Guess the State: Drunk 4-Year-Old Steals Christmas Presents

If you said Tennessee, you’re a winner! 

A 4-year-old boy, beer in hand, is accused of stealing Christmas presents from his neighbors. It’s a strange story, but also a sad one. 

April Wright is 21 years old and is going through a divorce with her husband who is in jail.  She says she is not sure how her 4-year-old managed to get out of the house, open a beer, and steal the neighbors presents from under their tree.  Now she’s just glad he’s okay and says she won’t let it happen again.

The child, Hayden Wright, was found around 1:45 am Tuesday, wandering the streets of his neighborhood.  In a police reports, officers said he was wearing a little girl’s dress and drinking a beer. The police report says the child had to be taken to the hospital to be treated for alcohol consumption.

If only I had a crystal ball to see where young Hayden will be in 15 years.  In jail like his father for burglary, drug possession, and DUI?  Like his mother, looking 20 years older than his actual age and with a kid of his own?  Maybe he’ll continue with the cross-dressing, escape from Chattanooga, and wind up in West Hollywood.  One can only hope!

I Tried to Check Bar Results…

…and this came up!  I think I did something wrong. 

I hope the Playgirl shoot was reported on his moral character application!

I’m sure his baby’s grandmother is so proud!

Congrats to CA’s New Lawyers!

All 4,888 of them (give or take a few), according to passthebarexam.com:

San Francisco, November 20, 2009 — The State Bar of California’s Committee of Bar Examiners reported today that 56.4 percent of the applicants passed the July 2009 General Bar Examination (GBX). If the 4,888 people who passed the July 2009 exam satisfy other requirements for admission, they will become members of the State Bar.

Preliminary statistical analyses show that of the 8,667 applicants who took the GBX, 71.0 percent were first-time takers. The passing rate for 6,152 first-time applicants was 70.0 percent overall. The passing rate for the 2,515 applicants repeating the examination was 22.0 percent overall.

These numbers are down from July 2008, when 61.7% of all takers passed, along with 74.8% of first-timers.  On a personal note, I’m proud to say that Mr. Brightcoast (our esteemed author’s significant other), and yours truly, are among the 4,888.  Hopefully a high percentage of our fellow University of San Diego School of Law alums are also included in the passing ranks, and that we again hold our own as compared to other CA schools.  I guess we’ll find out more detailed statistics soon enough!

Note: The above info can be found more directly on the State Bar’s website.  More detailed information (school breakdowns) is released in 4-6 weeks.

What? I Missed Palin on Oprah?

Well, I guess I can always watch it on YouTube.  Or not.  I hear that she didn’t mention her daughter’s babydaddy in her book, but during her interview with Oprah, she did call what Levi was doing “porn,” and said she’d continue to pray for him.  Sweet.  Incidentally, TMZ reports that Levi had his nudie pics shot for Playgirl today as well…excellent timing!  My favorite related quote comes from his manager: “Everything’s gonna hang out.  We’re talking full johnson.”  Back to our Alaska beauty queen, Eugene Robinson compares her to Eva Peron in today’s Washington Post.  He goes onto say that she’ll never become commander-in-chief, but that other Republicans shouldn’t underestimate her. 

What matters is “Going Rogue” — not the cleverly titled book itself, but Palin’s willingness to thumb her nose at political and social convention.

So what if she displayed no real grasp of the issues in interviews during last year’s campaign? Those reporters were being beastly, trying to show her up. So what if the inside-the-Beltway crowd thinks she’s an airhead? The state of mind called “Washington” is the problem, and she’s the solution. So what if she quit as governor of Alaska with a year and a half left in her term? “Only dead fish go with the flow,” she explained, demonstrating once more her sassy roguishness.

True believers will not mind. Palin’s unconventional trajectory and unkempt mind are seen as authentic, in the sense that we all know people who’ve had ups and downs in their lives and who couldn’t point to Kazakhstan on a map. Her success to date represents a triumph of authenticity over accomplishment. In the final analysis, I believe, that’s not enough to make her president. But others seeking the 2012 Republican nomination underestimate her at their peril.

I think the other candidates will be just fine.

