ARFANSER

A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess

2010-10-18T10:33:00.001-05:00

I liked this book a lot. While much of the story describes acts that would be extremely disturbing, I found it less so because the author wrote the book with made up slang that was not nearly as disturbing to me as an English description would have been. I felt like it was a telling story about the depravity of those in power. Made me dislike government even more than I did before.

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

2010-09-07T09:32:00.001-05:00

I finally decided to read this after a lot of pressure to do so. I thought it was more of a philosophical, boy and tiger in boat talking to each other type of book. Thank goodness is wasn't.

I really liked it until the end, and then was not sure how I felt about it. But it makes you think and is well told. I enjoyed it.

Be Tolerant

2010-08-23T13:11:00.003-05:00

I had stopped writing about anything other than book reviews here for a while, but something pressed one of my buttons.

I read that 68% of Americans oppose the “Ground Zero Mosque” that is not built on ground zero nor is strictly a mosque, but is a community center. I have heard people say that it is just too close and is an affront to what those people died for. The way people talk it makes it sound like bin Laden is trying to build a victory marker, which is stupid.

For those that oppose the center, would you oppose it if the builders specifically denounced 9/11? Would you oppose it if the builders stated that it was an attempt to show New Yorkers that not all Muslims want to bomb the city? What does it take?

It seems the opposition to the center is around a few points:
1- It is built at Ground Zero. False, it is not even bordering Ground Zero.
2- It is funded by terrorists. False, there has been no fundraising for the project yet.
3- It is built as an affront to those who died in 9/11. I have not seen or heard anything like that. Seems like fear mongering by idiots trying to score political points to me.

Implicit in all of the arguments against the center is that all Muslims are terrorists. That is wrong. This shouldn’t even be a political issue, this is just a common decency issue. Freedom of religion means letting people worship in any lawful way they please.

Finally, we have the opinion that the Muslim world wrongfully hates all Americans. Perhaps they do, that is not important. But can we really criticize them for hating us, when issues like this make it evident that we hate them too. Why should they like us when we persecute and villainize them for doing something legal? If you want a peaceful world, embrace peaceful people of all religions, including Muslims, and all of us can reject violence regardless of claimed belief system.

The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway

2010-08-17T10:58:00.000-05:00

This was my least favorite Hemingway book so far. It was fairly short, but seemed to drag. There was no point to the story, other than maybe it sucks to be impotent and watch the woman you love with other men. The descriptions of the places and the experiences were classic Hemingway though, so that made it more enjoyable.

The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

2010-06-15T16:42:00.001-05:00

It was interesting to read this and see the original Sherlock Holmes (much like dracula the story is greatly changed from the original). Most of the mysteries that were contained were patently obvious before Holmes "revealed" the answer to the mystery, but some of the mysteries had a twist. In the end it was just a fun read.

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

2010-06-09T11:13:00.002-05:00

Mere Christianity is an intellectual "proof" of the truth of Christianity. Now you would probably think that as I believe the truth of Christianity I would be right in that book's wheelhouse. However, I was not.

The problem was that lewis arrived at conclusions with which I disagreed because his best tool was to create artificially restrictive dichotomies. He would say "it is either x or y, and since it cannot be x it must be y" while I would think, "but what about a, b, and c."

That being said, not a bad book and there is plenty to give people to think about how to be a better person. A lot on treat others well and don't judge someone because you can't know where they are coming from, which is a good idea for everyone regardless of faith.

A Farewell to Arms - Ernest Hemingway

2010-05-06T10:47:00.001-05:00

I started this book and was troubled by the unartful writing of the book. While the style worked very well for old man and the sea, it seemed simplistic and unsophisticated in this story. Nevertheless, it was a compelling story.

There were two parts that particularly stood out to me. First was the story of the retreat of the italian army. I think it captured the insanity of war exceptionally well. There was no rhyme or reason, adn the fact that it felt normal that the war was such a mess was what made it more memorable.

The second part was during the childbirth at the end. The ending of was easily forseen. But during that part, while the main character is talking to God, he remembers an incident with a log full of ants, and how they and he responded when the log was thrown into a fire. The ants could do nothing and just burned, and he, the one with power, threw water on the log so that he could get whiskey (effectively steaming the ants). That anecdote made the conversation with God more poignant and haunting.

The Satanic Verses - Salman Rusdie

2010-04-27T13:51:00.001-05:00

What is good? What is evil? This book explores those questions. I am not sure that I ever fully understood how the different stories lined up together, but there is a good message here.

Two men fall out of a highjacked plane. They are both transformed by the experience, both physically and mentally. One takes the form of a devil and decides to be a better human. The other takes the form of an angel and becomes psychotic. There are elements of mysticism for both, and I am not sure what was real and what was imagined. But in the end it is a story of redemption and hope. Nothing determines what a person is except that person.

Lord Jim - Joseph Conrad

2010-04-05T13:32:00.001-05:00

This is the story of a man who makes a mistake early in life and then runs from the mistake and the notoriety, even the notoriety he made for himself. He eventually finds peace living among the native people on an island. However, the scars of that first mistake colors his life even on the island. He is driven by a need to not fail people again. Thi ultimately leads to him willingly going to his death. It was not a choice to go to his death, but determined by the life he had lead since his first mistake. However, he fails yet again. In his death, he fails those closest to him. And he fails to realize that his last act leads to a failure greater than any to that point.

Tender is the Night - F. Scott Fitzgerald

2010-03-26T11:13:00.002-05:00

There are many love stories that end happily ever after. This is a love story that does not, but because it does not end happily, the reader can better appreciate the love story.

Dick Diver is a well respected and beloved psychiatrist. He falls in love with a mental patient and over the next ten years bankrupts himself mentally and emotionally to keep her cured. She eventually is cured and he is broken.

The strangest part of this book is that it appears that Fitzgerald was writing one story, and when he was about 60-80 pages into it, found a better story to tell. Instead of going back and changing the beginning he left it, seemingly letting the reader get to the point of the real story the same way that he did. It allowed him to tell an incredibly poignant story without getting bogged down in the back story in the beginning.

I don't know that everyone will enjoy the book. But if you like the writing style and story telling of The Great Gatsby, you will like this. In my opinion it is a better story, told better, and filled with more emotion.

White Teeth - Zadie Smith

2010-03-15T12:22:00.000-05:00

I did not enjoy this book. It is the story of three families, the Iqbals, Jones, and Chalfins. You get the history of each member of the family. The story climax is the unveiling of "Future Mouse" by Marcus Chalfin. All of the characters are there at the unveling for different reasons, most intent on stopping the unveiling. Millat Iqbal shoots Archie Jones who falls on Future Mouse's cage, setting Future Mouse free.

I really got no great lesson out of the book, and it was not very enjoyable. It was simply a story. My biggest complaint was that at the climax of the book, the author tried to wrap all of the past history of all of the character together to show why each story of each character was important to the climax. This was ambitious and mostly well done, but to me it simply highlighted all of the extraneous story that was included. I would read another book by Zadie Smith, but this story was overly ambitious and failed to be all it could have been.

Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein

2010-03-10T15:20:00.001-06:00

Fantastic book. Kind of "Band of Brothers" in sci fi. Plenty of action, but also plenty of character.

Things Fall Apart - Chinnua Achebe

2010-03-09T13:28:00.001-06:00

I very much enjoyed this book. It is the story of english imperialism told from the viewpoint of the people the english "civilized." Before the white man showed up, life was happy and peaceful. Bad things happened, but there was always an answer. After the white man showed up and started preaching his religion, son turned against father, traditions that had worked for all of memory no longer work, the sense of community that had led to a mostly peaceful existence was destroyed.

Okonkwo, the main character, refuses to give in to the destruction of his culture, but in the end kills himself in violation of his culture. The message being that when white man "brought civilization" to Africa, the native people were forced to join with them and turn against their culture, or not join and turn against their culture. There was no opportunity to continue their way of life that had worked fine before the europeans showed up.

One of the saddest books I have read.

The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow

2010-03-08T11:03:00.000-06:00

Not great. The story is about Augie, as you should have guessed, but Augie is a lazy and stupid character. He flows from one situation to another like a leaf on the wind, with no will of his own. It gets so bad that the author has to address it, and addresses it by having Augie say on numerous occasions that he doesnt know why people are drawn to him and help him, it just happens. In the end, he sacrifices for love and sells stolen goods on the black market to pay for his untalented wife. At one time he does find his calling, running a farm and school house for children so that someone will love him, but gives that up as soon as he runs into someone with more force of personality (anyone) who doesnt like the idea.

On the positive side, it is a very well written book. You feel like you are in the story, you just dont want to be there.

