j b l o g

Testing

2008-03-25T15:14:00.001-05:00

1 2 3

Finis

2006-05-14T09:24:00.000-05:00

JBlog has, for all intents and purposes, already folded. It just needed to be made official.

I have a few ideas for a new blog--a blog that would be more focused and have a narrower vision. If those ideas come to anything, you'll know.

Thanks to JBlog's readers for, well, reading.

Gospel Jesus

2006-04-09T13:25:00.000-05:00

There's a terrific Gary Wills op-ed in today's New York Times. Wills chides Republicans and Democrats alike for exploiting the Jesus of the Gospels for political ends.

I feel considerable chagrin at this very common myopia among Christians--here in the South and elsewhere--that somehow their own politics are not only aligned with their Christianity, but the only appropriate such alignment. As Wills deftly points out, one thing is sure: political provincialism is not consistent with the gospel life.

Wife Blogs

2006-04-04T10:39:00.000-05:00

I'm not officially giving the blog up yet. But as JBlog fades into the inner recesses of your memories, a new Ward-run blog emerges. It's a project by my lovely wife. Check it out here.

Crash Critiques

2006-03-02T13:18:00.000-06:00

Without giving this more thought than I already have in weeks past, I will say that the flurry of criticism directed at Crash in general (and its award-getting potential this weekend in particular) makes little sense to me.

If you didn't like the movie, fine. But where all these write-ups about Haggis's misunderstanding of modern-day race problems coming from?

Sure, political correctness has stamped its indelible mark on race issues, and that has led to less name-calling (at least in public) and more getting-along (at least on the surface). But from some of the recent reviews I've read, you'd think race has finally become, for most Americans, a purely peripheral problem. And to them, I want to say, Are you really so absurdly out of touch with our America?

The crystallization of the criticism is that Haggis made Crash too blunt. Racism is no longer as Spike Lee portrayed it a decade age, these writers say. It is now more insidious and under-the-surface than ever, and with such subtlety comes the necessity of a subtlety of artistic vision (a subtlety found mostly lacking in Crash).

Honestly, this distinction just seems unimportant. Who cares if a new generation (a more "PC" one, as we say) forces racism to put on a new mask? It's still here.

It's perfectly okay to dispute the best way for an artist to go about treating an ever-evolving problem. And there are sure to be many good and compelling answers. But it isn't enough, in my view, to simply say Crash is obsolete, a movie for a previous era. That its devices and techniques don't "work" in 2006. We've "moved on." Haggis is "naive." And on and on.

Because art doesn't have to be of the mirror-image variety to shed light on reality. On a reality like American racism, art actually needs to be better than mirror-image. It needs to be blunt enough to (alternately) resonate with some people, and make others very, very angry.

If that was its intention, it's safe to say Crash did its job.

Seinfeld and the Law

2006-03-02T12:25:00.000-06:00

At Barely Legal, a blog run by a couple of funny law students, there's a post about how unfunny Seinfeld would get if a lawyer were added to the cast. It's pretty funny.

The Foers

2006-02-28T08:40:00.000-06:00

So, the Foers are a bigger power-family than I thought. Their most famous member, Jonathan Safran Foer, has gotten lots of acclaim for his novel Everything Is Illuminated and, to a lesser extent, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. These books are very hip right now.

The NYT has an article today about Jonathan's brother Franklin Foer, who is preparing to take over as editor of The New Republic, a well-respected magazine in Democratic circles.

And the WSJ's Law Blog had a post not long ago about the Foers' dad, Bert. He's the president of the American Antitrust Institute (AAI) in D.C. and a former attorney at Hogan and Hartson (whose appellate practice, incidentally, Chief Justice John Roberts headed up before moving on to the D. C. Circuit).

All of this is fascinating to probably no one but me, so apologies in advance.

Sowell on a Tragic Character, Education

2006-02-24T12:02:00.000-06:00

Wow. Two terrific Thomas Sowell columns in three days.

The first is about the disservice schools' social promotion policies do to kids' educations.

The second is entitled "Another Academic Casualty." It artfully bemoans Lawrence Summers' forced exit from the Big H.

Miscellaneous Itemized

2006-02-24T11:12:00.000-06:00

From Slate: an article on the potential significance of Justice Alito's hiring older, more mature legal minds to clerk for him this October term. Significant? Probably not very.

From the Post yesterday: an article on Alito's "first day of school" at One First Street. Very funny.

From the NYT today: a fascinating (well, relatively speaking) article on a Texas oilman's clever tax planning move in late December. He made a tax-deductible 165M gift to a charity set up to benefit Oklahoma State's golf program, then moved it straight into a hedge fund he controls. Even though the hedge fund has waived all fees and any profit share on investments, this transaction is still clearly Advantage: Texas Oilman's Hedge Fund. I'm surprised that this could work, but apparently it could, and did.

Dersh and Bennett on a Cowering Press

2006-02-23T12:53:00.000-06:00

The blog looks to be dying a slow death, but there are still spurts of vitality left in her.

Here's the most unlikely op-ed duo you'll ever see: Alan Dershowitz and William Bennett co-authored this column, appearing in today's Washington Post.

The piece criticizes the press for its total abdication of duty in refusing to print the cartoons currently at the center of a global controversy. Believe me when I say it is well worth the read.

David Mamet's Cartoon

2006-02-17T16:21:00.000-06:00

I'm not a big Huffington Post fan, but David Mamet--the David Mamet--has a Cheney cartoon posted on it today. And regardless of what you think of Huffington, Cheney, or David Mamet, you should go see his cartoon.

Jackson Native to Clerk for USSC

2006-02-15T11:08:00.000-06:00

Steve Shackelford of Jackson, Mississippi is one of Justice Breyer's October term 2006 clerks. He is profiled here.

Mossad on Munich

2006-02-11T10:17:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Volokh, I found this article on Munich. If you're like me, you've read so many Munich reviews already that you don't feel the need to read another. This one's from a unique perspective, though: a former Mossad operative weighs in on the realism of Spielberg's film.

Jackson Attorney Gets Circuit Bid

2006-02-09T08:41:00.000-06:00

Jackson, Mississippi made it onto the WSJ's Law Blog this morning. The blog links to this Clarion-Ledger article on President Bush's nomination of Jackson attorney Michael Wallace to fill a Fifth Circuit vacancy. According to the article, Wallace has been a partner at Phelps Dunbar since 1986.

Coach

2006-02-08T08:12:00.000-06:00

The Times pays homage to John Vaught.

Name This Man

2006-02-02T12:43:00.000-06:00

Earlier today, the WSJ's Law Blog linked to this help-wanted ad from attorney Daniel Hull. Here's the text of the ad:

WANTED: Of counsel for growing Pittsburgh-based boutique business law firm. Must have at least 8 years of highest level federal Exec. Branch experience, world-wide connections, Yale Law degree, one year at Oxford, own money and people skills. Crowd-pleaser. Must be able to sell anything to anyone. And be originally from Hope, Arkansas. State government experience preferred but not required. Same for participation in Renaissance weekends, and fund-raising. United Nations experience also a big plus. You don’t need to re-locate. Happy to set up the office for you. Wherever you want. Harlem or Chappaqua, New York are okay. Or DC. You decide. You can work out of your house. Whatever.
NOTE: No previous private law practice experience necessary. Not a problem–no problem at all. Excellent benefits package.

Sound familiar?

Supremes' Clerks

2006-01-31T14:16:00.000-06:00

Underneath Their Robes links to this up-to-date list of SCOTUS clerks for next term.

It's at Prettier Than Napoleon, a new blog favorite I'll be returning to regularly.

Writing Scared

2006-01-30T23:25:00.000-06:00

I instinctively dislike conspiracy theories. They tend to be more than irrational. They tend to be wrong.

Unprovable. Far too intricate. And, at the core, wrong.

Can you lump today's NYT column--on the conservative alliance to paint the Supreme Court red--in that group? I don't know. But the explanation it proffers is surely not the most rational one, as even Jack Balkin, a Yale Law professor, agrees.

David Kirkpatrick's analysis of how the Reagan administration sought to "seed" the courts with regressive 18th-century-minded legal scholars is admittedly interesting. But it sounds more like Thanatos Syndrome than Real Life.

When Kirkpatrick isn't writing scared, he's writing petty. Here's one such excerpt from the article:

Conservatives had begun planning for a nomination fight as long ago as that February meeting, which was led by Leonard A. Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society and informal adviser to the White House, Mr. Meese and Mr. Gray.

They laid out a two-part strategy to roll out behind whomever the president picked, people present said. The plan: first, extol the nonpartisan legal credentials of the nominee, steering the debate away from the nominee's possible influence over hot-button issues. Second, attack the liberal groups they expected to oppose any Bush nominee.

