Another annika exclusive:

After that hot tub party, Pat got in the mood for a little two-on-one ball.

Somebody stop me, please.

Posted by: annika at 12:49 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Doug TenNapel and i have been trying to find the source of the following quote, allegedly made by Thomas Jefferson.

The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only object of good government.

i maintain a Missourian's attitude towards the Virginian's quote. Unless i know where it came from, i am not willing to believe that TJ actually said it. It sounds like something someone made up and attributed to Jefferson to give the quote more weight.

Now i know there are some Jefferson scholars in my audience. What do you folks think?

Update: Wow, that was fast!

Publicola found the source, which is an 1809 letter from TJ to Maryland Republicans. The quote can be found at page 359 of volume 16 in the 20 volume set, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson (ME) Memorial Edition (Lipscomb and Bergh, editors), Washington, D.C., 1903-04.

The legend of Publicola continues...

Posted by: annika at 06:54 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Elizabeth Bishop is one of America's best loved poets. i think her work is like a watercolor painting: simple, easy, but so deceptively intricate. The closer you look, the more her genius reveals itself.

Since everybody's grumbling these days about gas prices, i thought i'd select a nostalgic poem that takes us back to the days when gas was cheap, Exxon was Esso, and full service was the rule.

Filling Station

Oh, but it is dirty!
--this little filling station,
oil-soaked, oil-permeated
to a disturbing, over-all
black translucency.
Be careful with that match!

Father wears a dirty,
oil-soaked monkey suit
that cuts him under the arms,
and several quick and saucy
and greasy sons assist him
(it's a family filling station),
all quite thoroughly dirty.

Do they live in the station?
It has a cement porch
behind the pumps, and on it
a set of crushed and grease-
impregnated wickerwork;
on the wicker sofa
a dirty dog, quite comfy.

Some comic books provide
the only note of color--
of certain color. They lie
upon a big dim doily
draping a taboret
(part of the set), beside
a big hirsute begonia.

Why the extraneous plant?
Why the taboret?
Why, oh why, the doily?
(Embroidered in daisy stitch
with marguerites, I think,
and heavy with gray crochet.)

Somebody embroidered the doily.
Somebody waters the plant,
or oils it, maybe. Somebody
arranges the rows of cans
so that they softly say:
ESSO--SO--SO--SO

to high-strung automobiles.
Somebody loves us all.

Posted by: annika at 11:24 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Poor Pat O'Brien. No more partyin' for a while, you freak.

Them celebrities can get pretty wild, though. Wouldn't you like to have been at this party?

You're right, i guess not.

Posted by: annika at 11:39 PM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Pollhost censored my poll again. i admit that the Modesto poll was lame, but come on. The only objectionable word in it was meth. It's not like i was encouraging drug use by making fun of Modesto as the meth capital of the San Joaquin Valley. i'm going to have to get used to Pollhost's new zero tolerance approach to anything that in any way might possibly cause someone to raise the slightest objection.

Fuck.

Okay so i got a new poll, go vote in it.

Posted by: annika at 08:08 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Not that i have any credibility left after the devastation my bracket suffered this last weekend. But i will offer you some predictions for the rest of the tournament.

Two Pac-10 teams are in the Sweet Sixteen. Arizona and Washington. Kiss 'em goodbye. No way Washington is going to beat Louisville, who polled at number four pre-tournament. And it's never a good idea to bet on Arizona. They almost always disappoint. The Wildcats may make it past OK State, but they won't beat Illinois, who are the closest thing to an NBA team in the tournament this year.

Arch rivals North Carolina and Duke have played each other 219 times, but never in the NCAA Tournament. Isn't that an incredible stat? i want to see it happen this year, and therefore i am predicting it to happen.

And Bobby Knight must not win. Must... not... win.

Okay so this post is more about wishful thinking than actual predictions based on evidence. Or actual basketball knowledge.

Plus i like Duke's uniform, so they will win the championship.

Posted by: annika at 03:57 PM | Comments (9) | Add Comment
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i've read Judge Whittemore's ruling on the Shiavo case. The question before him was narrow, and i am persuaded by his reasoning. Reluctantly and sadly persuaded.

Judge Whittemore was constrained by the well established law regarding the issuance of restraining orders and injunctive relief. It cannot be otherwise. Ultimately i blame the trial court for getting it wrong, but the appelate process has limited ability to question the findings of fact made by the original trial court.

"The law is hard, but it is the law."

“If the law supposes that,” said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, “the law is a ass—a idiot. If that’s the eye of the law, the law is a bachelor; and the worst I wish the law is, that his eye may be opened by experience—by experience.”

