HOLY CRAP! People are Getting Wounded in Iraq!

As I’m sure all you know, the number one story in the US right now (it is the top story on the webpages of ABC, CBS, CNN and the #2 stories on FOXNews, MSNC and the New York Times) is that two men are in serious but stable condition following a roadside-bomb attack in Iraq. While such events kill American and Iraqi soldiers every daily with little media fanfare, today’s attack injured a reporter and his cameraman. This is hardly new, as the death/injury/kidnapping of a reporter generates several times as much press as when a soldier or other civilian is similarly harmed. You’d think the media was over there to liberate Iraq and the soldiers who get killed far more often are simply embedded troops in the news crews.

I’m glad that our media knows which group is more important: those doing the thankless and far more dangerous job of trying to win the war or those who voluntarily watch the war to bring themselves fame and give the world such pretty pictures. While I pray for the newsmen who were injured, I certainly have no more concern for them than the American and Iraqi soldiers and civilians who have been (or will be) killed or injured.

fourth-semester fun

After taking a week off to celebrate the brief being finished (51 pages of Voting Rights Act fun!), I can finally get back to what’s important: school and video games. The best part of being the brief writer is that, though my Christmas break was a living hell, I get to collect a free credit hour this semester despite being finished on the first day of class.

The second week of school hasn’t started, and I’ve already made three trips to the happiest place in Houston — the registrar’s office — to make schedule changes. First I dropped Oil & Gas in favor of environmental law, then switched Secured Transactions for First Amendment (I couldn’t take another Mussleman course after my tax debacle) and finally dropped Texas Pretrial Procedure for Agency & Partnership. This gives me 5 cumulative hours of bar-related electives (which Pearce and the Gaytor seem to find insufficient).

With any luck, I’ll get my student loan disbursement soon and will be able to stop being forced to put everything I buy on a credit card.

Here I am, in the land of the morning star

I think I’ve finally cracked. I’m working on the brief on my third consecutive all-nighter, and I just added “Send me an Angel” by the Scorpions to my Yahoo! playlist.

An 1856 case even I won't cite.

I’m trying to find a good quote about limited government for the brief, so I do a quick terms and connectors search on Lexis looking for some specific words in a sentence. Only one case comes back, and the quote was exactly what I needed. Unfortunately, that case was none other than Dred Scott v. Sanford, 90 U.S. 393, 509 (1856). Though I rarely pass up the chance to cite—let alone quote—a nineteenth century case, I don’t think that I’ll cite it in a Voting Rights Case. It just doesn’t look good to argue about racial equality while citing the case that discusses the public opinion of “the civilized and enlightened portions of the world” regarding “that unfortunate race.” Id. at 407.

Another interesting thing about that case: it is 240 pages long. At least we didn’t have to this case in con law.

Gas and Mass in Pearland: A Report

I dropped the wife off at work in Pearland, and I decided to get some gas before I left for home (the fact that the gas light had been on for about three miles helped this decision considerably). When I get to the pump, the LCD screen says something to the effect of “would you like some [fuel additive] friend?” Call me old fashioned, but I don’t often consider myself friends with things that (1) I’ve only known for 30 seconds and (2) are gas pumps. If it were my friend, shouldn’t it at least give me the gas at cost or with a discount? Gas pumps, like Taco Bell, serve only one purpose: giving gas to the American public.

Once my new friend is filling up the car, the pump’s LCD screen shows an ad for a cigarette brand called something like “Libson” or “Libberato.” The cigarette’s slogan: “get Libby with it.” I cringed.

After giving up on watching the screen, I started looking at my friend’s house. On one of the pillars next to pump had the following graffiti: “D & D 4 EVAR.” Given my record of abysmal spelling, I’ll let the “evar” go. Looking at the initials, I couldn’t help but wonder whether it was written by some guy named Dave about how much he loved Donna, or if it was some pasty nerd who really liked his level 15 Elf Mage.*


Later, the wife and I go for the first time to some Catholic Church in Pearland. While the services were more or less the same as usual (“We believe in the teachings of Cathol . . .**), the music was, to say the least, odd. Our last two churches had fairly traditional music. The first had a small choir and a piano. The Pasadena church had a choir, a rather large pipe organ and the occasional bell just for good measure. The new church, on the other hand, had a choir and piano as well as a cheesey synthesizer, electronic drum kit and a bunch of high school students with horns. It was like the church choir was a mix of Chicago and Tears for Fears.


* I’m pretty sure that making a Dungeons & Dragons joke is grounds for an annulment, so hopefully the wife won’t read down this far.

** I’ll give one shiny quarter to the first person who can correctly identify this quote