Blogging about nothing.

 
Don't worry, Sweetie. Here are two words that should allay your fears: state courts. *smooch* Jen, to you I say this: Federal Tort Claims Act. And this: I am extremely envious that you have managed to dodge that knowledge thus far.

Tonight I'm going to see Texas folk-rocker James McMurtry. I'm excited about that.
posted by mindse at 2:02 PM

 
My favorite sentence from the National Geographic Swimsuit Issue article is:

(drum roll please)

“The whole issue is just a retrospective of how people have dressed to have fun in the water over the last century,” he said.

That is just terrific. How have people dressed to have fun in the water over the last century? I MUST KNOW. Its also funny in context, because this is the PR person's effort to explain that a swimsuit issue is in keeping with the National Geographic mission. Oooo kkkkk.

I thank Robert for pointing out that we shouldn't let the Bashman mention go to our heads. And that we shouldn't deviate from our original intent to talk about important things only sporadically. I also thank him for putting a counter on the site, which should serve to quickly deflate our puffed egos and disabuse us of the notion that anyone actually reads this thing. (When I signed on just now the count was at a whopping 00002. I find the five decimal places entirely unnecessary for our porpoises.)

I post this article from USA Today to bolster my argument that the DC circuit is by no means the second-highest court in the land. I refer specifically to the statistical discussion. I am also pleased with the article's effort to refute some popular myths about the Ninth Circuit. From much of the non-legal press, it always sounds like its just this group of freaks who never leave the municipal boundaries of San Francisco. Yeah. It's not.

Jen, you know that I was kidding about the Third Circuit. Who could think that the Third Circuit is unimportant when it has jurisdiction over the Virgin Islands and all those FTCA suits involving coconuts, etc.?

Ok. I was kidding again. Seriously, my "macrotheory" is that every case is of enormous importance to the litigants, and that's the only measure of significance that should matter. If a Bush nominee to a Big Square State circuit is a documented bad guy, then that should alarm Sen. Leahy as much as a nominee to the super-cool, extra-important DC Circuit.

I'll go even further than that though. Am I the only professed liberal who thinks that its Bush's prerogative to appoint who he wants, be they stealth idealogues or not? Am I the only professed liberal who thinks that if Estrada is qualified then the Senate should confirm him? Am I the only professed liberal who's kinda sick of democrats whining that "President Clinton only appointed moderates so you should too. Waahh."? Should this belief, as Robert argues, require me to turn in my ACLU card and relinquish my previously well-deserved (I thought) pinko status?

I hope not because if I haveta become a Republican Robert will break up with me.
posted by mindse at 12:38 PM

 
On a lighter note, please look at this. See if you can identify my favorite sentence. Also, in my third link to How Appealing today, I'm pleased to report that HJB has posted my review of AUSA.
posted by mindse at 2:44 PM

 
Here's a topic for discussion. In Senator Leahy's statement he includes the following comments about the D.C. Circuit's status as the "second-highest court in the land.":

"As I have said for some time, the Senate and the American people deserve to have an adequate record and strong confidence about the type of judge Mr. Estrada would be in order to support a favorable vote on this nomination. Such is not the case of the sparse record before the Senate on this nomination to the second- highest court in the land, and as a Senator I do not have sufficient confidence to be able to support this nomination.

***

The D.C. Circuit is an especially important court in our nation’s judicial system. It is the most prestigious and powerful appellate court below the Supreme Court. Congress has vested the D.C. Circuit with special jurisdiction over cases involving many environmental, civil rights, consumer protection, and workplace statutes."

Pardon me for getting a little huffy about this, but I think it reflects an insular view of what kinds of issues are important. True, the DC Circuit is the court that hears most of the important administrative law decisions in the country. But how important is the D.C. Circuit's review of an FCC order when compared to the thousands of immigration cases the Ninth Circuit hears every year? An individual asylum case is much more important to the asylum-seeker, that's certainly true. What a bunch of Yalies think is important has nothing to do with what actually is important in the larger scheme of things.

