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Miscellaneous

Begging the Question

Two anonymous lawyers discuss law, politics and pop culture (in a manner reminiscent of the Foreign Service Board cheating scene in the classic 1985 Cold War spoof "Spies Like Us").
By "Milbarge" and "Fitz-Hume"

Post Frequency: 1.9/day

Last Entry: March 19, 2010 at 00:00:01

Don't get me started, part 1

Posted on July 07, 2009
It must have been fun to live in the 1930s, when everyone had a brand-new car, no matter their occupation or social station. At least, that's what you would be led to believe watching period films, like The Untouchables or, apparently, the new Public Enemies...

All-Request: iPod Top 20

Posted on June 28, 2009
So, I'm back from "hiking the Appalachian Trail," or wherever I've been, and I'm going to start catching up on some questions and suggestions from my recent All-Request post. First, in response to commenter Cheech's request, the current top 20 songs on my iPod...

Let's play Guess the Gaffe!

Posted on June 19, 2009
So the gays (and the gay-friendly) are upset with the Obama administration for failing to deliver on campaign promises to be a "fierce advocate" for gay rights. And, I'd say, with good reason -- Obama has not just failed to deliver, but in some cases been outright hostile...

Open Thread/All-Request

Posted on June 12, 2009
I'm still around. No, I didn't quit blogging, I didn't get outed, and I'm not escorting the Uighers to Palau. I've just been too busy to write down a few thoughts that are knockin' around my noggin. I'll be back soon, but for now, consider this an open thread/all-request post...

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I do not think that word means what you think it means

Posted on June 02, 2009
For some reason, I've always been annoyed by people who say "decimate" when they actually mean something closer to "annihilate." Sure, I've misappropriated words a few times, but this particular bit just annoys me. So it was funny when I saw a cartoon in The New Yorker which featured two viking-looking guys chatting to each other...

Judge Sotomayor on Sentencing

Posted on May 28, 2009
Prof. Berman has been blogging a bit about Judge Sonia Sotomayor's work on sentencing matters. It's no secret that sentencing law is in quite a state of flux, so any new blood could further shake things up. Plus, as Kevin Russell notes at SCOTUSBLog, many of the Booker line of cases have been 5-4 decisions, with Justice Souter in the majority...

Obama on Burma

Posted on May 27, 2009
I was very pleased to see the news that President Obama has called on the military junta currently controlling Burma to release the political prisoner and the elected leader of that nation, Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest. Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is on trial now, facing even harsher punishment...

Step 1: Read This. Step 2: ? Step 3: Profit!

Posted on May 26, 2009
I was in an elevator the other day and noticed the instructions for firemen to operate the thing with their special keys. Isn't that something they tell you when they give you the key? Are all elevators unique? Anyway, it got me thinking about unnecessary instructions...

I was born, lucky me, in a land that I love/Though I'm poor, I am free

Posted on May 20, 2009
I was catching up on my survivalist calendar, and discovered belatedly that Monday was Victoria Day in Canada. That has no significance to me, but it does give me a chance to post this quirky video of The Fall covering the song "Victoria" by The Kinks.

Compare and Contrast

Posted on May 15, 2009
When Terrance Graham was sixteen years old, he was charged with armed burglary and assault and battery arising out of a restaurant robbery where an accomplice hit a victim with a pipe. He was sent to a juvenile detention facility for a year and given a probation term after that...

Getting an early start on next year's Pulitzer race

Posted on May 07, 2009
The website for the St. Petersburg Times -- make that the two-Pulitzers-winning St. Pete Times -- has an interesting new addition. It's a prominent link to a site called Tampa Bay Mug Shots. It's pretty much what it says -- a site providing mugshots for local arrestees...

Book Review: Mysteries of the Middle Ages

Posted on May 05, 2009
Fresh off of taking 3 years to finish my previous book, I managed to get through this last one in about a month. Part of that is me spending more time reading. Most of it is going from a 1000 page small print biography to a 300 page large print book with lots of pictures and side notes...

Problem Solved

Posted on May 05, 2009
Alternative Post Title: Procrastination is always the right answerQuiet Sun May Trigger Global CoolingI encourage everyone to trade in their hybrids for large SUVs and construction grade pickup trucks. We also need an immediate ban on all wind and solar energy plants...

