Section Differential (50th Post! Big Success Get!)

Never realized how drastically different the different sections in law school could be, just in terms of how class is presented. My section is full of a bunch of professors who disavow the terrorizing ruthlessness of the Socratic method and prefer a more relaxed classroom discussion. I thought that reflected the "evolution" of legal education, but I guess that's way off base.

I was talking to Paul, who's in another section, and he's got classes with randomized and alphabetical assigned seating (and some intense professors). Me? I just took a seat on the aisle so my left-hand-itis wouldn't bother anybody.

Of course, Paul swears his section isn't cliquey at all, so maybe that's another thing entirely...

50% of the country wants Hope and Change!

I take the Gallup Daily Tracking Poll less seriously than most, but, considering how often it's thrown in my face as evidence that Barack Obama is some sort of Muslim terrorist failure of a candidate, I thought it noteworthy to point out that, as of today, the polls shows Sen. Obama favored by 50% of poll respondents.

How could this have happened? Maybe, just maybe, the Palin VP pick wisened up some folks that the McCain Campaign is as reactionary, desperate, and misguided as Democrats have been suggesting.

For as much flack as Sen. Obama got for picking a Washington hack as his VP, at least he knew what he was getting. It's obvious that John McCain didn't vet, let alone even know, this woman. From the NYT:

“I started calling around and asking, and I have not been able to find one person that was called,” Ms. Phillips said. “I called 30 to 40 people, political leaders, business leaders, community leaders. Not one of them had heard. Alaska is a very small community, we know people all over, but I haven’t found anybody who was asked anything.”

The current mayor of Wasilla, Dianne M. Keller, said she had not heard of any efforts to look into Ms. Palin’s background. And Randy Ruedrich, the state Republican Party chairman, said he knew nothing of any vetting that had been conducted.

But Sen. McCain's some sort of "maverick" after all, which explains why a seventy-two year-old would pick somebody younger, less experienced than Sen. Obama to be so close to the presidency.

Nevermind that her previous executive experience has been divisive and disastrous.

Nevermind she believes any and all American military action is part of God's divine plan.

Nevermind she admires her daughter's "choice" to keep her child while advocating denying any other woman that choice.

Nevermind the governor was a member of a political party advocating Alaska secede from the United States. Hell, I thought that was something only liberal elitist punks like myself would endorse?

Alaska State Rep. Mike Doogan (D) probably puts it best:

“Either Sarah Palin has talents and skills we were not aware of”, or “John McCain fell down and hit his head.”

And evidently 50% of Americans agree...

The facebook Disconnect

While reading about interpretations of law, which was far more engaging than I imagined, I got distracted by facebook. On some basic level, facebook has revolutionized how people stay in touch with one another. A phone call, email, even snailmail requires some sort of active intent to get in contact with another party.

Not facebook. facebook allows for people to passively know what's going on with everyone ever. It's almost unnerving sometimes.

Here I am: sitting at my desk, holding a highlighter and watching some awful music video on MTVu, and I haven't much spoken to any of my friends in two weeks. But do I really feel like I've missed anything?

Nope. Agnes posts pictures. Pat sends me anti-Obama links. People are moving from sea to shining sea.

When I left for college six years ago, I devoted a disgusting amount of time to keeping in touch with all my friends. I was on the phone for hours. I sent emails. Hell, I even mailed letters! Such was my commitment to keeping my friendships going.

This time? Psh, I check a facebook status to confirm a friend's continued existence and that's good enough for me. I've moved around enough now that any sort of static expectation of being to hang out with my buds "forever" isn't even seriously entertained by me anymore. Add facebook to the equation, and I don't even need to actively try to determine if my friends are alive and well...

Cost Benefit Analysis

Cooking for yourself in New York seems like a tremendous waste of money.

Last night, feeling guilty about not actually using my kitchen, I grabbed some beef cubes, tomatoes, onions, and bread to mix something together. Total cost: $9.14.

Assuming I stretch two meals out of that, and that means two completely unAmerican sized meals, that means I'm spending over $4.50 for a meal. That's not bad, I suppose.

