otium cum dignitate

Trying to Understand

The more I read about this Virginia Tech tragedy, the more shocked and saddened I become.  Now there are reports that this lone gunman shot students execution-style in the classroom.

What do we take from this horrible massacre of innocent students and professors?  I rarely quote the NYT editorialists, but today I just have to agree:

"Our hearts and the hearts of all Americans go out to the victims and their families. Sympathy was not enough at the time of Columbine, and eight years later it is not enough. What is needed, urgently, is stronger controls over the lethal weapons that cause such wasteful carnage and such unbearable loss."

I keep trying to figure out how supposedly one gunman with a set of handguns could inflict such a large scale of violence on more than sixty people.  At first, I figured he must have been toting some sort of assault rifle.  But it seems that it only took a madman and a couple of pistols to create the worst shooting massacre in US history. 

Can we please get serious about tougher gun laws?  Here in DC, as some may know, we have a complete ban on guns.  Sure, it hasn't eliminated violence by a long shot, but it certainly has helped.  Unfortunately, a DC court just recently ruled that the district's gun laws are "unconstitutional," despite the fact that these laws have been in existence for decades.  The DC government has appealed the decision, and I can only hope that the higher court remembers this latest gun disaster at Virginia Tech when reviewing their "interpretation" of the 2nd Amendment.   

As an aside, has anyone else ever noticed that newspapers and other periodicals only resort to giant bold fonts on their front page when really really terrible things happen?  Why does the most "important" news always have to be so bad?

Nappy-Headed Hullaballoo

What a week for the topic of race relations in the U.S.  First, charges of racial hate-inspired rape against the Duke lacrosse players are dropped, then Don Imus is fired for uttering a phrase that has now entered the public lexicon of buzz-words, and finally tonight, baseball celebrated the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's first game in the major leagues.

While the Duke case exposed the irresponsibility of jumping to race-based conclusions, and baseball's Jackie Robinson celebration has been tempered by the reality that only 8 % of MLB's players are currently Black, the impact and meaning of the Imus conflagration is a bit harder to flesh out.

First, to be clear, Imus' remarks regarding the Rutgers women's basketball team were not only offensive, they were obviously stupid and untrue.  You would think that Imus' extensive experience as a broadcaster would lead to a little bit more common sense. 

Imus' words were derogatory and ridiculous.  But it was just  silly to hear the now infamous phrase repeated ad nauseam on every major radio and tv broadcast over the last two weeks.  I mean, do we really need to keep repeating it?  The more I hear it, the funnier and more ridiculous it becomes!

Anyways, let's take a moment to call out the hypocrisy so obviously mixed in with the moralizing rabble rousers.  The NYT ran an interesting piece today pointing out that so-called "comedians" like Sacha Baron Cohen, Larry David, and Sarah Silverman often get away with ridiculously insensitive remarks that pale in comparison to Imus' flap.  And what about South Park, which, by the way, is overseen by CBS's good friend Viacom?  Should humor always excuse insensitivity?  Did Don Imus fall because his joke failed?

My biggest issue of all, though, is the ongoing lack of an uproar over the most public displays of violence, misogyny, and racism: mainstream hip-hop and rap.  In an editorial this week, the Washington Post really hit the mark:

Today, the lyrics of the songs on [Prince's 1985 album "Purple Rain] would seem quaint compared with the raunchy rhymes of rappers like 50 Cent ("P.I.M.P."), DMX ("My Niggas") Lil' Kim ("Shut Up Bitch") and Ludacris ("Ho").

Imus' mistake is nowhere NEAR as offensive and detrimental as the lurid display of violence and female objectification in rap videos and music.  And, sorry Al Sharpton, but far more young people -- the ones you claim to be protecting -- are listening to Ludacris rather than Don Imus.

Imus definitely deserved some sort of rebuke for his bout of on-air idiocy.  But he'll surely be back before too long.  And no one will care.  America's black "leaders" will be out fighting another "symbolic" war while the poor black kids in the ghetto will be rapping to Snoop Dogg and Akon rather than going to school. 

Splenda v. Equal

When the vending machine on the 3rd floor of the law school spit out a coke zero last week rather than the regular coke that I had requested, I spent the subsequent class looking up Wikipedia articles about the artificial sweeteners in Coke's newest zero-calorie product.  My conclusions?  Coke zero is basically the same thing as Diet Coke, but with a more "manly" image thanks to relentless advertising strategies.

Anyways, today's story detailing a lawsuit brought by Equal against artificial sweetener newcomer, Splenda, again drew my attention to the fake-sugar industry.

It seems that Equal isn't taking too kindly to Splenda's sudden dominance of the artificial sweetener market over the last few years.  At the heart of the dispute is another ad campaign, this one by Splenda.  As many may know, packets of Splenda proudly proclaim that the product is "made from sugar" and thus "tastes like sugar."  In reality, Splenda has exactly the same amount of Sugar in it as Equal does: absolutely none.  But Equal claims that Splenda's advertising ploy has mislead consumers into believing that Splenda is somehow a no-calorie form of sugar rather than a true artificial sweetener.

Unfortunately for Equal, Splenda actually is created from a few molecules of sugar (they dissolve in the manufacturing process).  So the "made from sugar" claim is technically correct.  I'm not sure what kind of case Equal has after conceding this point.

Which brings us back to diet coke.  Coca-cola products have now begun incorporating Splenda into its products, surely part of the reason that Splenda has captured 62 percent of the artificial sweetener market.  My hypochondriacal question: is Splenda any better for you than Equal, which has been prone to rumors of brain cancers and other strange ailments in lab tests?

Thrashers Dedication

This post is dedicated to the Atlanta Thrashers who clinched a playoff berth in the NHL playoffs for the first time in their short existence. 

This team was a healthy goalie away from the playoffs last season, and they finally got the job done in 2007.  I'm not sure about the prospects of hockey in the Southeast, but with the Thrashers in the playoffs and the Nashville Predators leading the league with one of the best overall records, there is some hope that hockey will gain popularity in southern cities. 

My hopes for the playoffs don't realistically extend beyond a well-played first round series.  But who knows?  The Thrashers have a dynamic offense, with potent weapons in Ilya Kovalchuck and Marion Hossa.  Sometimes I like to refer to the team as the Colts of hockey. 

Couple of law posts forthcoming...

Making a Return

I have no excuses for my laziness.  All I can tell you is that I hope this post will inspire me to write more regularly.  This was really one of my worst cases of blog neglect.  My account was even suspended last week because I allowed my monthly payments to lapse.  But Otium is back up and running now. 

Tomorrow is Opening Day for baseball, and I'll be attending the Nationals home opener at RFK.  Perhaps i'll post to let my readers know who threw out the first pitch. 

I'm still trying to get some kind of legal job for the summer.  Once that's done, i'll be able to pay more attention to my classes, as well as Otium.  I'm hoping to land a job this week.

News-wise, things are getting pretty dicey in the Middle East aren't they?  How stupid can Iran be?  Even their shady friends in Russia are annoyed.  I have also been keeping an eye on these US Attorney firings, as they shed light on a lot of administrative law issues that I have recently become interested in.

Speaking of law, school is going well, and i'm actually enjoying it these days.  I have come a long way since the dismal days of 1L.  It feels like that dreadful period of my life was ten years ago, rather than one. 

Here in Washington, the cherry blossoms are out, and i'll probably be checking them out sometime this week to avoid the insane crowds on the weekends.  For now, it's time for me to read some law...but i'll keep Otium humming as the semester winds down.