The team worked through a newly formed group, the Judicial Confirmation Network, to coordinate grass-roots pressure on Democratic senators from conservative states. And they stayed in constant contact with scores of conservative groups around the country to brief them about potential nominees and to make sure they all stuck to the same message. They fine-tuned their strategy for Judge Alito when he was nominated in October by recruiting Italian-American groups to protest the use of the nickname "Scalito," which would have linked him to the conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

Is this worth writing about? Come on, if savvy marketing in politics is news, I knew about it already. Give me something else, please.

Some real news.

Fill in the Blanks...

2006-01-25T19:14:00.000-06:00

Posted by: Carla

I have never been a fan of fill-in-the-blank Bible studies. Granted, growing up I've done my share of them, but I think they tend to be shallow (how in depth can you get when asked to look up Romans 3:23 and fill in the blank "who has sinned:_______") and also, in the actual meeting time they stifle meaningful discussion. The leader ends up asking, "What did you put in this blank?" and everyone answers by rote, leading to zero discussion or comment.

I may be overstating it slightly, but I would be willing to bet on the whole, it's more often true than not.

This critique in Modern Reformation examining Beth Moore's new book is more insightful than my whiny comments above. I would have been loath to criticize her a few years ago, but now I understand the deficiences the author points out.

Please Come to Ole Miss, Andre. Please.

2006-01-23T19:19:00.000-06:00

More on A3G

2006-01-22T21:11:00.000-06:00

The NYT has this supremely fascinating article on David Lat, a.k.a. Article III Groupie of Underneath Their Robes fame.

The piece is much less expose-ish than Lat's actual expose, which came courtesy of Jeff Toobin in a November New Yorker article. It is personal, biographical, and fairly revealing. Good read...

2006-01-22T18:56:00.000-06:00

Will Baude, a 2L at Yale Law School who blogs at Crescat Sententia, has an op-ed in the Times today on Roe. Read it here.

Opinionista Revealed

2006-01-18T11:03:00.000-06:00

Another blogger's anonymity is gone. Today the NYO unveiled Opinionista, creator of Opinionistas, a blog about a young associate's life at a NYC law firm.

O is Melissa Lafsky, a U.Va. law grad who worked in NY firms for a few years and has now parlayed her blog's enormous popularity into a book deal.

This is a blogger book Carla and I are actually looking forward to reading.

Up and Down Wall Street, It's the Most Wonderful Time of Year

2006-01-12T13:27:00.000-06:00

"Wall Street bonuses are in and they are big," begins this NYT article on the banner year that was 2005. Profits surged, and so did bonuses.

I-banking execs reaped the biggest harvests, of course. Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson led the pack with total 2005 compensation of $38M.

One Day Down, Several To Go

2006-01-09T15:59:00.000-06:00

Alito's opening remarks lasted eleven minutes and went off without a hitch. It was an unpretentious, honest eleven minutes, impressive less for polish than for clear thinking and clean speaking.

It seems evident that, whatever else Samuel Alito is, over his head he is not.

As I watched Senator Leahy's remarks, I found myself wishing desperately that he could somehow be made to sit in the nominee's chair for a day. The good senator isn't particularly articulate at present; I'd be interested in his response to the kind of awkward, intense scrutiny he seems committed to inflicting on Judge Alito over the course of the hearings.

Tomorrow's Q&A session promises to be exciting and possibly uncomfortable. Be sure to tune in.

Generation Facebook.com

2006-01-08T10:12:00.000-06:00

David Brooks' Times column today is one of his looks at huge social trends. It's a fascinating description of

people in the new stage of life that's been created over the past few decades. They are in their early to mid-20's; they're out of school but have no expectation they should marry soon. They're highly mobile, half-teen/half-adult, looking for a life plan and in between the formal networks of school, career and family.

This massive group of people, says Brooks, is attracted to the sort of community online forums provide. They--we--are not an especially intimate generation, not unless it's intimacy on Facebook walls or AIM late-night talks, intimacy generally framed by sex, beer and parties.

And is this intimacy good enough? Is it desirable? Brooks gives two views:

The happy view is that this is a generation of wholesome young people building nurturing communities and the smutty talk is just a harmless way of demarcating an adult-free social space. The dark view is that these prolonged adolescents are filled with earnest desires for meaningful human contact, but they live in a culture that has provided them with no vocabulary to create these sorts of bonds except through cleavage and vodka.

Depending on the person, both views are true.

Puzzling

2006-01-07T21:23:00.000-06:00

Bewildered, I'm trying to figure out why a New England Patriot's 73-yard interception return for a touchdown just happened during commercial break.

I mean, I could be wrong here, but I was under the impression that ABC, along with every other network in the world, pays a couple people--a smallish department, maybe--to ensure real plays get played in real time.

An Arby's commercial definitely usurped the Asanti Samuel interception return.

Wait, is this ABC's fault, or is it the local affiliate's?

Vick Off Team, Will Turn Pro

2006-01-07T01:14:00.000-06:00

Marcus Vick is out, says ESPN. Vick has been dismissed from the Virginia Tech team for a whole range of behavioral issues. Not least of these is the now-famous Gator Bowl incident, when Vick stomped on the leg of a Lousville defender. From the ESPN article:

Friday night, Marcus Vick told The Virginian-Pilot that he would turn professional. "It's not a big deal. I'll just move on to the next level, baby," he said at a Virginia Beach restaurant, the newspaper reported Friday night on its Web site. Asked if that meant he would enter the NFL draft, he said, "Yeah, definitely."

Vick is clearly a great athlete with incredible talent, but if he wants to put his collegiate problems behind him and have a more successful professional career, he needs to start acting like one.

Swannee for Governor

2006-01-06T12:54:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Southern Appeal for alerting me to a new blog promoting Lynn Swann's Pennsylvania gubernatorial run next year. Swann is clearly the GOP's best shot at knocking off current Guv Ed Rendell.

Here's the official Swann campaign website.

Eli's Coming

2006-01-06T10:43:00.000-06:00

Excellent article in the NYT today on Eli Manning as the undeniable leader of his team. The big question now is, can Eli win his first postseason game ages before his big brother did?

On Sunday, we find out.

Just Let 'Em Play

2006-01-03T12:42:00.000-06:00

Carla alerted me to this terrific Slate article on the USC football team. In it, Jonathan Chait chafes at the idiocy of ESPN to conduct hypothetical matchups between the 2005 Trojans and the greatest teams from the past at the expense of Wednesday's matchup with the Longhorns.

In fact, says Chait, using ratio of points scored to points allowed as a barometer of a team's dominance, this year's USC team is not particularly outstanding (its ratio is 2.3, worse than last year's Trojan ratio of 2.9 and meager in comparison to the 1991 Washington Huskies' 4.6 score).

Stop talking about what-if's, Chait concludes, and start talking about Wednesday. Just let 'em play.

On "Reign In"

2006-01-02T22:34:00.000-06:00

Permit me a brief rant.

The NYT and other similarly grammar-conscious publications have recently (and maybe always, for all I know) screwed up our common parlance for restraint, "reining in."

I'm fine with USA Today doing this. But it's disturbing that today's supposed keepers of the English grammar tradition are also falling down on the job.

They've said it like this: "reign in." And while I suppose you could make the argument that restraint has something to do with (figuratively) leaving the monarchical behind, the expression in question has no royal lineage.

It instead has to do with the restraint a cowpoke teaches his trusty horse--via his reins.

Please, help make this world a grammatically cleaner place and spread the word. Rein in "reign in" today.

UPDATE: UVa Law's website has this sentence in a recent news piece: "Once he handed over the reigns of the VLR, he turned his free time toward writing" [emphasis mine].

Surprised, I googled "handing over reigns". A brief glance at the results page revealed that "reigns" is used as a piece of the popular expression in the following prominent publications: CNN, the Naval Academy's website, the Dallas Business Journal, ESPN, the Michigan Times, Computer World, the Buffalo News. And many, many more.

Handing over the reins of power is a slightly different expression than reining someone(thing) in, but only slightly. They have the same etymology. Power has something to do with "reign", yes, but when you hand over the reins (or alternatively, take them), you're giving up (or receiving, as the case may be) control of your "horse".

Article III Groupie Returns

2006-01-01T13:46:00.000-06:00

Volokh reported last night that Underneath Their Robes is back. The gossip site re: the federal judiciary has returned after an extended leave of absence (since the November publication of a Jeffrey Toobin New Yorker piece outing the site's author).

UPDATE: The Times reports today that UTR author David Lat has left his job as assistant U.S. attorney. No word on where Lat, who reveals on UTR that he has worked for mega-firm Wachtell in the past, is headed now.