Except that $4.50 doesn't include the hour it took to make everything, an hour that would have been saved had I just gone for the $3 slice of pizza pie instead.

So I guess it's back to my patented Doritos diet? Only 99 cents a bag!

Cylon Winter Invasion: The Sarah Palin Worst Case Scenario

My buddy Cline sent me this link mockingly debunking Sarah Palin's lack of experience.

Point taken, but is a Cylon invasion really that unlikely? I mean, the Terminator is a high-ranking member of the Republican Party already!

(Battlestar Galactica is awesome, by the way.)

Can FEMA save the Republican National Convention?

The Republican National Convention was already looking like a disaster, what with half the country's Republicans not even bothering to show up and the rest across the street celebrating with Ron Paul.

Then there is the logical inconsistency that the convention's main theme would be to debunk Sen. Obama's experience credentials while unveiling the forty-four year old commander of the mighty Alaskan National Guard, Sarah Palin.

Now, it looks like even the party boss won't even be showing up at his own convention:

Already, the White House has said President Bush is unlikely to come. Other officials involved in the convention planning said it has already been decided that Mr. Bush will not attend, and instead is likely to address the convention’s Monday session, if there is one, via satellite.

Of course, Hurrican Gustav presents a major natural disaster, and the President's attention is warranted, but is there any way this isn't viewed as some halfbaked Katrina do-over?

Hopefully Gustav won't be the disaster Katrina was--and I worry people forget how tragic and sad that all was--but it's presence over the RNC has to be Sen. McCain's worst nightmare. It's hard to run away from Pres. Bush with a giant reminder of the man's biggest failure happening at the same time.

God turning the Republican Convention for Pres. Bush's replacement into a telethon for hurricane victims is somehow the ultimate irony--and the ultimate reminder that GOP leadership for this country has been bankrupt and disastrous.

First Impressions

Hey! I survived the first week of law school. I was almost hoping for something dramatic to happen, i.e. breaking down in tears immediately, but nothing of the sort occurred.

I limped through, understanding one case before staring blindly at the next. It's likely too early to give any sort analysis of law school, but first impressions?

First, the jump back to school after a two year absence wasn't as big as I thought. If anything, I felt elated to be back amidst books and professors. Academia is so removed from reality that I think it imperative to always treat my time in the classroom like a vacation of sorts.

As for law school itself, Scott Turow's One L had me expecting the worst, but either NYU is drastically different from Harvard Law or that book just doesn't really apply to law school anymore. I have no doubt exams are dreadful and competition eventually boils over, but no one here, from 3L to professor, has emphasized how terrifying the place is supposed to be.

The structure of law classes into smaller sections of students bothers me on some level. I understand the point is to facilitate peer bonding and create a smaller vacuum in which to compete with and encourage each other, but it feels like a giant trap. I haven't moved from one class to another with the same group of students since eighth grade, when I was fourteen.

During orientation, I happened to come across one interesting student after another...who wasn't in my section. Now, not only is it difficult to see these students on my own, but, as a matter of practicality, they no longer speak the same variety of legalese that I do or will.

If anything, I'd wager the biggest mental problem law school presents is getting over grades. 90% of my peers will find themselves outside the top 10% of their class for the first time ever, myself likely included. Far be it for me to say grades don't matter, but I'd argue their relevance is diminished in law school.

Law school isn't designed to produce lawyers; it's designed to create legal academics. If your career plans don't fall in that category, mastering the intellectual depths of the law probably isn't essential to becoming a exceptional practitioner of the law itself.

At least, that's what I hope!

I think the expression that law school is really about learning a new language, legalese, is apt. Facts, procedures, and precedents fit together into this matrix of rules that work like nouns, verbs, tenses, etc. As one learns the building blocks of law, the whole thing gets easier to put together.

It's a mental exercise, that's for sure, but it's compelling. I've lived in the United States all my life, and I've always had a superficial understanding that law governs our society. But a week of torts, contracts, and procedures made me realize just how little that superficial understanding was.

