NLJ headline: Canadian law schools adopting J.D. degree designation

I got this headline in my inbox this morning. Great. It will be just like what happened with the dollar; the Canadian one will be worth more than the American one.

Photos of Thailand

So here, finally, are some photos we took on our recent trip to Thailand. It is an amazing country filled with friendly people and some awe-inspiring Buddhist temples. Below you will find some pictures of some Wats in both Bangkok and Chiang Mai, a trek we went on in Chiang Mai, and a butterfly garden. Enjoy!

Of Firearms and the "F-bomb"

In Supreme Court news, cases involving guns and Nicole Richie; unfortunately not the same case.

Today, the Court will hear oral argument in District of Columbia v. Heller, case no. 07-290, the Court will look at a Second Amendment challenge to D.C.'s ban on hand guns. The Court has not conclusively interpreted the "right to keep and bear arms" in a long time EVER. Might the Court have the Second Amendment in its sights, or will the Court shoot down the ban? Stay tuned for an update and more bad puns.

I, for one, wish that this case was not going up before the Supreme Court with its current composition. I hope the justices feel safer in D.C. knowing that they will be making it ok to tote around hand guns.
..................................................................................
UPDATE from Scotusblog based on oral argument:

The Supreme Court’s historic argument Tuesday on the meaning of the Constitution’s Second Amendment sent out one quite clear signal: individuals may well wind up with a genuine right to have a gun for self-defense in their home

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Yesterday, the Court granted cert in FFC, et al. v. Fox Television Stations, et al., a case involving current FCC policy regarding so-called "fleeting expletives," called the "Bono doctrine" after a 2004 incident in which U2's Bono said on NBC that winning a Golden Globe was "really, really f---ing brilliant." The Bono doctrine, a marked change in FCC policy, makes broadcasters liable even when the offensive words are a complete surprise. This particular challenge involves

two incidents in which celebrities used profanity during the Billboard Music Awards. In 2002, Cher told the audience: "People have been telling me I'm on the way out every year? So f--- 'em." The next year, Nicole Richie said: "Have you ever tried to get cow s--- out of a Prada purse? It's not so f---ing simple." (The Nielsen Co. owns Adweek and Billboard.)

Article from Adweek.

Fox challenged the FCC's decision that they should be held liable. Fuckin' A.

Fixies

"Fixes," or fixed gear bicycles have become an essential accessory to hipsters nationwide, on par with ironic tees and a taste for PBR and bands you're not cool enough to know. And San Francisco is no exception. One would think San Francisco would be an exception, considering that NOT having brakes or gears would put one at a distinct disadvantage when tackling the city's famous hills. Nevertheless, they are everywhere. And it is no longer just the specialists who know how to ride them out there on the streets.

Now, I understand why bike messengers have them. The financial district is fairly flat, and having no gears and brakes makes a bike a lot easer and cheaper to maintain, as well as making it less of a target for bike thieves.

But as a commuter? I'll admit they look cool, and I'll also admit, that surprisingly, you can actually make it through SF without hitting a lot of big hills (thank you whoever invented "the wiggle"). But if all you're looking for is street cred with fellow skinny jeans-wearing academy of art students, maybe you should think twice. Not having brakes on Market Street sounds like a really really bad idea.

I thought I would share this craigslist ad I found. Hilarious.

Fixed Gear Death Trap - $350

---

Reply to: sale-608546617@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-03-16, 6:34PM PDT


I'm selling a complete fixed gear. It is totally ready to ride and will probably kill you.

I pushed it into a bike shop recently to have the rear wheel trued. At the bottom of my receipt it read, 'My advice, get a new bike.' So, I am. And maybe you are too! He was reserved enough not to use the words 'death' or 'trap,' but I'm not!

The frame is probably an old Raleigh that could have been worth something. It's rattlecanned and chipping rapidly. The paint is almost completely gone where my car's bike rack grips. There are, however, parts of the bike that are still entirely painted.

Looking a little deeper, the headset is completely fucked. Unless you can ride a unicycle, you can't ride this bike with no hands. I'm expecting something terrible to happen in the headset in the next few rides that will pitch me onto the pavement. For the right price, this could be you!

