Bull Moose Strikes Back

Congratulations to Boston, the only city stupid enough to actually be defeated by the Mooninites.

Come on. Even Carl can usually handle the Mooninites. Hopefully no Boston-area convenience store cashed their bill.

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Here’s a tip for not looking like a jackass: If you are going to criticize someone’s spelling try to make sure you spell all the words correctly in that criticism.

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Driving off the ferry in downtown Seattle, riding to Renton to get coffee, and then riding back to Seattle isn’t very efficient. But hey, when the coffee is this good:

This is a trend I can live with.

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Thinking like this always puzzles me: Hey, 9/11 wasn’t anything next to say, THE GREATEST DISASTER IN HUMAN HISTORY (World War II), or even the Soviet death tally in that war of 20 million, so anything we did was an overreaction.

First of all, I wonder what Professor Bell’s magic number is before we are justified to react. How many people have to die if not 3,000? 30,000? 300,000? 3,000,000? All of that of course misses the point that the aim of this whole thing is to prevent the next 1 to 19,997,000 deaths.

Secondly, and a UN disciple like an editor of the New Republic might have a hard time following this, 9/11 was an attack on our sovereignty. Whatever happened next was more than about the butcher’s bill at the WTC, Pentagon, and Pennsylvania. To not answer a foreign power to attack on our soil would have been criminal. To not try to stop the next one would be treasonous.

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If you’ll remember, back in the presidential race of 2004 one of the buzzwords was “nuance.” As in John Kerry and his supporters understood the nuance of situations where Bush and his supporters were a bunch of ignorant hicks who only saw things in black and white.

Yesterday right after class one of my classmates broke into a random attack on Bush which are common in Seattle and even more common in the halls of a law school. Speaking about Iraq he said, and I wrote it down right after I heard it so I wouldn’t change it in my memory, “Six years ago Bush was so sure they were the cause of all the terrorism in the world…” and then onto some other stuff which doesn’t matter.

Leaving aside the fact that six years ago President Bush had been president for about a week, I’m fairly certain that no one ever said Iraq was the cause of “all of the terrorism” in the world. I’m not even that convinced that aside from sending checks to Palestinian suicide bombers that a serious argument had been made that Iraq was the cause of any ongoing terrorism. The problem was that they were cozy with terrorists, were acting like they were developing weapons of mass terror, there was some evidence that they were, and we were in no mood to bet on a bluff with the lives of any more of our civilians.

Of course the obvious point refuting the assertion that Bush was convinced that Iraq was the cause of all the terror in the world six years ago was the fact that the US went into Afghanistan first.

The dictionary definition of nuance is: A subtle or slight degree of difference, as in meaning, feeling, or tone; a gradation. In this case I’d define it as the ability to understand how Iraq ties into the big picture on the war on terror. Not all terrorists were involved in 9/11, but the war on terror is on all terrorists (and potential terrorists, rouge sates with terrorist ties, and so forth).

So, where is the nuanced understanding of the situation from that Kerry supporter? Oh, I suppose it could be there, but it’s just being masked with intellectual dishonesty. Either way, the last few years of war have demonstrated to me which side of the debate is really in need of some instruction on nuance.

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Some guy on the local news just called Shaun Alexander – who is making a public appearance to promote the midnight release of Vista – the greatest player in NFL history.

More confusing than that is that people are going to the store at midnight to buy Vista.

I’m… I’m going to go lay down now.

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Some guy is suing Michigan Law School because he says his slow typing skills hurt his grades.

Sure. That’s the problem. That’s also why he was fired from his summer internship. You have to work on being fired from a summer internship, especially if you go to one of the top schools like Michigan. The worst they generally do is not give an underachiever an offer to come back after graduation.

As for his contention that law school is all about how fast you can type, I think there are too many law students (and lawyers) who think a lot of words equals a good argument. I generally get better grades on my papers than my classmates, but my papers are usually a page to a page and a half shorter than my classmates. The exams I’ve done the best at are the ones where I know the issues and arguments, succinctly put them down, and sit down and wait for my classmates to finish. The exams I’ve done less well on are the ones where I’m bullshitting until the proctor tells us to stop typing.

And if this guy does think that his slow typing is holding him back in school, why does he think things will be different out of school? Typing is a big part of being a lawyer these days, isn’t Michigan Law School under some kind of obligation to evaluate how good of a lawyer he will be, at least compared with his classmates?

All this guy has done is put a big sign on his his back for Big Law firms, who are notoriously conservative about such things, that says “Don’t hire me, I cause trouble!” Instead of taking his Michigan Law School degree, getting a six-figure starting salary somewhere – Michigan is Top 10, after all – he’s made himself a joke, probably an unemployed joke.

I look forward to Anonymous Lawyer’s take on this.

UPDATE: Here it is.