As for all the reading? There honestly isn't that much reading; it's that not much of it makes sense at all. First, I have to go read an explanation of what I've read. Then, I likely have to go read something simpler to explain the explanation. Once I understand the reading, I have to digest it and takes notes on it. Time is of the essence, however, and two years as an admin with a degree in great books makes me a bit deficient in that area.

My biggest problem is my own hesitation toward embracing people. I refer to people as "acquaintances" long after they've become friends; dread of "networking" is part of my personal ideology. Fortunately, law school isn't about networking the way business school is; unfortunately, law school is about networking far more than undergrad.

Week one has been a toss-up: I've met some people, understood some things, but I'm still at my desk on a Saturday night, by myself, with a pile of torts to read.

Time for some campaignin'!

It's a toss-up whether these JibJab cartoons are actually funny or not, but I gotta imagine they're fun to put together. The cartoons are also a good deal more elaborate and polished than they were during the last cycle; it almost makes me wish I had continued down that whole graphic design track...Law school? Psh!

Wonderful. Just Wonderful.

Well, Sen. McCain sure is going after those disaffected (and potentially irrational) Hillary supporters now, isn't he?

Good move.

Powerful Lady Folk

Henceforth, whenever people ask me what my type of lady is, I shall direct them to these two speeches. Grace, eloquence, passion, intelligence, and a bit of beauty are all I ask, and, dammit, if Hillbot and Mrs. Hope didn't hit the nail on the head.

If Hillary's campaign had resembled anything close to her speech last night at the DNC, she'd be the nominee now:



I've always appreciated Hillary's grasp of politics, but she never struck me, during the primary, anywhere near as genuine and passionate as she did last night.

Oh yeah, and that "unpatriotic" Michelle Obama! How dare she go to Princeton and Harvard! What with her being eloquent and intelligent! It's an outrage!



Seriously, how can anyone argue Mrs. Hope is not an impressive woman?

Yes, she once said she wasn't always proud of America. It was a mistake, but if you think she wouldn't make an effective, charming, passionate first lady? I just don't get it. I'd take'em both--so, hey, come visit NYU!

Exceptional Buffoonery

The more and more I hear of John McCain's take on American foreign policy, the more it appears the man has no comprehension of American foreign policy failings and a complete inability to read a history that is anything other than completely pro-American. In some circles, people call that patriotism, but it strikes me as blind ignorance.

 

The senator's speech yesterday to the American Legion, despite its well meaning, was full of historical distortions and, as is typical of the senator, lacked basic comprehension in reality. 

 

Returning to Sen. McCain's theme that he's a proud Reagan Republican, he picks up on the idea that America, via Ronnie, single handedly won the Cold War: 

The Cold War ended not because the world stood "as one," but because the great democracies came together, bound together by sustained and decisive American leadership.

No, senator, not really. The special relationship with the U.K., America's continued pissing contests with France, and our economic fearmongering toward Japan did not win the Cold War. Hell, if anything, West German efforts during Ostpolitik did more to bring about the end of the Cold War than anything we did. 

 

I suppose you could argue the U.S. outspent the Soviet Union to death during the 1980s (which is why the U.S. is now being bought up by Middle Easterner and the Chinese, but oh well!), but the "great democracies" stopped being together under "decisive" American leadership by the mid-1950s. But nevermind, Ronnie went to Berlin, told Gorbachev to tear down the Wall, and, uh, East German mobs did it themselves.  

 

It's a political no-no to suggest American did not "win" the Cold War, but Sen. McCain cannot even grasp the reality that much of the world chaffs at "decisive" American leadership:

[W]hen people in the oppressed nations of the world need support, and solidarity, and hope, they look to America. When they talk about our country, it is not with distrust or disdain, but with respect and affection. They do not resent or resist America's democratic influence in the world -- they thank God for it.

Really? REALLY? The last time America was really greeted as liberators was World War II. Since then, who exactly has welcomed us with such open arms? Sure, people in oppressed nations like American support, like American guns, like American missiles, like American military aid, but respect and affection? I would love to know where the senator is getting this information, since it sure ain't from in any 2007 Pew Global Attitudes survey I've looked at.

