Southern Culture:

• NY Times: 40 Years Later, Ole Miss Asks When the Past Will Be Past --- a very interesting story. I do think though that Ole Miss and Southern Universities would be be better served to remember and learn from their past, warts and all, instead of trying to forget it. As the old saying goes, if you don't know your own history, you are doomed to repeat it.

posted by JMB at 6:29 AM | link |

Random:

I leave for Austin in about 12 hours!!! Woohoo!!!

I'm planning on taking the scenic route south. Instead of taking IH-35 (as they would say in Austin) the entire way, I'm going to take the turnpike (I-44) from Newcastle to Lawton, then south across the river to Wichita Falls, TX.

From there, I'll take US 281 south until I hit Lampassas and then probably cut to Austin from there.

While I'm talking about my plans, here is a story from Texas Monthly's May 2002 (10 Great Drives Issue) on roadtriping on U.S. 281

Also, on the subject of HW Trivia here's a page that has pictures of the ends of US 281 and also the ends of US HW 62 (aka Main Street, Newcastle, OK) in El Paso, TX and Niagra Falls, NY

See ya next week!

posted by JMB at 6:00 PM | link |

Blogging:

• Thanks go out to Kyle Still for giving me a link!

posted by JMB at 12:16 PM | link |

Random:

Since MacDougal cancelled Torts on Friday, I'll be leaving tomorrow for beautiful Austin, TX! (Woohoo!)

I have to take care of one chore (moving my junk out of a storage unit at E.41st St. Public Storage), but otherwise hope to enjoy a restful and fun weekend. Friday night I'll be downtown to say hi to all of my old pedi-cab driving friends and maybe to make a few bucks playing harmonica on the street. Saturday I'll be hanging out with my friend Kimberly at the Austin City Limits Festival, and then on Sunday I'll get to see all of my old friends at Hope Chapel. If you need to reach me over the weekend, my cell phone (405-476-5620) should be in range most of the time. Otherwise, I'll be back in time for class Monday morning.

posted by JMB at 12:10 PM | link |

Law School Update:

This week has been rather hectic for me (hence the lack of JMBzine postings). The big hurdle this week was the Research Exam for the Legal Research & Writing class. Due to my stupidity (I did not realize how long the exam was) I procrastinated horribly on it. I did get it done, but just barely in time.

Other than that, classes are going well. I am now doing book briefs for all of my classes and it is going much better. (For anyone interested, I'll post details on my book briefing technique on One L @ OCU some time next week.) It is still a struggle though to stay on track with the readings, especially when you never know how much or how little the profs will cover in class. Overall Torts is still going the smoothest, but Civ Pro and Contracts are starting to make more sense to me.

posted by JMB at 12:06 PM | link |

Law:

• NY Times: Nearly 96, Judge Milton Pollack keeps an iron grip on the gavel
  
  
  . . . REGARDING the judge's retirement plans: what with Enron and Tyco and Internet-generated litigation (last summer he dismissed six suits filed by disgruntled eBay and Amazon.com stockholders against the Internet stock analyst Mary Meeker), this is no time for a securities law expert to recuse himself.
  
  "The greed and contentiousness and double-dealing, all the things you find repeated over and over again in the past two years, are part and parcel of what it was all about back in 1929, just with modern variants and staggering sums of money," he says.
  
  "It's been a great experience to watch everybody else making money while I've been making decisions," he adds, his smile smug.
  
  He has a lifetime appointment to the bench and received senior status in 1983: he can retire at any time and not forfeit his paycheck. So why, at 95, does he battle his way downtown daily from 58th Street and Park Avenue? His only concession is to boycott the overcrowded Lexington Avenue subway during the morning rush, and to leave work by 5 p.m. rather than 6, the better to sit down to dinner with his second wife, Moselle, at 6:30. Bedtime is 10:30, unless there's a Yankees cliffhanger in progress.
  
  Really, why not put down the gavel?
  
  "That to my mind is a fatal error," the judge says. "I have seen it in people who have left here and gone fishing, or golfing, or cruising, whatever. They go off and entertain themselves, and then they expire. To me, the thing that makes you live longer is having an interest in your work and having someplace to go each day to do it. I'm in it for life."
  
  Literally.

posted by JMB at 12:00 PM | link |

OKC Events:

• OCU School of Law to Host Symposium Exploring the Impact of Enron on Corporate Governance
  
  From an OCU Law Press release:
  As the impact of the Enron scandal continues to unfold, Oklahoma City University School of Law is gathering a distinguished panel to discuss "Public Company Disclosure and Governance in the Post-Enron World." The symposium will be held this evening from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Homsey Family Moot Courtroom, Sarkeys Law Center. The symposium is free and open to the public.
  
  
  More info at: http://www.okcu.edu/law/press/nr02059.asp

posted by JMB at 11:10 AM | link |

Politics and Policy:

• Space4peace.org
  
  
• Late last night I watched part of the movie 13 Days, a movie about the Cuban Missle Crisis. Maybe I'm being melodramatic, but the situation reminds me a great deal of what is happening in Iraq and Israel with the current war. My fear is that, there is no voice for reason or peaceful resoluation in this administration like JFK had. I wish we had an Adlai Stevenson at the UN, or Robert Kennedy as attorney General. Instead, we have chickenhawks running the whole show. It's a mighty fearful situation.
  
  But I was also struck by the prayerfulness of the nation at that time. In the movie they showed in Washington the Catholic churches open 24 hours a day with long lines for confessions, and people of faith everywhere praying and seeking God's deliverance from nuclear war. It's time for peaple of faith and peace to press in deeper in crying out to the Lord for peace.
  

posted by JMB at 12:16 PM | link |

Poetry:

"Seek love in the Pity of other's Woe,
in the gentle relief of another's care,
In the darkness of night and winter's snow,
In the naked and outcast. Seek Love there!"

-- William Blake (in "William Bond")

posted by JMB at 12:11 PM | link |

Random:

On to happier topics (I know my last post seemed a bit bleak. I guess this is just one of those times in history when we have to trust God.), I came across the website for an old friend from Austin: Pedicab-us.com.

Be sure and check out the picture of me carrying a couple of very happy ladies down 6th street in Austin on my pedicab.

posted by JMB at 5:55 PM | link |

Politics and Policy:

The world seems incredibly dark right now. The pending war in Iraq is garbage but the Bush administration seems hellbent on it. I can't help but be very pesimistic about the future of the region, and of the increasing power and dominance of the American Military-Industrial complex.

I should post some good news links (I have tons collected) but I'm too depressed to do so.

posted by JMB at 5:51 PM | link |

Politics and Policy:

• NY Times/AP: Bush Challenges U.N. to Show Resolve on Iraq
  
  
  UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- President Bush challenged the United Nations to prove it is more than an "ineffective debating society" Tuesday by showing resolve against Iraq. The White House said Saddam Hussein is playing "rope-a-dope with the world" with a promise of unfettered weapons inspections.
  
  
  Bush's remarks are so insulting towards the United Nations. He needs to read the UN charter again to understand why the UN isn't supposed to make stupid rash actions, especially without consensus among other nations.
  