Posted by: annika at 09:39 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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A commenter asked whether i was going to write about the Terri Schiavo case. i haven't yet because i don't know enough about the facts, and it's such a sad story i didn't want to think about it.

But this weekend, it's been hard to ignore the story.

There are so many issues, i find my opinions whipsawing back and forth. i'd rather say i don't have an opinion, and go back to enjoying my spring break. But i do have an opinion. Several opinions, as a matter of fact, and they aren't necessarily consistent. Nor am i comfortable with them.

Firstly, as background, i am Catholic. i oppose abortion for secular as well as religious reasons. There's a huge difference between the Schiavo case and the abortion issue, despite what the idealogues on both sides say. But since i'm pro-life, it's probably not surprising that when i look at the Schiavo case, i feel a great degree of sympathy for her parents' side.

Dura lex sed lex...

But i'm also profoundly uncomfortable with the legislative branch of the Federal government stepping in to oversee the ruling of a state court. That's my libertarian sensibility talking. My belief in federalism, the separation of powers, Jeffersonian democracy, the vision of our Founders. All that rot.

In 1904, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said "Great cases, like hard cases, make bad law. For great cases are called great, not by reason of their real importance in shaping the law of the future, but because of some accident of immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgment."¹

This is both a "hard" case, and a "great" case. Great because the issues at stake are the most fundamental to which the law can be applied. Hard because no matter what happens, Terri Schiavo will die. So it must be for all of us. But in Terri's case, the law can influence the manner and timing of her death. And that's part of the problem.

Left to the judgment of the Florida Court, Terri Schiavo dies a lingering death of starvation sometime in the next week or so. Congress steps in (as they just did moments ago), and she may - repeat may - get to live out the rest of her life, bedridden, brain-damaged, and feeding from a tube through her stomach. Only to die from some other more "natural" cause.

Dura lex sed lex...

Who should decide how she dies, when Terri's own wishes were never recorded? Here the law is clear: her husband should. But what if her husband is an asshole, whose motivations are suspect? Should this "accident of immediate overwhelming interest" be allowed to distort the judgment that would normally keep the federal legislature from intervening in a state judicial matter just because it disagrees with the outcome of one particular high profile case?

Dura lex sed lex...

...which means: The law is hard, but it is the law. Watching the House debate tonight, i find myself in the unusual position of agreeing with many of the Democrats, as they take the floor to give impassioned speeches in support of the "rule of law." (Where were they when the issue was purjury, and no life was at stake?) Hard as the law may be, they say, should Congress change the law for the benefit of one single person? i ask myself the same question.

Dura lex sed lex...

But then i think, what law? What law indeed. Here's a law that inevitably must figure into this controversy:

nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law²

And then i think, there is another, even greater law, that may also apply here. One which helps guide me through my own conflicted thoughts:

Thou shalt not kill.³

The law is hard, but it is the law.

i am not saying that we should subordinate the civil law to the religious, like they do in Iran. i am not in favor of a theocracy. But this is a case about morality as much as it is about the rule of law. We have to be guided by moral principles as well as legal ones.

Talmudic and Christian scholars tell us that there are situations in which it may be moral to kill, or at least not immoral. This indeed may be one of those situations. All i'm saying is let's make sure. Ideally, i wish the court would order those diagnostic tests that her husband has refused to allow.

At the very minimum, i think the procedural rush to euthanize her should be slowed down. So, despite my public policy concerns about federal intervention, i do think that the uncertainty of the situation demands the same opportunity for federal review of her due process rights that a death penalty case would receive.

Update: There's an interesting discussion of the federalism issue by an expert on the subject, Ann Althouse. She quotes today's WSJ editorial, which reminds me that perhaps i should have cited the fourteenth, not the fifth amendment, supra. i have made the correction. Hey, at least my blue book cites were good.
_______________

¹ Northern Securities Company v. United States, 193 U.S. 197 (1904)(Holmes, J., dissenting).

² U.S. Const. amend. XIV § 1. Section 5 of this amendment states that "The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article." Bingo.

³ Exodus 20:13 (King James).

[cross-posted at A Western Heart]

Posted by: annika at 08:18 PM | Comments (16) | Add Comment
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1 "...i don't know enough about the facts, and it's such a sad story i didn't want to think about it." I know too much about the facts, and I want to think about it even less. I've thought and written and watched and listened about it all far too much for my own good in the past few days: I've felt some kind of obligation to, given my own previous if peripheral involvement with it. There's too much to say, and I'll never feel I've said enough. I could respond to each of the points you've made in turn, but I no longer have any desire to: I think your words have put it more elegantly and clearly than I possibly could any more, since it all really is getting me pretty inarticulate at this point. Thanks.

