FDA Oyster rule

At most, 15 people die every year from bad oysters (not counting allergic reactions). The new FDA rule bans the harvesting of oysters for seven months out of the year unless they are post-processed. Such post-processing includes pasteurization, freezing, or irradiating.

90 people die every year from lightning strikes. Let's ban lightning.

120 people die every year from airline crashes in the US. Let's ban airplanes.

I'm sorry, but 15 people dying from bad oysters in a year is not sufficient justification for a nationwide FDA oyster ban. The leading oyster supplier in the French Quarter was interviewed on NPR, and he stated that he would have to shutter his doors, because he has no physical plant to put the post-processing equipment in.

Other oyster-slinging professionals complain that the oysters' flavor is affected by the post-processing.

God damn the FDA!

Hiatus OVUH

Well, I'm back.

To recap: 2 wins in the Court of Appeals since I last blogged. One civil trial- loss. One criminal trial- win. A number of emergency and temporary actions in chancery- all wins, unequivocally.

And one con-law class under wraps. Grades are in. Tough. A fun experience, and different from the practical class I teach at USM.

What Wilsonian really means

Teaching a constitutional law class at Wm Carey University is a great experience for me. I'm not sure the students enjoy it. But one thing that puzzles me is why Woodrow Wilson gets such a pass from historians.

The Tornado Ashes Club

This novel sounds highly promising. I look forward to reading it.

http://www.amazon.com/How-I-Became-Famous-Novelist/dp/0802170609

Staycation over, hell week begins

Tuesday I went to the coast, looking to try a heck of a child custody case. Instead, got bumped to the end of the month, and my client lost temporary custody.

Wednesday, I finally resolved a divorce matter which I took over from Leonard Melvin last fall.

Today, I am headed to court in front of Judge Dale to get slapped around like a dying fish.

Tomorrow, I clean up the mess from earlier in the week, and get ready to start all over on Monday.

Cooking and staycation

My staycation started last night at 5:00 pm. We went to 206 Front Street, had a few mixed drinks, then repaired home. We prepped crudite, cheese, and hummus, and had a delightful evening of zakuski, Ignatiev family style, and drinks.

This morning, we did a shopping marathon of over 3 hours. Bought enough groceries to feed an army (or so it seemed) and bought three top-shelf kitchen knives. We are kissing the dreaded Chicago Cutlery stainless set goodbye. It served loyally for years, but we now have the Alton's Angle Shun Kershaw 6" utility and 4" paring knife, and the Viking 6" Asian cleaver, all bought at half-price at The Kitchen Table today. I baked some good french bread, and we had a nice salad and Tina made homemade linguine, which I cooked with some goat sausage, mushrooms, red onion, and marsala. A delightfully simple dish, with great promise.

And in the midst of all this, we watched Julie & Julia. Tina appeared to like the more modern portion of the movie, while I preferred the flashback section. Still, it's better than the reviews (except Ebert got it about exactly right, as usual). A solid 3.5 stars on a four-star scale, but it does lack the element of greatness. The whole time that I was watching Stanley Tucci as Paul Child, I was thinking, "He could play Gene Kelly in a biopic." I should pitch that to him.

Mississippi and the dearth of good expert witnesses

Amidst news that Dr. Steven Hayne, noted non-certified forensic pathologist and dubiously contracted Chief State Pathologist of Mississippi, is headed back in the saddle, I ponder the question of why there are no good expert witnesses in Mississippi. In the past two years, I have had my own client's treating physician destroy a case in his deposition (for which dubious privilege I paid over $2500 for a forty-minute deposition); I have seen a licensed professional counselor claim, with a straight face, that he is legally entitled to render opinions to reasonable pyschological certainty, even though he is not a licensed pyschologist, because he has a PhD in psychology; and despite this, these people are regularly relied upon by the courts of the 10th Chancery District in renderning opinions.

I fear that Chancery Court is not operating as the gatekeeper it is supposed to under Daubert.

Teaching

Tonight I start teaching Constitutional Law I at William Carey University. Let's see how this works; it's the first academic/philosophical course in my professional field that I will be teaching.

A Good Divorce

That's the one where the poor client weeps with relief and joy at the end of a horribly abusive marriage. Although I do not like divorce in principle, I like the way people enter into marriage a good deal of the time even less. We are far too casual about marriage these days.

But last Thursday, I was able to help a lovely young woman free herself from a truly terrible mistake she made as a much younger woman. And that is the best part of my job.