Are You Kidding Me?

2006-01-01T13:28:00.000-06:00

Former Buckeye and class act Maurice Clarett is again making off-the-field waves, USA Today reports. From the article:

Maurice Clarett was wanted by police on Sunday after he was accused of using a gun to rob two people in an alley behind a bar.

The troubled former Ohio State running back fled when the bar owner or manager, who knew Clarett and the victims, came into the alley and identified him shortly before 2 a.m. Sunday.

According to police, the 22-year-old Clarett left the scene in a white sport-utility vehicle with two other men and took only a cellphone from his alleged victims, who weren't injured. He was wanted on two counts of suspicion of aggravated robbery.

Hello JBlog Faithful Readers

2005-12-31T20:10:00.000-06:00

This is JBlog's wife. I apologize for the lack of posts recently. I've been keeping him busy...

If interested, here are a few miscellaneous thoughts and impressions from our Christmas (or winter) break:

1. New York is fun. Being in New York when the wind chill is in the teens and the subway workers are on strike and you have to walk 50 blocks is even more fun...

2. If in the Boston airport and told by a security card to take off your scoff, don't change your expression, merely remove your scarf and place it on the scanner belt.

3. Get the bed you buy at this furniture store steamcleaned before use.

4. Here is Washington D.C.'s best tour guide.

5. This is a law school, not a castle.

6. This esteemed institution of higher learning is unintentionally ironic in this inscription, below.

7. Our favorite picture of the week (what do you expect from 2 future lawyers):

8. And finally, my favorite picture of the week. Awwwwh.

Market Slow-down? More Like Market Crash

2005-12-09T15:56:00.000-06:00

Here's The Globe on a harder-than-expected landing for the Boston housing market.

Ole Miss Accounting Gets National Recognition

2005-12-08T16:39:00.000-06:00

The newest Public Accounting Report ranking lists the University of Mississippi as the 23rd best accounting school in the nation. Read Ole Miss's news release here.

Texas placed 1st (for the 8th year running). Coming in one spot ahead of the Rebels was Alabama.

In Lieu of Studying, A Grammar Lesson

2005-12-06T11:49:00.000-06:00

Confusing "in lieu of" with "in light of"--it happens all the time (even on TV!).

It is remarkably common, actually, for educated people who know the phrase "in lieu of" to use it incorrectly.

Example: "In lieu of recent revelations about such-and-such, I feel that we should press on towards this-or-that goal."

Here, the speaker (or writer) uses "lieu" in lieu of "light". Maybe he thinks it sounds better, fancier, more intelligent. Maybe not.

In any case, to clear up any misconceptions about this phrase, "in lieu of" is the equivalent of "instead of."

"In light of", I hope, is self-explanatory.

The BCS: A Formula For Disaster?

2005-12-04T21:16:00.000-06:00

By Will Todd, JBlog guest columnist

Did the BCS work this year? Well…yes and no.

People who get paid to give you their opinions on television will tell you that the BCS worked perfectly because the two best teams in the country are undefeated and will square off early next year to settle the issue.

They certainly have a point. USC and Texas both performed very well yesterday, routing their respective opponents. They have both earned the right to play in the Rose Bowl this year, but on the other hand, there are several teams that could have gone undefeated with those schedules.

Since I am most familiar with the SEC (and fairly biased), let's imagine that Georgia or LSU played one of these schedules. There is no doubt in my mind that they would have gone through undefeated and virtually unscathed. While I am not trying to take anything away from Texas or USC--I think they are both very good football teams, probably the two best teams in the country--the question must be asked: What has been proven?

The bottom line is that conference affiliation and scheduling is determining the national championship race much more than it should. And that is very frustrating because it opens up the door for the best team in the country to not be in the national championship game.

In a playoff system, the SEC teams would be in a much better position because playing tough opponents each week would make them stronger as opposed to knocking them out of contention. As opposed to right now, where they are in a terrible spot because it is almost impossible to survive an SEC season undefeated.

And last season taught us that even an undefeated season by an SEC team doesn’t guarantee anything--except something to complain about. The Georgias and LSUs of the world will have to watch the national championship game at home like the rest of us and realize it is a game that they would have a good chance of winning.

My prediction: I haven't seen Texas play much this year, but I am confident that USC will roll over them. For all of those who are ready for USC to lose, it won't be now or anytime soon. They aren't going anywhere, although I do think they have felt the effects of losing Norm Chow and Coach O and will continue to do so.

I would love to see them try to put together a 34-game win streak in the SEC.

Well, in the words of a good friend of mine, Curt Presley, this post and 50 cents will get you a cup of coffee. After all, these are just my thoughts.

Will Todd is an avid Rebel fan and sports trivia aficionado. In his spare time, he enjoys Groving and yelling at "Blue" from his spot along the third base line.

"I Forgive Them"

2005-12-01T18:40:00.000-06:00

Today's Times has this moving story of a black woman's ability to find forgiveness for the racists who murdered her 18-year old son. It is a compelling statement on the power of the gospel.

Reviewing C. S. Lewis Reviewers

2005-11-30T11:38:00.000-06:00

Lenwood directed me to this Keller family blog a month or two ago. Tim's wife Kathy had a great post Monday entitled "Reviewing the Reviewers". She takes a quick look at what recent C. S. Lewis reviewers have gotten wrong. And boy, have they gotten some things wrong.

If any Christian can make a modern intellectual tremble in his boots, it's Lewis. Thus the need to undermine him.

Harvard Law "Listing Right", Says Observer

2005-11-30T10:58:00.000-06:00

Credit, yet again, Volokh for the pointing me to the New York Observer's new article on Harvard Law School's growing tolerance of the right (particularly as faculty).

I wondered about this recently after reading a comment (by a YLS student, Will Baude) on the Yale Federalist Society blog that remarked on Yale's lack of (a) a single conservative con law professor and (b) a single con law professor who disagrees with Roe's reasoning. Baude noted that Harvard, on the other hand, has shown willingness to hire qualified conservatives (Vermeule, Manning and Goldsmith were the names mentioned)--which, to me, looks like a measure of intellectual tolerance rarely achieved in the academy.

The Observer piece credits Dean Elena Kagan for the more broad-minded approach to faculty hires. Excerpted from the article:

"My view of Harvard is that because we are a place that is larger in scale than a lot of other schools, we’ve never been a niche place,” Ms. Kagan told The Observer. “We sort of have everything, and that continues to be true in our current hiring. Our current hiring is all across the board from a political-slash-ideological perspective, and that’s exactly what it should be.”

Whatever your ideology, diversity of perspective in legal ivory towers is not merely warranted, but necessary. What good are ideas unchallenged, and how can ideas be challenged without an array of vastly different ones?

UPDATE: at Crescat Sententia, the aforementioned Will Baude discusses anew the glaring, and thus problematic, absence of conservative con law scholars at Yale.

2005-11-29T11:46:00.000-06:00

I saw Crash last night, finally. It was phenomenal. If you haven't seen it yet, please do, and soon.

2005-11-28T15:12:00.000-06:00

The Boston Globe reports that the Massachusetts housing boom is over.

Who knows if this will be relevant for the wife and myself, but when housing prices fall anywhere, the nation (the nation of non-homeowners like ourselves, anyway) rejoices.

2005-11-28T14:59:00.000-06:00

Volokh just posted about this helpful "cheat sheet". It details, for lots of places you might want to call, how to get a human on the phone.

"Please, Sir, I Want Some More"

2005-11-28T11:59:00.000-06:00

Did you pick law school over a T5 business school? Hope it wasn't for the money...

From NY Metro comes this illuminating article on living the Goldman Sachs managing director life and making millions (well, lots of millions)...

Mazzone Out?

2005-11-23T14:45:00.000-06:00

Well, I hope Ole Miss fans are happy. Mazzone is apparently out as offensive coordinator for the Rebels, according to the Clarion-Ledger today.

After an absolutely dismal season offensively, the dismissal is unexpected only because Ole Miss will have to buy out Mazzone's contract, worth $500,000 over the next two years.

It isn't really the kind of thing our program can afford. And while you could argue an offense ranked 110th in Division 1-A isn't any more affordable for the Ole Miss football future, one thing is certain: Noel isn't fully to blame.

From all accounts, Mazzone wasn't given the freedom to exercise his own offensive philosophy. Coach O wanted to bring SC's high-powered attack to Oxford, forgetting that Reggie Bush doesn't wear blue-and-red. (Also forgetting, perhaps more importantly, that our offensive line is not SC's.)

Look: Cut's UT offense didn't work without a Manning. Coach O's offense isn't working without a Palmer or Leinart and Bush.

