250,000

When we hit 100,000 visitors, I saw it coming and held a little contest.

It looks like the quarter million eyeballs mark just snuck up on me a bit.

Now I have very large blogging chram.

I’ll still take post-250,000 hit submissions for new contest. Prize TBA.

Welcome to the Roll, QuizLaw

I don’t know why QuizLawhasn’t made it to the roll earlier. But, now that QuizLaw announced that the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is Seth’s favorite charity — my hand is forced.

Welcome, Seth et. al.

Subscribe by Email!

It may be a bit pathetic, but it took me this long to figure out how to use an email subscription service for the Legal Satyricon.

Better late than never.

If you would like to subscribe by email, you can use the widget to the right, or simply use the link below.

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Announcing a new Blawg

About a month ago, I asked Professor Leonard Birdsong to write a guest blog post for me. See Birdsong on Barack Obama and His Pastor.

Apparently that post gave Birdsong the blawging bug, and he has launched his own. Professor Birdsong is going to be vlogging soon as well.

Please join me in welcoming Birdsong to the blawgosphere.

Happy Birthday to You!

Happy second birthday to Jon Katz’ Underdog Blog!

And, if it wasn’t a happy enough occasion, on his blog post commemorating the event, Jon pays me mad props!

While I understand the benefit of speaking in a diplomatic manner to open listeners’ ears, I do that enough in court, and tend to be more direct and unvarnished in our blog, but perhaps not as unvarnished as my brother lawyer Marc Randazza whose blog is among the small handful that I read almost daily.(source)

It is always cool to get props… but when you get them from someone you hope to be like when you grow up… now that makes your day.

Unvarnished… heh… that’s putting it lightly.

Thanks for two years of great content, two years of inspiration, and for being one of the best damn blawgs out there.

A Long Time Coming

My blawgroll is not updated often enough. I am trying to rectify that.

The qualifications for getting on the roll are combination of non-exclusive factors:

1. How useful is your blawg? If I think it is a worthwhile resource, that gives you some points.
2. How pertinent is it to my subject matter? Even the greatest workers compensation or family law blawg of all time will probably not make the cut.
3. Do I regularly read your blawg? If I don’t read you, I probably won’t recommend that others do.
4. Do I think that others should? Duh.
5. Do you share the love? While I don’t believe in quid pro quo as a controlling factor, it comes into play. Marty Klein has never linked to me, but he gets so much juice from the other categories that I can’t help but link to him. On the other hand, there are other blawgs and blogs out there that link to me obsessively — but the other criteria are just not there. No offense to them at all, but the Legal Satyricon is a bit ADD as it is. I need to try and keep some focus.
6. The dormant share the love clause I have had a few blawgs purged from the roll for failing to share the love. If I link to a blawg a lot, and never get so much as a wink back, it bugs me. When I can tell that someone isn’t respecting the “hat tip” protocol, I lose interest in promoting and recommending them
7. Is my link of any use to you? Some blawgs just don’t need a link from me. For example, I read The Volokh Conspiracy a lot. It should, by all rights, be on the roll. However, I want to keep the roll rather short. I think that the traffic that would come from me to a blawg like that would be very insignificant. Naturally, I link to Volokh (and similar blawgs) in my postings a lot.

You will note that “how much I agree with you” is not a factor. That said, I won’t add anyone to my roll that promotes hate, bigotry, or whose views are antithetical to the Constitution.

All that said, there have been little prodding emails asking “hey, how about me?” recently (cough cough … Scott!). And the result was me saying “holy bejesus, he *does* belong on the roll!” So, if you are a reader and you think that your blawg belongs on my roll, don’t be shy… the answer to every question is “no” unless you ask.

With that, I proudly announce a few new arrivals on the blawgroll:

1. Scott Greenfield’s Simple Justice
2. Susan Cartier Liebel’s Build a Solo Practice
3. Eric Turkewitz’s New York Personal Injury Law Blog

All three should have been on my roll months ago. They are all, in their own way, tremendously useful, thought provoking, and highly recommended.

I’m really embarrassed that Susan just made the roll. She’s showered me with kindness and links for a long time — in fact, I think that she was the first “respectable” blogger to do so. How do I thank her? I fail to link to her for more than a year.

Simple Justice makes a lot of sense to be on my roll. Our two blawgs are not duplicative, but definitely are kindred spirits.

Turkewitz’ blawg might be a head scratcher. What the heck does a personal injury blawg have to do with my areas of expertise and interest? Nothing. Nevertheless, I find his blawg to be thought provoking as all hell, and frankly quite addictive and detrimental to my billing!

Welcome to the Legal Satyricon’s blawgroll you three. I hope that you never have this held against you in a congressional hearing… are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Legal Satyricon’s blawgroll?

On the Northern Illinois Shootings and Compassion

I don’t really write about violence and criminal issues that much, so I’ll defer to Jon Katz’ Underdog Blog on Steven Kazmierczak and the shootings at Northern Illinois University.

The most moving part of his post is this:

The most powerful way to reduce violence in society is for each person to reach out to others in need. Otherwise, rampant violence will continue, and convicting and jailing people for violent crimes will just be a band-aid that barely covers the wound, and that does little to prevent new wounds.

If only we all followed this little thread of wisdom.

Katz always makes me step back, breathe, and think. For all of the fire and passion that I express on The Legal Satyricon, I must confess that I always try to be more like Katz. Compassionate, calm, pensive.

Obviously, my success is somewhat incomplete.

Even the Buddha was not always enlightened.

For now, I’ll make sure that I do at least one extra act of compassion today. I’m going to be traveling today, which means that I will encounter any number of idiots, flunkies, and pains-in-the-asses. I’ll pick at least one person that I have a tremendous desire to scream at and instead do something nice for them.

Heh, that’ll screw with my friends’ heads. That alone will make it worth it…

But, a little being the change you want to see in the world is never a bad thing.

Can the Police Search Your iPhone or Blackberry?

Adam Gershowitz, a professor at the South Texas College of Law explores this in his recent article, The iPhone Meets the Fourth Amendment and so does the Northern District of Georgia in United States v. Carroll, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7485 (N.D. Ga. 2008).

Dillsnap Cogitations

Dillsnap Cogitations is a marvelous blend of politics and punk-rock tribute that makes no such attempt and offers no apologies. Its author describes himself as follows:

Hi, my name is Johnny Peepers. I am a socio-pathetic degenerate with a penchant for cheap booze, ruphy-laden broads, and dim sum soup. I have a maniacal and brooding personality, often described as emotionally-stunted, and tortured beyond repair. Some say I evoke a mental image of Travis Bickle. That is, if Bickle had suffered a sadistic and nightmarish upbringing, three months of violent frontal lobe electrical shock, and a daily punishing drop-kick to the nut-satchel. I love children and small animals because they represent everything that I am not. Namely, they are pure and innocent representations of God’s bounty here on Earth. I weep when I think of all the suffering in the world. I also weep when I urinate small particulates of crystal methamphetamine too though. I hope to meet new people who share my optimistic outlook for humanity. Although I am a tainted and brutally scarred shell of a man, I hope to motivate others to rise above their impediments and retardedness to achieve what I have not.

How the hell can you not be intrigued? Danger, you may be stuck there for hours on end.