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2008 HAS EERIE ECHOS OF 1929: SOME RELEVANT QUOTES
I've mentioned before that I am reading a book titled Devil Take the Hindmost: A History of Financial Speculation. I've even quoted from it in some of my other posts. This week I've been re . . .
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A SITE TRACKING LDS GENERAL AUTHORITIES?
Check out this site I found when performing a google search for BYU Devotional talks: http://ldsapostlesighting.com. Does this seem a little craz . . .
AN INTERESTING (AND IRONIC) PROBLEM
So, in Public Education Law today, we learned that the US Supreme Court had held, in Plyer v. Doe, that a state could not refuse to provide an education to the children of illegal immigrants. The rat . . .
ARE THE RUMORS OF MITT ROMNEY'S DEATH GREATLY EXAGGERATED?
Political pundits are saying that Fred Thompson has killed Mitt Romney (as a viable presidential candidate). What do you think (please comment). And, if it's true, what will the Utah newspapers cove . . .
ATLAS SHRUGGED
I finally forced myself to do something I've been looking forward to doing for years--read Atlas Shrugged. I didn't know much about the book, although I had a number of friends who loved it . . .
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BACK FROM THE DEAD!
Well, after a solid year of absence, this site is about ready to get up and going again. I've re-done the photos page, and plan on starting to post regularly again within the next week or so.
So, . . .
BAR EXAM RESULTS
I passed. That is all. . . .
BARNEY FIFE - DOGS, GIRAFFES, AND LIGHTNING
One of my favorite past times is watching old Andy Griffith Show reruns on KBYU. They come on every night about 11:15 or so. Ros and I end up staying up most nights to watch them. We still haven't . . .
BETRAYED WITH A SMILE
With the second apparent approval of a bailout deal, I just thought I'd post this photo of our illustrious legislative representatives. Today they have achieved their greatest success: fleecing the A . . .
BILL CLINTON HANDICAPS THE REPUBLICAN RACE
Check out this interesting video--Tim Russert asks Bill Clinton to handicap . . .
BLACK WIDOWS (SHIVER)
Check out these photos of black widows that I took walking home from school the other day. These two were living right next to each other, inside some timbers outside of a house fronting Geneva Road. . . .
BLOWING BUBBLES: PART DEUX
A while ago I posted the following quote from a satirical article in The Onion:
"Every American f . . .
BOOK REVIEW: BEAUTIFUL BOY: A FATHER'S JOURNEY THROUGH HIS SON'S ADDICTION BY DAVID SHEFF
I ordered Beautiful Boy just less than a week ago, got it on Wednesday (I love Amazon Prime!) and finished it the same day. It's fearful and riveting and I couldn't put it down. It's a stor . . .
BOOM ON THE WAY UP, ORDERLY DELEVERAGING ON THE WAY DOWN
The causes of our current financial crisis have been discussed ad naseum these days. Lots of the talking heads you see on T.V. or the opinion leaders you read online are now admitting what many of th . . .
BRIDAL VEIL TRIP
We went out of our comfort zone a little bit today a took a trip all the way up to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo Canyon. The leaves have started to turn here and it was beautiful (and 70 degrees). The . . .
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CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?
Apparently, stocks are "edging up" today, despite the bad economic news, because Wall Street investors are betting that the bad economic news will spur the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates ev . . .
CASTRO A SECOND TIER HEADLINE??--THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN'
This is a day late and probably covered at length by many others, but I thought I'd weigh in. I woke up yesterday and loaded up my news sites as usual. Lo and behold, there, as a secondary/terti . . .
CHALLENGING THE CONSUMPTION ARTICLE OF FAITH
No news flash here: we live in a nation that rewards consumption and penalizes saving. You get tax breaks from buying things, not from staying prudent. Interest rates are so low that the return on m . . .
CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS COMES TO BYU LAW SCHOOL
The Chief Justice put in a full days work here at BYU today. He spoke at a University Forum in the morning, held a campus-wide question and answer session immediately after that, and then held an hou . . .
CLIMATE CHANGE ADVOCACY - EFFECTIVE V. LESS EFFECTIVE TECHNIQUES
One of the big surprises of my semester so far, for me as much as for anyone else, is that I enrolled in a global climate change class at the law school. I consider myself to be a global warming skep . . .