Also, the pedals were never supposed to house toe cages. So, the cages are kind of ruined and inoperable. Sometimes when I'm skidding, my front foot will almost slip out and I'll get all wobbly before righting myself. During these moments, my eyes are usually plate-wide with terror. This could be your terror!

There are still front and rear brakes installed, because it was always kind of a half-assed conversion. These could definitely be removed, though. The bike shop guy even tightened up the rear brakes for me. You could be the only fixie rider in SF with fully functional rear brakes.

But the brake cables are also completely shot, so I wouldn't count on it.

The handlebar tape is falling off and one of the plugs is missing.

Also, I don't remember what kind of cranks are on it but the pedals are super long. Every now and then when you're riding they slam off the ground and get more ruined. Again, there's some aspect of terror here.

The gear ratio is 52/20. The rear tire is flat and the Presta valve is broken off.

This bike is what my brother affectionately refers to as a 'time bomb.' Why? Because there's no track hub or cog. Actually, there's a freewheel with loctite in it. So far, I've been able to learn how to ride fixed on this setup without it falling apart. But someday it will. And when it does, someone is going to get fucking screwed.

I paid $80 for it 8 months ago in Buffalo. Considering we're in San Francisco, the asking price is $350. I think that's only fair.

Why Did I Come Back From Thailand?

I've had a few disturbing things happen around me over the last week, and the only common component to these two stories is the San Francisco Police Department.

Incident #1
I walk out of my apartment last friday, only to hear loud banging coming from an upstairs apartment. I look down the stairs to the front door of our building, and I see it is propped open and there are two cop cars parked outside. Then, I hear more banging coming from upstairs, and then (presumably the cop) saying "you called us, let us in!" I decide I don't want to have anything to do with this and casually and ever so gingerly HAUL ASS out of my building. After talking with my neighbors later, I find out what has happened.

Turns out one of our neighbors has been subletting his own room (in addition to the other bedroom) to foreigners who don't know any better, and then sleeps on the couch. He demands rent up front and actually hangs out in what would be his own room until 1 am before letting the sub-leasee in to go to bed. I guess the last batch of foreigners decided to not put up with his stuff, and my neighbors response was to move all of their shit to a hotel in the tenderloin while they weren't home and then change the locks. For those of you who aren't from SF, the tenderloin is one part of the city that...how to put this...a part of the city that has successfully resisted gentrification. Or, to quote Dave Chapelle, "There ain't nothin' tender about that muthafucka!"

Holy Shit, right? But it doesn't stop there.

One of the sub-leasees returns to the building to get back the rent money that he has pre-paid, and unsurprisingly, my neighbor won't let him in. The sub-leasee insists. My neighbor calls the cops. My neighbor won't let the sub-leasee or the cops in. My neighbor tries to keep them out with a knife. He is arrested and goes to the pokie for the weekend. This is the scuffle I heard.

The entire building is wondering whether our landlord will kick him out. I think attempted assault would arise to a breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment, but then again, I don't do landlord tenant stuff so wtf do I know. I think if nothing else the landlord would be motivated by the fact that the neighbor is living under rent control.

Incident # 2
On my way home from work yesterday, there was a belligerent drunk on the N-Judah. No real surprise there. But he sat on the steps, making everyone who was trying to either get on or get off the train go around him. These steep stairs are treacherous enough without an additional inebriated obstacle. When someone commented that he was in the way, the drunk unleashed a few elbow jabs to passengers getting off the train, and then a tirade of profanity that lasted for about 10 minutes. I don't know what he said since I had my Ipod in (listening to "the Black Kids" I might add, which adds a degree of foreshadowing here) but it was enough to make the jaded SF people around me look like miffed puritans so it must have been pretty bad.

So at the stop at Carl and Cole, which is heavily trafficked, some passenger had had enough, put his foot on the drunk man's back and sort of push-kicked him off the train. Then the passenger ran off. When the drunk turned around, all he saw were a bunch of blank stares as the rest of us glared at him from inside the train. The drunk then decides that this one man, who had nothing to do with the push-kick, did in fact have something to do with the push-kick, and started throwing punches at him, and then threw some at the rest of us too.

