I was expecting it. People on law school boards were saying that only about 100 applicants out of more than 2,000 were getting offers to attend. I turned in my application a little later in the cycle. I didn’t receive anything in the mail inviting me to Admitted Students’ Day. No follow-up emails. No calls. No fat envelopes. No quirky musical montage. Things were not looking up.
Still, I was a little disappointed when I received that skinny envelope from the fledgling U.C. Irvine School of Law last week. I did not get the golden ticket, the free law school education that was promised to any member of the school’s inagural class. I would not get to be an anteater. Twas a sad day in Julie-ville.
Then, yesterday I read on The Shark blawg that Dean Erwin Chemerinsky’s grand expedition into the law school yonder had turned away 2,740 other students who were hoping to hitch their wagon to the new California law school. And I realized that it may have been a sad day in many other people’s villes as well.
In the spirit of reject solidarity, I offer you, the other 2,740 of my brothers and sisters in reject-dom, this.
Despite the fact that we’re not going to be going to their totally awesome school (which they themselves acknowledge is totally awesome and is almost as awesome as Harvard and Yale), we can make our peace with the fact that we will not be endowed with awesomeness. How can we accomplish this awesome feat, you ask? By learning how totally not-that-awesome U.C. Irvine’s mascot, the anteater, is:
Random Anteater Facts
- The name anteater usually refers to the Giant Anteater but is also applied to the aardvark, the numbat, the echidna, and the pangolin. Together with the sloths, these animals comprise the order Pilosa. All these animals are known to eat ants and termites.
- The tongue of the Giant Anteater is over 2 feet long. (via www.randomfacts.org)
- Giant anteaters walk with a slow shuffle on all four legs with their nose pointed to the ground. The anteater does not walk on its paws. Instead, with the claws curled up into the paws, it walks on its “fists.”
- Giant anteaters have no teeth but a specialized tongue that allows them to eat up to 30,000 ants and termites each day.
- An adult female giant anteater gives birth to a single baby (twins are rare) while in a standing position, propped up by her strong tail.
- The giant anteater’s main enemies are jaguars and pumas
- The giant anteater has been around for 25 million years (via www.sandiegozoo.org)
OK. Well, maybe they are kinda cool. And I have to admit that they can also be kinda cute. Here’s “Anteater eating a creamsicle”.
Here’s one called “Stewie walks on two legs”.
And I leave you with “Baby Anteaters”.
With cute, almost anything can be forgiven. Even a law school rejection. Sigh.
The Obama administration today released previously undisclosed memos regarding the use of torture by the Central Intelligence Agency, but has decided not to go forward with the prosecution of CIA interrogators who performed the acts described in the documents.
Attorney General Eric Holder, in a press release from the Department of Justice, stated that President Obama has stopped the use of the interrogation techniques described in the opinions. “We are disclosing these memos consistent with our commitment to the rule of law,” he stated.
From the press release:
“Holder also stressed that intelligence community officials who acted reasonably and relied in good faith on authoritative legal advice from the Justice Department that their conduct was lawful, and conformed their conduct to that advice, would not face federal prosecutions for that conduct.”
Holder further states that the government would provide no-cost legal representation to any employee in any state or federal judicial or administrative proceeding brought against the employee based on such conduct, and would also indemnify any employee for any monetary judgment or penalty ultimately imposed against him for such conduct and will provide representation in congressional investigations.
You can download the memos at the New York Times Web site. If you don’t want to download them on your own, you can read them at The Huffington Post, which is seemingly outsourcing the digging through them to its readership. And here’s a link to President Obama’s statement regarding the release of the memos.
Included in the documents is a memo published by the Office of Legal Counsel August 1, 2002 (under Jay Bybee and Chapman Law visiting professor John Yoo) which the New York Times had previously reported as “a legal authorization for a laundry list of proposed C.I.A. interrogation techniques.”
The memo discusses the case of Abu Zubaydah, described as one of the highest-ranking members of Al Qaeda and one of the planners of the Sept. 11 attacks.
According to the memo, Zubaydah is thought to be witholding vital information from interrogators, and because of the amount of “chatter” that was equivalent to that which preceded the Sept. 11 attacks, it was permissible to up the ante so to speak: to go from regular interrogation methods into the “increased pressure phase”.
And what does the increased pressure phase entail?
Ten techniques: the attention grasp, walling, facial hold, facial slap (insult slap), cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, insects placed in a confinement box, and the waterboard.
Page two of the documents gives a rundown of what each technique involves. Ultimately, the memo writers conclude that none of the techniques used on Zubaydah would qualify as “torture”.
According to the Associated Press, former CIA Director Michael Hayden stated that the Obama administration is endangering the country by releasing the memos.
