Eminent Domain

How is that for a broad title? I should be getting dressed for the wedding right now, but I got sidetracked on here. I realized that I had forgotten something. Tomorrow is not only Memorial Day in the US, but it is the day of the elections in Lebanon. Even now, people around the world are fighting to gain for the first time the freedoms that we fought for on so many occasions. Check out Pulse of Freedom to see what's up.

Link

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. The damage that he has done to the collective knowledge of the American people with that pack of lies known as JFK is hard to measure. There are few things as laborious as trying to deprogram someone who thinks that movie is an accurate portrayal of the events around the assassination.

This website is run by a Marquette professor. The stuff about the movie is great, but the entire site is one of the best collections of JFK assassination material I've seen.

This is a nice 100 errors list.

Conspiracy theorists. Pfft.

Having-One-Beer Plan Goes Awry.

I've lived this one more times than I can count.

The official start to summer is finally here. I have no real plans for tomorrow. I will probably lounge around the house, play with my new laptop (got it Wednesday), and read. I have a week's worth of notes to type and organize for Trusts and Estates, so I should probably fit that somewhere in my schedule. So far, I am incredibly pleased with the class. The reading isn't horrible and we're moving at a good pace. I still have time to do other reading too. I'm currently re-reading Free to Choose by the Friedmans. It's one of those books that should be read every so often. Not only is it well written, it explains very complex concepts in ways that any moron can grasp. I am occasionally a moron. I'm also reading Getting to Yes which is a book about negotiation written by a pair of Harvard eggheads. Everyone needs to brush up on their verbal persuasion skills, even a swindler like me.

Sunday is my cousin's wedding in Madison. It will either be a lot of fun or very boring. Knowing my family, it will be very boring. After dinner, I plan on entrenching myself at the bar and not moving for the duration. Maybe I'll do a little dancing, but nothing is set in stone. There will be barhopping after the reception, so it's going to be a long night. I'm staying overnight in Madison, along with my sister and her boyfriend. My mom is driving back that night. My dad has to work so he isn't going. Lucky bastard.

On Memorial Day itself, I'm going to my aunt and uncle's house which is halfway between Madison and Milwaukee. Basically, it's a small, low key gathering to mellow out after the wedding. I'll probably be sitting by the lake, nursing my hangover. Now that I think of it, I should probably do my homework tomorrow so I'm not struggling through it Monday night. All I need is to be hunched over my casebook, eyes not focusing, trying to understand undue influence while trying not to pass out.

Orin Kerr at Volokh talks about Michael J Kelly's criticisms of Justices Scalia and Thomas in relation to foreign law.

I think Kerr's analysis is right. To simply state that Scalia is "afraid" is a joke. Even if you totally disagree with the man, it must be recognized that he has not backed down from supporting his views on the law. And to just say that Thomas has no intellectual curiosity is almost libel. If he had no intellectual curiosity, I doubt we would be a judge. He would've taken a job as a ditch digger and watched American Idol for the rest of his life.

Man, I read the news this morning and didn't find anything worth writing about. But the Huffington Post comes through again.

Laurie David is the woman that comedian Larry David puts his penis into. That qualifies her to lecture the rest of us on the environment and global warming. In this wonderful post, she says that Americans should follow the lead of Japan's Toyota Motor Company and not wear suits to work. The energy saved by not running the AC at work will help save the world from that dastardly global warming. This is the problem with the vast majority of environmentalists. They deal only in absolutes. If something might have a harmful effect on the environment, ban it. Nobody can do it anymore. They don't believe in cost-benefit analysis. And they don't believe that you have the right to live your life as you see fit within the confines of the law. I like wearing a suit. I look good in a suit. I will continue to wear mine any damn time I please.

Just so you don't think I'm close-minded, I checked out the link at the bottom of her post. I honestly didn't know much about the environment, energy policy, and the global warming issue until about 2 years ago. I started reading a lot about these things, looking to what different sources say, and looking at raw data (most important). That website is full of items to take note of. For example...

"...in Colorado, where an elementary school is purchasing 100% of its electricity from wind power (saving 420,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year)..."

There's an interesting side effect from wind power plants. They kill a lot of birds. A large wind farm is a wonderful way to chop up birds and disperse them across the landscape. Cost-benefit analysis, nature lovers.

