Apo will kill you if you become a Dukie.
This is obviously in furtherance of some scheme of stalking.
I have no such affiliations. Would you settle for exfoliations?
Not as a response to this request, but more generally, sure.
Exfoliation is when you unfold the pages of a book.
If you remove them entirely, that's deliberation.
If those pages are cotton, fabrication.
If you just toss the damn thing in the over with the other heresies, that's fornication.
If you redact words in a book as someone speaks them aloud to you, that's abdication.
If you layer the pages in a tile-like fashion, it's imbrication.
And if you are finally out of that dump of an airport and can now go to bed, it's aviation.
If the pages are assembled in an elaborate or imposing manner, that's edification.
No, an aviation is gin, lemon juice, and maraschino (or, classically, creme de violette).
If the pages are promiscuously humping one another on your bookshelf, it's veneration.
If the pages contain sermons about the future life and what awaits us there, that's expectoration.
Book? I see no book here.
[pan to open window]
Defenestration.
No, defenestration is when you drain a marsh.
16 is going to make me feel dirty the next time I go to church. Speaking of which, if your Bible gets rained on on the way to (a Protestant) church, that's consubstantiation.
If you get a local policeman involved, that's constipation.
If it's a prayerbook, and you remove just some of the pages, then spill a skim espresso over the rest, that's abbreviation.
... a prayerbook which could be read aloud without uttering a single long vowel sound, with hymns sung to tunes containing only notes four minims long, and you ...
if Ricky Ricardo spits on your book, it's desecration.
If you forgo the book entirely to fantasize about Bright Eyes, that's conurbation.
If J. Robert Oppenheimer destroys your book, it's abomination.
If you transport the book to a picturesque region of southeast Italy, that's calibration.
And if you read, study, and repeatedly re-read the book until you have mastered it, that's...
...nah, there is some fruit that's just too low to pick and while still retaining any self respect.
My father was a psychiatrist who got his MD at Duke, but unfortunately he's been dead for twenty years.
If you successfully follow the instructions in this book, then urination.
a lot of new words, where to start
but now let's see the magic
which'd cut off the thread mysteriously
I know two people who are family psychologists who got undergraduate degrees from Duke 35 years ago.
29: And if you take it to the beach while you're there, it's meditation.
If you vigorously hump the book until your flesh is raw, and then point the raw flesh out to your friends, that's lucubration.
Was Blackwater USA named after the Doobie Brothers song?" Anyone know any Doobies?
What if you cut yourself while shaving your chest?
If you rub each page with Vaseline so that you can read it underwater, that's salvation.
And if the book is a collection of works of fiction written by doctors who deliver babies, that's obliteration.
surprise, surprise
it's not dead yet
where is gone my woodoo powers
38,39--
i've wondered the same wonder, je.
is 39 dispositive?
(didn't strike me so).
If the author stridently opposes the consumption of intoxicating beverages, that's...
38: Wikipedia says it's named after the waters of the Dismal Swamp from whence it came.
47--
thanks, k. shoulda looked there myself.
(the curiosity was *that idle*, if you can imagine: so idle i never even looked at wikipedia!
whose main function, it seems, is to lower the activation-energy needed for idle curiosity to be turned into active curiosity.
which you would think would be a good thing, until you actually meet it, a bit like genies granting wishes, which seems *alright!* until *oh fuck!*).
Subject came up at dinner with friends over the holidays just past, not T-day itself. I made the—I guess obvious—Doobie Brothers joke. The Illinois connection is Blackwater's occupation of the former Shimer College campus in Mt. Carroll. We all agreed that the name, and being headed-up by somebody named Erik Prinz, if I've spelled that correctly, were the sort of details which would make a novel trashy were the intent not comic.
One of those conversations which even in a week's retrospect I realize could only have occurred this fall.
Eric Prince. They've got another exec. named Cofer Black (advisor to Mitt Romney, speaking of trashy novel names). As well as a lawyer named Ken Starr, and headquarters in a town named Moycock.
Read all about it in my forthcoming book "Rain of Cold Steel & Paper: Mercenaries and the federal judges who buy their line of crap.""