 

I understand politically that Sen. McCain has to say these things to an audience of Legionnaires, but does he really have to suggest that our invasion of Iraq and the Russian invasion of Georgia are completely unrelated? 

And if [Obama] really thinks that, by liberating Iraq from a dangerous tyrant, America somehow set a bad example that invited Russia to invade a small, peaceful, and democratic nation, then he should state it outright -- because that is a debate I welcome.

In the end, confusion about such questions only invites more trouble, violence, and aggression. To promote stability and peace, America must stand firmly on the side of freedom and justice. The next president must bring to office a clear-eyed view of our nation's role in the world, as the defender of the oppressed and a force for peace.

I actually think the situation in Georgia is tragic, and the American response shameful, but, honestly, Sen. McCain can't see how, as far as Russia is concerned, the U.S. set a fantastic precedent for Russian intervention in Georgia? American militarism is the root cause for Russia's current posturing!

Opportunistic or not, the Russians can make a valid claim that they, too, were only acting as "defender of the oppressed and a force for peace" after Georgian President Saakhashvili used force against separatist provinces full of Russians.

Nevermind the equally damning argument that, if American weren't so busy with Sen. McCain's "easy" war in Iraq, there would have been a small chance Russia would have been so bold. But nevermind! Sen. McCain is too busy to think about reality when he can lambast Sen. Obama's "confidence in [him]self" and cloak himself in Reagan-esque patriotic BS.

Three Years in Hell

If this blog is going to become some horrible chronicle of my days in law school, that begins today. I thought that warranted at least a few words to reminisce on someday. Seven hours from now I have my first civil procedure class at NYU. 

I've spent the past six hours pouring over four cases, Pennoyer v. Neff, Hess v. Pawloski, International Shoe v. Washington, and World Wide Volkswagen v. Woodson, that deal with personal jurisdiction. I should feel moderately prepared for my first class, introductory in nature, with a congenial professor, but I'm anxious as hell. The feeling in my stomach is not unlike when I signed the forms to come to this school some fifteen months ago: the sensation my dive off a giant cliff is really a big bellyflop in the making.
Just cracking open these monstrous books has been intellectually engaging. Though I cringe every time I mark up a paragraph in my $150 torts volume, I can tell already I'm learning something. Is it enough? Will it ever be enough? 

I thought getting into NYU was a big deal, but I fear avoiding perpetual embarrassment here will be a bigger matter. Obviously, idiots make it through law school, but I have higher expectations than dragging myself across the finish line. I'd like to feel good wasting money on a lacquered wood frame for my juris doctor when the time comes. 

That's enough for my introductory soliloquy as I march into the proud tradition of 1L.

DisOrientation

The first day of orientation here at NYU can only be described as a complete and hilarious disaster. After some small talk, wherein I met a cute girl from MIT who had given up on materials sciences for the fun known as law, and free food, we were treated to a rousing talk by the assistant dean. An eloquent and witty speaker, the assistant dean informed me that my class of 450 is approximately 58% male, our youngest member is aged 19, our oldest 37, and the class' median age is 23, the majority having taken time off after undergrad. After staring down my future competitors and hopeful friends, we were informed we'd be spending the afternoon on a "city hunt."

This was when everything broke down.

During our introduction, the dean stressed that the orientation schedule had been completely renovated from previous years. Thus, NYU must share of the blame for what followed, if only because they hired an outside company to conduct this "city hunt" and the company had no idea what it was doing. It took five minutes to realize the scavenger company was either not equipped or unable to organize "city hunts" for a group the size of an incoming 1L class. Their MC kept making terribly unfunny jokes about how there were "like 9 million" of us in the auditorium, and the organizers kept modifying the teams as it became apparent some of my classmates had been sorted oddly.