Speaking of which, this isn't really O's offense to begin with. It makes little sense to me that the former defensive line coach for the Trojans is trying to install his old team's offense at Ole Miss. This is Ed Orgeron, not--certainly not--to be confused with Norm Chow, and just because they coached the same team doesn't mean they're the same guy.

Rosenhaus on Alito: "Next Question. NEXT QUESTION."

2005-11-22T13:15:00.000-06:00

What if Drew Rosenhaus represented Supreme Court nominees instead of pro athletes? A columnist for UPenn's student newspaper asked herself that reasonable question, then wrote a hilarious column on the results.

College Essays, and Roe

2005-11-22T12:50:00.000-06:00

If you want acclaimed writer Christopher Buckley's advice on writing the perfect college application essay (or, I guess by extension, law school personal statement), his New Yorker essay entitled "College Essay" isn't for you. On the other hand, if you want to know what most college essays look like, look no further. This is it.

Also, if you wanted to read Jeffrey Toobin's new Roe piece but couldn't because it is unavailable on the New Yorker's website, SCOTUSblog has a .pdf file of it here.

Irving Will Be Charged

2005-11-22T11:48:00.000-06:00

Here's a BBC World article on David Irving, a British historian widely known to be a Holocaust denier. Austrian authorities arrested Irving last Friday and are preparing charges against him right now. Excerpted from the article:

In his books, Mr Irving has argued that the scale of the extermination of the Jews by the Nazis in World War II has been exaggerated.

He also claimed that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler knew nothing of the Holocaust.

He told a libel hearing in London in 2000 that there had been no gas chambers at the Auschwitz camp.

It's hard to believe and frightening to realize that this sort of ignorance can still exist in an age of such tremendous access to information.

On Waiting, Online

2005-11-21T11:52:00.000-06:00

The Internet has made applying to law schools, like practically everything else in life, more frenzied rather than less.

Sure, the actual application process is easier. It's more succinct and takes less time, especially with all the procedural help the Law School Data Assembly Service (LSDAS) provides.

But the real problem is not with the process; it's with the wait. Apparently, law school applicants worldwide have little else to do than sit around on message boards and in chat rooms, worrying themselves to death over the "status" of their applications and whether so-and-so with a 175/3.71 is an auto-admit at such-and-such.

Sometimes, all these random websites catering to the applicant populus can be really helpful. They can give rough estimates of chances at various schools. They can provide information on last year's dates of admission at schools. Lawschoolnumbers.com, for example, is a substance-intensive site that may clarify many applicant questions.

But there are plenty of sites that are not useful, not worth the daily visits of thousands of eager/nervous applicants--applicants who as often as not seek only reassurance or calm.

I'll not honor those sites with links here.

I will, however, say that the newest and most official addition to the online roll of websites for us law-students-to-be is both helpful and interesting. Interesting primarily because it is official: it is Harvard's "Admissions Blog", maintained by new Assistant Dean for Admissions Toby Stock. At first the posts were infrequent, but lately they have picked up (quantity- as well as quality-wise: Thursday, Toby even posted what he termed a "rant" about the inscrutability of the Yale yield--the argument was a compelling one).

So go check this blog out. I particularly recommend listening to the interview with Brian Fletcher (president of the Harvard Law Review, Sears Scholar, summer associate at Goldstein & Howe--the credentials are all there).

Missing Name

2005-11-21T11:46:00.000-06:00

There's an interesting post over at Yale Law Federalist Society regarding a redacted reference on the now-famous 1985 Alito job application.

The reference's description is "law professor/lawyer". Speculation is that it is a Yale professor. Is this a professor newly afraid of assocation with the judicially *radical* Alito?

More on Educated Women Who Stay at Home

2005-11-18T12:47:00.000-06:00

A while back, JBlog contributor Carla Ward wrote in response to the September 20 NYT article entitled "Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood".

Phantom Scribbler, evidently an academic's wife, recently penned an articulate and effective critique of the same piece.

Sex Ed For The Three-Year Old

2005-11-18T12:22:00.000-06:00

Given a shameless culture that refuses to blush at just about anything, parents of all political stripes are wondering how to raise kids with more than a hint of decency. It may actually approach the impossible, considering the increasing dominance of TV and the Internet in children's lives (and the increasing sexual openness of those media).

Today's NYT article "Sex Ed for the Stroller Set" points to the newest attempt to keep your kids clean: sex-ed at early ages.

Very early. Too early, probably--but the situation is worsening, and no one has any good answers. I'm glad I don't have to face this issue yet, but it's already starting to scare me...

Welcome to the Facebook!

2005-11-16T10:54:00.000-06:00

Fortune's Adam Lashinsky writes here about Facebook.com's founder and future.

Juicy January Hearings

2005-11-15T14:36:00.000-06:00

Alito's confirmation hearings (scheduled for January) are shaping up to be much juicier than John Roberts' were. Roberts had, for all intents and purposes, a clean record and neat past. Whenever he did write something potentially incriminating, Roberts was acting as an advocate for Reagan or some other conservative luminary.

Or so he said. And it was a defense he used successfully throughout his confirmation hearings.

Not so with our Sam Alito, who, as news outlets everywhere are screaming, stated his political views in no uncertain terms on an old job application. Arguing that those views will play no role in his jurisprudence on the high court should prove, for Alito, a significantly tougher assignment.

More on this later...

New Yorker outs Article III Groupie

2005-11-14T10:03:00.000-06:00

Article III Groupie (A3G, for short), who blogs at Underneath Their Robes, was outed in a New Yorker piece published today. Bloggers have quickly splashed the news all over the web.

Underneath Their Robes is a fascinating gossip blog on the federal judiciary. It concentrates particularly on clerks.

The author is apparently one David Lat, an assistant U.S. attorney who graduated from Harvard College and Yale Law School.

For ACLJ, PR Is Not Good

2005-11-13T20:26:00.000-06:00

I just got a chance to read this October 31 Legal Times article on Jay Sekulow and the ACLJ (Pat Robertson's answer to the ACLU).

Interesting, disturbing expose if even half-true...

The Times On Yale On Alito

2005-11-13T20:20:00.000-06:00

Today's Times includes this article: "Yale Law Frets Over Court Choices It Knows Best".

It details the growing and vocal opposition to Judge Alito's nomination from inside Yale walls. Yale conservatives in the judiciary are not strangers to such opposition: Thomas and Bork both suffered it, and neither has forgotten it.

Interestingly, current Yale dean Harold Hongju Koh called those two nominations, of which Bork's failed and Thomas's passed (barely, and with plenty of bloodshed), a turning point in the law school's history. U.S. News rankings started at about the same time--1987--and have hailed Yale as chief ever since. According to Dean Koh, today 87% of accepted applicants attend, and this ridiculously successful yield is at least in part due to the prominence Yale gained during the hearings.

I'm confused about this analysis: that the bloody Bork/Thomas nomination battles actually helped push Yale to the top. It's my impression that America views them as unpleasant episodes (if not veritable witchhunts). But what do I know...

Here, read YLS student Judy Coleman discuss her concern that the NYT failed to quote a single female Yalie (she includes the text of the Letter to the Editor she mailed off to 229 West 43rd Street (or maybe emailed; I just wanted to use the Times Company's physical address in this sentence)).

And at Crescat Sententia, a Yalie talks about whether we should even care what Yale people think about Alito.

Clarence Thomas and His Motorcoach

2005-11-13T19:02:00.000-06:00

With tax research to do and online newspapers to read, I feel the need to fit in a brief post about last Friday's featured event here: the Most Honorable Clarence Thomas, presiding.

I got to hear Thomas twice: first, as he addressed 1Ls at UA in the morning, and then later as he addressed the "General Public" in the afternoon.

I came away from the twin sessions with more than my fair share of awe. The man is "plenty bright", as our President might say, but he is also funny, humble and unafraid.

Only once did Thomas give the "I can't answer this question" runaround, and it came on the very last question posed Friday afternoon. All day, the Justice was exceedingly open with his audiences, exceedingly funny, exceedingly generous.

The last Justice to visit Alabama, the late Chief Justice Rehnquist, flew in, preached an hour-long sermon, and flew out.

Clarence Thomas answered questions for a combined total of almost three and a half hours. He spent additional time with individual students, even eating a two-hour (and action-packed, I'm sure) lunch with about twenty of them.

Of particular note: Justice Thomas's teams are, in no real order, the Dallas Cowboys, the Nebraska Cornhuskers (Yes, Bardwell, there is room for a little Clarence Thomas love in even your own blue heart), the San Antonio Spurs (like myself and untold millions of sensible Americans, Thomas generally spurns the NBA but can't resist cheering on the classy, classic Tim Duncan), and some NASCAR driver I've never heard of. Last name: Martin, I think.

