s t a r r y . d e c i s i s

d o g . d a y

2007-09-04T12:15:00.000-05:00

michael vick. there's a topic about which i have yet to speak.

of course, plenty of other people have said their piece. there's a spoof blog.post by the reverend al sharpton, and most recently, a defense of vick's actions proposed by whoopi goldberg.

do we live in an age where personal responsibility has fallen by the wayside? as a student of the legal system, i find it disturbing that personal responsibility is being discarded in favor of social blame. i understand that environmental factors do, in truth, carry a lot of weight when it comes to shaping an individual.

but never, ever, is cruelty permitted by environment. otherwise, we might as well give a free pass to nazi germany [their economy was in shambles!], the klu klux klan [their social norms were being destroyed!], and terrorism [they're being oppressed by western culture!].

hate to break it y'all: i don't buy it.

o p e n i n g . c e r e m o n i e s

2007-08-29T14:12:00.000-05:00

oh, the beginning of school. the smell of new folders, new book-binding glue, and fear.

hard to believe that just a year ago, we were part of that terrified pack of huddled freshlaws. and now we assert our 2L dominance by passing along horror stories and kernels of wisdom gleaned from a year of panic.

if you have not already, i highly suggest reading buffalo wings & vodka, the preeminent blog for legal humor. it will brighten your day.

o n . d o g s

2007-08-09T22:01:00.000-05:00

get one.

that's all the advice that i have, currently, for anyone entering a stressful situation - mcat preparation, law school round one or round deux, your first real job...

take care to make it a breed that can handle a little alone time. and adopt. i'm not sure i can really stress that point enough. mixed-breeds are overall healthier, more sociable, and less apt to be aggressive.

that's just a fact.

but i, the owner of a supposedly purely-bred golden retriever, am pro-adoption of any dog, pure-bred or mongrel.

there is nothing at all more calming at the end of the day than a good tail-wagging greeting and dog breath.

and the sound of your dog snoring at night? priceless lullaby.

your blood pressure, and a lucky canine from the shelter, will thank you.

m u s i c

2007-08-08T22:32:00.001-05:00

okay. i am a pumpkins fan. scratch that.

i am a pumpkins fiend. lover. adoring, gushing, disgusting worshiper of all things pumpkins.

so how is a die-hard fanatic supposed to feel about zeitgeist, the newest offering from billy corgan and jimmy chamberlain?

it's brilliant, utterly brilliant, just because billy has finally let his inner rock-demon out to play. there's no self-absorption on this record [well, there is, but such a minute amount for mr. corgan that i consider it all but irrelevant].

a few of the songs remind me of previous b-side tracks like "the end is the beginning is the end," but i'm willing to forgive him the occasional recycling of riffs for a damn good wall of guitar wailing.

oh, and jimmy chamberlain = divine drumming machine. that's just a fact. he and dave grohl need to fight it out on a set. i would pay good money to watch that.

i'll be seeing said pumpkins in november, compliments of a generous red-head. i'll let you know how the live show compares to the album.

and for those of you who are from law school out in TV-land, fasten your seat belts. 2L year is just around the corner and that means fall oci. and fall oci means lots of medicinal bar tabs and rehabilitative sex & the city marathons.

i can't wait.

b e l i e ve . i t . o r . n o t

2007-07-12T17:28:00.000-05:00

i am utterly speechless.

the palestinian mythology surrounding yasser arafat's death has met with a new, and seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

i'm not sure what to think, except that i both pity and admire the man bold enough to speak the truth on national television. arafat supporters will likely and vocally call for his death. even non-arafat supporters might wish he had kept quiet, since this more or less obliterates israel's "role" in arafat's demise.

of course, i guess they could always blame the ever popular "jewish doctors infected him with AIDS conspiracy." i've heard stranger things.

addendum: you know, stranger things like this video. just when my faith in people was rising anew...

s u n s h i n e

2007-07-06T00:34:00.000-05:00

something we in texas haven't seen in a good long time. but while the rain is falling here, and terrorists aim flaming vehicles at unsuspecting people in the u.k., radical islamic terrorists have taken to cross-dressing.

it is nice to see that they're loosening up a little bit.

i . h a t e . o p i n i o n s

2007-06-19T18:49:00.001-05:00

well, that's not entirely true. i certainly hate it when opinions are inserted into what is ostensibly objective reporting.

case in point.

because you can be sure that no one at cnn has reported this.

i t . i s . a b o u t . t i m e . . .

