Voices and Choices

I just noticed that Blonde Justice is starting to get into listening to podcasts. She's asking for recommendations, so if you have any, please let her know. I don't really have any because, well, the only podcast I listen to w/any regularity is Dave Winer's Morning Coffee Notes. Strange, I know. There are probably lots of good legal podcasts, but, well, I don't know. I'm such an NPR addict that I don't often feel like I have time to listen to other things. What I'd really like a podcast of is This American Life—without question the best radio evar! I assume they don't make mp3 versions available because it would hurt cd sales or something. Too bad.

But hey, even if I don't listen to any podcasts regularly or religiously, I haven't forgotten about podcasting. In fact, I'm thinking it's about time to crank up the “ambivalent voices” machine again and see what we can come up with. Would you like to be a “guest” on the “show”? If so, drop a line in the comments or send me an email. It's pretty painless—I call you, we talk, I add some music and edit out the parts where we both sound stupid, and then I post it online for all the world to hear. This is looking at you, Blonde Justice, as well as all of you cool cats who have just taken passed the bar. I would love to talk to you about the experience while it's still fresh in your mind, and I'm sure lots of people would like to hear about it. Other people/topics also welcome, of course, but those are what come to mind at the moment.

Oh, and looking ahead, Blawg Wisdom will be hosting Blawg Review on Sept. 5th, and then the review will be here at ai on Sept. 26th. (Geez, how did that happen?!?) The Blawg Wisdom version is supposed to be a special “back to school” edition of the review, so I'm thinking it would be great to have a podcast with lots of voices talking about going back to school. Perhaps I could get a dozen (or half dozen?) people to just say briefly the one piece of advice they'd give to students about law school, or describe briefly the most important thing to do or remember or not do or forget. What do you all think? Other ideas for incorporating a podcast into the back-to-school blawg review are welcome.

Finally, I'd also like to experiment w/Skype as our medium of communication/recording, so if you're into that, let me know that, too. I was going to do that w/Dave! long ago, but maybe when he gets back from London. (WTH? Why is he in London, anyway?)

Posted 03:58 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack | voices

Representin'

Finally! I represented a client in court yesterday! And while that sounds neat, and it definitely was, it wasn't very exciting for anyone but me. I said very little, did very little, in fact, but it was still cool. It was an agreed guilty plea (which I helped negotiate), which means I basically just had to say “yes, your honor” and “there's also the matter of the capias, your honor,” and “thank you, your honor.” Big deal, right? But hey, we all have to start somewhere.

I haven't said much more about the summer job for lots of reasons. One is that the Scoplaw has been providing a few good updates about the place we both work, e.g.: here, here, and here. No need for us to duplicate stories (although he's getting more than I am this summer in the story department, I think). But there's also the whole dooce thing, which is all too possible in a public defender internship. Check this out. Yeah, I think I'll stay with the minimal disclosure, thanks. What I wouldn't give to see that blog, though...

Posted 09:09 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | 2L summer

Rock the CasBar

No one who is taking the bar this week is going to be reading blogs, and this may come late (some bar exams, like Virginia's, were yesterday, I think, and Pennsylvania's is already on its second day), but who cares? As Kristine says, good luck to you all anyway!

And for those of you who have finished, Congratulations!! How did it go?

Posted 06:53 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | law school

I'm Not a Libertarian

I'm chanting the title of this post like a mantra to keep perspective on this whole Maryland tax issue. I spent about an hour on the phone with people in various Maryland tax offices trying to figure out what they think is going on. First, I learned that they are trying to charge me MD state income tax for tax year 2002. That's all well and good, except that I don't think even set foot in Maryland, let alone lived there, until 2003, so their claim is clearly baseless. But the second thing I learned is that I have to prove it. I had to fax them my 2002 tax return and W2 form to prove I was really a resident of another state in 2002.

That's right: Maryland (or probably any other state) can bill you for taxes from three or four years ago and even threaten to garnish your wages—even if you had absolutely zero connection to Maryland during the time for which they are billing you—and you either have to pay or prove they made a mistake. Why should I have to prove them wrong? Why isn't the burden on them to prove they're right?