This other guy, who was African American, then stepped up and made sure that the drunk did not get back on the train and hurt anyone. Then someone called the cops. The drunk, the African American who helped ward off the drunk, and the rest of us go up to the cops.

Who was the first person the cops tried to restrain? You guessed it! The BLACK GUY! I couldn't believe it. Here was this drunk white guy missing teeth rambling on and on about god knows what, not to mention the 9 or so other people from the train who were explaining what had happened, and they just kept on questioning THE BLACK GUY. To their credit, the cops did seem to sort things out eventually, but it was just disturbing that the default response was "restrain the black guy."

Also, kudos to all you other N-Judah riders who (I'm sure were just as excited to be going home after work as I was ) stuck around to make sure that the cops got their story straight.

California Supreme Court Hears Oral Argument in Gay Marriage Cases

I only watched the first part, but the (3 hour!!) oral argument is available from local TV affiliate KTVU here:

http://www.ktvu.com/news/15466423/detail.html

The part I watched was well argued by the woman representing the city and county of SF.

The state mostly relies on the fact that there was a law passed in the seventies limiting marriage to opposite sex couples and a ballot measure passed 8 years ago that said the state will only recognize opposite-sex marriage. As such, they argue, it should be up to the voters, not the judiciary, to change things. Better route than actually trying to go to the merits, I would say.

I guess we'll know which way it will go June, as the California Supreme Court has 90 days to figure this out.

Out of Office Notification

Here is the out-of-office email I'd really like to write:

Oh Hai,

The "Powers That Be" finally loosened my chains enough so I am able to wiggle free and get out of this cell with a view that, right now, smells like burrito.

I will be back in the office on March 3. Well, I should qualify that. I will physically be back in the office on March 3, but mentally I will still be in Asia.

You see, there's this thing called jet lag, and since I'm not actually flying back until Sunday, March 2, I will be completely knackered and only semi-aware of my surroundings when Monday rolls around, or whatever day it will feel like to me.

At first I thought, "hey, maybe I should come back on Friday or Saturday so that I can re-acclimate to the CA time-zone before I go back to work." But then I thought,

"Fuck that."

I'm not going to cut my vacation short just so I'll be "cogent" or "productive" or "conscious" on Monday.

If you're emailing me because the office is falling apart during my absence, and that no one else can seem to handle the 400 kazillion tasks I do on an average day, don't bother. Because I'm not here! This is an automatic email; there's like some robot somewhere sending out this very message to all of you, so DON'T FEEL SPECIAL.

If any urgent matters should arise, please contact my assistant, your mom, at 1-800-CUL8TR-A$$HOLES.

สวัสด

Dumb American

Reading the list of countries you forget is embarrassing.

84

Indian Gaming Propositions: Results

Propositions 94-97 passed, with about 56% of voters in favor of the propositions. Interestingly, several northern california counties provided a good chunk of the "no" votes. San Francisco County, actually, voted "no" by about 60%. I wonder if the "no" ads were concentrated up here, or if this was because of some "nor cal" v. "so cal" divide, because all of the propositions dealt with tribes in southern california. Again, why I voted on indian gaming compacts dealing with tribes in Riverside County still seems strange to me.

I'm also embarrassed to admit that the first time I even heard of Proposition C here in San Francisco was when I read it on the ballot. Don't judge me! It just took me a damn long to figure out the indian gaming propositions. Turns out it was the most "San Francisco" voting moment since Gavin Newsom was running against a nudist, a vegan taxi cab driver, and a guy named Chicken John for mayor.

Anyway, it was a proposition to "explore" and "facilitate" the acquisition of Alcatraz by SF and its transformation into a "Global Peace Center." Here's what the proponents had to say about it according to this article on SFgate.com:

According to their Web site, www.globalpeacefoundation.org, the proponents' plans for the center will be based on the geometry of the hexagram. Elements include a harmonium, employing sound techniques to impart a "deep meditative, transpersonal and transcendent experience," a medicine wheel and a labyrinth.