CNN'S NEWEST: HEADLINE T-SHIRTS
Yes, the Senate passed the bailout bill today. Overwhelmingly. Both of Utah's Senators--Hatch and Bennett--voted in favor. Now it's up to the House.
But I thought I'd take a break from doom and . . .
COINCIDENCE? I DOUBT IT.
I'm not the only one who has noticed how Obama's recent actions seem to be mimicking Lincoln's (as described by Doris Kearns-Goodwin in her bestseller Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abrah . . .
CRISIS AND THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF POLITICAL PARTIES
I've recently been working my way through James McPherson's outstanding history of the Civil War, Battle Cry of Freedom. As you would expect a comprehensive treatment to do, the book begins . . .
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DAVID CURRIE DIES
David Currie of Chicago past away this evening. I must admit this was somewhat surprising to me, given that I just took Federal Courts . . .
DESCRIPTION OF LAWYERS
Here's a great description of what lawyers do:
A lawyer is a student of meani . . .
DOES ANYONE ELSE FEEL LIKE WE'RE BEING BLACKMAILED?
Even though I suppose some might say it shows a lack of sophistication, I'm a big fan of the old T.V. series legal drama Perry Mason. I've seen just about every episode. In those shows ther . . .
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FANNIE, FREDDIE, AND TESTING THE 30 YEARS ASSUMPTION
The long anticipated bailout is now a reality. Most commentators now agree that the American taxpayer (really meaning the younger American taxpayer and his children) have now been saddled with some u . . .
FINALLY, SOME RAIN FOR UTAH!
Here comes the first Fall 2007 storm. Apparently, the valleys here in Utah are supposed to get between a quarter and a half inch of rain! It's about time. I've been through some really dry summers . . .
FOR ALL THE MANAGERS OUT THERE
Our Securities Regulation Professor shared with us a story from a Dr. Seuss book that I hadn't heard before. This comes from the book "Did I Ever Tell You How Lucky You Are?" It is dedicat . . .
FOR ME AND MY GAL
This is really just a test posting that I am doing.
I particularly want to see if my paragraph replace function is working the way if should be. I'm not sure that it will, but it might. I'm just . . .
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GO COUGARS!
Well, it was a great win for BYU today. Who can figure out the MWC? I have already seen a couple of funny postings floating around the internet about Utah beating UCLA who was beat by Air Force who . . .
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H.L. MENCKEN ON DEMOCRACY
Here's a great quote on democracy from H.L. Mencken:
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and deserve to . . .
HERE IT COMES, THE END OF THE NEW DEAL AS WE KNOW IT!
Interesting story from Fox News -- the first of the Baby Boom generation filed for social security. I must admit to being a little tak . . .
HIGH SCHOOL FOREIGN LANGUAGE EDUCATION: A POLITICALLY CORRECT WASTE?
I have been thinking about writing this post for a while now. The idea developed primarily as a result of a conversation that I had with my wife about Americans' general ignorance about the world aro . . .
HOW FAR WILL HOUSING PRICES FALL?
A few months ago, people were debating about whether the US economy was really in recession. It looked like, perhaps, the Federal Reserve had staved off financial collapse and that, even with the dem . . .
HOW QUICKLY WILL THE 2008 RECESSION REACH UTAH
It seems like the economy is the thing on everyone's mind these days. The Iraq War has really faded in to the background, partly because it has been shoved out of the picture by fears of recession bu . . .
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I FINALLY FOUND IT
I have been looking this song for quite a long time. I heard it played and sung many times -- including by my dad and brother who both served missions in Japan. This afternoon I thought I would site . . .
I'M BACK RUNNING AGAIN!
Well, I went back out running again for the first time in almost 3 months. My knees have been hurting me quite a bit since the middle of this summer. Toward the end of the summer it got so bad that . . .
IDEA FOR LAW REVIEW ARTICLE
I have a great new idea for a law review article: The Misapplication of the "Indisputable Evidence" Standard of Review on Instant Replay Challenges in College Football. It seems to . . .
INCREASING DEMAND FOR A NEW BUBBLE - FROM THE ONION
I thought I would post this very amusing quote from a new article by The Onion: Recession-Plagued Nation Demands New Bubble To Invest In
. . .
IT'S ALL OVER--FINALLY!
Well, two years of posturing, cross-country campaigning, mudslinging, scandals, and shallow debate will finally all come to an end. The American Presidential election process is remarkable and unique . . .
