rd down conversion. And it starts all over again.

I don't know why I do it -- I've come to the conclusion that none of it matters because the teams I root for will never, ever, win a championship. So the little games should just be a charming diversion. But they're not. They are the difference between a good day and a bad day.

Maybe it's because I've already suffered too much to give up now. If they ever do win a championship (see, it's a sickness -- I know they never will), it will all be sweeter because of all the torment. Right? Oh hell. I need serious help.

The slump continues

I'm not bowling well. Last night I struggled to the tune of 122, 112, 136. Boooo.

I'm strangely competitive about this.

1997

Seattle Times recalls 1997. It was also the year David McGee was a precocious intern hanging around the Mariners locker room. I appreciate the reference to Zebulon, NC, and how the trip "enraged" players. I can second that, mister.

Go to hell, Jamie Moyer.

Fall recess

Fall recess has arrived. For me it has, anyway, since I don't have classes Thursday or Friday this week (my Jurisdiction professor is away), and we have Monday off for the "recess." So I have a five-day weekend. Woo! Not bad, I say, not bad.

Good friends Ben, Kim, and Mina are coming into town on Friday to spend a couple days in Ann Arbor. You might wonder: there are things to do in Ann Arbor to fill two days? Well, no. We'll have a do a couple things twice. Like go to Washtenaw Dairy and Zingerman's Deli. They've probably already been to a Trader Joe's somewhere, so that's probably out. Unranked Michigan plays Michigan State on Saturday (in East Lansing), so maybe we'll catch the game in a local tavern. Could be a pretty nice little Saturday. We could go to Home Depot, buy some wallpaper, get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed Bath & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time.

Different expectations

This week, Michigan is unranked in the AP poll for the first time since 1998. The team just isn't very good right now, and it's now quite apparent how important Braylon Edwards was to the team.

And so, unsurprisingly, it has come to this: FireLloydCarr.us

My favorite part:
"While, we have garnered 1 national championship and 5 Big 10 titles in head football coach Lloyd Carr's tenure of 10 years, there are more telling statistics. . ." (emphasis added)

Holy crap. I understand that an insatiable hunger for championships is what keeps the top teams on top, but man, if any Stanford coach ever put together a record like that, he'd get lifetime tenure and the stadium named after him. (Instead, we can't even beat UC Davis.)

I'm not knocking the Lloyd-haters - I don't think he's a great coach. It's just a completely different set of expectations here. Can you imagine what they would have done to Buddy Teevens?

Sad

I'm sorry to report that Jamie Moyer lost last night. My heart breaks.

The CSI effect

Here's an article about how jurors now expect criminal prosecutors, even in white-collar cases, to present spiffy CSI-like evidence during trials. Craziness. This is good news for defenders, though. I used to talk about this with people at the SF Public Defender's Office. Even in a case where forensic evidence may not have helped or may not have been relevant, defenders can get up during the closing and ask, "Where is the DNA evidence? Where is the [insert CSI lingo here] evidence? There is none." And so on. Jurors believe this stuff.

Isn't TV great?

Bad bowling

Just so no one accuses me of only reporting my bowling scores when they're good...

Last night I rolled a 135, 143, and... 94. Crap.

The winner of the "That Guy" prize, though, was Grostic; he broke two glasses and knocked over a full pitcher. Not all at once, mind you, but in three separate incidents. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals better watch out with this guy around next year.

McGee of the day

Today's winner is Joe McGee.

Go LookSmart!

This is one way to get that stock price over $1 before the NASDAQ dumps you. Woo!

Har har

Look out

"It's going to take fans to a whole new level of fantasy," predicts Bill Walsh, the former San Francisco 49ers coach and a member of ProTrade's advisory board.

Whoa. We may never see Justin again.

ProTrade.com

Shame

That's what every Stanford player, coach, and fan should be feeling today after the pathetic Cardinal lost to UC Davis.

UC Davis.

Division I-AA school.

Lost.

Maybe we shouldn't have a football team.

TJ's

I went to Trader Joe's today. That deserves a haiku.

