Here are some legal sites of interest...

www.llrx.com
OU Law Library
www.uscourtforms.com
posted by J.M. Branum at 2:25 PM | link

Ronald Reagan is one of the most amazing figures of recent history. I have many problems with his policies (both domestic and Latin American foreign policy), but despite it all I can't help but be inspired by him. As a child in the 80's, I remember when he stood in front of the Berlin Wall and said, "Mr. Gorbechav, tear down this wall!" I wonder if the wall would have fallen without his critical role in American history.

posted by J.M. Branum at 12:00 PM | link

Freespeech.org
posted by J.M. Branum at 1:49 AM | link

Hightimes.com - not that I advocate drug use, but I do think it is good to post info from lots of points of view to let you make up your own mind.
posted by J.M. Branum at 1:02 AM | link

This is creepy.
posted by J.M. Branum at 10:32 PM | link

This week's Pirateradio.about.com update includes an interesting account of a raid by FCC thugs at Free Radio Tucson.
posted by J.M. Branum at 10:30 PM | link

posted by J.M. Branum at 10:02 PM | link

It looks like the Bush administration is practicing some "fuzzy math" to explain away their raiding of Social Security. I am no big fan of Al Gore (I can proudly say that I didn't vote for Twiddle Dee or Twiddle Dumber.), but I sure wish we had Gore's lock box around right now.

posted by J.M. Branum at 9:16 PM | link

The The Industry Standard is dead. How fast things change. It looks like it's R.I.P. for the "New Economy."
posted by J.M. Branum at 9:08 PM | link

Those Mormons sure have some strange beliefs.
posted by J.M. Branum at 4:04 PM | link

NY Times - Beazley Execution halted by TX Court of Criminal Appeals

Reported to Be Vanishing, Cajuns Give a Sharp 'Non'
By RICK BRAGG, NY Times - Census Bureau analysts say new survey data suggesting a significant dwindling in the population of Cajun Louisiana may not reflect an actual downturn. - This story makes me wonder if the regional differences in the USA will be gone in a few generations.
posted by J.M. Branum at 2:28 PM | link

The latest update from the NY Times on the Beazley Execution
posted by J.M. Branum at 2:26 PM | link

posted by J.M. Branum at 2:54 AM | link

Punishing Saddam - Video from 60 Minutes - Watch this. Watch the footage of the Iraqi people suffering, and then listen the bull**** that the US is churning out. This makes me want to vomit.
posted by J.M. Branum at 2:45 AM | link

Austin American-Stateman Story on the LaCresha Murray case - Ronnie Earl would never have pursued this case for so long if LaCresha Murray was a white girl.

The Travis County DA's office (in the Murray case), Governor Rick Perry and the TX Board of Pardons and Paroles (in today's execution of Napoleon Beazley) once again show how racist of a state Texas remains.
posted by J.M. Branum at 2:38 AM | link

Supersphere.com
posted by J.M. Branum at 2:34 AM | link

OK, here's an update on the story I talked about a few days ago... God don't make no junk, by Sam Martin

First, the discussion forum for Fine Print Mag is hashing out the story big-time. I haven't finished reading what has been said thus far, but it is pretty intense. I will likely jump into the fray (my nickname on that board is vagrantpoet), but I want to think it over some more. To be frank, I am still rather torn by this whole issue. I have to agree with the general premise of "God don't make no crap" but yet i have a hard time reconciling the scriptures that condemn homosexuality. Anyway, I just wanted to post this link to the discussion forum if you're intersted in reading some other folks' response to the story.
posted by J.M. Branum at 2:27 AM | link

Taken from www.newsofthewierd.com

According to a June report in Britain's The Guardian, at least two schools in Belgium's Limburg province will begin serving a kind of very-low-alcohol beer in public school cafeterias beginning in September, in an effort to wean kids aged 3 to 15 from sugary sodas and fruit juice. [The Guardian (London), 6-21-01]

Also, on the subject of beer be sure and visit my good friend Jim Liberty's site at http://beernotes.blogspot.com. He fancies himself a beer critic.
posted by J.M. Branum at 1:52 AM | link

God loves me and I have proof!!!