And, as I had previously read somewhere on Underneath Their Robes, Thomas owns (and apparently operates) a "motorcoach." Among the perks of clerking for Thomas, could a road trip in the RV be a possibility? I like to think so.

One impression gained that you'll probably never pry from me: Thomas is no Scalia sheep. He thinks for himself and considers it the gravest racial insult to say otherwise.

After Friday, I certainly agree.

"Nothing can stop us now"

2005-11-10T10:48:00.000-06:00

From Peggy Noonan's Opinion Journal column today:

Mike Bloomberg won in a landslide in New York City. No one is surprised, least of all Bloomberg. He said in his victory speech, "Nothing can stop us now," a remark that I experienced as vaguely threatening. He will probably find new places to ban smoking. Standing behind him on the podium was his beautiful lady friend, Diana Taylor, and as she beamed in her intelligent and ladylike way at the back of his head I thought, Why doesn't he marry that girl? She works hard for New York and obviously adores him. If he does not ask her to marry him by New Year's, she should do commercials against him.

Haha...

Alito's Thesis

2005-11-09T10:51:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Volokh, here's a link to Sam Alito's senior thesis at Princeton. Circa 1972. Circa 137 pages.

And Ole Miss's MBHC grads thought 45-60 pages was tough.

[Correction: Ole Miss's Honors College is the SMBHC, not MBHC. Thanks to Honors College veteran David Donaldson for pointing out the mistake.]

Crisis For Originalism?

2005-11-08T15:49:00.000-06:00

If you're an originalist who quotes ScaliaBork like Jesus quoted the Psalms, this David Bernstein post on a SCOTUS originalism crisis may be worth reading. The clear-thinking libertarian guy comes down hard on Scalia, whom Bernstein says he increasingly views as an originalist for the sake of originalism. Thomas, says Bernstein, "has expressed the most willingness to try to figure out how to reconcile originalism with the facts created by stare decisis."

Another post of potential interest is at Balkinization, where Yale con law professor Jack Balkin writes about why he thinks pure originalism is an unlikely Supreme Court trend anytime soon.

Various Notes

2005-11-07T10:53:00.000-06:00

Former Wendy's High School Heisman winner David Donaldson argues compellingly against potential BCS injustices at his College Sports Talk website.

Intelligent design finally gets a NY Times headline here.

President Bush has appointed Ellen Sauerbrey as Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. Here's an Opinion Journal take on the nomination, the nominee, and Bush's tough stand against forced abortions and China's one-child policy.

(For my wife): a New Yorker review of the latest film version of Pride and Prejudice. (Can anything beat the PBS classic?)

For those of us in the legal field or headed there, legal blogs are captivating. The most captivating tend to be the ones written (allegedly or actually--sometimes the line is fuzzy) by anonymous BigLaw attorneys. And one of the best is Opinionistas, found here. The Times reported yesterday on Opinionistas, whose outing from her BigLaw job is a constant threat and eventual inevitability.

America's Team

2005-11-07T10:31:00.000-06:00

Last night, the Philadelphia Eagles became America's Team for a day.

Was it just me, or did anyone else feel the collective consciousness of a nation rise up in unified support for the team that finally gave T.O. (or, as Jim Rome is wont to call him, "Too", as in, "Too much, too selfish, too arrogant, too ludicrous, too stupid, too brash, too...") what he has long deserved?

Look, I am not what you'd call an Eagles fan, but as long as the organization is exhibiting such clarity of mind, I'll gladly take my place as another Philly cheerleader.

Hash (Re)marks

2005-11-06T16:18:00.000-06:00

The NY Times has a "Brothers Manning" article up today. I doubt I'll ever tire of watching these guys play.

Also, as most people probably know by now, Miami is ranked #3 in the new AP poll. Alabama stays at 4, even though it is one of only three remaining unbeatens. LSU, the Tide's upcoming opponent, rings in at #5. Surely if Four beats Five, Bama will vault the one-loss 'Canes.

Surely.

DEVELOPING...

2005-11-05T10:01:00.000-06:00

Harvard publication The Record reports that Harvard law students rank Harvard Law above Yale Law.

In the article entitled "No Inferiority Complex in Cambridge: Students Rank HLS First in The Record's Study" and released yesterday, poll results show HLS besting YLS by 45 ranking points. Third, of course, was Stanford Law, with 141 less points than Yale.

The study also implies that 1Ls at Harvard are more confident than 3Ls about their program's superiority to U.S. News-knighted Yale. While 1Ls listed Harvard as the top law school twice as often as Yale, 3Ls ranked Yale #1 more often.

An independent study released in the past year polling students admitted to both Yale and Harvard revealed an 80% Yale yield, as opposed to a 60% Yale yield three decades ago.

That's Just The Way It Is...

2005-11-04T13:44:00.000-06:00

Since Nathan Best has yet to break this story over at Nate's Daily News, I feel I must.

Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) has evidently introduced legislation to open the U.S. government's files on "the life and death of Tupac Shakur." You can read about her announcement here.

Lenwood emailed me relevant info on the proposed legislation:

H.R.4210

Title: To provide for the expeditious disclosure of records relevant to the life and death of Tupac Amaru Shakur.
Sponsor: Rep McKinney, Cynthia A. [D-GA-4] (introduced 11/2/2005)
Cosponsors: (none)
Committees: House Government Reform; House Rules
Latest Major Action: 11/2/2005 Referred to House committee.
Status: Referred to the Committee on Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Credit for the story: future Congressman H. L. Brooks.

"Old Timer" Ward

2005-11-02T13:59:00.000-06:00

Today I experienced a rude awakening to the undeniable fact that my life is different from my unmarried grad-student counterparts'.

I asked a partner in a tax project when a good time for us to meet might be. He said he didn't care. But when I suggested 10 am Friday morning, he couldn't stop laughing.

We agreed on 4 o'clock in the afternoon. He probably thinks it's pushing my bedtime.

I'm definitely married. And loving it...

2005-11-02T10:48:00.000-06:00

I'm still nine months away from life as a 1L, but from my outsider's vantage point this UT-Austin law student's call for an overhaul of legal education methodology is a bit short-sighted.

[Will be more than happy to admit I'm wrong come December 2006.]

For Now, a Scapegoat for Fulmer

2005-10-31T14:42:00.000-06:00

Everybody knew it was only a matter of time.

Tennessee offensive coordinator Randy Sanders is reportedly out, says ESPN. Sanders represents a scapegoat for Coach Phillip Fulmer, at least for now.

The Vols are looking a potential fifth loss full in the face as they travel to South Bend this weekend. The Notre Dame-Tennessee matchup features two teams with wildly different seasons thus far.

The Weis-led Irish have exceeded expectations at almost every turn, somehow turning an absolutely brutal schedule into a 5-2 record.

Fulmer's squad has been the most underperforming SEC team since the DuBose era-Alabama team that began 2000 ranked #3 and finished unranked and 3-8.

The nail in the Sanders coffin was a close loss to a Steve Spurrier-coached South Carolina team. Fulmer was previously 12-0 versus the Gamecocks.

Golfers Unite?

2005-10-27T13:51:00.000-05:00

Are Annika Sorenstam, Michelle Wie and Co. about to get more than they bargained for?

ESPN reports that French golfer Jean Van de Velde is planning to try to qualify for next year's Women's British Open. The Ladies' Golf Union, which runs the event, currently has a women-only policy.

The R&A Club recently changed its men-only policy to allow women to qualify for next year's Open.

The ESPN article quotes golfer Barry Lane on female golfers: "Do they want 100 men trying to qualify? If they do there won't be any spots left for them."

Snafu At American U

2005-10-26T10:58:00.000-05:00

Benjamin Ladner, American University's president for the past eleven years, is officially out for excessive spending and irresponsible money management. Looks like the perks Ladner treated himself to exceeded even university presidential norms.

Ladner's final perk: the formal dignity of a proper resignation. That and $3.7 million Ladner couldn't have received had he been fired outright.

Students and some trustees are obviously up in arms. Read the story here, the Board of Trustees' statement here, and the Academic Deans' statement (opposing the Ladner settlement) here.

"YOU THINK THIS IS HOT? JUST MISS HEAVEN!"

2005-10-26T10:22:00.000-05:00

Carla and I have gained untold joy from the church signs we have spotted in our various travels, those travels consisting mainly of the backwoods route from Tuscaloosa to Oxford.

So we may have to submit some of our finds to this website dedicated to Real Church Signs.

