Reason for Concern?

I have found myself in agreement with Justices Scalia's and Thomas's dissenting opinions with some frequency. It distresses me a bit because they are politically aligned with an ideology I often disagree with.

My admirations for the dissents' arguments comes from the fact that Thomas & Scalia are originalists: they think the interpretation of the Constitution should be confined to the plain meaning of the language in the document and the framers' intent. It is a much easier position to argue than one that teases contemporary ideas and meanings out of the language of the document, because it has clear guidelines and set parameters. Dissenting opinions are also not as likely to be the product of bargain and compromise as are majority opinions. The writer of the dissent is not constrained by needing to temper the language to satisfy a swing vote. Similarly, it is easier to tear down an argument than it is to build one up.

I also like Scalia's dissents because they are entertaining. I spend enough time reading opinions that a Scalia zinger is a welcome occasional diversion.

It's Hot in Here

Um . . .

from NY Times, 10/23/07

Bush to Warn Cuba on Plan for Transition

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23 — President Bush is planning to issue a stern warning Wednesday that the United States will not accept a political transition in Cuba in which power changes from one Castro brother to another, rather than to the Cuban people.


We don't accept their government at all. We have an embargo against them. What will he be warning Cuba of? His stern disapproval? Will he really "not accept a political transition"? When he speaks strongly to Cuba about democratic reforms, will he pretend he's addressing Fidel & not Raul?

Do see:
Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson-style storytelling; every frame is perfect and the story keeps you right with it. drawback: overwritten. Anderson's movies usually get better with each viewing, so really liking one 1st time out is a good sign.)

Michael Clayton (Lawyers and agri-business doing bad things together. The least plausible part of the movie, which inolves murder, cancer, nudity in a deposition, and haggard, soulless lawyers and businesspeople, is George Clooney being broke. Hollywood did mess up parts of this movie, but it is worth a watch. Fine acting.)

Don't bother with: Eastern Promises (very overrated, very derivative, crap script; it looked amazing, but didn't add up to much).

CA wildfires rage. Every year. Was it always like this? How long has it been like this? And can we blame it on illegal immigrants?

I Will Not Become One of Them

This is harder than I thought it would be.

It is not easy to differentiate myself from a culture I'm immersed in. Their values start to seem like normal values. Their worries start to seem like legitimate worries. Fear rules, and fights to the death are encouraged.

But I will not go over to the Dark Side. I am in law school by choice, not by the direction of some cruel dictator. I knew it would be a little like taking medicine. But I didn't realize how strong the tempation would be to convince myself that I like the medicine.

I have been away. For that I am sorry. I will try to come by more often.

Wake Up

I have told just about anyone who I've spoken to today that I got a mere two hours of sleep. I take a sort of pride in it; maybe as a symbol of how hard I work, or how unorthodox I am. It was work that drove me to it. But what drove me to the work in the first place? I went from the wildly fluctuating pressures of acting to the unremitting pressures of school. Why should I lose sleep over finding sources for footnotes? And why am I so proud of it? The pride can be attributed partly to satisfaction in completing a difficult task. I think I still equate worth with measurable achievement, and praise. Measurable achievement and praise are positive, but it is a mistake to rely on either in order to think well of myself.

Taste the Stupidity

Has it come to this? Have we become so desensitized that we need a bottle to change color to let us know when it is cold? Coors trumpets this can as an innovation: the only bottle that let's you know when it's cold. Maybe Coors should add little chimes to alert its stupefied customers when they have successfully opened the bottle. And maybe the bottle can change color a second time to let drinkers know that their booze has run dry and that it is once again time to check the next bottle to see if it is cold enough to drink.

They call their technological breakthrough a "cold-activated bottle." All these years, I have been yearning for an activated bottle.

When the most compelling attribute you can come up with to sell your beer is that it is cold, it is a sure sign that you are selling swill.

Pan's Labyrinth

I had heard good things about Pan's Labyrinth. I had seen a commercial or two a while back suggesting a fantasy. So, when we happened upon it on HBO the other day, we watched it without much expectation. What a gripping film. I was not prepared for how dark it was. Amazing that the same director was also responsible for Hellboy, a mildly entertaining comic book film. If you haven't seen Pan's Labyrinth. Do it now. I am not promising you'll be choked up at the end like I was, but I am promising it is worth seeing. Among other things, it contains the single most disturbing creature I have seen on film.

In more mundane news, the semester has started and I am splitting time among the American Bankruptcy Institute Law Review, job interviews for next summer, and the always pressing classwork. Beckett's Labyrinth is not nearly as entertaining as Pan's.

That is all.

Braaaaains

Here.

I got jumped

I was just about to walk up to my outside door when a kid that was like five feet tall pushed me. I thought it was weird, and I said "Hey, what you do that for?" The another kid pushed me from behind so I went forward, and then another one punched me. I think it was a girl, but I didn't really see. I tried to run away, but I couldn't. They knocked me down, and then just started grabbing in my pockets and kicking me. They took my wallet, which had my foodstamp card in it. I'm really sore today, like it hurts a little to breathe.

Remember last year when that little girl shot that woman on the Lower East Side. Sje was like 14, and she had a gun, and when the drunk woman said what are you going to do, shoot me?, she did. And the little kid's fatwer was a cop.