At the Protest Café...

... you're free to say what you like... short of threats.

"A 26-year-old woman was charged with... allegedly making email threats against Wisconsin lawmakers..."

Finally.

"The Tasmanian Devil would look stoned standing next to Anne Hathaway."

James Franco explains his Oscar duddiness.

Mr. Jessica Simpson's pre-nup.

"He'll get $500,000 as a wedding present. Then, on each anniversary, he'll get another $200,000. If he and Jessica make it to f...

"It was the scent of rodents (on the wood clippings) that we hoped would bring her out."

The Egyptian cobra has been lured back into captivity.

"My son and his colleagues have discussed it at length and they have committed themselves to die if necessary to save the nation."

"They have concluded between themselves that it is inevitable some of them may die within weeks or months. They know it is impossible f...

Hungover owls.

I feel better already. (Via Eve Tushnet .) Makes me want to take a gruel nosh vow.

Taking refuge from the floods in Pakistan, spiders are shrouding the trees with webs.

Astonishing photos , via Metafilter , which is infested with skittish comments like "Never going to click on those links. I never wante...

The Palin alarm is now activated...

...  in liberal enclaves.

"Are Law Professors 'Selfless' Teachers and Scholars Engaged in 'Public Service'?"

"Frankly, these claims about what we do as law professors are embarrassing. I'm not selfless. Exceedingly few of the many law prof...

"Prosser and Kloppenburg have both engaged in their share of negative comments on the campaign trail."

"Prosser has already played the liberal extremist card during candidate debates. And Kloppenburg has been relentless in labeling Prosse...

"OyezToday will appeal to all Supreme Court junkies."

An app.

Andrew Sullivan is "still absorbing" the "surreal," "discordant" news that the U.S. has gone into "yet another war against yet another tyranny simply because we can."

It's "so fantastically contrary to everything he campaigned on" that Sullivan "simply cannot believe it." He knows ...

Forbes: "25 Best Cities For An Active Retirement."

#1, Madison, Wisconsin.

Sumi says...

... what you thought she'd say.

Slim jeans vs. hipster jeans.

"One vote for slim jeans. They're more timeless and seem less planned."

"No one was cleaning the street, and there were large pools of urine accumulating and festering."

"It was extraordinarily bad — bad enough that people would avoid the corner walking by... It seems like a small thing until you realize...

Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, threatens to boycott businesses that don't put up window signs supporting the union.

It's sending around a letter: "Failure to [display the sign] will leave us no choice but (to) do a public boycott of your business,...

"Soglin, mayor from 1973 to 1979 and again from 1989 to 1997, narrowly lost to Cieslewicz in 2003 — and it still bothers him."

From the Wisconsin State Journal's profile of Soglin (who is running against Madison's "Mayor Dave" in the April 5th elect...

"Has the debate over Walker's collective bargaining law caused divisions in your life?"

The Wisconsin State Journal asks its readers. The comments over there so far aren't very interesting. Those who actually answer the que...

About that claim that it could cost $7.5 million to clean up and restore the Wisconsin Capitol buidling.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has discovered the estimate was done on a single handwritten page.  So? If I understand correctly, the state ...

"I find it disturbing that Judge Sumi issued this warning, which carries the threat of a Bar disciplinary referral."

"This is tantamount to the nuclear option, by putting attorney licenses to practice on the line. Such a warning necessarily is one-side...

Hillary Clinton is more popular than she's ever been...

... except for that one time when everybody felt sorry for her.

"Women don’t make this up! My Goodness!"

"This is the state of Indiana!"

Ohio crushes public-employee unions.

The NYT reports: The bill would bar public employees from striking and would prohibit binding arbitration for police officers and firefighte...

"UW-Madison adds $12.4 billion a year to economy, study finds."

"UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin used the study to highlight why the university needs a new operational model, which it would get if...

At the Early Spring Café...

... we're looking for signs of flowers.... ... and Daisy pops up ... ... and spirals.

"Pro-Qaddafi Forces Push Rebels Into Chaotic Retreat."

The NYT reports: Forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi advanced rapidly on Wednesday, seizing towns they ceded just days ago after intense...

In the Wisconsin protests, Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs sought voluntary compliance, zero arrests, and a positive environment.

The Wisconsin State Journal calls Tubbs "Chief of Peace": When Tubbs met with protesters and other law enforcement leaders, includ...

Asking "Are You Sexist?" is asking the the wrong question.

Bob Wright frames the question that way as he is challenged about the way Bloggingheads commenters seem to get angriest at me and 2 other fe...

The policy that is no policy... the problem of the sex discrimination action again Wal-Mart.

Lyle Denniston homes in on the plaintiffs' problem, as it emerged at oral argument in the Supreme Court yesterday: [Justice Anthony] Ken...

The essence of conversation, revealed...

... by the complete absence of meaningful words. These twin boys say nothing but "da da da" — call The Police — but the gesture a...

"Six Reasons Google Books Failed."

Robert Darnton digests Judge Denny Chin’s opinion rejecting the settlement of the copyright claim against Google: First, Google abandoned it...

