Yesterday the U.S. Senate gave the President the power to torture, the power to detain anyone, any time, for no reason, forever. Those detained will not be able to challenge their imprisonment; no one may ever know they’re even in prison. Glenn Greenwald has the blow-by-blow on yesterday’s “debate” and vote [via TDQ]. As soon as Bush signs this into law, anyone, anytime, could just disappear forever into U.S. military custody. The world has seen these kinds of tactics before. I note in this connection that the recently declassified snippet from the National Intelligence Estimate reports that “leftist” groups are terror threats. Only the President (and any lackey’s to whom he designates the power) can say who is an “enemy combatant.” I’m sure you can do the math from there…. [tags]terrorism, torture, bush administration, fear, congress, conlaw[/tags]

I have it on good authority that the state of Montana is still hiring Public Defenders all around the state. For you urban types, that includes at least one opening in the “big city” of Billings. Starting pay is around $43-44k/year and up, plus benefits (which are quite good). My understanding is that they need people asap.

After just two months I can definitely recommend the job. You might even get to work on cases like the latest big one in our office. [tags]montana, Billings, public defender[/tags]

“Gore is hoping to train 1,000 Climate Project volunteers who will help spread the message about global warming that Gore has been promoting in his book and documentary film, “An Inconvenient Truth.”" ââ�¡â��

“Republican Sen. Conrad Burns, the incumbent, received the most money from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, and his challenger, state Senate President Jon Tester, is pounding away at the issue.” ââ�¡â��

“thereââ�¬â�¢s probably a considered reason why PD offices try the swinging dick approach to interviewing candidates they know little or nothing about. Perhaps it makes them feel like prosecutors and/or they get to externalize and thus ââ�¬Å�winââ�¬Â� conversations theyââ�¬â�¢ve previously ââ�¬Å�lostââ�¬Â� with family, friends, and the ghost of Bill Oââ�¬â�¢Reily.” ââ�¡â��

I know this isn’t news, but since I heard these headlines last Friday or so I’ve just been shocked that I haven’t heard a deafening chorus of this from Democrats. Apparently the Dems are worried about looking “soft” on “terrorism” if they stand up and say “we oppose all torture.” I don’t know which is more horrifyingââ�¬â��the fact that Republicans have agreed to allow torture (and, as I understand it, give the Executive the power to detain just about anyone it wants forever and without any possibility of judicial review), or the fact that Democrats are not taking a united and unflinching stand against it. This should be the number one campaign slogan nationwide:

Republicans compromise on torture. Democrats don’t.

It’s simple and ought to be true. Perhaps Democrats aren’t running on this slogan because it isn’t true? Or is it because they really are as spineless as Republicans say they are?

Oh, and one more thing: Has anyone else noticed how convenient it is for Republicans that gas prices are falling now, just a little more than a month before elections? (I guess other people have noticed.) It’s enough to give a conspiracy theorist fits…

Sadness: My good friend Monica has retired from blogging. She has long warned me that this was coming, but that didn’t mean I was any happier when it actually happened. Adding to the sadness is that it has taken me so long to even mention it. Explaining her decision, Monica writes:

I’ve started a job that I can’t blog about, and as my career progresses, I don’t want to blog about that either. My life is changing, and I no longer want it to be so public.

Good points, all. With each week that passes where I can’t manage to update the imbroglio even once, I wonder if perhaps there’s a lesson there. Is my time for blogging over? And yet, there are so many great blogs by practicing lawyers that I admire and love to read. It seems possible, and a worthy goal to strive for, that I will eventually figure out a way to make that transition from law student blogger to lawyer blogger. The transition is taking longer than I thought, but… [tags]friends[/tags]

Best of luck to Monica. I always loved checking in on Buzzwords and I’m so glad were able to get to know each other through this medium and then to actually meet. As she says, we became good friends, and she is likewise one of only a handful of people with whom I’ve kept in touch since law school. It doesn’t matter that we went to different schools; we followed similar paths and her insights and inspiration along the way definitely helped me get to where I am today. I look forward to keeping our friendship going, and if this blog does continue, I definitely hope to post something from Alaska someday. Perhaps I’ll even be able to get Monica to guest post!

“It is as though we do still have a two-party system, but the two political parties are the White House and congressional Republicans. Democrats are like some quirky little third party relegated to an afterthought and quoted almost as an act of charity.” ââ�¡â��

For a little while it looked like I was going to have to wait until tomorrow for the news. I came home around midday and waited for the mail; when it arrived there was no letter. As I was working up my gumption to head back to work to wait for another day I got a call from the office.

“Where are you?”

“I’m just on my way back to work. I was waiting for the mail…”

“Well we have a couple of letters here for you that you probably want to see. One’s from the Board of Bar Examiners and the other is from the Clerk of the Supreme Court.”

I had to catch my breath before asking, “Are they big envelopes or little envelopes?”

“Just regular size business envelopes.”

And then I knew. The bar examiners told us that if we got a little letter, we passed. If we got a big letter, we failed and the letter would instruct us on how to prepare to take the test again. Of course, it wasn’t real until I opened the letter and actually read the words you see above.

It’s hard to believe, really, but there it is, in black and white. Three years of law school, two months of bar study, three days of bar examining, and two months of waiting. Now I’m pretty sure I’m a lawyer.

Crazy, don’t you think?

“Ever wonder why associates would leave such cushy jobs? Could it be because law firms aren’t really all they are hyped up to be?” ââ�¡â��