Cheeky legal scholars...

This straighforward pun is courtesy of a pair of Con Law professors writing about the court's docket and its own precedent in 2002:

Money quote:

"The Supreme Court's recent decisions to hear an affirmative action case and a same-sex sodomy case later this spring mean that the current Term--perhaps Chief Justice Rehnquist's last Term--may well end with a bang."

No comentary needed.

Waiting for the Worms

I simply want to voice my anger regarding the unreasonable delay in the registrar's office posting of grades. My last final was Dec. 10 and I still don't know how I did in Corporations (which was a 40 question scantron test) or any other class.

This is retarded! I want my grades on a rolling basis, dammit!

P.S. While waiting for grades to come in on Monday, watch this SNL short. An instant classic.

Go Go Goodwin!!

Since I didn't have class this afternoon, I watched C-SPAN after receving an email from school that our very own Professor Goodwin Liu was set to testify in the Alito hearings.

After hearing 2 hours of verbal masterbation from judges and scholars regarding how "exemplary" and "amazing" and "sexually attractive" Alito is, Professor Liu stepped up to the plate and served up a dose of intellectual substance in the form of respectful and reasoned criticism.

Despite his uber-youthful appearance, I think he did us proud.

P.S. I think Arlen Specter called him "Gordon Yoo" - did anyone else hear that?

Newsflash

Extra, Extra! Tom Delay has been riding high on the hog, courtesy of wealthy political donors. Get this: He eats at nice restaurants, plays golf, and stays in 4-star hotels!

One question begs: Is this 'revelation' really newsworthy? I thought this was standard operating procedure. Lets face it - all politicians either do what Tom Delay does, or die trying. Period.

The linked article is akin to the school janitor in Billy Madison informing Eric that "Billy drinks soda. Ms. Lippy's car is green."

A message to the media: Get back to the hard hitting investigative journalism we expect from you!

The Case for Faux Fir

As the "War on Christmas" looms, the Chronicle has an interesting piece on Real vs. Fake Christmas (errr...Holiday) Trees.

I personally go for the fake tree for several reasons:

1) It is reusable - which is important to me because it means I never have to haul a dirty tree up my 2-story hallway - leaving behind a sloppy trail of dirt, sap, spiders, and pine needles. Instead I can casually pick up the 3 pieces of carcinogenic poly-something-or-other (one at a time) from my storage closet and return it after 2-weeks are up. Lather, rinse, repeat annually.

2) My dog doesn't love the taste of a fake tree. Less vomiting.

3) It pisses off my Norman Rockwell-ian in-laws who only believe in hacking off the real thing. (My father-in-law loves this part so much, I think he should have been a mohel!)

4) Presents stay clean and dry underneath this tree. This is important as I demand lots of electronic gadgetry for Christmas. (Jungle Cat, I know you hear me on this one).

5) I think the idea of playing drag-queen dress up with a plant is unbelievably gay! Truth be told, I would rather not have a tree at all. However, my significant-other insists we do - so naturally, I demanded a fake tree; a move completely consistent with classic law student-passive aggressive behavior.

In other words: I lost the war, but I won a very small and petty battle! By the way, when pressed about this, I will insist that the battle has been waged on behalf of Mother Nature.

Accordingly, I declare the "War on Christmas" has a new front - and the Real Christmas tree is the new faux! (ok, bad pun).

The Tookie Saga

So the Guv has denied clemency for Stanley 'Tookie' Williams. He is set to die tonight at 12:01 am. Personally, I do not see what good comes of the death penalty.

Williams' crimes are disgraceful, no doubt. But, his execution only reflects the morbid and barbaric fact that our government (a supposedly progressive one) and its commoners (suppposedly compassionte ones) still thirst for the blood of their citizens in 2005.

However you feel about California's DP, if you don't feel profoundly disgusted reading this account of Tookie's last day, you truly have no soul.

Blogging in its highest form

Apparently, Iranians are blogging to speak out against fundamentalism.

Kind of humbling that they are using this medium for such a noble purpose.

By the way, Jungle Cat, what are you gonna spend your first summer associate paycheck on?