Dollar ninety-nine
For a box of cereal?
Don't mind if I do.

One of those days

Yesterday was one of those days. Ups and downs, anger, frustration, excitement.

All day long my back was killing me. I had a knot, or somethinng, in my upper back that hurt like the devil every time I moved. I loaded up on Advil, and it helped a little but not too much. The pain was constant and severe. As a consequence, I was a little more irritable than normal. Grrrr.

Yesterday was also the first day judges were allowed to start calling clerkship applicants to set up interviews. I'm applying for clerkships, so it was a nervous day. So far, I haven't received any calls. I'm told this is totally normal, as many judges have their own schedules and will call when they're ready. But damn, it's nerve-racking to know that they could be calling, but they aren't. Grrrr.

The real pisser was when I ran into my clinical professor from last semester, who updated me on a case that I had been working on. Our client was seeking asylum in the United States after having fled Guinea to avoid being subjected to female genital mutilation. She had already undergone the beginnings of FGM (I won't go into details, don't worry), but she escaped the country before the job could be finished. If she returns to Guinea, it is guaranteed that the job will be finished. I picked up the case after she had already been denied asylum. I helped put together her response to the denial. The denial was based on moronic, ignorant, and dishonest arguments, and our response directly refuted everything. We included statements from doctors and asylum experts at Amnesty International. We included graphic photographs of the damage already done. Yet, for some reason (I haven't read the most recent letter), the application was denied again. This makes me angry in so many ways. It makes me lose respect for our government and the people who run it. It makes me sad for my country. It makes me sad for my client. I'm no longer working on the case, so it's out of my hands, but I'm told there are still some legal steps to take. It doesn't sound promising, however.

So that sucks.

That's a lot of downs... so what are the ups? Nothing that can make up for that crap, but the day ended with a little bit of fun. The bowling league started up again, and I rolled a 153, 139, and 164. Not bad for starters. And before I went out to bowling, I found $5 in my pocket.

The Fighting Sioux

SI.com's Seth Davis has a surprisingly thoughtful and accurate discussion of the University of North Dakota's appeal to the NCAA to use their nickname (The Fighting Sioux) in postseason games. Davis is right on target here. It's surprising and refreshing to see a member of the mainstream media show this much understanding of the issue, especially when the popular, macho thing to do is call the idea "oversenstive" and "overly PC."

Seth is right; if the NCAA doesn't reject UND's appeal, then the rule really has no teeth.

Roberts hearings

Any cyber-law-dorks out there can follow the Roberts confirmation hearings here, live-blogged on SCOTUSblog. NPR also has it, I think.

Good (and bad) sports weekend

There was lots of good sports this weekend, but my teams didn't fare too well.

I went to the Michigan-Notre Dame game on Saturday, on a glorious Michigan day. 80 degrees and sunny -- I got sunburnt, but I don't really mind. The game though, ugh. I was worried about the UM defense, but it was the offense that sucked all day. Quarterback Chad Henne was absolutely awful. They had three turnovers in or near the ND endzone. It should have been a Michigan blowout, but instead, yet another year of national championship hopes are dashed in early September. Happens every year around here. People were crying in the stands.

Shockingly, Stanford managed a win against Navy. Nothing to brag about, beating Navy, but it's still a win. We'll take it. We don't get many of those.

The Seahawks -- oh boy. Yeah, it was a tough game... it would have been impressive to beat JAX on the road. But five turnovers? Pathetic. I was happy to see the defense get some stops, but they need more sacks and they need to cause a turnover once in a while. The offense just needs to take care of the ball. Next week will be tough, too, against Atlanta. An 0-2 start will get a lot of people sniping.

Lastly, good job CTR (my old ultimate team) for making it to regionals. Wish I could be there.

I heart Trader Joe's

This will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever lived with me or near me, but I love Trader Joe's. So much so that I've added a permanent link to TJ's in my "Links" list. Also, every so often, I think I'll write a haiku about Trader Joe's. Why? Because Trader Joe's is awesome.

