« October 09, 2005 - October 15, 2005 | Main | October 30, 2005 - November 05, 2005 »
ChampionChip Help!
Dear knowledgeable runner readers:
I picked up my race packet today at the pre-race “Expo” and when I got home I read in the “official program” on page 27 the following:
Every runner's race packet includes a ChampionChip. You must activate it at the chip scan booth located in the Packet Pick-up area during the Runners' Expo.
Um, what? No one mentioned this when I picked up my packet and I didn't see a “scan booth” anywhere. The website doesn't mention “activation.” Can anyone tell me anything about this? Do I need to return to the Expo tomorrow to get this thing activated, or what?
UPDATE: Everyone said I needed to go back. So I did, the chip is scanned, and I think I'm set.
Watching Cindy Sheehan Get Arrested
Cindy Sheehan was arrested last night in front of the White House as a result of a protest against the War in Iraq. I was in class when the protest started, but since the White House is only about 4 blocks from GW, I biked over after class managed to catch the cops giving their “final warning” to the protesters. Click here for a short movie of the warning, as well as two law students (myself and a classmate who biked over w/me) sounding silly as we speculate about what actual law these people were supposedly breaking. Apparently you need a permit to lay down on the sidewalk, but don't tell the homeless of this city!
We hung around and watched a bit but since we were forced to stand across the street, it was hard to see much. The police zip-tied the protesters hands and forced them to sit up, then they slowly took them, one-by-one, to the two trucks they had there to haul them away. One strange thing I noticed was that someone seemed to be taking a picture of each protester just before he/she was placed in the truck. The photographer didn't appear to be wearing a uniform, so was that a press person, or a lawyer, or a cop? Not a major fact, but it just seemed odd.
Sheehan says she's going to repeat this protest for four days. I'll take a vote: Should I go join her?
In my “PI Lawyering” class last week we talked about whether getting arrested for civil disobedience could be a problem for being admitted to the bar or getting a job. I argued that it wasn't a crime of moral turpitude so it shouldn't affect bar admittance too badly, and that if an employer didn't like something like that, I didn't want the job. Obviously such a position would dramatically narrow the range of jobs available, but I think the bar admittance thing is really the bigger question. Does anyone know anything about this? Do arrests for civil disobedience create problems for bar membership?
Posted 10:06 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | 3L general politics
Miers Withdraws Herself
NPR is reporting that Harriet Miers withdrew herself from the nomination process for the Supreme Court. I can't find anything online yet, but it should be up in a few minutes.
UPDATE 9:11 a.m.: Ok, the news is confirmed here.
UPDATE 10:45 a.m.: “Harriet Miers” has blackened “her” blog in morning over “her” withdrawal.
More important, check out the posts over at TG's Political Wire on this today. Check out this progression of stories:
- Reports that the White House was planning to deflect attention away from the indictments that are almost certainly coming from Plamegate.
- Reports that the Miers nomination is seriously going to decrease contributions to the Republican party.
- A quote arguing that the Christian right has taken over the Republican party. (Note that Christian conservatives were leading the fight against Miers.)
- And finally, Miers withdraws.
Note that even Miers' letter of withdrawal shows how inappropriate she was for the Supreme Court:
Even as a nominee for the Supreme Court she still speaks of the White House as something she's a part of. And they were trying to tell us she'd be able to separate herself from that on the bench. Right.
I heard someone argue recently that the Yubbledewers never intended Miers to be confirmed; rather, they nominated her knowing she'd fail but knowing also that no one could live up to the standard set by John Roberts. Therefore, the strategy was to put up someone really bad, so that whoever they put up next will seem that much better and people will care less that the next nominee just isn't up to the Roberts level. I disagree that Roberts set such a high bar, although it's funny how much better Roberts looks compared to Miers. Perhaps that was the strategy: Nominate someone totally not qualified just to etch more deeply the impression that Roberts really is qualified.
Ok, I'll stop w/the baseless speculation. This news speaks for itself in enough ways you won't need my rants to put it into context. Although I will say one more cynical thing: Brace yourself because if you thought Miers was bad I'm betting you ain't seen nuthin' yet.