I was going to write a book like that about Custer Battles.
If the book fails to respond to stimuli, its called vegetation.
OT bleg: can someone please link to the christmas mix comment? because I've been looking for what feels like hours and can't find it.
obviously nobody here knows how to use a straight man anymore.
40: That's nictitation!
I think Blackwater should also consider hiring Fabio.
What if you cut yourself while shaving your chest?
That's unfortunate.
For nictitation, I recommend stipulation.
57: "Of course, if we have to go to war with Iran, we are right there. That's the only good side." On the next page, he can't believe it's not butter.
61: actually, this is my favorite quote from the whole article:
"The beauty about this country, you come out with ideas and you have a ghostwriter," he says. "Every single celebrity, they have ghostwriter. That's the beauty about America."
On the next page, he can't believe it's not butter.
But what he doesn't know is that it actually is butter.
Read all about it in my forthcoming book "Rain of Cold Steel & Paper: Mercenaries and the federal judges who buy their line of crap.""
You know, have you thought of maybe doing this for real? A memoir-y kind of book on your work on torture and rendition, addressing the substance, but also how you came to it and the work you did? That's the sort of thing I'd read. Obviously, this is the sort of project easily attacked in your copious spare time.
If you creatively smuggle the book through customs, that's rectification.
No, rectification is what you'd do to Matt F if he were into that sort of thing.
You know, have you thought of maybe doing this for real? A memoir-y kind of book on your work on torture and rendition, addressing the substance, but also how you came to it and the work you did? That's the sort of thing I'd read.
I kinda' mean this half seriously: Katherine should write the book, but do it in such a way that it will attract the attention of a Hollywood screenwriter. Starting in about 2010, if not sooner, I expect that there will be a flood of movies addressing the Vergangenheitsbewältigung of the GWB era, and she will make a lot more money from the movie rights than from the LB's of the world buying the book.
Caveat: I'm thinking that Katherine will actually need to have an affair with some client who has been tortured and is sueing the government, or perhaps extraordinarily rendered herself, or both, in order to make the story Hollywood-worthy, so she might want to get to work on that now.
Alternatively, she could build the narrative around some ex-special forces guy (to be played by Matt Damon) who becomes a mercenary and subsequently blows the lid off their heinous practices by leaking documents to Katherine. And they have an affair.
have now difficulties to interpret the thread
salutation or mokkery
any clarification?
55 made me laugh, even though it's the first comment of the thread that I read. I think it's because it could be safely used on any Unfogged thread whatsoever.
68: you and my mother. Seriously, thanks. But there are a ton of books about this, and my part of story is way too simple/boring to be of interest to anyone who doesn't know me (or at least pretend-internet know me). ("I read an article! Then I ran some google searches! Then I wrote some blog posts! Then I ran some Lexis searches! Then I wrote a law review article!" etc.)
I'm helping Jane Mayer with a book. Y'all should buy that one when it comes out. Also this one.
But none of those people slept with the captive/mercenary, Katherine. It's your willingness to go the extra mile for Hollywood that makes you special.
76: But the interesting thing isn't what you did, it's what you thought and what you knew -- how your understanding unfolded. "First I thought 'What an awful article, what a freak thing to have happened.' Then I did a couple of searches and realized 'Bizarre, it's not a freak thing, it's a policy. Huh, if people knew about it, they'd make it stop.' Then I wrote an article. Then...'
No, rectification is what you'd do to Matt F if he were into that sort of thing.
And how!
Then I wrote an article. Then...
...a package arrived anonymously in the mail. At first I couldn't make out what it was, then slowly the truth dawned on me: [a timpani intrudes into the musical score] pictures of David Addington leaving the Blackwater complex...
OR
...my phone rang. [Ideally this should happen while you are in the bathtub, so that the screenplay can show a brief shot of Holly Hunter's nipples as she emerges from the tub] The person on the other end sounded scared. He wouldn't tell me his name, but he spoke with a strong Arabic accent...