Ok. Mantra. They have to have the presumption here or they would spend all their time and resources proving their claims and have no time or resources left to actually collect taxes in an efficient way that benefits everyone who lives in or visits Maryland. Mantra.

But why did this happen to both me and my girlfriend? To me it looks like they're fishing for extra tax liability in a way that goes beyond a reasonable assumption. They claim that we probably received these bills because when we filed our 2002 returns we used a Maryland address. Since we filed in 2003 for tax year 2002, and we actually did move to Maryland for a few months in 2003, this seemed possible. But then I checked and neither of us used a Maryland address on a tax return ever. I told the MD tax people this and they just shrugged (over the phone no less—it was pretty amazing). So why are we being harassed like this? I dunno. My best guess is that MD just looks at change of address records from the postal service or something and if you've ever received mail in MD or paid a bill in MD or I don't know what, then they go back a year and assume you owe taxes there. The most helpful tax worker told me they spent lots of time fielding calls from people like me (at least 100 people/day) who are upset that they're getting back tax notices. She said about 50% of them actually do owe something, so it's worth MD's time to deal with the other 50% who don't. Hmmph. Mantra.

Posted 06:45 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack | life generally

No Rascal For Us

After spending far too much time last week considering whether to get another dog, and after getting approval from the landlord to do so, I went to work yesterday morning thinking we were probably going to have two dogs soon. However, I was greeted with the news that somebody else took Rascal last Friday and he is already happily enjoying his new home somewhere in Pennsylvania with a building contractor who plans to take him to work every day, take him kayaking on weekends, and give him an acre of land to frolic in. Hmph. I can't really compete with that, can I?

While it's a little sad, I know it's all for the best—both for Rascal and for us. We were pretty ambivalent about getting another dog at this time. I think we both like the idea, but for all the reasons you all mentioned in the comments here and for others, now seems like not the best time. We had basically decided that we would be able to give Rascal a good home if his owner couldn't find anything better for him, but something better is exactly what she found! So it's all good for everyone.

I learned something though: The next time someone asks you if you know anyone who wants a dog, just say no. ;-)

Posted 06:55 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | life generally

The Rehnquist Conspiracy

Since the end of the Supreme Court term I've been trying to figure out why Chief Justice Rehnquist has not stepped down from the Court. His health is poor and if I were him, I'd really want to spend a few years of my life doing something other than sitting on the bench. Then, when O'Connor retired, I figured, well, Rehnquist can't be far behind. Yet there he sits, unmoved.

Why could that be? What could he be thinking? Here's a theory: Rehnquist knows he should step down and may even wish he could. However, he also knew long before the rest of us that O'Connor was ready to go so he decided to hold on for at least one more term (if he can). He knew that if he stepped down and Bush appointed someone like him (which Bush would have done), the balance on the Court would not have changed. However, now that O'Connor is gone and Bush has nominated someone much more likely to agree with Rehnquist than O'Connor ever was, Rehnquist can stay in the hope that if he gets at least one full term with a solid right wing majority behind him he can really get U.S. law headed in the, um, right direction again.

And whether Rehnquist has thought any of these things is irrelevant. It looks like that's what's going to happen, regardless. Listening to NPR recently (Justice Talking—the show is available for download ) I heard Nadine Strossen of the ACLU say that O'Connor's replacement will effectively have the power to amend the constitution. I guess I hadn't thought of it that way, but yeah, that's how important this nomination is. Heaven help us.

Posted 06:51 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack | general politics law general

Ambits Is Back!

Since the last redesign of the imbroglio I've been missing the ambivalent bits sidebar from the old design. Ambits provided a way for me to point readers to interesting things I'd noticed around the web but which I didn't have time or desire to make the subject of a regular post. The only problem was: No one seemed to read it.