  
• Channel Oklahoma: Judge: City's Banner Policy Is Unconstitutional --- Policy Violates First Amendment, Judge Says
  
  
• WashPost: Federal Judge holds Norton in contempt for failing to fix Indian trust --- For once some good news! I'm glad to see Norton get nailed for not complying with court orders concerning the administration of American Indian trust funds! Victories for Indians in the American court system are sadly too rare, it's nice to see the good guys win for once!
  
  

posted by JMB at 7:41 PM | link |

Random:

I have a ton of random links that I need to post here. Here's a few with more coming tomorrow...


• MSNBC: Is ‘Star Trek’ in our future? --- Scientists work on projects where you might be able to beam up
  
  
• MSNBC: Dangerous Liaisons --- Japan’s casual ‘sex friends’ risk more than broken hearts Such a sad story.
  
  
• Pictures of State and Provincial Border Signs (Call me wierd, but I love this site!)
  
  
• Mirrored version of The First Blog (according to: www.weblogs.com)
  

posted by JMB at 7:41 PM | link |

Politics and Policy:

The drums of war keep pounding louder and I kept help but feel very, very depressed.

Part of it for me is that I keep wanting to not hate President Bush, and to love and respect him as a human being (even if I have next to zero respect for his perforance as President). This struggle inside of myself has became much more difficult with two stories from today's news.


• The First one, NY Times: Air Patrols Shift Targets in Iraq, Clearing the Way for Any Attack contains the following excerpts...
  
  
  
  WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 — American and British warplanes patrolling Iraq's no-flight zones have recently shifted tactics to bombing major air defense sites in those areas, a move that could help clear air lanes for an allied attack, military officials said today. Meanwhile, the military is preparing to base B-2 bombers outside the United States for the first time, officials said.
  . . .Under the new tactics, General Pace said, the retaliatory strikes are being directed at fixed targets like buildings, command-and-control centers and military airfields instead of mobile radars and other shifting targets.
  
  Mr. Rumsfeld said he did not know how quickly Baghdad could repair command-and-control buildings and military airfields.
  
  
  How can this be happening? I thought Bush said he would not go to war without Congressional approval and international support. I've talked about this in the past on JMBzine, but this latest escalation of the 11 year long Persian Gulf war has taken this outrage to a new level.
  
  Not to sound trite, but Bush is a Texan and as a fellow former Texan, I always understood part of the national ethos of Texas is a belief in straight talking. Dubya must have gotten Potamoc Fever, because this is not only bending the truth, but it is flat out lying.
  
  Of course, the other possibility is that Bush is really, really, really stupid and that he has no idea what is going on and is just parroting the lines given to him by his puppeteers. I kept trying to believe that to be the case (Bush in person seems like a nice guy. You can't help but like him.), but the more time goes by, the more I think that in the past I understimated his intelligence and overestimated his character.
  
  
• The second story is one that originated in the British Press, which I will quote in its entirety (under fair use of copyright laws, in the event that the Sunday Herald takes this story offline)...
  
  Sunday Herald: Bush planned Iraq 'regime change' before becoming President
  
  
  By Neil Mackay
  
  A SECRET blueprint for US global domination reveals that President Bush and his cabinet were planning a premeditated attack on Iraq to secure 'regime change' even before he took power in January 2001.
  
  The blueprint, uncovered by the Sunday Herald, for the creation of a 'global Pax Americana' was drawn up for Dick Cheney (now vice- president), Donald Rumsfeld (defence secretary), Paul Wolfowitz (Rumsfeld's deputy), George W Bush's younger brother Jeb and Lewis Libby (Cheney's chief of staff). The document, entitled Rebuilding America's Defences: Strategies, Forces And Resources For A New Century, was written in September 2000 by the neo-conservative think-tank Project for the New American Century (PNAC).
  
  The plan shows Bush's cabinet intended to take military control of the Gulf region whether or not Saddam Hussein was in power. It says: 'The United States has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein.'
  
  The PNAC document supports a 'blueprint for maintaining global US pre-eminence, precluding the rise of a great power rival, and shaping the international security order in line with American principles and interests'.
  
  This 'American grand strategy' must be advanced for 'as far into the future as possible', the report says. It also calls for the US to 'fight and decisively win multiple, simultaneous major theatre wars' as a 'core mission'.
  
  The report describes American armed forces abroad as 'the cavalry on the new American frontier'. The PNAC blueprint supports an earlier document written by Wolfowitz and Libby that said the US must 'discourage advanced industrial nations from challenging our leadership or even aspiring to a larger regional or global role'.
  
  The PNAC report also:
  
  l refers to key allies such as the UK as 'the most effective and efficient means of exercising American global leadership';
  
  l describes peace-keeping missions as 'demanding American political leadership rather than that of the United Nations';
  
  l reveals worries in the administration that Europe could rival the USA;
  
  l says 'even should Saddam pass from the scene' bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will remain permanently -- despite domestic opposition in the Gulf regimes to the stationing of US troops -- as 'Iran may well prove as large a threat to US interests as Iraq has';
  
  l spotlights China for 'regime change' saying 'it is time to increase the presence of American forces in southeast Asia'. This, it says, may lead to 'American and allied power providing the spur to the process of democratisation in China';
  
  l calls for the creation of 'US Space Forces', to dominate space, and the total control of cyberspace to prevent 'enemies' using the internet against the US;
  
  l hints that, despite threatening war against Iraq for developing weapons of mass destruction, the US may consider developing biological weapons -- which the nation has banned -- in decades to come. It says: 'New methods of attack -- electronic, 'non-lethal', biological -- will be more widely available ... combat likely will take place in new dimensions, in space, cyberspace, and perhaps the world of microbes ... advanced forms of biological warfare that can 'target' specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool';
  
  l and pinpoints North Korea, Libya, Syria and Iran as dangerous regimes and says their existence justifies the creation of a 'world-wide command-and-control system'.
  
  Tam Dalyell, the Labour MP, father of the House of Commons and one of the leading rebel voices against war with Iraq, said: 'This is garbage from right-wing think-tanks stuffed with chicken-hawks -- men who have never seen the horror of war but are in love with the idea of war. Men like Cheney, who were draft-dodgers in the Vietnam war.
  
  'This is a blueprint for US world domination -- a new world order of their making. These are the thought processes of fantasist Americans who want to control the world. I am appalled that a British Labour Prime Minister should have got into bed with a crew which has this moral standing.'
  
  
  One note though. It looks like MacKay overstated his scoop as the "secret document" in question is actually publically available online. Thanks to the good folks at the Sunday Herald's discussion forum, here is the actual full text of the referenced in the story in PDF Format. (If the website takes the PDF file down, feel free to email me and I will forward you a copy that I downloaded of it.)
  

posted by JMB at 7:19 PM | link |

Random:

Quiet day working at the computer lab, so I got the beta version of the American Constitution Society's website done. Still lots of work on it.

Other than that though, I did little productive work. I gotta get some case reading done this weekend.

posted by JMB at 6:05 PM | link |

Activism:

Here is a message I received today from the SOA Watch organization


ACTION ALERT - September 12, 2002

SUPPORT THE PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE

Toni and Jerry remain in Crisp County Jail. In response to your efforts, they have each been moved to less crowded cells. Bureau of Prisons (BOP) officials have interviewed them on two occasions as part of an investigation into our complaints. They have also had a personal meeting with the sheriff in his office to discuss conditions at the jail. At this time, correspondence from the BOP gives no indication as to whether or not they will be moved.

