Sunday, September 30, 2007

Newt Gingrich Out of the Running?

I heard this morning that Newt has said he is not running for president. I didn't even know he was considering it. That is good, as there will be one less noodle-head we will have to worry about.

Bill Clinton is a guest on Meet the Press today. I miss him so much. I will vote for Hillary. Not only because over time I have come to believe that she would be a good president and that she has fire in the belly, but because I think we need him back. He will be a great ambassador for our country and get us back on track.

Voting democratic is good for economics!

Friday, September 28, 2007

Jury Duty Pooty

I was so excited when I got my jury duty notice about a month or so ago. I had never been called for jury duty and had always wanted to serve. My first thought when I saw the card was, I wonder if attorneys would choose me for a jury since I am in law school. My feeling was no, and that was confirmed by other people who had been dismissed for that same reason. But I was hopeful that I would be picked--it would be a chance for me to see a real trial up close.

Well Monday morning came and I arrived at the courthouse. I brought my constitutional law textbook with me to read--I figured I could hide it in my book bag if needed.

But I had no luck that day. A computer randomly picks out groups of 30 jurors for voir dire. Thirty is as large of a group as they need. I guess the computer knew I was out there in the waiting room studying my constitutional law, because it passed me by. I didn't get picked for the first or second trial. So back to work I went. But in the short time I was there, I could feel how exciting it would be to work in that courthouse.

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

So-bri-ah-tee Checkpoints, Nashville Style

I have been ticked off about this for a while, but tonight I have to say my piece. Nashville has gone on overdrive, it seems, with sobriety checkpoints. I guess I see the value--you want to stop drunk driving and all that entails. My beef is it seems to hassle a lot of people for little gain. And also, I think the resources should be spent on trying to stop other more insidious crime.

Tonight I was leaving a retail establishment about 8 p.m. on West End, when a metro police car drove right up onto the sidewalk right beside me. It frightened me, as it looked like the officer really wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. He could have easily smashed right into the left side of my car. To be honest, I don't think he ever saw me, and I was right beside him.

And the way the police officers stand at the side of the road in these checkpoints in their black uniforms is just dangerous. Especially in some of the locations. You just can't see them in the dark, and suddenly there they are stepping up to your car with their little orange cone???? Hello???? Can you say ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN???

You're trying to make Nashville streets more safe by being reckless????? And by the way, it is ILLEGAL to drive on the sidewalk. Have the police heard of this. Chief Serpas are you listening???

The police have also held a sobriety checkpoint a couple of times right by my house. I saw blue lights coming in through my blinds, so I took my dog outside to see what was going on. They were stopping every car, asking if they had had any alcohol. If they said yes, they were asked to get out of the car and do sobriety field tests. I stayed there for a short time watching. I was impressed at how well people did. I couldn't stand on one leg for countless minutes even sober. We have some people with good balance here in Nashville.

But the truth is most people can have about two drinks before they would be above the legal limit. Stopping everyone who drives by is just a nuisance. And the real chronic drunks are probably driving elsewhere.

I would just like to see them put that same zeal toward solving some real crime.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane--the Best Advertisement for Long Term Care Insurance

I watched the movie Whatever Happened to Baby Jane again tonight and had a thought: Insurance companies could use a clip from this movie to help sell long term care insurance.

The story is about two aging actresses played by Bette Davis and Joan Crawford (Bette Davis is the crazy, evil, drunken sister. But you find out that Joan's character is not all sweet either, but definitely more palatable.) To make a long story short, Joan's character has an accident and is left in a wheelchair, and both of their acting careers go down the tubes.

Bette's character in effect holds Joan's character hostage in an upstairs bedroom and starts abusing her. Parts of it are very hard to watch. Joan's character becomes more and more frightened and sicker and is going to die. Bette's character serves dead rats to Joan for dinner and such, so Joan is afraid to eat, making her even weaker. I read that Bette Davis was 54 when she made this movie. Good grief! I hope she was made up to look so much older, and that she didn't really look this bad herself.

Anyway, it is about 2 hours of painful, yet wonderful cinema. Long term health insurance can help you stay independent of crazy, vindictive relatives! When my former company started offering such plans, a bunch of us signed up for it, just knowing that that would keep us freewilled and independent of any relatives who might want to have it in for us, lol!

Lee Ann Rimes a Hit at Schermerhorn Symphony Center

Last night I went to the Nashville Symphony Pops Concert featuring Lee Ann Rimes. It was an absolute treat. She has a new fan.