Fifteen salsas and
Frozen guacamole make
A mouth fiesta

First day, part II

Just so you aren't completely jealous that I'm in school and you have a real job, I'll let you know that in my Jurisdiction class I was stuck next to a guy who reeked of cigarettes, and in Crim Pro next to a girl who would not stop farting. At least, I think it was the girl. It seemed to come from her direction, and she never displayed any inkling of uncomfortability (uncomfortableness?), while I was trying everything I could to spare my nose from this geyser of foulness. Not that this can't happen in a job too (I recall Ben Wang flatulently forcing his officemate out of the room back in the Caliper days), but... dude. Thank God the seating charts come out tomorrow, and not today. If this girl comes within three rows of me, I'm picking up and moving.

First day of classes

No matter how old I get, I can never sleep the night before the first day of classes. I tossed and turned until 2:30 or so last night, for no good reason. It's been this way since I was five... just can't sleep. It's just like Christmas Eve... but without the presents.

I had two classes already this morning. Legal Imagination is a course that should teach me how to read and write better -- a lot better. The professor is renowned for markedly improving the writing of his students, no matter how good they are when first enter the classroom. Should be fun.

The second class was Jurisdiction, which is a pretty hard-core law class. Lots of case law and statutes and crap. The professor is well-liked, and he tells us today that the work is hard. If we can understand this stuff, we can understand anything. The reading assignment for tonight, he says, is "a bitch to read." Heh.

In fifteen minutes I meet with the professor for whom I am TA'ing -- it's the first-year Legal Practice class. I help the 1Ls learn how to write the crap they'll be writing for the rest of their lives.

Then I have Criminal Procedure, which looks good. And tomorrow I still have a seminar called The Idea of Equality -- lots of reading and talking about fluffy philosophical stuff. Wally would like it.

Chief Justice Rehnquist

The Chief Justice has died. Truly an end of an era; the man has been on the Court since 1972. The effect he has had on our jurisprudence, and in reality, on all of our lives, is hard to quantify. The sheer number of cases he has decided in the last 33 years is staggering. American life as we know it is a product of his career... for better or for worse.

I have never been a fan of the Chief Justice. He has written some truly appalling opinions, especially in the realm of criminal procedure and federal Indian law. He was anti-defendant and anti-Indian, and would occasionally employ very dubious arguments, supported by sketchy legal authority, to reach a result he liked. One particular case, Oliphant v. Suquamish, was not only wrongly decided but was also borderline racist.

He was obviously a brilliant jurist; many of his opinions are exceptionally incisive and well-written. But this is why his bad decisions were so frustrating to me -- he was too smart to have written them by mistake. He knew what he was doing, and sometimes he was way off the mark. These are things you will not hear over the next few days, but I believe they are true.

That being said, I do admire him for serving for so long and for taking so much pride in his work. He certainly represented his alma mater well.

UPDATE: I don't want to be overly critical, so I do want to accentuate his many good qualities as chief. From this obituary:

Over more than a decade with no changes in composition, the Rehnquist Court became like a family. Most striking is how much the other justices—even those who often profoundly disagreed with him on the most critical issues to come before the court—seemed genuinely to like their friend Bill Rehnquist. There has been little public comment about his extraordinary physical struggles to finish the past term. The other justices, and all those who work at the court were deeply moved at what they consider to be his truly heroic performance of duty. It was Rehnquist at his best.

And here's another good one:

A few years ago, lured by the promise of great seats for the Michigan game (the Fighting Irish won, though the chief thought they "won ugly"), the chief ustice [sic] visited Notre Dame and—after a game of doubles with me and two colleagues—spent an hour with my First Amendment class. The conversation quickly turned to advice about life and lawyering, balancing work and family, being a good parent, making a difference, and contributing to our communities. It meant a lot, to me and to my students, that he clearly cared more about helping these students find happiness in the law than about selling them on his legal opinions.

And finally, the justices themselves.
And, okay, two more: Professor Alan Dershowitz absolutely rips Chief Justice Rehnquist, and the New York Times talks about the reaction among the associate justices.

Kanye West

He's a rapper with a conscience. He made a big statement tonight during the concert for hurricane relief... so big that NBC censored him on the west coast. The video is here, but basically, he said this: "George Bush doesn't care about black people." Whoa.

