Legal Activism

Painting the house, NPR on in the background, and I hear this Wall Street Week bit about problems in the fast food industry. I've been "teaching" Fast Food Nation this semester, so I turned up the radio to see if the speakers had anything to add. They did—all great stuff about the lawsuits against the fast food industry for failing to warn consumers about the deadly nature of its food. Another tidbit: Those "fresh" salads and sandwiches you're buying at Baja Fresh, Panera, etc, may be even higher in calories and fat than a Big Mac meal from McDonald's. Hold the mayo, no kidding! I know a lot of people think its ludicrous to sue fast food companies because they serve unhealthy food, but it's not as simple as that. These cases have piqued my curiosity because they're at least close to what I'd like to do with a J.D.—use my knowledge of law to improve society. How about some lawsuits against automakers for knowingly building and marketing unsafe SUVs? I know, I know. Your first reaction is, "that's crazy!" But dig a little deeper into our SUV nation and you might change your tune.

Long story short: one of the speakers on Wall Street Week was John F. Banzhaf III, who just happens to teach an infamous class called "Legal Activism" at, yes foks, George Washington University.

Suddenly I really, really want to go to GW. I just hope they come through with some more cash.

Posted 11:51 AM | law school

Saddam Conspiracy

Just for the record: The Tehran Times reports that the U.S. cut a deal with Saddam and Co. to end the "war" quickly. This is certainly one way the dots can be connected; there are obviously others.

UPDATE 4-16-03: Salon's coverage of related issues gives a more complete picture of possible links. I'm not saying I believe it, just tracking the story for the record, so to speak...

Posted 09:49 AM | general politics

Is Apple Hungry?

According to the LA Times, Apple is in talks with Vivendi Universal (a mega-media corporation) to buy Universal Music Group for $5-6 billion. The BBC adds a little to the story, and Scripting News links to Tim Jarret's helpful thoughts. It seems this could be Apple's biggest gamble ever, truly a make or break move.

Apparently Vivendi is in a bit of trouble—who knew? It's been talking with potential buyers for lots of its assets for months. According to the Columbia Journalism Review, Vivendi is not the biggest media player, but it's big. Apple couldn't become a mega-corporation, could it? Perhaps I should start learning Linux....

UPDATE: The NY Post reports that Microsoft is now interested in Universal Music, as well. The NY Times says the Apple deal is unlikely.

Posted 09:43 AM | mac geek

Get Your War On

Cartoonist David Rees has been busy working on his subversive/satirical strip, "Get Your War On," including a tribute to Mister Rogers, some good jabs at the whole "freedom fries" thing, and the news that your tv's endless loop of statues of Saddam Hussein falling is the antidote to 9/11! (What do you think—is it working?) But one of my all-time favorite lines from Rees's strip is still the one from last February about The Son of Patriot Act:

You think once they have Benjamin Franklin's body spinning in his grave fast enough, they'll be able to power an internal combustion engine with it?

Doesn't that just explain everything? That's even better than turning turkey guts into oil. Strategery, I tell ya!

Posted 09:08 AM | general politics

Tracking the Chaos

Taking a cue from Ditzy Genius, your humble blogger will today experiment with a new feature:

A Few Comments About Things In The News

1. JD2B (who doesn't seem to have permalinks, dammit! scroll way down to posts from 4/6) points to a shocking "think-piece" printed in the Wall Street Journal that argues that conservatives are not well-represented among law school professors. Comment: Yay! More seriously, the authors' point is that lots of people are left out of higher education, therefore affirmative action is silly. I wonder if they think conservatives have suffered discrimination and other forms of oppression for hundreds of years in the U.S. Probably, they do. I also wonder if they've stopped to consider what motivates conservatives to go to law school. Do conservative law students aspire to become professors? A few do, perhaps, but I'd guess the majority of conservative students aspire to big jobs in BigLaw where they can maximize discretionary income, which means very few end up in academia.


2. How the Rich Go to War from James Ridgeway. "A list of military men and women who have so far died in Iraq shows that most are middle or working class." I've been wondering if anyone was tracking this. Apparently so.


3. Get Ready for Patriot II: How much liberty will you trade for the holy grail of "security"? Isn't our freedom what makes us secure, rather than the other way around?