I have heard of Lee Ann Rimes for years, but to tell you the truth, I had never heard her sing. I did not know about her first hit "Blue," which everyone in the whole world seems to know about. In fact, I was clueless about her.

She came on stage last night after the intermission. At first I was underwhelmed. I am not a country music fan, and her first couple hits seemed to be country tunes.

But soon, she had rolled over into the rock and roll and blues genres. I am not an expert, but I really think her talent is better suited for these categories. She has a very powerful voice and it seemed to get lost on her country tunes. But she filled the house with her voice on the rock and blues tunes. (But don't listen to me, I know nothing about country music on purpose, almost.)

I would go to another concert of hers, and I might even buy a CD. Which says a lot, because I have enjoyed country music artists in person before, but would not buy their CDs.

The only disappointment came when I read her bio, and she did not grow up in Nashville or attend high school here like I thought. She was home schooled out of Mississippi. She always seemed to be in the local press, but she had a contract with a record label here, so I guess that is why. And I guess she could travel here a lot, being home schooled.

But her performance was so good last night, you could have heard a pin drop. But that is also partly due to the perfection of the Symphony Center. It is a joy to be there. If you haven't attended a performance there, try to do so soon.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Joe O'Donnell plagiarized photos?

I read a sad article in today's newspaper--that Joe O'Donnell, 85, a local photographer of some fame (and who died in Nashville August 10) had made false claims about some photos he had taken.

I did not know the man, but had seen some of his work around town in photo exhibits and on sale at local art galleries. The man hadn't just taken any old photos, but photos that captured the nation's history and soul. O'Donnell had served as an official White House photographer for five presidents, from FDR to Johnson. Some of his outstanding works included the famous photo of "John John" saluting his father's coffin in the funeral parade in November 1963, and the 1959 photo of the "Kitchen Debate" between VP Richard Nixon and Nikita Khrushchev in Moscow, among others. The problem is apparently he didn't really take the photos.

After reading his obituary and seeing the reports on television, other photographers stood up to say he did not take the photos and said who did. It is amazing it took this long to find this out.

This recent revelation has left many scratching their heads and asking why, including his widow. She claimed that he was in ill health, which could account for some of this behavior.

I just hate that this came out now, when he can't defend himself.

The New York Times published his obituary, later adding these corrections:


Correction: September 5, 2007

Two pictures on Aug. 14 with an obituary about the news photographer Joe O’Donnell carried erroneous credits, and the obituary also included one of the incorrect credits. The photograph of a saluting John F. Kennedy Jr. during the funeral for his father in 1963 was taken by Stan Stearns for United Press International, not by Mr. O’Donnell. The photographer who took the second picture, showing Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill during a wartime meeting in Tehran in 1943, is not known, although Mr. O’Donnell claimed credit for it and the Kennedy picture. Mr. O’Donnell is not known to have been in Tehran at the time.
A Nashville gallery that handled Mr. O’Donnell’s work supplied the incorrect information. The Times is researching other claims by Mr. O’Donnell reported in the obituary.


Correction: September 15, 2007


An obituary on Aug. 14 about the photographer Joe O’Donnell, who learned the craft with the Marine Corps during World War II, described well-known pictures of four presidents that he claimed to have taken. A correction in this space on Sept. 5 described two erroneous credits to him on photographs which ran with the obituary — one, also mentioned in the obituary, of John F. Kennedy Jr. saluting his father’s funeral caisson in 1963, which was actually taken by Stan Stearns for United Press International; and one of Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill meeting in Tehran in 1943, by an unknown photographer.
In addition, the obituary also erroneously attributed a photograph of Vice President Richard M. Nixon during his “kitchen debate” in Moscow with Nikita S. Khrushchev in 1959; it was taken by Elliott Erwitt, not by Mr. O’Donnell.
An article describing how Mr. O’Donnell came to make these and other erroneous claims appears today on Page A1.

Bridge Insufficiency

I heard a talk the other day about bridge insufficiency given by a professor of civil engineering. The program was based around the Minneapolis bridge collapse. He showed slides of the collapse and some aerial shots taken of the bridge before the disaster.

The post collapse photos he showed were more horrifying than the ones we saw on television. Not sure why that was, but the shots he had were taken at a higher angle and showed in greater detail the danger those people were in. For example, the cars that remained on the broken section of the bridge were on a steeper grade than the television portrayed. I was surprised at the difference in perspective and found it amazing that any of those cars could have stopped in time to avoid going off the bridge into the water.