2007-06-19T07:29:00.000-05:00

well, finally duke university has made amends with the three lacrosse players falsely accused of rape by a district attorney driven by his own political ambitions.

now, it might just be because a certain torts professor at my law school wore a duke lacrosse shirt weekly - or it might be because i have a few friends at duke - or it might be because the whole situation is somewhat stomach.churning for those of us entering the legal profession, but i still am nauseated by the fact that three lives were ruined because of a patently false claim and an overly-ambitious lawyer. of course, now there will be suit after suit pressed by the trio of young men, and i'm fine with that. at least our justice system allows for a balance - a sort of "mess with me falsely and i will ruin you" credo would fit nicely above the doors of most courtrooms, don't you think?

b l a m e

2007-06-01T10:01:00.000-05:00

blame has been a hot topic in my life lately, for reasons that would bore and annoy the average reader.

but, it's [blame's]* not only a searing subject in my own experience. turns out iran likes blame as well.

i find that [the idea that israel is trying to restore its perceived military prowess via defensive strikes against ammunition outposts] hysterically funny. clearly, the israeli defense forces are attacking the gaza strip not because of terrorist attack, raining qassams, or a generally offensive paradigmatic claim of, "drive them into the sea!"

no, no. israel is trying to make itself look better by beating up helpless militants.

i guess if you follow that logic, lebanon is trying to make up for its own internal strife by launching attacks on the palestinian refugee camps.

but that didn't make the news.

* i hate ambiguous pronouns.

t r o l l . h a m m e r

2007-05-31T19:04:00.000-05:00

wow.

did some random perusing of the interwebs today, and found this. courtesy and intellectual property rights granted to poster nekama at little green footballs:

MEMO

This is an automated reply from the
Bullshit Detector at Little Green Footballs.

Your recent post contained troll-like characteristics which resembles the type of message sent by spoiled ISM members on summer holiday, college students who have recently inhaled Noam Chomsky’s foul rantings, Adam Shapiro wannabes, Nazi sympathizers, or genuine Koranimals.

In order to prevent another thread being hijacked, and to send your message to the appropriate department for response (FOAD, GAZE, Go Away Gordon, or The Bus To Rachel Corrie’s Tomb Is Leaving - Be Sure You’re Under It), kindly reply to the following questions:

1. Are you aware that the Disputed Territories never belonged to the “Palestinians” and only came into Israeli possession as a result of the 1967 six day war in which Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon all massed forces at Israel’s border in order to “push the Jews into the sea”. The Arabs lost and Israel took control of the land. Do you agree that if the Koranimals don’t want to lose territory to Israel, then they shouldn’t start wars? Do you agree that there is justice that Israel, who as far back as 1948 has always sought peace with her far larger neighbors, should live in prosperity - making the desert bloom - while the residents of 19 adjacent Arab countries who are blessed with far more land as well as oil wealth live in their own feces?

2. Did you know that the “Palestinians” could have had their own country as far back as 1948 had they accepted the UN sponsored partition plan which gave Israel AND the Palestinians a countries of their own on land which Jews had lived on for thousands of years before Mohammed ever had a wet dream about virgins? The Arabs rejected the UN offer and went to war with the infant Israeli nation. The Arabs lost and have been whining about it ever since. Do you agree this is like a murderer who kills his parents and asks for special treatment since he is now an orphan?

3. Can you tell us ANY Arab country which offers Jews the right to be citizens, vote, own property, businesses, be a part of the government or have ANY of the rights which Israeli Arabs enjoy? Any Arab country which gives those rights to Christians? How about to other Arabs? Wouldn’t you just LOVE to be a citizen of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran, or Syria?

4. Since as many Jews (approximately 850,000) were kicked out of Arab countries as were Arabs who left present day Israel (despite being literally begged to stay), why should Arabs be permitted to return to Israel if Jews aren’t allowed to set foot in Arab countries? Can you explain why Arabs can worship freely in Israel but Jews would certainly be hung from street lamps after having their intestines devoured by an Arab mob if they so much as entered an Arab country?