The release of the memos today should make Saturday’s scheduled National Lawyers Guild Teach-In On Torture at Chapman Law’s Kennedy Hall and next week’s debate regarding Presidential Power and Success in Time of Crisis – with Mr. Yoo, Dean John Eastman, Professor Katherine Darmer, and Professor Larry Rosenthal – all the more timely.
Photo: Joe Gratz / Flickr
The Blawgirl crawls the Interwebz to find steals and deals for the frugal law student and the competitive bargain shopper. Find a new Frugal Finds 11:30 (ish) p.m. PST every Monday through Saturday! Also, each post is updated as I come across items. You’re welcome.
Gadgets and Gear:
- $419 notebook. Dell Small Business has the the 5.4-lb. Dell Vostro A860 Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6GHz 15.6″ Widescreen Notebook in black for $419 plus $25 for shipping. (via DealNews)
- $467 notebook. Lenovo has the Lenovo ThinkPad SL400 Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz 14.1″ Widescreen Notebook for $466.65 with free shipping via the directions below found at DealNews.
- $500 notebook. OnSale.com has the Sony VAIO Intel Core 2 Duo 2GHz 15.4″ Widescreen Notebook in granite silver for $569.99, but a $70 mail-in rebate brings the price to $499.99 with $4.99 for shipping. (via DealNews)
- $679 notebook. Lenovo.com has its Lenovo ThinkPad T400 Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz 14.1″ Widescreen Notebook for $799 with free shipping. Coupon code “USP2DAYSALE” brings the price to $679.15. (via DealNews)
- $9 noise-canceling headphones. Newegg.com has the iSymphony Active Noise Canceling Headphones for $8.99 (Orig. price: $39.99) with free shipping. (via DealNews)
- $80 digital camera. Today only, Woot.com has the Pentax Optio E60 10-Megapixel Digital Camera in black or pink for $79.99 with $5 for shipping. (via DealNews)
- $100 digital camera. Newegg.com has the Olympus Stylus 830 8-Megapixel Digital Camera in orange bundled with the Lowepro Z5 Classic Case for $99.99 with free shipping. (via DealNews)
- $72 notebook daypack. Timbuk2.com has its Timbuk2 Hacker Notebook Daypack for $72 (Orig. price: $120) with $9.95 for shipping. Fits most 15″ laptops and is available in three styles. (via DealNews)
Entertainment:
- Free Amazon.com MP3 samplers. Pick up the Barsuk Records: 2009 Amazon Digital Sampler, which features eight songs from artists like Ra Ra Riot and Death Cab for Cutie. You may also want to check out the Secretly Canadian 2008/2009 sampler, which also features eight songs.
Odds and Ends:
- $15 emergency kit. BargainOutfitters.com offers an American Red Cross Emergency Smart Pack for $19.97 plus $5.99 for shipping, but coupon code “BF631″ brings the price of the pack to $14.97. The kit includes five modular packs with water, food, first aid, alert, and shelter components that all fit in a larger backpack. (via DealNews)
- $20 straightening iron. Folica.com has the Sexy Hair Curve Controller Straightener for $19.99 (Orig. price: $169.95), but coupon code “SEXY10″ drops the price down to $9.99 with about $6 for shipping. (via DealNews)
- 3-for-1 hotness. Speaking of sexy. Hey, guys. Don’t wait until first-year oral arguments to pick up a suit. At Jos. A. Bank, you can buy one suit at its regular price and get two more for free with free shipping until April 18! All three suits must cost the same, and the discount only applies to their regular prices, which are at least double the listed sale prices, according to DealNews. Hint: Find a style you like, and pick up three in different colors. Suits start at about $350. Don’t know how to measure yourself for a suit? Check out this article.
Memos from the justice department that condoned the use of torture and that outline the methods used by the CIA in secret prisons overseas are scheduled to be released today by the Obama administration, according to The Caucus, a political blog of the New York Times.
The Times writes that among the memos expected to be released is one penned by former Bush legal advisers John Yoo and Jay Bybee that is “a legal authorization for a laundry list of proposed C.I.A. interrogation techniques.”
Yoo, who is a professor at the U.C. Berkeley Boalt Hall School of Law, is currently a visiting professor at the Chapman University School of Law.
It is unknown how much of the memos will be intact when they are released.
According to The Times, CIA Director Leon Panetta had pushed for weeks to have portions of the memos redacted because information contained in them could “pave the way for future disclosures of intelligence sources and methods, and would jeopardize the C.I.A.’s relationship with foreign intelligence services.”
The “most immediate concern of C.I.A. officials is that the revelations could give new momentum to a full-blown congressional investigation into covert activities under the Bush Administration,” The Times wrote.
The Spanish court was considering pursuing its own criminal investigation into six former Bush officials. The Times reported this morning, however, that Spain would not be opening an investigation of the Bush Six.
The Bush Six includes Yoo, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales; former Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith; Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, David Addington; Justice Department official Jay S. Bybee; and Pentagon lawyer William Haynes.
Photo: mindgutter / Flickr
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