4. A Warmonger Explains War to a Peacenik: Brilliant. It's incredible how often the reasons for war changed, and how flimsy and fabricated the majority of the reasons turned out to be. Many will say that none of this matters now—we've been to war, it's virtually over, so how we got here is irrelevant. That's only true if we're eager for history to repeat itself. Perpetual war for perpetual peace? No thanks.


5. I Should Not Be Allowed to Say the Following Things: Tell that to John Kerry. And for you TMBG fans out there: "I should be allowed to glue my poster, I should be allowed to think!"


6. This is what war looks like: Army Chaplin offers Baptisms and Baths and soldier who shoots child says "I did what I had to do."


7. You knew the movie "Top Gun" was all about guys w/hardbodies playing with each other, but did you know it was a cautionary tale against homosexuality? I wish I could rattle off movie review blog posts this smart.

Posted 06:41 AM | Comments (2) | general politics

Faxing for Financial Aid

The key phrase for trying to get a law school to give you more money once you have other offers is "letter of reconsideration." That's what you need to send your preferred school to ask them to "reconsider" your financial aid offer to match or exceed an offer you've had from some other school. At least that's what the helpful woman at GW's financial aid office told me. So fax I did, and the final decision about where I will go to school this fall is postponed once again.

[begin navel-gazing:] I also sent a fax to American's financial aid office to apprise them of the aid offers they're competing against because, well, I really liked American. I know rankings are meaningful and everything, but I still can't figure out how much they're going to matter to someone who would rather cut his fingers off one-by-one with a rusty knife than work for some BigLaw firm. (Ok, yes, I'm exaggerating, but I just can't see ever wanting to work at a firm.) I know the non-profits and government agencies I'd prefer to work for probably care about rankings, too, but ... how much? I know there's no good answer to that question, (see the great ongoing discussion about rankings at who stole the tarts and all the other places Alice helpfully links to) so my approach is to follow the money. If American comes through with a sweet package, I'll seriously consider it. Otherwise, I'll go with GW's rank and reputation and that will be just fine, too. [end navel-gazing]

Posted 10:26 PM | Comments (1) | law school

What was ever good about Ashcroft?

Kaplan sends me this periodic "law school edge" email for some reason I cannot identify; however, a recent edition contained the following little bit of info:

George Washington University constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley backed John Ashcroft's nomination as attorney general, convinced the former Missouri senator would enforce certain laws of the land, such as Roe v. Wade, even though he disagreed with them. That was then. Now Turley is leading the outraged charge against the attorney general for trampling the Constitution. In an op-ed piece, Turley wrote that Ashcroft "has moved from merely being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional menace."

I really don't know what to make of that. I mean, I'm glad Turley's seen the light, but the fact that he once supported and trusted Ashcroft—even for a moment—makes me ... shall we say ... less than eager to take classes from him. Of course, it's always good to know and understand the opposition, and perhaps Turley's position is something I will understand better once I know more about constitutional law.

Posted 10:06 PM | general politics law school

Negotiation Question

Current law students and lawyers and law professors: Is it possible to play one school off of another to try to get more financial aid? If so, how would I go about doing this? Do I talk to the admissions people? What do I say? "Hi, I've got a better offer at a better school, can you make your school more attractive to me, please?" Feel free to leave anonymous comments if you're worried about saying something that might somehow incriminate you. ;-) Thanks!

Posted 11:45 AM | law school

Advice from the Trenches

Alice offers some good perspective on how to view the recently released 2004 U.S. News rankings . The best idea she has is to visit the schools you're looking for and to talk to as many random students as possible. I did a little of this, but I wish I'd done more—you can get incredibly good insight about the school this way. Alice also links to this huge list of books you might want to read before law school. Summer reading, anyone?

Waddling Thunder adds a bit of a caution against focusing too much on the strength of a particular specialty at the school you may attend. Also something good to consider.

The above link to the rankings comes courtesy of JD2B, which is also tracking many schools' responses to their rise or fall in the numbers this year. Meanwhile, the Leiter Rankings offer still more information for your consideration.

Posted 11:42 AM | law school

Find What You Were Looking For?