5. Israel resettled and absorbed all of the Jews from Arab countries who wished to become Israelis. Why haven’t any Arab countries offered to resettle Arabs who were displaced from Israel, leaving them to rot for 60 years in squalid refugee camps? And why are those refugee camps still there? Could it be that the billions of dollars that the UNWRA has sent there goes to terrorist groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, El Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, or Hezbollah? How did Yassir Arafat achieve his $300 million in wealth? Why aren’t these funds distributed for humanitarian use?

6. Did you know that the Arabs in the disputed territories (conquered by Israel in the 1967 war which was started by Arabs) and who are not Israelis already have two countries right now? And that they are called Egypt and Jordan?

7. If your complaint is about the security fence which Israel is finally building in the Disputed Territories, are you aware that it is built solely to keep the “brave” Arab terrorists out so that they can no longer self detonate on busses, in dining halls or pizzerias and kill Jewish grandmothers and schoolchildren? Why are the Arabs so brave when they target unarmed civilians but even when they outnumber their opponents they get their sandy asses kicked all the way to Mecca when they are faced with Jewish soldiers? Why do Arab soldiers make the French look like super heroes?

8. Please explain why you are so concerned about Arabs, who possess 99% of the land in this region and are in control of the world’s greatest natural resource, which literally flows out of the ground? Can’t their brother muslims offer some of the surplus land and nature’s riches to the “Palestinians”? Or is it true that Arabs are willing to die right down to the last “Palestinian”?

9. Why do you not exhibit the same level of concern for say, people in Saudi Arabia who are beheaded, subject to amputation, stoning, honor killing etc.? What about women who are denied any semblance of basic civil rights, including the right not to be treated as property for the entertainment and abuse of her father, brothers, or husbands? What about the Muslims in Sudan and Egypt who are still enslaved, or the women there whose genitalia are barbarically cut off? How about the oppression of Shiites by Sunnis, the gassing of the Kurds by Iraq, or the massacre of “Palestinians” by Jordan (Black September)? Why doesn’t this concern you?

10. Did you ever stop to wonder how much better off everyone in the region would be if Arabs stopped trying to kill Jews and destroy Israel? What would happen if the Israelis gave up their weapons and disarmed? Would they live to see the next day? But what would happen if the Arabs completely disarmed? You know the answer: They would all be AT PEACE! And if there is no war to rile them up, the Arabs would be forced to look at their own repressive, pre-medieval societies. Why would they want to do that when there are Jews to kill?

11. Have you heard “People who define themselves primarily by what they hate, rather than who they love, are doomed to failure and misery”? Can you see the parallels to the Arabs, who are blessed with land and oil, but still gladly train their children to kill themselves in order to kill Jews? Have you heard Golda Meir’s words to the effect of “There will be peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate ours”? Why do the Arabs hate so much?

...

Please respond to the items listed above. Based on your answers a thoughtful reply or instruction to FOAD will be provided.

Thank you for writing to Little Green Footballs.

Signed,

Troll Early Warning Detection Team

s u m m e r . t i m e

2007-05-30T12:02:00.000-05:00

and the rain keeps falling. but, in other news, i would like to point out yet another reason to distrust international "peacekeeping" organizations:

eichmann's passport was found in argentina. the international red cross, an organization devoted to "aid", issued said passport, which allowed eichmann to escape detection until the mossad located him [that's a separate issue].

that doesn't do a whole lot for my general sentiments re: the united nations, the international red cross [which also fought long and hard against allowing the magen david adom into its ranks], and the geneva convention.

addendum:

enjoy that.

h o m e

2007-05-20T15:53:00.000-05:00

it's good to be home, although certain things remind me that life in houston is not so different from life in austin:

huxley has replaced law student professors as the stubborn, unrelenting force in my life. neither chain collar nor clicker nor pleas in alternative languages seem to have any effect on him. point: austin.

houston, like austin, lacks certain cuisines. there is no sushi restaurant in houston so good as kenichi. however, houston has chinese food. point: houston.

there are other points of contention, but as i write this, huxley is attacking both cats and dixie simultaneously by jumping onto the bed and then leaping from said vantage point onto dixie's back. i think it's time for some mediation/arbitration in the form of dog biscuits.

weekday update.

