first the Hotham:
loud wind–
the bed unmade
all day
my move
their move
morning clouds
a pile of orange peelings–
the night watchman
away from his desk
now the baloney beat:
“tinyredcheck” There may be some excellent reasons for entering the Pacific Legal Foundation‘s 6th
Annual Judicial Writing Contest, but getting extra spending cash — the point stressed by both
PLF’s Tim Sandefur (free money) and Crime & Federalism’s Mike Cernovich — does not come readily
to mind as a benefit you can count on. Mike (Fed84) says that not entering the Competition while
in law school is one of his biggest regrets, because “First, it’s an excellent way for you to make some
extra money.”
Maybe I’m being uncharacteristically curmudgeonly, but PLF is giving away a total of $9500 to the
top three prize winners. I don’t know how many entrants there usually are, but if Tim and Mike are
successful in drumming up a lot more essays through weblog publicity, I think the odds will start getting
kind of long. It takes an investment of two bucks and a moment to scratch off a lottery card, but the New
York state Lottery gives you the approximate odds of winning. And, laws like Montana’s “Disclosure of Odds”
requirement exist in all states for such games. Do PLF’s entrants — who are expected to submit publishable
essays of 8,000 to 14, 000 words — deserve less, even in the libertarian world of laissez faire?
To my cynic’s eye, it’s ironic that the essays this year will cover the Takings Clause of the Constitution and
theories of government “givings.” It seems PLF is taking a lot for all the time and effort the entrants will be
giving, basically, to help PLF brainstorm and draft future briefs and other documents. The usually tough-minded
and skeptical Fed84 says “I can’t see a downside to your entering the contest.” It seems to me that the likelihood of doing lots of unpaid work, and the need to take the libertarian side of the argument for a realistic chance at some money, might be downsides to many law students. If your financial aid office counts any winnings aginst your aid package, you might also see another downside.
If the odds of winning are actually quite high — because there are only a handful of entrants
— why not just pay a half-dozen selected law students $1000 each for a finished essay, with
perhaps a bonus for two considered to be the best? Too much like a pig in a poke? Rather
let a law professor do the editing? Too free-market-like?
A final note: PLF’s entry rules say “Students are encouraged to seek the guidance and
input of a faculty member of their own choosing.” This suggests to me that PLF wants
a really good finished product more than it wants to see what the individual law or graduate
students can produce.
p.s. PLF calls this a poster.
What kind of wine goes with Inaugural Baloney? Prof. B knows, and he takes
Hugh Hewitt to task for his over-the-top praise of President Bush’s speech, while quoting
Peggy Noonan, and worying about “mission inebriation” in the White House.
George Carlin has done it again with 
It recently came to my attention that a lot of people have not yet experienced