That is interesting. But it rates an essay or a long post, not a book....There's actually two related processes: the process of realizing what's going on analytically & seeing that information get disseminated (we've gradually gone from no one I know in real life having heard of rendition except through me, to hollywood movies about it, albeit unsucessful ones); & the process of getting drawn into caring about it.
During school I used to go to a lot of earnest liberal talks about how to change policy X, & what we could do to make a difference in the world, which always ended with the conclusion: "we need a popular movement." I always thought: "WTF does that mean? Build a movement how? I realize movements have existed, but what are you actually suggesting I do to create one?"
I think I know how it happens; the two word version is, "peer pressure." You get drawn further in because you doing this work introduces you to other people who do it, & become friends with them, & you talk to your friends about it, etc. You can see how this would become very powerful indeed once you reached a critical mass of people--& that's when we start calling it a movement.
Along similar lines, the people affected by these issues gradually become real to you: first you read a news article, then you read a detailed first-person account, then you hear a radio interview, then you watch a TV interview, then you may actually meet someone. (Then, I guess, you sleep with someone. I'm not quite that dedicated to the cause yet, though.) At some point, empathy kicks in. How soon depends, but even Republican Congressmen seem embarrassed to look Arar in the eye--even via video link--& tell him this was okay.
By the same token, isolation breeds hopelessness & burnout. And this is my big problem right now--the only person I really work with on the big Abu Ghraib case is my boss, who is an admirable person but who stresses the crap out of me. And exhanging emails with your boss just isn't ever as much fun as working with a peer--I need a co-conspirator, preferably one who lives in the same city as me.
Anyway. Rambling.
Katherine--this time in all seriousness: do you know La/u/ra D/i/ck/inson?
no. Name sounds familiar but not someone I've ever met.
But none of those people slept with the captive/mercenary, Katherine. It's your willingness to go the extra mile for Hollywood a Modern Love column that makes you special.
obviously nobody here knows how to use a straight man anymore.
And this, this lowest of low-hanging fruit, remains unplucked. This was like the Gödel statement of set-up lines, people.
And exhanging emails with your boss just isn't ever as much fun as working with a peer--I need a co-conspirator, preferably one who lives in the same city as me.
I have absolutely no idea how to do this or if it's practical at all. But I wonder if there's anyway to get an unpaid law-student intern, either formally or informally. Might be useful, I bet there are plenty of law students who'd give a limb to work on your case, and it'd give you someone to bounce stuff off of.
She's the first google result on the name (not the 22 y.o. who got raped and murdered). Her academic specialty is right up your alley. I know her from way back, can "introduce" you if you're interested.
Yeah, we actually have some interns, & I should do a better job cultivating that. In particular I'm hoping to persuade a prof. and some students at the Northwestern clinic to get involved after New Year's (my connections there are currently on sabbatical in Italy).
But what he doesn't know is that it actually is butter.
We've replaced Fabio's butter-flavored vegetable spread with Folger's freeze-dried crystals. Let's see if he notices.
87: thanks muchly. I may take you up on that. I would rather do so when I have something specific & well thought out to ask about rather than "halp!" though.
85: I actually typed "Labs?" in response to that, and then figured I'd leave it for someone else to come up with something better. Sometimes, the lowest hanging fruit rots on the vine.
Sometimes, the lowest hanging fruit rots on the vine.
I'll say. It's not like 45 was *that* obscure.
OT: Okay, lawyer types. Input please! I'm working on a pro bono criminal appeal and want to order missing transcripts, and the partner-in-charge thinks it's a needless expense unless I have reason to think there would be an appealable issue in those portions andI think how the hell can I know whether there's anything appealable there if I don't order and read them. Am I being uptight and overcautious?!
"He was subject to rendition, flown away to a far-off land to be tortured. But the real torture lay in how his absence rendered my heart empty, gutted like the victims of so many heartless torturers."
Our court of appeals routinely throws out cases by claiming that the full record necessary was not available.
98: Yeah, that's exactly the kind of thing that makes me nervous.
96: wtf? That sounds dangerously close to a breach of legal ethics. Of course you should oder the transcripts. I can't imagine your *not* doing so if there were a paying client on the other end, and you aren't supposed to treat a pro bono client any differently.
