Yes, It's Tuesday. It's Also Something Else.

I don't give much thought to having "served" my country.

In so many ways the time I spent in basic training, advanced individual training and riding around then-West Germany in the back of an armored personnel vehicle was really more valuable as service to myself than serving the greater good.

I developed traits that have served me well in my later career and life, as well as received enough financial support to complete my undergraduate degree.

The events of my enlistment seem more like a movie I remember seeing a long time ago, than anything relevant today. I remember the plot, many of the actors and the location with its superb selection of beers, but what I felt then while experiencing it all has bit by bit faded into the rose-colored past. (Wow, now going 24 years!).

Still, today is one of those days where I'm reminded by others that it was a good decision to enlist in the United States Army. It was the right move to take my chances in that lottery that every solder, sailor and marine enters; the reality is that "the balloon" can go up at any time.

In my day it was Russian and Czech tanks with the real potential to roll through the Fulda Gap, along with a recognition that a tactical nuke or two would be lobbed into our action area to soften things up. (I recall that my life expectancy as a Combat Signaler post-balloon was about 90 seconds.)

Today, my 2008 equivalents are fighting insurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq. The former with too little troops and a clear lack of leadership back home; the latter with no exit strategy (via a similar lack of leadership).

I feel for them and on this day hope that they will someday have the opportunity I have, to look back on their service with self-pride and a recognition that they are better off for having served.

Yep. While I don't usually dwell on it and rarely talk about it to others...

I'm proud to say that I am a veteran.

Good for US.

Forgive me but I've got renewed optimism and a positive outlook on the future this fine November morning.

Finally, the campaign is over. Did the right candidate win?

While it's easy to say "Yes" if your horse crossed the finish line, only time, as-yet unknown events and a new administration can provide the answer to that question.

For my money, I'm glad that in my lifetime Americans finally looked beyond skin color in choosing their 44th President.

Didn't think we'd get there and I'm not unhappy that we have.

Cheers to US!

An Office Pool to Bank On

In the categories of "I'm too clever for my own good" and "I've got way to much free time on my hands"...

(Neither of which apply to moi).

There is something satisfying about a well-thought set of brackets!



If my mutual funds weren't tanking I might actually be enjoying the playoffs.

Pink Isn't Well... He's Back at the Hotel

"I just want to go home, take of this uniform and leave the show."

Cruising up and down I-25 I'm listening to the live version of Pink Floyd's, The Wall. Every so often I feel like Pink. For the most part these days, however, I'm his replacement. Remember him? Doing primarily defense work and encountering such a large number of whining plaintiff lawyers makes me quite often think that the best cure is merely to "get 'em up against the wall."

I still get amazed looks when people hear that I commute between Albuquerque and Santa Fe every day. I get even more when I tell them that the drive doesn't bother me. It really doesn't, bother me that is.

Yes, it's a total of two hours out of my day. On the other hand, I can dictate letters or client reports (although I learned the hard way not to do so with the window open (oops!)); catch up with friends on the phone (Bluetooth'd am I), and listen to complete albums without interruption.

Oh, have I dated myself there by referring to an album rather than a disc? Good!

Depending on the time of year, I also get sunrises or sunsets, either of which reminds a person why they chose to live in one spectacularly beautiful landscape. A bad traffic day is when there's an accident, or heavy snowfall or even heavy volume. None of which occurs often enough for me to recall at this moment the last time one of those things happened.

Drive on will I. If you feel like coming along for the ride, fine; just keep in mind that the driver picks the music.

Lock and Load, Coochie Coo

The Second Amendment is alive and well. Thank goodness. The 2nd has always seemed to be the black sheep of the Bill of Rights. Talked about quite often but rarely invited to family gatherings... until today.

The US Supreme Court finally drew their 5-4 line in the sand by holding that a Washington DC law effectively banning handgun ownership is unconstitutional.

