K1 Update

The campers have finally arrived, the staff having endured more than a week of orientation and training. K1, her fellow counselors, and the 12 year-olds they're assigned to are settling into a routine. I can't help but smile as she starts to realize how much of a difference there is between pre-teens and high schoolers, and how much growth occurs. Maybe, just maybe, she'll start to understand how much different she'll be just five years from now.

No they didn't

I guess the truth is that they indeed didn't. That is, the House of Represetatives didn't reject their pay raise. Their cost of living increase is automatic unless they vote to reject it, which was in fact proposed by two congressmen. We can ask teens to "just say no," but don't expect Congress to do so. They rejected the proposal to reject the pay raise. The final vote: 244-181. So, it looks like they'll get their automatic cost of living increase.

But I'm proud of 'em. There was bi-partisan support in favor of keeping their raise, led by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Minority Whip Roy Blunt. No immigration reform; no health care reform; no social security reform, but the House could come together in favor of themselves. Bravo!

Soft on online pedophiles?

The DA in Murphy, Texas, is the first one to decline to prosecute any of the apparent predators captured in the To Catch a Predator series. I have always wondered about the methods used by NBC and the Perverted Justice group that assists NBC. Nonetheless, prosecutors in other jurisdictions have successfully prosecuted the perverts or gotten guilty pleas from a significant number of the perverts. According to the Murphy prosecutor, however, the cases are tainted by the involvement of amateurs involved in producing a television show. So, to the 24 men who showed up, expecting to have sex with a young girl or boy, so long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye--although they'll still be around, of course.

It's kind of disturbing that the TCAP shows proved so entertaining (I liked watching it). It's even more disturbing that there are so many men out there who are quite willing to have sex with an underaged child. Seems to me that it would have made more sense to consider each case on its own merits rather than letting them all walk.

Who's the boss?

My nephew, JD, used to exclaim in a fit of rebelliousness, "You're not the boss of me!"

I wonder if that's what Dick Cheney says to GWB. Cheney's refusal to comply with GWB's order, commanding everyone in the executive branch to report on the handling of classified material, makes me think that's exactly what he says--or maybe something stronger. And while my sister can send JD to time-out or take away his privileges, I don't think GWB can send Dick to bed without dinner.

Who is the boss of Cheney? Maybe Mrs. Cheney.

Better than NASCAR

I grew up in Indiana, home of the Indy 500. I know the real deal: the main attraction of auto racing is the potential for a crash or two. And, that's what makes this election cycle so dang interesting. With so many candidates in the field, watching to see which ones will crash and burn, or just run out of gas before the conventions next summer, is great sport. Giuliani's got some 'splaining to do or being in pole position on the Republican side won't matter much. Elizabeth Edwards' position on same-sex marriage could create some interesting problems for John, but kudos to her for taking on the evil witch Ann Coulter.

I 'd like to focus on the candidates' positions on the issues, but how can I when there are so many distractions?

Lesson learned

Having found a stone that looked like a tooth, K3 tried to trick the Tooth Fairy. Imagine that. When I asked K3 how well that worked, the look on her face said it all. Moral of the story: you can't trick the Tooth Fairy.

Sisters are good for something, part dos

K1 is at camp, and K2 wasted no time in conscripting her things for his own personal use. She left her Ipod car charger/FM transmitter since she won't have a car at camp. Somehow that item made its way into the car K2 drives. He'll give it back when she gets back, but why buy one when you can help yourself to your sibling's stuff?

Lawyers vs. engineers

I'm back from the State Bar Convention, that annual event where attorneys from around the state. . . well, convene to do all sorts of important stuff. There really are some important things that occur, including the recognition of the Young Lawyer of the Year, recognition of the lawyers that have been practicing 50 years, and the moot court competition among the law schools in the state. There are also the section meetings and hours and hours of CLE. But truth be known, what many of us look forward to is searching for the vendors' booths that have the best freebies.

Of course, there are the usual pens, highlighters, and candy. Then there is the cool and unusual. I got a nice tie-dyed t-shirt (thank you Westlaw), but the coolest thing is that little red thing on the left, in the picture on the left, that one can use to clean eyeglasses. It's small, it works, and it requires no user's manual. The oddest thing in the first picture on the right--the "chatter bat". It's got beads or beans or something inside that "chatter." I'm not sure what one is supposed to do with it, but I plan to keep it away from certain colleagues.