IT'S OFFICIAL--THE MARINERS ARE DEAD!
Despite the best efforts of Felix Hernandez and Ichiro, the Mariner's season is OVER. The team is dead, the victims of a half-month long losing streak that occurred right when the New York Yankees ca . . .
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JUST A QUOTE
In light of the goings-ons in Europe these days, here's a sobering thought from Minyanville's Todd Harrison, via . . .
JUSTICE THOMAS' 60 MINUTES INTERVIEW
Justice Thomas gave a long interview for 60 minutes recently (it was broadcast this past Sunday, I believe). You can view the interview on . . .
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LINCOLN ESSAY
Abraham Lincoln's legacy is as complex as Lincoln himself. A man known for his great sense of humor, Lincoln was also prone to prolonged bouts of "melancholy," perhaps best described today . . .
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MOD REWRITE TEST
This is a test of my mod_rewrite functionality . . . just want to make sure everything is indexable! . . .
MORE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW -- ANDY AND THE DARLINGS
Here's another video clip of Andy "picking," "stranging," or "scrubbing one off" with Briscoe, the boys, Charlene, and even Ernest T. Bass. Just jump in where you can and hang on!
. . .
MY AMAZON STORE
I finally set up an AStore for Amazon.com this morning. I plan on listing all the books that I review as well as my current lineup of camera and running equipment (as well as any other interesting st . . .
MY CONCERNS VALIDATED?
This article showed up on MSNBC.com this morning, and says some things in line with what I've posted about . . .
MY FIRST AUTHOR REVIEW
Wow, I just finished my initial author review for my article that's being published in the BYU Law Review. I think the article is getting quite a bit better, a . . .
MY INFLUENCES: BRUCE HAFEN ON DEALING WITH UNCERTAINTY
This is the first in a line of posts that I'll be adding about ideas/writings that have had a significant impact on the development of my own opinions. I hope they'll be interesting posts and perhaps . . .
MY INFLUENCES: PATRICK HENRY, LIBERTY AND DEATH, AND AMERICA'S CONCEPTION OF ITSELF
It's been a long time since I've posted one of these "influences" posts. This one was prompted by a paper written by a law school friend on Patrick Henry, national power, and the War Powers . . .
MY THOUGHTS ON THE REPUBLICAN YOUTUBE DEBATE
Well, the Republican YouTube debate is over now, and here are my thoughts.
(1) Romney didn't do well. Part of this was due to his unwillingness to commit himself to positions on issues li . . .
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NO MORE BAILOUTS?
Bernake today warned investors that the Federal Reserve might not bail them out again with another interest rate cut at the end of the month. He said (very truthfully) that it's not the Fed's job to . . .
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OBAMA, CHANGE™, CLINTON APPOINTEES, AND REPUBLICAN SOUR GRAPES
CAVEAT: Don't go interpreting this as a change in heart toward Obama, just an attack on a ridiculous argument.
The latest Republican attack on President-elect Obama is that his appo . . .
OUR LITTLE ARTISTS
Randy and Shane have both become quite the draw-ers lately. With Shaney, it all started on the walls . . . in fact, we still have some evidence of his talents visible for all our visitors to see. Bu . . .
OUR NEW PLACE
Well, we're back after finals, graduation, and a move. We now live in the exclusive town of Holladay . . . as renters. Yes, it's sad but true: we have not yet become a part of President Bush's " . . .
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PREP COURSES AND RETAKES--WHAT'S THE FUTURE OF STANDARDIZED TESTING?
Today I read an article in the Deseret News about a kid who got a perfect score on his ACT exam. Supposedly he's the only one in . . .
PRESIDENT GORDON B. HINCKLEY--WHAT IS THIS THING THAT MEN CALL DEATH?
Ever since first hearing a poem written by President Hinckley recited and sung at his funeral, it's been on my mind. Some recent events have made me think about it even more. It really is a beautifu . . .
PRESIDENT HINCKLEY GIVES GREAT TALK AT BYU DEVOTIONAL
President Hinckley gave a great talk on Tuesday at a BYU Devotional. He used an image of an imploding building to describe what happens to the life of a person who indulges in sin. The best part abo . . .
PUBLISHED!
This news is a little bit old . . . but my Comment "Constrained by the Liberal Tradition: Why the Supreme Court has not Found Positive Rights in the American Constitution" is going to be published by . . .