UMLS opens up

This from the law school's dean, Evan Caminker:

I am proud that, as early as last Tuesday, students in our community initiated various disaster relief efforts to assist the people who remain in dire need in the affected areas of the Gulf Coast. I hope that you will reach out to help in another way as well: As many of you are aware, two law schools in New Orleans, Tulane and Loyola of New Orleans, are unsure of when they will be able to resume classes. Along with many other law schools across the country, we will open our doors to a number of displaced Tulane and/or Loyola upperclass students as visitors for the fall semester. We greatly appreciate your willingness to welcome them into our community and assist them in what is doubtless an extremely challenging set of circumstances.

From what I can tell, law schools around the country are doing the same thing.

The horror

Not much I can add to this description of life in the Superdome in New Orleans right now. So I'm just going to post some links to the Red Cross, The Humane Society, and an index of others.

First days back

It's been an eventful couple days back in Ann Arbor. People are slowly trickling in, and it's fun to catch up with folks. 2Ls are busy doing the On Campus Interviewing stuff, which is fun because the firms host meet-and-greets all over Ann Arbor. So as a 3L, I am basically obligated to crash these events and drink their free drinks. If I am forced to talk to a lawyer, I am proficient enough in the art of bullshitting to avoid being thrown out. I enjoy pushing the limits, though. Yesterday I attended an event that appeared to be business casual -- everyone who cared about getting hired was in nice clothes. I was unshaven, and wearing shorts and a t-shirt. My t-shirt is from the San Francisco Public Defender's Office, which proudly states on the back: "Getting You Off (Since 1921)". If nothing else, I'm classy. The people who gave me a nametag had priceless looks on their faces; they knew what I was up to, but they couldn't really do anything about it. Life as a 3L is grand.

Tonight I went to the Coldplay concert in suburban Detroit. We've been getting the leftovers of Hurricane Katrina, so the weather was windy and crappy. But it was still a great concert. They are full of energy. I don't know how they do this every night in a different city.

Six more days until classes start.

Road Trip: Day 3

Sioux Falls, SD to Ann Arbor, MI

Made it!

Stats:
12 hours
820 miles
3 gas stops (2 Phillips 66, one other...)
1 Time-Zone change
Lunch: Quizno's
Dinner: none -- high on life from finishing drive

We hauled ass today. Made it to Ann Arbor at 10:30. Entered my apartment, which had remained empty all summer, to find some sort of oil spill from my fridge on the kitchen floor -- nothing too bad, just a small dried puddle. Several dead spiders in the tub. So far, that's all the bad I've found. Hope I don't find any surprises in my sheets or in the closet.

It's good to be back. Classes start the day after Labor Day, so I have a few days to run errands before it all starts up again.

Road Trip: Day 2

Billings, MT to Sioux Falls, SD

Stats:
13.5 hours
750 miles
4 gas stops (3 Conoco, 1 Phillips 66; take that, NRA)
1 Time-Zone change
66 highway billboards for Wall Drug
3 clouds all day
Lunch: Dairy Queen
Dinner: Burger King. A royal day for dining.

Mileage efficiency was thrown because of a 2 hour detour in the Black Hills to visit Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument. Good stuff.

Tomorrow: back to Ann Arbor. It's going to be a long day, but we'll get there.

Road Trip: Day 1

Seattle to Billings, MT

Stats:
12 hours
800 miles
3 gas stops (all at Conoco; take that, NRA)
1 Time-Zone change
Lunch: Burger King
Dinner: Taco Bell

Scariest moment: oh crap there's something in the road -- it appeared out of nowhere. No time to swerve, just aim to have it go under the car. What is it? It won't fit under the car. Is it a styrofoam cooler, or a sheep? Phew, it's just a plastic bag. That was nuts.

Coolest sight: half-moon rising in big sky country.

Hopefully more tomorrow, if the next hotel has Internet. (Thank you, Best Western of Billings!)