A Bend in the River - V.S. Naipaul

2010-02-03T11:21:00.001-06:00

I have admittedly read very little African literature. Yet I feel as though this book seemed to capture the essence of the countries repeatedly torn apart by civil war. The main character is a man who comes to a village to run a store and make his way in the world. He arrives right after a war has finished that destroyed the economy of the village. There is a period of rebuilding and prosperity that is merely illusory and then is crushed again under another war. The man sees his investment grow and then shrink. He makes and loses friends and lovers. All because of the stress of the rebellions and impending wars. Eventually he leaves and goes to Europe. The feeling you get from the book is that no matter how hard you try to build a life for yourself, it will be taken from you and the only way to build a life is to leave Africa. But even when you leave, you cannot escape.

Arrowsmith - Sinclair Lewis

2010-02-03T11:20:00.000-06:00

I thought that a book about someone devoted to science would be incredibly boring. To the contrary, it was very interesting to read about Arrowsmith whose dedication to science was more poignant because of his enormous flaws in other areas of his life. He was in part responsible for the death of his first wife and completely responsible for the destruction of his second marriage. In the end he runs off to the woods with his colleague to investigate "phage" turning his back on his wife and child. Yet despite this, he remains noble. After reading the book you both like and despise arrowsmith which is an uncommon feeling at the end of a book.

Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy

2010-02-03T11:14:00.000-06:00

An illustration of the worst of human behavior. It follows a kid as he joins with a group that hires out as Indian killers and then goes on a killing raping pillaging spree across the desert. The story seems to really be about a character named "the judge" who initially appears as a sort of renaissance outlaw, but as the book progresses the judge progresses from Renaissance man to sociopath.

Angle of Repose - Wallace Stegner

2009-12-07T10:59:00.002-06:00

This story was incredibly slow, but I ended up liking it in the end. The book tells the story of a man fighting against personal troubles as he creates a biography of his grandmother and her life as an eastern socialite uprooted and living in the undeveloped western united states. As the man explores the life of his grandmother and grandfather, he learns about how the genetics and social upbringing he had was influenced and shaped by the lives of his grandparents. The point of the book is to discover the meaning of the phrase angle of repose. As different points in the book a possible explanation is offered and I think that the explanation a person buys into says more about that person than about the book and that phrase. I highly recommend this book because, while I have tried, I cannot find the words to adequately convey the feelings the book brings out. If you like looking at your own life while reading a book, this is a good one for it.

Battlefield Earth - L. Ron Hubbard

2009-12-07T10:53:00.002-06:00

I went into this book prepared to be amazed and overwhelmed at the craziness that I always associate with the name Hubbard. But I was very very shocked. This is a good science fiction book. There is a little bit of social commentary but everytime I felt like it was about to go to far, the story would change and go back to the action. even the social commentary that there was seemed fairly innocuous.

The story is set in 3000 ad when humans are next to extinct and our planet is run by a multiuniverse mining company. the humans are viewed as animals and hunted for sport. one human fights back as a kind of superhuman and eventually owns about 1/3 of all the known universes and humans are the dominant force anywhere. Incredibly far fetched? Yes, but that is what a good science fiction story is. Far fetched but still a fun story.

An American Tragedy -Theodore Dreiser

2009-11-16T14:29:00.002-06:00

I am still not sure what to make of this book. It is the story of a boy and tells of three chapters of his life. First, his poor upbringing and efforts to leave his poverty behind, ended in a tragic accident. Second, the period of time he spends in Lycurgus new york. this time contrasts his seduction of a working girl that works in his department, and his eventual introduction and acceptance into Lycurgus society and courtship of a very prominent and beautiful girl from a wealthy family. followed by his balancing the affections of the second girl while trying to resolve the problem of having gotten the first girl pregnant, ending with him killing the first girl in a tragic and confusing set of circumstances. Finally, his trial and eventual execution for killing the first girl.

The first part I found a little boring due to the fact that the boy, Clyde, is an idiot. His troubles in the first part are juvenile and easily solved, but turned into drama through his own incompetence.

The second part was distressing for personal reasons. His being in love with one girl and then quickly forgetting her when another girl came along reminded me a little too much of a young me and made reading that part of the book uncomfortable.

The final part of the book was uncomfortable for another reason. the majority of it is descriptions of the Clyde's trial for murder. attorneys for both sides cavalierly did things that would get them disbarred immediately now. but then end of the book when Clyde is trying to find God before his execution was what is going to stick with me for a long time. I do not like the death penalty, and this book seemed to describe fairly well the torment that a person who is to be executed goes through. Probably not as well as different books on this subject, but still haunting in my opinion.

All in all, it is a good book that touches on a large number of subjects worth thinking about. It dragged in places, but the poignancy of the topics it addresses makes it worth reading.

The Time Machine - H.G. Wells

2009-10-12T19:15:00.002-05:00

I was familiar with this concept from the movie that they made from the book. But as usual, the movie was pretty pathetic when compared to the book. While a book written nearly 120 years ago won't keep up with the science very well, the human side of the story is very telling. The short story explores a human's social needs as well as the survival instinct. An overarching theme is the desire to explore and learn. The main character loses his time machine in the future, and when he finally gets it back, instead of fleeing into his own time, he continues further into the future to see the end of the world. All in all a good quick read.

Dracula - Bram Stoker

2009-10-11T22:52:00.002-05:00

I thought when I started this book, being somewhat familiar with the vampire myths, that there would be little to surprise me. I was wrong. It was a very enjoyable read once you get past the old time feel to the writing. Dracula instead of being a major character in the book is instead mostly a motivation for the characters to do what they do. After the first part of the book, he has maybe three lines. It is written as a compilation of various peoples' diaries and correspondence, and unlike most of the time when an author attempts this, there is mostly a different style and feel to each person's writing style. A word of warning however; by the standards of today it is a fairly sexist book. If a male author tried to use some of the lines from this book as his own, he would be eviscerated.

The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

2009-10-05T11:03:00.002-05:00

This book was really hard to get into. It is about 300 pages (at least the volume I read) and for the first 200 I really struggled. The last 100 were much more fun to read. the end was OK, but seemed to be trying too hard to be poignant.

It is the story of two star crossed lovers in New York "Society" whose love is doomed by the social norms of the day combined with their desire no to hurt their families. The characters end up not being who you thought they were for the whole book. The man is the most complex. It appears at the beginning that he is in love with love, then he is in love with a woman, then he becomes rooted in habit and ends up not loving anything. The woman is flighty and while you think she loves the man, I am not totally sure she did. The man's wife appears to be a simpleton, but ends up being quite shrewd.

Worth reading once, but I dont think I will ever read it again.

Hamlet - Shakespeare

2009-09-21T15:54:00.001-05:00

Totally overrated.

American Pastoral - Phillip Roth

2009-09-18T15:09:00.002-05:00

The point of this book seems to be that no matter how good you try to be, you can be broken. There are a lot of different interesting angles to this book, but overarching and ending the book is that love and a desire to do good will be trumped by the hate and desire to destroy of everyone else. Most books leave you with some hope. This one does not.

The Wood Wife - Terri Windling

2009-07-27T09:06:00.002-05:00

I really enjoyed this book. The cover claims that it is a story about desert magic, but in the first 100 pages or so, there is maybe 1 page of total "magic." But while it starts as an unremarkable story, it quickly becomes quite surreal, and totally compelling.

My only complaint is that the ending reverts back to a common love story. It just seems to me that people who live through a magical contest with supernatural creatures and learn to view time in a non linear fashion don't go back to a normal life after. It seems to me it would change them.

Two Books

2009-07-24T16:15:00.002-05:00

I finished "A Passage to India" and "Wise Blood" in the last week. Passage was slow but decent. It basically went to the point that everyone sucks. So if you are in that kind of mood, have at it. Wise Blood on the other hand was just weird. You would think that a book that had larceny, murder, religion, self mutilation and a whole slew of crazy people would be good. You would be wrong. In all likelihood, I just didn't get it. But I really don't care.

Play it as it lays - Joan Didion

2009-07-13T11:05:00.002-05:00

This is the story of a woman's descent into psychological unwellness after her decision to get an abortion. To me it felt a lot like fear and loathing in las vegas, but without as much drug use to get to the feeling that everything was messed up. (If you are a hunter thompson fan, dont worry there is still drug use. It is just not entire cars full.

The weirdest thing about the book was that there was no point, it was just a story. I didnt seem anti or pro anything. Nothing matters. nothing is important. what i take away from the novel is that life really sucks for some people and they make it worse through their own decisions.