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RANDY'S NOW IN SCHOOL . . . A PARENT'S THOUGHTS
Well, our oldest son is now officially a school kid. I never thought this day would really come when he was born 5 1/2 years ago, but it did--and faster than I ever thought was possible. It's also h . . .
RECENT GOVERNMENT ACTION AND THE LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
Wikipipedia defines The Law of Unintended Consequences as follows:
The "law of unintended consequences" (also called the "la . . .
RECESSION WATCH 2008: IS THE SKY FALLING OR NOT?
It's been hard to miss the gloating over the economy--both by those who are convinced that we are about to enter into a major, major recession and those who criticize the doom and gloomers. My prior . . .
REPUBLICAN FUNDRAISING TOTALS
Apparently, the standings in the third-quarter fundraising race for Republican Presidential candidates went like this: Guilliani ($11 million), Romney ($10 million), Thompson ($9.3 million), and McCai . . .
ROCKIES SET TO FALL...
According to this Seattle Times article, the Colorado Rockies are on quite the streak: 19-1 in their . . .
ROMNEYS RANKED BEHIND CLINTONS AND GIULLIANIS FOR MARRIAGE HAPPINESS
Now, Mitt Romney has some problems as a presidential candidate -- foremost among them an inability to seem sincere about almost anything -- but I don't think any thinking person can say that his marri . . .
RUNNING SUCCESSES
Well, I just returned from my third run this week! That's quite a milestone for me, given that, prior to this week, I hadn't really run for almost 3 months. And--most importantly--my knees fe . . .
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SCRIVENER'S ERROR IN ARKANSAS?
If I remember correctly from my statutory interpretation class, a scrivener's error occurs when there has been an obvious clerical error in a legal document -- whether it be a contract or a statute or . . .
SHOULD ONLINE NEWS SITES GET RID OF COMMENT BOARDS?
OK, I'll admit right up front that I enjoy them, in a strange sort of way. One of the first things I do when I find an interesting article to read online is to browse through the comments that reader . . .
SHUT THE MARKETS DOWN!
Up to now, I've been very outspoken, in an online sort of way, in saying that our own overconsumption is to blame for this credit crisis. I still maintain that. But we are not to blame for . . .
SOME 1840S INSIGHT INTO THE HOUSING BUBBLE AND CREDIT ECONOMY
When I've had a spare moment lately, I've been reading a book on the history of financial speculation titled The Devil Take the Hindmost. It starts with the Tulip Mania in seventeenth centur . . .
SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE US FROM THESE PEOPLE!
The world's governments have gotten together and somehow managed to guarantee everything. No bank or major company will be allowed to fail during the next year, and they'll hand out as much money as t . . .
SOURCES FOR LAW REVIEW EDITORS
All, any sources that are listed as available on Curt's webpage can be found here: http://www.curtsnew.com/sources/. Have fun. . . .
STEM CELL BREAKTHROUGH AND OPPOSITION TO EMBRYONIC STEM CELL RESEARCH
All the major news organizations are reporting on a stem cell research breakthrough the has the potential to ease the controversy over embryonic stem cell research. Although one should be cautious ho . . .
STOCK MARKET SUPERSTITUTION OR ROOSTING CHICKENS?
Yesterday was the 20th Anniversary of Black Monday in 1987, when the stock market dropped over 500 points in a single day. Well, the stocks dropped over 360 points yesterday, which might be . . .
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THANKSGIVING THOUGHTS
Happy Thanksgiving. Here is my thought for the day.
Each of us, no matter where we live, should be thankful today that we have an opportunity to be a part of something larger than ourselves. Can . . .
THE CREDIT CRISIS, GEORGE BUSH, AND YOU AND ME: PLACING THE BLAME FOR LEHMAN ET. AL. WHERE IT BELONGS
Today's collapse of Lehman Brothers has me (and a lot of other people) thinking about "what went wrong." A lot of people are blaming President Bush for the current credit crisis. And I can . . .
THE DEMOCRATS' NEW FAVORITE LINE
I have all the admiration and respect in the world for my good friend, patriot, and concerned citizen John McCain, but [THEN PROCEED TO TRASH INTELLIGENCE, JUDGMENT, AND CHARACTER AT WILL].
With fr . . .