Posted by: Dave J at March 20, 2005 11:13 PM (cZ/tT)

2 "Too bad we don't use the chair anymore. He deserves to fry in old sparky." Thou shalt not kill?

Posted by: d-rod at March 21, 2005 10:22 AM (CSRmO)

3 D-rod, the more literal Hebrew translation is actually "thou shalt not murder."

Posted by: Dave J at March 21, 2005 10:48 AM (cZ/tT)

4 Obviously, it has generally been interpreted in a way that opposes "unjust killing". Exodus 21, however, goes on to say that if a man kills a slave under his hand and the death is not immediate he is pretty much exempt from this commandment. Is that not a case in the Bible for letting a murderer walk away scot-free?

Posted by: d-rod at March 21, 2005 11:24 AM (CSRmO)

5 Not having kept up with the Shiavor case very much, this is my question: Isn't Congress' involvement really a kabuki dance - with their real concern being abortion v. right to life? Isn't this the elephant in the room? Or do I have the wrong impression?

Posted by: gcotharn at March 21, 2005 12:25 PM (OxYc+)

6 As i implied in that post, d-rod, my stand on the death penalty is in a state of flux. The Groenigen protocol and the Schiavo case have had a lot to do with that. Still, Scott Peterson is not innocent, as Terri Schiavo is. And most likely, he will never be executed, anyway.

Posted by: annika at March 21, 2005 01:06 PM (zAOEU)

7 for seven years or so terri has had nothing but due process, 20 judges (in both state and federal courts) over seven years. This is about 16 or 17 more judges than your typical death penalty case gets and ecrtainly no condemned prisoner has ever had a president awaken in the middle of the night to sign a special bill for him. this president in fact, when he was governor, mocked and laughed at karla faye tucker's appeals. I agree with most of your post, pretty much up until your ending. That man is her husband, even the bible says that no one should come between husband and wife. here her parents want to do exactly that -- and not that i blame them. it sucks that he now speaks for her. but he does. it's florida's law, u.s. law and even biblical law. if he is lying or has impure motives (although i don't think it's money, since by all accounts all the medical malpractice money has been spent on the case and he just recently turned down 1 million dollars to walk away from her) then he will have to answer for that before God (or the florida state police if charges are investigated).

Posted by: dawn summers at March 21, 2005 02:16 PM (HLOeu)

8 I know annie. I was more questioning invoking some ancient commandment to this issue. For example, should "honor thy father and thy mother" be obeyed if the father happened to be Scott Peterson or Charles Manson? Dave J. might argue that honor might be better translated as respect, but whatever. I have to agree with Dawn's conclusion to let her die.

Posted by: d-rod at March 21, 2005 02:56 PM (CSRmO)

9 Happily, Annie, I'm with you on this one. Actually, there isn't much about which to be happy, is there?

Posted by: Hugo at March 21, 2005 03:17 PM (Qst0d)

10 Annika, I agree with your entire post, except your ending about the "procedural rush." As far as I know, and as you said about yourself, I don't know enough about the case to be sure, the cases started over 7 years ago. If that is the case, it doesn't really seem to be a rush. Also, is the husband (I can't remember his name, not that I really care to) really an asshole? My wife suffers from a chronic illness - nowhere near Ms. Schiavo's, but I can, to some extremely limited extent, identify with his pain in watching his wife exist in her state. Would I react the way he has were my wife to be in that state? I hope not, but I cannot fairly say. However, over and above all of that, I am highly impressed by your ability to rationally analyze the case. I am a practicing laawyer and I know very few lawyeers who could set aside their personal feelings as well as you did to analyze what is, in the end, a highly emotional and agonizing affair no matter where you stand on it. I look forward to hearing about your life as a lawyer.

Posted by: JJR at March 21, 2005 04:25 PM (HxEi3)

11 BRAVO! Well done!! Let's have a death penalty convo sometime. I know the path.

Posted by: Casca at March 21, 2005 04:41 PM (cdv3B)

12 Terri is a disabled woman who is aware and responds to her environment. Physically and mentally sound people have presumed to know what she wants. That presumption is that she must want to die because she is disabled, because who would want to live like that? Is hers a life not worthy of life because of the fact that she is disabled? Disabled people everywhere must be very, very frightened. And non-disabled people who could become disabled at some future date should be very, very frightened. Terri is you and Terri is me, and I for one, want to live.