Credit: my wife

Various Notes

2005-10-25T11:23:00.000-05:00

If you're like me and swallowed up Lauren Winner's beautiful conversion story from a few years ago, Girl Meets God, you know the funny irony that the historian/scholar Winner is an avid fan of the Mitford series.

In fact, it helped convert her.

I've never read one of Jan Karon's popular Christian fiction novels, but my snobbery has softened since I discovered that Winner loves them.

If you don't believe me, see her new Christianity Today book review of the final tome in the Mitford series, Light from Heaven. It's great--her review, anyway. I have no comment on the book.

____________________

In other news, Mr. Immutability is finally getting replaced. So much for the mantra "Presidents may change, Popes may die, but the Chairman of the Fed will always remain the same."

Oldish Ayn Rand disciple Alan Greenspan is giving the job of erudite esoteric money-man to smartly-suited, smartly-backgrounded Ben Bernanke.

Yesterday the WSJ's online Opinion Journal republished a July 27 article by Bernanke entitled "The Goldilocks Economy."

____________________

I can't decide if it's a compliment to the Southeastern Conference or not. In the myriad discussions lately about BCS polls and Numbers One and Two, twin SEC undefeateds Georgia and Alabama have received nary a mention.

Thursday night Kirk Herbstreit argued that the conference is too tough for either team to make it through the season unscathed.

Everybody else just seems to ignore the topic.

If Shockley-less Georgia somehow escapes the Cocktail Party with a win, and the Prothro-less Tide find a way against LSU and Auburn, could the Atlanta matchup of undefeateds produce a BCS-buster? It seems that sheer strength-of-schedule could at least challenge Texas's spot, if not Virginia Tech's as well.

The alternative, of course, is that SEC fans could be staring at a repeat of last year's football tragedy.

It all remains to be seen...

Richton Continues To Make Mark at Ole Miss

2005-10-20T15:00:00.000-05:00

Henry "Hank" Jones, eldest brother of Ole Miss legend Walt Jones, will be featured Friday at Ole Miss's Bridging the Gap student-alumni forum.

The DM reported yesterday that a 4 p.m. panel discussion Friday will include Shepard Smith, Cooper Manning, Gail Pittman and Jones.

Jones, director of research and development at SmartSynch, Inc., has earned a bachelor's degree from the University, in addition to master's and doctoral degrees from Stanford.

As the Richton-area Jolnes family continues to make its mark on the Ole Miss community, JBlog wants to congratulate Hank on his success.

Congrats, too, to Gremico Cortellis McSwain, another Richton High standout, who is making a mark of his own on the Ole Miss gridiron.

Contract for the Cos

2005-10-19T11:29:00.000-05:00

This revelation from The Smoking Gun is a few weeks old but still well worth your time. It shows excerpts from Bill Cosby's newly revised contract rider, which includes specifications for acceptable toilet paper in his dressing room: "high quality toilet tissue (Cottonelle or equivalent)..."

Bork Barrels Towards Bush's Blunder

2005-10-19T10:56:00.000-05:00

Finally, Bob Bork weighs in:

With a single stroke--the nomination of Harriet Miers--the president has damaged the prospects for reform of a left-leaning and imperialistic Supreme Court, taken the heart out of a rising generation of constitutional scholars, and widened the fissures within the conservative movement. That's not a bad day's work--for liberals.

There is, to say the least, a heavy presumption that Ms. Miers, though undoubtedly possessed of many sterling qualities, is not qualified to be on the Supreme Court. It is not just that she has no known experience with constitutional law and no known opinions on judicial philosophy. It is worse than that. As president of the Texas Bar Association, she wrote columns for the association's journal. David Brooks of the New York Times examined those columns. He reports, with supporting examples, that the quality of her thought and writing demonstrates absolutely no "ability to write clearly and argue incisively."

WEB EXCLUSIVE

2005-10-18T13:54:00.000-05:00

Well, it's official. Recent rumors have now been confirmed: defensive talent and grammarian Patrick Willis is currently enrolled in a Gregory Schirmer lit class at the University of Mississippi and reportedly "loves it."

When not sharpening his skills on the gridiron, Willis is apparently sharpening his mind in English 225, a survey course.

Several minutes ago, JBlog editor and Facebook.com group A Professor Schirmer Fan Club administrator J. B. Ward sent Willis an invitation to join the online group.

The group, which consists of Schirmer acolytes and admirers, currently numbers 48 students and is looking to grow.

According to fan club member Baker Cannada, the club would like to expand by as much as 20% over the next two years.

No word yet on whether the erudite P-Willy is considering the offer.

Developing...

The New and Improved E.B. White, Sort Of

2005-10-14T11:05:00.000-05:00

Those who are familiar with E.B. White's terrific essaying may be interested in this Opinion Journal commentary on the new illustrated version of The Elements of Style, the classic textbook on the English language that White revised and popularized in the 1950s. As the commentary's author David Gelernter argues, White would be less than thrilled at the "modernization" of his book.

But hey, if they can modernize the Bible (see the Seventeen-ish Revolve: The Complete New Testament, by Nelson Publishers), they can modernize anything.

Good thing St. Paul has better things to do now than worry about "Beauty Secrets" tips on a page opposite one of his epistles.

Emboldened Gameday Analyst Takes Aim at Reeling Rebels

2005-10-14T10:45:00.000-05:00

Kyle Manley's popular College Football Weekly site, previously featured on JBlog, has this to say about this weekend's most important event:

Alabama 28, Ole Miss 6....[T]his Saturday's contest against a team that produced 3 1st half points and 2 offensive touchdowns over a 1AA team a week ago in their starting QB's "breakout" game shouldn't be much to worry about. (By the way, the 6 by Ole Miss is my prediction for number of 1st downs, not points.)

Let's hope the Rebels' defense can settle in and help us beat Manley's spread. Our editorial prediction: Alabama 24, Ole Miss 13.

This Morning, Hushed Bronx Waits

2005-10-12T10:43:00.000-05:00

Yankee Nation waits with bated breath and dwindling fingernails. Joe Torre's year-end news conference is scheduled for this morning. Will he take a shot at the Boss?

Torre is signed through '07, but Steinbrenner could give the 64-year old manager plenty of reason to resign and forego his $13M payout if he kicks Mel Stottlemyre out of New York as expected.

An Organization in Disarray

2005-10-11T18:03:00.000-05:00

This article is in today's New York Post:

SAD END FOR CASHMAN?

October 11, 2005 -- General manager Brian Cashman, who began his career with the Yankees as a 19-year-old intern in Tampa, broke down in tears last night in a losing clubhouse when he was asked if this was his final game working for the team.

The tears and Cashman's inability to even respond to the question is, perhaps, the strongest indicator that he plans to leave when his contract expires on Oct. 31. Cashman has tabled all discussion of his status until after the season. But when that came abruptly last night, with the Yankees losing a decisive ALDS Game 5 by 5-3 to Anaheim, he had to table the matter even further.

"Did it creep into your mind that this could be the last one you are involved in?" was the question posed to Cashman about 20 minutes after the final out. Cashman began to try to answer, his eyes reddened and his voice cracked. He tried to compose himself, putting his hand to his mouth and taking a deep breath.

But that only made him actually start to cry and he excused himself with apologies, saying he would address it today.

Cashman has been the Yankees' GM since 1998, presiding over three championships. He clearly has affection for the organization. But with each passing year, he has become more frustrated with his lack of power, the treachery that exists in the front-office split between New York and Tampa, and the nastiness that is nature when it comes to working for The Boss.

An Open Letter to Mr. Steinbrenner

2005-10-11T14:00:00.000-05:00

Dear Sir:

I am writing to inform you of my intention to demand the trade or release of Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez, effective immediately.

I know you pride yourself, Sir, on your managerial IQ.

(And Sir, the acquisition of Reggie Jackson was a brilliant move. It happened more than five years before my birth, but I applaud you for it nonetheless.)

I also understand that, when you purchased Jose Contreras for an exorbitant sum, you didn't intend for him to potentially start a playoff game against your team. You also didn't intend to allow one of the top postseason pitchers in history, Andy Pettitte, to abscond to Houston.

I don't fault you for these unfortunate circumstances. Would Andy Pettitte have won last night? Of course, but surely you don't regret wasting the Pettitte negotiations in favor of bagging Gary Sheffield. Surely you don't regret throwing away a golden postseason arm in favor of buying another bat. Clearly, bats win championships, Sir, as we both know. Pitching is incidental.

I further understand, Sir, that hindsight is simpler than foresight, though foresight is infinitely more critical. The Rodriguez trade--a trade, Sir, which involved Alfonso Soriano, the most productive second baseman in baseball, and a price tag almost beyond your reach--meant, for the 2005 New York Yankees, 48 home runs, 130 runs batted in, a .321 batting average, a .421 on-base percentage, and a .971 fielding percentage.