Obviously the point of the whole exercise was to explore the environs of NYU and meet a small number in our class sections. We'd make friends; we'd bond; we'd live happily ever after. Logically, it'd follow that each team of ten or so would be given a list of clues and be sent on their way. No, no, no. What followed was complete chaos completely unbefitting a group of future lawyers. The organizers began spouting off phone numbers for "tip lines" and suggesting their was some point scheme in place to determine a grand prize winner. They kept saying how essential it was for the "entire team" to finish the hunt while simultaneously (and haphazardly) reassigning teams and maintaining zero records of who was in what team.

Thus, here's what happened to me: I was originally in a team of eight with kids from my section. We appointed a team leader, who was escorted out of the auditorium the class was sitting in to get our hint materials, a camera, some metro cards, and a "colored badge" that was never really explained. By the time our team leader returned, it had become apparent that the teams were not evenly sized. He informed us that our team had been "merged" with a team from section two.

I was already questioning the value of this experience, but being thrown with a group of kids who weren't in my section seemed to lose the whole point of the experience. Still, I went along. All 450 of us were herded out of the auditorium and into a giant dining lounge. There we were told to get our teams together and head out. Of course, the dining lounge had one entrance and, thus, one exit, creating even more confusion. (It was particularly comical to see the MC, still making jokes about how there were now "8.732 billion lawyers", suggest we all go out on one side of the room--a side that had NO DOORS.)

The end goal of the hunt was to take us to the venue for a giant "NYU Law" party somewhere in the city by 5:15 PM. Of course, so much time had been wasted explaining the whole thing that everyone only had an hour to complete the three-part hunt anyway.

By the time I was outside, I had been completely separated from the original eight people with me. I saw one with another team, two more walking around in a daze, and realized I was done with this exercise. I stumbled across my roommate, smoking a cigarette and fuming about how stupid this all was, and we abandoned ship for a night of reading our casebooks. After everything, I can't say I was much in the mood for a night of forced socializing anyway.

Biden joins the Hope and Change Machine

It's a good thing I had on my beloved MSNBC before bed last night, or I might have had to wait until 3:41 AM before Team Obama "officially" revealed Joe Biden as their VP pick.

I'm not equipped to breakdown the pros and cons of putting Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket, but numbers out of Rasmussen via TNR seem to suggest he's a decent pick:

Indepedents

Candidate Fav-Unfav
Biden 42-29 (+13)
Bayh 31-21 (+10)
Kaine 24-23 (+1)
Sebelius 18-21 (-3)
Clinton 39-57 (-18)

I don't have empirical evidence, but I'll put it down that no prospect on Sen. McCain's shortlist will have a favorable/unfavorable split as good as Sen. Biden amongst independents. Considering the depressed state of the GOP and the extreme agitation for victory on the part of the Democratic base, Sen. McCain's only shot at winning is to get independents on board his wheezing Straight Talk Express.

Sen. Biden might be a loose cannon, but he seems authentic. The McCain campaign's attempt to portray Sen. Biden as "gaffe prone" seems foolish in light of the GOP nominee's ignorance of how many pieces of real estate he actually owns. It also takes absolutely no effort to find a Macgaffe.

Still, I'm not quite sure how a Beltway pol like Sen. Biden quite fits into the whole "hope and change" motif Sen. Obama has been spewing, but, hey, Sen. Biden is my namesake...

A Comrade in Arms

Today I spent $6 on a box of cereal - it was on sale, too - but I had to take comfort in the fact that this was less than 1% of the total cost of my textbooks for the semester. Least I got the internet going, and I stumbled upon this great blog.

It's written by ::gasp:: a law student, who watches The Wire, and his analysis of the Democratic primary race is by far the most astute I've ever read:

I was sitting outside the Starbucks in Columbia Heights today when a middle aged white woman wearing a Hillary shirt walked by. She could not have looked more like a typical Hillary supporter. The black guy sitting adjacent to me shouts out, “Time to take that shirt off!” And we both burst out laughing, as does the black woman sitting on the other side of me. The campaign in a microcosm: white male yuppies uniting with blacks to snatch away the middle-aged white woman’s dreams.

Brilliant! Just brilliant!