Both Toni and Jerry feel that the sheriff is listening to their concerns. They still hope to be moved to federal prisons closer to home where they can receive visits from their families.

The move to less crowded cells and other small changes in conditions seem to be limited to Toni and Jerry specifically, not reforms that will address overall conditions and benefit other prisoners there. We now have an opportunity to force a real and lasting change in the conditions at Crisp County Jail. Act now to ensure that conditions will change not just for our friends but for all those imprisoned at the jail without access to a network of support like this one.

There are approximately 2 million people in US prisons and jails and 6.3 million people under state supervision. The number of inmates increased more than 5 times from 1970 to 2001. 46% in 1999 were African-Americans, even though African-Americans compose only 12% of the US Population. 18% were Hispanic. Today our rate of incarceration is the highest in the world.

The Prison Industrial Complex and the School of the Americas/WHISC are both symptoms of a broader system of exploitation and oppression, a system that is dependent on repressive institutions to stay in power.

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN DO:

- Fax and then snail-mail letters to the following local officials expressing your concern over the conditions at the Crisp County Jail (see below for specific information). Demand that they launch a full-scale investigation of the conditions at the jail and implement reforms before one more person is sent there. Toni and Jerry ask that letters be written in the spirit of nonviolence and refrain from personal attacks. Write to:

Superior Court Judges:

Judge Whitfield R. Forrester
(229) 276-2652 (fax)
210 7th St. South
Cordele, GA 31010-0701

Judge John C. Prigden
(229) 276-2629 (fax)
PO Box 5025
Cordele, GA 31010-5025


- Continue the phone calls and faxes to R.E. Holt at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Southeast Regional Office. Demand that Toni and Jerry be moved to federal prisons close to their homes and that conditions be improved at Crisp County Jail for all prisoners there.

R.E. Holt Southeast Regional Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons
(678) 686-1205 ext. 204 phone
(678) 686-1229 fax

From an SOAW action alert dated August 27th:

"The SOAW office received a call from Toni yesterday. She was coughing and choking as she explained that a prisoner had been maced in the hallway outside of her cell. When her cell filled with gas, the guards refused to move her to another location. Jerry's cell shares an air duct with Toni's and he also was subjected to the noxious fumes.

Last evening's television news revealed that a prisoner in the Crisp County Jail had died of undisclosed causes. The report stated that the prisoner was being held in the medical wing of the jail. Toni indicated that there is no medical wing in the jail and that one of the jail staff people admitted to her that the woman had died in a padded isolation cell."

A letter from Peter Gelderloos dated August 17th includes the following:

"The jail is overcrowded and some inmates have to sleep on the floor. Our shower drain is clogged so water backs up. The diet is insufficient. I am often hungry. The drinking water is dirty, leaving sediment stains in my cup. . . We have telephones in our cells but the rates are sheer piracy . . . $15-$25 for a 15 minute out-of-state call. A large part of this is the connection fee and calls automatically cut off after 15 minutes, forcing inmates to call again and pay a new connection fee. . . I wasn't given any sheets or a towel for nine days after admittance. My visiting day is Tuesday. There are no visiting days on weekends, so in effect I can't get out of state visitors."

A letter from Toni Flynn dated August 13th includes the following:

"Day # 16 here at Crisp County Jail and no sign of the U.S. Marshals. Things have worsened: A woman in my cell block has for weeks complained of "sores and bugs" on her body. She and I and the other 5 women have all complained and asked for intervention. The only response was to be given a can of Lice Spray for us to use on our bodies. Upon reading the label, it says 'dangerous for humans & animals' and further instructs that it is toxic if inhaled or absorbed. Our cell was nonetheless sprayed & some women sprayed their bodies. The infected woman was isolated for 1 day and then returned, still infected. We are all at risk and the woman is as yet untreated or at best treated ineffectively. I filled out a complaint and everyone signed it. The woman has voiced that she has "lice, crabs, and canker sores as well as a rash that has spread (neck and wrist). I feel this is gross negligence and that the Health Dept needs to know. I really (underlined twice) want out of here! Is there anyway to nudge the Feds?..."

------------------

Over 70 SOA Watch activists have been incarcerated for 40 years (collectively) for civil resistance and speaking out against the SOA. Their prison terms are an attempt to silence the movement to close the SOA, and to prevent others from speaking out. An additional 28 activists, serving sentences from 3 - 6 month are currently being held in jails and prisons across the United States (Alderson, WV; Lexington, KY; Schuylkill, PA; Crisp County, GA; Lewisburg, PA; Beaumont, TX; Manchester, KY; Pekin, IL; Bradford, PA; Littleton, CO; Phoenix, AZ; Dublin, CA; Allenwood, PA; Beaver, WV). Write to the prisoners (their prison addresses will be posted on www.soaw.org shortly) and come to Fort Benning, November 15 - 17, 2002.

For more information contact:

SOA Watch
PO Box 4566
Washington DC 20017
Phone: (202) 234 3440
Email: info@soaw.org
Web: www.soaw.org

posted by JMB at 2:44 PM | link |

Law School Update:

In our course work, all of us 1L's are either going into freak-out mode in studying or are going into lazy-mode and relying on canned briefs to get through class. I'm trying avoid both extremes but for me the biggest tempation will be laziness and distractions.

Outside of class, all of the student organizations are going strong. OCU law definitely has more student life than I would have expected.

At this point, it looks like my primary involvements will be with Christian Legal Society (I'm the Secretary.) and American Constitution Society (I'm the Publicity Director). I'm also in ATLA, Native American Law Students Association (little bummed though that 1L's can't try out for their mooth court team. I wished they had told us that at the beginning.), and the Criminal Law Association.

posted by JMB at 3:03 PM | link |

Goofy Laws:

Goofy laws is a new feature of JMBzine.com where I'll be highlighting goofiness in Federal, State, and Local laws (both statutory and case law).


• In Texas, one can be sentenced to 3 months of jail time and a fine of $300 for unlawfully thrashing pecans (to beat or strike a pecan tree with a stick so as to make the nuts fall off).
  
  
  Art. 6143.1. Thrashing pecans; penalty.
  
  Sec. 1. Wherever the term thrash is used herein, it shall mean to beat or strike with a stick or other object.
  
  Sec. 2. It is unlawful for any person to thrash pecans from any pecan tree or cause pecans to fall from the tree by any means other than the fall caused by nature, unless:
  
  (1) the tree is located on land owned by the person doing the thrashing; or
  
  (2) in case the tree is located on privately-owned land, he has the written consent of the owner or lessee or his authorized agent; or
  
  (3) in case the tree is located on land owned by the state, a county, a city, a school district, or another district or political subdivision of the state, he has the written consent of an officer or agent of the agency or political subdivision controlling the property or, if the land is within the boundaries of an incorporated city, the written consent of the mayor, or, if the land is not within the boundaries of any incorporated city, the county judge of the county.
  
  Sec. 3. A person who violates any provision of this Act is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction is punishable by a fine of not less than $5 nor more than $300 or by confinement in the county jail for not more than three months, or both.
  
