Madame Secretary

It's official: Hillary will be announced tomorrow as the next Secretary of State.  Even more remarkable than Obama bringing on his former rival in such a prominent role, I'd say, is that fact that Obama got Big Dog Bill Clinton to disclose so many donors to his foundations.   

It's clear who's in charge now.

Quote for the Moment

To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society. I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me. But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars. The rays that come from those heavenly worlds, will separate between him and what he touches. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence of the sublime. Seen in the streets of cities, how great they are! If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown! But every night come out these envoys of beauty, and light the universe with their admonishing smile.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nature"

Tough One

90-78, bad guys.  Team looked much, much better than yesterday, but the wheels fell off with about 8 minutes to go in the game.  We're a young team that just had a great learning experience--not a victory (moral or tangible), but we gained the knowledge that we can play with one of the best teams in the country.

Wal-Mart Worker Killed in Black Friday Stampede

Via diarist trifecta at Kos, a tragic, tragic story.

Sports-Industrial Complex

After reading this Jason Whitlock article someone posted on HoyaTalk about ESPN's role in propagating the BCS-Centrism of college football, I turned on SportsCenter, where the 11 am show's anchors Stan Varrett and Josh Elliott "argued" for about 10 minutes about a playoff.  And by "argued," I mean that Elliott came up with a hypothetical playoff system, and Varrett offered stale, falsely equivalent rejoinders supporting the BCS.  The two anchors functioned as metaphors for what I imagine will be the coming debate in college football, particularly if Texas-- 11-1 and victorious over Oklahoma-- gets leapfrogged for the national championship game by Oklahoma.  

On one side, there will be President Barack Obama and, well, most sports fans who understand that playoffs are both a fair and exciting way to determine the best team in a league.  On the other side, there will be ESPN, the Sports-Industrial Complex, who recently purchased the rights to broadcast BCS games.  They need a return on that $500M investment, and if there's no BCS, well, that's just not going to cut it.  Having largely erased the pretense of journalism, I imagine they will use their new and opinion programming to wage a battle against implementing a playoff.  I'll be interested to see if Gregg Easterbrook writes about this in next week's TMQ (as he hinted this past week), but I imagine that he'd come to a similar conclusion.

As always, follow the money.

3-0

A truly ugly win yesterday over the Wichita State Wheatshockers, but it gets the team one closer to 20 wins (the very rough rule of thumb for NCAA tournament credentials), and it gets the team a chance to face off against Tennessee.  

Despite a quiet second half, Greg Monroe still looks like the real deal.   If we start making a few three-pointers, we're going to be dangerous on offense.  We could go for a few more rebounds on both sides of the ball, but hey--third game of the year, hard to expect too much. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Happy Thanksgiving to all of Capitol Hilltop's readers.  It was a busy week of finishing the memo, traveling up to New York, and enjoying Thanksgiving, but now that I'm parked in front of the laptop outlining, blogging should pick back up.

An utterly depressing way to wake up

Paul Krugman nearly sent me back under the covers with today's column.

Attorney General Mukasey Collapsed

Not sure how many folks are reading here, but this just posted at Above the Law.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey has collapsed at a Federalist Society dinner.  Developing story.  Keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Gmail Themes

Continuing the takeover.  Yet for some reason, I can't get enough.   

Right now, I'm going with "Mountains," which looks a lot like the Flatirons around Boulder, CO.  

Marc Fisher on Housing First

An interesting look at the impact of the Housing First movement in DC from Marc Fisher in Thursday's Post.

However, it bears a startling resemblance to Malcolm Gladwell's article from The New Yorker two and a half years years ago, "Million-Dollar Murray."  Not just the topic, which is understandable (the news embraces trickle-down stories, albeit usually somewhat faster than two and a half years).  Rather, Fisher cut out Gladwell's Murray, and pasted in Darian and Catherine.  It doesn't make it a less compelling story; it just makes it seem like a rip-off.

Ron Suskind on Change

That's writing.

Forgotten, but not yet gone

2 months ago, it took weeks to turn the electricity back on in Houston after Hurricane Ike made landfall.   However, 2 months later, many are still reeling in the aftermath of the storm.   

Another tragic example of an administration unable to take care of its own citizens, particularly those in the most need after natural disasters.  But yeah, let's keep shelling out billions for executives who create disasters.  