A selection of recent searches that brought visitors to ai:

1. dog is my co pilot
2. cost of law school
3. practice lsat
4. iraq and currency and march 19 2003
5. definition of false consciousness
6. see i don't need to explain why i say things
7. bush speeches god
8. regime change begins at home
9. scientia potentia
10. download safari v62 new
11. legal job market
12. life -the misery
13. blog pre law law school application
14. the world is ending when
15. harvard sucks and princeton doesn't matter

My favorites: 12 and 15. What motivates a search like "Life! The Misery!"?

Posted 11:24 AM | Comments (1) | meta-blogging

Mail Call

News from the realm of law school applications:

Thank you for your application to the University of Michigan Law School. While you are without question a strong candidate, we are unable to offer you admission at this time. We have instead placed you on our waiting list for further consideration should space become available.

Ding! Ok, 3/4 ding. I got about the same thing from GULC, but GULC made sure to tell me they've got a priority waiting list as well as just a regular waiting list, and I was on the latter. The wouldn't tell me my rank on the list, but I asked how many people were on their priority list and the answer was a curt, "hundreds." So GULC was effectively a ding. (I've got to remember to send them my thanks but no thanks card.)

Michigan's a little different though. I've heard they really use their list, maybe, and they offer the option to start in May, which supposedly increases your chances of moving from wait list to in list. So, even though L. and I are about to sign a lease for a place in Silver Spring, MD, I've decided to stay on Michigan's list to see what happens. If they offer admission sometime in the next few months, we'll see where things are. Meanwhile, I'll assume I'm going to GW and make plans accordingly.

That means I need to send that thanks but no thanks letter to GM, as well, and I guess BC. BC came through over the weekend with a pretty nice aid package, and I also applied for a 2/3 tuition public interest scholarship that I haven't heard a decision on, so I'm reluctant to tell them no thanks already. Still, I just can't see going there, so I probably should tell them that, but....

And you know, I'm fully aware I'm very lucky to have these choices and decisions to make. A year ago, I'd always dismissed thoughts of law school because I honestly assumed I wouldn't be able to get into any school worth attending. (There were other reasons, too, of course.) Who woulda thunk it would turn out like this?

Posted 07:38 AM | law school

Kids These Days II

Last week The Volokh Conspiracy noted that today's students might be more likely to oppose war because they're being taught to avoid violence in general. Unlike my post the other day, this Washington Post story argues that a lot of young people today are critical of the Bush Administration's policies because the administration seems to be acting like little more than a schoolyard bully writ large. This certainly makes sense, and it's something I've been thinking about since all this talk of war began. (What was it, just nine months ago?) Why do we teach our children one thing about how to deal with problems (talk them out, be reasonable, respect differences and seek compromise, avoid violence, etc), yet stand by complacently while our government engages in all the behaviors we counsel our children against? Is interpersonal conflict resolution so different from international conflict resolution? Apparently so:

Zach Clayton, student chairman of the National Association of Student Councils, wonders whether the interpersonal skills taught in school should even be applied to international relations. "We're quick in third grade to teach nonviolent resolution strategies," he says, "but by our junior or senior years in college we know that countries can't always play paper-rock-scissors."

Isn't that great? By the time we're "adults," we've learned to accept that violence is actually a good—or at least necessary—thing. Silly rabbits, non-violent conflict resolution is just for kids!

Posted 07:31 AM | general politics

Big Big Big Media

So is there anything wrong with one company or corporation owning a large number of media outlets? Yes, Houston, I think we have a problem:

In a move that has raised eyebrows in some legal and journalistic circles, Clear Channel radio stations in Atlanta, Cleveland, San Antonio, Cincinnati and other cities have sponsored rallies attended by up to 20,000 people. The events have served as a loud rebuttal to the more numerous but generally smaller anti-war rallies.