Posted by: Carol at March 21, 2005 06:04 PM (N5d+F)

13 I don't think she should die this way. Starvation is a cruel way to go. Not as cruel as some other wys but not something to be lightly dismissed. That being said it's disappointing that the feds have intervened. The due process argument falls short. If Terri was tried for a crime I could see where a due process claim might (mighty big word might is) be approporiate. But this is as best a civil, not a criminal matter. It's in accordance with Florida's laws (afaik). You can't say someone's been denied due process when they're beign affected by legal actions. & as someone pointed out it's not like there's been one or two court proceedings - there have been several. But the feds didn't like the outcome so they made a play for more power. See aside from the constitutional issues there's one that people often ignore. I bring it up whenever anyone advocates a smoking ban - if a government has the power to prohibit something they also have the power to mandate it. Ban smoking in public places? When that happens they also assume the power to mandate smoking in public places. Demand federal review of a life or death state case? That means they can also deny such review. Or putting it in simpler (if somewhat less accurate) terms - if the feds assume the power to save one life then they assume the power to take it. So I'm agin federal involvement. However there's a state angle which everyone seems to be overlooking. I'm sure Florida has some laws pertaining to adultery on the books. Possibly laws pertaining to appointing a guardian in such matters if for some reason a spouse is not competent to look after her interests. Now if both of those assumptions of mine are true about Florida law then since Terri's hubby has a common law wife & a couple of kids I'd think the best route would be to have someone sue him for divorce on her behalf. If said divorce is granted then the parents should (I assume) become her guardians. But that relies on a few assumptions that I have neither the time nor inclination to delve into. Regardless starvation is cruel as hell. The hubby would gain much more respect if he would abondon the plan of just jerking out her tube. If the situation is as he describes (which seems doubtful) then he'd stand a good chance of acquital if he slipped something into her tube to peacefully kill her. But it seems he wants her dead without getting his hands dirty. I disagree with the decision to end her life & his being a punk about it doesn't do a damn thing to change my mind. Oh, about the detah penalty - in principle I'm in favor of it. In practice I waiver from case to case - mainly because I don't trust our legal system to get it right & when we do pick the right guy we take way too damn long. Ideally the death penalty should be imposed at the time of the crime by the would be victim. But that's another topic entirely & perhaps one too foreign to Californians to discuss in a comments section.

Posted by: Publicola at March 22, 2005 05:06 AM (DQj8i)

14 OK, I'm probably going to be banned for saying this, but... I can't be the only one who saw "lurid sex with Durex" sprinkled throughout this post. Kevin

Posted by: Kevin Kim at March 22, 2005 07:25 AM (bbI6U)

15 Kevin, Durex didn't exist in ancient Rome. They used Trojans. okay now i have to ban myself.

Posted by: annie at March 22, 2005 07:37 AM (F5sOy)

16 I see law school has already warped Annika's mind. She's perfectly citing U.S. Supreme Court cases! Mark, J.D.

Posted by: Mark at March 22, 2005 05:29 PM (Vg0tt)

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My bracket is fucked.

That is all.

Posted by: annika at 11:48 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Just a reminder to you participants in the MLBloggers fantasy baseball league. Draft day is next Sunday, so get your pre-rankings done and saved before then. i will switch the league settings to "ready to draft" at the end of the day, say close to midnight, so you can make last minute changes to your list in between egg painting or whatever else you're doing that day.

Posted by: annika at 09:08 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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i'm honored that Candace tagged me for this Book Meme Thingie, which originated at The Pink Bee. Here we go:

You're stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?

i never read Farenheit 451 either. i read one book by Kurt Vonnegut, and i figure that should take care of any obligation i have to read Bradbury. Anyways i did a quick google search for books mentioned in F451, which led me to: Alice's Adventues in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Totally re-readable, and one of the first real books i ever read. (As opposed to books with lots of pictures.)

Have you ever had a crush on a fictional character?

Not really. i guess the closest i came would be Dean Moriarty from Kerouac's On The Road. i was more in love with the book itself, which threatened to change my life totally for about a year after i read it. That was my celebrated hippie phase. i loved the way he looked at things; he never seemed to miss the inherent coolness in any experience.

The last book you bought is:

Fiction: American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Non-fiction: His Excellency by Joseph J. Ellis, whose historical biographies are always more about ideas than people. School related: Emanuel's Criminal Procedure.

The last book you read:

I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe. Flawed, it was. And thick as a casebook. Still, Tom Wolfe has this way of describing contemporary culture in a way that makes you feel like you're seeing it for the first time, as a visitor from outer space or the future would. There were a few vignettes that were strangely familiar, too.

What are you currently reading?

