National NALSA Moot Court Competition

A thousand apologies dear readers for my lapse in blogging over the past few days. This weekend finds me riding a Rocky Mountain high in the bucolic city of Boulder, CO.

The National Native American Law Students Association's (NNALSA) annual moot court competition is being hosted by the University of Colorado this weekend. The U of A law school has fielded four teams to compete. Naturally, my blogging time has plummeted.

Earlier this morning, my partner and I squared off against a formidable team from the host school. My partner is a classmate from the U of A, and also a Dartmouth '06 who happens to share my law school class year, and home state. Oddly, we never knew each other while at Dartmouth, or while growing up in Oklahoma.

I am pleased to say that we did both Dartmouth and the University of Arizona proud in holding our own against a tough and gracious opponent from the host school. Though it remains to be seen whether we will advance to the next round of the competition, we felt we turned in a solid performance in oral argument this morning. The rules provide everyone the opportunity to argue twice. Participants for the second round are decided based upon a team's performance in both oral arguments, and how the team fared on the brief writing portion of the competition. Subsequent advancement in the competition is based solely upon a team's scoring total from oral argument.

For those interested, the problem presents a thorny issue of Indian Law, examining how a university's Native American tuition waiver policy would hold up if a state had a constitutional ban on racial preferences. The case is one of first impression - viz., no courts have heard the argument.

The problem can be accessed here.

Official rules can be found here.

Depending upon how we do, I may try to post our brief as well for those who care to read or give critiques. Of course, that will depend upon securing permission from my partner (which may or may not happen), and our exit from the competition (most likely the rules bar us from sharing the brief until after the competition anyway).

As always, stay tuned. More to come.

Update: Our team has advanced to the Sweet 16! We argue on Saturday morning at 9AM.

Update 2: Turns out, there was little need to update beyond my last post.  Our valiant duo fell to another team from Arizona in the Sweet 16. 

To my knowledge, ours was the only school that had two teams square off against one another after the first round.  Am I bitter?  Perhaps.  But what competitor revels in losing?  Although, there is something to be said for composure, and losing with grace.  In all, it was a terrific experience.  And I'm glad that our victorious opponents were friends.    

Obama's Deficit Doubletalk

President Obama is poised to deliver his first address to the Congress in a couple of hours.  Earlier today, the President sought to bolster is economic bona fides and promised to "slash the federal deficit" at a White House initiated "Fiscal Responsibility Summit." 

The promise, of course, comes on the heels of last week's $787 Billion dollar stimulus package, and its attendant fears of rising inflation.  

[Link]

Let us suppose that a persnickety realist was inclined to be skeptical about the President's commitment to lowering the deficit (and his commitment to fiscal responsibility for that matter).  You know, just hypothetically.  Among other things, such a dour fellow would surely have been in he dark since change was brought to America last Novemeber.  But, surely, it would be a comfort to know that Congressional Democrats are now patrolling America's fiscal beat. 

In fact, to prove this very point, and to demonstrate their steely resolve, the Dems in Congress flexed their to fiscally responsible muscles, and unleashed a $410 Billion omnibus bill that increases government spending by almost 10%.

Oops.

[Link]

Apparently, nothing says Democrats are serious about "slashing the deficit" quite like announcing another half trillion in new spending. 

Lolcat of the Week

To all my friends celebrating out Mardi Gras, this lolcat of the week is for you.


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Song of the Week: I'll Say I'm Sorry Now

The Pax Plena Song of the Week, unfortunately, has become as anachronistic around these parts as bipartisanship has become in Washington. But a song I heard last night at the end of a movie left me absolutely stunned - to the point of dropping my malaise. Consider the Song of the Week officially resurrected thanks to Shawn Colvin's I'll Say I'm Sorry Now.

Shawn Colvin is a new artist to yours truly. I would never have heard of her had I not seen the movie. While I am a bit embarrassed at seeing the movie that featured her song, her performance on the piece is riveting. Colvin's voice communicates a certain breezy, melancholy that is innate to the song. Her performance is genuine, and her voice sings in a manner that bespeaks a profound familiarity with the song's content. It is a difficult balance to pull off in any circumstance, but Colvin does so effortlessly.