2007-05-08T17:47:00.000-05:00

for those of us entrenched in the battle known as "finals vs. the capacity of the human body," i thought i would give you my unadulterated review of a few pain-killers and headache-reducers.

advil: for amateurs and neophytes. take the recommended dosage if you want, but for a civil procedure or contracts headache, regular strength advil just ain't gonna cut it.

aleve: it took me forever to figure out that aleve stood for "alleviate". guess why? pathetic excuse for medical aid.

bloody mary: probably the best answer for a headache out there. i'm not joking. the little bit [or a lot, depending on what, exactly, you want to achieve] of vodka is a fantastic numbing agent while the pepper and tomato juice distract your attention from your headache to a now-burning throat or stomach.

jerusalem post: for the masochists out there. this and any other middle eastern news outlet will do wonders for your headache - by making it worse. subsequently you will appreciate any lesser pain in your temples much more readily.

as an added distraction.

2007-04-27T22:31:00.000-05:00

when i was younger i enjoyed a good, solid fantasy novel [ still do, but have fun trying to get me to admit that in person. ] between tolkien, tamora pierce, and redwall, i discovered the golden compass. and lo and behold! it is being made into a movie. as a promotion for the film, the website allows you to take a quiz to determine your daemon. which was, of course, the real draw of the books in my mind. i present to you:

happiness.

2007-04-27T14:02:00.000-05:00

happiness truly is a warm puppy. for those of you who doubt me, i present exhibit A, which for purposes of this blog, has been pre-marked and pre-admitted into evidence.

i would also like to say that my current joy is further compounded by harvard's newly released report, "the israeli-hezbollah war of 2006: the media as a weapon in asymmetrical conflict". despite the fact that numerous falsified photographs were circulated around the world, a single major news outlet [possibly with the exception of fox, but nobody watches/listens to fox that hasn't already made up their mind] has yet to pursue the issue.

i think cox & forkum's humorous interpretation of the situation is spot-on. the best part of it is, the wingnuts on the leftist side of things wouldn't dare criticize harvard, because it is, after all, a sacred institution of liberal education.

it's times like these that i smile like this.

bats.

2007-04-25T14:35:00.000-05:00

i could make the joke about going batty during finals. but i think it's too easy. so instead i'll just say this about austin's favorite winged mammals: if you touch one, and you fall ill, then look at it as nature's way of enforcing natural selection in a time of unnatural survival.

law students are not .... the best of people during the run-up to finals.

finals bring out the worst in us. the petty, snarling, resource-grubbing, moody beasts that thomas hobbes envisioned us to be.

i love hobbes. both of them. i find his philosophy to more or less justify a substantive lack of trust in people, and that sounds so much better than just saying, "people suck."

'cause, you know, that's dicta.

happy birthday

2007-04-23T13:59:00.000-05:00

yom huledet sameach, israel!

after israel observes memorial day [yom hazikaron], the country moves on to celebrate its creation. today, israel turns 59.

and through the gunsmoke, policy mishaps, religious fervor, and global disdain, i think israel, for a 59 year old nation, is doing pretty damn well.

especially since one of my friends in tel aviv sent me this.

it's nice to know that in spite of the terrorist attacks and constant derision aimed at the populace, they still manage to cultivate a fantastic sense of humor.

i hate the media.

2007-04-17T09:35:00.000-05:00

of course, that can't be taken as an absolute. however, the tragedy at virginia tech has underscored the sensationalism of popular media.

i learn nothing, absolutely nothing, when an academic who wrote an article about columbine spouts off his opinion regarding school shootings. i also learn nothing when talking heads interview fbi agents from california regarding their opinions on how the situation should have been handled.

newsflash: the tragedy happened. your professional hindsight only serves to rub salt in open wounds, at worst. at best, you're preaching to people who have no control over campus security and sit on their couches under the impression that you, talking head, you could have stopped the massacre if only you had been in charge.

that is disingenuous and disrespectful, frankly. virginia tech's campus police are JUST that: campus police. given their training and protocol, they did the absolute best that they could, and should be commended for their quick rescue of injured victims. will the news underscore the fact that some of the students who were saved might have bled out if not for paramedic and police aid? ** addendum: and also if not for individual acts of heroism that i have yet to see in american mainstream media? ** further addendum: aforementioned individual act of heroism was perpetrated by a romanian shoah survivor. further proof that what we should have learned from the shoah is that good people cannot do nothing and expect to remain good. also phrased by panther as, "he knew what happens when good people stand by and do nothing." kiddush hashem.

whatever happened to respect in the media? smearing faces and bloody images across the screen feeds fear, and doesn't entirely serve the original purpose of the media: disseminating knowledge. if it's all about finding the right theme music [ all of it sounds ripped from jaws ] and properly shocking sound byte, then count me out.

i've got hollywood for that, thank you.

dayan haemet.

