« September 25, 2005 - October 01, 2005 | Main | October 09, 2005 - October 15, 2005 »
GW Law Profs Blogging Like MadMEN
I noted the other day that GW's SBA seems to be getting its online house in order, but I would be remiss if I did not also note the veritable explosion of GW professors entering (or already in) the blawgosphere. As far as I know, blogging GW professors include:
- Paul Butler at blackprof.com
- Orin Kerr at The Volokh Conspiracy
- Spencer Overton at blackprof.com
- Daniel Solove at Concurring Opinions and Balkinization
And speaking of blogging professors, why are so many of them male? Or to put it another way, why are so few female?
Ok, I am so wrong about GW's 4 blogging profs being even a little impressive. According to The Conglomerate, the U of Wisconsin Law School has about 16 faculty blogs, at least two of which are by women—Ann Althouse and Nina Camic. And, of course, Christine Hurt is another female professor blogging at The Conglomerate, so maybe there's more balance out there than I realize. Her institution, Marquette U. Law School, also has at least six faculty blogs, so again, GW's four is looking more anemic all the time.
Still, even if GW is not on the top of schools in terms of numbers of blogging profs, these four are four more than existed (or at least four more than I knew about) when I started school two years ago, so I consider this great progress. Blog on, GW profs, blog on!
Posted 10:47 AM | law school meta-blogging
Republicans on the Run
Have you noticed what's going on these days? Yubbledew's approval ratings continue to plummet (with key supporters drifting), and there are so many different scandals and investigations and indictments and criminal proceedings involving Republicans at the moment that I can't even keep up with it all. Some people have suggested this is just the kind of stuff that happens in a second term, and it's true that during the Clinton years we saw plenty of scandals, indictments, and investigations. But that only throws what's happening now into sharper relief b/c during the latter half of the Clinton years the Republicans took control of Congress and therefore had a much better position from which to launch investigations. What's most incredible about all of this is that the Republicans control every branch of government, yet they still can't stop the investigations and indictments. Oh, and now Republicans are at war with each other over the Miers nomination.
No wonder Yubbledew is once again pulling out the “be very afraid” schtick to beat us with, as Arianna Huffington notes:
Looking to bring back the Fear Factor that worked so well in the 2004 campaign, the president boldly declared that the U.S. and its partners “have disrupted at least ten serious al-Qaida plots since September 11 -- including three al-Qaida plots to attack inside the United States. We have stopped at least five more al-Qaida efforts to case targets in the United States or infiltrate operatives into our country.” Holy Moly -- that sounds impressive… and effective… and scary.
That is, until the details of exactly which “serious” plots the president was referring to came out. . . . In other words, it was a Top 10 list more suited to Letterman than a major presidential speech. . . . If this is the best the White House has, then I’m really scared. . . . When asked why the White House would include so many alleged, vague, and seemingly half-baked schemes in a triumphant list of thwarted terrorist plots, yet another federal counter-terrorism official said: “Everyone is allowed to count in their own way.” Especially if they are President of the United States. And have an approval rating of 37%.
The “be very afraid” routine may have gotten Bush elected, but it's looking pretty pathetic today. Can we have the 2006 mid-term elections now, please?
Posted 09:52 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | general politics
GW SBA Online
After three years as a GW student, I just discovered that the GW Law Student Bar Association (SBA—the student government) has a website. From there I see that there's something called the GW Law Lounge. I have no idea what this is, but it's vaguely fascinating to learn that there's this much online activity related to GW that I never knew about. And here I thought I had my finger on the pulse of....what? Nothing. What am I talking about? I've got my finger on the pulse of my coffee cup, dammit! I know where it is at all times because it's a WWFD mug—the big one, ok?
Posted 08:23 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | 3L
Montana Public Defender Act
Since Montana is one of the states where I'd like to get a job (sssh! Don't tell my girlfriend!), I've been reading up a bit on Montana's recently revamped public defender system. As NLADA notes, the state passed the Montana Public Defender Act last June. It supposedly attempts to implement the ABA's 10 Principles of a Public Defense System (PDF). The Act was a response to a lawsuit brought by the ACLU charging that Montana's previous system of indigent defense was insufficient. According to the ACLU, the system was badly in need of reform (but at least it wasn't as bad as its neighbor, ND, where the public defender system is being run by a prosecutor).
From a quick read of the Montana Act, it looks like the legislation takes public defender responsibilities from the county level and moves them to the state level by creating a State Public Defender Office headed by a Chief Public Defender. The Chief will hire one Deputy Public Defender for each of 11 “regions” in the state. I'm not sure how regions are delineated. Those Deputies will then hire and manage public defenders for their regions, and/or contract w/private attorneys to furnish indigent defense. The whole thing will be governed by a Public Defender Commission whose 11 members will be appointed by the governor.