As with most songs, I appreciate the song's realness. It presents life as an uncertain 'mystery mile', and talks about its inevitable disappointments ('I'm gonna let you down'). But the message of the song is that while the disappointments are inevitable, a simple apology can be used to preempt some of the pain. While the apology is no substitute for the harm, it is sufficient for both singer and listener to know that the apology was said.

In truth, I think this is a lot of what life is about. There are no guarantees. The best we can do is call situations 'like we see em,' press ahead, and offer plenty of apologies for the ineluctable mistakes that we will make. Somehow, Colvin takes these emotions, and makes them make sense.

Please enjoy the Pax Plena Song of the Week, I'll Say I'm Sorry Now.

I'll Say I'm Sorry Now
by Shawn Colvin

I'm gonna let you down
I know that now
Make you cry, I know I will
Why should you believe
I would never leave
Or that I love you still
For all the by and by
Hard as we try
The bough breaks and the cradle falls
For everything I do
That will tear at you
Let me say I'm sorry now
So you can sing your song
You can get it wrong
You can kiss the rock of ages
In your wildest dreams
You might see between
The liars and the sages
You can walk awhile
Down the mystery mile
You can beat the drums of freedom
And in love and war
Through the rush and roar
You just call 'em like you see 'em

Is This Cartoon Racist?

I suppose the story is old by now, but I am curious to get feedback if anyone is intrepid enough to weigh-in.  The New York Post cartoon below caused a firestorm of controversy earlier this week that brought out ailing scions of the Civil Rights movement. Al Sharpton and co. (no less) protested the cartoon outside the NY Post offices calling it a racial slight against the President.

For my own part, I fail to understand why the cartoon is racist on its face. The enthymeme of the cartoon (for those who don't get it) is that 'any dumb monkey could have written the stimulus plan - and here poor Travis the monkey was apparently pretty smart and we shot him.'

It is a stretch of logic to conclude that President Obama is a monkey, and should be shot. Obama didn't write the stimulus plan. Members of Congress wrote the plan, and key Congressional leader brokered the deal that assured it's passage.

[Link]

In a surprising article today, even the AP was forced to concede that political cartoonists have been reluctant to take the kid gloves off when it comes to caricaturing President Obama. Given the 'politically correct' reaction to a cartoon that had nothing to do with the President, it is little wonder.

The same article had remarks from a cartoonist named Mike Lester that pretty well sums up the hyper-sensitivity surrounding President Obama:

One of those conservative friends, Mike Lester of the Rome News Tribune in Georgia, said that when he was growing up, "if we didn't make fun of you, we didn't like you."

Perhaps race relations would improve, Lester said, if black people lightened up a bit: "They're not too good (at being) made fun of. We can all take a joke."

Lester said Rall told him before the election that an Obama presidency would be good for conservative cartoonists, but "it's been just the opposite. I find myself having to temper my comments. I'm tired of it. (Obama) wants my money, he wants me to pay for my neighbor's foreclosed house that he can't afford.

"Race has nothing to do with it."

[Link]

Bingo. There are a bevy of much better reasons to caricature the President than race. Cartoonists need to buck up and do their job.

The cartoon is reproduced below courtesy of the New York Post and the Associated Press.

The Trader Joe's Myth

I confess.

I have been to Trader Joe's before. It was on a lark. A friend passed along a gift card for the hippie enclave, and I compromised my values, and I went.

Confession No. 2: I went back.

Several times actually. At first it was to use up the gift card, but soon I came to appreciate their beef jerky (Teriyaki style please) a great deal. and I made many more trips to fulfill my addiction. The beef jerky lover in me simply could not resist the "no preservatives, no MSG, no artificial ingredients" minimally processed with no added hormone beef jerky. Though, when another friend tried to whet my appetite with a Trader Joe's Mochi Ice Cream the results were not nearly so stunning. Ho, ho.