Unfortunately in my copy, a previous reader had annotated it with their own thoughts. Living in one of the most conservative places on earth, you can imagine that the comments were along the lines of, "thats what happens when you kill unborn children." But i completely disagree, there was nothing in the book that would lead me to believe that had she not had the abortion she would have been any healthier or ended up any place but in a sanitarium. in fact, the book insinuates that the mental imbalance started at the death of the main characters mother (and the subsequent eating of the mothers corpse in the desert).

All in all, a very quick read, and weird. If you like weird books maybe worth a read, but no promises from me on if you will like it or be offended by it or anything else.

The Naked and the Dead - Norman Mailer

2009-07-01T11:36:00.004-05:00

I had high hopes for this book. Best book about World War II and other hyperbole made me think it was going to be great. It was only OK. I believe it was Mailer's first book, and that showed in the lack of polish to the thoughts. But at the same time, you can tell that he can really write. My biggest problem with the book was the continual (in some parts it felt like every 10 pages) descriptions of a character's motivations for some action ending in some form of the thought, "even if he wouldn't admit those reasons to himself." If the book had been about how people lie to themselves, then maybe this would have been effective. But instead it felt like a crutch he used to explain more of the characters' back stories and how they related to this part of the war, even though the stories didn't really relate.

I liked less, though it is more a criticism of his view of human nature than of his writing, his (in my opinion) simplistic view of the people he was writing about. There were only two or three motivations for any action in the book, sex, loyalty, and fear. Indeed, the last two were identical many times. He may have been saying that when in a long drawn out war, a person is stripped to just his most basic instincts. It is an interesting thought, but I disagree with the premise.

All in all I am glad I read it, and will be definitely interested in reading more of Mailer's books. This was an ambitious book and idea, but even though it was over 700 pages long, I think it needed to be much longer to fully do justice to the concept of the book.

The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon

2009-06-08T15:14:00.002-05:00

This was a hard read. My reading time has often ended up with me falling asleep so it is tough to know how much of it is my own tiredness. There were more similarities between this book and what I have read of John Irving. I think it would be interesting to read all of Pynchon and Irving chronologically to see how many connections there are. But that is the job of a grad student in american lit., not me. maybe someday i will do it, but not now.

The book itself is quite dense. I think i would have to read it a few times to really get it. and if you want answers to the questions a book raises this will leave you frustrated. it ends by saying that there are only two possible solutions to the basic question of the book and never tells you which one. maybe an answer can be divined, but like i said, you would have to read it closely and a couple of times. (or be more gifted than I am at literary interpretation).

Interesting Connection

2009-06-03T16:49:00.001-05:00

The next book that I am going to read is The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon. Before reading it though, i wanted to check out the author a bit. i read what i could on him and one thing jumped out. in one of his letters to his agent he talks about working on three or four novels at the same time and that if they come out at all like what they are in his head, it will be the literary event of the millenium. This jumped out at me because a nearly identical conversation takes place in Joh Irving's The World According to Garp. That book is about an author who discusses with his publisher the next three books he will work on simultaneously and that if he finishes them like he imagines them it will be quite the literary event. I am paraphrasing here because i dont have garp with me. This isnt a subtle reference either, Garp was published in 1978. Pynchon's letter, while written well before 1978, was not made public until well after that. I don't know if there is a connection between Pynchon and Irving that this exchange would help prove, but it is an ineresting little theory, at least to me.

The Old Wives' Tale - Arnold Bennett

2009-06-03T14:38:00.002-05:00

This book is about two sister who represent sophistication (sophia) and consistency (Constance).

Bennett evidently saw an old lady in a restaurant and the fact that she was old and ugly made him think that all old women are ugly, and so women who were once beautiful and are now ugly must be depressed. His purpose of showing the sad story every old woman has because she is now old, and used to be beautiful is contradicted by the story he tells. It is an exemplary work for sexism and ageism.

The sisters live very different lives and then they die. I have no idea what bennett was trying to say with this book, mostly but what i got from it was that no matter how different you are and what kind of life you lead, you end up the same in the end. with this kind of book that follows someone through their life, the end of the life is supposed to be the most poignant and instructional. in this book it appears to be that old people are fragile, pathetic, and die ignoble deaths. Sophia has a point in the book where she wishes that she was dead but doesn't want to die. This conundrum would be a good plot for exploration, but instead bennett puts her into a coma and kills her in the next page.

I could see it on a list of the best 100 books of any given year, but of the 20th century, that is a joke.

A Prayer for Owen Meany

2009-06-01T12:17:00.003-05:00

This is the second John Irving book I have read in the last few months. I have decided that i really like his style of writing. there are books that feel like the author is finding out what happens as it is written, without plan or knowledge of what will happen next. Irving has a way of forshadowing exactly what is important, making your recognize the foreshadowing, and still leaving you surprised at how it ends. That was the case with Owen Meany. Everything was in place for the climax of the book. If you were paying attention, you had to know what was coming, but I was still surprised. the book is really about God, and I dont know if Irving was trying to say that people who believe in God are silly or that people who dont believe in God are silly, and frankly it doesnt matter. I have a feeling that regardless of what you actually believe, you will feel that Irving agrees with you.

My butt hurts with the memories

2009-05-08T12:44:00.002-05:00

i was flipping through my copy of my latest law school magazine. I don't really read any of the articles but it is nice seeing the places i used to hang out. what stood out was the courtyard where i spent many many hours is now covered (i knew about that) but that they have nice cushy chairs and couches now. i remember how badly my tailbone hurt after sitting in the rickety unpadded wooden chairs. all of them were either built to fit someone much smaller than me, or with a weird curve in the back that messed up your back. now i know they fit some people, i just didnt happen to be one of them. but on the other hand, i imagine i would have spent more time there and less time studying if i had these apparently faux leather thrones.

Deliverance

2009-04-29T12:37:00.003-05:00

I was actually surprised by how well written this book was. I think there are a lot of easy descriptive words that authors use and it has created a kind of cut and paste writing. But this book was different. I found myself expecting the typical descriptions of people places and happening and was pleasantly surprised to not find it. I would give examples, but unfortunately left the book at home. I think that if you are trying to write it is definitely worth reading to see a better approach to description than you can find just about anywhere else.

As I Lay Dying

2009-04-28T16:36:00.002-05:00

When I told someone I was reading this, they responded that Faulkner is a tough read. I don't know about that, but he is definitely one that requires you to pay attention while you read. I was cruising along and the next thing I knew naked people were running around with animals, the barn was burning, and then two of the naked guys started wrestling. huh? definitely not easy reading but a nice change of pace from the type of writing that is prevalent in most of todays books.

Rabbit, Run

2009-04-20T11:20:00.002-05:00

This book was quite disturbing. I really didnt think it was that good, but its a perennial bestseller (says so right on the cover), so maybe i missed something. The book seemed to me to glory in a completely self centered point of view. Every character acted nearly exclusively in his or her self interest. It seemed to be written from Ayn Rand's philosophy, but without the majesty of the human condition. The difference being in rand's books it feels like she is advocating something, and updike's book feels like he is describing something. the problem comes from the fact that no one acts like what is described in either book. so like i said, maybe i am missing something, or maybe it keeps selling because people wish they could act that self centered in real life. (or maybe another option i haven't thought of, like i said maybe i missed something in my apathy toward the book.)

Plug for better off ted

2009-04-08T13:23:00.003-05:00

Its a new show on ABC that i think is quite funny. it reminds me a bit of the office back when that was about stupid things that happen in an office and not the relationships that seem to dominate that show now. its on tonight so take the time to watch.

Latest Books

2009-04-08T13:20:00.001-05:00

Books I finished in the last little while, but not really deserving of their own post.
watchmen
the world according to garp
the spy who came in from the cold
atonement

I Hope Obama Fails

2009-03-25T17:36:00.003-05:00

There have been a bunch of Republicans that have been saying that they hope Obama fails with the policy decisions he is making. It started with that nut job limbaugh, and most recently (that i have seen) now thompson.

We all agree that the country is facing some serious problems. the disagreement is on how to fix those problems. By saying that you hope that Obama fails, you are not saying that his policy decisions are wrong (though I am sure they think that too) you are saying that you hope those policy decisions are not effective. I can only think of a few reasons that a person would hope that policy decisions fail: 1) you predicted that they would fail and you want to be proven right; 2) you dislike the person making the policy decisions and hope poorly for them as a person; 3) you want them to fail so that you can again claim power. Another way of classifying these reasons are: 1) petty; 2) petty; 3) petty. What in effect these republicans are saying is that for their petty reasons they want all of us to suffer. I can respect someone who disagrees with obama on how to handle the current crises we face, but someone that hopes he fails for a petty reason (causing all of us to suffer) is not someone i can respect.

fear that he will fail, predict that he will fail, believe that he will fail, but hope that he will fail? That is the epitome of partisan bickering that is everything bad with our political system.