There is no "second-highest" court unless its all the courts of appeal collectively. Any of those cases that Leahy is talking about -- if truly important in the national scheme of things -- have a thousand times better chance of being heard by the Supreme Court than does the individual asylum seeker in the Ninth or the individual habeas petitioner in the Second. Harrumph.

Now, the Third .... that's true. That one isn't really very important. Or, seemingly, the First... which Sen. Leahy shrunk in his statement, as Bashman pointed out, by giving Puerto Rico to the Second. How does that happen? How do the staffers working for Sen. Leahy think that Puerto Rico is in the Second Circuit? I'll tell you why. Because they went to Harvard or Yale and they refuse to acknowledge that there are other circuits besides the D.C., Second and Ninth. Who cares about people making law in those big square states anyway? Bastards.

Thank you for allowing the venting. This just smacks of my Yalie colleague referring to state courts as "lower courts" her first month here -- a notion that she was quickly disabused of. Nonetheless, this likely Yale-imposed heirarchy annoys me.


posted by mindse at 2:19 PM

 
I am thrilled to pieces to report that Howard Bashman, my blogging idol, has posted a permalink to The Academy on his fantastic site, How Appealing. I blithered at Howard earlier about the Scott Foley connection between the two ill-fated law shows AUSA and girls club, and he replied with this message:

Thanks! By the way, could you be the same "mindse" blogging over at "The
Academy." If so, I just posted a permalink to that new and entertaining blog last night.

New and (gasp) entertaining. Without a trace of irony, I have this to say: I feel like I felt when I was twelve and Sting sent me a signed photo in the mail.
posted by mindse at 10:49 AM

 
Oh my. Digital Mindy. I think the band photo speaks for itself. What could that be a reference to? Rare that my name comes up in popular culture. Although there have been some notable examples that led to years of abuse in elementary school.
posted by mindse at 8:16 AM

 
I am thrilled that Mark has posted because it means he has posting abilities even while he is stranded in the South. I expect daily if not hourly updates.

No, that does not nearly rival my falling story. After several of the aforementioned meaty Bloodies, my teammates and I were walking back to our minivan along the busiest pedestrian street in Chapel Hill. For reasons that remain unclear, I tripped. Perhaps it was a ridge in the sidewalk. Perhaps it was a shoelace. Perhaps it was the sides of beer that accompanied the Bloodies. In any event, I tripped. But I did not simply trip and then fall. What kind of story is that? Oh, no. I tripped..... and stumbled.... and stumbled.... and stumbled..... for literally about 50 feet.... and then fell. The stumbling was remarkably like vaudeville tap dancing too -- you know the move where your hands scissor back and forth along your sides while your feet shuffle back and forth alternatively? It looked like that. For about a block. Ultimately I ended up on my ass anyway, with a large tear in the knee of my pants. My teammates helped me to my feet after they regained their composure. It took some time.
posted by mindse at 11:58 AM

 
Huh. An excellent point, Jen. How indeed? Never mind Central PA, what about the federal drug laws? I smell a rat.


posted by mindse at 9:49 AM

 
I should advise my colleagues that tonight marks the debut of A.U.S.A., a new NBC comedy that details the whimsical exploits of a young Asst. United States Attorney. I have not known that many AUSA's, but the ones I have known have had no sense of humor whatsoever. From the looks of this sitcom, that is accurately depicted.
posted by mindse at 12:55 PM

 
Marilyn says that the bath mat with the suction cups is fine. In fact, it is preferred. Of course, today when I set foot on the new one in my tub I slipped *again* because it had not yet sucked itself steady. My bathroom is the site of so much slapstick comedy. I will go to Origins today and see if the shiatsu mat is too costly for me.

Let's all wish Mark good luck. He leaves today for Chapel Hill with his Constitutional Law team in tow. I wish him good luck, of course, not in the competition because I'm sure he couldn't care less. However, I do wish him luck in avoiding jail. I spent a week in Chapel Hill at that Constitutional Law competition myself some years ago. The only things that kept me from going kooky and ending up in the clink were the delicious Bloody Maries served at 23, Michael Jordan's restaurant there. Those drinks eat like a meal. Actually, they really do because they are garnished with meat and served with a side of beer. Mmmmmm. The perfect antidote to the mood at that competition. (To make it worse, UNC is a "dry" school so none of the competition events involved alcohol. DANG.)