"From the vanishing glaciers in Montana..."

Let's put some numbers on these statements. I don't think I've ever heard an environmentalist talk about melting glaciers and cite quantities. There are 160,000 glaciers in the world. About 67,000 of them have been inventoried, but only a few have really been studied in great detail. How many are melting? Give me a number or a percentage.

"...and wild fire outbreaks in California, the impacts of global warming are a part of daily life across the United States."

Christ on a stick. Forests in Cali, like those wonderful Redwoods these people love to hump, are dependent on forest fires. Redwood seeds are incredibly tough and only burst open in intense heat (fire). Forest fires are essential to the management and health of forests.

Maybe I'm wrong. I, unlike these people, am willing to say "I don't know." I just know what I've read, what contradictions I've seen, and what questions never ever get answered by these people. Until I do know, I am not going to force massive changes onto everyone else. I am not going to make my opinions or feelings the policy of the nation and the world. Now if you will excuse me, I'm going outside to enjoy the lovely weather.

Kerry still won.

I'm amazed he's got the brainpower to operate a computer. As "proof" that Kerry won, he offers a few links. One is a Geocities site (maximum credibility there) that cites a model that "proves" Kerry won. Listen loud and clear: MODELS PROVE NOTHING. A model is not proof. A model is a system constructed by a fallible human being who probably has biases of his own. Another link is to Democratic Underground. Right now, the link doesn't work. Jim has cracked the greatest election crime of American history, but he hasn't mastered hyperlinks yet. Even if it did work, I think Democratic Underground is not exactly a credible source of information. People there might have an agenda.

He also says that exit polls don't lie. Are you fucking kidding me? It's an exit poll. It asks some people who voted, not all people who voted. How dense do you have to be to not understand this basic concept? Jimmy, I know you're upset that your boy Kerry lost. I know you can't fathom why President Bush was reelected. I know that it was a sad election night for you and many out there. I also know that living this deeply in denial makes you look like a dunce.

I'm searching for video of Voinovich almost crying today in the Senate over John Bolton. He's got the balls to say that this nomination is so horribly wrong that he's near tears. If this nomination was so important, why couldn't he get his ass to any of the hearings? Too busy? Then he shows up late and halts the proceedings.

He wants a kind and considerate ambassador at the UN. Somebody who will give the Arab League and the EU a reach-around. Basically, a wuss. I personally want Bolton there, for three reasons.
1. That mustache needs as much TV time as it can get.
2. Free drama on CSPAN.
3. A real reason... The UN is a corrupt, flawed (almost fatally flawed) organization that is in dire need of straightening out. I know all the internationalists out there don't want to hear it but it's true. We need an ass kicker in there right now. Never mind Oil for Food, never mind the Syrians on the Human Rights Committee, and never mind turning a blind eye to Saddam for a decade. Nothing to fix here...

The voting has been open now for a few days and yes, I cast my vote. It was for Warriors. I don't care if they don't count it. I'm not going to be a party to their Banana Republic election. It's a wonderful way to rig an election: "You are free to vote for anything but the most popular choice." That's like a car dealership saying you can have a car in any color you want, as long as it isn't black.

My prediction: the new name will suck. Everyone will still want Warriors. I still won't go to the basketball games.

David Broder fellates John McCain

"Oh he's such a leader, he's so independent, he's such a maverick..."

The next person to use the word "maverick" in my presence gets five across the eyes. I'm seriously sick of that word. I'm working on mentally altering my brain to hear the word "maverick" and interpret it as "self-centered opportunist." That should cut down on my stress a bit.

When are people going to get this simple fact: this maverick jazz is all bullshit. John McCain, George Voinovich, Lindsay Graham, etc. do not give a shit about you. They don't care about your life or your happiness. They care about themselves and their own power in Washington. They are no different than the rest of the 99% of politicians of both parties that are pretty much worthless. They all just sit in the Capitol, spend your tax money wastefully, ignore the Constitution, and generally take up valuable space.

At the rate of things currently, I can't see a single person in Washington that deserves my vote for the presidency. I'm holding out hope for a few governors right now though.

I've been thinking about this for a few hours, letting it all settle in. I still think that deal sucks. The Republicans gave up way too much. You're the majority. Act like it. What's really odd is how this got settled. There have been arguments over why we should let a minority of 45 Senators decide these nominations. This deal lets a minority of 14 Senators decide these nominations. Odd how that worked out.