Da Vid, director of the Global Peace Foundation, described Alcatraz as a "major power point" where "energy moves through the planet." The vision to turn it into a peace center came to him in 1978. "It was a flash," he explained, "and I wasn't on any drugs either." We asked him where the money would come from to raze the old prison and build a new center. He assured us, "Money will come." He suggested the Bechtel Corp. might want to "create some good karma for itself" by doing the prison demolition for free.

Although it was trounced with a 72% "no" vote, you've got to love it; you can almost smell the patchouli, can't you?

Although, this is not to discount claims that native americans should have control of the island, which I think is legitimate. My roommate went to the ceremony commemorating the 1969 native american occupation of the island back that takes place every year back in November.

Maybe they could make Alcatraz into a casino when they get it back from the feds?

You heard it here first people.

And yes, I voted for Obama.

California Propositions 94, 95, 96, & 97

If you live in California, then you have been bombarded lately with advertisements in favor of, and opposed to, Propositions 94-97. These propositions are referred to collectively as "referendum(s) on the amendment to Indian Gaming Compact." By the text, they seem to allow specific tribes to have more slot machines, to omit certain projects that would normally be subject to the California Environmental Quality Act, and require the tribes to pay into the state's general fund a larger lump payment, and/or a percentage of revenue of the additional slots.

Groups on both sides have hired sincere looking native americans, teachers, and others to appear in ads and either proclaim that these propositions benefit both tribes and the rest of california, or, in the alternative, that these propositions only benefit "rich" tribes and fail to provide enough funds for California's struggling budget.

With more than a little embarrassment, I must admit that I am somewhat ignorant when it comes to the interplay of the sovereign rights of native american tribes and the roles of the federal and state governments. Why, exactly, California voters are voting on a proposition amending a compact between California and several tribes left me puzzled. Shouldn't this be something dealt with by the feds? I mean, if tribes are treated as sovereign nations, doesn't that mean that the feds have to execute treaties or at least executive agreements with them? Or, since reservations are governed, in part, by the feds (the aptly named "Bureau of Indian Affairs," for example), why does the state, let alone individual voters, have any say in this at all? Others have expressed to me similar confusion, and I had no good answers. And the voter guide, let alone the ads, provide little information. So, I decided to do some research myself. Hope it is helpful for someone.

In a 1987 case called California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians (480 U.S. 202, for the ambitious among you), the Supreme Court invalidated an attempt by California to enforce a portion of the penal code against tribes that operated bingo halls. The Court noted that

Indian tribes retain "attributes of sovereignty over both their members and their territory,' . . . and that "tribal sovereignty is dependent on, and subordinate to, only the Federal Government, not the States" . . . It is clear, however, that state laws may be applied to tribal Indians on their reservations if Congress has expressly so provided.

The Court found that Congress had granted California the authority to enforce criminal provisions, not civil or regulatory provisions, of state law. Since California permitted some gambling, including some bingo, the Court held that the bingo statute was regulatory, not criminal, and therefore, could not be enforced on Indian lands.

A concerned and confused Congress reacted by passing the "Indian Gaming Regulatory Act" ("IGRA") (this was back in the day before they started giving legislation lofty and emotional-laden names like the "Patriot Act" or "No child left behind"). Congress was also confused about the interplay between the tribes and federal and state authority, so they decided to lay down a framework for gaming regulation.

IGRA creates three classes of gaming, each of which is subject to a different level of regulation. Class I gaming covers "social games solely for prizes of minimal value or traditional forms of Indian gaming engaged in by individuals as part of, or in connection with, tribal ceremonies or celebrations." Class II gaming includes bingo and card games, but not banked card games or slot machines, that are explicitly authorized by a state or "not explicitly prohibited by the laws of the State and are [legally] played at any location in the State."

Class III gaming includes "all forms of gaming that are not class I gaming or class II gaming," and thus includes the most controversial high-stakes games usually associated with casinos, as well as slot machines.

Under IGRA, Class III gaming is lawful on Indian lands only if three conditions are satisfied:

(1) authorization by aordinance or resolution of the governing body of the Indian tribe and the Chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission ("NIGC");

(2) location in a state that permits such gaming for any purpose by any person, organization, or entity; and

(3) the existence of a Tribal-State compact approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

Okay, this is starting to make sense now, right? In order to have the good stuff, the tribes HAD to negotiate some sort of pact with the state.