Zuleika Dobson

2009-03-12T10:56:00.002-05:00

is the story of a girl who is not very beautiful but so attractive that guys the world over fall in love with her immediately. She goes to oxford where eventually all the undergraduates except one drown themselves to show their love. the one chickens out but when he sees her later, she taunts him and he jumps out a window. she then leaves to go to Cambridge evidently to see if she can get all the guys there to kill themselves too. The most redeeming quality of the book is that it was the genesis of the line "Death cancels all engagements." I thought there was far too much introspection, though i did enjoy the chapter about how the narrator knew the innermost thoughts of all of the characters. all in all, i thought an adequate but not exceptional book.

Winds of the Forelands Series

2009-03-02T17:00:00.002-06:00

I don't particularly like most of the easy reads out there so when i want brain candy i look mostly for fantasy books. Because i expect brain candy that is often what i get. from that perspective these books didnt disappoint. the story was fun, the world was new to me, and the good guys win in the end. my only complaint is that they got progressively more sexually explicit. so after two i recommended these books to my little brother but came to realize that i would not have done that if i had finished the series before talking to him.

Facebook

2009-02-23T13:08:00.002-06:00

I just recently got on facebook for real, if you are on it send me a friend request.

Brideshead Revisited

2009-02-23T13:00:00.003-06:00

So I told a number of people that i was going to read another atwood book (the handmaids tale) next, but my copy of it ended up back at the library before i could grab it so i moved on to brideshead revisited. I really really liked this book. There were a number of layers to it and a lot of diverse messages; from drunk driving is bad, to a persons inner beauty can make them outwardly beautiful as well (though neither of those was the main message). I think this is a book that i could read many times and still not get everything out of it that there is.

Its the story of a boy starting in college and his relationship with a family. he is best friends with one son, and then becomes the paramour of the sister. but he is involved with all of the members of the family. it is a dark book (which is probably why i like it) but dark in the sense that the main character never seems able to be truly and completely happy, despite looking for the happiness. But again, there are so many levels to the book, that if i read it again i am sure i would have a completely different take on it.

on another note, my favorite character had to be aloysius, a gigantic stuffed teddy bear that one of the college students takes with him everywhere, and talks about constantly as if it were a real person.

the blind assassin

2009-02-03T16:56:00.002-06:00

not worth the read. i like clssic books because usually with a classic book you either get a view of humanity that makes you re-evaluate your view of human experience, or you get a story that is so embedded in our culture that many many versions or spinoffs or references in other works can be better understood. this had neither thing, and it wasn't even a good story. it is a story within a story, but there are actually four stories going on. the sci-fi adventure, the story of the lady and here paramour (there you go bill dorothy), the story of the old lady, and the story of the old lady when she was younger. turns out three of those are about the old lady fro different points of view, but the style doesnt work for anything great (maybe good but i dont think so). rather it felt like the author became enamoured with writing a story in this style and let that take over the telling of the story. i finished wishing that she would have just told the sci fi story which had a lot of potential in my mind.

attack

2009-01-27T12:32:00.002-06:00

I have heard Colorado Springs described as the anti berkley for the number of right wing nut jobs that live here. while it is very conservative, i haven't had many problems (other than some playful threats because of my obama yard sign). however lately i have come under attack for not being pro life enough. i dont think that abortion isever correct except maybe in the case of rape, incest or life of the mother. i dont think that government should provide money for abortions. i think there need to be programs to decrease the number of unintended pregnancies and in that way decease the number of abortions. i think roe v wade was wrongly decided (but my reasons are more legal than i think it was wrong because it permitted abortion). but since abortion is not the number one issue for me, i have been criticized as a flaming liberal. i find it amusing/concerning when an issue is so polarizing that even people on the same side can't stand each other.

but for the record, there are very few places on earth as beautiful to live as the springs (and most of them are also in colorado) and most of the people are actually kind, polite, good people, so dont get the wrong idea from this post.

to kill a mockingbird

2009-01-20T12:44:00.002-06:00

disappointing. i thought that the book was good until the end and the end betrayed the point of the book up until that point. while the point of the book was clear, there was a greater point that got lost because of the easy out ending. a book everyone should read, but overhyped in my mind because of the simple ending.

strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde

2009-01-07T12:12:00.002-06:00

this was a fun quick read. i especially liked seeing how popular culture took the idea behind the story and changed it to fit their wants. the real story is more of a commentary on basic human nature than a monster story (though one interpretation is that there is a little monster in each of us). frankly stevinson is not ever an easy read, but i liked the book.

Animal Farm

2009-01-06T10:00:00.003-06:00

I remember reading this book back in high school and thinking it was a critique of communism. This time through, it does not seem critical of communism but rather supportive. What the book does criticize are the leaders of the communist movement. But at the beginning of the story when the animals are closest to living the ideals set originally, their lives are better than previously. This will lead to one of two interpretations: communism is good, but the leaders of the movement screwed it up, or communism is flawed and cannot work because a person in power will eventually abuse that power.

I don't know what Orwell was trying to say but apart from communism I think it is an apt description of the complacency and intellectual laziness of most people.

The Long Valley

2009-01-05T15:35:00.002-06:00

I realized that I have not been talking much about the books I have been reading. Since that is one of the things I most enjoy about writing on my blog I wanted to get back to that.

I just finished a collection of John Steinbeck short stories called The Long Valley. First, you have to know that Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors so I am inclined to like what he writes anyway. Some of the stories were just OK, but the majority of them I really liked. One of my favorite aspects of these stories is seeing certain character types that appear in his longer writings also playing a part in the short stories. For example, Lenny from Of Mice and Men can be seen as quite similar to Johnny Bear the "moron" who unwittingly makes his life and the life of the people that care about him much harder. While I have nothing to support my position, it felt like some of these characters intrigued Steinbeck and he wanted to explore other aspects of their personality in different writings. So if you like Steinbeck, definitely worth reading.

Outrage over Warren

2008-12-18T09:54:00.003-06:00

This article describes the proponents of gay rights being outraged by Obama's choice of warren to offer the invocation at the inauguration. One person is quoted as saying "if anyone is under any illusion that Obama is interested in advancing gay equality, they should probably sober up now." This is the problem with people who only care about one political issue. Every decision made is framed in terms of that one issue. It seems to happen with the extreme pro lifers and extreme gay rights activists the most. But honestly, the guy is saying a prayer at Obama's inauguration, he didn't get appointed secretary of homosexuality. Obama campaigned on unity, and what better way to unify than to invite an evangelical to participate in the inauguration. Obama picked an evangelical who has taken a stance on certain issue that many people will not agree with but, at least from what i am reading on this, he is not out there inciting hatred like many others are. So here is my advice, if you are going to be a one issue voter, shut up about your opinion. For most of us, not every decision is about that one issue that you care so dearly about, so stop framing every decision a person makes in terms of that one issue. If you care about it, fine work for it, but realize that the world has more concerns than your one issue.

the end

2008-12-11T16:45:00.002-06:00

so i have written on this blog a couple of times about boston legal. sadly this last monday was the series finale, and while they did take on the chinese, gay marriage, pharmaceuticals, the supreme court, religious bigotry, and unfair employment practices in one episode, i was a little disappointed. the highlight of the episode comes in the first 5 minutes and while it is pretty good, it was not all i had hoped. in the end it is a show i am going to miss. there are not a lot of shows out there that can match it for current events commentary and cleverness, even if i didnt always agree with it.

Follow up to petty crap

2008-11-17T14:17:00.002-06:00

So i wrote the last post while my paralegal was making sure my motion complied with the judges personal rules, and a little after i wrote this the oposing counsel filed a preemptive motion because i had called to confer with him (as i am obligated to do). so now i don't hate the petty stuff anymore, in fact i am after this guy with a vengence and any little mistake and i am letting him have it with both barrels. (PS, I think i got his paralegal fired because she kept making mistakes, I kept catching them, and now his cases are in the crapper.)

Petty Crap

2008-11-13T10:08:00.003-06:00

I think that i will have succeeded in getting two different cases significantly helped along in two days based on incredibly petty application of the rules. While i ethically have to do it for my clients, i really hate the petty crap. I would much rather litigate these cases on the merits. bring on that dog fight, but this petty crap where i say, hey you didnt comply with the rules so give me what i want, i really hate doing that.