Observation

UPenn's Quaker mascot looks somewhat militant.

I, Too

"I, Too"

-Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the ktichen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

Besides,

They'll see how beautiful I am

And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

Hughes, Langston.  Vintage Hughes.  (New York: Vintage Books, 2004), 12.

Weird, Wild Stuff

For the first time in my memory, there is a college basketball game being played on a weekday morning.  It's a part of ESPN's college basketball kick-off marathon.

1-0

71-62, good guys. I may be giving up the predictions business after missing the final score by 2 Jacksonville points (again, late credit to Frank), and by predicting Greg Monroe's debut within one point and one rebound (14-7).  

Quick thoughts:

-Monroe is the truth.  Scoring, rebounding, shot-blocking, passing, and running the floor: what more can you ask for from a center, regardless of age?  What a great player.

-Both teams struggled with outside shooting--the AP article raises a good point about adjustments to the new 3 point line.

-Hoya defense looked tough, as usual.  More steals than I remember last year, balanced by a few more unguarded looks underneath for Jacksonville. 

-Unlike previous years, it seems like it's going to be a few games until the rotation is set.  Sapp, Wright, Monroe, Summers, and Freeman seems like it will be the starting 5, but after that, it's anyone's guess.  Julian Vaughn came in early off the bench, as did Omar Wattad.  Henry Sims saw very little action in the first game, and Jason Clark didn't come in for a while, but he got a lot of time in the 2nd half.

-Crowd was good.  Large student sections on both sides, and a good number of alums/non-student fans, as well, particularly considering a Monday night game. 

All and all, good stuff.  Looking forward to Drexel on Saturday.

Hey Georgetown: How Long Has it Been?

It's been so long...

Season opener tonight! Jessie Sapp leads the Georgetown Hoyas against the Jacksonville Dolphins at the Verizon Center.

Prediction: Georgetown 71, Jacksonville 60.  Greg Monroe with a solid 13 points and 8 rebounds in his much-awaited debut.

UPDATE: After reading Frank's prediction, I then went and made this prediction (for the score).  His excellent intuition must have so completely brainwashed me that I forgot to show him some love.  Go, Frank!

No mention of leaf-peeping

Now the weekly radio address has become the weekly multimedia address.  I like it:

A Pacific Relative of the Garbage Plate?

The New York Times has a look at a favorite Hawaiian dish of Barack Obama's: the plate lunch.  From the name (plate lunch v. garbage plate or plate) to the composition (macaroni salad and rice topped with meat v. macaroni salad and home fries topped with meat) to the look (a mushy mess v. a mushy mess), it seems like there's a lot in common with Rochester's own garbage plate.

That is awesome, and obviously this is going to trigger greater research on my part.  

H/T Washingtonian Best Bites Blog, which also mentions that Barack Obama doesn't like beets, and that Rick Bayless could become the White House Chef.  

This Week in Postmodernism

Via Ta-Nehisi Coates, I present you this absurd clip from Fox:

To be sure, it's delightful to see a Fox News anchor dice some chump regarding non-existent liberal media bias.  But there are two things going on here that elevate this from the "cable news smackdown" genre to the "postmodern/absurdist performance genre."

First, there's the fact that a Fox News anchor is explaining how there was no media bias, period, and no media bias in favor of Barack Obama during the election, with no sense of irony.  The level of contortionism required to pull off that move is stunning, and best accomplished only when engaging in your own subjective reality.  

Second, it's the setting.  As one reader mentioned: "that roundtable looks like the crew from the snickers 'FEAST' advertisement."  There's really nothing that can add to that description. The setting brings it from the sublime to the absurd.  

Two days later, I'm still laughing.

Update: I think it's the the "comedian" asking "why?" in this meek, "I honestly have no clue what I'm talking about voice" that puts me over the edge.

John McCain: a Cabinet Position?

Abe Simpson will be meeting with "That One" on Monday.  Perhaps I made the right West Wing comparison to the wrong situation...

H/T TPM

Hillary Clinton: Secretary of State?

That's the buzz this morning.  According to my sources, we can confirm that Sen. Clinton has been in Chicago recently, too.  