Slow week

Not much blogging will be done this week, as I'm either: a) doing absolutely nothing, or b) busy running errands for my trip, which starts Friday. Neither are fun to blog/read about.

I'm hoping to blog during the road trip -- most hotels have wireless Internet now. Until then, it's going to be slow in these parts.

Done with work!

I am finally done with work for the summer. It's great. Now I have a week off before I start the drive back on Friday. Vacation is good.

Maybe it's Bavasi

This has been Dad's theory for a while: Bill Bavasi is bad GM, ruining the Mariners will bad signings. I'm beginning to think that way too. Of note is the recent release of Scott Spiezio, who was 3-47 this year. Three hits all year. Good choice, Bill. Now, the entire infield from opening day 2004 has been designated for assignment. Olerud, Boone, Aurilia, Spiezio. Those were your starters a year ago, and all of them have been RELEASED. Not traded, released. They sucked THAT BADLY. That's just awful.

I'm hoping he has turned a corner, though. Sexson and Beltre are here to stay, and Betancourt looks good at shortstop. Now we just need to address the fact that we have one quality starting pitcher, and he is 19 years old. Bavasi, if you want to keep your job, you better get us some pitching.

I have a question

Anyone, please tell me. What exactly is "judicial activism"? People use this term a lot, as if we should know what it means. I, for one, don't know.

I thought it meant anytime the Court asserted itself over an act of the legislature. The Court striking down school prayer, for example, would be judicial activism. By that definition, the Kelo decision (the one expanding the definition of eminent domain) would not be judicial activism because it left a city legislature's decision alone -- it did not impose its own will on the situation. BUT, I've heard arguments that this case was in fact an instance of judicial activism because it, apparently, violated the plain text of the Constitution (this is, I think, an arguable point, but whatever).

So what is it? Or does anyone really know? Maybe it's just a term that judiciary-bashers simply apply whenever they disagree with a court's ruling. I don't know. If anyone can help, please tell me.

Okay, Judge Roberts...

People for the American Way have a list of twenty proposed questions they want the Senate to ask Judge Roberts during the confirmation (questions, they say, that previous nominees have answered). I wonder what questions you'd like him to be asked. What do you think?

I would ask about his understanding of Indian sovereignty. The Supreme Court gets at least 1-2 cases a year dealing in Federal Indian Law... it would be interesting to hear what Judge Johnny thinks of it. What else? I know someone out there has an IP law question for him...

Dilbert

I hear that.

Stampede!

Wow, this is just crazy.

A rush to purchase $50 used laptops turned into a violent stampede Tuesday, with people getting thrown to the pavement, beaten with a folding chair and nearly driven over. One woman went so far as to wet herself rather than surrender her place in line.

Slow week

I don't have much to add to the blogosphere today; it seems that there's nothing to talk about unless I have a new and innovative opinion about Cindy Sheehan. Which I don't. But I do have this: an article about the ugliest dog ever. Judging by the picture, I agree.

Anything else? I'm currently watching King Felix on TV for the first time -- the kid is good. Otherwise, just waiting for work to end. People are already trickling back into Ann Arbor... school is just around the corner.

Work wrapping up

I have one week left at my job here. I am yearning for it to end. My boss is not terribly sentimental however, as he has decided to stick me with some incredibly boring shit to do during my last week. I'm currently doing research for a CLE paper... nice.

I will then have a week left in Seattle before I begin the drive back to Ann Arbor. My copilot for the ride will be the insane Dan Clark. If I don't have stories to tell when this is over, something will be wrong.

The King has come

In a season of such gloom, Mariners fans got a welcome dose of hope from a 19-year-old phenom. In his second start, Felix Hernandez goes 8 shutout innings, allowing 5 hits and no walks, for his first win. I don't want to put to much pressure on the kid; I don't expect him to become a 1984-86 Dwight Gooden. But it is fun to be able to look forward to every fifth Mariner game now. I'm just hoping he stays healthy, because I'm enjoying this small taste of hope.

P.S. Screw you, Jamie Moyer.

Third year - a waste?

This is a debate that rages periodically, and apparently it's back. Should law school really last three years? Is the third year necessary?