2007-04-16T11:57:00.001-05:00

condolences to all those involved in the virginia tech shootings.

may you be comforted among all of the mourners.

weekend update.

2007-04-16T10:00:00.000-05:00

today is a day for remembering, since we're observing yom hashoah.

this makes me sick. for israel to fail so miserably when it comes to the very people it was founded to protect is a travesty, in my opinion. i understand that a burgeoning government budgets leaves little room for the maintenance of shoah survivor care - what i don't understand is why there has been no attempt on the part of the knesset to reconcile the budget to the needs of these citizens.

this underscores the depths of human depravity. even children are not immune to the thrill of enforcing superiority over others. in a slightly humorous bent, i find it mildly amusing that a texas school made israeli news.

and this is proof that despite all of its flaws, israel is trying. it's trying to remember. unfortunately the trials of the past are clouded, making it difficult to apply the lessons to the current middle eastern situation.

i guess hindsight isn't necessarily 20/20. and that's not to say that israel is a failure of democracy. far from it. i just hold ha'aretz [and america] to a higher standard because i can, because some sick optimistic streak in my heart tells me that we are capable of achieving and surpassing that standard.

of course, then i remember that i'm in law school, and i was supposed to check my romanticism at the door.

hats off.

2007-04-12T09:51:00.000-05:00

to you, mr. vonnegut. anyone who fancies himself or herself a writer of darkly saturated humor owes you a huge debt of gratitude.

i suggest "harrison bergeron" as a good place to start with vonnegut. mother night is also exceptionally good, although neither can really compare to slaughterhouse-five.

i'm not even going to attempt a eulogy [eugoogley, according to mr. zoolander] for mr. vonnegut. instead, what follows is a favorite passage of mine from "harrison bergeron":

and then, neutralizing gravity with love and pure will, they remained suspended in air inches below the ceiling, and they kissed each other for a long, long time.

circle of life

2007-04-11T09:57:00.000-05:00

oh, springtime.

that glorious time of year when the sun's rays slant ever so happily against the northern hemisphere, creating the perfect environment for love-addled teenagers, squirrels, and mockingbirds to publicly demonstrate the strength of their romance.

of course, it's also that wonderful time of year when people get the "itch." and i'm not talking about a disgusting dermatological disease. i'm talking about the "itch" that young men and women get to leave the chains of relationship-bondage and run screaming back into the liberated world of "single."

now, i myself have not fallen prey to the "itch." thank g-d. but i know people who have. and whether or not that decision to flee was the right one has yet to be seen. i just wish them the best.

sidenote: make the pollen go away. and tell sybil to quit messing with the austin weather.

**addendum: it has been a long day, and it's only eleven. in the morning. however, i thought i would take this time to drag my soapbox out from under the bed and stand on it again. law school. i have yet to pontificate regarding the hazards of law school, but it's about to start. law school is something like an a la carte menu of psychological disorders exacerbated by close proximity and external pressure. megalomania? section 3. generalized anxiety disorder? down the hallway. i am constantly amazed at law school's ability to break even the most confident of fraternity members.

this should be taken with a grain of salt. if you happen to be a natural at the law, then i'm sure none of this applies to you. of course, then you should be at yale, or harvard, and far away from me. additionally, should you find yourself to be a savant, you ought to get yourself checked out by the federal government for high levels of radiation, because only nuclear exposure could turn a human being into the kind of freak experiment that would "naturally" understand future interests.

i do enjoy the subject matter. there's something oddly satisfactory about crushing an objection with a "present sense impression" exception. but that's about all that's satisfactory about law school, at the moment. ask me again when my first year is over and i've started summer school.

what's that smell?