A Tribute

Posted on April 30, 2009

Where the elite meet to tweet

Posted on April 29, 2009
So I created a Twitter account not long ago. I wasn't exactly jumping on the bandwagon, more like walking alongside for a bit to see what it was all about.And I don't get it. It just never occurs to me to let people know what I'm up to every minute, probably because I can't imagine they're interested...

...he said

Posted on April 20, 2009
I've been listening to a couple of audio books lately. Does anyone else, after listening to one for a while, find yourself thinking in audio book? Narrating one's own life? Kind of like this:I'm so awesome it's pretty hard for me to annoy myself, but this eventually does it.

Conservatives are from Mars, Liberals are from Venus

Posted on April 15, 2009
Prof. Kerr had a post at the Volokh blog the other day I took some issue with. It refers back to this earlier post, so you may wish to start there. The posts are about an immigration case, but more broadly about approaches to the law.In short, there's this alien from Haiti who is facing deportation...

Legislating Prosecutorial Discretion

Posted on April 14, 2009
Prof. Berman links to a story about a legislative initiative in Vermont that would exclude teens who send explicit pictures of themselves over their cell phones ("sexting") from the child porn laws. Interestingly, prosecutors support the measure. But why is that necessary? If prosecutors don't think a teenager should be charged for this kind of thing...

Random Thought of the Day

Posted on April 04, 2009
If pop culture images today like this:are responsible for eating disorders among women, then were paintings like this:responsible for an obesity epidemic in the 1600s?

Riddle me this...

Posted on April 02, 2009
Just so I can get this straight, let's clarify. When Attorney General Eric Holder disagrees with OLC's opinion that the DC voting rights bill is unconstitutional, and instead adopts the same position as noted liberals Ken Starr and Viet Dinh that the bill is constitutional, that makes him a "craven political hack...

Under new management

Posted on April 01, 2009
Hola, the three readers Milbarge and I have in common. To everyone else, aloha.As you may have noticed, there's been a precipitous drop in postage here at BTQ. I'm not really sure where everyone else went (Fitz-Hume, the Ace Tomato dude, Nataliya....

I think I need to lie down...

Posted on March 28, 2009
This post from Jay Nordlinger at The Corner has vexed me. Nordlinger asserts that President Reagan was not a napper: "And Reagan, as it happened, never napped -- never, ever napped. Nothing wrong with napping. He just never did it. But there was this myth that he did...

Do my job for me

Posted on March 24, 2009
I had a few ideas for little posts -- this commercial is dumb, the Supreme Court denied cert in that case I blogged about six months ago, this news story is strange -- but just haven't gotten motivated to post them. And if I don't even find them interesting enough to pass along, I'm pretty sure you won't care about reading the posts...

I do not think it means what you think it means.

Posted on March 17, 2009
Milbarge named this blog after a turn of phrase which annoyed him. There is a phrase that has always bugged me, but it is popping up more frequently as of late and so my annoyance level has spiraled upwards. Anytime someone talks about the taxpayers being asked to foot the bill for a bailout, my immediate reaction is always "No one is asking...

But I'm great at karaoke!

Posted on March 12, 2009
E. McPan had a post the other day about coming up with brilliant ideas, only to discover that someone beat you to the punch. Mine aren't as interesting or creative as hers, but this sort of thing happens to me all the time, too. Recently, for example, I was shuffling through my iPod, and landed on Dwight Yoakam's version of Johnny Cash's "Understand Your Man...

Winning the hearts and minds

Posted on March 12, 2009
Around the first of the year, in an impulsive moment, I bought a page-a-day calendar of survival lessons taken from some U.S. Army handbook. I was expecting cool stuff like making a compass from a shoestring and starting a fire with bubble gum. Instead, so far it's mostly been a letdown...

Obama's Foreign Policy Revealed

Posted on March 09, 2009
I've finally figured out what Obama's foreign policy strategy is, and it's brilliant.Step 1: Open talks with all of the country's adversaries.Step 2: Offend them with really insulting, poorly interpreted tacky gestures.Step 3: ??Step 4: Profit!

Santelli Lane

Posted on March 04, 2009

Please don't send me your resume

Posted on February 20, 2009
I've been thinking a lot recently about the tremendous ongoing upheaval in the legal job market. Above the Law has been chronicling the carnage, and Prof. Adler at Volokh linked to an interesting piece about what might be coming down the road. None of it is pretty...

New School

Posted on February 19, 2009
This is the kind of story that makes Feddie's bow tie spin and steam pour out his ears. A transgender college student identifies as male; joins a sorority. Spoiler: thing don't end well.

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