  Acts 1971, 62nd Leg., p. 1289, ch. 331, eff. Aug. 30, 1971.
  Found in Texas TITLE 106. PATRIOTISM AND THE FLAG
  
  
  
• In Oklahoma can be imprisoned for 10 years and fined $1000 for the felony act of displaying a red flag. --- What is goody about this, is that the legislature reinstated this law in 1999! Obviously any conviction would be overruled by the US Supreme Court on Constitutional grounds, but it is still absurd that the state would pass a law like this in 1999!
  
  
  
  Section 374 - Display of Red Flag or Emblem of Disloyalty
  
  Any person in this state, who shall carry or cause to be carried, or publicly display any red flag or other emblem or banner, indicating disloyalty to the Government of the United States or a belief in anarchy or other political doctrines or beliefs, whose objects are either the disruption or destruction of organized government, or the defiance of the laws of the United States or of the State of Oklahoma, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and upon conviction shall be punished by imprisonment in the Penitentiary of the State of Oklahoma for a term not exceeding ten (10) years, or by a fine not exceeding One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or by both such imprisonment and fine.
  
  Historical Data: Laws 1919, c. 83, p. 133, § 1; Amended by Laws 1997, H.B. No. 1213 c. 133. § 178, emerg. Effective Date Amended to July 1, 1999 by Laws 1998, c. 2 (First Extraordinary Session), §§ 23-26, effective June 19, 1998 (superseded document available); Amended by H.B. 1009X (1st Ex. Sess. 1999), § 95, emerg. eff. July 1, 1999 (superseded document available).
  
  Found in Oklahoma Title 21. Crimes and Punishments: Chapter 9: Section 374 - Display of Red Flag or Emblem of Disloyalty
  
  

posted by JMB at 2:56 PM | link |

9-11:

• NY Times: Still New York, in All Its Pain and Glory --- This story brought back a lot of memories of my times visiting NYC. (especially of riding the Staten Island Ferry, one of my absolute favorite NYC things to do)
  
  Reading this, I am also convinced that I do want to follow up one of my dreams from before September 11th. . . to live in NYC for awhile. not forever, but maybe for a month or a summer. There is something about that city and its people that sticks with a person.
  
  
• OCU Law School: The story of Richard "Rick" Rescorla, OCU Law grad, war veteran, and hero of the September 11th tragedy

posted by JMB at 1:16 PM | link |

Politics and Policy:

• LA Times: Bible Group Wins Ruling on School Rights --- A federal appeals court rules that it must be treated the same as any other campus club. Experts see a strong precedent.

posted by JMB at 1:11 PM | link |

posted by JMB at 11:01 PM | link |

9-11:

How should we observe the 11th?

I know that some that some of friends that I have spoken to say that we are all making too big of a deal out of the anniversary and that it is not as one commentor on TV said "the formative experience of this generation," but rather some contrived by the corporate media

At first I was somewhat sympathetic with those sentiments, but over the last few days of thought and time in the book of Lamentations I have second thoughts. Certainly I am weary of innane television coverage that obscures truth and oversensationalizes for monetary profit, but this doesn't change the fact that this is an event that should be remembered appropriately.

I think that we as a society need to truly mourn for those lost. I think that is right and appropriate and that we should not forget. The shedding of human blood is a fearful thing, and any time we forget how awful it is we have fallen from what the incredible place that God created us to be.

I want to challenge my readers tomorrow to take a moment to remember. Here are a few ideas on how to do this:


• Attend a rememberance service at your work or school.
  
  
• Go to church
  
  
• Listen to NPR's Voices of Reflection
  
  
• Spend a few minutes at the Portraits of Grief section of the NY Times to read about the everday people who died.


We should never become so cynical, so hardened, that we known longer hurt when injustice takes place and innocents are killed.

As for myself, I will be at the services at OCU tomorrow at 8 a.m. I'm not going to wear any red, white & blue ribbon (I love my country but the symbols of patriotism have sadly become obscured by the messages of war. I hope the day comes when the flag can stand for a nation that is committed to "liberty and justice for all" once again.), but I'll wear a white ribbon as a sign of peace, remembrance, and hope.

posted by JMB at 7:55 PM | link |

Peace Resources:

• September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows an advocacy organization founded by family members of September Eleventh victims. Its mission is to seek effective nonviolent responses to terrorism, and identify a commonality with all people similarly affected by violence throughout the world. By conscientiously exploring peaceful options in our search for justice, we choose to spare additional innocent families the suffering that we have already experienced—as well as to break the endless cycle of violence and retaliation engendered by war.
  
  
• www.wagingpeace.org
  
  
• Unitedforpeace.org
  

posted by JMB at 7:46 PM | link |

Spirituality:

• Who are the Churches of Christ --- a short somewhat academic article by Dr. Tom Olbricht, Pepperdine University (for all of my non-COC friends out there to learn a little about the roots of my ancestral faith tradition ;-)
  
  
• Wineskins.org: Why the Christian Church ouught to be Pacifist (PDF file) (On a sidenote, Wineskins is back and is a much publication than it once was. It has grown from being labeled the "liberal" magazine in the Churches of Christ, to being a thoughtful and thoughtprovoking commentary for members of the Churches of Christ and other faith traditions. The current issue in particular is excellent with its focus on consumerism.
  
  
• The Ooze/re:generation quarterly: Swooshtika--- Icons for Corporate Tribes
  
  
• Yomiuri.co.jp: Psychologist finds cultural malaise responsible for U.S. social recession ---- reivew of the book The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty By David G. Myers
  

posted by JMB at 7:46 PM | link |

Conservation:

• NY Times: Environmentalists Hail the Ranchers: Howdy, Pardners!
  

posted by JMB at 7:46 PM | link |

Politics and Policy:

• MSNBC: Terror attack risk raised to 'high'
  
  
  Even before Ashcroft made his announcement, Vice President Dick Cheney left the White House for a secure, undisclosed location, canceling a speech Tuesday night and sending the disappointed audience a videotaped address, instead. Cheney’s schedule for Wednesday was uncertain.
  
  White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said Cheney also spent Monday night at a secret spot “based on an ongoing review of information that is received, as well as out of precaution.”
  
  
  During the last year Cheney has often been kept at a different location from President Bush. But, this time reading this news blurb it hit me . . . what would the world be like if he was President? It so unfathomable to imagine the horror of a Presidential assasination, but it is even more ghastly to imagine what a Cheney Presidency under such circumstances would be like.
  
  
• Newsweek/MSNBC: Nelson Mandela - "The United States of America is a threat to world peace"
  
  
  Newsweek: Why are you speaking out on Iraq? Do you want to mediate, as you tried to on the Mideast a couple of years ago? It seems you are reentering the fray now.
  
  Nelson Mandela: If I am asked, by credible organizations, to mediate, I will consider that very seriously. But a situation of this nature does not need an individual, it needs an organization like the United Nations to mediate. We must understand the seriousness of this situation. The United States has made serious mistakes in the conduct of its foreign affairs, which have had unfortunate repercussions long after the decisions were taken. Unqualified support of the Shah of Iran led directly to the Islamic revolution of 1979. Then the United States chose to arm and finance the [Islamic] mujahedin in Afghanistan instead of supporting and encouraging the moderate wing of the government of Afghanistan. That is what led to the Taliban in Afghanistan. But the most catastrophic action of the United States was to sabotage the decision that was painstakingly stitched together by the United Nations regarding the withdrawal of the Soviet Union from Afghanistan. If you look at those matters, you will come to the conclusion that the attitude of the United States of America is a threat to world peace. Because what [America] is saying is that if you are afraid of a veto in the Security Council, you can go outside and take action and violate the sovereignty of other countries. That is the message they are sending to the world. That must be condemned in the strongest terms. . .
  