As far as the Supreme Court, there is an out for the president here in this horrible deal. The language says that the Democrats will only block in extraordinary circumstances. Owen, Brown, and Pryor will all get votes and will all pass. Those are the nominees that President Bush should elevate to the Court. At most, he will get to name 3, replacing Rehnquist, O'Connor, and probably (hopefully) Stevens. Michael McConnell is the most likely choice for the first replacement. He probably still should be the first nominee. He is very qualified, and it would be almost impossible for the Democrats to block him without looking like total asses. The next nominee should come from the group of three that will get confirmed this week. That way if the Democrats try to block them again, it will look absurd.

I guess that's the best that can be done. Work within this horrible deal and get solid judges onto the Court. I think McCain did this for himself. He knows that he will never get the Republican nomination for the presidency and he's getting pretty old anyway. This is another power play by him to elevate his position in Washington and in the eyes of the media, who fawn over him at every chance they get. I'm surprised more people don't see what a shrewd politician he is. Isn't anyone else noticing that he takes whatever position on the issue of the day that will get him the most press time and headlines?

Take a look at this cover of the Japanese edition of Newsweek over at LGF.

I really hope that is a photoshop.

So this group of 14 strikes a compromise which allows Owen, Brown, and Pryor, says nothing about Saad and Myers (assume the worst), and leaves the filibuster open for the future.

...

What?

All this does is probably stop two qualified judges and delays the inevitable. The next Supreme Court nominee will be filibustered. No question. Bush will nominate a strict constructionist, liberal interest groups will pressure the Democrats to stop anyone who would damage Roe, and we will be in the same damn situation as before. Only then, the stakes will be higher, the fight will be worse, the rhetoric will be more severe, and I will lose the iota of faith I have in the Senate.

The only happiness I get out of this deal is that liberal interest groups have spent millions of dollars going after Owen, Brown, and Pyror. Money that is now just pissed away.

EDIT: As I think about this a little, this deal is much more nuanced than I thought. I'm going to really think about this and expand on it. I still think it avoids the issue, but am now unsure who came out better here.

I have to be at school in a few hours for the first day of summer school. I figured that taking one class wouldn't kill me. It's a five week run, four days a week, a little under two hours per class. Class starts at 7:15 AM but I can handle that. Basically, I just stay up all night, go to class, sleep in the afternoon, blow my brains out for being so fucked up, and repeat. I know, this is the worst system ever. If I can get back on a normal human sleep schedule, I will.

From the looks of the first two assignments posted online, I will have about 40 pages of reading a night. No big deal. I can do that standing on my head. So far, the first 40 pages have been really interesting actually. Trusts and Estates is one of those topics that most people would rather not talk about. I think it's pretty interesting actually. There were only two cases, a basic overview of the probate process, and a few articles. The articles discussed inheritance, wills, estate tax, and things like that. They included a short article by Irving Kristol, one of the modern Neo-con idols. He argued that most liberals that favor a large estate tax don't do it out of genuine desire to equalize younger generations; they just want the money in government hands so they get to spend it how they see fit. He cites rejection by many liberal policy makers of limits that place a maximum on amount inherited by a single person. Another article discussed how it is the cultural differences and opportunities wealthy children have that really benefit them, not the money they inherit later in life. Seems plausible. They get to go to better schools, get tutors, and have better access to technology. And they are socialized into an environment that teaches them how to invest money, how to save money, and how to make sound financial decisions.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the remainder of my summer. Class will be over by July, so I will have a nice chunk of free time available. I'd like to take at least one trip. I've had absolutely horrid luck with planning trips in the past two years. Something always comes up, someone can't go, or some other problem pops up. Hopefully, I can remedy that. I'll probably just do a lot of reading. In the two weeks I've had off, I've gotten through 4 books. I might even get an early start on my fall law work. Who knows.

Not really.

