Double Announcement Day

Apple introduces the new iMac (coverage fromMacCentral, Reuters, and AP). Six Apart introduces Movable Type 3.1, including the new plugin pack. Wow, it's like Christmas in August or something. UPDATE: If all went well, ai should now be coming to you courtesy of MT 3.1. Whoa there! No need to get so excited! There's plenty for everyone...

Posted 07:50 PM | Comments (3) | mac geek meta-blogging

Day One, Year Two

Like a truck slamming into you on the highway. That's how the semester begins. Even on day one, there are reading assignments to do and discuss, and student organizations and extracurriculars are hitting the ground running. Yesterday my classes began at 8:50 a.m. and didn't end until 5:50 p.m. Sure, I had breaks in between, but they were filled with running around to the bookstore, financial aid, registration, and other administrivia. Long day. Packed day, a day when suddenly every moment of my time for the next three months seemed to fill up to overflowing. And of course it's not like that; it's never as hard as it seems to be, but on day one, sitting in class again for the first time in months, it can be a little discouraging to think of all the reading that lays ahead of you, all the classes you must attend, all the hoops you must jump through. Of course, it's also a little exciting, too, because there's a lot to learn, and at least some of it will be fascinating and useful and worthwhile. Yin. Yang. One thing I'm not so sure about though: The conventional wisdom is that the second year of law school is somehow easier than the first year. I'm not sure how that could be true. I mean, yes, it's easier in that you know a little more about what to expect so you don't have to deal with all the newness and uncertainty of your first year, but the workload seems, if anything, greater this year than last. Perhaps that's not true. I guess I'll find out. The schedule for this year includes the following classes, three of which met yesterday. Highlights from the notes:

• Evidence: Every attorney and every person should know about the rules of evidence—everything you say or do is evidence of something. "That oughta worry the hell out of ya." (We also watched a few minutes from the film, "Brother's Keeper"—I guess we're going to be talking about it in terms of how we could use the different pieces of evidence raised by the murder investigation it documents.)
• Labor Law: 25 years ago, the stock market was at 1000, now it's at 10,000. Stockholder wealth is up 10 times. 25 years ago CEOs earned 40-1 what average worker earned, now it's 500-1. When American CEOs travel around the world they are embarrassed about this. Meanwhile, employee wages have remained stagnant. 1.3 million more in poverty this year than last. Gap between rich and poor is getting wider b/c people in bottom 20% have no voice. 45 million Americans have no health coverage at all, at least 30 million of those work and either have no health care option or an option that's too expensive so they can't afford it. Every other group in our society is organized because we recognize that we need to be organized to have any political power in America, yet society tells workers they don't need to organize. Why not?
• Corporations: American business is not about business, it's about the stock market. This single-minded focus on Wall Street is a damaging, long-term problem that will ultimately destroy corporate capitalism in America unless something changes, and it's all because of the historical development of the corporations in America. We read Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 17 U.S. 518 (1819)—"the emancipation proclamation for corporations" because it's the decision that made them independent juridical persons.
• ConLaw II: Hasn't met yet.

So far, so good. I expect evidence will be interesting but a little bit of a slog because I'm not a big fan of rules classes, I'll be loving labor law, and corporations is going to be a big challenge because even though the professor seems highly critical of "American Corporate Capitalism," I'm guessing his critique is still a lot more pro-business than mine. ConLaw II should also be interesting, but I'll find out more about that today...

Posted 07:33 AM | Comments (8) | 2L

The Only Reason You Need

The Republican Convention is underway and it seems the news is all Bush, all the time. I'm too busy to follow any of it in much detail, but yesterday I heard possibly the best reason yet why Bush has no business being president (if I wasn't certain of that already, that is). The reason? He admitted he's begun an endless war. Of course, I agree with those who argue that you can't have a war on an idea, like "terror," and I agree that war is terrorism, so Bush is creating terror by waging his so-called war. So I don't agree that we've ever been "at war" against terror. We've been "at war" in Iraq, but that's been a war of choice, not necessity, and I'm confident it will have an end. It must. So basically I disagree with Bush on about every level of his approach to the world we live in today. However, even if I agreed that we've been "at war" against terror, even if i accepted the Bush administration's claims on these issues, I can't see how anyone could accept or support a leader who plans to keep the United States "at war" forever. Is that what we want—to live our entire lives in "wartime"? is that what we want for future generations? To decide that they will be born into and grow up in a warring nation, a nation perpetually and endlessly "at war"? This is not the only option. It's a bitterly cynical condemnation of America and Americans, and expresses a hopeless vision of the future—President Bush's vision of the future. Is that really what you want to vote for? Is that the future you want? So while the Republicans try to transport you back to the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, and play on your fears and emotions stemming from that day, don't forget what happened the next day, and the next, and for several days following 9/11. What happened in those days? The world came together in support of America, and Americans joined together in support of each other, and for a few days it seemed that we we really going to turn our incredible creativity, our massive resources of money and time and human energy toward figuring out why someone would attack us in this way, and toward resolving the problems that create terrorism. For a moment it seemed that instead of lashing out with bombs and bullets, we would bend our nation and all the nations of the world who sympathized so strongly with us in that moment toward creating a better, more peaceful, and secure futurue, a future with less killing and more cooperation and creativity and compassion, a future based on our American idealism and our conviction that peace is not only possible, but that it's better than war and that it always has been and always will be. The Republicans are asking you to think about Sept. 11, 2001, but don't stop there. Think also about that brief moment of hope after the tragedy, that moment when anything was possible, and remember that we don't have to be at war forever just because some regime of cynical warmongers says we do. Bush has made it clear: If you want to be at war forever, vote for him. If you think there's a better way, vote for Kerry. I guess the bright side here is that the choice is very clear. Thanks, President Bush!

Posted 06:39 AM | election 2004