It also meant a further step away from the kind of team that comprised the 1998, 1999, and 2000 New York Yankees.

I hope, Sir, that you take my comments under consideration. Do not, Sir, blame Joe Torre, the most brilliant manager of egos in baseball and perhaps any sport. Do not blame a young and promising Robinson Cano.

Assign blame where blame is due. Dump A-Fraud, now.

On U.S. News Rankings

2005-10-07T12:14:00.000-05:00

It's well-documented that U.S. News college rankings are misleading--the formulae encourage schools to practice creative reporting, often at their own expense--but also practically requisite. Schools that don't participate are largely schools we've never heard of. Schools that do don't want to suffer the same fate. (The magazine says only 5% of surveyed institutions fail to submit the required application/questionnaire.)

I'm fascinated by the perpetuation of the system, one which began, I believe, chiefly to salvage the newsmagazine from more popular competition (i.e., Time and Newsweek). In November's Atlantic Monthly, former Penn Law School Dean and current Reed College President Colin Diver writes about success outside the system. Here's his conclusion:

"Before I came to Reed, I thought I understood two things about college rankings: that they were terrible, and that they were irresistible. I have since learned that I was wrong about one of them."

Diver thinks it's possible to maintain a terrific institution without the constraints and pressures of the U.S. News rankings. That's ideal, but is it realistic? I'm not sure. Still, Diver is worth reading on the subject. He has lived life on the inside and, now, enjoys it on the outside.

Google Results 1-10 of about 21,800,000 for "J.B. is"

2005-10-06T13:41:00.000-05:00

[Not original to me]

1. John Betjeman Home Page

2. Symantec Security Response - W32.HLLW.Gaobot.JB

3. Sophos virus analysis: Troj/LegMir-JB

4. It's Real JB Is Back On The Hill, Carbon Hill That Is (event) with ...

5. JB

6. JB is in the building...

7. Texas Department of Agriculture - Japanese Beetle Update

8. thermal Analysis of IC Packages

9. Re: Not too add fuel to the fire....JB is right!

10. Project JB: Advanced IP Version 6 Research and Educational Network

Media Critiques

2005-10-06T12:53:00.000-05:00

Somehow I discovered this site, maintained by a professor at Boston U. The 2nd Draft is essentially a venue for media critique. It brings to mind the olden days when now-defunct Brill's Content prowled the earth, looking for an unwary issue of Time or George to charge with journalistic bias or inaccuracy.

For fans of Timothy McSweeney's, a peculiar and brilliant institution, here is an old mockery of Brill's: John's Brill's Content: The Independent Voice of the Independent Voice of the Information Age.

Bad Journalism

2005-10-06T12:19:00.000-05:00

It is disappointing to find a second NYT article in the last six months that refuses to acknowledge the nuanced nature of modern-day evolutionist debate. The first was written about the snafu over a creationist book's placement in a Grand Canyon bookstore. The question of whether the book should be placed in the science or religious section of the store prompted a flood of letters from all sides.

The second, running in today's paper, contrasts two ideologically dissimilar Grand Canyon rafting groups. One is a Christian creationist group; the other is largely an atheistic/agnostic evolutionist group.

The surprise is that intelligent design got no mention. Not one nod to the newest assault on "atheistic evolution" in the academy.

With the publication several years ago of The Rare Earth, brainchild of two University of Washington scientists (with no Christian affiliation), the question of creation vs. evolution has been retooled. Intelligent design, the idea that evolution alone cannot explain the immense improbabilities of an earth that looks like ours, has become a whole movement, and scientists everywhere are, if not compelled by it, at least forced to deal with it. A piece that ran on National Public Radio's Morning Edition this summer focused on the debate, quoting scientists on all sides of the issue.

Honestly, no matter how you come out on the issues of creation vs. evolution, God vs. no God, you can't discuss the subject today without facing the science of intelligent design. It is frustrating that the Times has twice dodged this relevant subject.

2005-10-05T17:24:00.000-05:00

And while I'm moored at The New Yorker's website, here's a fascinating article on Ivy League admissions by a guy who wrote two books I want to read.

The books: The Tipping Point and Blink. The guy: Malcolm Gladwell. The article: "Getting In".

"Always had the horses, now the Colts have a big-time 'D'"

2005-10-05T17:07:00.000-05:00

What do Tim McGraw, Brooks & Dunn, and Big & Rich have in common? (Besides the obvious commonality that they are all country singers.)

They are all singing stupid, unpoetic, customized lyrics (something they're well-acquainted with, by the way) for football programming this fall. ESPN has Big & Rich, JeffersonPilot (to go along with the trio of Daves) has Brooks & Dunn, and Monday Night Football has Tim.

As if SportsCenter's Ultimate Highlight reel, which invariably forces me to change the channel or leave the room, weren't excessive enough.

Anyway, The New Yorker has an interesting little column this week on MNF and how lyricizing the plays of the week into semi-coherence actually happens.

BoSox: Sweet and Lowdown

2005-10-04T17:50:00.000-05:00

It is really fun to read Boston bloggers try to cope with what they know best: losing.

"Show" Man

2005-10-04T16:52:00.000-05:00

I have never been much of a show man, to tell you the truth. I mean this in the most literal way. I have never really had a television show that was "my show."

You know, the show you miss important functions to watch; the show you frequently rave about; the show you know well enough to notice when a character does something out of character.

Never had one of those. True, there was Get Smart as a child. And now there's Seinfeld.

But you can't really count those. Especially since I became a Seinfeld fan right about when the Original Friends had had enough. So I'm a newcomer. Nothing more than somebody who learned to love "George is getting angry!" on rerun network TBS Superstation.

It can't be your show if you didn't live through first-runs. And the in-between-seasons ache.

If it's just a show you turn on and watch, without feeling all the ups and downs and maneuvers that shows will inevitably experience on the TV roller-coaster, it's no more than that: just a show.

Well, all this to say that, after finding The Office exactly one season in, Carla and I now have a second show to add to the roster of "our shows". We've officially jumped on the Lost bandwagon, and I'm fully prepared to explain why it's a bandwagon well worth your time.

Especially if you have DVR. I'm not quite ready to pencil in Lost for every Wednesday calendar box this fall.

If interested, see me for further details.

Sports Notes

2005-10-03T10:43:00.000-05:00

What an interesting and dramatic weekend in sports.

My alma mater lost, but in respectable fashion, and to a steadily improving and SEC-East-contending Tennessee team. As Will Todd, a casual observer and Middle Tennessee State fan, commented after the game, Ole Miss was five minutes (the first five minutes of the game) away from losing to the Vols by 3. Spurlock was less than magnificent, but the defense, especially in light of a poor offensive showing, performed well. I was proud of our boys.

Alabama, a future alma mater of mine, won in decisive fashion, beating a very good Gator squad. The biggest blow to Bama hopes might not have been the obvious one, a season-ending ankle injury to the versatile Tyrone Prothro. It might instead have been the Trojan come-from-behind victory at Tempe. If Notre Dame doesn't beat Leinart, Bush and White, who will? (The Fighting Irish clearly have a terrific shot.)

Will the state of Alabama's flagship university suffer the same fate its land-grant institution did last year? That remains to be seen.

And the Yankees, while losing the weekend series to the Sox, won the division battle. I was disappointed that NY didn't at least attempt to keep the uncouth and unkempt Red Sox out of the playoffs, but we're saving our best for October.

It has been a whole four years since October Yankee triumph lifted the nation's spirits and warmed the world's soul. As the Yankees have averaged a championship nearly every 3.5 years for the last century, it seems they are due.

The real question now is which Yankee great will win 2005 World Series MVP.

Waiting For That 27th Ring...

2005-09-30T11:20:00.000-05:00

Could you draw up an ending to a pennant race any better than this one?

I'm taking the Yankees. One game up, with Rivera and new NY favorite Aaron Small (10-0 in his first 10 decisions with the team) set to deliver clutch stuff this weekend. Not to mention the Big Unit, A-Rod, and Captain Jeter.

Does David Ortiz scare me?

Yes.

I'm still taking the Yankees.

A Woman's Perspective

2005-09-28T15:17:00.000-05:00

By Carla Ward

A September 20 New York Times article (now only available on WestLaw) entitled "Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood" prompted several letters to the Editor, including the following:

To the Editor:
Re "Many Women at Elite Colleges Set Career Path to Motherhood" (front page, Sept. 20):

I was shocked and dismayed by your article not because I do not value the immense importance of being a mother but because as a young woman living in a post-feminism world, I cannot comprehend the ultimate passivity with which some women of my generation have resigned themselves to maintaining the status quo.