But Friday turned out to be more interesting than I expected. I woke up early with a bit of a hangover, still tasting the beer and Denny's smothered fries in the recesses of my throat. The weather was nice but kind of chilly, so I decided to just kick back and read a book. I ended up in the kitchen to take advantage of the picture window, which led me to turning on the radio in the kitchen to take in the soothing sounds of AM talk radio. Then I decided to get ambitious. "Hell, I'm already in the kitchen. I'll make some food." I decided to grill some pizza, since the dough needs an hour to rise and that would give me ample reading time. And so I did. As I finished eating around 1 PM, I get a call from Dave. He wants to know if I want to go to Six Flags right now.

Well. Yeah. I needed a little time to clean up since the kitchen was a mess. But we were on the road by 2, knowing full well that the park closed at 6. Whatever. We'd get our season passes processed and hit up a few rides. Much to our delight, it was about 10 degrees warmer in IL. And there was no one at the park. We walked on a lot of the rides. It was one of those spur of the moment things and I'm glad we went.

I ended up downtown today near school to buy my book for summer school. Little bastard set me back $100. I need to get into the textbook publishing business. That's where the real money is.

I dropped by LFM to visit my former co-workers. Everything seems fine there. I was asked when I was coming back to work. I laughed. Hey, I love those people and enjoyed my time there, but you gotta move on sometime. I do need the money right now but I also need to be able to concentrate on studying. The summer schedule at LFM doesn't lend well to that.

My new laptop is on the way. I got the shipment e-mail from Dell, so it should be here Tuesday I think. Then I get to go through the process of transferring what files of mine that I have to it. I did burn a bunch of back up CDs a while ago, but they don't have everything. I think I have most of my mp3s, and that's what is important.

It's all about priorities.

I watched about an hour of the Senate debate recently on CSPN2 before puking on myself in disgust. But I caught Sen. Reid talking about the right way to find good judges to nominate. The Clinton way. See, the rapist-in-chief talked to the Senate and consulted them and had a dialogue and a bunch of other crap. Because of this wonderful communication, Reid said we ended up with wonderful judges like Justice Breyer and Justice Ginsburg. I regained consciousness about 15 minutes after my laughing fit kept my lungs from filling with air. Take a look at what Bench Memos has to say about Justice Ginsburg and what extreme really means.

There's nothing like that feeling of struggling to wake up on a Friday morning. Your mouth tastes like a cat took a crap in it. Your legs are achy from pooling alcohol. Your clothes (which you slept in) reek of smoke. You're still a little drunk. Friday morning. My life is a series of bars. Dave, Mark, and I hit a few last night, looking for good times and intellectual stimulation. We ended up somewhere in Walker's Point in a hole in the wall bar watching a handful of scantily clad girls grind each other, dancing on the bar to Willa Ford's "I Wanna Be Bad." Life is good.

Christopher Hitchens wonders why the New York Times calls murderous Islamists "insurgents".

Really, though. What are they "insurging" against? As far as I can tell, it is the new legitimate democratic government of the people of Iraq. More Iraqis die in these attacks than American soldiers. But according to people like Michael Moore, these killers are the "Minutemen" of Iraq, equating their murderous rampage to the men who fought and died at Lexington and Concord. It's just interesting to see how different people use labels to legitimize murder.

In spite of my busy and fulfilling personal life, I managed to get through a great book in the past 2 days. Cowboy Capitalism by Olaf Gersemann. It's pretty technical and I had to brush up on my econ a bit to understand all of the terms and graphs, but it's still an amazing book. It destroys any myths about the greatness of the European system in the best way possible: cold, hard facts and numbers. It's pretty funny that many Europeans, especially Germans, think that Americans all work 3 jobs to make ends meet. And we all work at McDonalds, Wal-Mart, or Home Depot. These people are so sophisticated.

Let me get this straight... Newsweek publishes a story saying that US interrogators at Gitmo threw a copy of the Koran into a toilet. The Muslims, being a prickly bunch at times, riot in Afghanistan. People die, many more people are injured. Turns out the story wasn't true. Whoops! After some hemming and hawing, Newsweek retracts the story. The Muslims are still a bit upset. White House press secretary Scott McClellan says that Newsweek needs to do its part to fix this mess and set the record straight on US procedures.

The White House press corps has a meltdown. Led by the indignation of ABC's Terry Moran (pronounce that however you want), they demand to know where the White House gets off telling Newsweek what to publish. Ha.

