Texas Justice

A Texas man has been cleared of any wrong-doing for the shooting death of his wife's lover.

Don't get me wrong, he pulled the trigger. Everyone knew that.

When he caught his wife with another man, his wife (ever the witty one) told him that the man was raping her, and he promptly shot him 4 times.

The wife is facing manslaughter charges for inciting the killing.

The story is classic, and here is a link.

Here is another take on the shooting.

What's your take?

Now that's a hypo that your Crim Pro I professor never threw your way huh?

Stay Tuned...

Law School Confidence -

This is an article from Law School Academic Support Blog:

Law school can be a place where confidence goes to die. A student comes into law school believing she can excel and finds herself struggling near the bottom of the class, not entirely certain what went wrong. The effort was there; the time and energy were there; but the good grades were inexplicably out of reach. After a couple of semesters, all she knows to do is to tough it out. So she slogs on towards graduation, reminded every January and June that she is not what thought she was.

Ask her how she's doing, and she may pretend not to care about the disappointments. Get her to be honest, and she'll just shrug because she is discouraged and has lost faith in herself.

Even so, like most law students, she will hang in and graduate; and, like most law students, she'll maintain through it all a genuine desire to be a good lawyer, whatever her grades and whatever her rank.

And here's the great thing: she will indeed be a good lawyer, even an excellent lawyer. But she doesn't know that now. She knows about GPA's and class ranks and lucrative offers to the top ten percent.

Eventually, she will learn that preparation wins the day in the real world of practice, not GPA's. She will find that not all great lawyers were great law students. It will dawn on her one day that, as a matter of simple mathematics, 90% of the lawyers out there did not graduate in the top 10% of the class.

Of course, she can't see any of that now. All she sees is the closed-in world of law school, the immediacy of another set of exams. That isn't all bad, I suppose; she needs to focus on the task at hand. But it couldn't hurt if we took a minute to help her see down the road a little, just so she knows that she still has every reason to be confident.

Its that time of year again. Gather everything you've managed to collect this semester. Those sporatic notes taken between IM's and news articles. The three briefs you put together for the cases you read in January before classes started. Every commercial outline you can get your hands on.

Time to lock ourselvs away for a month and see if we can't survive to do it all again in the fall.

Good Luck!

Stay Tuned...

March Memphis Madness

Its exciting to see the Tigers run to the Elite 8 again this year.

The game with Texas A&M was epic. I mean, from tip to buzzer it was one of the quickest, most athletic, and exciting games I've seen in years.

Who'd have thought that Acie Law IV - media darling - would miss a layup in the final minute.

Who'd have thought the Tigers could go to Texas and win a game against a team that essentially had its home court advantage.

30,000 fans, and 24,000 of them seemed to be A&M fans.

It is only 2.5 hours from College Station to San Antonio.

Its a shame UT lost.

I know you're thinking that seems like an absurd thing for me to say.

I was rooting or Ohio St.

For two very valid reasons. Plus one that isn't.

(1) My bracket has Ohio St. losing to Memphis Saturday.

(2) Ohio St. is a better matchup for Memphis.

(3) I hate UT.

But, it would have been something special to see UT/Memphis with the winner advancing to the Final 4.

I can't even imagine what the next two days would have been like in Memphis if that had happened.

UT shouldn't feel too bad, though.

Sure, they blew a 20-point lead. There is a reason that Ohio St. was a #1 seed, and #1 in the polls. They don't roll over and die.

The run UT made was an historic one for a program that lacks much in the way of basketball history. Pearl showed he is the guy to take this program forward, and probably earned himself an extension.

And Memphis gets to play basketball at least one more time.

Lets Go Blue!

Stay Tuned...

Global Warming - 50 Ways to Help

Global warming is a dramatically urgent and serious problem. We don't need to wait for governments to solve this problem: each one of us can bring an important help adopting a more responsible lifestyle: starting from little, everyday things. It's the only reasonable way to save our planet, before it is too late.

Here is a list of 50 simple things that everyone can do in order to fight against and reduce the Global Warming phenomenon: some of them are at no cost, some other require a little investment but can help you save a lot of money, in the middle-long term!