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There’s still another week until the Super Bowl and if I have to see another story on the fact that either Dungy or Smith will be the first black coach to win the Super Bowl, I’m going to wretch. If this was 1967, 1977, or maybe even 1987, this would be a story. But this is 2007. Black coaches have been around awhile now. It’s just a rare thing for a coach to make the Super Bowl, especially when a handful of 4 or 5 of them have taken up many slots with multiple appearances there.
The fact that they’re clubbing us over the head with this really demonstrates who is really obsessed with race in this country: The media. Do you think that there was a serious football fan – or serious football gambler – in America who thought the Saints or Patriots had an advantage last week because of the race of the opposing team’s coach? I seriously doubt it.

When Oscar nods came out last week, the entertainment branch of the media made a similar big deal about all the black nominees. This is even more stupid. Black actors and actresses have won before, and have been nominated many more times before. But they want to keep us focused on race.

Why do they do this? Why do they want to keep us focused on race? Is it just for a story? Do artificial divisions just make for an easy story?
If they want to do an interesting story on racism that’s really there, maybe they should investigate the culture that allows this guy to get pelted with Oreos, because he dare run for Senate as a Republican:

(That’s Michael Steele. So was all that just an excuse to show my wife with another high profile Republican? Kind of.)

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I don’t know what’s going on with the picture with Robert Bork. Looks like they’re at a disco or something. I bet Judge Bork would light it up at the disco.

This is one of the things I really admire about my wife: She really wanted to meet Newt while she was out in the other Washington. I said, “Sure, honey, that’d be great.” Meanwhile thinking, “Sure, that’ll happen.” But then she went out and made it happen. She found a place he was speaking, got a letter of introduction from a Wisconsin congressman, got it to him, met him, and got invited to his foundation’s office to talk to his staff.
Meanwhile, today, I played Halo with some friends for 8 hours and am now watching that Kevin Costner / Ashton Kutcher Coast Guard Movie. Hmm….

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It’s my birthday weekend, but my wife is the one having all of the fun:

My wife with John Bolton:

I don’t know if she got any oatmeal or diabetes testing supplies or not. Anyway, that picture in a nice frame should really irritate them at work.

My wife with Michelle Malkin:

If you’ll excuse me, I have to go to bed now in hopes of a pleasant dream that has something to do with that picture.

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After reading and listening to horror stories about dying intestate for the last few weeks, I sat down last night and drafted me and my wife each a will in about two hours. So ends the fear that my daughter would end up somewhere we didn’t want her, someone would end up with my money that I don’t think could handle such an influx of cash, etc.

Not surprisingly, the more people that died at once, the more complicated it got. I even wrote a educational trust for her half-sister into my wife’s and I was done in less than two hours.

My point is, it’s not very hard to do. And think about what happens if you don’t do it: The judicial system takes over your possessions, your house, and your children and decides what to do with them. That’s the same judicial system that brought you Kelo v. New London and 90 day sentences for child molesters. Granted, I have an advantage in that I can crank one out myself, but the $30 form or $100 visit to a lawyer will be worth it in the long run.
It’s hardest to think about what happens if your child(ren) die at the same time as you do, but the reality is that it happens occasionally, and it’s only responsible to be prepared

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I guess “I WILL HAVE SEX WITH YOU FOR $1000 AND A SUPER BOWL TICKET!” was just not subtle enough.

Ha! I knew when she said “Ivy League” she was talking about Cornell.

Really. If you have an extra Super Bowl ticket and you are looking for sex, save the grand, scalp the ticket, take the proceeds and that go to Miami and get a professional. For that kind of money in a town like Miami, I’m sure there is one that will suit your needs, and you won’t have the extra cash outlay.

UPDATE:

Ahh… eBay removed the item. It was up to $1825 when I last saw it. The myspace page with one of the pictures is still up, though.

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ESPN.com has ranked all 80 Super Bowl participants. As far as meaningless rankings go, I think rankings for teams across several decades are probably the worst. I know it’s fun to play: Could the ‘96 Packers have beaten the ‘85 Bears? But a continuously evolving game makes those comparisons silly in the end.

The four Packer squads come in at 48, 37, 22, and 6. As a demonstration of how meaningless it really is, the ‘97 Packers are the only one of those teams that lost, but are ranked above the 1967 Packers (the Ice Bowl team, no less) that won.

If you’re looking for the Squawks they are there at #50. The highest Vikings team is #45.

Maybe if ESPN is doing meaningless rankings, they could rank all of the NFL Champions, not just Super Bowl participants. I’d like to see where the 1962 Packers show up.

UPDATE: I just noticed the ‘03 Panthers are #79. How? The history of the Super Bowl has some great blowouts. How can the team that came very close to interrupting the Patriots’ dynasty be ranked second last? Especially when the ‘04 Eagles, whose loss to the Pats a year later was by the same margin, but was infinitely more pathetic, are ranked all the way up at #46. I know this has something to do with ESPN’s willingness to fellate Belichick and the Patriots at the drop of a hat, but I can’t figure out exactly how.

Speaking of that willingness, I’m shocked that the highest Patriots team is ranked #9. I won’t get into the ‘72 Dolphins -aka, the luckiest team in history – ranking all the way up at #7.