This is all part of the collapse of the dominance of traditional media. They are so arrogant, and their arrogance shows brighter each day. When it's suggested that a magazine do its part to correct a mistake they made, a mistake that has left people dead, they scoff at the notion. "How dare you tell me what to write?" Fine. Write whatever you want, facts be damned, and let the world riot. After all, the media can do no wrong.

This whole business about federal judges seems to finally be coming to a head. I have already stated my position on Judge Pryor in detail back in the archives so I won't rehash it now. This whole thing is absurd and it's time that it came to an end. Either Sen. Frist kicks some asses and pushes these judges through or the Senate Republicans pussy out and go home with their tails between their legs. If it was a secret at all, I want confirmation of all of them.

I have not seen a shred of evidence presented by the obstructing Democrats that warrants keeping these qualified people from the federal bench. They keep saying "they're out of the mainstream." Prove it. Cite your evidence. Bring everything you have to the floor of the Senate and to the American people. But then vote on them. If they are so far out of the mainstream, they will be voted down. It has happened to judges in the past. But that is not what is happening here.

What is happening here is the Democrats are acting out of fear. The federal appeals courts are the traditional next step before a Supreme Court appointment. Presidents see their Supreme Court appointments as their legacies, since they affect the country long after they are out of office and in many cases, long after they have died. A president would be more prone to pick someone who they elevated to the appeals court since he knows them and their views more intimately than another judge. That doesn't mean that there aren't federal judges now that wouldn't make excellent Supreme Court appointments, but it's the president's perogative.

Brown and Owen have been targetted by the Democrats because not so much for what they believe, but who they are. Two women, one who is black, who have a general conservative view of the law are dangerous to the Democrats. Justice Thomas' confirmation hearing (or maybe smearing?) and Miguel Estrada's hearings show what happens to these nominees. It's appauling.

If it is necessary to get rid of the filibuster on judicial nominees, then so be it. Maybe the Democrats forgot that they are the minority party, that they have been losing election after election. When you are in the minority, you do not get to dictate these matters to the majority. Just imagine if the roles were reversed. The Democrats would be screaming about a minority of Republicans stopping qualified judges from getting on the bench. And the media would be lockstep behind the Democrats. But that's not happening here. The Republicans need to have the guts to see this to the end.

I have not.

I've been busy lately with about a million things which kept me from my beloved blog. I have been writing a lot, working on one project in particular, so blogging seemed like the last thing in the world I wanted to do. I will be back on either tonight or tomorrow with my usual screeds against everything I can't stand. Senators Reid and Schumer, I'm looking in your direction. Get ready for a huge judicial nominee rant.

Until then, I'm out.

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN UTAH!?!

Simple advice

Byron sets him straight.

Unlike Lampley, Byron York actually reads newspapers and pays attention to crazy things like facts and evidence. I hope Huffington's site has a lot of this back and forth between people I like (York) and people who are divorced from reality (Lampley). It's comedy gold, folks.

Here

Powerline seems to be running with this story, so hopefully it will get some national attention. I love it when the entire country can see what fuck ups we have running things here.

From the Pew Center for the People and the Press.

I normally hate these polls but this one has an interesting structure to it. You also don't get back a traditional party or liberal/conservative label. For instance, I am an...

Enterpriser

Based on your answers to the questionnaire, you most closely resemble
survey respondents within the Enterpriser typology group. This does not mean
that you necessarily fit every group characteristic or agree with the group on
all issues.

Enterprisers represent 9 percent of the American public, and 10 percent of
registered voters.

Basic Description: As in previous studies conducted in 1987, 1994 and
1999, this extremely partisan Republican group’s politics are driven by a belief
in the free enterprise system and social values that reflect a conservative
agenda. Enterprisers are also the strongest backers of an assertive foreign
policy, which includes nearly unanimous support for the war in Iraq and strong
support for such anti-terrorism efforts as the Patriot Act.

Defining Values: Assertive on foreign policy and patriotic;
anti-regulation and pro-business; very little support for government help to the
poor; strong belief that individuals are responsible for their own well being.
Conservative on social issues such as gay marriage, but not much more religious
than the nation as a whole. Very satisfied with personal financial situation.

Who They Are: Predominantly white (91%), male (76%) and financially
well-off (62% have household incomes of at least $50,000, compared with 40%
nationwide). Nearly half (46%) have a college degree, and 77% are married.
Nearly a quarter (23%) are themselves military veterans. Only 10% are under age
30.