I agree that in today's society it is not possible for a woman to "have it all" and be both an outstanding career woman and an outstanding mother. But this does not mean that as women we should be content and not try to promote change by pushing for more equal participation in child-rearing between men and women and for the creation of a more family-friendly workplace and schedule.

Just because women cannot "have it all" does not mean that we should stop demanding it.

Amy L. Breglio

Here is how my letter to the Editor would go:

To the Editor:

As a third year law student and wife, I was shocked and dismayed at your article. It seemed to imply that choosing to be a mother after gaining an advanced degree would be wasting opportunities and throwing away a valuable education. To be a mother is not lauded as a valid aspiration.

In no other vocation does one have such an extraordinary influence over the life of another. A stay-at-home mother will be the one providing the daily moral, emotional, and intellectual guidance children need.

I have no desire to leave my child's upbringing to a nanny or day-care. Juggling high-powered careers and children might be possible for some, but that does not mean it's desirable. As a parent, I am wholly responsible for the future of my child. I have no desire to leave that future in the hands of another.

George Washington once said, "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her."

Call me crazy, but I would consider it a greater life achivement to raise the next George Washington than win that big case.

Starkville Hammered By Atlanta Paper

2005-09-28T10:40:00.000-05:00

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ran this piece this past Saturday.

Flyspeck Burg Aptly Named

By Mark Bradley

Starkville, Miss. - There's really no way to describe this place. How do you describe nothing? Think of it like this: Alongside this far-flung outpost, Auburn, Ala., seems as big and bustling as New York, N.Y.

In a way, it's nice that Mississippi State plays football. Without the mid-sized stadium rising above this low-slung burg, you'd miss Starkville altogether and go motoring off into Arkansas. With gas the price it is, who can afford such an overshot?

Other means of transport are problematic. You can't fly into Starkville itself. You have to land at the ambitiously named Golden Triangle Regional Airport, which sits 20 miles east on Highway 82 and is no
beehive of activity itself. The Georgia cheerleaders arrived on a 50-seat plane Friday night, and one among their number was heard to ask, "Where are the other terminals?"

And someone said: "There are no other terminals."

Georgia doesn't play here often - Saturday marked only its fifth visit ever - and for that everyone can be most grateful. It's a long haul to a flyspeck town to face a program so devoid of glamour that its signature is the cowbell. If you're a Georgia fan and you made the trek, you deserve a big wet kiss from the beauteous UGA VI. (Who, owing to "travel difficulties," didn't make it himself. Smart dog.)

Even State fans didn't seem to hold much hope for this game against the nation's No. 7 team. The stadium, which seats only 55,082, was conspicuously unpacked. (Attendance was announced as 49,903.) To be fair, remnants of Rita had spawned tornado watches in the area, but the first 2 1/2 quarters were played in nothing more than a brisk breeze. Then it rained. Then it stopped. Then it rained again.

The whole night had a weird feel to it. The isolated setting made this seem less an ESPN showcase than a high school game played under Friday night lights in the middle of absolutely nowhere. And the game itself was nothing special, either.

And if there was no majesty in this dismissal of middling Mississippi State, there was at least this sweet reward: When their business was finished, the Georgia Bulldogs got to leave. The stark reality of Starkville always looks nicest when viewed via the rear-view mirror.

The Results Are In...

2005-09-27T16:18:00.000-05:00

By Guest Columnist Morrow Bailey

Oxford, MS—In a shocking turn of events, a DNA test confirmed many Ole Miss fans’ worst fears today…Robert Lane is indeed left-handed. Some onlookers laughed, some wept openly, and new Rebel coach Ed Orgeron called Pete Carroll to determine what USC would do if such a situation presented itself there. Fortunately for me and you, Coach O likes to use the terribly annoying speakerphone option on his cell phone, so I got to hear the whole conversation.

Coach O: “Coach, we just found out our ******* quarterback is left handed, which is good, because we are trying to be just like USC, but what isn’t good is that he throws with his right hand.”

Pete: “What?!”

Coach O: “You heard me, ******, what should I do?”

Pete: “Well, Ed, our system is all about competition. That is the way it works. You have to make his right arm compete with his left, and just see which one is better.”

Coach O: “****, this system is ******.”

Pete: “I am sorry you feel that way, Ed. Just hang in there, we got off to a bumpy start here, too, if you will recall. But now, we could easily beat the Patriots by six touchdowns at their place. Give it time, the system works.”

Coach O: “****, ************ ******, crawfish ****** **** competition.”

Pete: “That’s the spirit, Eddie. Now you go back out there and give the ball to #40 more than seven times next game, ok?”

Coach O: “***********, he is a ************ touchdown *********** maker. We need more ********** like that ******. Tennessee better get ready, cause the Wild Boys are coming. **********!!!!”

Good news, Rebel fans; don’t give up hope yet. We are going to compete in practice this week, and maybe Robert Lane’s left arm is better at throwing footballs than his right.

Lane commented, “You know, I always thought it was odd when I tried to brush my teeth with my left hand; it never felt weird. It was just like with my right hand, except for much easier. That got me thinking, ‘This isn’t normal’. After the game Saturday, Coach O asked me to sign a scholarship release form, and I just naturally did it with my left hand. He said, ‘************ **** ****** Robert, what the **** are you ******* doing?’ I still don’t understand all of that Cajun cussing. After that, we were both a little suspicious, so these test results really are no huge surprise. I mean, this type of thing happens all the time.”

Stay tuned, Rebel fans, Tennessee might be in for a big surprise this weekend.

Weekend Update

2005-09-26T11:21:00.000-05:00

Friday, driving Jackson Avenue and walking the Square, Carla and I were again spellbound at the beauty and subtle magic of Oxford. Nothing has changed, and everything has.

Along University, towards Kroger, new construction, everywhere. The Molly Barr connection to Jackson, just before the old bridge and the old Forrester's, is now complete. Forrester's itself is in a heap, rubble and broken wood, the mere hint of its former self. The Square is bustling and busy, as expected.

The charm of Oxford is as potent as ever. Friday night, waiting on a table at Bouré, we took in the downstairs of Square Books and strolled outside to the music of bagpipes. A man in T-shirt and shorts stood on the grassy space surrounding the Courthouse, bagpiping into the Oxford night air.

Later, as we ate dinner, From Dixie With Love on the restaurant speakers prompted respect, silence and cheers.

Saturday, the Grove, sparser than usual because of rain and football mediocrity, was still beautiful, peopled with memories. Carla and I got to see old friends, and later we cheered on our team in Vaught-Hemingway. And while Ole Miss is the most underwhelming team imaginable, the game was still strangely fun: perhaps because we had missed watching our team play more than we knew.

I've come to terms with the prospects of a remarkably poor season. But, as we were reminded again a few days ago, it doesn't make a weekend in Oxford any less great.

"Ole Miss Is Mood, Emotion and Personality..."

2005-09-23T09:53:00.000-05:00

And today marks our first return as married folk. Among scheduled events for the weekend:

Catching a burger at the incomparable Handy Andy's. A late-afternoon balcony sit at the Grocery. Square shopping (I'm married now.). Square dinner. The Grove. Big Star.

And much, much more...

Asheville Newspaper Mentions Forest Native John Burns

2005-09-22T14:30:00.000-05:00

Excerpt from an article in the Asheville Citizen-Times' September 18, 2005 edition:

Gas Prices Alter Lives, Travel Plans: Carpools Gain in Popularity

ASHEVILLE -- Hurricane Katrina and subsequent $3-a-gallon gas was the deciding factor for Naomi Ellis in joining a carpool of other students traveling between Asheville and Western Carolina University.

"It's 100 miles a day on the car," Ellis said of her daily commute in a BMW coupe, "and when gas prices jumped, of course I wanted to jump in and get rides when I could."

Throughout Western North Carolina, people are changing their lives because of the escalating cost of gas. People are carpooling, consolidating trips into town and looking at bicycles and scooters as ways to get around.

Ellis had been spending about $40 a week in gas for her BMW. Though she has a job as a graduate assistant at the university, paying more at the pump wasn't something she wanted to do. The carpool -- something she would have done eventually, she said -- was looking better and better.

Now she rides with everyone else. Each person--Ellis, Altizer, Stephen Bengston, Robin Royerston and John Burns--has a day to drive, and when he or she does, that person pays for the gas. They all have small cars, except for Burns, who drives a Jeep Cherokee. He and Altizer live in Rockmont in Black Mountain. Benston and Royerston live in central Asheville. Ellis lives near the old racetrack in West Asheville.

Credit: Lenwood Brooks, JBlog Contributor

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The Foers

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