Sinister Organization.

More on that sinister organization, The Federalist Society, here.

As I noted before, I joined up quite a few years ago, but maybe because of my liberal taint, I never got the secret handshake nor have I received a judicial appointment.

Of course, I'm still waiting on the IRD checks that have been promised to every orthodox Anglican.

Firefox 3. (beta)

I usually have 15 to 18 separate windows open when I browse using Firefox, each having anywhere from 1 to 10 separate tabs open. It can be a huge resource hog; so I'm intensely concerned that a new version of Firefox might be worse.

According to this, while the initial loading may consume more memory, leaving all the window and tabs open like I do will actually result in less memory being consumed than with Firefox 2.0.

Thumbs up.

Reading Level Requirements.

I actually strive to write at 5th grade reading level. So either reading levels have changed or I'm getting sloppy:

(this is the same rating as Prof. Volokh -- but I can only dream to write like he does.)

Harold Berman, Rest in Christ

I just read on the Volokh Conspiracy blog that law professor Harold Berman passed away. Here is the link to Todd Zywicki's thoughts ("Berman's magnum opus Law and Revolution was one of a handful of books that truly transformed my thinking about law. It is one of those books that once you read it, it is almost impossible to ever again think about law and especially legal history the same.") See also, the wonderful obit in the NYTimes and read it to the end.

I was fortunate to take a one week summer course from him a few years back -- it must have been August 2004, because I remember he was supporting John Kerry. The course was offered at Regent University Law School in Virginia Beach, about an hour from my parent's house. It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. (In fact, now that I think about it, the last day of class was on August 6, my son's birthday -- I asked him to sing my personal copy of Law and Revolution for Joseph and I will give it to him one day.) Aside from the professor and the course, which was magnificent, the class was very diverse -- ranging from Herb Titus, who at that time was counsel for Roy Moore to the very liberal gay chancellor of a West Coast Episcopal Diocese.

Prof. Berman began the class by actually giving his background and included his testimony, which was fascinating. He was raised in a non-practicing Jewish family and went to the London School of Economics. On a train ride to or from school, he told us he had an encounter with the risen Christ. He said that Jesus appeared to him, physically, as He had to Saint Paul (although Prof. Berman wryly indicated he was allowed to keep his sight) and it changes his life, setting him on the path he would follow. He further indicated this was not a story he ever told but felt comfortable telling it to our seminar.

He was truly a great man and I am thankful I was able to meet him.

More.

Here are some of his writings available on-line:

• The Historical Foundation of Law
  
• The Holy Spirit: The God of History
• An Ecumenical Christian Jurisprudence
• Law and Logos
• The Triune God of History
  
• World Law: An Ecumenical Jurisprudence of the Holy Spirit

Here is a review of the second volume of Law and Revolution from The Claremont Institute.

And an old note by former student, Randy Barnett.

Killing Opportunity: Hugo Chavez

ESPN has an article on-line which you might normally find in The New Republic or The National Review. Here's an excerpt:

With that kind of talent emerging from Venezuela in recent seasons, one would assume that big league clubs would be flocking to the South American nation in search of the next superstar. However, the cultural and political scene in Venezuela is undergoing rapid and radical transformation, and instead of flocking to the country, teams are fleeing over concerns about safety and political uncertainty. They aren't leaving in droves just yet, but the stream has been steady enough to raise a red flag about the future. And that's what has [Angels pitcher Kelvim] Escobar and others worried.

The number of clubs pulling their player development operations out of Venezuela has been a concern for Major League Baseball. Nineteen teams have participated in the Venezuelan Summer League in the past, but only 11 did so this year.

The Padres, for example, had planned on leaving Venezuela following this season after they built a multimillion-dollar facility in the Dominican, but the current situation accelerated the move. The team moved all its player development operations out of Venezuela following the 2005 campaign, two years earlier than originally anticipated.

"We just figured we might as well do it [then] to avoid some of the hassle of having to deal with some of the legislation that [President Hugo] Chávez passes down there in hiring coaches, worrying about severance pay and just getting in and out of the country," says Juan Lara, San Diego's Latin American operations coordinator.

San Diego is not alone. Baltimore ceased operating its academy following the 2006 season. The Red Sox -- one of the teams the Padres shared an academy with -- left when San Diego did in 2005. Cleveland pulled out in 2004.

There has been speculation, more internal than public so far, that Chávez, a socialist and self-proclaimed revolutionary who took office in 1999, will turn Venezuela into the next Cuba. In other words, some worry that baseball in Venezuela will serve to illustrate (once again) how politics spills over into sport. Cuba is an international power in baseball and, as in Venezuela, the game has long been a part of the nation's cultural landscape. But since Fidel Castro took power, the Cuban government hasn't allowed its players to sign professional contracts.

Read it all.