Lifestyle Notes: 59% report having a gun in their homes; 53%
trade stocks and bonds in the stock market, and 30% are small business owners –
all of which are the highest percentages among typology groups. 48% attend
church weekly; 36% attend bible study or prayer group meetings.

2004 Election: Bush 92%, Kerry 1%. Bush’s most reliable supporters
(just 4% of Enterprisers did not vote)

Party ID: 81% Republican, 18% Independent/No Preference, 1% Democrat
(98% Rep/LeanRep)

Media Use: Enterprisers follow news about government and politics
more closely than any other group, and exhibit the most knowledge about world
affairs. The Fox News Channel is their primary source of news (46% cite it as a
main source) followed by newspapers (42%) radio (31%) and the internet (26%).

I'd say that's pretty damn close, minus a few minor details.

Way above my pay grade but still interesting.

Interesting timing on this, considering I was reading Prey yesterday which deals with nanotechnology. I know very little about it but from what I picked up from Prey, it's interesting stuff. Crichton, being the helpful guy that he is, put a reading list at the end of Prey for further info about nanotech. There are some complex ethical issues involved that I think are as interesting or even more interesting than the technical issues.

HBO boxing commentator Jim Lampley, posting on the unintentionally hilarious Huffington Post, says that Karl Rove stole the election for George W Bush.

His proof? Vegas odds makers. He says that the boys in Vegas used the exit polls to dub John Kerry the 2 to 1 favorite to win the election at 5 PM on November 2nd. I guess Jimmy missed the news stories and analysis that went on for a week or two after the elections showing exactly why the exit polls were wrong. The pollers oversampled groups like women and city dwellers, traditional Democratic voters. The exit polls gave results that defied all logic and political history too. They had Mississippi as a dead heat, too close to call. Mississippi. Missi-fucking-ssippi. That state is as red as red can get. Bush won by 20 percentage points. Oh, but the exit polls thought it would be closer so we should trust those. They're infallible after all.

Huffington's website is wonderful. It gives celebrities and media types a forum to spout their ridiculous ideas for all the world to see. I hate the fact that they refer to their featured area as a "blog" though. There is no way to post comments on what is written by each individual. It's basically an op-ed page for people who have no business on an op-ed page. Oh well, I hope it sticks around cause this crap is hilarious.

We have more votes cast than voters.

And our enlightened governor still doesn't think it's necessary to show a photo ID before voting. That would put an undue burden on the people... the people who are casting fraudulent votes for his party. The only way to truly fix this is to purge the entire voter rolls and start over. Make everyone register again and demand a photo ID. There need to be massive firings of election officials as well. There is no way that these people were accepting voter registration cards that lacked a name or an address in good faith. A fucking name or fucking address. Missing. Or maybe I'm wrong. They could be grossly incompetent. That's par for the course in Milwaukee government.

Well folks, the first year of law school is officially in the record books (well unofficially until I get my grades). Yesterday I cruised down to school a little before 1 PM, handed in my Civ Pro take home, and found myself not wanting to start drinking that early. It wasn't any sort of moral objection. I was worried that I'd be out of cash too fast.

I ended up in the library. The internet got boring fast, so I decided to read a book. I ended up lounging on the 5th floor, reading Prey by Michael Crichton for 4 hours. I got 204 pages into it. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to waste my time like that.

I eventually ended up at Hagerty's for some food and a couple beers. There weren't a lot of law students there, at least nothing like last semester. Broke suckers don't want to actually pay for beer. Honestly, it does make more sense to wait until 7 PM, go to Caffery's, and drink the free beer. The crowd at Caffrey's was much bigger. I had a great time just talking to everyone. It seems strange that I won't see most of these people for months. Some of the poor bastards will be taking summer classes with me, but not many. I was struck by how fast this year went. My life was stressful, hectic, hellish, and unbearable at times, but the time flew. Strange.

I ended up home around midnight. I had no desire to make it to bar close. I was really tanked at 11 anyway, so I decided to gracefully bow out early.

I've got some weird sleep issues going on too. I ended up sleeping until 3 PM Sunday because I knew that I would be pulling an all-nighter to finish Civ Pro. I was awake from then and through all of my adventures yesterday until I got home last night. This morning I woke up at 5 AM on my own. I've been wide awake since then. A reasonable person would look at what I did Sunday and Monday and say that I would probably spend a lot of time in bed. I am an unreasonable person. I probably have a sleeping disorder.