This is not my original work, but the author would certainly like me to reproduce it and spread the word.

Here is a link to my source.

Please re-produce this list yourself if you find it important too.

Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb (cfl)

CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will
save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Install a programmable thermostat

Programmable thermostats will automatically lower the heat or air
conditioning at night and raise them again in the morning. They can
save you $100 a year on your energy bill.

Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer

Almost half of the energy we use in our homes goes to heating and
cooling. You could save about 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year
with this simple adjustment. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy has more tips for saving energy on heating and cooling.

Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner

Cleaning a dirty air filter can save 350 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases

Look for the Energy Star
label on new appliances to choose the most efficient models available.

Do not leave appliances on standby

Use the "on/off" function on the machine itself. A TV set that's switched on for 3 hours a day (the average time Europeans spend watching TV) and in standby mode during the remaining 21 hours uses about 40% of its energy in standby mode.

Wrap your water heater in an insulation blanket

You’ll save 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year with this simple
action. You can save another 550 pounds per year by setting the
thermostat no higher than 50°C.

Move your fridge and freezer

Placing them next to the cooker or boiler consumes much more energy than if they were standing on their own. For example, if you put them in a hot cellar room where the room temperature is 30-35ºC, energy use is almost double and causes an extra 160kg of CO2 emissions for fridges per year and 320kg for freezers.

Defrost old fridges and freezers regularly

Even better is to replace them with newer models, which all have automatic defrost cycles and are generally up to two times more energy-efficient than their predecessors.

Don't let heat escape from your house over a long period

When airing your house, open the windows for only a few minutes. If you leave a small opening all day long, the energy needed to keep it warm inside during six cold months (10ºC or less outside temperature) would result in almost 1 ton of CO2 emissions.

Replace your old single-glazed windows with double-glazing

This requires a bit of upfront investment, but will halve the energy lost through windows and pay off in the long term. If you go for the best the market has to offer (wooden-framed double-glazed units with low-emission glass and filled with argon gas), you can even save more than 70% of the energy lost.

Get a home energy audit

Many utilities offer free home energy audits to find where your home is
poorly insulated or energy inefficient. You can save up to 30% off your
energy bill and 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Energy Star can help you find an energy specialist.

Cover your pots while cooking

Doing so can save a lot of the energy needed for preparing the dish. Even better are pressure cookers and steamers: they can save around 70%!

Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full

If you need to use it when it is half full, then use the half-load or economy setting. There is also no need to set the temperatures high. Nowadays detergents are so efficient that they get your clothes and dishes clean at low temperatures.

Take a shower instead of a bath

A shower takes up to four times less energy than a bath. To maximise the energy saving, avoid power showers and use low-flow showerheads, which are cheap and provide the same comfort.

Use less hot water

It takes a lot of energy to heat water. You can use less hot water by
installing a low flow showerhead (350 pounds of carbon dioxide saved
per year) and washing your clothes in cold or warm water (500 pounds
saved per year) instead of hot.

Use a clothesline instead of a dryer whenever possible

You can save 700 pounds of carbon dioxide when you air dry your clothes for 6 months out of the year.

Insulate and weatherize your home

Properly insulating your walls and ceilings can save 25% of your home
heating bill and 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Caulking and
weather-stripping can save another 1,700 pounds per year. Energy Efficient has more information on how to better insulate your home.

Be sure you’re recycling at home

You can save 2,400 pounds of carbon dioxide a year by recycling half of the waste your household generates. Earth 911 can help you find recycling resources in your area.

Recycle your organic waste

Around 3% of the greenhouse gas emissions through the methane is released by decomposing bio-degradable waste. By recycling organic waste or composting it if you have a garden, you can help eliminate this problem! Just make sure that you compost it properly, so it decomposes with sufficient oxygen, otherwise your compost will cause methane emissions and smell foul.

Buy intelligently

One bottle of 1.5l requires less energy and produces less waste than three bottles of 0.5l. As well, buy recycled paper products: it takes less 70 to 90% less energy to make recycled paper and it prevents the loss of forests worldwide.

Choose products that come with little packaging and buy refills when you can

You will also cut down on waste production and energy use!