Well, unfortunately for California tribes, they did not find much of an audience with then governor Pete Wilson, who refused to negotiate with the tribes. The tribes brought suit, arguing that the state had an obligation to negotiate a compact. The tribes lost in a case called Rumsey Indian Rancheria of Wintun Indians v. Wilson, 64 F.3d 1250 (9th Cir. 1996). The Ninth Circuit found that IGRA does not require a state to negotiate over Class III gaming.

In response to their loss, a coalition of tribes went to California voters and put Proposition 5 on the ballot, which required the governor to execute compacts within 30 days after any tribe requested one, or the compacts were deemed approved. In 1998, the voters approved Proposition 5.

Proposition 5 was then put on hold when it was challenged based on the California constitution's prohibition on class III gaming. Before the California Supreme Court had a chance to rule on it, Governor Gray Davis took office and sought to negotiate gaming compacts with the tribes. By September 1999, 57 such compacts had been concluded.

The California Supreme Court then issued an opinion, holding that the state did not have the authority to execute the compacts. To address this problem, the Davis administration proposed Proposition 1A, which amended the California constitution so that Indian tribes would be exempt from the state's constitutional prohibition. In 2000, California voters ratified Proposition 1A. This cleared the way for the governor to execute tribal-state compacts as contemplated Congress via IGRA.

Whew. So that is why and how we have state-tribal compacts. The compacts that are in place today were adopted after a series of negotations between the state and the tribes. Only in the final round of negotiations did the state allow slot machines as well as an exclusive right to conduct Class III gaming in the state in exchange for a percent of tribal gaming revenue.

Propositions 94-97 amend these compacts (to allow more slot machines as well as allow them to operate outside of certain state environmental regulations, but pay more money to the state). The amendments were already negotiated between these specific tribes and the state, and were approved by the legislature.

So why are we voting on them?

Normally these would have gone into effect without voter approval, but somehow these propositions were qualified, and thus these amendments need voter approval. I'm going to guess that some of the other gaming industry, like horse racing tracks, were behind the signature drive to get this on the ballot.

So without passing judgment on whether these are good deals or not for California (the numbers are in the voter information pamphlet/guide), what we are actually voting on, is whether or not this fully negotiated agreement should go into effect.

Here's some additional commentary from someone who knows more than me.

Make Hallmark Proud

Photo Courtesy of Scott Beale / Laughing Squid at http://laughingsquid.com/

If Valentine's day makes you feel a little violent, or if you are incredibly violent on a daily basis and want to lighten it up a little bit, then San Francisco's 3rd annual pillow fight might be right for you. It starts at 6 sharp at Justin Herman Plaza. Think of it as a flash mob with a huge amount of advance notice.

Here's a video of last year.

Life's Short. Please Maintain Some Modicum of Integrity

I missed this the first time around, so I apologize to all (2) of my readers. Last spring, a Chicago law firm decided to borrow from the business model of beer ads and launch an advertising campaign that involves photos of faceless and scantily clad girls and boys surrounding the slogan "Life's Short. Get a Divorce."
Only recently, however, the firm revealed that the female figure in the ads is actually one of the firm's lawyers, Corri Fetman. The firm also announced that Fetman would be featured in a Playboy pictorial and would be the author of a regular column in that publication titled "Lawyer of Love."

Now I don't think there's anything wrong with being a lawyer and posing nude. But I do think that posing nude as advertising for your legal practice crosses the line. I think a lot of the rules surrounding solicitation by lawyers (we're not allowed to promise results, or directly solicit people, for example) make good sense and are rendered pretty silly if you can put up semi-nude pictures of yourself.

Although, if you based your decision on whether or not to get a divorce on a billboard ad, then maybe you deserve what you're going get.

Here's the firm's website, because I know you want to look.

Check out their new "Take Control. Get a Divorce" Campaign that now ads an element of SMBD and leather to the equation. Although, now that I think about it, every image I've ever seen of Lady Justice involves her being blindfolded and dressed in a little toga that could catch a breeze, so maybe this really isn't all that new anyway.