The weather is great today; it's gorgeous outside. So that's where I'm going. Blogging is a bad weather activity.

GO AWAY

Seriously, just leave for somewhere far away and never come back. This guy's got some real balls trying to act like a Washington outsider. He's only been in the Senate for two fucking decades. Maybe I shouldn't be so harsh on the guy. That's not a long time in the grand scheme of things. I guess it takes a quarter of a century to finally tackle a problem, huh?

''Washington seems more and more out of touch with the difficulties the average family is facing."

The wind surfing billionaire, with his finger firmly on the pulse of the working man. Pardon me, I'm going to go puke and print off my Civ Pro exam.

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure fucking suck. Seriously. They're like the worst thing ever. I'm working on my take home exam right now, trying to figure this garbage out. I have 8 of 21 questions finished. It's due at 3:30 PM Monday. I'm honestly not worried about finishing, cause I know I'll get it done in time. It just sucks all the same.

I've been taking sanity breaks every so often, just so I don't get a Vietnam-like 1000 yard stare directed at the computer screen. I'm thinking about just sitting down and working this stuff out on paper, then coming back to type it up. Otherwise I'll get distracted and end up posting on my blog or something equally retarded. If I had a fucking laptop that worked, I could just go to school and work there.

I just have a million things on my mind and Civ Pro doesn't even rank in the top thousand. Getting a new computer is high on the list. I just can't use desktops anymore. I need my mp3s and bookmarks at hand, and I don't have that luxury on this POS. I picked out a Dell that I'm going to order Tuesday. I'm also fighting that "I'm already on vacation" feeling in my brain. Cause that fucker has just about checked out of my head, beach ball and sunscreen in hand. Then there is always the mandatory female bullshit that I'm thinking about. I swore to myself that I would not turn this blog into an angsty, emo live journal so that's all the detail you're getting out of me.

I got an email from the Student Bar Association reps confirming that there will be free beer after exams tomorrow night. There was also a lengthy, finger wagging paragraph about binge drinking. Seriously folks. If you are in law school, you're a college grad. You've done your share of drinking already. This isn't orientation week at UW and we aren't a bunch of wet behind the ears freshmen. And I don't think lite beer is going to be the culprit that finally does me in. I'm pretty sure that my liver is at the point that I could drink anti-freeze and just have a mild hangover the next day. They mean well (yeah right, they are worried about liability issues. C'mon, they know the law.)

Well I suppose it is high time to get back to Civ Pro and all of the garbage that entails. By the way, "Peach" by Prince is the best song ever written.

Only one more exam to finish and year one of law school is complete. My Civil Procedure take home is sitting on top of my mountain of Civ Pro books, waiting for my efforts. I'm going to get to work on it shortly. I would've started sooner but my laptop decided to fuck me over.

I think the AC adapter is shot cause I noticed that it was running on battery power Thursday. I shut it down and put it aside with an hour and 15 worth of power left. I figured that I should wait until I had some free time in the very near future, then use that time to get all of my important shit off of that death trap. I got impatient and tried to do that this morning. I guess in eMachines computer time "an hour and 15 minutes" means "eh, about 20 minutes" cause that's when it shut down for good.

I managed to get the important stuff, my school folder and my copy of the Chronicles of Narnia trailer (hey, I started panicking and it was on the desktop so I saved it), onto my flash drive. The laptop shut down in the middle of burning a CD with more of my shit, so that kind of sucked.

Here's the plan. I ordered an AC adapter that should be here by the end of the week. I hope to God that is the problem/solution. I'm going to use it to turn on my computer, copy all of my files, and then fuck it. I'm buying a new laptop. I don't see how I can trust putting anything on this one, especially my school work. If I got it back up and running, it could royally fuck me over if it crapped out the night before I have a major assignment due. I'm not going to let this piece of shit affect my professional career. This one has been nothing but problems for the last six months anyway. It's been overheating a lot. I found a Gateway that I am going to get. I'm probably going to order it Tuesday, after I recover from the sick amount of drinking I'm going to do after exams are finished.