BoingBoing imitates Althouse.

Cory Doctorow, today. Althouse, last June.

Schumer overheard: "I always use the word extreme... That is what the caucus instructed me to use this week."

NYT reports. Moments before a conference call with reporters was scheduled to get underway on Tuesday morning, Charles E. Schumer of New Yor...

"[I]t remains possible that Uthman was... kind of Forrest Gump in the war against al Qaeda."

Orin Kerr is "generally skeptical of movie and pop culture references in judicial opinions," but he likes that one.

Conservatives keep trying to nose into professors' email.

The NYT reports: A conservative research group in Michigan has issued a far-reaching public records request to the labor studies departments...

"County supervisor fined $205 for Capitol protest sign held by young sons."

News article about the videos we were talking about the other day.

"But what most of the many folks who visit his sweetie’s blog don’t know is that 'New Media Meade' has expanded his role..."

"...by collecting images at protests she just might not approve of. Undaunted, New Media Meade just cannot help himself, he is drawn to...

Another Prosser vs. Kloppenburg debate.

"Prosser says the campaign is one of the most politicized court races in state history and people are not looking at the qualifications...

"Gov. Scott Walker's administration no longer is collecting dues on behalf of state unions and..."

"... as of Sunday, is charging employees more for their pensions and health care, even though nonpartisan legislative attorneys say the...

The NYT is "contributing to the digital divide. Absolutely. No question about it."

Said Rush Limbaugh yesterday , at the end of a rant that began by noting that Bob Herbert is leaving the NYT, "with the intent" — ...

I would love to put Kausfiles on my blogroll.

But the Daily Caller seems to have rigged it to switch the Kausfiles URL — http://dailycaller.com/kausfiles/ — so that it takes you to the ...

The Annual Law Revue Contest.

Compete! It's not enough to put on a show... or to slog through law school and put on a show... you must strive to win the competition ...

2010 Law Prof Blog Rankings.

Results are in for the full 12-month competition to be the most popular lawprof/set of lawprofs in all the land... with a publicly availabl...

A conference on Bob Dylan and the law.

At Fordham: [The first session examines] the Dylan songs "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" and "Hurricane." "H...

"I think this guy should be investigated. He remembers when Obama was born?"

"Give me a break. He's just trying to do something for his party." Says Donald Trump , referring to  Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrom...

"Did you notice Obama kept using the words 'hope' and 'change' in the address on military action in Libya?"

That's an IM from my son Chris. Here 's the text of the speech. 4 "hope"s. 9 "change"s. What Meade noticed was t...

At the Stars-and-Stripes Café...

... you can assemble and speak freely.

"Two sources with knowledge of internal GOP polling tell us that Prosser and Kloppenburg are near even, a bad sign for the incumbent."

Writes Robert Costa in the National Review: “She has driven his negatives up,” one source says. “It will be hard to drive hers up. Her lack ...

"Dennis is Not More Likely to be a Dentist."

Yeah , but delightful theories are more likely to be believed.

"[I]f only we have the nous to know what to do next..."

No nous is good nous.

"If John Stuart Mill were around today, he would likely ask, 'When did Bob Wright and the left turn against free speech?'"

Wrote Meade in the thread about the dispute between me and Bob Wright, in which Bob Wright wanted to limit the concept of "free speech...

Bill Ayers: "Did you know that I wrote ['Dreams From My Father']?"

Nice comic timing. Or do you think the comedy is the equivalent of hiding something in plain sight? ADDED: Protein Wisdom: As someone who k...

"Aging hippies trashed the state Capitol."

Writes Salena Zito in an article, cited by Instapundit , called "GOP Can't Ignore Wisconsin Recall Battle." Look, I agree that...

"The European Court of Human Rights has just upheld Italy's policy of displaying crucifixes in its public school classrooms."

John Witte Jr. writes about the 15-2 decision in Lautsi v. Italy : The Court stated clearly that the crucifix is a religious symbol, that at...

"Are you a conservative liberal or a liberal conservative?"

"I'm a conservative liberal." "I'm a liberal conservative!" (Things overheard at Meadhouse.)

Photography, yesterday.

Women in purple... Meade, among the women... Meade, in the rotunda... Meade's subjects, the lounging protesters... (Can you really do th...

Guy Fawkes at the protests.

(At the Wisconsin Capitol, yesterday.)

"If I had known there was a reporter stuffed in the closet, I would have been compelled to stand up and demand answers."

"I would also like to know if this is actually legal to treat people like caged animals. I’m disgusted by these actions." (The rep...

"[I]t's time for me to face up to the fact that the political blogosphere is a near complete bore."

"There are two reasons for this boredom, as far as I am concerned. The first is as follows: Six years ago, the political blogosphere wa...

"Slim finds the concept of physical intimacy with his wife distasteful..."

"... but he dreams of a future as a high-priced prostitute."

Wisconsin Capitol Police very gently enforce the law against posting signs on the first floor.

Via Garage Mahal . Meade and I didn't witness this, but we were there the other day when activist Ben Masel couldn't get himself arr...