Reuse your shopping bag

When shopping, it saves energy and waste to use a reusable bag instead of accepting a disposable one in each shop. Waste not only discharges CO2 and methane into the atmosphere, it can also pollute the air, groundwater and soil.

Reduce waste

Most products we buy cause greenhouse gas emissions in one or another way, e.g. during production and distribution. By taking your lunch in a reusable lunch box instead of a disposable one, you save the energy needed to produce new lunch boxes.

Plant a tree

A single tree will absorb one ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.
Shade provided by trees can also reduce your air conditioning bill by
10 to 15%. The Arbor Day Foundation has information on planting and provides trees you can plant with membership.

Switch to green power

In many areas, you can switch to energy generated by clean, renewable sources such as wind and solar. The Green Power Network is a good place to start to figure out what’s available in your area.

Buy locally grown and produced foods

The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm
to your plate. Buying locally will save fuel and keep money in your
community.

Buy fresh foods instead of frozen

Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.

Seek out and support local farmers markets

They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the
food to you by one fifth. You can find a farmer’s market in your area
at the USDA website.

Buy organic foods as much as possible

Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels
than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and
soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide
from the atmosphere!

Eat less meat

Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one
of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple
stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every
breath.

Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible

Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year! Look for transit options in your area.

Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates

Sharing a ride with someone just 2 days a week will reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds a year. eRideShare.com runs a free national service connecting commuters and travelers.

Don't leave an empty roof rack on your car

This can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 10% due to wind resistance and the extra weight - removing it is a better idea.

Keep your car tuned up

Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces
emissions. When just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars,
nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the
atmosphere.

Drive carefully and do not waste fuel

You can reduce CO2 emissions by readjusting your driving style. Choose
proper gears, do not abuse the gas pedal, use the engine brake instead
of the pedal brake when possible and turn off your engine when your
vehicle is motionless for more than one minute. By readjusting your
driving style you can save money on both fuel and car mantainance.

Check your tires weekly to make sure they’re properly inflated

Proper inflation
can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline
saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every
increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference!

When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel efficient vehicle

You can save 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year if your new car
gets only 3 miles per gallon more than your current one. You can get up
to 60 miles per gallon with a hybrid! You can find information on fuel
efficiency on FuelEconomy and on GreenCars websites.

Try car sharing

Need a car but don’t want to buy one? Community car sharing
organizations provide access to a car and your membership fee covers
gas, maintenance and insurance. Many companies – such as Flexcar - offer low emission or hybrid cars too! Also, see ZipCar.

Try telecommuting from home

Telecommuting can help you drastically reduce the number of miles you drive every week. For more information, check out the Telework Coalition.

Fly less

Air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you
fly by even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions
significantly. You can also offset your air travel by investing in renewable energy projects.

Encourage your school or business to reduce emissions

You can extend your positive influence on global warming well beyond
your home by actively encouraging other to take action.

Join the virtual march

The Stop Global Warming Virtual March is a non-political effort to
bring people concerned about global warming together in one
place. Add your voice to the hundreds of thousands of other people urging action on this issue.

Encourage the switch to renewable energy

Successfully combating global warming requires a national transition to
renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and biomass. These
technologies are ready to be deployed more widely but there are
regulatory barriers impeding them. Take action to break down those
barriers with Vote Solar.

Protect and conserve forest worldwide

Forests play a critial role in global warming: they store carbon. When
forests are burned or cut down, their stored carbon is release into the
atmosphere - deforestation now accounts for about 20% of carbon dioxide
emissions each year. Conservation International has more information on forests and global warming.

Consider the impact of your investments

If you invest your money, you should consider the impact that your
investments and savings will have on global warming. Check out SocialInvest and Ceres to can learn more
about how to ensure your money is being invested in companies, products
and projects that address issues related to climate change.

Make your city cool

Cities and states around the country have taken action to stop global
warming by passing innovative transportation and energy saving
legislation. 194 cities nationwide representing over 40 million people
have made this pledge as part of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Find out how to make your city a cool city.

Tell Congress to act

The McCain Lieberman Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act would set a
firm limit on carbon dioxide emissions and then use free market
incentives to lower costs, promote efficiency and spur innovation. Tell your representative to support it.