My paralegal sends this to everyone on every vet. day

2008-11-11T08:53:00.000-06:00

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Voting

2008-10-31T23:23:00.002-05:00

I voted today. I managed to get through it without this mystical Bradley effect getting me, which according to the major news sources is quite an accomplishment for a white guy.

I thought this was hilarious

2008-10-11T14:09:00.001-05:00

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/showbiz/2008/10/10/vo.cash.does.elvis.sonyBMG

Another Bar?

2008-10-02T23:16:00.002-05:00

I thought about taking another bar this past summer, but couldn't because i had a 4 day class cert hearing.

I thought about taking another bar this coming February, but can't because i have a 4 day trial scheduled in a case i can't seem to get settled.

I could decide to take another bar this coming August, but that will have been two years and I would be 40 percent of the way to getting reciprocity.

I have decided that if you decide to bar up in two different states, the easiest way to do it is the first two bars after you graduate otherwise you get way too busy.

Old Man v. New World

2008-06-17T11:37:00.003-05:00

In the last week or so I read both The Old Man and the Sea and A Brave New World. I was struck by the exceptionally different views of mankind each book contained.

The old man is the story of a man who has been a fisherman for all of his life. He catches swordfish. The story starts as he is nearing the end of his life. He goes out by himself and manages to hook an enormous fish. The way that he fishes if to hold the line himself, without any pole. The line runs over his shoulders and into his boat. His own strength is all the keeps the fish hooked. Over the course of days, the man stays with the fish as it fights itself out. He fights all kinds of physical ailments (cramps thirst hunger age etc.) and in the end he manages to catch and kill the fish. The fish however, is too large to fit into the old man's boat. He has no choice but to tie the fish alongside his boat and begin to row back to his port, days away. As he is rowing back, sharks get the scent of the dead swordfish and begin to attack and eat the swordfish. The old man fights off the sharks but loses the battle until all that is left if the head, tail, and skeleton. The old man finally makes it back to the port. An interesting subplot is how the other people from the old man's town respond to the old man before and after he catches the fish.

The new world is a futuristic dystopia. the story follows a man who does not fit into society because according to some he had a form of futuristic fetal alcohol syndrome. he goes to a "savage" reservation, and brings back a savage fathered by his boss. this makes him popular with society because the civilized people all want to see the savage and he is the savage's guardian. The resolution is that the head of europe sends the man to an island for discontents. This leader also reveals that he at one time did not fit into society, but chose to give up honesty for power. The savage is forced to live in society, until a mob of people beat him senseless when he tries to escape from society.

The contrast of these books is how each author views the human spirit. the old man triumphs over all obstacles, and even when he fails he manages to be triumphant and unbroken. the new world humans are nothing more than what they are conditioned to be. fleeting happiness is more important than anything else. man has no or very little choice in what he or she is. i do not think that the author of new world thought this was good, but he believed that man could become that.

This has caused me to wonder about myself, do I believe man to be a majestic and triumphant creature, or pathetic and weak? I do not know yet, but i want to believe in the old man, and not the new world.

Scalia at his best.

2008-06-12T15:32:00.002-05:00

The game of bait-and-switch that today’s opinion plays upon the Nation’s Commander in Chief will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed. That consequence would be tolerable if necessary to preserve a time-honored legal principle vital to our constitutional Republic. But it is this Court’s blatant abandonment of such a principle that produces the decision today.

In the long term, then, the Court’s decision today accomplishes little, except perhaps to reduce the well-beingof enemy combatants that the Court ostensibly seeks to protect. In the short term, however, the decision is devastating. At least 30 of those prisoners hitherto released from Guantanamo Bay have returned to the battlefield.See S. Rep. No. 110–90, pt. 7, p. 13 (2007) (Minority Viewsof Sens. Kyl, Sessions, Graham, Cornyn, and Coburn) (hereinafter Minority Report). Some have been captured or killed. See ibid.; see also Mintz, Released Detainees Rejoining the Fight, Washington Post, Oct. 22, 2004, pp.A1, A12. But others have succeeded in carrying on theiratrocities against innocent civilians. In one case, a detainee released from Guantanamo Bay masterminded the kidnapping of two Chinese dam workers, one of whom was later shot to death when used as a human shield against Pakistani commandoes. See Khan & Lancaster, Pakistanis Rescue Hostage; 2nd Dies, Washington Post, Oct. 15, 2004, p. A18. Another former detainee promptly resumed his post as a senior Taliban commander and murdered a United Nations engineer and three Afghan soldiers. Mintz, supra. Still another murdered an Afghanjudge. See Minority Report 13. It was reported only last month that a released detainee carried out a suicide bombing against Iraqi soldiers in Mosul, Iraq. See White, Ex-Guantanamo Detainee Joined Iraq Suicide Attack, Washington Post, May 8, 2008, p. A18.
These, mind you, were detainees whom the military had concluded were not enemy combatants. Their return to the kill illustrates the incredible difficulty of assessing who is and who is not an enemy combatant in a foreign theater of operations where the environment does not lend itself to rigorous evidence collection.

A mere two Terms ago in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U. S. 557 (2006), when the Court held (quiteamazingly) that the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 had not stripped habeas jurisdiction over Guantanamo petitioners’ claims, four Members of today’s five-Justice majority joined an opinion saying the following:
"Nothing prevents the President from returning toCongress to seek the authority [for trial by military commission] he believes necessary.
"Where, as here, no emergency prevents consultation with Congress, judicial insistence upon that consultation does not weaken our Nation’s ability to deal with danger. To the contrary, that insistence strengthens the Nation’s ability to determine— through democratic means—how best to do so. The Constitution places its faith in those democraticmeans." Id., at 636 (BREYER, J., concurring).1
Turns out they were just kidding.

Thats probably enough for now.

McCain over Clinton

2008-02-24T19:52:00.002-06:00

With only three real candidates left for president, I have settled on my final order. Obama first, then McCain, then Clinton, (then Nader evidently). the reason is quite simple. I believe Obama will try and to an extent succed in creating a government that brings different interest together to figure out the best way to solve the country's problems. that is the ideal for me. While clinton and Obama have very similar plans for the country, I think that Clinton is incredibly divisive and will marginalize any republican voice. She will feel entitled to do whatever she wants. An article in the times called her a democratic george bush. While I think she is much more intelligent than bush, I agree to the extent that both are incredibly polarizing figures. (Bush is still a popular president among republicans). since I believe that democrats are going to increase their control of both the house and senate, if we are going to have a polarizing figure in the white house I would prefer that person to be from the opposite party of the party that controls congress. I harbor no love for McCain, but prefer deadlock in government to a polarizing figure with near complete power.

Rejection letter

2008-02-24T19:51:00.003-06:00

On Friday I received a rejection letter telling me that the firm is only interested in candidates that have 2-3 years experience. I applied to this firm in February 2007. I am tempted to write them back and tell them that if they had just waited one more year I would have that experience requirement and then I could tell them to piss off.

The persistence of isms

2008-02-24T19:37:00.002-06:00

I was talking with one of my friends the other day about Hillary Clinton and how her run for the presidency has exposed certain sexist attitudes in the country. From there was also talked about Obama and racism. It was and is my opinion that Hillary has faced more sexist negativity than obama has faced racist negativity. But that got me thinking about how both sexism and racism persist in this country.

I cam to the conclusion that the vast majority of sexists are people who do not think they are sexist. Most people do not say that a woman, for no other reason than she is a woman, cannot do X. But I think that there are many people who say that a woman can be president but only if X, while never imposing that same restriction on a male. With racism, it is much harder to justify that kind of assertion. I think most rational people have a harder time justifying a race distinction, and for that reason there are fewer racists who do not think they are racist than there are sexists who dont think they are sexist. So I have come to the conclusion that even though I strongly oppose Clinton's run for the white house, and will vote for McCain if Clinton is the democratic nominee, I am grateful to her for having run because I think it has exposed some latent sexism. And recognition of the problem is the first step to solving it.

Man in the Iron Mask

2008-02-07T01:40:00.000-06:00

I was looking for quotes because I decided that it was time to change my quote at the top of my blog, and I started with different quotes from some of my favorite authors. One of my favorite authors is Alexandre Dumas. This came up because I saw that by far his most famous quote is "all for one and one for all" from the three muskateers. I recently learned that the three muskateers is actually a trilogy, with the man in the iron mask being the third and final book in the trilogy. This book actually pits the muskateers against each other. the reason that i mention this is that when I read muskateers i thought it light hearted and very dissimilar to dumas other works (the book count of monte cristo for example makes the recent jim cavezel movie version look like bambi before mommy gets slaughtered). I find it incredibly amusing that Dumas, one of the darkest authors ever in my opinion, is best known for a line that is used as a rallying cry for unity, when the point is (I think) that unity only lasts until private interests outweigh group interests, and no matter how unified in spirit, the unity cannot last.