Thoughts about this appointment:

1) I think it would a strong move, but not necessarily as radical as the press is making/would make it out to be.  Team of Rivals, potentially--but remember, Lincoln had a Team of Rivals during the Civil War, and their differences were much greater at a much more divisive time.  (Also, it's important to note that the Republican Party was roughly 10 years old in the 1860s, so there just weren't that many top-flight Republicans to choose from who hadn't run for president.)   Remember back to the primaries: Obama and Clinton weren't far apart on most issues.  These would be two former (and potentially future) political rivals, but not philosophical rivals, by and large.

2) Baseless speculation: wouldn't Clinton be good at Defense? Think about it: she's been on Armed Services, she's certainly hawkish enough to pass muster with the conservative military establishment, and she has observed a commander-in-chief's decision-making from one of the closest distances possible.  To boot, it's another glass ceiling to break, ending the streak of white men in charge of the Pentagon.

3) This continues the Obama administration's parallels of the West Wing, where the new president chooses his top political rival to head the State Department. (Learn about the specific parallels--but have the end of the show spoiled--here)

Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground

A transcendent work by Blind Willie Johnson:

AIDS Cure?

Ezra Klein blogged about this earlier.  It's just one case, and it's apparently widely impractical, but this is infinitely better than the alternative.

Can any scientist-readers out there (cough cough *Dad* cough cough) shed some light on why the particulars of this case (creating replicas of gene mutations that are resistant to HIV/AIDS) aren't receiving more coverage? Or is this very much on the cutting edge?

Joe Biden goes rogue

How else do you explain this picture? 

H/T TPM.

First "Exam" Tomorrow

1:30-2:30 pm, Room TBD, completely open note, 20 questions, multiple choice for Practice (Research and Writing).  Took a bunch of practice exams--they aren't too bad, but who knows?

No Property tomorrow either, so I think I'm going to pull a Barack Obama and shoot some hoops before game time.  Worked okay for him...

To Fulfill These Rights

This week's topic in Legal Justice Seminar is Critical Race Theory, a fascinating field that I feel like I brushed up against during my work at Georgetown, but never quite got there.

Anyway, during my reflection and discussion of the readings, I thought of Lyndon Johnson's quote about affirmative action: 

You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say, "you are free to compete with all the others," and still justly believe that you have been completely fair.

Then, I remembered that it was part of a larger speech about equal opportunity and racial equality given at the Howard University Class of 1965's commencement.  Check out Taylor Branch's At Canaan's Edge for a great treatment of the machinations that led to the speech, but definitely check out the full text of the LBJ speech, titled "To Fulfill These Rights," here.

Always an important topic to consider, but particularly timely, given the premature talk of "post-racialism" after Obama's election.  Just how far have we come since 1965? Looking at some of the statistics LBJ cites, it appears that progress has been uneven.

By no means is that meant to diminish Obama's accomplishments; rather, understanding the continued struggle for equal opportunity and equal access among people of color today gives it a much more meaningful context than the initial, utopian treatment many media outlets have tended toward.

The work continues.

Admissions Hypothetical

Matt Yglesias poses an interesting hypothetical regarding class-based affirmative action in college admission:

Kid number one grew up in the suburbs of Albuquerque, New Mexico. His dad was a charismatic college football star at Texas Tech but not good enough to play in the pros and eventually made millions of dollars as one of the most successful fast food franchisers in the Southwest. Mom is dad’s high school sweetheart who was a couple of years younger and stopped going to community college soon after she and dad got married.

Kid number two grew up in the suburbs of Boston. Dad’s a professor at, and graduate of, the Berklee College of Music and mom did her undegrad at Columbia and her PhD work at Harvard and now she’s on the faculty at Boston University.

My brief stint on one of the admissions committees at Georgetown as a student reader involved a high level of selection bias: applications sent to committee were strong enough to not be automatically deferred or declined by the regional admissions officer, and most of them, even those that didn't get in, were right on the border of acceptance.  That said, I still practiced, and witnessed, many of the inner calculations of college admissions-- not what gets discussed in think tanks, but what actually happens.

