The Wayback Machine - http://web.archive.org/web/20040329154234/http://www.isthatlegal.org:80/

IsThatLegal?
I'm a professional cynic,
but my heart's not in it.
-- Blur, "Country House"

3/24/2004

We'll Be Right Back After A Brief Word From Our Sponsors.


I'm outta here until next Tuesday, folks. See ya then.

My Very Good Friend The Distinguished Former Senator From Nebraska ...


Here's the problem with an entity like the 9/11 commission: any chance that it might do its work effectively in the public eye is defeated by placing gasbag former Senators in a position where they can, under the guise of investigating, yammer on endlessly about themselves.

Get a load of this "question" posed to Secretary of State Powell by former Senator Bob Kerrey. It must have burned up at least five minutes of the commission's precious public time with the Secretary. (I was listening.)

KERREY: Well, Mr. Secretary, to both of you and Secretary Armitage, I would prefer that Dr. Rice would be here tomorrow, but Dick you would be a fabulous national security adviser. You would be a dynamite one. So that said, let me say that, with great respect, I'm having difficulty with, you know, we spent eight months developing a plan because I don't think that's the central problem here. And my recollection of the presidential campaign, and by the way, my history, my actions in presidential campaigns were kept intact in 2000. I supported the loser in the primary so my memory may not be very good. But I don't recall terrorism being much if even an issue at all in the 2000 campaign, in part, even though it was on the policy- maker's minds, they were aware of the threat, they were aware of what's going on, but I just don't recall it being a driving force in either one of the campaigns. Maybe I've got that wrong, but I don't think so. And I think the central problem, Mr. Secretary, is something that all three of us have dealt with from time to time and that was the use of military force in dealing with Al Qaida. I said earlier to Secretary Albright, I think it was one of the big mistakes of the Clinton administration. In fact, I think it was also a fault of the Bush administration. Although I'm sympathetic that the secretary of defense was not a primary actor in the war on terrorism. Indeed, striking, his recollection of the briefings on Al Qaida were considerably different than yours. His recollection may be different when he's testifying. But it wasn't as clear and shouldn't be because under presidential directive 62, which was signed by President Clinton in '98, that presidential directive didn't give the Department of Defense a primary role in the war on terrorism. It just didn't in counterterrorism activity. And I've read the cautionary concern that General Zinni had, who was CINC of CENTCOM at the time and other military leaders. I've had, in twelve years experience in the United States Senate, many times I walk out wondering if I voted the right way. And among those moments was Desert Storm I, where I'm relatively certain today that I did vote the wrong way. But it came from a concern for bodybags coming home and would we be able to sustain the political effort. And I was likewise concerned about Bosnia, ended up supporting the effort in Bosnia and Kosovo. But those who say we shouldn't be skeptical or concerned about use of military force, I think have got it wrong. We should be. We should, it seems to me, always wonder. But I wonder if you see it that way. I mean I wonder if you see that if you look at from '93 when World Trade Center I was hit the first time and through September of 2001, Al Qaida never suffered a military response from us, never -- other than on August 20th, which was a relatively small military attack, a very limited military attack with absolutely no anticipation of boots on the ground of being involved. And I'm just wondering, I appreciate that I'm asking a question as if you were secretary of defense, secretary of state, national security adviser and perhaps even president, not just secretary of state. But I wonder if you see it that way, as well, that our reluctance to give the secretary of defense and the military a more prominent role in counterterrorism efforts contributed to our lack of preparation.

Senator Kerrey could've just said, "Mr. Secretary, do you think we would have been better prepared for a 9/11-type attack if the Secretary of Defense and the military played a more prominent role in counterterrorism efforts?" And that might have left some time to ask the Secretary a few more questions. Maybe even tough and searching ones.

3/23/2004

Vicious Verdure


Sounds like something from Monty Python: Killer lichen!

3/22/2004

Good Targets


In a new book, Don Rumsfeld is quoted as saying, at a meeting less than a day after the 9/11 attacks, that "there were no decent targets for bombing in Afghanistan and that we should consider bombing Iraq" instead because it had "better targets."

Sheesh. What a wussy. France, for example, had even "better targets" than Iraq. Yet Rumsfeld couldn't find the guts to propose taking out the Eiffel Tower.

I no longer carry my baby in a pouch.


Today, I am hairy, milk-producing, and warm-blooded: I have moved from Marauding Marsupial to Large Mammal in the TLLB Ecosystem.

A note to law students seeking note/comment/seminar paper topics

An interesting First Amendment question lurks in this case: May a person convicted of sexual assault be barred, as a condition of his probation, from "viewing pornography?"

This is a real wire service story.


Sometimes life really does imitate The Onion.

Missing woman home after secret road trip

CHEYENNE -- Saying she just needed a break, a woman who took an unexpected trip to Colorado returned home after her disappearance panicked friends and family.

Kathy Ellis' mini-mental health break created much worry and fear, her husband Ron Ellis said Wednesday, a week after he filed a missing-person report.

She returned on her own Sunday night after a five-day stay with an ex-sister-in-law in Fort Morgan, Colo., a woman she hadn't seen in 10 years.

"That's why we didn't think to look for her there," Ron Ellis said, noting that she assumed word of her whereabouts would trickle back to her husband and sister.

Ron Ellis reported Kathy missing March 10 after she failed to show up for her shift at a Pershing Boulevard dry cleaner -- unusual behavior for the 38-year-old mother, her family said.

Such cases of missing people taking a mystery vacation aren't unusual, Laramie County Sheriff's Office Lt. Pat Branigan said.