  Newsweek: Do you think that the Bush administration’s U.N. diplomatic effort now is genuine, or is the President just looking for political cover by speaking to the U.N. even as he remains intent on forging ahead unilaterally?
  
  Mandela: Well, there is no doubt that the United States now feels that they are the only superpower in the world and they can do what they like. And of course we must consider the men and the women around the president. Gen. Colin Powell commanded the United States army in peacetime and in wartime during the Gulf war. He knows the disastrous effect of international tension and war, when innocent people are going to die, young men are going to die. He knows and he showed this after September 11 last year. He went around briefing the allies of the United States of America and asking for their support for the war in Afghanistan. But people like Dick Cheney… I see yesterday there was an article that said he is the real president of the United States of America, I don’t know how true that is. Dick Cheney, [Defense secretary Donald] Rumsfeld, they are people who are unfortunately misleading the president. Because my impression of the president is that this is a man with whom you can do business. But it is the men who around him who are dinosaurs, who do not want him to belong to the modern age. The only man, the only person who wants to help Bush move to the modern era is Gen. Colin Powell, the secretary of State.
  
  
  
• NY Times: F.C.C. weights a sharp easing of size limts

posted by JMB at 7:27 PM | link |

Media Sources:

Here are a few media sources that I found interesting. (I'll be adding them to the right-side bar on my next major update.)


• The Daily Yomiuri (an English Lanugage edition of a major Japanese newspaper)
  
  
• Peacework Magazine --- Published for peace activists by the American Friends (Quakers) Service Commitee

posted by JMB at 4:27 PM | link |

Politics and Policies:

• KFOR/AP: Court says Macy used 'underhanded trial tactics'
  
  
  DENVER -- The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the death sentence of an Oklahoma City man, but condemned the actions of retired Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy at the man's trial.
  
  The judges' 3-0 decision rejected the claim of Robert Don Duckett that his constitutional rights were violated at his trial for the 1988 killing of convenience store manager John E. Howard.
  
  The judges agreed with the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals that Macy's “often underhanded trial tactics” and prejudicial statements to jurors didn't deprive Duckett of a fair trial.
  
  But the judges said Macy's “persistent misconduct ... has without doubt harmed the reputation of Oklahoma's criminal justice system.” Macy disagreed with the appellate judges' conclusion about his behavior and defended his work in the Duckett case.
  
  “If what I did didn't harm Mr. Duckett and his conviction was upheld, then what I did must not have been so wrong,” Macy said.
  
  “If I was misbehaving so badly why didn't the trial judge stop me?”
  
  The federal judges, however, pointed out in their ruling the state appeals court overturned at least one murder conviction in another case, “soundly condemning (Macy's) often underhanded trial tactics.”
  
  Duckett, then 24, was sentenced in 1989 for beating Howard, 53, to death. The two men shared an Oklahoma City residence.
  
  Prosecutors said the motive was Howard wanted Duckett to move out, but Duckett contended Howard made homosexual advances at him.
  
  
  If you're interesting in more information on Oklahoma County's former DA (and endorser of current incumbent DA candidate Lane) read the book Actual Innocence by Jim Dwyer, Peter Neufeld, and Barry Scheck. It'll curdle your blood to see what Macy did in the name of 'justice.' (The Washington Post's review of this book said, "You will not soon read a more frightening book." I think the reviewer must have been reading the chapters on Macy when he wrote that.)
  
  
• NY Times: A tax break for the rich who can keep a secret
  
  
  A Treasury spokeswoman, Tara Bradshaw, said the Bush administration was not currently considering any action on exchange funds and therefore had no policy position on them.
  
  
  Yet another example of how the rich ruling class use the Bush administration to get richer at the expense of the poor and especially the Middle class folks who will have to pay more taxes to cover the difference from the ultra-rich tax cheats.

posted by JMB at 4:24 PM | link |

Random:

• The Future of the Future a blog by the Futures Studies Department at the University of Houston at Clear Lake
  
  
• NY Times: High-fat diet --- count calories and think twice Another NY Times story on the Atkins diet
  

posted by JMB at 4:24 PM | link |

Poetry:

I want to share two poems that seem appropriate for these times of sadness, rememberance, and fear.

This one is by Wendell Berry (my favorite author of late)...

THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS
by Wendell Berry

When despair grows in me
and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting for their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

The next poem is much older and is found in the third chapter of the Biblical book of Lamentations. Chapter 3 is an acrostic Hebrew poem (translated into English in the link I provided above).

What is moving about this poem is how Jeremiah (who is believed to have written the poem) finds space for hope and praise in the midst of a very bleak expresssion of grief and despair over the total destruction over the city of Jerusalem.

posted by JMB at 4:41 PM | link |

9-11:

• Praywhereyouare.us --- a project of Waymakers and Austin House of Prayer.

posted by JMB at 1:58 PM | link |

9-11 Commentary:

Today has been a difficult day. The events of last year had not been in the foremost of my thoughts until today. I guess before today they had been pushed aside subconsciously with worries about money, L-school, politics, and just life in general.

But this morning that changed as I listened to NPR on my way to OCU for a day working at the computer lab. There were several programs about the aftermath of 9-11, but the one that most moved me was an interview with Jimmy Dunne (click here to hear the interivew online).

Dunne was the sole survivor of the 3 member executive committee for the investment firm Sandler O'Neill. In the interview, he shared his experiences during that time and in the following year. I don't know why, but something about hearing him speak shook me hard and brought me back to those days in San Marcos glued to the TV worried for my friends who lived in NYC. I had forgotten the feelings of unquenchable grief of that day, but hearing this hard-as-tacks New York business man fight off from breaking down on the air, the feelings came back fresh and raw.

Yet, at the same time I was also moved me not just to grief but to awe, by the courage this man showed; his working harder than he had before to keep the firm afloat, and by his willingness to do the interivew in the first place.

Most of all, what resonnated for me was what Dunne said in response to a query from the interviewer concerning what he thought should happen to the WTC site.

Dunne said he thought one of two things should happen... either they rebuild the WTC as it was, or they should build a new UN headquarters there so that all of the world's leaders would meet in that place to stand up for what is wrong and to condemn what is wrong. (His words were so much stronger than my memory of them.)

I think Dunne is right. Now is not the time for timidty but courage. The tragedy certainly should be memorialized, but more importantly NYC needs to come back stronger than ever architecturally and culturally in the Downtown area.

The NY Times shares my sentiments surprisingly enough (and I think most New Yorkers feel this way too, given the dismal response to the tame plans that were presented earlier for the WTC rebuilding.) and has two incredible stories in this weekend's NY Times magazine on the history and possible future of the WTC...


• NY Times Magazine: Towering Ambition --- In the epic story of how the towers rose, their fall was foretold. --- This story is very long, but tells in detail how the WTC came to be, the design flaws in it, but also the design successes that kept the buildings standing long enough for so many to escape alive.
  