Yglesias's uses his hypothetical to illuminate differences in conceptions of class (wealth v. privilege, essentially), but the reality is, those aren't the only considerations that go into building a student body, at least at school like Georgetown.   Kid 1 and Kid 2 don't have genders, for example, and depending on the program, that can be a plus factor for an applicant.  Kid 1 comes from New Mexico, a low-enrollment state (plus factor).  Kid 2 comes from Boston, a high-enrollment area of a high-enrollment state.  And, as Yglesias points out, Kid 1 may come from more wealth, but Kid 2 comes from a background of higher education.   On the Georgetown application, Kid 1's parents would check off "some college " and "college degree," while Kid 2's parents would check out post-graduate degrees.  

Moreover--and I assume it's implied--this assumes that their applications are essentially equal.  If Kid 2 has a 1500 SAT (Georgetown still doesn't take the writing), top 1% of class, 8 APs, and captain of the X-C team, all while writing engaging essays and expressing a clear interest in Georgetown, and if Kid 1 has a 1350, top 10%, 4 APs, a modest extra-curricular resume, and cookie-cutter, pre-fab essays, the choice is going to be clear even while considering the backgrounds of the applicants.  Kid 1's profile may have more +s in it, but it's not going to put him/her over the top.   Same the other way around.

In sum, it's a holistic approach; admissions officers don't read the stats, resumes, and essays of applicants, then tie-break based on race/gender/socioeconomic factors.  But a strong application is a strong application, whether from Kid 1 or from Kid 2.

In which I channel the power of the earth to my writing by slapping the ground

In the somewhat likely chance that a graduate of a school with a rival basketball program reviews one of my applications at one point, I will do my best to refrain from singling out any one program or school by name for criticism.  I'll try to limit my exposure to my political views, which, depending on the level of fandom of a hiring partner, may not be the most controversial thing I could say.  

But, in the hypothetical sense: if I were in charge of a perennial contender for the national championship, would home games against small, newly-minted D-I schools be the best preparation for my squad?  Or would I be better served by scheduling scrimmages against fellow top-conference opponents? 

Hypothetically.

You betcha.

“I’m like, ‘O.K., God, if there is an open door for me somewhere’ — this is what I always pray — I’m like, ‘Don’t let me miss the open door,’ ” [Sarah Palin] told Ms. Van Susteren.

And don't let it hit you on the way out, Governor.

Pillsbury Doughboy: Not Allowed within 1000 feet of school

Why, you ask?

Growing bans (at least in CA) on bake sales.   No word on whether the Pentagon will impose a similar ban, thus dashing the hopes of bumper-sticker purveyors.  

This seems like a well-intentioned rule horribly misapplied.  Then again, back in my elementary school days, a hepatitis outbreak at the bakery at BJ's, a local version of Sam's Club, caused bake sales to go on hiatus, the irony being that only store-bought goods were thereafter allowed to be sold, and only store-bought goods had caused hepatitis.  So, I guess there's a precedent for learning the wrong lessons when it comes to bake sales.

Spreading the Wealth, and the Chili

Courtesy of Jill, Bill Cosby's got company on Ben's Chili Bowl's list of those who dine for free: the Obama family.

What I would give to have a meal at Ben's with the Obama family.  Especially considering that, by all accounts, Obama doesn't like junk food.  More chili cheese fries for me.

Food, in Perspective

I've written about food a bit on this blog, and I imagine I will continue to do so in the future.  Over the summer, cooking evolved into a pastime of mine, and even amid 1L, I've made time to cook myself (and Jill, too) dinner just about every weeknight.  Some meals aren't so hot (see: botched chicken and biscuits attempt), some weeks are much better (see: last night's smashed roasted potatoes with cheddar and roasted garlic), but it's about the process as much as the product--how lawyerly.  

Of course, between my celebrations of oyster stew and applewood-smoked bacon, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that I am incredibly fortunate to both have access to fresh groceries and means to afford a relatively healthy and varied diet.  When the priority is chicken thighs over chicken breasts to save a few bucks, rather than chicken or Chicken Ramen or nothing at all, I remind myself that life is dealing me a winning hand.   Even just dedicating an hour to prepare, cook, eat, and clean up after a home-cooked meal is a luxury that far too few can enjoy for various reasons.  

Needless to say, this article in the New York Times put my growing foodie habit in perspective. 

I had seen articles covering shortages at food banks earlier this year, but they had focused around the impact that improved efficiency in grocery store ordering had on donations to food banks/Second Harvest-type organization (this one touches on it, as well).  The back end, in other words--which, given my past work experience, remains interesting to me.  This article also captures the experience from the front end, causing me to think about the fortune that has allowed me to view new interests.