Good Week to Turn Off Your TVs

Why?  Because it’s going to be non-stop Sarah Palin coverage for at least the next several days!  Her spiffy new book comes out on Tuesday, and she’ll be on with both Oprah and Barbara Walters tomorrow.  I have no idea how many total shows she’ll be on after those interviews, but one can bet at least a couple are scheduled on FNC.  Speaking of her book, I found this article somewhat entertaining, but the content isn’t so surprising:

Sarah Palin’s new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven’t become any truer over time.

Ignoring substantial parts of her record if not the facts, she depicts herself as a frugal traveler on the taxpayer’s dime, a reformer without ties to powerful interests and a politician roguishly indifferent to high ambition.

Palin goes adrift, at times, on more contemporary issues, too. She criticizes President Barack Obama for pushing through a bailout package that actually was achieved by his Republican predecessor George W. Bush — a package she seemed to support at the time.

Oh, Sarah.  You’re so much fun.  I’m sure that if someone brings up inaccuracies or exaggerations during an interview, she’ll just claim it’s the left picking on her and trying to bring her down.  One thing I don’t understand is, what did she go rogue from?  Well, her governorship, naturally, but she’s assuming that she was a relevant figure in American (or even Republican) politics.  She was a net negative on the McCain campaign and she demonstrated that she was completely uninformed and totally unprepared for the national spotlight.  I hope she enjoys her book tour, because it’s the last time people will pay her any significant level of attention.

Statisticians Reject Global Cooling

I’ve been meaning to post this story for a little while.  The public seems to be so fickle on the global warming issue and environmental topics in general, so it’s nice to see somewhat lengthy articles like this one that tend to dismiss the nonsense coming from a select few.

Global warming skeptics base their claims on an unusually hot year in 1998. Since then, they say, temperatures have dropped — thus, a cooling trend. But it’s not that simple.

Since 1998, temperatures have dipped, soared, fallen again and are now rising once more. Records kept by the British meteorological office and satellite data used by climate skeptics still show 1998 as the hottest year. However, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA show 2005 has topped 1998. Published peer-reviewed scientific research generally cites temperatures measured by ground sensors, which are from NOAA, NASA and the British, more than the satellite data.

The recent Internet chatter about cooling led NOAA’s climate data center to re-examine its temperature data. It found no cooling trend.

“The last 10 years are the warmest 10-year period of the modern record,” said NOAA climate monitoring chief Deke Arndt. “Even if you analyze the trend during that 10 years, the trend is actually positive, which means warming.”

“To talk about global cooling at the end of the hottest decade the planet has experienced in many thousands of years is ridiculous,” said Ken Caldeira, a climate scientist at the Carnegie Institution at Stanford.

Yet, as long as there’s nonsense floating around out there, a certain section of the public will always believe it.

New Idea For Repaying My Law School Loans

Well, maybe it isn’t a new idea.  I have considered using my skills in the lovemaking department before, but this story reminded me that there are other options for paying off student loans besides slaving away in an office all day.  Just so I don’t evade paying taxes, I should be home free, right?  I guess I’d have to move to Nevada too, or something.

A Stanford Law School graduate was sentenced Monday on a federal tax conviction related to running a high-priced call girl service, punishment that includes restrictions on her ability to keep advertising as an escort while she’s on probation.

During a hearing in San Jose federal court, U.S. District Judge James Ware concluded he needed to impose those restrictions on Cristina Warthen after federal prosecutors disclosed she’s continued to advertise herself on the Internet as a high-priced escort, even as she awaited sentencing on federal tax evasion charges related to her days as an upscale prostitute named “Brazil.”

Warthen gained notoriety when she was busted as a jet-setting call girl who sold her services to pay off her Stanford Law School debts. She got her law degree from Stanford in May 2001, but quickly began to run a steamy Web site with offers to jet off for liaisons with clients in cities around the country, including New York, Chicago and Washington, D.C.

By the way, where were these girls in my law school class?  I’m not really that into the huge lips and plastic boobs, but it definitely would have made Contracts more enjoyable!

