TMDL

In environmental law parlance, TMDL = total maximum daily load. My TMDL for studying is down to a few hours a day; I really can't take much anymore. Just wait until Thursday when the dam bursts and the effluent really starts to flow on the fed courts exam. How I will survive this summer studying for the bar I do not know.

Depressing distractions

In the past month there have been two articles on logging in Borneo. The one from "The Economist" talks about economic incentives and alternative sanctions, some of the stuff I worked on at Imazon last semester in Belem. Last week's article in the New York Times is more depressing and makes me wonder if there will be any trees left when I visit the Malaysian side of the island in August.

Computer band-aid

Rejoice, the band-aid I bought at Comp USA has restored my internet access at home after almost a week of hardship. Now I can really start studying.

Studying, sort of

Blogging has been light lately due to some hopefully soon to be resolved computer issues and finals season. My apologies to the three people who read the site.

I’m sitting outside at Mozart’s, pretending to study Federal Courts. A 1L study group is convening a few tables away from me, and the woman who just arrived has a spiral bound outline for Civ Pro. She also has a black Fi-Fi dog with a little pink bandana that some dog lovers such as myself refer to as bait. The hot topic of conversation is Andrew, who might have dropped out even though he already turned in his memo. OMG.

I think I will plug in some Nine Inch Nails to focus my studying energies on federal judicial law making power.

Scheduling conflicts

Due to the recent move of the Amazing Race from Tuesdays to Wednesdays and the at long last return of Alias, I have some tough choices to make this evening:

Do I watch the Amazing Race? Lake and Michelle were eliminated last week, and now I'm not really rooting for any team, except perhaps Ray and Yolanda. Rather, I find that I am rooting against BJ and Tyler/Eric and Jeremy.

Do I watch Alias? I missed all the fall episodes since (1) I didn't have a TV and (2) Alias doesn't air in Brazil. I'm lost; I gather that Vaughn died or something like that. Tonight's episode is billed as a "2 hour return event," so maybe there will be a good recap.

Do I study for federal courts or water law?

I think my best course of action is to watch Alias, flip to Amazing Race during the commercials, and have the water law and federal courts texts on either side of me on the couch. I may even open them.

Too much work

Thank goodness I'm not bound for the world of corporate law. I can't handle the 12 hour days I've been putting in this past week for the clinic. One case will be over tomorrow, and then the other ends in 10 days. Then I can study for finals. Yay!

Si, se puede

Several thousand people rallied and marched in Austin today in support of immigrant rights and to protest enforcement-only legislation that has passed the House of Representatives. I was a participant-lite, not because I don't believe in the message, but because I had real immigrants to help for the clinic.

I was a little reluctant to walk out of Federal Courts at 11:11 this morning because the prof was on a rare interesting and coherent streak. I opted not to march down to the Capitol with the other UT students for the student rally and instead went to my second class and then did work in the clinic.

Around 4, I went to the Capitol for the pre-march rally. I was glad to see that the rally/protest remained pretty much on message, which was to show support for comprehensive immigration reform. The other message was to protest draconian House legislation that would, among other ill-advised provisions, make people like me criminals because we provide assistance to both legal and illegal immigrants.* Also, the organizers did a good job seeing that most people were waving American flags, although there were also a lot of Mexican and some Honduran, Guatemalan, and Peruvian flags. I opted out of the march through downtown Austin because I had to meet with a client, a meeting that if this legislation were to become law would subject me to a fine and imprisonment of up to five years.





*H.R. 4337, sec. 202. You can read this provision and the rest of the bill at thomas.loc.gov.

Writer's block

I'm supposed to be writing a brief on how economic discrimination can form the basis for an asylum claim, but it just isn't happening. I am unable to stretch the 1/2 case that supports the position into a coherent, credible argument. All I have to show for 4 hours at Austin Java yesterday and a no-fun allowed Saturday evening are three pages of crappy text and another 6 of bullet points about injustice.

I usually find that panic is the best inspiration, and perhaps because I still have three days to put something together and revise it, my mind thinks that I have plenty of time. BS ability typically translates into a letter grade, but in this instance it could mean that a person doesn't get deported and will be able to live. So I've got a lot on my mind.

I hate it that I get to spend the absolutely gorgeous weekend in front of a computer, thinking about death and how the world just isn't fair. Maybe I'll go swimming and take a nap this afternoon. If anything, it will inch me closer to panic time.

Fluent in Special Engish

I talked to a couple of Zambians today,* and during my conversation I instinctively reverted to what is best called "Special English." Clipped, annunciated, and spoken more slowly than my regular pace of conversation, African-accented Special English is how I talked to educated anglophone Cameroonians or students for two years. Apparently the practice became ingrained, and I hope they didn't think I thought they were retarded.


*Taym-wey I bi di tok fo people-dem fo Cameroon fo one week pas, I no bi tok fo pidgin fosikase plenty people-dem wey don learn book tink se you no get fayn fashion ifi you tok fo pidgin.

Apprentice omissions

Astute observors of tonight's "The Apprentice" may have noticed that there was no post boardroom conference between Trump, Carolyn, and Bill/George. I'm guessing that the gist of the conversation was, "you can't fire Lee. He's Jewish. He wasn't on the task because he was observing a Jewish holiday, and if you fire him people will think you are an anti-Semite." But they wouldn't show that on television, and by not showing it on television you know that is what they were talking about.

Regardless of what went on in the boardroom, Bryce was the one to go. He was a bad leader to begin with and then went on to be 25 minutes late for a meeting. I heard him say "my parents raised me a certain way" twice in the span of 10 minutes. If you are such a person of moral integrity and all your teammates were so awesome, then why didn't you face Trump alone? Nothing says you have to take two people in with you.