Obama in S.C.

2008-01-21T19:01:00.000-06:00

I thought Barack Obama's speach in south carolina today to be one of the best i had heard in a long time, and exemplifying all the reasons I am supporting his candidacy. I thought I would post it in its entirety for those of you who didnt get it emailed to you. Warning though, it references a bible story.

The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter. The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force. And so they sat for days, unable to pass on through. But God had a plan for his people. He told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram's horn, they should speak with one voice. And at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of Jericho came tumbling down.There are many lessons to take from this passage, just as there are many lessons to take from this day, just as there are many memories that fill the space of this church. As I was thinking about which ones we need to remember at this hour, my mind went back to the very beginning of the modern Civil Rights Era. Because before Memphis and the mountaintop; before the bridge in Selma and the march on Washington; before Birmingham and the beatings; the fire hoses and the loss of those four little girls; before there was King the icon and his magnificent dream, there was King the young preacher and a people who found themselves suffering under the yoke of oppression. And on the eve of the bus boycotts in Montgomery, at a time when many were still doubtful about the possibilities of change, a time when those in the black community mistrusted themselves, and at times mistrusted each other, King inspired with words not of anger, but of an urgency that still speaks to us today:"Unity is the great need of the hour" is what King said. Unity is how we shall overcome. What Dr. King understood is that if just one person chose to walk instead of ride the bus, those walls of oppression would not be moved. But maybe if a few more walked, the foundation might start to shake. If a few more women were willing to do what Rosa Parks had done, maybe the cracks would start to show. If teenagers took freedom rides from North to South, maybe a few bricks would come loose. Maybe if white folks marched because they had come to understand that their freedom too was at stake in the impending battle, the wall would begin to sway. And if enough Americans were awakened to the injustice; if they joined together, North and South, rich and poor, Christian and Jew, then perhaps that wall would come tumbling down, and justice would flow like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.Unity is the great need of the hour -- the great need of this hour. Not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it's the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country. I'm not talking about a budget deficit. I'm not talking about a trade deficit. I'm not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans. I'm talking about a moral deficit. I'm talking about an empathy deficit. I'm taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother's keeper; we are our sister's keeper; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny. We have an empathy deficit when we're still sending our children down corridors of shame -- schools in the forgotten corners of America where the color of your skin still affects the content of your education.We have a deficit when CEOs are making more in ten minutes than some workers make in ten months; when families lose their homes so that lenders make a profit; when mothers can't afford a doctor when their children get sick.We have a deficit in this country when there is Scooter Libby justice for some and Jena justice for others; when our children see nooses hanging from a schoolyard tree today, in the present, in the twenty-first century. We have a deficit when homeless veterans sleep on the streets of our cities; when innocents are slaughtered in the deserts of Darfur; when young Americans serve tour after tour of duty in a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged.And we have a deficit when it takes a breach in our levees to reveal a breach in our compassion; when it takes a terrible storm to reveal the hungry that God calls on us to feed; the sick He calls on us to care for; the least of these He commands that we treat as our own. So we have a deficit to close. We have walls -- barriers to justice and equality -- that must come down. And to do this, we know that unity is the great need of this hour. Unfortunately, all too often when we talk about unity in this country, we've come to believe that it can be purchased on the cheap. We've come to believe that racial reconciliation can come easily -- that it's just a matter of a few ignorant people trapped in the prejudices of the past, and that if the demagogues and those who exploit our racial divisions will simply go away, then all our problems would be solved. All too often, we seek to ignore the profound institutional barriers that stand in the way of ensuring opportunity for all children, or decent jobs for all people, or health care for those who are sick. We long for unity, but are unwilling to pay the price. But of course, true unity cannot be so easily won. It starts with a change in attitudes -- a broadening of our minds, and a broadening of our hearts. It's not easy to stand in somebody else's shoes. It's not easy to see past our differences. We've all encountered this in our own lives. But what makes it even more difficult is that we have a politics in this country that seeks to drive us apart -- that puts up walls between us. We are told that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us on all things; that our problems are the fault of those who don't think like us or look like us or come from where we do. The welfare queen is taking our tax money. The immigrant is taking our jobs. The believer condemns the non-believer as immoral, and the non-believer chides the believer as intolerant. For most of this country's history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays -- on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system. And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community. We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity. Every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party. It is played out on television. It is sensationalized by the media. And last week, it even crept into the campaign for President, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation. So let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing our hearts and minds. The division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which we blame our plight on others -- all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face -- war and poverty; injustice and inequality. We can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing someone else down. We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate. It is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late. Because if Dr. King could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy deficit that exists in our hearts. But if changing our hearts and minds is the first critical step, we cannot stop there. It is not enough to bemoan the plight of poor children in this country and remain unwilling to push our elected officials to provide the resources to fix our schools. It is not enough to decry the disparities of health care and yet allow the insurance companies and the drug companies to block much-needed reforms. It is not enough for us to abhor the costs of a misguided war, and yet allow ourselves to be driven by a politics of fear that sees the threat of attack as way to scare up votes instead of a call to come together around a common effort.The Scripture tells us that we are judged not just by word, but by deed. And if we are to truly bring about the unity that is so crucial in this time, we must find it within ourselves to act on what we know; to understand that living up to this country's ideals and its possibilities will require great effort and resources; sacrifice and stamina.And that is what is at stake in the great political debate we are having today. The changes that are needed are not just a matter of tinkering at the edges, and they will not come if politicians simply tell us what we want to hear. All of us will be called upon to make some sacrifice. None of us will be exempt from responsibility. We will have to fight to fix our schools, but we will also have to challenge ourselves to be better parents. We will have to confront the biases in our criminal justice system, but we will also have to acknowledge the deep-seated violence that still resides in our own communities and marshal the will to break its grip. That is how we will bring about the change we seek. That is how Dr. King led this country through the wilderness. He did it with words -- words that he spoke not just to the children of slaves, but the children of slave owners. Words that inspired not just black but also white; not just the Christian but the Jew; not just the Southerner but also the Northerner. He led with words, but he also led with deeds. He also led by example. He led by marching and going to jail and suffering threats and being away from his family. He led by taking a stand against a war, knowing full well that it would diminish his popularity. He led by challenging our economic structures, understanding that it would cause discomfort. Dr. King understood that unity cannot be won on the cheap; that we would have to earn it through great effort and determination.That is the unity -- the hard-earned unity -- that we need right now. It is that effort, and that determination, that can transform blind optimism into hope -- the hope to imagine, and work for, and fight for what seemed impossible before.The stories that give me such hope don't happen in the spotlight. They don't happen on the presidential stage. They happen in the quiet corners of our lives. They happen in the moments we least expect. Let me give you an example of one of those stories.There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organizes for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina. She's been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and the other day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there. And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer. And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care. They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches. Because that was the cheapest way to eat.She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.So Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign. They all have different stories and reasons. Many bring up a specific issue. And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time. And Ashley asks him why he's there. And he does not bring up a specific issue. He does not say health care or the economy. He does not say education or the war. He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama. He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley." By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough. It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.But it is where we begin. It is why the walls in that room began to crack and shake. And if they can shake in that room, they can shake in Atlanta. And if they can shake in Atlanta, they can shake in Georgia. And if they can shake in Georgia, they can shake all across America. And if enough of our voices join together; we can bring those walls tumbling down. The walls of Jericho can finally come tumbling down. That is our hope -- but only if we pray together, and work together, and march together. Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone. In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone. So I ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an America that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all. May God bless the memory of the great pastor of this church, and may God bless the United States of America.

The biggest problem with the World

2007-12-27T15:23:00.000-06:00

I have decided that the biggest problem with the world is a lack of respect. I do not know how it started, though there has been much speculation on what causes it. I see it everywhere I look. Something that is important to one person (like, I don't know, their safety) is carelessly risked and treated with disdain. Not only that, but if someone slights another person, more often than not the slighted person responds with escalation. One sees it on the roads. One sees it in public gathering places. One sees it on the internet. I do not think we should all agree on everything, but if you have a disagreement with another person, understand that there can be reasoned views and positions on either side of an issue/disagreement. there is no need to be mean and nasty. Respectful discussion and patience can lead to understanding even if agreement is impossible.