The Right’s Continuing Artistic Incompetence

If you’re a fan of people on the right attempting to accomplish things above their intelligence level and falling short, you’ll remember this story from a year ago about the girl who claimed she was assaulted by a black Obama supporter who carved a “B” into her face.  Turns out, she was looking into a mirror when she carved the letter into her own face, and didn’t realize it would be flipped around when viewed by an outside observer.  Oops!

Well, almost a year later, we have this shining example of artistic stupidity:

Close, but not quite.

Last night, some dumbass(es) carved this into the 18th hole of the Lakeville Country Club in Lakeville, MA.  Of course, police and the Secret Service are investigating.  I saw this story linked to on the Drudge Report, with the headline, “Swastika and Obama carved into green at golf course…”  Many other news outlets are likewise reporting that the symbol is a swastika.  Unfortunately for the lamebrain trespasser(s), Drudge, and other sources, the attempt missed the mark a bit.  From the above-linked story:

Police believe the vandals meant to carve a swastika next to President Barack Obama’s name on the 18th hole; however, the symbol was backwards and means hope and peace in some Eastern countries.

Actually, the carved symbol can actually be referenced as a swastika, but it isn’t the one associated with the Nazis, which is a right-facing swastika.  The current carving can be more properly referred to as a sauwastika.  In any case, the point is, before defacing any property with some half-hearted attempt at a political hate message, you might want to doublecheck that what you’re carving is, in fact, the Nazi symbol and not a symbol for hope and peace.

An Olympic Wind Blowing in 2016?

The 2016 Olympic Games will be awarded tomorrow to one of four cities: Chicago, Madrid, Rio de Janeiro, or Tokyo.  A quick check of the evening odds shows that the bookies have Chicago as the favorite at 4/6 (or a 60% chance), followed by Rio, Madrid, and Tokyo bringing up the rear.  I think it’s safe to say that Tokyo is out, and should be the first city eliminated in the voting tomorrow.  There doesn’t seem to be overwhelming public support for the Tokyo bid (only 55% of citizens in favor), and the fact that the 2008 games were in Beijing doesn’t help matters.  The same kind of logic can be used for Madrid, as I doubt the IOC will want a European games back-to-back.  Spain hosted in 1992, and it would also be the fifth in seven summer and winter Games in Europe. 

So, barring some shocking turn of events, this all should come down to Rio and Chicago.  No city in South or Central America has ever held an Olympics, and that works hugely in Rio’s favor.  Lots of IOC members want the Olympics to be looked at as truly a world event, and awarding Rio with the Games would go a long way to achieve this goal.  However, Rio has issues with crime, and a ton of work would have to be done to revitalize the city.  Chicago is probably the safest choice.  There’s lots of support and the money situation is the best out of the four cities.  There have been issues with disorganization however, and it might not quite be time for another Games in the U.S., 20 years after Atlanta and with Salt Lake in between.

As some of you may recall, Paris was favored going into the IOC meeting four years ago, but London walked away with the 2012 Games.  It’s far from a certainty that the 2016 Games will be in the Windy City.  However, I think it all comes down to two things.  First, no matter how much it’s been downplayed, President Obama’s visit tomorrow morning will be a factor.  A new American president, popular in Europe, is a huge asset for the Chicago campaign.  (It also doesn’t hurt that Chicago is his adopted hometown!)  A correlation can be made between this meeting and the one that decided the host for the 2006 World Cup.  There, the German chancellor did some last minute lobbying and pushed Germany over South Africa by 1 vote (from what I recall.)  Even though Chancellor Schroeder was no Barack Obama, lobbying by an influential head-of-state matters.  Second, also World Cup related, is the fact that Brazil will be the hosts of the World Cup in 2014.  Sure, this can be a positive because the country will have built up some infrastructure already, and it can be looked at as a test run for the larger spectacle of the Games, but in my mind, it’s a net negative.  I think more IOC members will go against Rio, reluctant to have the world’s two largest sporting events in the same country, two years apart. 

Tomorrow, I think the Summer Games come back to the States.  If they don’t, at least I went with the odds!  For a good list of the pros and cons of each of the four cities, see this article from SI.

Update: Well, Chicago was eliminated after the first round of voting.  I’m not going to speculate, but I’m sure the Right will have fun with this one.  Congrats to Rio!