  Here is one picture from the story showing the WTC towers under construction:
  
  
  
  
  One thing that stood out about hte story was this portion about WTC architect Minoru Yamasaki...
  
  
  Yamasaki started off by canvassing the grid of Radio Row streets: Greenwich, Cortlandt, Vesey, West Broadway, Church, Liberty, Dey. He strolled past the grand Hudson Terminal buildings, turn-of-the-century twin towers that had themselves once been the largest office buildings in the world. He felt little sympathy for those buildings, or for the many others that his project would soon raze. Nostalgic radio buffs might bemoan the loss of the legendary district, but Yamasaki was unmoved. ''It was quite a blighted section, with radio and electronic shops in old structures, clothing stores, bars and many other businesses that could be relocated without much anguish,'' he later wrote. Yamasaki's verdict on Radio Row: ''There was not a single building worth saving.''
  
  Repeated walks around the Empire State Building helped determine another basic choice. It was the tallest building in the world. But when you strolled the sidewalks near its base, Yamasaki noted, you could almost miss it. The trade center would be different. ''There was a wish and a need to be able to stand back from it, to see and comprehend its height,'' Yamasaki wrote. These prerequisites -- which happened to coincide exactly with the Port Authority's wishes -- dictated that the project had to start with a vast empty lot, the interior streets eliminated, and that the building or buildings would rise from a broad, open plaza. But the question of how many buildings, where they would be placed, what they would look like and how tall they would be -- that all still needed to be decided. So Yamasaki's staff built a 10-foot-long dark gray mock-up of Lower Manhattan displaying everything from City Hall to the Battery, right down to the miniature freighters and tugboats on the Hudson.
  
  
  On my first time to visit to New York City by myself, Yamasaki's vision of the great towers rising from a broad open plaza made a great impression on me. On that trip, I had taken the Path train from New Jersey to Manhattan and got off the train at the WTC train station (the Path Commuter trains operated by the Port Authority had their main NYC station underneath the WTC). I then spent a long day exploring NYC, mostly downtown, visiting Trinity Church, riding the Staten Island Ferry, etc.
  
  At the end of the day, I strolled through the giant plaza between the two twins towers of the World Trade Center before catching the Path Train back to Jersey. I remember being awestruck at their immense beauty and the incredibleness of human beings to create such structures. I also remember watching a piece of paper twirl around and around in the plaza, being moved around and around by a little whirlwind. (the giant towers seemed to create lots of wierd whirlwinds by their immense shapes) Strangely enough, in the midst of such great towers, it was downright peaceful there on that chilly fall night.
  
  
• NY Times Magazine: Don't Rebuild. Reimagine --- Now is the time for New York to express its ambition through architecture and reclaim its place as a visionary city.
  
  
  
  This story wanders around a bit (kinda confusing in its flow) but the ideas behind it are stunning. I commend the NY Times for undertaking this ambitious project and I hope the city and the Port Authority take their ideas to heart. The plans developed by the NY Time's architects are breathtakingly beautiful and more bold than any skyscraper I have seen in my life.
  
  I also am pleased to see the ideas to develop more housing and business in the area. I do think that moving West Street underground is a great idea, and could help to move more of the human-level community vibe downtown.
  

posted by JMB at 5:15 PM | link |

Random:

Congratulations go out to Aaron & Brandy Young (Aaron is the often quoted AJY of local internet fame.) for the healthy birth of their second son. No word yet as to a name, but Brandy told me that Wesley and Parker (as in Peter Parker, aka Spiderman... Aaron is fan of Spidey.) are in the running. The baby weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces.

posted by JMB at 4:56 PM | link |

Random:

I just read the following press release at The Vagrant Cafe

DODD LEAVES HM -- TREBLE BANDOPPLER TO RETURN

AUSTIN, TX -- 6 SEP 02 Jason Dodd, former Editor in Chief of the Seattle/Tacoma based Bandoppler Radio (www.bandoppler.com) online magazine, and current Managing Editor of Austin, TX's HM Magazine, turned in his resignation notice to HM owners, the Van Pelts, last week. Dodd spent almost two years transforming and updating the "look" and content of the 17-year-old, nationally distributed Christian rock magazine (which began as Heaven's Metal in the mid-80s). Dodd originally planned to make one more issue of HM Magazine (Nov/Dec, #98, featuring Blindside on the cover) before returning to his home state of Washington in October, but decided instead to leave HM during the second week of September, due to undesirable internal circumstances at the magazine offices.

Dodd has been planning his departure from HM for months, and intends to move back to the Seattle area next week to start a print magazine and independent publishing house with long time friends and collaborators, Chris Estey, Chris Short, Matt Johnson, Roy Culver, Jeff Cloud, Matt Wignall, John Sant, Fay Jakymec, Jeanette Strole and others. When asked about why Dodd is leaving HM, he stated: "The decision for me to leave is three-fold. First, I can no longer quiet my nagging conscience for being personally involved with the CBA, GMA, and the American Evangelical marketplace in general. Second, I am ready and called to start my own print magazine with people who share my paradigm, aesthetics, and ethics. And third, HM Magazine has a number of internal problems that will probably never be resolved. I value the time I have spent at HM, but it's just time to make something that I can believe in without reservations."

As for the new magazine Dodd plans to create, "I am excited to get back to Seattle and begin working on something that I feel will be very special," he stated. "We haven't decided on a name for the magazine yet, but the publishing house will probably be called Bandoppler Books. The caliber of minds and talent committed to the new project will speak loudly to what is in store. I think people who still appreciate good, ethical, and intelligent journalism, creativity, honesty, humor, and all the virtuous, meaningful, challenging, and entertaining things that periodicals can be, will really dig and support what we are going to make in the months to come. I know there is a literate audience out there waiting for what I believe we can give them, and I hope we can get their attention."

While most of the details of the new magazine and publishing house are still being hashed out, inquiries of any kind can be emailed to Dodd at: jason@hmmagazine.com. Progress updates will be posted periodically at: www.fineprintmag.com.

I knew of Jason's planned departure, but I am surprised about the sudden resignation. I did have mixed feelings about the sudden departure (As a longtime fan of HM Magazine, I have been thrilled by the improvements to the content and presentation of HM during Jason's reign, so I can't help but be concerned that HM might not stay on track.), but at the same time I think jason will be much happier in a more free environment and on his own home turf. (I don't think he ever felt at home in Texas.).

I wish him the very best, and I am very, very excited to see what will come of the new magazine. (I'll let y'all know of any updates on this as soon as I hear about it.)
posted by JMB at 10:49 AM | link |

Politics and Policy:

• Taipei Times: Beijing orders Chinese women who are married to Taiwanese to have abortions --- another disturbing example of the human rights abuses perpatrated by America's new ally in the "war against terroism."

posted by JMB at 9:57 PM | link |

Cases:

For anyone currently taking Civil Procedure, check out this post on delawoffice.com that discusses in rem (against the property) jurisdiction regarding domain names in Virginia courts. This is a very interesting and practical example of how in rem jurisdiction works.

posted by JMB at 9:53 PM | link |

Politics and Policy:

• Well it looks like the Bush Administration is at it again with putting a spin on the truth. MSNBC reports that the US & UK are downplaying the reports in the British press concerning a massive airstrike today.
  