American Gods is in my school bookbag. Also, on my bedside table is the volume of Robert Frost poetry Matt sent me. And on a little table in the garage where i smoke cigarettes is The Crossley Baby, which sucks, but i'm trying to finish it. Next to the toilet is Watercolor School by Hazel Harrison.

Five books you would take to a deserted island.

1. Like Candace and Ginger, i would take the Good Book
2. The Brothers Karamazov.
3. Robinson Crusoe, which is an obvious choice isn't it? It could double as a survival manual.
4. i like Ginger's idea of Swann's Way. But i would take the whole Remembrance of Things Past set. There's no telling when i'll be rescued.
5. From Dawn to Decadence by Jacques Barzun. A history of the last five hundred years, which i started last year, but put down.

Who are you going to pass this stick to (3 persons) and why?

i pick four: Matt, Paul, Weggy and Sheila, because i know i'll be fascinated by anything they say.

Posted by: annika at 12:21 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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It almost seems as though Ken Wheaton has gazed into my own soul (a la Bush & Putin) with his latest column on The Non-Dating Life. i know he was describing someone else, but this quote could just as eerily apply to yours truly:

She claims to despise 'suits' but is destined to mate with one and produced baby suits. Still, she hangs out in Lower East Side and Williamsburg bars, trolling for too-skinny, geeky musicians who never fail to disappoint because, well, they're musicians, hipster-wannabes and she, deep down inside, is only now realizing she's not exactly compatible with those people. That's not to say she has to end up with a frat boy. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. She needs someone sort of in the middle. But, for now, like a lot of us out there, she's frustrated by running into the same type of guy over and over and over again.

Posted by: annika at 12:09 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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1 aw, not you too, annika? not you too!?

Posted by: ken at March 18, 2005 12:39 PM (xD5ND)

2 It's a terrific observation he's got... Annie, you and my kid sisters have something in common...

Posted by: Hugo at March 18, 2005 12:50 PM (ANywC)

3 hmm. sounds like the typical misinformation propogated by men who never talked to women who've actually had a relationship with a real musician. hipster wannabe indeed!

Posted by: Publicola at March 18, 2005 03:35 PM (DQj8i)

4 actually, all of my information about women in relationships with musicians comes directly from women in relationships with musicians. from new york to nashville to new orleans, it's the same damn story over and over. and, as a "writer" i can say i'm not a hell of a lot better than musicians on the whole mental health/need for constant attention thing. i just don't have the temptation/curse of groupies to deal with. of course, i'm not talking about "serious" (ahem) musicians.

Posted by: ken at March 18, 2005 03:46 PM (xD5ND)

5 Ok Poem Gyrl. It is time to throw in the lyrics from one of my favorite songs "Love is a Battlefield" We are young, heartache to heartache we stand No promises, no demands Love is a battlefield We are strong, no one can tell us weÂ’re wrong SearchinÂ’ our hearts for so long, both of us knowing Love is a battlefield YouÂ’re begginÂ’ me to go, youÂ’re makinÂ’ me stay Why do you hurt me so bad? It would help me to know Do I stand in your way, or am I the best thing youÂ’ve had? Believe me, believe me, I canÂ’t tell you why But IÂ’m trapped by your love, and IÂ’m chained to your side We are young, heartache to heartache we stand No promises, no demands Love is a battlefield We are strong, no one can tell us weÂ’re wrong SearchinÂ’ our hearts for so long, both of us knowing Love is a battlefield WeÂ’re losing control Will you turn me away or touch me deep inside? And before this gets old, will it still feel the same? ThereÂ’s no way this will die But if we get much closer, I could lose control And if your heart surrenders, youÂ’ll need me to hold We are young, heartache to heartache we stand No promises, no demands Love is a battlefield We are strong, no one can tell us weÂ’re wrong SearchinÂ’ our hearts for so long, both of us knowing Love is a battlefield We are young, heartache to heartache we stand No promises, no demands Love is a battlefield We are strong, no one can tell us weÂ’re wrong SearchinÂ’ our hearts for so long, both of us knowing Love is a battlefield Written by: mike chapman & holly knight

Posted by: Jake at March 18, 2005 06:48 PM (r/5D/)

6 Ah, its so rewarding to see another one realize life with us "suits" is so much more fun and rewarding. Ya, it was bizarre in college watching otherwise intelligent women date hipster dufusses, but hearing the cries of "what went wrong" from these same women now who never really figured it out provides some comfort. Even more so when I come home to my beautiful wife and family

Posted by: Pursuit at March 19, 2005 06:45 AM (VqIuy)