Justice Scalia wrote for the majority. Between taking aim at Justice Stevens’ dissent and providing an extensive historical justification for why the 2nd Amendment protects individual rights, as opposed to collective ones, Scalia also managed to limit the decision to exclude individual possession of weapons which are purely military in nature.

It was that kind of decision.

Long on historical background, light on case law and completely disparaging of the notion that handgun ownership should be prohibited by localities if they choose to enact such laws. I take issue with the decision’s reference that in “traditional” locations such as schools and government buildings, private possession of handguns should remain proscribed.

It seems to me that if we’re going to interpret the 2nd Amendment to mean that the right of the people to keep and bear arms is not a collective right but an individual right (and in doing so we’ll set aside the issue of the Framer’s view that a well-regulated militia was so necessary to the security of a free state that IT is the amendment’s first clause), if we’re going to do that then I think at the very least carving out exceptions, traditional or otherwise only serves to undermine Scalia’s justification for upholding the right as individual.

As Scalia noted, the handgun is the perfect weapon for personal and home self defense. How much more so, must something uh... more robust, say like a light anti-tank weapon (i.e. a LAW) be?

Canada Rocks

God damn... those folks north of the border know how to take care of themselves.

I was amazed and fairly horrified to find a toxic chemical in the majority of baby bottles; a chemical which has been shown to produce, in addition to reproductive issues, a host of other problems.

Glad to know someone's decided to take some action.

Now, how about us in the U.S.? Some action please?

Spam of the Day

I simply wait patiently and into my Inbox they come.

Finally, I've received spam that makes me take a second look... after all, anyone can get a bigger penis, but today the message reads:

"Soup Samples - Choose from 3 Great-Tasting Flavors!"

(As I'm hung like a horse but fighting a cold this week, this is spam-marketing that really hits home!)

We Fear (Factor) Change

Alas, fellow television law junkies, Court TV is no more.

The network that brought us live coverage of the OJ trial and reminded us daily that viewing courtroom procedure is similar to watching grass grow has changed its name effective January 1, to truTV.

Courtroom cameras aside, apparently there just isn't enough reality-based programming out there in TVLand (not to be confused with Nick at Night's fine line-up of reality the way Aunt Bee delivered it.).

Let me see if I understand something here. I still can't watch the NFL Network on Comcast Cable because they've yet to reach an agreement regarding fees (i.e. profits for Comcast), but now there's yet another reality channel for me to flip past?

TLC, Discovery, National Geographic, ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, Spike, History Channel, C-SPAN, C-SPAN2 and the local cable access channel aren't enough? Now I've got truTV and it's special brand of uh, what everyone else is doing.

Sigh.

I love a hearing on a motion to compel discovery or in the alternative to move for partial summary judgment as much as the next lawyer. In my opinion, now that CourtTV is ending it's run as a window to peep in on our local circuit court, at the very least 24/7, 365 days of NFL coverage should be substituted.

It's a quality vs. quantity argument.

Weren't You in My CrimPro Class?

That must have been some essay to get her into the University of Arizona School of Law. One wonders if purported former beauty queen Kumari Fulbright attached a photo to her application.

Still, after clerking for a federal judge and making law review, I suspect that not only can she efficiently torture an ex-boyfriend, but she can also explain why her actions are either intentional, knowingly, reckless or negligent. Alas, the model penal code has no category for merely ridiculous, let alone stupid.


Resolution for 2008: Pose for a swimsuit calendar featuring women with guns(!) and then get my mug shot taken. Mmmm... juxtaposition.

I always knew there was a reason I didn't want to make Law Review.

Too many high-strung law students.

Happy New Year!

Party animal that I am, I went to bed at 10:15 after finishing a great book by David Brin, Kiln People. (Silly title, great story)

In a repeat of last year and the year before and the year before that, I missed watching the ball drop and drinking myself into a stupor.

But I did beat the S&P 500 for the third year in a row.

Slept like a baby.

Goodbye 2007.... Hello 2008!