He went on to say that the bridge was at 50 percent insufficiency, which means the bridge should have been replaced. The state's government received the money to do this, but apparently used it for other reasons. To me this is highly negligent, and those responsible should be held accountable. Totally irresponsible and alsmost evil in a way. Can you imagine being one of the victims or the victims' family and knowing that they could have repaired the bridge but instead used it for some pork project?

He also mentioned several bridges in Nashville that are close to being in the same condition, just like countless bridges across the country. Yikes!

It is a shame that this country was once known for its brilliant infrastructure, which is now starting to come down around us.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

A Peek at the Carnies

Going to work I drive through the fairgrounds, which is usually an open road. Now that the state fair is on, the road is closed, and I have take a detour that takes me out of my way a few blocks. One thing about the detour is that it takes me close to where the carnies' bunkhouses are. I had never thought about where carnies lived--to be honest I never thought much about carnies at all. But now that I have been having to drive past their bunks multiple times a day, they are on my mind.

The doors to some of the bunkhouses have been open, letting me see inside. I have to say it has made me sad to see where they live. It is like a long trailer, divided up into small closets where they have a bunk or mattress. It looks pretty basic. Clothes are strewn around. Jeans and other clothes are also on a line outside, as if they have been washed and hung up to dry. Some people sit on the stoops outside, and a number of bicyles are scattered around.

My curiosity led me to google "carnie life" and I read a few items. Carnies are the working homeless, I discovered. But they have a real community and take their work seriously. I told a friend about the sad looking bunkhouses, and he said that lifestyle probably holds a real attraction for some people. I agree, although it certainly wouldn't be for me. It's just too bad they have to live in those small closets, even though they pay very little to stay there it seems.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

MPRE Success!

Well, I checked the MPRE website early this morning for some strange reason, and there was a message for me saying my MPRE score was ready.

What a scary moment!

I don't know why I checked the website--I didn't really expect the grade to be ready until Friday. It would then be five weeks since I had taken the test, and they said the scores would be back in five weeks. With something this big, I wouldn't expect the scores to be back early.

But anyway, check I did, and it instructed me to download my score. Before I could even organize my thoughts, there I was downloading it, saying a quick little prayer that I had passed. I thought I had done well, but three years of law school have taught me to not always trust those feelings.

OK, so it was downloading, and then suddenly it was there in front of me. 119! That was my score. I had to do a double take to make sure I was looking at the right place. Yup. I was. I felt so grateful. Not only had I passed, but I had done very well.

The scores are scaled. Normally, the scores would be up to 100, but they scale them, so the easy and hard tests will come out to be the same weight.

I am floating on air!

For those who still need to take the test, here is my main tip: Make sure you take the Barbri review course, and read the whole outline they give you very well. And take the practice tests. I think taking the practice tests, and learning from my mistakes was the best thing I did to prepare.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Karl Dean is Nashville's New Mayor!

Karl Dean is mayor! Karl Dean is mayor! Karl Dean is mayor! Karl Dean is mayor!

Can you tell I am happy about this?

To be honest, I was worried. I thought it would be a closer race than it was; I was afraid that Bob Clement might win. I thought people might vote for Clement mainly out of name recognition.

But it turned out to not be true. Bob Clement conceded much earlier than expected. I would have thought he would have waited a while longer before giving it up.

But he didn't, and he made a gracious speech. On the news tonight, someone said that it sounded like he was bowing out of politics in general.

Karl is a good guy, and he will be good for Nashville at this point in time.

Prayers Please for Nashville's Daryl Holton--to be Executed at 1 a.m CST

Daryl Keith Holton did a bad thing--he killed his children and their half sister. He is scheduled to be executed this morning at 1 a.m, just a few hours away.

Please say prayers that he will be spared from this, or if not spared that God will be merciful. I don't know that much about his story. Murder is bad, but execution is bad too. He had a choice to be executed by lethal injection or the electric chair, and he chose the electric chair. Why, I am not sure.

Below is an article from the Nashville Tennessean newspaper. Apparently, the maker of the electric chair is saying how horrible it is. I am embarrassed that we are the only supposedly civilized country that still has the death penalty. But I am convinced we won't for much longer. I think the people of the U.S. will finally learn how horrible and futile the death penalty is, and that it really makes violence in this country worse.

I am proud that a group of lawyers is leading this effort to spare him. I am hoping that I can use my law degree to help abolish the death penalty.