7 Pursuit, I could write thousands of words on the whole hipster/suit/fratboy/whatever subject. I wouldn't consider myself a suit ... mostly because I can't afford good ones, but isn't it amusing how the same sort of people (hipsters) who run around saying "The clothes don't matter, it's what's inside" turn right around and judge others on... their clothes. What's especially funny is that at least the hipsters have a choice in wardrobe. Not many people are running around in a suit because they woke up and said, "Man, I feel like wearing a starched shirt, wool pants and a noose around my neck. That's hot!" I like ratty jeans and old t-shirts. Don't get me wrong. And if I were 19 today, I'd probably have an entire trucker hat collection (and for some reason, it's the trucker hat more than anything that drives me absolutely batshit). After all, when I was in college, my hair was long and curly, I wore flannel and thought I was Eddie Vedder. At the end of the day, though, I hang out with people who dress LIKE hipsters and who dress IN suits. But they all have the same qualities. As we say in Louisiana: They like to get drunk and pass a good time.

Posted by: ken at March 19, 2005 07:28 AM (9WeJO)

8 i'm trying to imagine how the Paris-ism "that's hott" would sound with a cajun accent. but i'm not having much luck. ; )

Posted by: annika at March 19, 2005 10:01 AM (LrQx6)

9 Ken, Agree on a lot of points, except one. Increasingly even us suits have a choice in what to wear. Unfortunately for mosts "suits" they choose chinos and a golf shirt, instead of anything that actually looks nice, but at least it is their choice. Further, I think the traders and technologists that I work with would be amused to hear your thoughts on what people are forced to wear. We've hired them for their brain, not their dress. That said, we do ask that they dress for clients from time to time. Here is the weird part: I miss wearing a suit and will put one on from time to time, because it looks great and is comfortable.

Posted by: Pursuit at March 19, 2005 12:15 PM (VqIuy)

10 Thanks for speaking up for the grownups Pursuit.

Posted by: Casca at March 19, 2005 10:02 PM (cdv3B)

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Currently pending in the Texas House of Representatives is H.B. No. 1476, which i've posted below, in full:

AN ACT relating to regulation of sexually suggestive performances at certain public school events.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

          SECTION 1. Subchapter D, Chapter 33, Education Code, is amended by adding Section 33.088 to read as follows:

          Sec. 33.088. SEXUALLY SUGGESTIVE PERFORMANCES PROHIBITED.

          (a) A school dance team, drill team, cheerleading team, or similar performance group may not perform in a sexually suggestive manner at an athletic or other extracurricular event or competition sponsored or approved by a school district or campus.

          (b) A school performance group that violates Subsection (a) may not perform for the remainder of the school year in which the violation occurs.

          (c) If the commissioner determines that a school district or a campus in a school district knowingly permits a sexually suggestive performance prohibited by Subsection (a) or knowingly permits a school performance group to perform in violation of Subsection (b), the commissioner shall reduce the funding the district receives under Chapter 42 by an amount the commissioner determines appropriate.

          SECTION 2. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this Act takes effect September 1, 2005.

i'll keep an eye on it.

i don't understand why people think conservatives are prudes, when it's Democrats who want a new law for every perceived threat to morality. Remember Tipper?

Posted by: annika at 08:59 AM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Once again, in lieu of actual blog content, it's time for Friday photoshopped self-promotional nonsense.

This week we examine: Annika Gyrl: The unauthorized annikabiography.

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Were this thing ever to see print, it would surely be filled from end to endpaper with the most shocking debauchery of a type that would cause Mr. Verdana to blush, Ms. Arial to shield her eyes, and both Mr. Times and Mr. New Roman to run for cover.

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i notice that a few bloggers have posted pictures of their favorite Irish beverage in celebration of today's holiday.

Eric posted about Caffrey's, a brew i have not yet sampled.

Preston posted about that old standby, Guinness, a brew that i am all too familiar with. And if Matt were still posting regularly, i know he'd put up a Guinness photo, too.

Here's my Irish brew of choice:

Slightly bitter, a hint of cocoa, very complex on the palate. Murphy's Stout makes Guinness taste like water by comparison.

No beverage pics at Sheila's but she's got a bevy of great St. Patrick's day posts, as i expected. i'm still eagerly awaitin' to see what the Irish Lass will post. And Happy Anniversary to Dizzy Girl Gennie and her hubbie!

Update: Ted wants a Corona. A Corona?! i won't even drink that shit on cinco de Mayo.

And the best St. Patrick's Day gift of all: bad-ass John is back! With a post on his drink of choice to boot!

Now, if we could just work on Bill at Bloviating Inanities.