I'll go on record saying I like the third year, but I know some of my classmates would disagree. But that just might be because I like school and a lot of them don't. I still plan on taking some tough classes next year, and I have a journal to work on. I also probably won't have a job lined up for after graduation, so I'll need the time to figure that out. So I'll use my third year. But that's just me; people who have jobs and never liked school in the first place might wonder why they're there. The answer: football games and bar-hopping.

Food trends

I don't know why, but there are so many parts to this press release that fascinate me. I didn't know that anyone kept track of salad dressing rankings. I didn't know anyone monitored the top spice flavors... and I never would have guessed the top flavor is bay leaf (?!?). I didn't know there was an Association for Dressings and Sauces. I didn't know "Mexican sauce" was far and away the highest selling sauce (above barbecue and "hot"). I don't know what raspberry hibiscus is. I didn't know that my consumer profile is "nutritionally curious." Wow.

Why Ann Arbor rules

In Ann Arbor, cheerleaders fight crime.

Wedding march

My wedding season is now over, having witnessed the vows of Kimmy & Zak and DB & Bubba in the past two weeks. Both were lovely ceremonies and fun receptions, with lots of good friends there to see. For the summer, I was 3-for-3 in terms of being at "That Table" during the reception; my table was the rowdiest and loudest at each wedding I attended this summer. I am absolutely positive that this is a coincidence.

The highlight/lowlight of the DB/Bubba weekend was doing The Worm at the reception. I didn't volunteer for this, but the groom requested it, so Beez and I stepped out to do the Worm with this 10-year-old kid, who, apparently, also knew how to do it. We start, and... whoa. This kid turns out to be some kind of electric boogaloo genius breakdancer. He makes Beez and me look like absolute chumps; we can only do the worm in the forward direction, while this kid goes backward and forward, then stops and does some kind of crazy break move. To quote a certain legendary beer pong player, I am officially retired. I have been shown up by Haley Joel Osment. I'm done with the worm.

Good start

The NCAA announced today that it is banning Indian mascots during postseason tournaments. I'm not sure why they stopped with postseason events, but maybe it's enough to get some schools to change. It will be interesting to see what Illinois, for example, decides to do during the NCAA basketball tournament. Anyway... good work, NCAA.

Whoa

This is cool.

Counter-boycott

The NRA announced that it will boycott ConocoPhillips because the oil company is fighting an Oklahoma law that would allow employees to bring their guns on company property. ConocoPhillips wants to be able to enforce don't-bring-your-gun-to-work policies, but the NRA sees this as an unreasonable infringement of Second Amendment rights. The NRA is essentially saying that private property owners should not be able to decide to keep their property gun-free.

Okay, fine. It's their right to boycott. But for my part, in three weeks I'll be making a 2500-mile road trip. I am going to try to fill up at as many ConocoPhillips gas stations as I can along the way. I may even buy some extra candy in their food marts. Take that, NRA.

It's getting scary

I was watching the movie "I Am Sam" the other day, which features a few courtroom scenes. At one point during cross-examination, a lawyer asks a very poor question. I yell out "Objection; compound question" at the exact same time that the other lawyer in the scene makes the exact same objection. Whoa. I don't know what's scarier -- that I'm thinking like a lawyer, or that I'm thinking like a movie lawyer.

Tonight: Modest Mouse

Looking forward to it.

Damn you, Jamie Moyer

According to Seattle papers, the Mariners had deals in place to trade Jamie Moyer, but the jackass nixed the deals. He continues to torment me. I suppose I can no longer hope for a trade; I can only hope he gets hit by a bus. A very large bus.

Wahoo, redux

The following is from a comment from an earlier post. I wanted to bring it to the front page in case anyone was interested.
***
Oh jeez. Here we go.

First let me toss out examples like dogs and colors. We're talking about humans here.

Second let me eliminate trades and professions. People become these things by choice. Part of being a lawyer, for example, is putting up with all the jokes. Deal with it. Indians, on the other hand, can't opt in or out of being Indian.