The sponsorship of large rallies by Clear Channel stations is unique among major media companies, which have confined their activities in the war debate to reporting and occasionally commenting on the news. The San Antonio-based broadcaster owns more than 1,200 stations in 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Regardless of your feelings about the U.S. attack on Iraq, it's not hard to see how the increased concentration of media outlets into ever fewer hands threatens freedom and democracy—in the U.S. and elsewhere. And right now is the time to be concerned: The FCC is currently deciding whether to further reduce regulations that limit media ownership. For more, follow Jeffery Chester's ongoing coverage here, here, and here. Luckily, not all the news is bad. As Robert McChesney and John Nichols report, FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps has taken a stand against further media concentration:

Copps has taken the law establishing the FCC literally. "That phrase, 'serving the public interest, convenience, and necessity,' appears 112 times in the statute. So I think Congress was serious about us serving the public interest," the commissioner says. "When you're talking about something like the airwaves, it's not just something of interest between different companies, between the wealthy and the very wealthy, because those airwaves, in fact, belong not to those companies but to the people of the United States of America."

See that? We own the airwaves, and they're worth billions! (insert evil cackle and Austin Powers' patented pinkie salute here) But seriously, take a minute to tell the FCC that you value a diversity of voices in American news and entertainment (click "Broadcast Ownership" button). Ask them to vote to maintain current restrictions on media ownership in order to protect the public interest in a free press.

(You might also note the FCC's feedback page gives you many options to comment on other contentious issues, including how TVs are built, whether phone solicitations should be further regulated (please, please!), digital rights management for TV broadcasts, and more. Just FYI, if you care about any of these issues.)

Posted 07:16 AM | general politics

Campaign Finance Reform

Professor Cooper notes that there's something strange going on with the panel of judges assigned to hear the campaign finance reform case. According to the Washington Post, the judges may not be getting along for some reason. While the leaked information about the internal politics of these three judges is interesting, I'm more interested in what they finally have to say about the case itself. I wrote a few law school scholarship and admissions essays on the subject of campaign finance reform—it's a subject near and dear to me because I'm convinced that there's no hope the U.S. will ever have an effective and just democracy if we do not radically change the way we fund political campaigns. The McCain-Feingold bill is definitely flawed, but I haven't been able to follow the pro/con arguments closely enough to know whether it's so bad we should scrap it. It seems we've got to start somewhere, but...

Posted 05:55 PM | general politics

Academic Life

This week's Chronicle of Higher Education featured a personal essay from "Catherine Evans" (not her real name), a tenure-track faculty member in the humanities at a major, "near-Ivy" university. This professor is leaving academia (in the humanities) for a lot of the same reasons I've decided to leave—the work is never-ending, thankless, isolated and isolating, and invades every aspect of your life. Her moment of truth sounds like the future in which I worried I'd find myself trapped if I stayed in academia:

So there I was, caught in a job that made me miserable rather than excited, modeling for my toddler son a disheartening priority of rationalized duty over fulfillment, and apologizing to colleagues for the activities that energized me the most. I thought about spending the next 30 years or so of my professional life as an academic. I began imagining alternatives.

Alternatives are good. L. (who is also leaving academia) and I like to joke about academia as a deep hole and academics as diggers. You start digging when you head to grad school, and the closer you get to tenure, the deeper your hole becomes. And as your hole becomes deeper, you steadily lose your ability to see the world around you; dig long enough to get tenure, and the only part of the world you'll be able to see is the tiny speck of sky at the top of your hole high above you. (Imagine being trapped at the bottom of a deep, deep well.) This is why it's so hard for academics to see alternatives and pursue them—they're too deep in their academic holes. I'm sure climbing out was hard for Evans, but once you start, it certainly gets easier.

(If anyone reading this is thinking about going to graduate school in the humanities, please read Invisible Adjunct's advice and think again.)

Posted 05:54 PM | Comments (1) | life generally

Self Evident

Joining a growing number of artists opposed to the war on Iraq (and the Bush Administration more generally), Ani DiFranco has released "Self Evident" as a free download. A few choice lines:

Take away our play stations,
and we are a third-world nation
under the thumb of some blue-blood royal son
who stole the Oval Office in that phony election.
I mean, it don't take a weather man to look around and see the weather—
Jeb said he'd deliver Florida, folks, and boy did he ever!

And we hold these truths to be self-evident:
Number one: George W. Bush is not president.
Number two: America is not a true democracy.
and Number three: The media is not fooling me.

Ani rocks.

If you want to build your own pro-peace sampler, check out Salon's list of links to other free mp3 downloads from the likes of the Beastie Boys, Billy Bragg, Chumbawumba, and more... (Just one reason you won't regret your subscription to Salon...)

Posted 08:59 AM | general politics