  What I find interesting in the story is this quote:
  
  
  “The strike that we conducted was one of 25. It was our 25th strike in the South. We’ve done 10 in the North this calendar year. ... Was it bigger than most? It was bigger than the ones we’d done in the last probably two weeks, but we’ve done strikes of that size several times over the last 10 or 11 years.” (USAF Brig. Gen. John W. Rosa Jr., deputy director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff)
  
  
  Read that again. Carefully.
  
  He says very clearly "we’ve done strikes of that size several times over the last 10 or 11 years".
  
  Ten or eleven years?!
  
  Folks, the Persian Gulf war never ended. Bush is either purposely deceitful or ignorant on the meaning of words (not the first president to have this problem though, at least Bush probably knows what the word "is" means.) when he says he'll ask Congress for permission before waging war on Iraq. We already are waging war against Iraq!
  
  If anything, this is war is like those Rocky movies. Another sequel just keeps coming back... It's "Desert Storm 2! In this corner, Bush Junior, wants to take on his daddy's old nemesis to prove that he's as tough as his daddy was. And in the other corner, Saddamm Hussein in the fight of his life! Will Hussein finally be defeated? Will Bush Junior reclaim the golden belt for his daddy's (and their corporate backers') good name?"
  
  My fear is that there will be a Desert Storm 3, and a Desert Storm 4, as the suriving Iraqi children of the wars grow up in an atmosphere of hating America for she had done to their people.
  
  Also, what strikes me as obscene is the fact that Bush is right now lobbying China for their support in this war. China!?
  
  This war is not about human rights, and sure isn't about deterring threats or terrorism.
  
  In the big picture, China treats her citizens as bad or worse than Iraq does. Just ask the Tibetans of China how they feel about the oppression of the PROC? Their position is little different than that of the Kurds of Iraq. Also on the subject of religous freedom, Iraq is much more open than China. There are actually Christian churches opperating in Iraq legally. Not so in China, at least not real Christian churches.
  
  China also poses a much greater threat to the US than does Iraq. Iraq at best could launch a terrorist attack of some kind. China can launch nuclear weapons at the US and hit the west coast.
  
  Asking China for help in toppeling in Iraq, is like asking Charles Manson to help the police track down a serial killer. It's absurd and offensive.

posted by JMB at 9:43 PM | link |

Local Art:

My friend and favorite local artist, Tim Burger has pictures of some his recent murals on his site www.timburger.com. While you're checking them out, look for the Egyptian-style bricks on the mural Mo-Jo's Cafe on the Nile. Most of the bricks are my work. (So don't blame Tim if that part stinks. Haha)

posted by JMB at 1:56 PM | link |

Reader Comments:

Here is an email that I received regarding my earlier post in which I said that I might vote for Largent (R) or Richardson (I) for Governor if Orza (D) wins the primary.


Subject: Largent

I noticed on your site you were considering voting for Largent. Please go to my site www.nolargent.com before you make any decision to support this unqualified politician. His tenure in Congress was a waste of representation for over 7 years. (He simply did not do anything significant.) If elected Governor, he'll probably not do the same.

Numerous requests from teachers in Oklahoma for specifics on his "Bold New Plan" to improve education were ignored, presumably because he does not have one. Anyway, check out the site. Everything I have put up there is true and accurate, with more coming on a regular basis.

Thanks,
Mel Root, Tulsa



Well Mr. Root, I'm not a Largent fan by no means, but if the Demos pick Orza all bets are off. It'll be a race between three bad candidates, and right now they all seem equally bad to me. We needed a true Oklahoma populist as governor, but we weeded out the two candidates who were for the people (Dunegan and Haney). Henry will get my reluctant vote in the run-off election (I don't like him because he supports a regressive tax on the desperate and ignorant, a.k.a. the lottery), but if he loses I'll feel dirty no matter who I vote for who.

All in all, the political scene in Oklahoma looks pretty bad to me right now.

posted by JMB at 1:52 PM | link |

Politics and Policy:

• WashPost: The Troubling New Face of America Op-ed by Jimmy Carter
  
  
  Formerly admired almost universally as the preeminent champion of human rights, our country has become the foremost target of respected international organizations concerned about these basic principles of democratic life. We have ignored or condoned abuses in nations that support our anti-terrorism effort, while detaining American citizens as "enemy combatants," incarcerating them secretly and indefinitely without their being charged with any crime or having the right to legal counsel. This policy has been condemned by the federal courts, but the Justice Department seems adamant, and the issue is still in doubt. Several hundred captured Taliban soldiers remain imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay under the same circumstances, with the defense secretary declaring that they would not be released even if they were someday tried and found to be innocent. These actions are similar to those of abusive regimes that historically have been condemned by American presidents.
  
  

posted by JMB at 11:02 AM | link |

Politics and Policy:

• NY Times: Congress convenes in New York to commemorate Sept. 11
  
  I think this is a very good move and is a historic moment in our nation's history that our grandchildren will someday read about in history books. Here is a quote from the story that I think shows the significance of this...
  
  
  Congress came back to its roots in Lower Manhattan today, to commemorate the victims of the World Trade Center terror attacks and to pay tribute to the bravery of those who worked around the clock in rescue and recovery efforts.
  
  About 300 lawmakers began arriving in the city this morning for a one-day joint session in Federal Hall after a three-hour trip from Washington aboard two Amtrak trains. Vice President Dick Cheney presided at Federal Hall. . .
  
  The last time Congress met in New York was in 1789-90, passing key legislation and watching George Washington take the oath of office as president on April 30, 1789.
  
  Members approved the Bill of Rights, rejected royal titles and approved pensions for Revolutionary War veterans. They also dealt with import tariffs and created the State, War and Treasury departments.
  
  Legislators held their final session in New York, then the nation's capital, on Aug. 12, 1790. For the next decade they met in Philadelphia, until a new capital was built in what became Washington.
  
  
  All of the bad stuff aside (deceit and lies by the current administration, big money/corporate corruption of Congress, etc.), this historic meeting of Congress reminds us all of our roots, of those early days when Congress decided to limit it's own powers by enacting the Bill of Rights.
  
  I hope our current government (all three branches: exec, judicial, and legislative) would remember the courage of our founding fathers to protect freedom during difficult times (remember they had just won their independence a few years before). Given our current state of paranoia and oppression, the lesson seems very timely.
  
  Post edited September 6, 2002 @ 2:02 p.m.
  

posted by JMB at 10:47 AM | link |

Regional-Oklahoma:

• NewsOK: Great Plains plans non-stop Washington flights

posted by JMB at 10:39 AM | link |

Quote:

They know we own their country. We own their airspace... We dictate the way they live and talk. And that's what's great about America right now. It's a good thing, especially when there is a lot of oil out there we need. --- Air force Brigadier General William Looney (director of operations for keeping Iraqi planes from flying south of the 32nd parallel)

posted by JMB at 8:43 AM | link |

Politics and Policy:

• This morning The Guardian (UK newspaper) reports that "about 100 British and US jets were involved in an attack against Iraqi air defences in the west of the country." This is also reported by MSNBC. This is a disturbing escalation of the on-going war in Iraq and proves that Bush has some problems with truthtelling.However, unlike Gore's well-known lies of the last election, Bush's are far more dangerous.
  
