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Miscellaneous

Begging the Question

Two anonymous lawyers discuss law, politics and pop culture (in a manner reminiscent of the Foreign Service Board cheating scene in the classic 1985 Cold War spoof "Spies Like Us").
By "Milbarge" and "Fitz-Hume"

Post Frequency: 1.9/day

Last Entry: March 19, 2010 at 00:00:01

Abel was I ere I saw Leba

Posted on May 04, 2008
Prof. Berman had this post last week noting a Ninth Circuit opinion dealing with some sentencing aspects of a dirty pictures case. There were a few things I found interesting.First, one of the defendant's conditions of supervised release was that he undergo Abel testing...

Just a guess

Posted on May 04, 2008
I think CNN is trying to set the record for consecutive days with the word "incest" on its front page. Good grief.

The Reason They Invented Radio

Posted on April 27, 2008
I've been a big fan of the radio program "This American Life" for a long time, but an episode they aired last month is the best one I've ever heard. "The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar" tells the story of a 1912 kidnapping, and how it affected three families...

I Don't Even Know Where to Start....

Posted on April 27, 2008
There's so much going on in this news story, I can't even wrap my mind around it all. A couple in New Mexico was watching a porn movie, and the woman thought one of the "actors" was her boyfriend. As in, the guy she's watching the movie with. For some reason, this upsets her, so she grabs a knife and tries to kill him...

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Exshoes Me?

Posted on April 21, 2008
I'm not a shoe guy. I don't buy shoes very often, and I always go for comfort over fashion. But I did find interesting these two shoe-related items.1. A very neat article from New York magazine about how bad shoes are for our feet. Worth it just for the illustrations...

50 Book Challenge #7: Midnight Rambler

Posted on April 20, 2008
Midnight Rambler by James Swain. (Amazon, B&N, Powell's) This was highly entertaining, one of the best thrillers I've read in a while. Swain's hero is ex-cop Jack Carpenter, an expert in finding missing persons. He took down the notorious Simon Skell, aka The Midnight Rambler, a serial kidnapper and killer, but went a little overboard making the arrest...

Big, Bad, Stupid-Looking...An Exact Match...

Posted on April 13, 2008
It's not often one sees perfectly flawless logic, so it's worth taking note of. Apparently, according to a South Carolina "minister," the street design of Washington, DC, includes an upside-down pentagram. (The linked article has a map.) The Federal City is thus supposed to be some kind of conduit for Satan...

Justice is Blind, and Apparently Anonymous

Posted on April 10, 2008
Via How Appealing this weird and sad story about a man who was charged with threatening several famous black people. It's disturbing and distressing because, if it's true, the guy is evil and/or mentally ill, but one part kind of amused me a little. The indictment used initials for the victims, but the AP didn't have any trouble identifying "L...

These Protesters Need More Cowbell

Posted on April 08, 2008
Perhaps not surprisingly, this gave me the willies.However, is anyone else a little disappointed it didn't turn into something like this?

In Which I Reject the Conventional Wisdom

Posted on April 06, 2008
I like these pictures of Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan just after Ford beat back Reagan's challenge for the 1976 GOP nomination, and moments later when Reagan endorsed Ford. It's by noted White House photographer David Hume Kennerly. (A few more Ford-era shots here; link via TNR's The Plank...

This Post Was Written With Words

Posted on April 04, 2008
On tv recently I saw a McDonald's commercial about how great the ingredients in its food are. The eggs are fresh, the salads are green, etc. When they showed some beef and extolled its beefiness or whatever, there was fine print on the screen that said something like "McDonald's beef is USDA-inspected...

Legal Miscellany

Posted on March 26, 2008
1. The Justice Department approved the proposed merger of the two satellite radio companies, XM and Sirius. The FCC still has to give the okay, but this is obviously a positive step towards completing the deal. I wrote in favor of the merger back here...

More Stunning Revelations From the New York Governor's Office

Posted on March 24, 2008
Is there some kind of truth serum in the water in Albany? First we have ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer's shocking downfall thanks to his patronization of a prostitution ring. Then the new Governor, David Paterson, admits he and his wife both had affairs years ago during a troubled point in their marriage...

Good Enough

Posted on March 19, 2008
I've been wracking my brain for something to write about, betwixt obsessing over my NCAA basketball tournament picks and work stuff like an oral argument and a couple of cert petitions. Failing to come up with anything good, I decided to share an anecdote of one of my little eccentricities...

50 Book Challenge #6: My Horizontal Life

Posted on March 11, 2008
My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands by Chelsea Handler. (Amazon, B&N, Powell's) This was a fun enough lark. It's exactly what the subtitle promises: little vignettes of casual encounters from Handler's active dating life. Some are pretty amusing...