Third, Indian mascots do much more harm than do mascots of the Irish, Scottish, etc. Why? Because the average person actually knows people of Irish and Scottish descent, whereas most people don't know any Indians. People actually start believing that all Indians look like Chief Wahoo and act like the Chief Illiniwik. It perpetuates the stereotype that Indians are red-faced savages, where in reality, the contemporary Indian has many different faces and wardrobes.

We see the Fighting Irish mascot and know that not all Irish people look like that (if any). But when I tell people that I am Indian, they first ask me "how?" or "how much?" or simply say "you're not a real Indian." They make my point for me.

I don't conform to people's expectations of what an Indian looks like. I usually have to "prove" my ancestry by reciting the history of my tribe, or mentioning that I've been to the reservation several times in the past. I am also Irish, but I've never had to establish my Irishness to anybody. But I don't have dark skin or a feather in my hat, and many people think, explain yourself! You don't look like any Indian I've ever seen! That's because the only Indians they've ever seen are on baseball caps and perform stunts at halftime.

Indian mascots misrepresent what Indians are, and they have detrimental effects on Indians themselves.

Yes, the Mariners suck

"Virtually eliminated by Memorial Day two consecutive seasons, the current Mariners operation, relative to its resources, is a civic sporting embarrassment."

The season is lost. My only hope now is that they trade Jamie Moyer this year. I hate that guy.

Chief Wahoo

I had a big argument with my roommates tonight about the Indian mascot issue. I won (I think). Anyone else want a piece? Bring it on.

There goes another bachelor

I spent the weekend in San Francisco feting the latest bachelor, DB. It was quite a time. The party started at noon Saturday, and didn't wrap up until about 6am Sunday. If he still wants to get married after all that, he has my blessing. Good times.

My summer of weddings rolls on this weekend, which is thankfully in town. Kimmy and Zak tie the knot up at the Salish Lodge, which will be fun. Then the following weekend I'm back down in SF for the DB-Gwynn wedding. Then I'll have two weekends here before I head off for another year at Hogwarts... er... law school.

What we need...

... is a giant space mirror to combat global warming.

That's just one of several alternative ideas (besides simply cutting down on CO2 emissions) summarized here. I vote yea on the space mirror. What could possibly go wrong?

LA Story

I spent the weekend in LA. My firm flew me down there for a meet-and-greet on Friday, and a firm-wide barbecue on Saturday. It was tiring, but it was good to see what the firm is like outside of Seattle. The LA headquarters is really a polar opposite -- it's lively, and rather willing to spend money on luxury. My branch hordes its pennies like a troll. It's a lot more fun in LA.

After a dinner with some associates and other summers at a partner's house on Friday, I met Foley in Hermosa Beach. We did some bar hopping, including a stop at the most terrible bar ever. We recognized its terribleness as soon as we entered, but we stayed because we felt we needed to salute the terribleness with a terrible drink. We couldn't think of something adequately terrible, so we asked the bartender. She was confused. She asked the barback for help, and he jumped right on the case. For Foley, he poured a Three Wise Men (Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, Johnnie Walker) with Tobasco on top. Eeeks. For me, the coup de grace. He started with Jagermeister (uh oh) then added Goldschlager (oh jeez) then topped it with Tequila (oh shit). And it was terrible.

At the Saturday barbecue we were given these mammoth porterhouse steaks. These were the biggest steaks I have ever seen in my life. Ranging between 2-4 inches thick at all times, the thing was almost as big as the dinner plate. At least 7-8 inches in diameter. And there were hundreds of them -- one for every person who wanted one (and hypothetically, if anyone wanted seconds). Much to the surprise of everyone, I ate the entire thing.

The next day I still had steak in my belly. I had just been told by the Seattle associate who went on the trip with me that the firm's senior partner... its Mr. Bigshot... was going to be in Seattle Sunday night and wanted us all to eat dinner with him... at a steakhouse (the awesome Metropolitan Grill). Oh great, more steak. This guy loves steak.