Happy Birthday to Us!

This month (September 17th, to be exact) marked this blog’s first birthday, and I think it’s been a particularly fun, entertaining, and successful year.  We launched just in time for the run up to the election, and had an enjoyable time discussing all things political as we watched history unfold.  I didn’t do that poorly in my election predictions, but unfortunately overestimated the voters of California when it came to equal rights for all.  By far our most successful post during the past year (and not likely to be topped) was the one back in April that helped break the 2010 U.S. News Law School Rankings.  That post received thousands upon thousands of hits, and still continues to be popular!  It just goes to show how much those rankings matter to people, and how a blog can get massive hits if linked to by highly-visited sites.  We were lucky that the main point of that popular post was the huge jump in the rankings by our esteemed school, the University of San Diego School of Law.  I’m glad that we were able to bring such positive publicity to the school.

Speaking of positive publicity, one of our goals is to serve as a quality reflection on the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of USD Law.  We hope that we’ve done that over the past year through our writing and overall quality of the blog, and further hope that The Bright Coast will continue to be a good representation of the institution, at least in small part.  We’re glad to be prominently linked to on the school’s new site, and we realize that prospective students read our posts on a regular basis.  Of course, one of our other main goals is to serve as a sort of progressive counterweight to the views expressed by four of our distinguished professors over at The Right Coast (also linked to on the new site.)  As is easy to surmise, we thought that there was just too much misguided conservatism emanating from Warren Hall, and that the situation needed to be evened out just a bit.  We will improve our efforts to keep Smith, Rappaport, and Co. in check over the next year, and look forward to at least some give-and-take.  (While we have them prominently displayed on our site, they have yet to really acknowledge our presence in any way.  We’re hoping that changes in the year to come!)  Afterall, I sincerely think that people are interested in something more than “Does Obama hate America?”  That kind of stuff quickly gets old and predictable, and I hope that our presence as the “Bright” alternative to the “Right” will improve the quality of the commentary over there.  (I can only keep my fingers crossed!)

So, thanks to the thousands of you who have checked us out in the past year (82,000 hits and counting!)  We hope that you’ll continue to stop by in the year to come, if only to get your fix of intelligent, progressive, usually humorous commentary on issues that may or may not be important to you!  Furthermore, don’t forget to check out our new Twitter page for daily, less meaningful quips on the stories of the day.

Quick Tip for Future Office Seekers: Vote!

One of the easiest things to check into and then use as political ammunition is your opponent’s voting record (or lack thereof).  I don’t know how many times I’ve heard that issue come up over the years, but it’s been quite a bit.  It usually is brought up in smaller races, but ever so often a candidate for larger office is caught having not voted in numerous previous contests.  That’s exactly what came out recently about Republican candidate for California governor, Meg Whitman.  Whitman, the former eBay CEO, was discovered to have not voted “over several decades in five states where [she] has lived since 1979.”  Nice.  Of course, this is such a simple thing to use against her throughout the campaign, and one of her opponents didn’t waste much time.  Steve Poizner (who are these people, by the way?) said, “in the history of America, no one has been elected governor of a state with Meg Whitman’s 25 year history of no show voting.”  Ouch.  Yeah, this just re-establishes the fact that Whitman is just a rich woman with no political experience (and no previous political interests, for that matter) trying to buy her way into the governor’s office.  It definitely isn’t a new concept in California!  Here’s part of Whitman’s statement:

“Voting is a precious right that all Americans should exercise. I have repeatedly said that my voting record is inexcusable. I failed to register and vote on numerous occasions throughout my life. That is simply wrong and I have taken responsibility for my mistake.” said Whitman in her statement.

Well, if she’s said it repeatedly, then I’m sure CA voters will forgive her!  I don’t really get what “taking responsibility” means, though.  How does one take responsibility for not voting in the past?  I’ve acknowledged my indiscretions and I reeeallly promise to vote in every single election from now on, no matter how insignificant it may be!  I’ll even vote more than once to make up for the times I didn’t vote!  Who knows.