All of this sounds fine and dandy, but what I want to know is: 1) Does this mean they'll be hiring and employing more or fewer public defenders? and 2) How, where, and when should I apply for such a job? The Commission was supposed to have been appointed by July 1, 2005. Did it happen? The state was advertising for a Chief Public Defender, so that's a good sign, and it seems a safe bet that any public defender jobs will be advertised on the state jobs site, as well. But who knows? I guess I'll just have to keep my eyes peeled, but if any one out there has any more info or tips, the comments are always open!
Of course, there are also forces at work encouraging me to go to someplace like Michigan or Illinois. It looks like Cook County might be a good bet in the Land of Lincoln, but what about MI? Washtenaw County (Ann Arbor) would be nice, but it doesn't appear to be hiring at the moment. Not that most openings advertised right now would really be relevant anyway b/c if a public defender's office is advertising a job now, that's a pretty good sign it wants an attorney now—not a year from now after I pass the bar. *sigh*
Posted 04:56 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | Montana crimlaw
Are You Ready to Write?
It's almost that time again—my favoritest time of year! November is National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, for short, and it's now less than a month away! The good and crazy folks who run this quixotic “event” have opened up the forums for 2005 and you can sign up now. They also have a new podcast (here's the feed for subscribing), so they're obviously all cutting edge and crazy. The next month will be tough for silly, deluded NaNo novelists as we try to think up some novel ideas w/out getting too anxious and eager to begin.
But maybe I should be thinking about getting a job rather than about the novel I can't wait to write in November—you think? Nah, me neither.
Posted 09:04 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | NaNoWriMo
Get Your Foundation Laid People
Remember that Hearsay Exceptions movie that Energy Spatula gifted us with a few months ago? Well, if you enjoyed that, then check out the new Evidence Song, also courtesy of Energy Spatula. Yes, she had a really talented evidence class!
So again I'm thinking that this should be a whole series. There must be lots of musical talent running around law schools these days—why not set more legal lessons to music? I'll set up lawschoolrocks.com if you people will bring the noise. Maybe we could get Andrew Raff to rock something up for us. His band certainly rocks (I especially recommend Teenage Symphony—I love that song), so why not?
Posted 08:00 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | ai music law school
Argh, Maties! Bloody Spammers Be Improvin'!
Spam spam spam!
How I loathe spam.
All day all night,
try as I might,
I just can't stop the damn spam!
So have you seen the new comment spam technique? The spammer signs the comment w/an average sounding name (rather than the usual random numbers and digits gibberish) and uses a legitimate blog URL for the “return” url field. The links in the body of the comment are also legit—they go to what appear to be legitimate and innocent blogs. And that's it. But the text of the comment doesn't make logical sense. It starts w/the usual stuff like “I really like your site” or whatever, but then it will just have a couple of these links and some nonsense text. Fine. It looks like spam, but fairly harmless spam. So why would this be worth a spammer's time if it doesn't even point to any spam-like URLs?
The spam URLs are hidden! I don't know how they do it, but the comment itself does not show that there are additional spam links buried in it somehow. However, when you run it through Blacklist, the spam URLs show up to be blacklisted. How do they do that?
I need to upgrade this MT install to MT 3.2! For those who have upgraded, are you finding your spam woes have decreased?
Posted 08:48 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | meta-blogging
International Job Search?
Wisdom Request: If you know anything using a U.S. JD to work in another country, particularly England, please leave whatever advice information you can at Blawg Wisdom. Thanks!
Everything Hurts
No posts here yesterday b/c I ran 24 miles and was just too beat to really do much else w/my day. Yes, the marathon training continues, but it's nearly over now; yesterday was our last big run. It was supposed to be 26 miles but I was again the “designated driver”—the person who stays back w/anyone who is hurt or can't make it for some reason. We made it fine to the 24 mile point, but then an injury forced someone to walk the last two miles and I stayed w/her. So we covered the 26 mile distance, but walked the last two miles. All of that took about 6.5 hours! Imagine running (and walking) for 6 hours straight. It's tough, but I bet it's not as tough as you think. Still, I feel like I've been worked over by a prize fighter or something—like I've been punched in every muscle of my body. I've been quietly hoping I could do a 5-hour marathon (which many marathoners would still consider pretty slow), but judging by how tough our 6-hour pace was yesterday, 5-hours might be too much to ask of this bag of bones.
But regardless of my final time, there's little doubt now that I'll actually finish the marathon. What's less certain is whether I'll be able to raise all of the required donations!
The marathon is now a month away and I want to thank everyone who has given so generously to my fundraising effort, all of which benefits the Whitman-Walker Clinic here in D.C. If you haven't had a chance to give yet, never fear! I'm still plenty far from my required fundraising goal, so anything you can give would still be most appreciated. Donate today! It will take about two minutes and it will go to a terrific cause!
And, as always, if you have more time than money (or would just rather not pull out the credit card), please [nevermind. This has been edited to comply with commercial restrictions]. And as always, thanks!
Posted 11:24 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | marathon
