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CrimPro Crash Course
Today promises to be the most important day of the summer internship thus far: The lead attorney in our office (the public defender) will be giving us a 4-hour crash course in criminal procedure. More than half of my fellow interns are rising 3Ls who have had CrimPro already, so they're not looking forward to this. The rest of us, the so-called "rising 2Ls," are waiting with baited breath for all of the stuff we've been observing/working on to start to make more sense. How does the puzzle fit together? I hope to know a lot more about that by this afternoon.
Meanwhile, two more quick lessons from court: First, don't smoke PCP before showing up for your trial. Second, don't spend the 10 minutes in lockup before your hearing verbally abusing the attorney who is about to be an advocate on your behalf. After that kind of behavior (which could be heard throughout the courtroom even through the heavy lockup door), the judge is not likely to find you very credible when you then ask to be released because you're not a threatening person.
Fahrenheit 9/11 coming June 25th
Mark your calendars for June 25th, the opening night for "Fahrenheit 9/11." See the trailer now. (Thanks to Screaming Bean for the heads up.)
It's just coincidence that George Tenent resigned on the same day that this film's trailer went online, right? And those two events couldn't possibly relate in any way to the fact that G.W. Bush has begun consulting attorneys about the unmasking of Valerie Plame, right?
Somewhat related anecdote: While L. and I were biking down around the Mall last Saturday (the day of the big WWII Memorial dedication), we saw a younger guy (late 20s, maybe?) wearing a t-shirt with a big photo of George Bush on the front and big letters reading "Terrorist in Chief." The guy was being heckled by some older men (in their 50s-60s, I'd guess) who were yelling at him saying the shirt was disrespectful. The hecklers were right in one sense — the t-shirt does not show respect for Bush. But the hecklers may be wrong in another since because by showing disrespect for Bush the t-shirt arguably shows respect for the U.S. Constitution and general American ideals of democracy and justice. As energy spatula helpfully explained in these comments, for many veterans (and others, I'm sure), support for the president comes down to a matter of faith:
My grandfather is old-school...he believes in the government and in following orders. He doesn't think the CinC would send us to war without a just reason. Both of them say that it's hard to express to other people what it is that makes you want to serve your country...and I agree. I often have people ask me how I could have joined/served/stayed in the military...for all the reasons you mentioned. And, without overusing a tired cliche, I don't know if I can describe it. You just believe that ultimately you're doing something that's right for America...
I understand that and share the sentiment to some extent — in many ways lots of things in life come down to matters of faith. However, it seems there's a point at which faith becomes blind, and beyond that point I fear it often does more harm than good. I doubt a film like "Fahrenheit 9/11" will convert blind faith into more critical faith for many viewers; the blindly faithful likely won't want to see it, or if they do they'll just be looking for ways to discredit or dismiss the film. And there's sure to be plenty of material in the film to criticize. The point is not that Moore is telling us the unvarnished truth while Bush and Co. are telling nothing but lies. The point is that we owe it to ourselves, our country, the world, to be critical of the stories we're being told, and not to accept those stories blindly. I'm looking forward to "Fahrenheit 9/11" for what it will add to the pool of stories from which Americans decide where to place their faith.