If the AC adapter thing doesn't work, I'm going to need to call in some technical help. Either I'm going to find someone to charge my battery or possibly get the hard drive out of there. I just want my files. Fuck the computer.

I'm pissed so I figure it's a good time to work on Civ Pro.

He said that he thinks President Bush is "a loser."

Uh, gee, Harry. My memory isn't so good but I think I remember an election last November where your party got spanked like a bitch. You know, Bush re-elected, Republican gains in Congress, you getting your current job when Tom Daschle got shown the door. I feel sorry for Democrats. This guy is their leadership.

sucks.

I'd type out a rant against the Marquette board of trustees but I'm feverishly working away on my Con Law take home exam. I will be in attendance at the protest tomorrow though.

The Volokh Conspiracy is highlighting funny shit the Justices have written in opinions.

You know you are a law geek when you consider this stuff to be humor.

EDIT: This one is too good to not highlight...

Justice Rehnquist in Ornelas v United States, discussion the suspicion aroused by a car with out of state license plates in Milwaukee in the winter:
"And while the city's salubrious summer climate and seasonal attractions bring many tourists at that time of the year, the same is not true in Decemeber."

You can tell that the Chief is from here.

Christopher Hitchens talks straight about North Korea.

He's actually been there, so he's not some egghead pontificating from an office or a classroom.

I've fucked it up. This tends to happen during exams... and spring and winter break, long weekends, marathon nights of drinking, Tuesdays, and pretty much any other time. But it's much more damaging during exams. I have a study group to be at tomorrow morning and I'll probably be groggy and useless for the first hour or so until my brain decides to roll out of bed and join the rest of my body in the law library.

I took a break from Con Law to enjoy a little Internet excitement and Moonraker on Encore. Not Bond's finest film. But it's got Richard Kiel as Jaws so I'll watch for the duration.

Going over Con Law is seriously depressing. Don't get me wrong, I find the subject very interesting. If I felt like I could make any sort of decent living out of it, I'd love to go into the field. To be completely honest, I'm in this field for two reasons. 1. Intellectual curiosity. I want to know the law and understand my rights as an individual. Helping other people understand their rights is a satisfying bonus. 2. Money. I'd like to have a career that pays me well, because economic freedom is important to personal freedom. I want to be able to retire early and do what I want with the rest of my time, sort of like Ben Franklin did.

Back to the depression. I get depressed because I am certain the 98% of the US population has no real grasp of what the Constitution says and what it means. I don't mean this in any kind of Jay Leno, pop quiz, "what's Amendment __ say?" type of thing. I don't think people know that the Constitution is the structural framework of the government. It's the who's got what power and why.

If by some act of Satan I was made president, this is the first thing I'd do. I would declare a national holiday and shut everything down for one day, maybe two if another day was needed. Everyone would go to a local government building that their tax dollars built. There they would get a copy of the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, and the debates from the Constitutional Convention. Then everyone would start reading. Read Article 1, read the corresponding parts of the other two books, then discuss it. Look at the limits that the Framers put on Congress, look at the list of powers that Congress has, then compare that to what Congress is today. Then move on to Article 2, lather, rinse, repeat.

I think the whole process would be good for everyone. And they wouldn't be so shocked when President Me gets rid of the Department of Education, the IRS, the Department of Agriculture, and about 100 other bureaucratic hellholes.

Ah yes, the smell of sharpened number 2 pencils is in the air. That can mean one thing, exam season at the law school. Never will you see a group of intellectuals so fucking crazy. Seriously, normally calm and collected people lose their fucking minds over public nuisance, the dormant commerce clause, and personal jurisdiction. I'm sure that I will be out of gas by next Monday when my last exam is turned in. Much beer will be consumed afterwards.

Property was today. I felt a little weird going into it, but was very underwhelmed by it. Maybe I knew the material and just psyched myself out. After 3 and a half hours of work, I was happy with the end product. All that remains in my path is Con Law and Civil Procedure. I'm hoping to get Civ Pro done before Sunday so I can spend the day lounging by the lake at my aunt and uncle's place.

I'm hoping that nothing important is happening in the world since I can't spend hours looking for news stories and commenting on them.

I'm taking a break from studying to wish all the Communists a hearty "fuck off" on this May Day holiday. You belong in the trash can of history.

Property exam tomorrow at 9:30. Wish me luck.