97: "He was a mercenary, a man who took up arms on behalf of the highest bidder. He gave me documents because he loved me. And I loved him back. But I couldn't escape the question: Did I love him because he gave me documents? Was I, in fact, the real mercenary?"
Re: people on sabbatical in Italy, Katherine, I can hook you the hell up. I have strong connections with the other half of that outfit. If you want I can try to put you in touch.
But if you need a co-conspirator, I should volunteer my boyfriend, who is graduating in like 3 weeks, is hilarious, and basically a genius.
I would volunteer myself, except, like, I've already got other Very Important Justice to pursue that I've been slacking on for three months.
I can't see not ordering them, unless there was some specific reason to be pretty sure that there was nothing there (like, the only missing bit was a hearing over a discovery issue, with the jury out of the room, that went your way, then maybe you wouldn't need it). But otherwise, you need the transcript.
Also, I agree with 100. How the hell else are you supposed to find out whether there's something appealable, if not through the transcripts?
I went through a phase where I would go watch argument down at the 7th Cir. occasionally, and all the criminal appeals I saw argued, people would refer to the transcript saying this and that.
Also, how the hell much does it cost, anyway? Lame.
A friend of mine recently started a private investigation firm specializing in this stuff & I used to tease him about needing a hat & a bottle of rye in his office. Maybe I can ask him if he can introduce me to any mercenaries named "Colt Remington", or something equally atmospheric.
102: thanks. I would love buy the two of you a drink sometime--volunteering him as a co-conspirator would be an added bonus but I would love to buy you guys a drink anyway.
I sometimes think that the int'l stuff get might actually get too much attention compared to U.S. prison conditions. The other associate in my firm focuses on that--he's great, but he's in another state, & the only cases we overlap on are the boring ones.
OT: Yes, it's a lovely fucking concerto and all that, but when you have the same conference call every week and the call always starts late, one can get sick of the thing. Get some new on-hold music, people!
Like $500. Apparently dropping phrases like "ethical issue" and "risk management" were persuasive -- thanks for the collective confidence that I was not over the top dropping such phrases.
I can't imagine your *not* doing so if there were a paying client on the other end, and you aren't supposed to treat a pro bono client any differently.
To be fair, having done both court appointed and retained stuff, in retained work, your client has to agree to pay the cost prior to ordering them (or rather pay the cost.) In court appointed work, the state pays for them.
To be fair ... in retained work, your client has to agree to pay the cost prior to ordering them (or rather pay the cost.)
Has to specifically agree? Their general hiring you to defend them in the trial and through a potential appeal wouldn't cover your ordering a $500 transcript without prior express authorization?
I would expect with a paying client you'd just order it and bill them.
Also, 100 was a little unfair in that you are technically okay charging pro bono clients for your direct out-of-pocket expenses (or in the alternative, not incurring those expenses). You don't have to shell out on the client's behalf just because you are donating your time and expertise. But come the fuck on. It's $500.
Apparently, in our situation the government will cover the cost only if we can establish that the missing transcripts are necessary to the issues to be raised on appeal. Which, of course, how the hell do I know untill I review the transcripts?!
Having done pro bono work prior to selling my soul to The Firm, thinking about cost is a major mind shift. My thinking with non-paying clients was always that zealous advocacy requires essentially leaving no stone unturned. Adjusting to work for paying clients meant learning that sometimes a cost-benefit analysis is appropriate and appreciated.
110: Not long ago I was present in a room in which three law firm partners (not from my firm, thankfully) spent over three hours (collectively, about 10 hours billed at rates that are certainly over $500/hr, and probably significantly over) arguing over the allocation of a contingent tax liability with a maximum exposure of about $5000, that had probably about a 25% chance of becoming a true liablity, and that certainly wouldn't become a true liability until sometime 3-4 years out.
That's the sort of thing that can only happen when there's no client in the room.
That's the sort of thing that can only happen when there's no client in the room.
...says the $325/hr associate, commenting away on unfogged.
(Yes, we all live in that glass house, I know.)
I don't bill clients for my comments.
I don't bill clients for my comments.