The day after I arrive back in Austin (well San Marcos to be exact, but it's only a 45 minute drive to Austin), they're having the Austin Chronicle 11th Annual Hot Sauce Festival!!! Only 11 more days before I'll be in picante heaven!!!

posted by J.M. Branum at 1:47 AM | link

Austin Chronicle's Intervivew with Lucinda Williams - Lucinda makes some kick*** alt.country music.

AC: Mandy Mercier and I both know you well, so we're often approached by fans wanting to know what you're like. The question I get asked most is, how's your sex life?


LW: [Laughing] Really? With this record, there seems to be a lot more attention paid to that. In The New York Times, the reviewer called me a sex symbol for the intellectual crowd. One guy in Europe said it sounded like I was lying in bed with the microphone when I recorded Essence. Another guy there said, "You sound pretty heated up, this is a horny record." They're a lot looser over there in Europe, you know.

posted by J.M. Branum at 1:41 AM | link

Susanna Thomas, Quaker Activist - Good news!!! She is now free from imprisonment in Genoa and will be returning home soon.
posted by J.M. Branum at 11:52 PM | link

AP story that tells of the global effects of light pollution

This story seems incredibly sad to me. So often, I've experienced the purest of epiphanies when staring at a star-scattered sky. Right now, my mind goes back to a late night of driving west on I-40 in New Mexico. I was between the Texas State line and Tucumcari and really needed to take a leak.

Finally I gave up in looking for a convenience store on the lonely highway and pulled off the side of the road. After taking care of business, I looked up at the sky and I was blown away. In this most mundane and even human of moments, God met me. The sky was so beautiful and it seemed as the stars were beyond numbering.

I ended up sitting on the hood of my old car quite awhile, staring into the cosmos. As I was mesmorized by the sky, my eyes woke up and I began to see even more and more stars. It was as if there layers and layers of stars that were coming out of hiding.

Never in my life have I experienced anything like that night.

posted by J.M. Branum at 11:36 PM | link

Napolean Beazley

Scheduled to be killed by the racist Texas criminal justice tomorrow. It looks like a state-sanctioned lynching to me.

posted by J.M. Branum at 10:52 PM | link

Here's another action alert from the ACLU on the death penalty
posted by J.M. Branum at 10:42 PM | link

AJY.net Blog - Here's a blog made by an old friend. He just started it back up, but I have high hopes for it as he is always sending me lots of interesting political and news links via ICQ.

He is probably a good bit more conservative than me in politics but his views are normally very well thought out. (I would probably classify him as a Centrist.)
posted by J.M. Branum at 10:27 PM | link

Here's the lastest on the Beazley execution from the NY Times (free subscription will let you view the story). It looks like the Supreme Court is going to allow another racist execution of juvenile. May God have mercy on us as a society as we continue to all be accomplices to state-sponsored killing.
posted by J.M. Branum at 6:19 PM | link

I'll write more about the SOA 26 later, but I wanted to go ahead and post this link that has info on how you can write these brave prisoners of conscience while they are in Federal prison.

Also, here are two more critical links:

ACLU action bulletin on Beazley execution - Urgent! Execution will take place tomorrow!!! Email Texas Governor Rick Perry before it's too late!!!
posted by J.M. Branum at 12:02 PM | link

posted by J.M. Branum at 8:23 PM | link

It's funny, but as I read yesterday's notation it reminds me of my Grandma McCullough (she went to heaven to be with Jesus about a year ago). She was also an avid journaler over her long life, but what she wrote about the most was the weather. She chronicled how many inches of rain they got, how hot it got, just about everything you could think of.

Even though I don't live on the farm, it is interesting how much of her attention to nature is in me.

So, on that note... it's in the low 90's here in Oklahoma today. The sun is back out, but not as hot as it was before yesterday's rain.

That's enough for now, I gotta get back to work.
posted by J.M. Branum at 3:00 PM | link

It was raining early this morning when I woke up. It's been so long since it has rained here in Newcastle this summer that I've forgotten how wonderful it is to hear it raining as you wake up.

Now the whole world is greening up.
posted by J.M. Branum at 1:04 PM | link