I suppose, at the root of my sin, even the stalwart conservative in me could not help, but feeling a little hip as I perused the aisles of organic goodness. Looking back on it, I would imagine the experience is a lot like owning a Mac. I knew I would purchase an inferior product, but I would look so incredibly cool, and socially aware if I did!

Somewhere in heaven, Ronald Reagan surely shed a tear.

Today, however, as a penance for my transgressions, or perhaps as an indulgence since those are back in vogue ("Salvation too can be yours for the low, low price of [x]"), I noticed an article that will doubtless leave the many lemming, hippie followers of Trader Joe's a bit aghast.

Far from being a bastion of the small grocery chain done good in the market of over-priced health food, turns out, Trader Joe's is really just another multinational corporation - or it's owned by one anyway. And this one, isn't even American.

[Link]

I suppose there is justice in the world, after all. But from now on, I will tow the straight and narrow. I will forever buy my beef jerky in the form of Slim Jims from Walmart.

Now that's change we can believe in.

The Good and Bad of Oklahoma

For anyone who knows me (or even those who do not know me), it will come as no surprise that I have rather a strong affection for my home state.  But today, the news out of Oklahoma is a tale of good and bad. 

Stories like this make me miss home a great deal.

Stories like this I just don't get.

Stimulus?

The market disagrees.

[Link]

Troubled Government Initiatives Fix

While the by-line is a bit petulant, Christopher Buckley's latest column in the Daily Beast is actually quite funny.

Buckley's faux musings are the essay's crème de la crème:

Suppose that, by year’s end, this whale of a bill has demonstrably accomplished nothing other than to add $348 billion to the national debt? ($348 billion being the yearly interest alone of the stimulus package.) Suppose it hasn’t revitalized the US recreational-vehicle industry? Created 3.4 million jobs? Suppose—walk with me—that it turns out in fact to increase inflation sharply while doing little to reduce unemployment and only enlarge government permanently? Suppose, in so many words, it turns out to have been a catastrophe (to use the kind of language that President Obama used to inveigle on behalf of the bill), ill-advised and half-baked?

[Link]

Buckley then goes on to suggest capping the President's salary and removing certain perquisites of elected office as a means for implementing a performance clause. His solution is cleverly titled the "Troubled Government Initiatives Fix (TGIF)."

The idea is satire and more than a bit zany, but if Republicans were to introduce such a measure, it could frame their opposition to the stimulus pretty well...

Sex and Vegetables

Only a New York Times economist would explore the correlation.

(To wit, there is none).

There’s a logical gap between PETA’s evidence and its conclusions. Any student of statistics knows the perils of mislabeling correlation as causation. But that’s not the problem here, as PETA is simply claiming a correlation between vegetarianism and better sex. But even if X (being vegetarian) is positively correlated with Y (ingesting vitamins A, C, and E), and Y (more vitamins) causes Z (better sex), we still don’t have enough information to conclude that X (being vegetarian) is positively correlated with Z (better sex).

[Link]

There is nothing some people will not research.

Ronald Reagan Is Dead

Of course, my headline is stating the obvious to most Americans.  President Reagan passed away in the summer of 2004.  He lived a full life, and America was blessed as a result of his stewardship of the Nation.  Years later, even my friends on the left have to concede that defeating Communism was a good thing.

(As an aside, Communism's resurrection during the nascent Obama Administration would surely cause the Gipper to rollover in his grave. So, maybe the left wouldn't concede that Communism's defeat was a good thing.)

That said, why, for the love of Nancy can Republicans not understand that Ronald Reagan is dead?  The House and Senate are debating multi-billion dollar spending bills, stocks tumble when Government even hints at intervention.  What do Republicans do?

We fete Newt Gingrich's new movie about Ronald Reagan.

[Link]

Deifying a great man will not solve the problems facing our Nation today. Most college students today cannot even remember hearing the former President speak, let alone be familiar with his policies. The GOP desperately needs fresh ideas for contemporary problems. We cannot stand idle and laud the good old days back when Reagan was President, and change was more than a trite slogan. Both points are no longer true.

For those interested in actual solutions, the New Majority blog features a bevy of reform-minded Republicans- including former speech writer David Frum.  Their latest post about the idea drain in the GOP is on point, and well-reasoned.

