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I'm legal observing tonight at two events. One of them is an action at the Mexican Consulate here in Portland in solidarity with the activists in Oaxaca. I got a text message and email about 20 minutes ago from Matt, who's already there, evidently there have already been 2 arrests.
It wasn't supposed to start until 4 pm. Should be an interesting evening.
The past couple of months have been eventful to say the least. Outside of school and work things were not going well. But ultimately, you do what you can. I feel like I tried, and it wasn't enough. I demand nothing more and nothing less than progress, not perfection.
However, if anything the past couple of months have taught me it's that I have some great friends. I don't get to spend as much time with them as I would like, some of them live very far away, but there are some great people that I can always count on. Being in DC, going to Austin, and making the effort to spend time with people here in Portland I've truly learned how good my friends are.
The moral of the story is, I'm truly grateful. I have great friends, live in a beautful city, am in law school doing what I want to do...basically living the dream. There are things I don't have, things I wish I had, and there are things that could be better. But for the most part, things are going well, and I'm happy, and grateful.
A Court of Special Appeals in Maryland has ruled that the common law for rape is clear: women cannot withdraw consent once sex has begun.
The jury in this case asked the judge to clarify the law as to whether or not a woman can withdraw consent. Believing the law to be ambiguous, the judge refused to answer. On appeal, the Court held the common law clearly stated the a woman cannot withdraw consent once its given.
Via Feministing.
For a copy of the decision: download 225s05.pdf
In attempt to catch up, I thought I'd give everyone the scoop on this post.
On October 5th there was a rally and march here in Portland and across the country called World Can't Wait. Essentially, it amounts to the world can't wait for regime change. The organizers in Portland wanted the march to be a march to city hall to pressure the commission to vote on the resolution denouncing the war. That was the plan.
Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. What began as a light rally with lukewarm, semi-inspirational speeches became another instance of the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) abusing its power against peaceful marchers.
The marchers refused to comply and submit to the police and in solidarity were victorious against the police intersection after intersection. The police would direct the marchers one way, and the marchers courageously refused, only to be stopped by bike cops further down the road. Each time the police would relent, allowing the marchers to pass. This did not last. The police stopped the march at a particular intersection, and without much warning, if at all, pepper sprayed a crowd. They then ordered the marchers out of the street and onto the sidewalks, at which point the crowd complied. We all remarked at how quickly they complied. As I was watching several people being arrested, searched and put in a van, I heard yelling. I ran the half block to the corner where Matt was, just in time to see the police shooting rubber bullets at the ground (so that they bounce up and into the crowd) and pull certain activists out of the crowd. They did this twice, and the second time they leveled the rubber bullet gun at us, and fired. The guy next to me was hit several times. They also fired bean bags as a way to "control" the crowd.
When all was said and done, 10 people were arrested, including a woman and her son, and a woman who was not affiliated with the march at all. She was an innocent bystander.
That weekend, Matt and I did a legal observer training for a group of people who are going to the day laborer spots here in Portland to film the activities of Minutemen and in anticipation of ICE or PPB raids.
The next weekend I went to Washington, DC for the National Law Students Workers' Rights Conference. It was good. The whole conference took place at the George Meany National Labor College, which is pretty awesome. The conference had its good points and bad points, but it's getting people involved in the movement which is awesome. While there, I met some people got to hang out with Katy (who still rocks) and some friends of hers (one of whom used to be a mid-wife) and bumped into Tucker Carlson. Katy took me to a birthday party at some bar in Georgetown, where I proceeded to spill two drinks. Which would not be worth mentioning if I had, say, for example, been drunk, but I wasn't. I'm just clumsy. The morning of my flight, I overslept, and missed my 6:00am flight, but got routed through Minneapolis/St. Paul. This airport had a great restaurant with some great vegan food, including dessert. I was very impressed. I also bought and read My Friend Leonard on the way back from DC. (I don't care if he lied, exaggerated or what, I really enjoyed it.)
The NLG Convention was unbelievable.
Great attorneys doing great work. I met some really awesome people and am really looking forward to working with them in the future. I'm not certain, but I believe our law school had more students at the convention than any other. There were a total of 8 from the Lewis & Clark Chapter, and a lot more from the Portland Chapter.
Lots of stories to tell, but after that I'm inspired to actually, you know, study and all, so I'm going to go to Employment law. Be sure to check out Kasia's pictures on her flickr.
I have arrived in Austin, Tx for the National Lawyers' Guild Annual Conference. I'm visiting friends and so far it's awesome.
In the past couple of weeks, I've:
I'll catch up soon.
Last year, the Supreme Court ruled that law schools cannot exclude the military from recruiting events even though they do not comply with Equal Employment/Anit-Discrimination policies. (Actually, I think you can exclude them, but not if you want federal funds.) So the JAG corps is doing interviews on campus this month and we would like to find a way to let them know of our disapproval of their hiring and firing practices. We will post signs, and otherwise try to make clear to them that we aren't happy about them coming to campus. The best part is, they are interviewing on campus on Coming Out Day - October 11.
So it, actually couldn't be a better day to let them know of our contempt. Now I know some of you may be thinking, but it's just some recruiter, trying to do his job. Well, servicemembers not only have the right, but the duty to refuse an illegal order.