***

To give credit where it is due, the Bush administration's shift in policy to have the government provide more fruits and vegetables to food banks is admirable.  Low-income areas (particularly urban ones) often face a dearth of grocery stores offering fresh produce.  Hopefully, this shift can be expanded upon in the next administration, perhaps under the new auspices of the White House Office of Urban Policy.

Sign Me Up

Here's some change we can believe in: the Obama White House will include a new Office of Urban Policy.  Imagine that! A president that recognizes that issues facing American cities don't all fall neatly into one HUD-shaped box, that education, nutrition, health care, transportation, and yes, housing (among others) all pose particular challenges in our urban areas.  

I wonder if they need legal interns...

H/T Matt Yglesias

Outlining

It's about that time for law students, partcularly 1Ls, to synthesize everything they've read, heard in lecture, and discussed in class into the Grand Unifying Document™, also known as an outline.  There's a lot of advice on how to outline, what an outline should look like, even how many outlines to make for each class, but the one advice that isn't emphasized enough is to trust in one's own study habits.  

In many ways, this makes a lot of sense.  1L, everyone says, is about teaching a method of thinking as much as it is about teaching black-letter law.  And I've certainly noticed that; whether reflecting on my day "on call" for one of my classes last week or reviewing my notes, I can see my mind working at once more efficiently to highlight the pertinent details of a case or an article and also more expansively, trying (to varying degrees of success) to test hypothetical situations where a rule, or a theory, may apply.  

But exams are exams are exams.  Law school exams may be a really long exercise in problem-solving, but it's not like the answers can be pulled out of thin air--they have to reference the topics covered in the class.  I may take more practice exams or highlight my notes more than I have in past years, but I don't have to re-invent the wheel when it comes to preparation.  Moreover, I imagine most law students are the same way, but at some point during the first year, they question, or lose, their confidence in themselves and their ability to take a test.  I guess the cottage industry of how-to books, commercial outlines, and sundry other study aids would suffer if law schools reminded students of their basic test-taking abilities,  but I imagine that students' stress levels would improve dramatically.

Spontaneous Applause

Recent episodes of Spontaneous Applause in Section 3:

-November 5, for the Section 3 coordinator of Hoya Law for Change.

-November 10, for the mention of the election of Barack Obama by our Legal Justice professor.

Contemplation under Construction

This sounds like a fantastic facility--here's hoping it gets off the ground.

Victory Playlist

Courtesy of Sauw Space.

Hope

Hope.

The weather's growing colder in Washington, particularly when the sun goes down.  The early evening crowds haven't gotten smaller next door at CCNV, the nation's largest homeless shelter.  Judiciary Square, Chinatown, Penn Quarter, Union Station: not just Metro stops.  Landmarks for men and women to lie down for the night and escape the traumas and indignities of everyday life, if only for a few hours.  

Hope in the face of difficulty.

It's time to buckle down.  When a data drop at change.gov looks like it may be a way out.  When countless are searching daily for a way to get back to work, and countless more are stuck working 1, 2, 3 jobs they can't stand just to pay the bills, wondering if it's too late to live the life they've imagined.

Hope in the face of uncertainty.   

Wishing that Levi's jeans, and not torture, would be the symbol of America again.  Looking for our servicemen and women to save American cities, rather than sweat it out half a world away.  Praying that West Virginia doesn't develop a coastline.

The audacity of hope!

Hope alone hasn't put roofs over the heads of the men and women who sleep outside a few blocks from my apartment.  Hope alone doesn't pay you on the 15th and the 30th and provide you with benefits.  Hope alone doesn't close Guantanamo Bay.  

But hope can inspire women 9/10s of a century old to come to the polls on in a bleak November rain.  Hope can bring tears of joy to even the most cynical voters.  And about a week ago, hope emerged after millions upon millions talked to their neighbors, drove them to the polls, and cast their votes.

A belief in things not seen.  A belief that there are better days ahead.

We know not what the future will hold.  But for the first time in a long time, things not seen don't seem quite so scary.  And for the first time in a long time, better days are ahead of us.

Back!

I stop blogging for 10 days, and look what happens:

More thoughts in a while.