Posted 09:02 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack | general politics law general
Don't Argue With Judges and Other Pending Dooms
Besides marathon prep (which is really all psychological at this point), and thinking a little about NaNoWriMo starting next week, it seems a bit like there's not much going on around here, but that's not exactly true. For one thing, I totally failed in my attempt to write and argue a motion to suppress last week. Thankfully it was a class exercise so no one is going to jail because of my incompetence. Two lessons from that experience:
First, I tend to do better when I think I'm going to lose; I think this is because I am more humble and earnest and attuned to what the judge is saying and how he/she is reacting to what I'm saying. This time I thought I had a slam dunk legal argument and when the judge disagreed, I had nothin'. I was dead. It was ugly.
Second, never argue with the judge. Duh. This is so basic it's humiliating to have to admit I apparently needed to hear it yet again, but there you go. When my slamdunk legal argument fell on deaf ears and I had nothin,' I tried to support my position with argument that was, well, not sufficiently deferential to the, uh, rank and great wisdom of the judge. And, of course, I hadn't prepared very well for that argument b/c I thought the law was so much on my side that I wouldn't need much support for it. That left me just sort of repeating the same things with more and more exasperation, hoping that if I said them firmly and confidently enough, and repeated them enough times, the judge would be persuaded. It didn't work and apparently just made the judge mad. In all, a very bad performance on my part. I hope my real arguments to suppress coming up next week go a little better. I assume I'm going to lose those, so maybe I'll win. ;-)
Besides that, I'm all registered for the MPRE taking place very very soon on Nov. 4, and wow, that's exciting! I haven't lifted a finger in preparation, so I'm thinking the next couple of weeks could kind of suck.
Can anyone tell me what happens if you fail the MPRE? Are there consequences (besides wasting the $55 registration), or can you just take it again the next time?
Posted 09:51 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack | 3L
The World Is Your Bathroom
I forgot to mention yesterday that one of the bits of advice I've heard about running the marathon is that you should never ever ever waste time waiting in a portapotty line. Real runners don't do this, apparently. Instead, they try to find a more or less discrete bush or something and just go. Women are advised to carry with them a large black garbage bag; punch a hole in the bottom and pull it over your head like a poncho, then just squat beneath it and do your business. That's the advice, but I have no idea how many people follow it. I just hope I won't have to pee during the race. On our “practice marathon” a couple of weeks ago this wasn't a problem, but I have seen from our group runs what a time suck bathroom stops can be so I definitely want to avoid or minimize them.
Posted 11:30 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack | marathon
Marathon: One Week Away
It's nearly impossible to believe that the marathon is only one week away! We had our last group training run today and my running group has just about settled on our plans for where to meet before the start of the race and how we hope to pace ourselves to finish. I'm shooting for 5 hours or less, which you may recognize as a pretty slow marathon, but, well, finishing slowly is better than not finishing at all.
I've said it before but I'll say it again: It's hard to believe we've all made it this far. The 8-mile run we did today in 1.5 hours felt like a warmup. That doesn't mean 26 miles is going to be easy next week, but I really do think we're all going to make it and that's what counts.
I've also said this before but it merits repeating: Thank you thank you! to the many people who have given so generously to my marathon fundraising drive. I'm now only a few hundred dollars away from the $1700 I committed to donate, so if you've been thinking about throwing a fiver or a ten-spot or more into the mix but just haven't gotten around to it, it's definitely not too late—you can easily donate right now! And, as always, if you have more time than money, please just [nevermind. This has been edited to comply with commercial restrictions].
At the risk of getting ahead of myself, I'm thinking it would be a big waste to have gotten all trained up for a marathon only to quit running as soon as it's over. So I'm thinking, how about running the Wyoming Marathon on Memorial Day? It's just an idea at this point, but I think it would be a pretty nice way to celebrate graduation from law school, don't you?
Oh, and if you're planning to run the MCM this coming weekend (or any other marathon in the future), you might find some utility in the Marathon Pace Wristband Creator.