As I boarded my plane for the ride home, I noticed that Mr. Bigshot was sitting in first class, in the first seat. He's known for asking his employees to dress nicely, but here I was after a day on the beach in shorts and a t-shirt. Oh well. I stopped and said hi, and he offered to give me a ride from the airport to the restaurant for dinner. Of course I accepted... but man, this was going to be tough... chatting up the senior partner while I looked like a schlub.

The ride back was fine, though he started interviewing me at one point, then tossed out the "What can I tell you about the firm?" gauntlet, the one I got so many times during interview season. I spat up a couple questions, and we ended up talking about judicial clerkships for a while. After the ride I stopped by the office for a few minutes so I could change into nicer clothes before dinner.

Dinner was really good. Mr. Bigshot spent about $1150 for eight people. I ate another steak. Okay, almost another steak... couldn't quite finish it. It was a fun meal.

But my stomach had stopped having fun a long time ago. At 2:30am later that night, it staged an act of civil disobedience and rejected all that meat. Not fun.

All in all, a good weekend. Too bad my first wine-and-dine event ended with me hurling in my own bathroom, but I'm sure Vegas had that at even money.

Roberts... okay

John Roberts... I'm not crazy about him, but he meets the qualifications I ask for. He's wicked smart, and he's eloquent. I'm actually hoping his confirmation is relatively painless. I mean, I hope the Senate asks him tough questions, but I don't want to see fanatics buying airtime to take personal shots at him. He seems like a nice fellow. Let's give him a fair hearing.

It's disheartening to watch the cable channels tonight, though. They keep asking Democrats, "How can you attack him?" They keep asking Republicans, "How can they attack him?" Well, who says anyone has to attack him? We all knew he would be conservative. No shocker there. But as long as he's a reasonable jurist, there's no need for attacks. On some conservative blogs I see lots of gloating about how Democrats have nothing to attack him on*... and they think this is automatically a blow to the Democratic party. That's just stupid. It's just a good situation for everyone that the president picked someone who doesn't seem too crazy (yet). They only scary part is that he's only 50... so if he is crazy, we're stuck with him for a while.

* Some liberals will attack him on abortion, but we really don't know where he stands on it. He wrote a brief as a lawyer in Rust v. Sullivan that suggested Roe should be overturned, but that's as a lawyer, where he was representing his client, not himself. We don't know where Roberts the judge would come down on the issue. Presumably, Bush knows. Otherwise, I think you can attack him on some civil liberties issues -- i.e., he doesn't seem to be too keen on giving enemy combatants any due process rights. This is one of the things I think this country will end up regretting in a few decades... a serious black mark in our history along the lines (but not as bad) as internment camps.

The Chief stays

Chief Justice Rehnquist has had enough; he says he's staying. He says he'll stay as long as his health permits. Good for him.

Suicide bombers and cowardice

Professor Volokh has an interesting blurb over at the Volokh Conspiracy, where he maintains that suicide bombers are evil, but not cowards. Logically, he's right. But this is the same argument that got Bill Maher fired by ABC after 9/11... it's not an argument that the mainstream is willing to accept.

"Now it's true that attacking defenseless people is often seen as cowardice, but that's precisely because most attacks on defenseless people — as opposed to attacks on well-armed people — pose little immediate risk of death or injury for the attacker. Attacking defenseless people with a suicide bomb doesn't share that characteristic. Again, it's evil, but not cowardly."

I have a different rationale for calling them cowards. Suicide bombers may give up their own lives, but they don't give their victims a chance to fight back. So while they are not afraid of dying, they are afraid of failing. They are afraid of taking a risk. In our culture, taking a risk with one's life is the epitome of bravery. Suicide bombers don't do that.

I don't think suicide bombers are "risking their lives" when they go on suicide missions. They have already decided they will die -- there's no risk involved. But the Civil War soldier who lines up across a field from his enemy, hoping to stay alive for another day, or better yet, to survive the war... that's bravery. To put yourself in a life-or-death situation where the outcome is unknown, but you want to survive, that's courage.

I recognize that Volokh doesn't argue that suicide bombers are brave; he only argues that they aren't cowards. But I'll maintain that this method of warfare is cowardly. The decision to fight might not be cowardly, but to fight this way certainly is.