Update 2: i almost missed Michele's Guinness Ice Cream recipe until just now. Don't you miss it.

Posted by: annika at 10:18 AM | Comments (14) | Add Comment
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1 MMMmmmmmMMMMmmmm. I like Murphy's too. But I can't find it, either.

Posted by: Eric at March 17, 2005 10:31 AM (lK7Sh)

2 I'm stopping to get some Murphy's on the way home from work. We'll see about your Guinness bashing. Then again, I do have a big jug of Bushmills Irish Whiskey that I may tap instead. These are difficult choices.

Posted by: Preston Taylor Holmes at March 17, 2005 10:45 AM (WsZ4F)

3 I, too, will be trying the Murphy's tonight, having drunk many Guinnesses (Guinni?).

Posted by: JD at March 17, 2005 11:49 AM (PJ4Iq)

4 I have never tried murphy's. I guess I will try it out, I don't think there is a better day.

Posted by: chris at March 17, 2005 12:36 PM (vGRel)

5 *hugs* Thanks so much. Happy St. Patty's Day!

Posted by: Gennie at March 17, 2005 12:40 PM (5qJI3)

6 Hate to kill the Irish spirit, but try a few Belgian Blondes like Duvel. (And then seek out real Belgian Blondes) The taste is truly complex and at 9% alcohol/volume, it is a more efficient way to the land of wobbly public urination.

Posted by: Jason O. at March 17, 2005 01:40 PM (2CAKL)

7 Belgian blondes ain't no match for one Danish blonde! hee hee

Posted by: annika at March 17, 2005 02:06 PM (zAOEU)

8 I am with you on the corona the hell with that crap. So a Danish blonde beats a Belgian blonde, I don't think I have seen a Danish blonde before or any Danish person for that matter. What do they look like?

Posted by: chris at March 17, 2005 03:19 PM (vGRel)

9 Chris: I have been to Denmark a number of times. The first thing you notice about the Danish is their height. They are the giants of the human race-both male and female. Since I like tall women that is one of the reasons I am impressed with Danish women.

Posted by: Jake at March 17, 2005 04:52 PM (r/5D/)

10 One word : WHISKY www.lawguy.blogspot.com

Posted by: lawguy2003 at March 17, 2005 07:11 PM (U0IaD)

11 Blech, I'm glad that I buy Jameson's by the case. Bushmills is dog's vomit.

Posted by: Casca at March 17, 2005 10:18 PM (cdv3B)

12 i liked your "panther piss" epithet better. alliteration, hon.

Posted by: annika at March 18, 2005 09:19 AM (zAOEU)

13 Belgian blondes are definitely among the best BEER--mmmm, Duvel; mmmmm, Hoegaarden--but I'm inclined/persuaded to believe Danish blondes are better in the other sense. ;-)

Posted by: Dave J at March 18, 2005 12:17 PM (cZ/tT)

14 Oh, and the Vikings founded Dublin, so you're probably even more Irish than you realize.

Posted by: Dave J at March 18, 2005 12:20 PM (cZ/tT)

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Robert Blake is breathing two huge sighs of relief tonight. One for being found not guilty and the other for his incredible stroke of luck months before his own trial began. Yes, when Blake was shopping around for lawyers after firing his legal team a couple of times, Mark Geragos was busy!

i have a theory why Michael Jackson fired Geragos a few months back. Winona Ryder must have called to warn him. Lucky for MJ, he's got a much better lawyer now in Thomas Mesereau.

Exhibit 1 of the evidence that Geragos is the world's worst lawyer was introduced on Larry King Live tonight. King asked a juror whether it would have made a difference if Scott had testified. The juror said that if Scott had spoken during the penalty phase, he could never have voted for execution. It seems all the jury wanted was to see some sign of emotion from the defendant.

Instead, Geragos' brilliant strategy was to yuk it up with Scott in front of the jury during the trial. i guess the theory was that an innocent man doesn't show emotion. Not even if his wife and son have been brutally murdered, by a killer who is still out there.

Idiot.

But hey, i'm not complaining about the verdict or the fact that Geragos was so incompetent with this particular case. What bothers me is how much the media seemed to deify Geragos during the trial. Like he was another Johnny Cochran or something. When in fact, Geragos deserves to be ranked somewhere near Marcia Clark on the list of world's worst lawyers.

As a final thought, my opinion on the death penalty has moderated quite a bit since i wrote this post almost two years ago. But the offer still stands.

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The Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad (1933-1967) wrote about freedom using the imagery of erotic love. Although she died in a car accident before the Islamic Revolution, she still lived in a society where women's roles were strictly defined. Her poetry, after being banned for many years, is enjoying huge popularity these days in Iran.