A Pig Flew, Too.

Appearing on the Today Show this morning, hours after the Israeli assassination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Condoleeza Rice said that "there is always the possibility of a better day in the Middle East."

She also did the weather segment at the top of the hour, predicting that temperatures would plunge below the freezing mark in Hell this afternoon.

3/21/2004

The final out.

Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia was always a pretty crappy stadium, but reducing it to rubble makes me sad nonetheless.

3/18/2004

Hunting (with) the Vice President?

So I'm reading Justice Scalia's account of his hunting trip with the vice president (thanks to Volokh for the pointer), and it suddenly occurs to me: how on earth does anyone get a security clearance to go hunting with the vice president? I mean, these guys are sitting around with rifles in duck blinds!

Not exactly my idea of a secure location.

The vice president must really trust his buddies, and his buddies' buddies. As must the Secret Service.

3/17/2004

What it's like.

Justice O'Connor Speaks on Attorney Professionalism in Wyoming

Justice O'Connor gave a talk on lawyers' professionalism to an overflow crowd in the Fine Arts Concert Hall at the University of Wyoming yesterday.

An Indian student should have asked her about whether by joining the Hall of Great Westerners, she meant to endorse the skewed and racist vision of Western history that the Hall represents.

3/16/2004

March 16, 1984

Twenty years ago today, armed gunmen in Beirut kidnapped William Buckley, the CIA station chief.

Twenty years ago today, a surprise windstorm buffeted the coast of the Pacific Northwest.

Twenty years ago tonight, I went on a first date with a girl named Leslie. We went out to dinner at the now-defunct Lloyd's Restaurant on Hope Street in Providence, Rhode Island, then to a performance of Titus Andronicus on the campus of Brown University, then to a cafe on Thayer Street (Penguin's, maybe?) for dessert.

I was nervous. I listened to Bryan Adams sing "This Time" before the date, to get myself in the right frame of mind. (I guess I just listened past the "she turns and slowly walks away" part.)

We married on August 7, 1988. We're still happily married.

It has been a great 20 years.

Western Heritage -- Whose Heritage?

Suppose you were the National Southern Heritage Museum, and you maintained a Hall of Great Southerners. Suppose further that it's today--2004--and not, say, 1930.

Would you induct more than a couple of African Americans into your Hall of Great Southerners? If not (indeed, even if so) would you induct Bull Connor?

This morning I happened upon the Hall of Great Westerners, membership in which is controlled by the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum.

The criteria for induction into the Hall are:

1. Exceptional contribution to the advancement of western heritage and traditions over a lifetime.

2. Individuals who promote America's rich western heritage through their leadership and patronage of art, business industry, environmental, education, humanitarian, government or philanthropic organizations.

3. Achievement of national significance and historic relevance.

4. Exemplification of the traditional western ideals of honesty, integrity and self-sufficiency over a lifetime.


Of the 259 symbols of Western heritage and tradition who have thus far been inducted, fewer than a half dozen are Indian.

And two of the Indians--Chief Washakie and Sacagewea--achieved their fame primarily for cooperating with white people.

In the meantime, some of those in the Hall--for example, Kit Carson, Isaac Ingalls Stevens, and Charles Goodnight--achieved a good measure (though not all) of their fame by killing Indians.

What, one wonders, possessed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor to wish to present herself as an emblem of this skewed and white-centric Western history?

Belated Congrats, eh?

Just saw that my buddy John's blog, Who Killed Theresa?, was a Canadian Top Blog back in January. Richly deserved.

3/15/2004

A Good Blog.

Every now and again I come across a blog that just grabs me. I clicked today on "Inside My Head" off the North State Blogs blogroll, and was blown away. This blogger is doing something honest and true. I found this post especially moving.

Her writing is so good that I can even excuse her devotion to Jackson Browne. Now that's saying something.

Oberammergau Hits the Big Screen

A Headline that Sucks.

School Maintenance System Has Vacuum, announces today's Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune.

If you read the story carefully, you'll see that they've also acquired several mops and a dustpan!

Actually, it's just a poorly written headline. But it's funny.

3/14/2004

Cone for Congress!

Run, Ed, Run!

Trust me, Ed, you'll get national support and attention. In some quarters (even if not in your congressional district) the anger over Howard Coble's comments about the Japanese American internment has not dissipated. I think you'll be able to raise a good bit of money, even.

Go for it, Ed.

3/12/2004

Grrrrrr!

Now we know why they're called sea lions.

In Memoriam

My friend and colleague Marilyn Yarbrough died the other day at the very young age of 58. She was an extraordinary person. All who knew her will miss her.

3/11/2004

Looking for the past.

On my father's side, I am from a family of refugees from Nazi Germany.
My grandmother and her three siblings kept hundreds and hundreds of photographs of their lives that I've recently been going through.
These many hundreds of photographs show the usual array of smiling relatives sitting in cafes, hiking in the woods and mountains, holding babies, and the like. But the photographs from the years between 1933 and 1938 (when my grandparents left Germany, after my grandfather spent several weeks in Buchenwald) have always struck me because the horror of what was enveloping Germany's Jews never appeared. The photographs suggested that my family's lives continued on, happy and uninterrupted, when I knew that this was not the case.
A few days ago, I came across one photo that hints at what was really happening in their world.
I find it deeply chilling.








The Cyberfamily

The jokes about this story are just too obvious even to bother posting them.

I am, however, squatting on http://www.gambino.mob, and will be demanding a high price to relinquish it.

Powered by Blogger