2007-04-10T17:28:00.000-05:00

only recently has the psychological stress of coming out of the closet been brought to my attention.

it makes me very, very sad to see self-loathing boil over until you can almost smell it. it smells like fear, really, and i wonder if it's fear of the unknown or fear of society. if it's the former, then only happy experience can tame that beast. and if it's the latter, you ask?

then we have a long way to go in our quest for acceptance of universal human dignity, frankly. and i'm not idealistic or stupid [same thing? tune in next week] enough to claim that america's primary, foundational purpose is the protection of human dignity. that said, i do think, as a country, we do as good a job as anyone else. and truthfully, maybe better, though i'm not going to open that can of worms.

but watching a friend of mine squirm and persecute himself at the end of society's hook is neither something i enjoy watching or that i enjoy passively allowing to continue.

i am a short person [think napolean with two "x" chromosomes and fewer soldiers], so even when i stand on a soapbox, i'm only just as tall as everyone else screaming out their opinion into this blasted wasteland of a marketplace of ideas. i'm not asking you to become a card-carrying member of the glbt alliance [but if you do, kudos to you]. i'm just asking you to think twice before using "gay" as an insult. last i checked, its first and primary definition was "happy." and that's not insulting, is it?

unless you're trent reznor.

another slap-dash rant.

2007-04-09T14:59:00.000-05:00

it's not actually a rant.

those of you interested in the year zero album, due out in 7 days and 9 hours [not like i'm counting], rejoice! trent reznor finally committed the ultimate act of rebellion against record labels.

the entire album has been leaked on his official website. and it's most definitely worth a listen. his singing chops are vastly improved, and he's absorbed some influences from tv on the radio [with whom he toured this summer] especially on the last song, zero sum.

also, just for your information, and the information of all those anonymous readers crouched in front of flickering, glowing screens: i adhere to a strict blogger etiquette protocol. if it appears in this blog, then i assume, rightly or wrongly, that it is now common knowledge, or at the very least, publicly disseminated. the same can be said for facebook or any other networking site on which i have virtual space. i do not have an expectation of privacy for the internet, or anything i publish over the internet. so, if i get mad at you, or otherwise express unreasonable emotion towards you for the mention of information referenced herein, do me a favor:

smack me with a dictionary open to the definition of hypocrisy.

** disclaimer: this did, in fact, turn out to be a rant.

retributive justice.

2007-04-09T12:28:00.000-05:00

for what it's worth, my stance on the death penalty is as follows: people who put forth a deterrence argument need to be smacked upside the head with a pavlovian response paradigm. why? because deterrence really only works once you've experienced the deterrent mechanism. last i checked, you can only die once**.

the death penalty serves retributive justice, and perhaps too a rehabilitative purpose in relation to the families of those affected by the criminal act. i don't think it's too far-fetched to say that the original purpose of government was to enforce some sort of retributive legal system, and death certainly plays a role in that. if you infringe upon my natural right to life, then frankly, i assume that you've given up your natural right to life in exchange.

that said - i have sincere issues with the policy implications of the death penalty, especially as practiced in the united states. the criminal justice system is stacked against those of lesser economic standing. that is just a simple fact. if you can afford a better lawyer, the odds of your being sentenced to death decrease exponentially. there are countless cases of similar crimes committed by an african-american and a caucasian, and the end result is usually that the caucasian gets life without the possibility of parole and the african-american ends up on death row. how is that fair or right? that doesn't serve retributive justice. that serves the maxim, "with wealth comes power." so, in sum, i think the death penalty serves a purpose, and i'm not at all opposed to it.

but we need to fix the system.

i would like to apologize for the disjointed nature of this post.

in other news:

iran is celebrating national nuclear day. the president of iran [may his name be erased] is expected to announce the installation of 3000 new centrifuges.

it definitely sounds like the sanctions imposed by the united nations are working.

** again, with the disclaimer: this disregards a multitude of religious stances that state you can, in fact, die more than once. let's just stick with one lifetime for the sake of argument.

a spoonful of sugar.