I thought I'd done pretty good until I got home and saw what MJ picked up at the convention he attended this week--a really nice insulated coffee mug. And that wasn't even the coolest thing he got. Who'da thunk that the engineers would get better stuff than the lawyers.

K1 goes to camp

K1 is now safely ensconced in her home away from home for the rest of the summer. Serving as a gymnastics coach and counselor at a recreational camp should be a great experience for her, even if it does mean getting up every morning by 7 am. She had fun going to sleep-away camp, and I guess this is a way to sort of re-live some of that. What a great opportunity for her. Many of the counselors are from around the world, and the camp sounds like a kid's wonderland, in a part of the country that she's never been before. I think she'll do wonderfully, and she's already got great stories to tell.

Is this what Al meant?

In his new book, "The Assault on Reason", Al Gore laments (repeatedly) the fact that Americans watch on average 4 1/2 hours of TV/day, but that tv is a one-way, passive medium, which provides no way for viewers to respond, given that most of us can't buy air time on TV. One thing that gives Al hope is the internet because it allows citizens to speak back and contribute to the marketplace of ideas. When I saw this a few days ago, it prompted me to go here, and I had to question if this is what Al had in mind. This is going to be an interesting election cycle.

I want my AMC!

Yesterday, the area north of Dallas experienced some of the worst flooding in over 100 years, as reported here. Some people had to take to their roofs to escape the flash flooding. Five people are dead. Channel 8 in the Dallas area apparently broke into afternoon programming to report on the flooding, interrupting All My Children. Not to fear. Channel 8 announced on the late news that it would run the preempted show in its entirety sometime in the middle of the night.

I don't watch All My Children (or any other soap), but good to know that if I did, WFAA would have my back.

Thanks to Osler

Thanks to my friend, Mark, for the plug and the kind comments, although I'm a little concerned that the sketch may make me too identifiable.

I was initially wary of personal blogs because the concept struck me as narcissistic, but I was wrong. Blogs like Osler's and many others prove that they don't have to be so, and indeed, can go a long way in building community among interesting and diverse people who might not otherwise cross paths.

Whether my comments and observations are interesting, humorous, ordinary, or just plain stupid, at least I can say that I've been published recently. Along with my healthy appetite, aptly mentioned by my friend and former student, Ginger Hunter, I'll have one more thing to add to my resume should I ever need to dust it off!

Father's Day 2007

My Ks are blessed because they have a great dad. After all, at our house,

--Daddy is the one who gets dog-piled, and he never complains.
--Daddy is the one who's always open to a mock sword fight, whether with sticks or something else.
--Daddy is the one who yells snide comments during the basketball game that make even the refs smile.
--Daddy is the one who's called on to "come get the bug!"
--Daddy is the one who ran behind the bike when the Ks were learning to ride w/o training wheels.
--Daddy is the one that's as solid as a a rock.

Observations from the bookstore

MJ and I went to the bookstore for our "date." Observations from the trip:

1. Vanity Fair, by William Thackeray, is a book that I must add to my reading list.

2. Blessings, by Anna Quindlen, probably should be added to my reading list.

3. I have a copy of Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides that doesn't have the Oprah book club logo. I discovered it before Oprah!

4. Babies make the best car motor sound effects. The baby at the bookstore had the sound down--her dad's "car" was weak in comparison.

5. I can rarely get out of the store without buying at least one book. I think I need a 12-step program.

Michael Corleone does the cha-cha?

Tonight, on Larry King Live, Larry asked Al Pacino about his interest in being on Dancing with the Stars, and Al sort of sounded interested. Works for me. Based on the few times that I've seen the show, Al certainly couldn't do any worse than Tucker Carlson, and he wasn't half bad in the dance scene in Scent of a Woman. It's kind of hard to imagine him doing the quickstep or the Paso Doble, but if I were inclined to vote in such shows, I'd vote for him.

Kids say the darndest things

A lesson learned the hard way by K1. As we pulled into a parking space, we observed a mother and baby seated on a bench outside the restaurant. K1 commented, "That baby has a big head!" I noted that all babies have big heads, as I alighted the car, thinking the discussion had ended. I engaged in polite chit-chat with the mom about her baby, as K1 and K4 were getting out of the car. As soon as K4 got within earshot of the mom, he practically shouted, "Her got a big head!" If we were cartoon people, this would be the part where two of us turned an unnatural shade of red. I'm not sure if the mom understood what K4 said--I hope not. But, I think we learned our lesson.

Nothing in common?