Make sure your voice is heard!

Americans must have a stronger commitment from their government in order to stop
global warming and implement solutions and such a commitment won’t come
without a dramatic increase in citizen lobbying for new laws with
teeth. Get the facts about U.S. politicians and candidates at Project Vote Smart and The League of Conservation Voters. Make sure your voice is heard by voting!

Share this list!

There are a lot of little things we can all do.

Stay Tuned...

Alright Thaddeus...you want to go to war with me?

So, I admit I was harsh on Thaddeus Matthews last night.

I admit I was even rude.

I am not going to say I was wrong, because I wasn't.

I will say this - He's a bitch for deleting my comments from his post.

Thats right. I posted something very benign (just a note with a link to my blog, telling him that I had some feedback for him) and it got turned into a big cluster-fuck of his self-proclaimed "black sheep" taking shots at me.

HEY DIPSHIT...we don't need your stinking help. Who the fuck are you trying to be?

And we don't care when you get back. As a matter of fact, stay gone. Idiot.

Your fucking Blog sucks. You're probably just jealous because the traffic on your site hardly reaches double digits on a good day.

People, don't even waste your time there.

P.S. Crimson Tide sucks.

Put him in his place. He did not realize you have created a Memphis family here- a highly dysfunctional one with plenty of black sheeps but will defend against all outsiders. LOL (referring to the post above)

Give it up dude. You might want to just go back ova to yo blog and stay there. sucka

Then the big dog came out to take a bite:

Thaddeus Augustus Matthews said...

So you just want to promote yourself on my blog. No one knows of you yet you want to be promoted here.

You're correct Mr. Matthews. "No one knows of you yet. . ."

See, I wouldn't have been able to flip that around and make it seem as though it is only a matter of time before people do know who I am, if you'd only taken the time to put a god damned comma in your response.

Thats the little symbol located between the "m" and "." on your keyboard.

Wait, I've read your blog, you don't know where the "." key is either.

Also the spacebar seems to have eluded you.

So, what did I do?

I responded.

I backed off my original "bile" and re-affirmed my support for what he was doing. I stated that I was happy that he was so involved and taking an interest by putting his thoughts out there.

Despite the inaccuracies and poor english.

I also cleared up a few things:

When I said I would be the "#1 source for news from around the Mid-South" I was being sarcastic. Anyone who has read any of my writing knows that I never stick to any one subject for more than a week. Beyond that, I was making light of how Mr. Matthews has "proclaimed" himself the most controversial blogger in Memphis.

When I said I was going to come back to help the city, I was being sincere. I have a strong sense of civic duty and a belief that Memphis can be a better place than it is now.

I believe that the city has to find a way to get past its racial hatred, and that starts with both sides dropping the issue. Both sides. Both.

So, if my desire to serve Memphis was in some way patronizing, or repulsive to the readers of Thaddeus Matthews Dot Com, I hope it wasn't because I'm white, and Jewish.

The bottom line is this, they don't have to like my opinion, but if they are going to let everyone spew the unfounded venom that they do on that site, and then complain about the condition of our city, then let every side speak.

Sometimes our harshest critics are the ones we must listen to the closest.

It may have hurt Mr. Matthews to learn that an educated person had tried to read his blog, and found the lack of spacing, punctuation, proper verb tense, or facts to be a hinderance, but good lord, its the truth.

Take the time to spell check your document.

Proof read.

I do, and I still make mistakes.

Everyone does, its okay.

It is NOT okay to care so little for your work that you don't even bother to check.

And if you did proof that work, and this is the product, then you better just stick to your radio program where no-one will be able to read your ignorant words.

You said on your comments that I posted my blog address so that I could get some publicity. That I was shamelessly trying to bump my readership.

Those are hollow words coming from a master of bullshit like yourself. When you start posting credible information, with some sources, then you can point fingers at other people for "shameless attempts to boost readership".

Asshole.

You're right though. No body knows who I am...yet.

Stay Tuned...

By the way, here is what I could salvage of my comments...

Is it Racist?

Barak Obama has been characterized in a recent L.A. Times Editorial as the "Magical Negro" of the 2008 Election.