2007-04-04T09:41:00.000-05:00

in this day and age, it's very rare to find someone who isn't on medicine of some sort. pink pills, green pills, pills shaped like glandular organs. and i'm sure that some of these are just concoctions promoted aggressively by drug companies hoping for a quick buck from a public dying for a quick fix.

that said, medicine serves a purpose. far be it from me to decry skepticism as something to be avoided. i'm a law student, for crying out loud. idealism and romanticism died with my acceptance letter.

i am an advocate of natural remedies. diet, herbal supplements, and vitamins. but i recognize that there are some things that cannot be helped by st. john's wort or slippery elm. depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder are just as physical as endocrine problems or birth defects**. you cannot fix your brain chemistry. you can try and regulate it via biofeedback, acupuncture, feng shui, but if you are predisposed to a lower level of seratonin, all the logic in the world will not help hoist you out of the angry reds or the sour blues.

scientology, for this reason, gives me the symptoms of an aneurysm. "if it weren't for my horse...". thoughtfully prescribed medicine is not a crutch, or something that characterizes a patient as inherently weak. you would never hear the following conversation:

"she's on chemotherapy."
"oh, you mean she can't tough it out? pathetic."

and since depression and other mental disorders have been proven to be chemical imbalances in some cases, you likewise should not hear or promote the following:

"she's on zoloft."
"oh, you mean she can't tough it out? pathetic."

that's my two cents for the day. more like a dime, but it's pesach, so i'm running a special.

**disclaimer: this presupposes that you have been to therapy and undergone extensive psychological treatment for said disorders, and the symptoms have still not dissipated or weakened. supposedly less than 10% of depression is likely caused by chemical issues, and most of the time, those can be linked to other underlying disorders, such as hypothyroidism.

you win some

2007-04-03T13:06:00.000-05:00

you lose some. we of the utlaw community were recently alerted by our dean that our school slipped in the usnews rankings not because we deserved it, but because we have integrity.

seriously, dean sager. we're neophyte attorneys, to be sure, but even we can smell an half-hearted attempt at spin a mile away.

give us some credit.

after all, we are at the 18th ranked law school in the country.

various and sundry.

2007-03-31T16:35:00.000-05:00

the rain has made its point. i would appreciate it if we could get a few more days of enjoyable spring weather before pollen-storm 2007 begins in earnest.

happiness really is a warm puppy. and on that note, feed your dogs raw food. or, if you don't want to feed raw food for whatever reason [ kashrut, mess, money ], find a suitable primarily natural dog food that uses meat as its first or second ingredient. the dog food recall has really underscored the bond between man and beast - and doesn't your beast deserve the best?

the german chancellor merkel has demanded that the palestinians recognize israel as a state. that's all well and good, and i'm sure the israeli public appreciates the gesture. however, support coming from germany, while strong and again much-appreciated, is undercut by this sense in the arab community that germany is only acting out of deeply-felt guilt. the whole situation has been exacerbated by the iranian hostage crisis.

we need someone like france to take a strong stand for israel. because surely the french can appreciate having the enemy in your midst. and if that fails, the french can always pretend they had no idea of their government's official "stance." they're good at that.

iran - amalek?

2007-03-29T15:06:00.000-05:00

this iranian hostage situation is more than a little disturbing, for a host of reasons. primarily, it shows that the iranian government [ i refuse to say his name, may it be erased ] is not as stupid as i'd previously hoped.

assume that britain and america threaten the use of force - iran looks maligned to the great majority of the arab public. assume that britain and america do nothing, go to the united nations for help [ the same as doing nothing only with a patina of legitimacy ], then iran has achieved an even more insidious goal: they've asserted strength in the face of the "western evil."

furthermore, the lone female soldier has ostensibly been releasing anti-war letters from her imprisonment. if she's writing those letters of her own free will, then that's her prerogative, although she probably could have picked better timing and definitely a better medium than letters sent through iranian diplomats. if she's being forced to write those letters, then i can only imagine what else is in store.

i'll add more to this later as things develop. outside input is appreciated - because it takes the combined brainpower of about eighteen people to even begin to piece together the middle eastern dynamic.

deathly hallows.