Now, thanks to Andrew Raff and his link to this terrific Hit Or Miss tutorial, ambits is back—and better than ever! Now, instead of being relegated to a sidebar that no one reads, each day's bits will appear at the top of that day's blog entry in this main column so you can't miss them. (I thought they might also appear in the RSS feed, but I guess not. Sorry.) The bits are offset by being slightly indented, smaller, and on a light grey background. There you'll find links to random things I find interesting or entertaining. Generally the bits will consist of the headline or title of whatever I'm linking to, plus the most important, pithy, or memorable sentence in that piece. If you see something in italics, that's my own commentary on the link. Enjoy!

Posted 05:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack | meta-blogging

An Open Letter to Maryland Tax Authorities

Dear Comptroller of Maryland,

I'm writing to let you know that your office may be at serious risk of a class action for harassing the public. I lived in Maryland for a grand total of five months in 2003, during which time I neither owned property nor earned any income from anywhere. Yesterday I opened my mail to find a bill from you for $1,832.53 for back taxes. Um, excuse me? Taxes? For what? Not only that, but it's a very threatening bill, a “final notice” that says you're going to garnish my wages or take some other drastic action to take from me this money I do not owe. FYI: I have no income to garnish, so good luck with that.

But seriously, this is ridiculous. You sent my girlfriend similar letters months ago and tried to bill her for Maryland income taxes for 2002. That might be fine except that she lived and worked in Illinois in 2002! Then you had the gall to force her to prove that she lived in Illinois in 2002 by making her send you something from the state of Illinois as proof. It's one thing for you to make an egregious mistake; it's another to force her to go out of her way to prove that you're mistaken. If you ask me, the burden of proof should be on you to show at least some minimal evidence that you have a basis for your tax claims, rather than forcing good taxpaying citizens to waste their time proving how wrong you are in order to protect their wages from your greedy garnishment actions.

Don't get me wrong: I think taxes are great and I will happily pay my fair share. But just now, I've got nothing to spare and since I haven't really had any income for going on three years now, I really don't appreciate being slapped with a huge and threatening income tax notice from a state where I only lived for five brief and income-free months. Please, if you must harass someone, find a target who at least has some money to collect!

Yours in really resenting this threatening and absolutely baseless bill you sent me,

-ambimb

Posted 04:54 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | life generally

16 Mile Can'tWalk

I'm not a model on the catwalk, I'm a dawdle on the can'twalk. It's what happens when you run 16 miles. At least it's what happens when I run 16 miles, which I did this morning after barely running at all for the last two weeks. Can you believe it!? I can't, but there it is. It probably wasn't a good idea to do so much today, but that's what the program said to do and wow, it sure feels good to have it under my belt.

The reason I haven't been running much recently is that I have a new enemy called my iliotibial band . This little introduction to the problem of “IT Band Syndrome” pretty well describes what's going on. For a while I was concerned that I might not be able to run the marathon, but now I'm thinking I can beat it. Thanks to my best friend SuperD, I have lots of stretches to do, plus it's almost like I can now say I do yoga! The rest, stretching and ice help, as does ibuprofin, but I wouldn't have been able to get through the miles today without one of these little velcro bands. I know it's no cure, but at least it gets me down the road. The good news about IT band syndrome is that, although it can hurt so much you can't even bend your leg, it's not a sign you're doing any permanent damage to your knees. So.... onward to the marathon!

Thanks so much to SuperD and Mr. P and M for their incredibly generous donations to the Whitman-Walker Clinic and my marathon effort. I definitely couldn't be doing this without you!

If you would like to help out the clinic and my marathon, you can also donate! Whitman-Walker and its many clients need our help now perhaps more than ever. And did you know the “Whitman” in Whitman-Walker is none other than Walt (the poet)? That's what this article says—so of course it's a worthy cause!

The spotted hawk swoops by and accuses me, he complains of my gab and my loitering. I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable, I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world. —Song of Myself

Now we're talking! How can you say no to that? Oh, and there's also the little fact that I signed a, ahem, contract today that gave the clinic permission to charge my credit card for whatever of my $1700 goal I haven't raised by the end of August (yikes!). There's still plenty left before I reach the goal so anything you can spare would be much-appreciated. Thanks!

Posted 01:45 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | marathon