  Remember, just days ago Bush pledged that we would not go to war without the consent of congress and international support.
  
  Why did he say this when in fact the US has been at war with Iraq since the so-called end of the Persian Gulf War, both through the deliberate starvation of Iraqi children and through continued bombings?
  
  But of course I'm sure Bush thinks that using 100 planes to raid a country is not an act of war. So what do you think would happen if Iraq sent 100 plans to bomb the US, or Israel? Hmm... might it be act of war?
  
  So the moral to be learned from all of this is:
  
  
  • When America bombs a country it's peacekeeping.
    
    
  • When a dictator (especially one that was once supported by the US) bombs a country, it's a crime against humanity.
  
  

posted by JMB at 8:43 AM | link |

9/11 Commentary:

From now and until the 11th, I will be posting some commentary, meditations, and rememberances of the tragedy of September 11 under this headline.

• NY Times: Honoring Loss With the Power of Green
  
  
  . . . "Planting a garden is an act of faith that you will be there to take care of it — or someone will," said Nadia Murphy, a horticulturist who is married to a firefighter in the Rockaways. "This is a place for us to come together as a community, to help each other heal."
  
  That day last September, tall sycamores protected St. Paul's Chapel of Trinity Church from the full force of the impact, said the Rev. Lyndon F. Harris, the chapel's pastor. This spring, Mr. Harris looked up in one of the sycamores and saw a sparrow making a nest out of the remaining debris.
  
  "How's that for a metaphor?" he asked.
  
  It is the sparrow, not the phoenix, that is rising from the ashes in New York. It is the weeds poking out of ground zero. It is the people planting trees. These acts combined become a form of healing that transcends, yet never forgets, a single life lost.
  
  
  
• Living Memorial Project an intiative of the USDA Forest Service to memorialize the victims of terrorism through the planting of living memorials: trees
  

posted by JMB at 12:07 PM | link |

Law School Outlines:

While searching for some other stuff today, I stumbled across something that looks like it might be very, very useful... outlines for OCU Law classes!. These outlines are pretty old (early-mid 1990's) but the one I looked at for one of my classes looks like it is right on the money.

Now, this should be obvious but I'll say it anyway. These outlines should not be relied on as one's sole study mechanism, however, I think they do look useful as a suplement to one's own personal outline.

Also, if any OCU law students out there have a good outline they would like to share please let me know. I would be glad to let my readers know about it. Thanks!

posted by JMB at 6:09 PM | link |

Law School Update:

Classes went very well today. In Torts I got to recite which went well, especially since the professor gave me one of the more intersting cases to recite: Katko v. Briney, 183 N.W.2d 657

In Katko, the owner (Briney) of an abandoned farmhouse, in frustration with prior break-ins, decided to rig a shotgun with a spring mechanism to fire at the legs of anyone who opened the door of the bedroom.

At a later point in time, a burglar (Katko) and his accomplice entered the house looking for antique bottles to steal. When Katko opened the bedroom door of the house he got part of his leg blown off.

Katko sued for damages and prevailed in trial court, and on appeal the decision was affirmed. In a nutshell, the court held that it is not reasonable to protect property alone with deadly force, and held Briney liable for the damages.

I was very glad it was Torts and not contracts though. I feel rather lost in there. One upperclassman (or is it upperclasswoman since it was a woman?) told me that I should get the Murray's treatise (Murray on contracts, written by the same guy who edited our casebook).

posted by JMB at 5:57 PM | link |

9/11 Commentary:

From now and until the 11th, I will be posting some commentary, meditations, and rememberances of the tragedy of September 11 under this headline.

• NY Times: Slouching Towards 9/11
  
  
• The Village Voice: Day of Attunement --- Observing 9-11 The Jewish Way
  
  
• NY Times: Looking for Solace on the Towers' Painful Anniversary
  

posted by JMB at 5:44 PM | link |

Law School Resources:

• Slate: Letter to a Young Law Student --- Don't go to law school: But if you must, take my advice - very interesting, non-traditional advice about L-school. I don't think that you can completely ignore your grades as the author of this story suggests, but I do think that she makes some good points, especially with regards to resisting the peer preasure to apply for big-firm jobs (that is assuming you don't want to sell your soul to corporate America).
  
  Thanks to Debbie for sending me this link.

posted by JMB at 11:21 AM | link |

Random:

I'm at OCU super-early in the morning doing an email check before class since I'm done reading the cases.

Anyway, though on to something more interesting...

This weekend I got to spend some time babysitting my two little brothers (3 year old twins). Normally when I am with them for more than an hour or two, I end up putting on a tape for them to watch or turning on one of the semi-educational networks for kids. But this time I decided to do an experiment. We would turn off the TV.

Interestingly enough, their behavior was much improved. They seemed happier and even when they were being cranky they didn't stay that way as long as they normally would.

Of course they still kept wanting to turn on the TV, so they would go over and turn it on themselves. I would let them leave it on for awhile but as soon as they were distracted or doing something else I would turn it off.

What little we did watch of children's TV shows I was not happy with. The images were moving too fast, it was too busy, and it was overwhelming. If it was overwhelming to me as an adult, then what would it be like to them?

Also, the shows weren't very good. We had it on the Disney channel for awhile and they had a program on called "House of Mouse" where Mickey was running a nightclub or something and now Huey, Luey, and Duey (or whatever Donald Duck's nephews names are) were a boyband. Of course in the audience you had Dumbo, Alladin, and the Little Mermaid. (I'm not making this up!) Now what bothered me about it was that there was no sense of history about this. Dumbo is a 1930's show. Aladin is set in the ancient Middle East, etc. These characters (many of them original and creative in their original forms) are now just marketing tools to get the kids to giggle even though they do not fit in the story line of this innane program.

And then of course there is the commercial branding. All through the program on Disney there is the nice little friendly Disney logo in the corner... why?

So that Disney can implant their logo on the children's subconscious psyche so they can literally "brand" the corporate identity intot heir brains.

Overall, I've decided TV is trash, and children's TV (even the more benign kind) is even stinkier trash.

So, I'm not going to watch TV this week, or maybe never again. (We'll see how this week goes.) I'm sick of having my brain exploited by multi-national marketers. It's bad enough online with all of the stupid banner ads and pop-up ads, and pop-under ads, and nagging ads that sit on top of hte content until you click on something... but at least with the internet I'm getting a semi-decent trade for quality information, graphics, music, and especially the opportunity for self-expression.

All I get from TV is mind-numbing, which I guess is better than getting it from drugs, but frankly I don't want my mind numbed. I want to be truly alive not walking around dead.

Well I gotta get to class, but I wanted to go ahead and vent now while things are still fresh on my mind.

Last of all, if you want some more anti-TV thought check out: www.turnoffyourtv.com (and especially the article The Beautiful People Syndrome

posted by JMB at 8:37 AM | link |

Conservation:

• NY Times/AP: Israel and Jordan Announce Plan to Save Dead Sea --- for once some good news from the region. I am amazed that this deal went through, given the current situation in the region.

posted by JMB at 7:28 PM | link |

Random:

• Brickapple.com --- New York City in Lego --- includes models of the WTC and the Empire State Building.
  
  
• NYCSubway.org --- an unofficial site for NYC subway enthusiasts

posted by JMB at 2:32 PM | link |