Feddie's '08 Comeback Special

Posted on March 05, 2008
This should be fun: Feddie is back to blogging at Southern Appeal. Even though I disagree with him a lot of the time -- a lot -- I always enjoyed reading SA and am happy to be able to do so again. Welcome back, Feddie!(post title inspiration)

San Francisco: The City That Hates Plastic Bags But Not Suicide

Posted on March 04, 2008
I wrote a bit here and here last year about the Golden Gate Bridge and its popularity as a suicide destination. I think it's ridiculous, callous, and irresponsible for the bridge authority to have refused for so long to erect a suicide-prevention barrier...

50 Book Challenge #5: The Follower

Posted on March 03, 2008
The Follower by Jason Starr. (Amazon, B&N, Powell's) This one had some promise, but didn't live up to it. It's about a young woman dating in New York City, and this guy who gets obsessed with her. Ideally, it would have been Bret Easton Ellis crossed with Patricia Highsmith...

Movin' Out

Posted on March 03, 2008
A parody song in to commemorate today being the day that the crack amendments are officially retroactive. (For more on that, see Prof. Berman's blog.) To the tune of Billy Joel's Movin' Out.Anthony held up a grocery store,Savin' his pennies for cocaine...

New Voting Locations

Posted on February 27, 2008
Why haven't they set up voting locations at strip clubs? What better place to have a poling polling place?

Free Campaign Suggestion on Oil

Posted on February 27, 2008
Candidates have talked alot about reducing dependence on foreign oil. Much of it has to do with alternative fuel talk, which is all well and good. But why not offer to create some incentives for the auto companies. I mean serious incentives. My plan that no one will listen to or enact...

Inventor's Corner

Posted on February 26, 2008
Someone needs to invent pants with built-in zippers in the pockets. Like cargo pants, except they look normal and the zippers are concealed inside. They would be great for everything from riding roller coasters to riding the subway and avoiding pickpockets...

40 is the new 30

Posted on February 25, 2008
Congress wasting time on the Roger Clemens hearing got me thinking. If we are going to be suspicious of athletes who continue to perform at a high level into their mid to late 30's, why is no one asking questions of say Jerry Rice, Nolan Ryan, or Bruce Matthews?

What's Black and White and Red All Over?

Posted on February 20, 2008
According to Lisa Shiffren in The Corner, Senator Barack Obama!Shiffren suggests that it's "[t]ime for some investigative journalism" into Obama's background, because all of the mixed-race kids she knew when she was young were the product of a Communist plot to get the blacks and the Jews to intermarry...

A BTQ Valentine's Tradition

Posted on February 14, 2008
For the past several years, I have run the classic Ralph Wiggum Valentine's card, "I choo-choo-choose you." This year I decided to mix it up and use the other Valentine's card he got from Lisa in that episode: "Let's Bee Friends." And it's got a picture of a bee on it! Happy Valentine's, BTQ readers!

Random Thoughts

Posted on February 13, 2008
1. I saw that the price of stamps is going up, from 41 to 42 cents. Of course the "Forever" stamps will still be good after the rate change. You can buy them for 41 cents now and use them as 42-cent stamps after the change. I had some thoughts regarding this and the time value of money, but then I started confusing myself so I dropped it...

An Archbishop, a religious code, and an offended mob walk into a bar

Posted on February 10, 2008
So I can't help but notice my newly adopted church is in the news these days. I will never be a preeminent blogger, because during the time I've procrastinated posting about this much of what I was going to say has already been covered. Given that my association with the church is in it's infancy, I can't speak to Dr...

Totally Random

Posted on February 10, 2008
Sometimes my Dad and I will call each other "Bob," even though neither of us is named Bob. The reason goes back to a car commercial from about fifteen years ago. In the commercial, the narrator, Bob, talks about how his life would be a dream if only he had that certain kind of car...

Airplane Novel Meets Real Life; or, A Lesson for Law Clerks

Posted on February 08, 2008
Via Howard at How Appealing, I discovered the amazing story behind some high-profile disbarments in Massachusetts. Part one of Howard's coverage is here, and part two is here. The basic deal is that there was this huge lawsuit over control of a family-owned grocery store chain, and the losing party was upset and suspected the judge was biased...

Cracked Up

Posted on February 04, 2008
I saw this news item about the scuttling of plans to replace the Tomb of the Unknowns monument at Arlington Cemetery. The marble slab has some cracks in it, and is showing its age and the effects of exposure. Cemetery officials think additional repairs (it's been patched up twice) will look bad and not last long; they want to replace the monument with a shiny new one...

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