Who wants to go on a cocaine bender with me?

This incredibly well done and hilarious video makes me feel a little domestic and boring. I stayed up until 2 a.m. last night. Making Soup.

Nasty Spell of Wheather

Mother nature decided to send a vicious "welcome to 2008" gift to the bay area in the form of a series of fierce storms packing hurricane-esque winds. Ferry service around the bay was canceled for much of the day on Friday, and our bus and train (MUNI) service came to a grinding halt. As much as we bitch about the weather up here, we're not used to this. Here's a crazy before/after picture of a poor unsuspecting tree from sfist.com.

A tree in front of my apartment building was substantially pruned by the storm, with several large branches falling onto the cars parked on the street below. Only one car was damaged, which is pretty amazing considering the size of the limbs that fell. For once, I'm glad that my parking spot was inconveniently parked away from my apartment and the trees.

The tree branches tumbled on friday night, but are still occupying the parking spaces because the city has yet to come haul them away. Though my property manager was trying to cut them into pieces with a hand saw, a pretty ambitious venture considering that some of the limbs were about a foot thick.

With the streets are still littered with limbs, not to mentions some xmas trees still lying around, it looks like the city got napalmed.

Luckily for me, all I got was some wet feet and shoddy cable tv during the storm. About 14,000 bay area residents and business, though, are without power.

(Picture from SF.Gate.com)

Happy New Year to All!

Due to my office trying to get everything done before the holidays, I have been on a blogging break. And my goodness a lot has happened since I last was on here. Shootings in malls, shootings in Pakistan, and a Tiger ate a fellow SFer. Though I have to be honest with you, I feel worse for the tiger than the guy who was allegedly taunting the tiger.

I'll try to be better and definitely more interesting in the future.

City Girls Have Dense Breasts, Increased Risk of Breast Cancer

BBC NEWS: City living 'breast cancer risk'

I was originally going to talk about perky city boobs, but this is actually quite scary and serious. Apparently, women living in cities have denser breasts, due to (they think) increased air pollution, which in turn, increases a woman's chance to develop breast cancer. So go get checked all you urban ladies.

In other BBC News, the British continue to push the meta envelope.

Protesters protest free-speech debate

Local Coffee Shop Makes Good (Coffee)

After mentioning one of our great local eateries, Boogaloos, when giving our city a good economic colonoscopy a while back, now one of our local coffee shops, Ritual, made it into "The Economist" for having a fancy coffee machine.

NEAR the hard-working espresso machine at Ritual Coffee Roasters, a café in San Francisco, sits a stainless-steel box about the size of a desktop computer. This box, the Clover, produces a cup of coffee with a spectacle of streaming water, whirring motors and an ingenious inverse plunger. Zander Nosler, the industrial designer who invented the Clover nearly three years ago, seems to have done the impossible: attracted a cult following for a new coffee-making machine that is both slower and vastly more expensive than other machines and requires the undivided attention of a trained operator.

Now these two establishments are actually more or less across the street from one another in the Mission. And they are, by far, two of the most hipster establishments in the city.

Boogaloos is where everyone goes for breakfast the morning after a big night out at Casanova, Delirium, Beauty Bar, Latin American Club, etc. You see some crazy hipster outfits (a la BSL) and some people who obviously never went to sleep the night before. Great breakfast, even better people watching.

And then there's Ritual. Ritual is a coffee shop, that no matter what day, nor time of day you walk into, all the tables are full with people on laptops. Sure, some of them are students, but not all of them. The rest are "writers," or "bloggers," or "trustifarians,"and most of the time all three. And again, very very hipster. You need to have at least one visible tattoo and 3 pair of skinny jeans to work there, and there are more fixed gear bikes locked up outside than are in the inventory of the worker-owned non-profit cooperative bike shop down the street. But, the coffee there is incredible.

And honestly, I can't think of anything that would make this place more hipster than a $11k coffee machine that requires a trained technician to produce an incredibly slow $6 cup of coffee.

Reading This Blog Makes You Smarterer

I guess.

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