Warming up to Mitt again

2007-12-21T17:37:00.000-06:00

So I have been pretty down on Mitt Romney. I really disagree with him on a number of issues. However, for the strangest reason I am starting to like him again, and here it is. I don't think he is telling the truth about where he stands on a number of issues. I really think that he is more liberal than he is letting on. And with the piss poor republican field this year, that is all it really takes for me. Who else is there? Guiliani- he is the definition of unqualified. McCain- He is the definition of keeping a bad thing going. Huckabee- He is a bigot. Thompson- Is he even still alive?? Romney- good for economy (probably), short sighted on immigration (probably), flip-flopper (definately), did good things in Mass. (definately). So while I freely admit that I am probably biased by that fact that we share the same religion and so I tend to relate to him more, I think he is the republican that I support. Not the (hopefully) forceful endorsement that I give to Obama on the Dem. side, but right now that is where I stand, though open to reasoned argument to change my mind.

Double the fun

2007-12-04T19:18:00.000-06:00

Today I got my notice that I have been admitted to the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. It would be impressive if it had required more than a two page form and a check for $160.

My favorite line from the times today

2007-12-04T19:16:00.000-06:00

Bill Ash, a former assistant to Mr. Tobias, said he had told the police that Mrs. Tobias confessed to him that she had cajoled her husband into the water while he was on a cocaine binge with a promise of sex with a male go-go dancer known as Tiger.

Why Romney will not be president

2007-12-02T10:22:00.000-06:00

Very simply, because he is running a bushesque campaign and he is a mormon. Bush was elected twice because he appealed to the uber conservative core of the religious right. He won the general election because those people turned out in record numbers. Romney appears to be running the same type of campaign. He talks of guantanamo as if it were the greatest thing our country had ever done. He talks of immigration reform as if it were a capital offense to come to this country illegally (more on this potentially later). I do not know if he actually believes what he is saying, but it is very appealing to those people who ushered bush in. If those people get excited enough about a candidate, I believe that they have the ability to get almost anyone elected.

Now the problem. There are a number of those people who in the primaries are talking of voting for Romney because he is the lesser of evils. They cannot get over the fact that he is mormon. They seem to think that being mormon is evil. I wish a fundy christian read my blog so they could tell me why being mormon is so evil, but I doubt it. Anyway, the point is that Romney cannot get these people excited enough to come out in enormous numbers to get him elected. And the positions he is taking are so contrary to what most of the country believes that he has no hope of winning the swing vote. (though I still dont believe there is a swing vote in this country) The long and the short of it is, his religion will keep him out of the white house because: 1) the groups he is trying to appeal to are intollerant to others, 2) he is taking positions that are also intollerant of others, and 3) if he wins the nomination, those intollerant people he is appealing to fail to support him enough because of their intollerance of his religion to get him elected.

As an update, I had my staples out and it was good. didnt hurt at all.

Staple follow up

2007-11-13T22:36:00.000-06:00

So as I have talked to people about my staples, I have begun to wonder a couple of things. How exactly do they hold my skin together, and if they bend under on the bottom, how exactly are they going to take them out without ripping out my scalp. Wiki was helpful, but for a diagram that just explained it beautifully, I recommend this site. Warning, there is a video of a guy taking out staples with wire cutters and tweezers at the bottom.

Staples in the head

2007-11-12T19:38:00.000-06:00

Squishy has suggested that I share this story.

I came home from work last thursday for lunch. As i was parking in our garage I thought that I ran my car into the side of the garage. I reparked and went to check the damage. It turns out that the people that owned our house before us left and L bracket without shelves on it stuck to the wall. I didn't see it and walked into it. It obviously hurt quite a bit and I leaned against my car waiting for the pain to pass. As I was waiting, blood started dripping down my face and onto my car. I cupped my hand to catch it all, but that was futile so I got squishy to get me a paper towel so I could put pressure on it and stop the bleeding.

I got the bleeding under control and went to take a shower to rinse the blood out of my hair and assess the damage to see if I needed stitches. I decided that I did and had a quick lunch while squishy figured out where our emergency medicine provider was located. (believe it or not I hadn't been there yet). I got in quickly and saw the doctor. He took a look at my head and decided that I needed staples in my head instead of stitches due to the depth. I lay on my back as he pulled out a medical stapler and put three staples in my scalp. I am not sure exactly how to describe the sound, but it was earily similar to the straitline I have in my desk. So now that I have drawn out the story I can tell you that pictures are at the bottom of this and so go no further if you are squeemish.

I dont have pictures of the staples yet, but with enough popular demand I will post them. With this one all you can see is lots of blood and my hair is thinner.

I am voting Democrat (Maybe)

2007-11-02T19:33:00.000-05:00

So throughout my life I have voted for very few democrats. This is not necessarily because I am republican, but because since I came of age to vote, this country's politics have revolved basically around abortion and gay marriage. since I am closer in view to the republican side of these issues (though by no means 100% on board with their crap). However, for the last 4-5 years I have been a big fan of Barack Obama. The more I have found out about him, the more I like what I hear.

1- He thinks through problems and then comes up with complex answers to complex problems. I am sick of rhetoric that tells us nothing, let alone how a person will handle the responsibilities of the office.

2- He believes that we can make a better world, not just protect ourselves in a crappy one. He thinks that things can get better and tells us that.

3- He calls it as he sees it, regardless of what the party line is.

I do not see this election as war v. no war or even about the issues at all, I see this election as a question of do we as a nation have the guts to still hope for something better. I want to, and there is only one candidate in any party that gives me that option. So I hope that those who vote in the Democratic Primary to give me a chance to vote for a Democrat and hope.

last ones (even morest)

2007-10-27T10:21:00.001-05:00

even morer

2007-10-27T10:20:00.001-05:00

even more

2007-10-27T10:18:00.001-05:00

My friend sent me this, I cut the commentary though

2007-10-27T10:09:00.000-05:00

revise the constitution

2007-10-25T19:18:00.000-05:00

So those that know me from my law school days remember that I was really into revising the constitution because it was out of date and we could make it better. So imagine my surprise when I am wandering in Barnes and Noble and find an entire book on the subject, calling for a complete overhaul of the consitution. A lot of the ides were things that we had thought of, but there were some new ones that were interesting. Looks like there are more people out there that think its a good idea than I thought. Now I know there are two of us.

Interesting reading

2007-10-24T19:18:00.000-05:00

this guy gave the welcome to the federal bar at our swearing in the day this news came out.

story

Key to the Elgin Marbles

2007-10-24T19:11:00.000-05:00

So I was reading a deposition this week, and during a discussion on an objection, one attorney said to the other, it is basically the key to the elgin marbles. I did not understand the reference and so looked it up.

It turns out that the elgin marbles are artwork taken from the parthenon by an english man named elgin. He had the permission of the turkish government which at that time was in possession of greece. There is a lot of conflict over whether the english should return the artwork to greece or not.

Here is the wiki article on the elgin marbles. However, this does not solve the problem. There is no reference to the key of the elgin marbles. I googled the phrase key to the elgin marbles. I have theories on what it could mean, but if anyone knows what that phrase actually means, I would appreciate a comment telling me.

Bar Results

2007-10-07T18:47:00.000-05:00

University of Colorado passed 95%
University of Denver passed 72%

Yet a lot of people think that DU is for intellectuals

I got a tatoo

2007-10-07T18:43:00.000-05:00

Today, I got a tatoo. I got it on my hip. It was of a popular animated figure. Ok, it was a dora the explorer tatoo. Luckily for me it was washable, but for the hour that it lasted I felt like a total fruitcake.

I hate paying taxes

2007-09-29T09:33:00.000-05:00

The only thing that makes me happy is that I should get all of them back this year again, and then I enter the wonderful world of deductions for mortgage interest. That should be good, so maybe I shouldnt look at it as paying taxes but as getting my money back in April without any interest, and subject to the whims of congress and the IRS. Yeah.

Cool experience

2007-09-29T09:29:00.000-05:00

So I know that some of you are less than thrilled about organized religion (OK religion in general) but I had a really cool experience this week. I found out that one of the people I taught when I was in Mexico is now on a mission herself. I am not going to go into the details of when I was teaching her or anything, but it was amazing to me the change in her life that I got to be a part of.

New House

2007-09-08T19:18:00.000-05:00

SO buying a new house is incredibly stressful. Even when you find one you like you stop and wonder what they are hiding behind the coat of paint. Just an example, CO has a law that if you cook meth in your house and then sell it, you dont have to tell the buyers if you have had it cleaned by professionals. I dont know how much you know about meth, but you cant clean all that crap out.

Idahoan Senator Recipes

2007-08-31T18:32:00.001-05:00

I figured that after he made the news I should post his recipes. He contributed two, this and this. Incidentally, I dont think I have mentioned this, but I do not believe that any of these people are capable of making their recipes. And it seems disengenuous that each of them just happens to have a favorite recipe that their district happens to be famous for. Coincidence, I think not.