The Bob Wright/Ann Althouse email exchange about what free speech means in the context of saying Roger Ailes needs to kick Glenn Beck off Fox News.

Back on February 2, I wrote “When did the left turn against free speech?” and used some clips from a Bloggingheads I did with Bob Wright, i...

Hillary Clinton distinguishes Assad from Qaddaffi.

Syria is not Libya. I hope you can understand why. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s security forces clashed with protesters in several ci...

Shame, shame, shame. Where is the shame?

Is it in wearing a gray hoodie under a tailored blazer, a little black derby hat, and a smelled-a-fart expression while carrying a pre-print...

Accord(ion).

(Closeups of yesterday's rag-tag band .)

"I think she probably was raped, otherwise I can't see her having the courage..."

"... to put herself at such risk to let us know what the regime is doing. We see the fear in people all the time. But this is the most ...

Why didn't Scott Walker realize he was talking to a prankster who was only pretending to be David Koch?

Because Walker had never spoken to David Koch in his life. That fact begins a Weekly Standard article called "The Paranoid Style in Lib...

In London, "protesters threw light bulbs filled with ammonia at police."

Were these old-style incandescent light bulbs or compact fluorescents? Because if they were compact fluorescents, protesters threw light bu...

At the Wisconsin Capitol today, a rag-tag band plays and the assemblyman who's been avoiding Meade suddenly shows up.

Brett Hulsey was avoiding Meade yesterday , but he sought us out today, when we dropped by to see what was going on down at the Capitol. The...

"'Tear Down This WALL'ker"/"Torture Fitzgerald"/Meade + Hulsey/Krampus.

At the Wisconsin Capitol today... a man in a Reagan mask had come up with a clever saying... A woman with pinwheels didn't seem to be ta...

"Anarchists hijack the anti-cuts demo and go on rampage in central London."

Click through for vivid photos.

David Prosser and JoAnne Kloppenburg square off over judging (and running for judge) in Wisconsin.

We watched the whole debate last night, and those snippets give you the flavor of it. The ad Prosser asks Kloppenburg to ask her supporters...

How can you write 3946 words on the topic "Why Is Bob Herbert Boring?"

Was that some kind of joke?

Geraldine Ferraro...

RIP. ADDED: Remember when she said Obama was sexist and the media was in the tank for him?

"Defecating dog sparks US shootout."

Why did BBC publish this story? It's not exactly big international news! Two neighbours in the US state of Mississippi drew weapons and...

You can have any color you want as long as it's...

... not black.

Obama looks us in the eyes and explains Libya.

Persuaded?

Madison's new tourism industry: the endless protest.

There's this: Spend Sunday, April 10th, and the previous Saturday afternoon and evening, in Madison with hundreds if not thousands of ot...

Obama's Libya adventure does not fit the War Powers Resolution... and can only be supported by the most extreme view of presidential power.

Lawprof Bruce Ackerman explains: After the Vietnam War, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution, which granted the president the power to ...

Bob Wright says that because the attack on Libya "is truly multilateral... it not only diffuses the literal cost ... but the blowback that you get from intervention inherently."

But it doesn't work, does it, for the United State to try to spread the responsibility around? It reminds me of getting stuck in a group...

"No more Althouse for you!"

When you've had too much Althouse, I'm cutting you off!

We're fighting for al Qaeda?

The Libyan disaster.

"Maybe Hulsey just thinks conversations with Meade should be safe, legal, and rare."

Heh.

Wisconsin collective bargaining law is published despite the court order barring Secretary of State Doug La Follette from publishing it.

So... a loophole? It got published by someone other than La Follette?! The governor and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, s...

"Rave On" — a new Bloggingheads with me and Bob Wright.

Topics: Ann’s family feud with liberals, Rob Farley, et al. Bob defends Libyan intervention Is there an Obama Doctrine? Could the Supreme Co...

At the Planned Parenthood rally, Meade's conversation with Brett Hulsey is aborted.

This morning, Meade went down to the Capitol to meet with our state senator, Fred Risser , who's been a Wisconsin senator since 1962. (H...

"Mother Of All Negative Ads Dropped On WI Judicial Race."

"Progressives in Wisconsin are up with a TV ad that puts the negative in negative campaigning: sitting state Supreme Court Justice Davi...

The Wisconsin Republican Party uses Open Records Law to get emails written by the Wisconsin professor William Cronon.

Cronon had an op-ed in the NYT — which I blogged about here — and he's also blogged about the role of the American Legislative Exchange...

"Republicans are WMD's."

A woman with a sign at the Wisconsin Capitol, yesterday:

Krauthammer critiques "The Professor's War."

Scathing.

"God, Moammar, Libya: Enough!"

The pro-Gaddafi chant in Tripoli.

"I need NOW’s defense, like a fish needs a bicycle."

Sarah Palin's joke writers are better than Bill Maher's.

"A man should never wear shorts in the city.... Shorts should only be worn on the tennis court or on the beach."

Tom Ford is more hardcore about men in shorts than I am.

A conspiracy of...

... purple.

"Kinetic."

Is that word helping explain anything?