As a quick sidenote on the current state of the race, Jerry Brown seems to be well-positioned against all three current Republicans in the race, while his primary opponent, Gavin Newsom, isn’t as strong.  You can see a collection of the recent head-to-head polls here.

In Germany, Center-Right Rules Again (But For How Long?)

It was a result most saw coming from a long way out: Chancellor Angela Merkel (or Bush’s massage buddy) won a second term in Germany after her CDU garnered the highest percentage of the vote in Sunday’s federal election.  What was a little bit up in the air (especially after late polls showed things closing) was whether Chancellor Merkel would be able to establish a center-right government with the CDU’s traditional coalition partner, the Free Democrats (or FDP).  When the dust settled, the coalition got their majority, and this means that the CDU is able to break the bonds of the “Grand Coalition” it had with the Social Democrats over the past 4 years, after the previous election ended in a stalemate. 

While Chancellor Merkel is obviously a winner here, her party didn’t really do all that well in the larger scheme of things.  The combined CDU/CSU (the CSU is a sister party) popular vote percentage actually went down (just above the worst postwar performance ever), and they only managed to pick up about 13 extra seats from 4 years ago.  The Chancellor had to rely on her coalition partner to carry the day, as the FDP turned out to be the big winner in the election.  The FDP picked up 32 seats and will now be back in the government after an 11-year absence.  The party’s leader, Guido Westerwelle, is poised to become Germany’s new foreign minister.  (Who doesn’t like a guy named Guido?)  Other clear winners in the election were the other two “opposition parties,” the Greens and the Left, with their best results ever.  Both came in with over 10% of the popular vote, and picked up more seats than the CDU/CSU did.  Five parties with over 10% of the vote is an interesting dynamic, and one which is completely foreign to our own presidential, two-party system.  The other related aspect here is the distinct decline in attractiveness of the two major German political parties, as more and more people look for other options.  The Social Democrats suffered their worst result since World War II, dropping an astonishing 76 seats and garnering only 23% of the popular vote.  The SPD is back into opposition, a role they know extremely well, having been there in the Helmut Kohl days from 1982-1998.  The big question is: Will it be another 16 years (or more) out of power for the center-left, or will they be able to stop the bleeding primarily suffered from the rise of the lesser parties?  If Chancellor Merkel’s new government does well over the next several years, the SPD could itself be in danger of becoming a lesser party.

The map below (from Wikipedia) shows the parliamentary districts won by each party.  The CSU only operates in Bavaria and is the CDU’s sister party.  Notice that the Left won numerous districts in the former East Germany and the Greens won a district or two in the middle of Berlin.  The Free Democrats won no districts outright, but their overall percentages were good enough to get them 93 seats in the new Bundestag.

A Black (CDU) and Blue (CSU) Germany

Clinton/Gore: Yesterday’s Gone, Yesterday’s Gone

Or, perhaps the two are simply remembering the good parts of “yesterday” (there were a lot, afterall!), setting the old feuds aside, and focusing on developing a lasting goodwill toward each other.  Bill Nichols wrote a fascinating piece for Politico (Clinton and Gore: Still the odd couple) about Bill and Al’s unique relationship over the years.  The Clinton/Gore campaign was really my first foray into politics and I’ve admired both men (one for his centrism; the other for his environmentalism) ever since they came onto the scene in 1992.  However, their stormy relationship is well-documented, and things were particularly tense after Gore’s 2000 presidential “defeat.”  (Nichols brings up the fact that the feud may not have been as bad as the media made it out to be, but who really knows?)  In any case, it’s definitely comforting that the relationship between the two Democratic heavyweights has become noticeably warmer as of late:

Bringin it in for the real thing!

A few good cuts from the Politico story:

Clinton always wanted Gore’s friendship, in the same fashion that he prefers to be friends with almost everyone he meets. Gore’s feelings, people close to him say, have always been more complicated. But he seems to have mellowed on Clinton as he has gained his own celebrity and international stature and his former partner’s gigantic shadow over him has lessened. The sting of Gore’s 2000 disputed Electoral College loss to Bush is also receding.

