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“We live in a different world now.”
In an article about his experience of being harassed by security for taking pictures at airports, Patick Smith writes of the phrase “we live in a different world now”:
Not to put undue weight on the cheap prose of patriotic convenience, but few things are more repellant than that oft-repeated catchphrase. There's something so pathetically submissive about it -- a sound bite of such defeat and capitulation. It's also untrue; indeed we find ourselves in an altered way of life, though not for the reasons our protectors would have us think. We weren't forced into this by terrorists, we've chosen it. When it comes to flying, we tend to hold the events of Sept. 11 as the be-all and end-all of air crimes, conveniently purging our memories of several decades' worth of bombings and hijackings. The threats and challenges faced by airports aren't terribly different from what they've always been. What's different, or “too bad,” to quote the New Hampshire deputy, is our paranoid, overzealous reaction to those threats, and our amped-up obeisance to authority.
The most important part of this is that, if our world is different today, it's less because of “the terrorists” than it is because of our response to them. Fear fear fear. I'm really no Hillary Clinton fan, but she sometimes cuts through the middle-of-the-road mediocrity of the “New Democrats” to say something that needs to be said, like this:
“Two weeks ago, [White House political director] Karl Rove ... was telling the National Republican Committee 'Here's your game plan, folks, here's how you're gonna win -- we're gonna win by getting everybody scared again,'” Clinton said. “This crowd 'All we've got is fear and we are going to keep playing the fear card.'”
The pattern is so well-established it's etched into our daily lives. I pray the Democrats will retake at least one house of Congress this fall if only to hold this administration accountable for all the damage it has done to our society and world.
*sigh* It's hard to to be so much of a pollyanna.
Posted 09:04 AM | TrackBack | general politics
Out-of-Placeness
Chief Justice John Roberts was at GW yesterday to judge a moot court competition. I could have gone to see the event except I only heard about it the day before and by then the tickets were long gone. Law-Rah had a ticket and couldn't go. I could have gone and didn't have a ticket.
But the thing is, I don't really care that I missed it. I have little idea of what is really going on at “my” law school and that doesn't bother me. I feel very little connection to the school, and it's pretty clear that I don't appreciate much of what it has to offer, all of which tells me one thing: I never should have come here for law school. Hindsight and all that.
Maybe this is just general law school burnout.
Posted 10:48 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | 3L
30-year-old gag
Sitting in forensics I just remembered: Last week my professor brought an exhibit to class. It was a clear glass jar about 1/3 full with about 6-8 oz. of brownish liquid that was thicker than water but still very liquid. He shook it around and told us it was a piece of evidence used in a case in 1975. He kept lifting it up and swilling it around, shaking it, setting it down on the hard table, talking about it, lifting it up again, swilling it around. Then he told us what the liquid was; it was “stomach contents.” From 1975.
Just thinking about it makes me want to gag.
Aren't you glad I shared?
Posted 04:27 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack | 3L
Clearing the decks: Blonde Jokes, PDs, and statementizing
The semester is kicking into higher gear these days so I haven't had time to post. Instead, here's a list of things that have been occupying my snippets of free time recently.
- Just joking: Have you seen the best blonde joke ever?
- The more the merrier: Defending those People is a new blog by a public defender in southeast Florida.
- Bite your toungue! Advice for young public defenders: “please count to ten and inform your supervisor before you send a letter to the county sheriff like this one (pdf file).”
- Organizing the troops: Montana isn't he only state to recently make moves toward a statewide public defender system—NY may be moving that way, too.
- Organizing the troops II: The piece above links to this great editorial by David Feige explaining why public defender systems are preferable to relying on more ad-hoc assigned-counsel systems for representing indigent criminal defendants.
- Credit where it's due? In law school blogging, 3L Epiphany appears to be the first blawg for law school credit. “This semester I will demonstrate how a law student blog can be an ideal tool for 1) conducting significant research projects, 2) exhibiting marketable skills in an untraditional way, and 3) providing a beneficial service to the larger legal community.” Sounds ambitious, doesn't it? And it sounds like a number of law student blogs that already exist except that its author has been able to convince someone to give him credit for his playtime. Hmm.
- This would be funny if it weren't true: “It has come to my attention that some people are using the ”word“ STATEMENTIZE as though it were a real word.”
- Advice to legal interns: Even if you were “poor white trash and [were] once attracted to bling,” never challenge your supervisor's parking prowess. Never.
- I'm stoopid: What does this t-shirt mean?
Posted 02:25 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack | lists
But Montana's PD reform continues
As Arbitrary and Capricious notes, Montana's new public defender has just told all chief and deputy public defenders in the state that their jobs have been eliminated. This makes sense because the state is moving from a public defender system in which PDs were county employees to one in which all PDs will be state employees.
So what does this mean for a soon-to-graduate law student who would like to become a public defender in Montana? I have no idea. The one report we have of this says that “The terminated chief and deputy chief public defenders can apply for the regional and public defender jobs, according to Hood's letter.” So I assume that most—it not all—former chief and deputy PDs will end up doing much the same thing they do now; the only difference is they will report to the state's chief public defender rather than to a county board. If that's the case, this move won't create any PD vacancies in the state, meaning this move won't change my chances of getting a job there.
I could be wrong, though. I hope so. Fat Tire is widely available throughout Montana.
Other posts about Montana's new public defender system:
Posted 09:23 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack | Montana crimlaw
Chicago is about to get a bit better
As the job search continues, Chicago (or the general “chicagoland area,” as locals seem fond of calling it) is starting to look more and more likely. That's not because I'm thinking I'll find a public defender job there, because frankly, finding a PD job anywhere is no longer something I'm counting on—at least not before I've passed a bar exam somewhere. No, Chicago is looking better because it's a place L. wants to go and it's a place we can both find some kind of work (probably). The current Chicago idea is that I could do document review or volunteer at a PD's office or legal aid office while waiting for my bar results, then be well-positioned for fall/winter hiring at one of the many relatively large public defender offices in the area. Theoretically that could work ok. It's an option, anyway.
And that option just got a little bit better because I just learned that, as of February 10, 2006, Chicago area residents will be able to buy Fat Tire Amber Ale from their local purveyor of fine hopped beverages. Fat Tire is high on my list of favorite beers, but until now it has only been available in the Rocky Mountain west—hence my desire to find a job in that part of the country. Now that New Belgium Brewery is expanding its distribution area, my domiciliary options have expanded, as well!*
* I'm obviously kidding. I mean, who would make a decision about where to live based on the selection of beers available in local stores? ;-)
Posted 03:49 PM | Comments (13) | TrackBack | 3L
