Friday Fantastic Four #9

After an inexcusable absence of almost a month and a half, here is the return of the Friday Fantastic Four, this the 9th installment:

1. Featured Law-Oriented Blog.


This week's featured law-oriented blog is Split Circuits, a blog "dedicated to tracking developments concerning splits among the federal circuit courts.

The blog is maintained by A. Benjamin Spencer, an Assistant Professor of Law at The University of Richmond School of Law. A Harvard grad, Spencer teaches Civil Procedure, Administrative Law, Complex Litigation, and a seminar in Advanced Issues in Civil Procedure. He has another blog, Federal Civil Practice Bulletin.

Split Circuits is a potentially invaluable resource for anyone who practices in the federal courts and needs to stay abreast of how the various circuits may differ in application of federal law, as well as a great resource for those of you out there who teach and are in need of good scenarios for class problems. Go check the site out; it's clear that Professor Spencer has devoted a great deal of time and effort to this project.

2. Featured Law Commentary.


This week's featured legal commentary comes courtesy of Michael J. Kelly, Professor of Law at Creighton School of Law. Kelly's short piece over at Jurist Hotline is titled, "Now is the time to dump the CIA and transform the intelligence community."

Kelly argues that Porter Goss's resignation as CIA director offers President Bush "an opportunity to make real and lasting changes to a broken intelligence system." Kelly argues that the CIA "continues to sink ever more deeply to the abyss of public skepticism as more abuses come to light involving torture, detention, rendition to third countries, and the use of secret 'black sites' where suspects remain hidden from public scrutiny indefinitely." Kelly argues that Bush should utilize this opportunity to "really shake up the intelligence community in such a way that moves us further from the model of fighting the Cold War against the non-existent KGB and toward the model of engaging an enemy that is more unpredictable, unascertainable, and stubbornly impenetrable."


3. Featured Non-Law-Oriented Blog.


This week's featured non-law-oriented blog is a blog I only recently discovered because its author stopped by and left a comment here on my post about Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. The blog is Dark and Moody Chicks.

Don't let the name scare you off. This is a really funny daily comic blog. Today's strip even pokes fun at those of us who are *still* talking about Stephen Colbert. Interspersed with the daily comics are insights into the daily life of the author.

For example, today Michelle got pulled over making an improper left turn -- no ticket, though.

"The Chicks" have tackled a variety of topics recently, including some that are (ahem) a bit "adult" in nature, the different views of liberals and conservatives, and David Blaine.

Speaking of David Blaine, and Stephen Colbert, after Blaine failed to break the "how long can he hold his breath inside a giant fish bowl in front of the whole world" record, Colbert noted that it'd be impossible for anyone to hold their breath for 9 minutes. Colbert said something like, "to do that would take a magician or something." I know, random thought, off-topic, but it does tie "the chicks", David Blaine, and Colbert all together rather nicely, don't you think? Anyway, go peruse some of the past strips of the chicks. There's some really good stuff there.

4. Featured Just-For-Fun Site.


Finally, since Mother's Day is this weekend, this week's featured just-for-fun site is a site about Mother's Day. If you have kids, go check out Kids Domain's Mother's Day page. You'll find great craft ideas for kids to make mom a nice card or other gift, and other fun Mother's Day activities for kids and moms.




Previous Friday Fantastic Four Posts:
March 24, 2006 (FFF #8)
March 3, 2006 (FFF #7)
February 24, 2006 (FFF #6)
February 10, 2006 (FFF #5)
January 27, 2006 (FFF #4)
January 20, 2006 (FFF #3)
January 6, 2006 (FFF #2)
December 30, 2005 (FFF #1)