They were, and are, deeply different personalities. With his once-in-a-generation political skills and effortless gift of gab, Clinton never quite got Gore’s brainy awkwardness and seeming inability to totally master the basic stagecraft of running for office. For his part, Gore, by numerous accounts, was horrified by Clinton’s lack of discipline, an irritation that grew to near-revulsion when the details of his affair with Lewinsky finally became public.

Yet the pride both men clearly feel in what they accomplished in office seems — now, nearly 10 years on — to have begun to override all that. As does the sense often felt by their less celebrated fellow citizens that the longer you live, the harder it can be to remember why you are so mad at someone.

What If Sasha and Malia Were Goth?

That’s a silly question of course, since everyone knows only rich, spoiled white kids end up following that subculture.  For instance, take Laura and Alba Zapatero, daughters of the Spanish prime minister.  Apparently, they had never had pictures published of them previously, either in print or online, due to a Spanish law prohibiting the media from doing so.  Of course, this all changed once the Zapatero Family recently posed at the White House with the President and First Lady, and the picture was posted on the State Department’s Flickr page:

Nice Boots!

The Spanish government got the State Department to remove the photo and made sure that the state-owned news agency wouldn’t distribute it.  Of course, this all probably wouldn’t be such a big deal if it wasn’t for the Spanish media ban.  Here in the United States, the press has generally respected the wishes of the various First Ladies when it’s come to their children.  I think the current White House occupants generally are taking the right approach:

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs recently said that the administration would permit press access to the Obama children when they are part of “official events with the president and first lady,” but added that “there should be a wide berth of privacy extended to the family” when they’re alone or doing something as a family. He added that the White House’s Flickr photos of the children exist to control the paparazzi market for pictures of the Obama children, the youngest to occupy the White House since John and Caroline Kennedy, who were also fiercely guarded.

Then again, Sasha and Malia haven’t quite reached the age of wild teenage expression.  Assuming President Obama is re-elected, we’ll get to see the majority of the girls’ teenage years.  I seriously doubt that there will be any major news stories resulting from their choice of fashion, but I could be wrong.  Goth just might be their thing!

For a quick synopsis of the goth subculture, Wikipedia is always a solid choice.

Another Use For Twitter: Inflating Protest Attendance!

Twitter has definitely become the latest internet phenomenon over the past year or so.  While I don’t personally know that many people who use it, it’s extremely useful for following the latest celebrity gossip, if you’re into that sort of thing (see various celebrity reactions to Kanye’s recent screw-up, for example).  While Twitter became popular with celebrities, it seems as if lately it’s most significant growth has been in the news and political arenas, whether it be cable news anchors tweeting during their shows, or members of Congress tweeting during the president’s speech.  It’s gotten so out of control, that now we’re learning about President Obama’s off-the-record comments posted by a dumbass journalist who happened to overhear them!

Apparently, Twitter can be used for a number of purposes, and the latest one of note (that doesn’t really surprise me) is the Right’s massive inflation of crowd estimates at the weekend tea party in DC.  As eloquently reported by Nate Silver:

ABC News, citing the DC fire department, reported that between 60,000 and 70,000 people had attended the tea party rally at the Capitol. By the time this figure reached Michelle Malkin, however, it had been blown up to 2,000,000. There is a big difference, obviously, between 70,000 and 2,000,000. That’s not a twofold or threefold exaggeration — it’s roughly a thirtyfold exaggeration.

The way this false estimate came into being is relatively simple: Matt Kibbe, the president of FreedomWorks, lied, claiming that ABC News had reported numbers of between 1.0 and 1.5 million when they never did anything of the sort. A few tweets later, the numbers had been exaggerated still further to 2 million. Kibbe wasn’t “in error”, as Malkin gently puts it. He lied. He did the equivalent of telling people that his penis is 53 inches long.

This all doesn’t surprise me, because it’s not a new strategy for the Right.  If you remember, I posted on the inflation of crowd estimates for the initial tea party rallies back in April.  I can’t say that pretending a movement is much larger than it is in reality is bad strategy, because these things get picked up by certain media outlets and are used to fuel misinformation and vitriol.  At least the Right has to keep this crap to 140 characters or less…at a time, of course.

PS: How could I forget mentioning the best use for Twitter: Following the latest musings from the Bright Coast!!