Me neither. Not on a piece-rate basis, anyway.
The incisive back-and-forth of commenting here hones one's wits and argumentative capabilities, and one can thus justify splitting time spent in that pursuit evenly among all one's clients.
I don't bill clients for my comments.
Only if they link.
The incisive back-and-forth of commenting here hones one's wits and argumentative capabilities, and one can thus justify splitting time spent in that pursuit evenly among all one's clients.
And if I ever get into any legal trouble, I'm going to turn to one of y'all. So it's a business development expense.
Only if they link have weak controls in the accounts payable department.
government will cover the cost only if we can establish that the missing transcripts are necessary
Well, you front the cost, and then work like hell to show that they were necessary, and then the gov't will reimburse you, right?
weak controls in the accounts payable department.
We routinely get "bills" from supposed Yellow Pages type books and copier paper invoices that I assume get paid more often than Nigerian emails.
119: That's the really bizarre thing -- it looks like our only shot is getting the government to cover the cost up front, there is apparently no mechanism for after the fact reimbursement. Not that this is exactly news, but criminal justice for the poor really kind of sucks.
then work like hell to show that they were necessary
Can't necessarily. They could be a thousand pages of nothing appealable happening.
122: Probably will be. But if I don't order them, I can guarantee with my luck that the missing pages would be pure gold.
We routinely get "bills" from supposed Yellow Pages type books and copier paper invoices that I assume get paid more often than Nigerian emails.
The Republican direct mail machine gets a lot of money out of quasi-senile old people that way. Once when I got one of these "invoices" for "membership dues" from the RNC, I filed a mail fraud complaint against Marc Racicot with the the inspector general of the USPS, but I didn't get very far with that.
124.---That really is awful. Why didn't you get very far with the complaint?
Why didn't you get very far with the complaint?
Well, the benign answer is that the direct mail campaigns are carefully vetted by lawyers to look as much like invoices as possible to fool the unwary without actually crossing the line into overt fraud. I doubt that my complaint made it past the first waste basket.
The less benign answer is that GWB has made it his business to thoroughly politicize all the offices of the inspectors general of every agency.
Hello. My name is Mike Duncan, Chairman of the Republican Committee. I recently came across some accounts that had been used by Ronald Reagan for his reelection campaign in 1984 that had significant amounts left in them, unused. One had $1,003,764,954.12! Because of silly campaign refinance laws, we can not use them to support our candidates. If you give me your bank account number, I will transfer these funds to your account. You may keep 10%, but the rest you must donate to the Republican candidate of your choice. Hurry, before Hillary gets elected and steals this money.
120: that I assume get paid more often than Nigerian emails.
Speaking of which, our e-mail administrator forwarded to me this great twist on the Nigerian 419 e-mails. (Googling, I do see it has been around for a bit.)
Subject: Do you care for puppy adoption ?MY NAME IS ROBIN PETER, I AND MY WIFE AND 3 KIDS ARE ON A CHRISTIAN MISSION TO AFRICA AND I CAME
ALONG WITH MY 2 YORKSHIRE TERRIER PUPPIES.AFTER A WHILE I NOTICE THAT THE AFRICAN WEATHER IS NOT GOOD FOR THE PUPPIES AND I HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE
TO TAKE GOOD CARE OF THEM THE WAY I ALWAYS DO BECAUSE OF MY JOB. THEY ARE AKC REGISTERD. - TEACUP.
HOME RAISED,VACINES & HEALTH GUARANTEE.I NEED SOMEONE TO ADOPT BOTH AND TAKE CARE OF THEM FOREVER THE WAY I ALWAYS DO. IF YOU CAN TAKE GOOD
CARE OF THEM DO SEND A REPLY AND WILL EMAIL YOU WITH MORE INFO.P/S: PROVIDE A CONTACT PHONE NUMBER FOR FURTHER COMMUNICATION.
I HOPE TO READ FROM YOU.REGARDS,
REV. ROBIN PETER
MOTTO: IN GOD WE TRUST
127: Very nice. (aka pwned!)
Republican version incorporating the basic idea in 128.
Send us money or we'll kill this dog.