For those interested in mocking the GOP's fixation with our40th President, the post here from deep inside the Pax Plena archives will serve you well.

SNL on Michael Phelps

I have never been one to condone he use of illicit substances.

(Although some of my libertarian-leaning friends at Dartmouth have argued with vigor the opposite; those were the days...).

That said, SNL's skit on the Michael Phelps drug use story was really too funny not to post.

Best line of the video:

"Parents, if your kid says 'Michael Phelps smokes pot, why can't I?' say 'you can, right after you win twelve gold medals for your country.'"

The video segment appears below courtesy of Hulu.com

HT: Volokh.

Lolcat of the Week

Strangely, the Lolcat of the week below, aptly sums up the plot of Gran Torino.

Enjoy!


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New Tone in Foreign Affairs?

CNN ran two telling articles in succession that highlight well the incongruity of President Obama's announced foreign policy.

The first headline reads:

Biden promises 'new tone' in U.S. foreign affairs

[Link]

The second headline reads:

Reports: Kidnapped Polish engineer executed in Pakistan

[Link]

President Obama means well, but it is naive to think that a 'new tone' will dissuade terrorists from killing innocent people. Killing innocent people is what terrorists do.

Naive or wise, I suppose 'new tone' is America's foreign policy. Let's just hope the President's new tone in foreign affairs is better than the new tone he has been setting in Washington.

Film Recommendation: Gran Torino

It is rare that Pax Plena offers a movie endorsement. In fact, it may even be unprecedented. But...

Go see this movie! You will thank yourself later.

The Gran Torino trailer is below. Enjoy!

Obama's Economic Pitch Less Than Stimulating

Regarding President Obama's stimulus plan, yesterday Salon Magazine ran the ignominious headline below:

Is President Obama losing the stimulus battle? | Salon

[Link]

Today, the consensus reply in one word is, yes.

Meet the 'Um, Uh' New White House Press Secretary

He's been on the job a drop over two weeks, and already White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs has drawn attention away from Team Obama's latest tax scandal- er, message. The Politico's Shenanigans blog posts the YouTube video below as proof.

The clip is an unfortunate collection of Gibbs "um's" and "uh's" in the latest White House presser. To persuasive communication, and moot court students everywhere, the lesson is clear. You too can be utterly inarticulate, say both "um" and "uh", and still become the White House Press Secretary.

Of course, this lesson is ancillary to the other lesson from the Obama Administration: you too can work for a failed investment bank, fail to pay your taxes, and still become the Treasury Secretary and head of the IRS.

Who says conservative humor is dead? By my reckoning, the heyday of conservative humor is finally here.

Photo courtesy of Bonney Kapp.

The Irony of Daschle's Tax Problems

The news is a bit cold on the wires now. But I am sure that it will only be a matter of hours before jokes surrounding Tom Daschle's tax problems, and his subsequent withdrawal from HHS consideration, begin to make their way around the interweb. After all, it is far to easy to gibe the former Senator for being a limousine liberal. Ho, ho.

Naturally, better- though hopefully less interesting- postmortems will be done in other venues. But the video below, posted originally by the New York Times, deliciously underscores the irony of Tom Daschle's tax problems: even while Mr. Daschle failed to claim the benefit of a limo and driver on his income tax returns, in his inaugural run for Senate, he loudly extolled the virtues of driving himself to work.

Hypocrisy? You decide. The video appears below. Enjoy!

Re-Election on His Mind

For a politician who pronounced the end of politics as usual, President Obama's motivation for passing the stimulus bill is a lot closer to the political considerations he declared dead, rather than the a-political interest he lauded.

Politico explains:

“If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.”

In acknowledging that his political fortune hinges on the state of the economy, Obama urged the country to be patient in waiting for the stimulus to take effect.

[Link]

I suppose that I will give the President kudos for moxie. Barely two weeks into his first term, the President has so far appointed one tax-evader to run the Department of Treasury, another to run the Department of Health & Human Services, and rather than focusing on the interests of the American people amid the economic crisis he is manifestly concerned with his prospects for re-election.