Yesterday in class, I mentioned that, with the exception of perhaps our watches, I doubted that Dubya and I had much in common. Silly me! I forgot! We do indeed have something very significant in common: we're both represented by the same Democratic Congressman, Chet Edwards!

Praise music vs hymns?

Eric E. did a presentation in defense of praise music for the folks who dis that kind of music because, 1) it's repetitive; 2) the lyrics and music are simple; and 3) its music makers are't as musical. He laid out a pretty good, lawyerly case for some of the same complaints about praise music being true for classical music and hymns: he noted that Alleluia chorus's repetitiveness (26 times in the first couple of minutes), in contrast to "Open the Eyes of My Heart." He further noted that some praise music has beautiful, thoughtful lyrics. Finally, he acknowledged that praise music may be composed of only a limited number of chords, but argued that it is nonetheless richly textured by the different instruments and the work that goes into obtaining a particular sound.

I'm not musical enough to have thought about it befeore. But, I must admit it did open my eyes. I'm not ready to embrace praise music, but perhaps I shouldn't be such a snob. Ironically, many people seem to have the same problem for the music played in black churches, which I very much enjoy. Apparently, with respect to praise music, one criticism is that it's too "happy", but compared to black gospel music, I'm just missing the happy-ness of praise music.

A little prosecutorial discretion, please

The Genarlow Wilson story is the kind that sends shivers down the spine of any mother who loves her son. A Georgia judge did the right thing in reducing the charge against Wilson, thus reducing the sentence. After all, a hormonally driven teen, giving in to consensual oral sex, should be grounded or lose his driving privileges or have to clean toilets, but should not be sent to prison for ten years to be educated by truly dangerous felons. The law under which Wilson was convicted was never meant for horny teenagers, doing what horny teenagers sometimes do consensually. Virtually everyone understands that, including the Ga. legislature, which changed the law, and the jurors, who convicted Wilson without knowing the consequences of their verdict. The Georgia attorney general does not. He immediately filed an appeal.

Technically, the AG may be right. But technical arguments, divorced from justice, are what undermine the justice system and cause laypeople to lose faith in it. Often, it's defense counsel that rely on hypertechnical argments to absolve clients who are probably guilty. That's bad enough, but at least can be justified on the grounds that the rules are meant to protect the people from the power of the state. What's to be gained by continuing to keep Wilson in jail on a felony charge? He has already paid dearly for his transgression. Now is the time to exercise the discretion vested in prosecutors. Choose justice.

The Great Adventure Begins

When K2 was invited to accompany a friend and his parents to Hawaii, my thought was how cool for him. I was even okay with he and his pal traveling separately from the parents. The fact that they would have to change planes didn't unsettle me--not at first. But, as I've been tracking their progress all day, since their first flight left at 7 am., I can't help but wonder: WHAT WAS I THINKING?? Two 16 year olds, traveling several thousand miles, through several airports, unaccompanied by an adult! I'll be checking on them in a few minutes. I'm apprehensive, but also proud. When I think about it rationally, K2 is up to the task. He's generally responsible, and it's not as though he's alone. When K1 was this age, she flew by herself for the first time--only to Colorado, but she managed just fine. Plus unaccompanied minors are a regular staple on the planes this time of year. Plus . . . only 60 years ago, it wasn't that uncommon for boys this age to lie about their age to sneak into the armed forces, and go off to fight wars. They were part of the greatest generation. When considered from that perspective, the accomplishments of the young men of today pale in comparison.

Sisters are good for something

Every now and then, the Ks surprise me. K2 is on his way to Hawaii tomorrow, and was in need of flip-flops. Not finding what he wanted at Wal-Mart, (didn't realize he was that picky), he TM'd K1, who proceeded to meet him and help him pick out the perfect flip-flops for K2's Hawaiian adventure. He ended up with something that looks like the pic. Pretty snazzy.

Did he really ask that?

What does one say to a 16 year old who wants to go to Hooters for dinner with a pal? That indeed was the question posed by K2. Even more surprising was that the question was posed to me after his father had already nixed the idea. Did he really think that I would overrule his father? By now, he knows that if he doesn't get his way with one parent, going to the other in hopes of a different outcome is a longhot--he has a better chance of being struck by lightning, twice, in one week. But on this question in particular, he should have known better. To his dismay, I too agreed that it was inappropriate. Alas, he had to go elsewhere to have hotwings. I'm sure that's the only reason they were itching to go to Hooters. It's rather ironic that the whole question arose after having just discussed in E.Discrim. class the "family restaurant" nature Hooters.