2007-03-28T14:28:00.000-05:00

i promised myself that i wouldn't write more than once a day, because as any teenager knows, when the lectures start coming fast and furious 'round age 16 or so, tuning out is made all the easier.

however - the global impact of the revelation of harry potter's final artistic incarnation has prompted me to write a bit about something that is very near and dear to my heart. and that, ladies and gentlemen, is the role of fantasy in the modern world.

if you look at the general trends of astronomically successful and popular fantasy paradigms, you realize one thing very quickly: they were all born out of war, and darkness, and death. lord of the rings was penned in the midst of the second world war. the world of narnia sprung out of the war's immediate aftermath. and now we have harry potter, a series which admittedly began before our current war [ or series of military and civilian deaths; a rose is a rose... ], but which also pointedly has grown darker and more menacing as time passes. the absolutely mind-blowing sales and publishing records, to me at least, point out the inherently human desire to escape into a realm free of scientific restraints, with chinese fireball dragons or unicorns.

people mock escapism and call it childish, or even worse, cowardly. how can it be so when it seems to impart at least a little hope? and furthermore, if these "avenues of escapism" are so problematic, then severe scrutiny needs to be leveled at religion as a whole.

you can't escape escapism. except maybe through a portkey - and even then, you can't escape the irony.

[ by the way, that image is copyrighted to scholastic, inc. please don't cause me any legal trouble or force me to use my pathetic 1L skills to defend myself from a lawsuit. ]

on elitism.

2007-03-28T09:29:00.000-05:00

last friday, instead of traipsing on over to the local minyan, i did something some would consider an affront to religion - i went to a free, nine inch nails listening party. for those of you who don't know, and i'll assume that's a large chunk of you well-adjusted folk, nine inch nails is about to release a new album called year zero. it's more or less a dystopic exploration of a post-evangelical revival america - a perfect musical accompaniment to atwood's the handmaid's tale. read it, if you haven't.

it's utterly terrifying.

at any rate, i thought it was an interesting listen. reznor's definitely incorporated a lot of what he learned while on tour with tv on the radio. more blues and jazz influence, for sure, and i don't necessarily think that's a bad thing, as some nin purists are bemoaning on over-glorified boards all over the internet.

this leads me neatly into my problem with elitism. it's just a logical problem with the people i saw at this listening party, really. for all of their red-streaked hair, tusk-like piercings, and completely impractical combat boots, these people are still consumers. they decry consumerism and american politics as "giving into the man," and reznor's album provides them even more fodder for a group-think, packaged response to the current paradigm. not that i'm maligning reznor or calling him a hypocrite; i think, with his viral marketing campaign, he's trying to undermine the major record labels and is doing a fantastic job, frankly. i'm maligning the crowds that flock to his shows with blind adoration reflected in their monochrome wardrobe and canned rhetoric.

tv on the radio probably said it best at the dallas concert this summer: "i bet most of you don't even know why you wear black." and it's true. if tomorrow reznor or ministry or bauhaus or maynard said that pink was the new black, you can bet that there would be a thunderous clamor at your local hot topic for pink combat boots.

it starts. you think you know a guy...

2007-03-27T16:49:00.000-05:00

and if you can name that movie, kudos to you. you might be a bigger kid than i am.

of course i started the blog, oh, 27 minutes ago, and already i have something about which to gripe. mind you, that doesn't mean that the entire blog will be consumed with rancorous lectures on the number of curls in the eerie library portrait of elton m. hyder, jr., but you might on occasion see some complaints here and there.

what blind person decorated the library? and furthermore, in a school obsessed with keeping its student body more or less happy, who picked the color scheme? i can think of no more irritating color than sunshine yellow, but that might be because i'm a pessimist. then again, we're in law school. most of us are pessimists, and if we aren't, we're on zoloft.

and if you're walking in flip-flops, just walk. don't sidle down the aisles in an attempt to quiet your shoes. they were named for noise. accept it and move on.

the beginning is the end.

2007-03-27T16:22:00.000-05:00

i've more or less become an addict of the blogosphere, and like any addict, i've decided to get in on the game. i'm surprised it didn't happen sooner, really, and all that i can hope is that it doesn't turn out like one of the thousands of law&order episodes in which the addict ends up dead in a gutter or in a bathtub filled with lye. i like to think i've a taste for the obscure kernel of humor in law school - it's kind of like a love of single.malt scotch: difficult to cultivate, absolutely useless, and more or less detrimental to your health.

that said, here's to an adventure. as if you needed any other reason to ignore class.