Farrokhzad was a rebel who challenged cultural and political absolutism in her all-too-brief, 15-year literary career. She was a daring explorer of a public language of intimacy and transgression. The epitome of what the Islamic Republic wanted to eradicate, Farrokhzad is now the Iranian equivalent of a rock star. . . .

Her popularity is one of the many dizzying paradoxes any casual visitor encounters in Iran 25 years after the Islamic revolution. Iranian women can drive cars but cannot ride bicycles. They are on the world stage as Nobel Peace laureates, human rights activists, best-selling authors, prize-winning film directors and Oscar nominees -- yet they cannot leave the country without the written permission of their husbands. They are some of the most fashionable women in the world but must observe an obligatory dress code in Iran.

From The Washington Post

I Sinned

Beside a body, tremulous and dazed
I sinned, I voluptuously sinned.
O God! How could I know what I did
in that dark retreat of silence?

In that dark retreat of silence
I looked into his mysterious eyes
my heart trembled restlessly
at the pleading in his eyes.

In that dark retreat of silence
I sat, disheveled, beside him
passion poured from his lips into mine
saved I was from the a agony of a foolish heart.

I whispered the tale of love in his ears:
I want you, 0 sweetheart of mine
I want you, 0 life-giving bosom
I want you, 0 mad lover of mine.

Passion struck a flame in his eyes
the red wine danced in the glass
in the soft bed, my body
shivered drunk on his breast.

I sinned, I voluptuously sinned
in arms hot and fiery
I sinned in his arms
iron-strong, hot, and avenging.

Our world under the mullahs' rule was shaped by the colorless lenses of the blind censor. [Afisi notes that the chief censor, up until 1994, actually was blind.] Not just our reality but also our fiction had taken on this curious coloration in a world where the censor was the poet's rival in rearranging and reshaping reality, where we simultaneously invented ourselves and were figments of someone else's imagination.

. . .

In the course of nearly two decades, the streets have been turned into a war zone, where young women who disobey the rules are hurled into patrol cars, taken to jail, flogged, fined, forced to wash the toilets and humiliated, and as soon as they leave, they go back and do the same thing. . . . [H]ow vulnerable the Revolutionary Guards are who for over eighteen years have patrolled the streets of Tehran and have had to endure young women . . . walking, talking, showing a strand of hair just to remind them that they have not converted.

Born Again

The clock flew away
The curtain went away with the wind
I had squeezed him
In the halo of fire
I wanted to speak
But, ohh!
His dense shady eyelashes
Like the fringes of a silk curtain
Flowed from the depth of darkness
Along the quiver, that deadly quivers,
Down the lost end of mine

I felt I was being freed,
I felt I was being freed,

I felt my skin burst in the expansion of love
I felt my fiery mass melt slowly,
And then it trickled
Trickled,
Trickled
Down into the moon, the sunken, agitated dark moon

[Technorati Tag: poetry]

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A Kerry quote from his February 28, 2005 Distinguished American Award fête at the JFK Library:

A lot of the mainstream media were very responsible during the campaign. They tried to put out a balanced view, and they did show what they thought to be the truth in certain situations of attack. . . . But it never penetrated. And when you look at the statistics and understand that about 80 percent of America gets 100 percent of its news from television, and a great deal of that news comes from either MTV, Jon Stewart, Bill Maher, Jay Leno, David Letterman, you begin to see the size of the challenge. . . . And so I don't have the total answer. I just know it's something that we've really got to grapple with.

i guess what Kerry was trying to say was that he couldn't get his message out. Of course it couldn't have been the message itself. No way. Not that.

Hat tip to Roscoe.

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Bo Bice made a believer out of me tonight. But i'm still sayin' Nadia Turner is the next American Idol.

And Constantine is way cute. He did a nice job with that Three Dog Night song. Or was that Blood, Sweat and Tears?

i feel sorry for Vonzell. She's got a great voice, but trying to do Dionne is like trying to do a Sinatra song. It's impossible to listen to without comparing it to the master.

Mikalah gave up on the competition weeks ago. i think she's as surprised as anyone that she's still there.

Anwar had an unusually bad night. Anthony and Scott did well, without standing out. Lindsey should be gone by all rights; she's totally out of her league.

Which one is Carrie and which one is Jessica? Aren't they the same person?

And Nikko is back, but not for long, i predict.

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Petula Clark once sang:

Don't sleep in the subway, darlin'.

Don't stand in the pouring rain.

Don't eat in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Spit that out in the dentist's drain.

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