THE FRIGHTENING SKIES: FEDERAL RESERVE AIR
I just had to post the comment that I found on Marketwatch.com. I thought it was one of the funniest things I have read in a while. People certainly seem sc . . .
THE HIDDEN SIDE OF MORAL HAZARD: WHAT THE INTELLIGENT AND RESPONSIBLE SHOULD TAKE AWAY FROM THE GOVERNMENT'S RESPONSE TO THE HOUSING CRISIS
We're only part way through the drama yet, but watching the government response to the housing crisis has been an eyeopener for me. It's made me realize that you should be wary making predictions abo . . .
THE LDS CHURCH AND PROPOSITION 8 PROTESTORS
Apparently a thousand or so people gathered outside of Temple Square this evening to protest the LDS Church's involvement in Proposition 8 in California. For those who may not be familiar with it, Pr . . .
THE LYRICS TO THE SONG IN THE BYU LAW SCHOOL RECRUITING VIDEO
I really enjoy listening to the song that is the background for the law school's recruiting video. The title of the song is actually . . .
THOUGHTS ON GENERAL CONFERENCE
Another General Conference has come and gone. It seems like it happens faster every year. I really enjoyed Conference, of course (even though I must admit to falling asleep during the Sunday Morning . . .
TUTORIAL SHOWING HOW TO REMOVE RED EYE USING PHOTOSHOP CS
When I first purchased Photoshop (v. 7.0), I was excited to have the top image software available. One of the first things I tried to do was to fix the red eye in our family photos. Imagine my surpr . . .
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ULTRASOUND PHOTO AND UPDATED DUE DATE
Well, Ros went and had her first doctor's appointment and ultrasound today. According to the experts, she is 8 weeks and 1 day along so far . . . that means that our official due date is June 3, 2008 . . .
UTAH VOUCHERS DEFEATED - WOULD IT REALLY HAVE BEEN THE END OF THE WORLD?
The voucher program passed by the Utah State Legislature has been defeated at the polls in a referendum vote today. While I was a supporter of the vouchers legislation I'm not all that discouraged by . . .
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WATERED DOWN STIMULUS?
It's something of a rare day today -- I agree with an opinion piece written by Paul Krugman, our new Nobel Laureate. Well, I partially agree with him, anyway. The piece is called . . .
WEIGHING IN ON THE OBAMA HYPE
I've decided to weigh in on the biggest US craze since subprime lending--Obamamania. The news reports are full of reports of fainting women and rock-star crowds at Obama's political rallies. Even th . . .
WHAT DOES TOO BIG TO FAIL REALLY MEAN?
I recently finished reading Michael Lewis's latest: The Big Short, Inside the Doomsday Machine. It's a bo . . .
WHAT FUTURE EVENT DO JENNIE, CAROLYN, ANNIE, AND ROS HAVE IN COMMON?
If you guessed BABY you're correct! Yes, we've decided to jump on the new baby bandwagon. Ros has her first doctor's appointment next week, and we'll have an ultrasound picture then. For now . . .
WHAT JINDAL SHOULD HAVE SAID
OK, so Bobby Jindal said one thing right: the GOP has failed America and needs to work to regain the trust of Republicans.
But what he missed was a chance to say the following:
We are in this cr . . .
WHERE'S HARRY TRUMAN WHEN WE NEED HIM?
I'm taking a break from bailout ranting today ;)
Harry Truman was poor all his life. He held state political positions that others got rich from, but he refused to take any money. He went to Wash . . .
WHEW--GLAD THAT'S OVER!
Well, I just finished a research memo for a Professor here at the law school. I'm not sure that he meant it to take as long as it did, but I've worked pretty solidly on it for the last couple days. . . .
WHICH RUNNING WATCH? GARMIN 405 V. POLAR RS800SD
My knee has started feeling better and I've gotten back into running over the last month. I feel as though I've started to reclaim my "life outside the law" over this last year. What reall . . .
WORST SUPREME COURT DECISION
As my fellow 3Ls have been interviewing for clerkships this fall, I've talked to them about how their interviews went. It seems that judges vary quite a bit in their approach to interviewing potentia . . .
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YET ANOTHER REASON NOT TO VOTE FOR MCCAIN OR OBAMA
A reasonable question was posed to both candidates over the weekend: with $700 billion plus is "unforeseen" bailout expenditures, do you believe you can still pursue your financial plan as y . . .
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