Tuesday, 09/11/07
With hours to go, lawyers try to stop Holton execution

BY LEON ALLIGOOD, Staff Writer

A contingent of 69 lawyers, most of them from the Nashville area, asked the Tennessee Supreme Court today to stop the execution of Daryl Keith Holton.
Holton, 45, is scheduled to be put to death by electrocution at 1 a.m. Wednesday. The Shelbyville, Tenn., man was convicted in 1999 of killing four children, including three sons and the boys’ half-sister.

The attorneys said there is “a very serious question whether electrocution violates the evolving standards of decency under the Eighth Amendment and the Tennessee Constitution.” It is unclear when or if the justices will rule on the matter. The Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Petitioners, which included such well-known Nashville lawyers G. Gordon Bonnyman, George Barrett and Cecil Branstetter, asked the high court to either “declare electrocution unconstitutional or order an expeditious review of the constitutionality of electrocution in Tennessee.”The 75-page document included autopsy information from numerous electric chair deaths in other states and mentions concerns of Fred Leuchter, builder of Tennessee’s electric chair. Leuchter said he believes the state’s execution plan will not kill Holton instantaneously.“Leuchter’s concern that Holton will be cooked alive is all too real,” the petition said.For more on this story, check Tennessean.com later tonight and tomorrow.

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Prayers also in remembrance of all the 9/11 victims. I still can't imagine how horrible it would have been to be trapped in the towers and to come to the realization you weren't going to get out.

Monday, September 10, 2007

What Happened to Home Depot?

When I wasn't looking, what happened to the darling of the big box set--The Home Depot? OK, granted, I live in a condo, not a single family home, and I am not a do-it-yourselfer, so I am not a big bet to hang out at HD. My forays at HD have mainly centered around buying paint (probaby 5 years ago) and an occasional trip to get an air filter.

My last trip there to get an air filter was within the last year, and I have to admit, I did notice the lack of employees on the floor. But I didn't know it had hit epidemic levels. Also, on occasion when I bought a larger item, like a new toilet, I did comparison shopping between HD and Lowe's and chose the latter, based on price for the item and installation costs. Again, I did not realize this was part of a bigger trend.

A few years back, all I seemed to hear was positive news about the big box retailer--how people loved The Home Depot, how they had so many Olympic athletes working for them, and how it just seemed to be mecca in general.

Today the news is so different--and seems especially focused on the poor customer service. How the retailer hires mainly part time people and caps their wages, how the employees seem disgruntled and that of course tends to affect their work attitudes.

If you google HD, you will see comment after comment about how poor the store is these days. I guess I hadn't kept up with the news. But if I had gone to the store more often, I am sure my brief impression would have been confirmed long before now.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Moot Court Blues--Pilot Episode

This week was the first week for moot court. I had heard bad stories about the class and the teacher. I had seen him walking around, and he seemed like a curmudgeon. I was really dreading it.

Well, it turned out not to be as bad as I was fearing. At least not yet. The man actually has a sense of humor, and showed it in class. He told some stories on himself. He said he didn't want us studying for other classes during moot court, but then sort of left the impression that maybe we could do that if we are not too obvious about it. (I could really use that time to study!)

He also answered the question, "Why take moot court?" He said that many people do not think they will be in the courtroom as lawyers, or that they will even practice law. But he said he has known many students to change their mind down the road, and either decide to practice law, or if already practicing law, decide they do want to be in the courtroom. So the class can give you some good foundation.

He also made the point that new lawyers should not go into private practice with just their classmates. He said make sure you go into practice with older, more experienced lawyers. That makes sense, but some people must not do that. I certainly would not want to practice law as a new attorney with just other new attorneys. I would be afraid I would not know what to do.

So, we divided up into our teams, and I am with the same team I had before. We asked to be together again, as we work well together. I think it is going to a fine class and that we will learn a lot. He is going to grade us tougher than the other teacher did, so that will be a big difference.

Friday, September 7, 2007

New Product Niche?

Our company stumbled into a big order the other day and we are thrilled. It came to us out of the blue. It involves a medical product (don't want to say what and give other people ideas!) and some changes that are going to have to be made to it in the next year. Luckily we were in the right place at the right time, and had a great response time to the query and a good price. We are able to make the changes that are required. We are also going to be able to make the deadline, even though it will mean some people working overtime this weekend.