Unfortunately for Mark, I note that 23 is "Temporarily Closed for Renovations." Perhaps my good luck wishes are best expressed to Mark's team -- specifically his roommate -- and the citizenry of Chapel Hill.
posted by mindse at 12:43 PM

 
After that meaningless drivel, I feel the need to post something useful. Consult How Appealing for the most recently filed 9th Cir. en banc opinion. I welcome your thoughts.
posted by mindse at 3:21 PM

 
Yes. I was at my desk very early this AM. I had to take RFL to the airport. Blech. However, we did have a very nice weekend. And I will see him very soon, so, I am trying not to be sad. Speaking of RFL, I had forgotten that my NYC friends are not familiar with the nickname that last year's O'clerks (them's the clerks who clerk for the Man Upstairs) gave him, which was Rafael. So when I referred to Rafael in an earlier post, I was not brazenly crowing about my unfaithfulness. I meant RFL, in fact. Rafael is also his sim's name.

To give you an idea about my mother, I offer the following anecdote.

Last week, I fell down in the shower. It was scary. If I were over 60 years old, there is no doubt that I would be sporting a broken hip right about now. Thankfully, I'm still young and not that fragile so no serious damage was done. However, it became clear that my tub is waaaay tooo slippery. This is likely due to a product I recently obtained as part of my Blisscription, that tends to make the tub quite slippery. Jen, I know what you're thinking -- but I do clean the thing pretty much weekly so that's not it.

Anyway, I went off to the Fred Meyer to pick up some of those little sticky decal things that you put in your tub so that you don't kill yourself. I chose some white seashell shaped ones. As I was punching the decals out, my mother called. She asked, "What are you up to?" I seriously considered saying, "Nothing," because what I was doing was so depressingly boring. But it was so mundane that I thought it might be funny to actually report it. So, I said, "Getting ready to put some of those tub decal tread things in my tub."

At this point, my mother gasped. She literally sucked in air with such force that I'm amazed she did not aspirate the phone. "DEAR GOD NO!" she shouted, "DO NOT PUT THOSE IN YOUR TUB!!!! Whatever you do, do NOT put them in your tub. MY GOD I remember I put those goldenrod daisies in our tub in Memphis in 1971 and I could NEVER get the bathtub clean again. I could NEVER get them off! And with the bath oil and stuff they became (she's sounding kind of frightened now) SLIMY!!!! I promised myself that I would NEVER, EVER, EVER put those decals in my tub again!!! DO NOT DO IT I am telling you you will be sooooo sorrry!"

Cut to me, standing stupidly with a wad of decals in one hand and with the phone in the other, "Well, its not my tub you know.... I'm renting."

Undeterred, she continued the anti-decal tirade. "You'll NEVER get your deposit back if you put those in your tub!!! Never ever ever!!! Do NOT do it I am telling you ....I swear.... do not! You will regret it for the rest of your life!"

I finally said, "OK! Jeez! I won't mar the tub with these cursed things."

Relieved, she said, "Thank goodness."

I then said, "Well, I'm glad I mentioned it. I had no idea you had such strong feelings about bath decals. You'd think that was the biggest mistake you've ever made in your whole life or something."

There was a silence. After a moment, my mom said, "You know.... actually.... looking back.... I think that was the biggest mistake I've ever made in my life."

And the thing is, I believe her.
posted by mindse at 3:12 PM

 
To start your day this morning, I recommend a quick little Dahlia Lithwick gem about Barbie. Jen, as usual your cultural insensitivity is glaring. Chinese New Year was this past weekend. I would guess that Mongolia is kinda Chinese or something and that's why they're so "late" with the New Year celebrations.

I have to say though that those friends of Mark's and P's sound terrible. Why create such obstacles to party attendance? I'm just plain confused. Not to mention sleepy.
posted by mindse at 8:10 AM