Non-Sequiturs: 05.23.08
* Are male judges nicer than female judges? One survey says yes. [Legal Blog Watch]
* Speaking of judges, how about rap nicknames for the members of the Supreme Court? Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg = “Queen G-Lady.” [News Groper]
* A productivity tip from a prominent scholar: “[N]ever read the blogs.” [Concurring Opinions]
* Brian Leiter weighs in on Phyllis Schlafly — and Rick Hills. Ouch. [Leiter’s Law School Reports]
* Pro Se Litigant of the Day? Actor Dylan McDermott, who plays a lawyer on TV, is representing himself in his divorce proceedings. [Slog / The Stranger]
* A dispatch from the R. Kelly trial, and some advice: “[W]hen you’re trying to help your niece launch a music career, perhaps it’s best to widen the search for mentors beyond the man who sings ‘It Seems Like You’re Ready’ and ‘I Like the Crotch on You.’” [Slate]
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come on Lat! The HLR pile-on post generated both a name and an admission of guilt for vomiting that terrible Note on the pages of the law review. It needs a new post mocking him and his hat collection. (http://www.thecrimson.com/printerfriendly.aspx?ref=121870)
Here is the comment referred to by 5:02:
http://abovethelaw.com/2008/05/hlr_in_toilet_flush_flush.php#comment-601475
Get over your guilt 5:02. You can move to expunge the baby killing conviction in a couple of years.
5:02 here: Hey 5:16: I'm actually a public interest lawyer. This poorly written insult to real legal scholarship simply offends me and serves as a terrible advertisement for public interest work. It's a shambolic piece, and I enjoy ragging on the Harvard Law Review's clueless and incompetent leadership for allowing this atrocity to make it into print.
I agree, reading bloggs is very unproductive! Wish i never started, but not its too late
the HLR note author is "Nasty Mark"
--Killa Money
Leiter is such a tool. http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2008/05/people-of-color.html (comment at 11:43)
I have a great way to increase productivity - do not read chillablehours.com - it is a productivity killer!
Leiter's rant has already been demolished by Bernstein on Volokh's site.
Noam Chomsky received honorary degrees from about 15 schools, including Harvard. Jesse Jackson got a honorary degree from Wash U. Even Rev. Wright was going to get a honorary degree from Wash U before his racist conspiracy theories became the news of the day. That there are folks in adademia who think that Doctor Schlafly is less deserving of being honored than these lunatics is simply appalling.
Fed Soc
Chomsky is the founder of modern linguistics and a political commentator of international renown and influence. Schlafly is pretty much what Leiter said, a bigot and ignoramus. That you can't tell the difference tells us more about you.
Sure, he founded linguistics. Could you possibly be more hyperbolic?
Could you possibly be more rhetorical?
Agree with 4:44. Whatever you think of Chomsky's politics, as the founder of the theory of generative grammar he is one of the great thinkers in the history of twentieth century linguistics. It is not hyperbole to describe him as the founder of modern linguistic theory. Schafly, on the other hand, has no career other than that of an ignorant, bigoted demagogue.
As for Bernstein rebutting Leiter, not in your wildest dreams. Leiter is obnoxious, but he's also very smart and scrupulously rational. Bernstein, on the other hand is a raving lunatic, reacting reflexively to any position even halfway social. He has only a little more respect in the Academy than Schafly. LIke Coulter, Limbaugh, and the rest of the out of control crowd, he must have a horrible personal history. Someone made him angry for life. Maybe he was picked on as a kid and resolved always to start the next fight when he finally got a weapon (i.e., the mouth). Funny thing is, in the war of all against all he'd be wiped out by some fifteen year old from the inner city in the first twenty minutes. It's always the short dick crowd that does its fighting with other people's bodies.
"It's always the short dick crowd that does its fighting with other people's bodies."
That's an odd observation from someone anonymously attacking others online.
Leiter is just bitter that no one outside his small niche in academia has heard of him. Schafly, on the other hand, has had a large impact on society and culture. She is the reason the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION failed. Schafly has also written best-selling books and her name ID among the general population (and feminists) is a hundred to one compared to dorky Dr. Leiter. I don't mean to seem crass, but Leiter has done what exactly?
Leiter's blog is lame anyway. He's so tough that he doesn't allow comments. Typical. He can dish it out but can't take it. Thank the lord for ATL.
I don't agree with Schlafly's politics in the least (she embodies the I-hate-feminism-yet-have-reaped-all-of-its-benefits approach), but I don't think Wash U.'s reasoning is insane in awarding her an honorary degree. Moreover, she's an alum.
That said, I absolutely would've been among those protesting, as I think it's entirely reasonable to not want anti-feminists honored at one's graduation.