Maybe you're not familiar with the term "Magical Negro"

Here is some background from our friends at the wiki-wikipedia...

The magical negro is typically "in some way outwardly or inwardly disabled, either by discrimination, disability or social constraint," often a janitor or prisoner. He has no past; he simply appears one day to help the white protagonist. He is the black stereotype, "prone to criminality and laziness." To counterbalance this, he has some sort of magical power, "rather vaguely defined but not the sort of thing one typically encounters." They are patient and wise, often dispensing various words of wisdom, and are "closer to the earth."

The magical negro is simply a plot device to help the protagonist get out of trouble, typically through helping the white character recognize his own faults and overcome them. In this way, the magical negro is similar to the Deus ex machina; a simple way for the protagonist to overcome an obstacle almost entirely through outside help. Although he has magical powers, his "magic is ostensibly directed toward helping and enlightening a white male character." It is this feature of the magical negro that is most troubling. Although the character seems to be showing African-Americans in a positive light, he is still ultimately subordinate to whites. He is also regarded as an exception, allowing white America to "like individual black people but not black culture."

To save the white protagonist, however, he would do anything, including sacrificing himself, as Sidney Poitier did in The Defiant Ones, the prototypical magical negro movie.

So, now you have some background. This isn't my term. I'm not the one that applied it to Barak Obama, but I am going to talk about it.

David Ehrenstein wrote in the LA Times today:

[The Magical Negro]'s there to assuage white "guilt" (i.e., the minimal discomfort they feel) over the role of slavery and racial segregation in American history, while replacing stereotypes of a dangerous, highly sexualized black man with a benign figure for whom interracial sexual congress holds no interest.

He then launched into a detailed recounting of famous movie characters that fit his mold.

Then he goes this direction, in his explanation of Obama's persona:

The senator's famously stem-winding stump speeches have been drawing huge crowds to hear him talk of uniting rather than dividing. A praiseworthy goal. Consequently, even the mild criticisms thrown his way have been waved away, "magically." He used to smoke, but now he doesn't; he racked up a bunch of delinquent parking tickets, but he paid them all back with an apology. And hey, is looking good in a bathing suit a bad thing?

The only mud that momentarily stuck was criticism (white and black alike) concerning Obama's alleged "inauthenticity," as compared to such sterling examples of "genuine" blackness as Al Sharpton and Snoop Dogg. Speaking as an African American whose last name has led to his racial "credentials" being challenged — often several times a day — I know how pesky this sort of thing can be.

Obama's fame right now has little to do with his political record or what he's written in his two (count 'em) books, or even what he's actually said in those stem-winders. It's the way he's said it that counts the most. It's his manner, which, as presidential hopeful Sen. Joe Biden ham-fistedly reminded us, is "articulate." His tone is always genial, his voice warm and unthreatening, and he hasn't called his opponents names (despite being baited by the media).

Like a comic-book superhero, Obama is there to help, out of the sheer goodness of a heart we need not know or understand. For as with all Magic Negroes, the less real he seems, the more desirable he becomes. If he were real, white America couldn't project all its fantasies of curative black benevolence on him.

Wow.

I mean, he made some valid points.

Its an interesting take.

Its L.A., so the presumption is not racism.

Unless the guy happens to be a member of the LAPD.

At least he is an African-American though, that has to provide some shelter for him...right?

At least it was not published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution by a Caucasian-American right?

Then, the exact same words would have been horrifically racist, unacceptable, and condemnable.

So, what do you think?

On that note, what do you think generally about Obama's candidacy?

I think he is a good...no...great VP candidate in 2008.

And an even better Presidential candidate in 2016 after spending 8 years in the Richardson White House.

For your viewing pleasure, I present Richardson for President.com.

Stay Tuned...

Rove and Miers to Testify...Sort of...

Just have a second, but I have to ask - Why allow Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to answer questions before a congressional committee, but not allow them to take an oath to tell the truth? Seems to me that the Bush White House is saying "They will answer questions, but not truthfully."

This is absurd. When will this White House be held to the same laws as the rest of us?

What are they, Big Tobacco?

Link.

Stay Tuned...