But it is exciting for us. At a time when we are worried about growth, this is a boon. And it has given us the idea of approaching other companies to see if we can do similar things for them, maybe even creating a new niche. Right now we are working on proposals that one of our associates will take out on the road.

The great thing about one success is that it fans the fire to seek out other successes.

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On a less cheery note, we had to send our second employee today to get drug tested, which means he probably won't be coming back to work, since he will probably test positive. I am surprised, but not surprised. There has been a feeling that he uses drugs, maybe even sometimes at work. But I am surprised that he took the chance after the other man was let go. What is also surprising to me is how many people at work have family members who have had serious problems with drugs. Very serious. We don't have that many employees, and it seems there is an inordinate amount of them with this issue. It is really heartbreaking, and they don't deserve it. I talked with another woman at work about this, and she says that she thinks this problem is pretty widespread. I don't know--in my former working years, I never heard of this high of a proportion of workers having to deal with this. I wonder if this is more of a blue collar thing?

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Vote Karl Dean for Nashville's Future

Less than a week from now, Nashville will elect its next mayor. I hope the voters choose Karl Dean, whom I believe is the best choice. Dean is smart, has plenty of city experience, and has progressive ideas. His opponent is Bob Clement, a nice man, but who is sort of a good old boy. He doesn't seem to have new, fresh ideas. Nashville is such a great city now, we can't afford to go backwards. The city has had its share of old time politicians, and we should not make the mistake of electing another one.

As a law student, what is frightening to me is Clement's seemingly lack of knowledge of the Constitution. He keeps attacking Dean on his record as the city's elected public defender, acting as if Dean did something wrong by representing criminals and doing his job well. I am hoping he really understands the Constitution, and that criminals need a good defense. Surely, he doesn't misunderstand this. If he doesn't understand this, he should not be in a leadership position.

But if he does understand this, but is playing up to people's fears or ignorance, this is just as bad. We don't need a mayor doing either of these things.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Jammin' at Hippie Jack's

I treated myself this holiday weekend, and to get away from the studying went for an afternnoon to the music festival, Jammin' at Hippie Jack's, which was on the Cumberland Plateau, a couple of hours from here.

The location is really neat, out in the middle of nowhere, but is a beautiful setting. You can camp there for the festival, which was running for several days.

I was there for about 5 hours--wish I could have stayed longer, but had to get back to studying and my doggie--Stoopot.

They had a couple of tents set up, and some bluegrass bands playing. I heard one of the featured bands, the Hector Qirko band from Knoxville, and they were great. They had a latin flavor, and I love latin music. I could have listened to them for hours. I hope to hear them again.

Jack is going to have more of these festivals. The one this weekend was being filmed and will be shown on the local Cookeville PBS station. I believe it is also being syndicated to go national on PBS too.

***************

OK, I treated myself twice and went with a friend last night to see The Invasion, starring now Nashvillian Nicole Kidman. The movie is good and has some scary moments. But the neat thing was Nicole was a tough cookie. She is good to have around in a crisis. I still haven't seen Nicole around town like so many other people have.

Saturday, September 1, 2007

What Went Wrong with Nifong?

What was going through Mike Nifong's head when he pulled his antics in regard to the three Duke University lacrosse players? Did he not think he would be found out?

Nifong, the former Durham County, North Carolina, district attorney has been stripped of his law license and will spend one day in jail for lying to the judge about the rape charges against the athletes. Nifong, held in criminal contempt of court, was found to have provided the defense with a DNA testing report that he knew to be incomplete, according to an MSNBC.com article.

I know that Nifong had practiced law for a long time, and that most states only passed ethics rules within the last few years. But lawyers were supposed to learn the ethics rules anyway and uphold them.

Here is what the Barbri Professional Responsibility outline says about the special responsibilities of prosecutors:

--The prosecutor in a criminal case is not simply an advocate but also a minister of justice; the prosecutor's primary goal is to seek justice; not to convict. [comment 1 to ABA Model Rule 3.8]

--A prosecutor must not prosecute a charge that she knows is not supported by probable cause.
[ABA Model Rule 3.8(a)]

--A prosecutor must timely disclose to the defense all evidence and information known to the prosecutor that tends to negate the guilt of the accused or mitigate the degree of the offense.[ABA Model Rule 3.8 (d)] Failure to disclose material information may deprive the defendant of due process. [See Brady v. Maryland 373 U.S. 83 (1963).

et seq.

Speaking of professional responsibility, I should be getting back my MPRE score next week. The scores are supposed to come out five weeks after the test. Nail biting time!