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We were discussing a problem in Estates and Trusts tonight in which a person died intestate (without a will) and the only kin he had was a second cousin once removed. Because they did not share a direct-line relative that was a grandparent or closer to the decedent, Washington law cause the estate to escheat (go to the state).

The professor asked us if it would make a difference to any of us whether such a distant relative get our estate or that the state get it. He asked how many of us even knew a second cousin once removed. I don’t, but only because the second cousins I know are much younger than me, but my daughter plays with her second cousins, once removed when she is being babysat by her first cousin twice removed. I have a married second cousin that could provide me with a second cousin, once removed that I know at any time.

I’m kind of surprised more people didn’t know a second cousin, once removed. I guess the nuclear family is making those relations less important.
The point being, I’d rather have my second cousin, once removed to have my estate if the other option was escheat. Of course, we did get a speech from a classmate about how no one should benefit from another’s death. I assume she meant no one but the state.

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This is an amusing demonstration of the importance of a robust public domain:

Everything new builds on something old.

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I didn’t watch the State of the Union speech tonight. I know, how un-American. I don’t care who is President, I may never watch another one again. I’ll listen to as many non-Constitutionally scheduled Presidential speeches as you want, but I’m done with the State of the Union.
First off, it’s on like at 2:30 PM Pac-10 time or something. Even if I didn’t go to school in the evenings, I probably wouldn’t be home in time to catch it.

Second, it’s gotten to the point where I could tell you everything in the speech, everything in the response, and everything the pundits say about what was in the speech and response at least a day before it’s all released by Drudge a day in advance. Boring.

The whole thing has just turned into a TV face time event. Every Congressman crowds into the President to get a second in the spotlight. Even Dennis Kucinich was shaking Bush’s hand because he knew where the TV camera would be pointing. At least it’s on a Tuesday. There’s been nothing good on Tuesday since NYPD Blue.
It’s time to go back to the way they did it pre-TV. The President writes a message, and a page runs it up to Congress. He can even stop and fax it to Drudge if he wants.

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Hey, I see that America’s popularity is dropping some more. I don’t know how I will ever live if my country doesn’t have the approval of the serfs of India and China, confused Russians who don’t know what to do without a czar or premier to rule them, illiterate masses from Brazil and Argentina, and lazy, socialist continental Europeans who couldn’t defend themselves from Nazis or Commies without America.

What is this, high school? Cram it with walnuts, world, we’re trying to run a grown up country here.

Maybe if we brutalized our press into covering up our dirty work like many of the countries commenting on us do, we’d be more popular. But who the hell wants to be popular? If you’re popular, there’s a good chance it’s because you spend too much time worrying about what’s right for others, and not for you. Sure you get to nail a few cheerleaders, but then you end up working at the paint factory until you die of lung cancer.

And you know what? When you travel be proud that your an American and don’t worry about being unpopular. If I hear another person talk about pretending to be Canadian in Europe I’m going to gag. Say, “Damn right I’m an American.” And if it looks like they’re going to say anything disparaging about that, punch them in the throat before they get a chance. You’re in Europe, what are they going to do? Well, probably they’ll surrender. Unless you’re in Poland.

What was I talking about again? Oh yeah, stay out of my booze!

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I’ve only seen two of the movies nominated for Best Picture – Little Miss Sunshine, and The Departed – which ties a low for me over the past decade or so. I enjoyed them both immensely. I’ll run to Letters from Iwo Jima the second it opens anywhere near me. I’ll probably go see Babel this week and The Queen before the award show. (Although I see so many queens around Seattle, I may skip that one.)
Out of all the nominations, the one I am cheering for most to win is Mark Wahlberg in The Departed. I not only hope he wins, but I hope Rachel Weisz introduces him as Marky Mark.

Almost as if to drive home the point I was making about documentaries a few posts below, the Best Documentary nods are two anti-Iraq War movies, a hysterical global warming movie, and two anti-religion movies. OK, the Catholic Church may have brought the one about the molesting priest upon themselves, but that’s still four pieces of left wing propaganda.

On the ferry on the way in today some Bremelos were talking about the nominations and how they hope Little Miss Sunshine wins. One of them said, “It’s about time an independent movie gets nominated.” They must have missed the -what was that called? Oh yeah, the ’90’s.

Speaking of which, I get irritated when I see movies categorized by genre, and one of the genres is “independent.” Independent is not a genre, it’s a method of financing. There are independent horror movies – Blair Witch Project- independent action movie – El Mariachi – independent comedies – Clerks, and so forth.

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After one week on the Dan Marino plan, including one cheat lunch and one cheat dinner, I’m down 10 pounds. I’m sure that’s not a sustainable rate, but I’ll take it.

Dan says: “Ten? That’s enough for a first down!”

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Word is that “Operation Wolf” is underway in Iraq.

Good luck, guys. Keep your eyes peeled for helicopters and shoot the incoming grenades!

Seriously, did no one in the Pentagon step into an arcade between 1987 and 1992? What’s next Operation Pac Man Fever?

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