25th anniversary . . .
she sits on the suitcase
to zip it shut
mountain butterfly
from her boulder
to mine
dawn rain
dripping off autumn leaves
her yawn my yawn
“mountain butterfly” – Modern Haiku XXXI:2; glimpse of red: rma 2000
“25th anniversary” – RAW NerZ XII:3; pegging the wind: rma 2002
“dawn rain” – School’s Out (Press Here, 1999)
potluck
“prof grace” Are you risk-seeking tonight? At RiskProf, you will find a
serious piece by Ty Leverty explaining why insurance prices are going up
post-Katrina, and a light-hearted post by Martin Grace about
dating services and the regulation thereof. Steve Bainbridge
certainly does not have a monopoly on things eclectic (nor
Catholic) on the lawprof web.
At Houston’s Clear Thinkers, Tom Kirkendall rightly
decries the Texas system for selecting judges — elections — as
utterly unsupportable. (via Overlawyered.com). Tom supports
an appointment process similar to that used for federal judges
(perhaps with a limited term). He notes:
“Although a growing number of Texans agree that elections
are not the best way to choose judges, the tendency in Texas
politics is for the party in control of the statehouse to support
the current system because most of the elected judges are from
that party. Inasmuch as the Republicans are now solidly in
control of Texas state government, the GOP state leaders are in
no hurry to change even a flawed system so long as it produces
judges mainly from their party” . . . .
“Thus, this is one of those issues where — regardless of your
political affiliation — the right answer is clear. Only a politician
who is more interested in maintaining power than in improving
the administration of justice would support the current flawed
system.”
As I’ve pointed out previously, we have a similarly lousy system
here in New York. The chance for reform might be even worse: each
major party is solidly in control of one house of the legislature. Parties
often cross-nominate each other’s candidate, who is chosen by the
relevant county party chairman. Here in Schenectady County, we have
had party chairmen choose themselves. Nice?