On a kick

2007-08-26T21:05:00.000-05:00

This recipe got me not for the yumminess of the recipe but because of the intro. It made me wonder about the congressman's background. Here is his Wikipedia article. But to find out how many kids he has, you have to look here at the bottom. The most interesting thing that I learned about this congressman is that he is quite famous for not joining the Congressional Black Caucus and saying of the members of that caucus, "and I think they're race-hustling poverty pimps." Yet it turns out that he has his own line of businesses and on the home page he makes sure that you know his businesses are "certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) by the National Minority Supplier Development Council." See here for the homepage.

Congress Cooks

2007-08-26T17:03:00.000-05:00

So I have had a good time since the last post looking at other congressional recipes. Here is the recipe from Congressman Chris Cannon. Some of you may know that I worked for this congressman for one day on a reelection campaign. But since he is a republican running in Provo Utah, not much of a challenge.

For another piece of Cannon trivia, here is his blog. It appears that he has realized that his district contains BYU campus and so he needs to get on the YouTube bandwagon.

And just for fun, this page for people who really dont like him. I dont know where I stand on this issue, but I know I am antifanatical, so dont like these guys much.

Sweetbreads

2007-08-19T23:28:00.000-05:00

This all started as my brother and I debated whether sweetbreads are brains, as he said, or the pancreas, as I said. We decided to wikipedia the thing as that is the authoritative source for all human knowledge. It turns out that I was right, but in our searching we came across this picture . Check it out it will turn your stomach.

If that is not enough, you should check this out.

In case you want to read more about the congressman who gave us that delightful recipe, I am including a statement he placed in the congressional record. Yes, the congressional record. Are you ready for it. Its going to be good. OK, since you've been good, here it is.

Below is the full statement by Congressman Coble which appeared in the May 25 edition of the Congressional Record:
“Mr. Speaker, in the biggest electoral debate since the Bush-Gore presidential election in Florida in 2000, people are still talking about the selection of this year’s American Idol from the television program with the same name. With no disrespect intended toward this year’s winner, Taylor Hicks, most people think this year’s American Idol should have been Chris Daughtry of McLeansville, North Carolina.
I will admit, Mr. Speaker, that I am extremely biased in this debate because Chris Daughtry is a resident of the Sixth District of North Carolina. And it would have been the second time that a town in the Sixth District produced the winning Idol, since previous winner, Fantasia, hailed from High Point, North Carolina. That being said, most online polls, fan blogs, numerous web sites, and general talk about town all hailed Chris Daughtry as the next American Idol.
Most people know that my musical tastes run more towards traditional bluegrass music, so I am not a good judge of what is hot in the rock and pop music scenes. But I do know politics, and from everything I could learn, Chris Daughtry appeared to be the fan favorite. While I will not call for Congress to investigate this Idol election process, those of us who reside in the Sixth District of North Carolina will always be convinced that our guy really won – sort of like fans of Al Gore in 2000.
Oh well, we are proud to say that we are the home of the real American Idol, Chris Daughtry of McLeansville, North Carolina.”

2007-08-09T17:39:00.000-05:00

So today I read Michael Crichton's book Next. It is an interesting read about genetics and the need for a different kind of control. I recommend it. He always researches his books thoroughly, and blends the line between fact and fiction.

Changing the theory of Human Evolution

2007-08-08T18:01:00.000-05:00

I found this to be an interesting article. It illustrates my point that a theory is the best guess that we can do with the information that we have. That should in no way be interpretted as me saying that evolution is incorrect. It just shows that when confronted with new information, previously accepted theories must change in order to remain the best guess within the information available.

Fun Interview

2007-07-19T18:51:00.001-05:00

So this morning I went to an interview for a job. The entire interview consisted of the interviewer asking me a series of hypotheticals to see how I would handle different situations. A jailhouse lawyer... What do you do? An expert witness... What do you do? It was quite an enjoyable interview. Easily beating the usual, you clerk for judge so and so, tell me about that. Those ones suck.

All Alone

2007-07-19T18:49:00.001-05:00

So many of you know that I kicked Squishy and the kids out during finals pretty much every semester during law school. For the bar they have left again, and I am all alone. If squishy is reading this, i am really sad and miss them terribly. If she is not, then it is awesome. I shower when i want, sleep when i want, eat when i want. Its the closest to hedonism i get. Sadly i also study a great deal, so that kind of ruins it.

These guys claim to do science

2007-07-14T17:52:00.000-05:00

So for my breaks from studying I have gotten into the habit of watching Youtube videos. These guys have a bunch but these are some of my favorite.

Just so you know, wee means pee. But you will figure that out.

Tort, Crim Law, and Contracts Day

2007-07-11T17:47:00.000-05:00

When I was a State senator in Florida, I accomplished some tort reform in the area of nursing homes because we had nursing homes leaving the State. Ginny B. Waite

Guilt or innocence becomes irrelevant in the criminal trials as we flounder in a morass of artificial rules poorly conceived and often impossible to apply. Warren E. Burger

I wish to be cremated. One tenth of my ashes shall be given to my agent, as written in our contract. Groucho Marx

A good lawyer is a bad Christian. John L. Motley

Final Bar Prep

2007-07-11T17:42:00.000-05:00

So today was the first time that I started doing the most difficult multiple choice problems for the MBE. It seems like a complete waste of time. There was one question in which the answer that I chose said that a person took reasonable precautions. That is the law. The correct answer was something else. The reason that my answer was not the credited answer, the precautions may not have been reasonable enough. If they are not reasonable enough then dont call them reasonable. A part of me wonders if they are not making these intentionally so ridiculous so that the real questions wont seem so hard.

Potter Ending

2007-07-09T23:28:00.000-05:00

So the Times got a bunch of writers to put together their end of Harry Potter. Most of them are OK. But I thought this one was particularly funny. If you want to read the others you have to find them. I would include them but sometimes the links want a password, and I dont have one. I should also say that even if you arent into this Potter craze, at least the first one is worth reading.

OK so after I posted and checked the link to make sure it worked, it also asks for a password, so keep trying. Sometimes its required and sometimes not.

100th Post

2007-07-06T16:06:00.000-05:00

So that is kind of deceiving because the original arfanser had 150 or so, but on this iteration this is number 100 so I was waiting for something big.

I got my admission ticket to the bar today finally. They mailed them yesterday so its not like i was waiting a long time. I dont remember the last time that i read 6 pages of instructions where every other line contained some form of the sentence, "FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RULE WILL RESULT IN YOUR NOT BEING PERMITTED TO TAKE THE EXAM. THERE WILL BE NO EXCEPTIONS." OK, so that is two sentences but you get the idea. It makes me wonder if I really forget to take the pillow case off of my pillow that I bring with me I wont be able to take the test. Even if I take it off right then?

The other part I really liked was the beginning where it explained that the test would happen at this location and time regardless of inclement weather or disaster. This being Colorado it is not unheard of to have a blizzard in the middle of July. It wont be cold, but we could have three feet of snow. I am just imagining some terrorist deciding to nuke NORAD on that day and having a blizzard as well, but the bar examiners will be starting the test at exactly 8:20.

While I have one barbri class left, I think it is safe for me to give you all my favorite quote from all of the barbri lectures. Charlie Whitebread, crim law prof from USC, "Can you really think that there will be a beastiality question on the bar? I like to lay in bed at night and think about what that question would say. Some poor animal running around squeaking with some guy chasing it around with his pants around his ankles." This was followed by him acting this out. Both parts. Luckily his pants did stay on though.

Finally, I got my practice MBE today. It was much more helpful than I originally thought. I missed about the same number on all six subjects so I figured that to improve I was just going to have to study everything again. Luckily it turns out there are areas in each of the subjects that I can study and others I did fine.

All in all I am getting pretty excited that this thing is so close to being done.

Movie Night

2007-06-28T14:58:00.000-05:00

So the other night I watched highschool musical with squishy. I knew I was in for a long night when the first choice I had to make was whether or not we should watch the sing along version.

Gulliver's Travels

2007-06-21T21:30:00.000-05:00

So I finished the book Gulliver's Travels. For those of you who haven't read it, there is a 5 or 6 page rant about lawyers toward the end that is incredibly funny. It talks about how if people sue each other the law suit will not end until the two parties dont have any more money, and then the judge will dismiss the case without deciding it. The whole purpose of lawyers is to get rich off of other peoples misfortunes. They are the leaches of human society. I was actually amused because of the depth of the authors aparent loathing.

Oh and I am studying reallllllllllly hard for the bar.