Blawg Review Is For You Too

Blawg Review #239 at this blog about Human Rights in Ireland is sure to be as passionate as it is entertaining, and will include surprise performances by superstars born in the USA.

Go ahead. Make my day.

The National Rifle Association of America, or NRA, is an American non-partisan, non-profit organization which lists as its goals the protection of the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and the promotion of firearm ownership rights as well as marksmanship, firearm safety, and the protection of hunting and self-defense in the United States. It was established in 1871 on November 17th.

To celebrate this anniversary, and to commemorate the International Day for Tolerance yesterday, Blawg Review #238 is hosted by our favorite Jew with a gun, Joel Rosenberg.

We'll let Colin Samuels make Joel Rosenberg's introduction.

A Blawg Review Review

by Charon QC

Blawg Review #237 – Christian Metcalfe of Property Law blog

“Today’s single most important political principle, the right to live in a participatory democracy, comes down to us not from the slave-owning societies of Athens and Rome, or from the pleasant estates in France where Rousseau and Montaigne envisioned the ‘general will’, but from buff-coated and blood-stained English soldiers and tradesmen.”

Christian has produced an excellent Blawg Review #237, embracing many of the posts on the legal blogosphere over the last week. A work of detail and themed beautifully….. do read it…. it will give you a good overview of legal thinking and the pre-occupations consuming law bloggers last week

Read Blawg Review #237 and post your own review, if you blog.

Bonfire Night @blawgreview

Remember, remember the Fifth of November...

quoting Scott Leviant's Blawg Review #221

So I promised that I wouldn’t dwell on “that blawger,” the author of Charon QC and notorious host of several Blawg Reviews. But before I direct your attention to the best (or not necessarily so) of the blawgosphere over the last week, there is something I want to talk about first: Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Bonfire Night. It seems that some well-intentioned, but ever-so-slightly misguided gang of Catholics (including Guy Fawkes) planned to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London on November 5, 1605. They might have succeeded, too, if one of the conspirators hadn’t been so worried about the number of Catholics in line for collateral damage status that he sent a warning note to Lord Monteagle.

Why do I care about any of this, you ask? It has to do with the resulting holiday and an important lesson that we can draw from it. Until 1859, it was mandatory to celebrate the failed assassination attempt by lighting bonfires each November 5th. So, in England you need an official holiday and an order of the King to light a bonfire. Here, in America, all you need is for a professional sports team to win a championship. See, Man Charged for Arson in Lakers Melee. The child surpasses the parent. Keep your soccer hooligans, England. We have real idiots.

For example, this guy.

While our friends in the UK are celebrating Guy Fawkes, gunpowder plots and the like, we're still celebrating this week's Halloween edition, Blawg Review #236.

Halloween Blawg Review

I don't know if Eric Turkewitz remembers me suggesting he use this one of Hugh MacLeod's Gaping Void cartoons on the back of a business card for his "blog card". This week, Eric tries to find happiness hosting his third Blawg Review, this time with a Halloween theme. I rest my case.

Flickr Tweet, Wascally Wabbit

RT @infobunny Why does no one call me pumpkin?

Blawg Review #236, hosted by Eric Turkewitz, is a real treat. Note to @Geeklawyer and friends, who celebrated Halloween at the #brightonpissup4, "pissed" also means "angry" to a Yank.

Open Invitation, Niki Black

Who is Nicole Black, what does she do, and why are we looking forward to her hosting Blawg Review? I met Niki Black recently in New York City, where we shared at table over lunch at a social media conference at the Harvard Club. If ever you get the chance to meet Niki Black in person, not just on Twitter @nikiblack, you'll be glad you did. Niki is one of the most caring, sharing, lawyers you'll ever have the pleasure to meet.

Nicole Black really has her stuff together; in a future law dictionary with the definition of "work-life balance" you might find her photo, with this pull-quote:

I find the balance between my various endeavors to be perfect. I no longer experience a sense of dread when I think about where my professional career is leading me. I feel passion every day for the issues that occupy my thoughts as a result of my chosen career path.

As I re-read the previous paragraph, I realize just how lucky I am. Each day is an adventure--and one that I welcome. You can't get much better than that now, can you?

Well, Niki, you have yet to host Blawg Review!

Blawg Review Hosts @Twitter

You can follow many of the hosts of Blawg Review on Twitter.

Evan Schaeffer @eshaeff Ron Coleman @roncoleman Gordon Smith @gs_ Jeremy Richey @jeremyrichey Mike Cernovich @Cerno Evan Brown @internetcases Al Nye @AlanNye Kevin Heller @kevinhell George Lenard @employmentblawg Enrico Schaefer @Enrico1999 Monica Bay @commonscold Stephen Albainy-Jenei @patentbaristas Carolyn Elefant @carolynelefant Dave Gulbransen @dgulbran Tom Mighell @tommighell Craig Williams @jcraigwilliams Denise Howell @dhowell Andrew Raff @andrewraff Walter Olson @overlawyered Douglas Sorocco @douglassorocco Matt Buchanan @jmattbuchanan Steve Nipper @nipper Colin Samuels @colinsamuels John Wallbillich @wiredgc Bruce MacEwen @BruceMacEwen Anita Campbell @SmallBizTrends Kevin Thompson @cyberlaw Diane Levin @dianelevin Marty Schwimmer @mschwimmer Scott Greenfield @scottgreenfield Charlie Green @CharlesHGreen Adrian Dayton @adriandayton Tom Colson @tomcolson David Lat @davidlat Kevin O'Keefe @kevinokeefe Geeklawyer @Geeklawyer Rush Nigut @RushNigut CharonQC @Charonqc Kael Garvey @legallyunbound Vickie Pynchon @vpynchon Elie Mystal @ElieNYC Duncan Bucknell @DuncanBucknell Tim Kevan @babybarista David Harlow @healthblawg Dave Donoghue @rdd Anne Reed @annereed Dan Harris @danharris Ernest Svenson @ernieattorney Ray Ward @minorwisdom Cathy Gellis @CathyGellis Gideon @gideonstrumpet Susan Cartier Liebel @SCartierLiebel Popehat @Popehat Jeremy Blachman @jeremyblachman Sherrie Sisk @TheInspiredSolo Patrick Lamb @ValoremLamb Andrew Flusche @aflusche Brett Trout @BrettTrout Connie Crosby @conniecrosby Jamie Spencer @jamieinaustin Jillian Weiss @drjilliantweiss Arnie Herz @ArnieHerz Barry Barnett @blawgletter Daithí Mac Síthigh @macsithigh John Hochfelder @johnhochfelder Peter Black @PeterBlackQUT Brandy Karl @brandyk Omar Ha-Redeye @OmarHaRedeye Tamera Bennett @tamerabennett Michael Atkins @SeattleTMLawyer Scott Leviant @HScottLeviant Stephen Seckler @stephenseckler Eric Turkewitz @Turkewitz Bob Coffield @bobcoffield Christian Metcalfe @Cmetcalfe Joel Rosenberg @joelrosenberg

This list is a "work in progress" that will be updated on an ongoing basis.

If you're a host of Blawg Review who's using Twitter, please DM @blawgreview so we can add you to this list as soon as possible.

I Blame Drew's Cancer

That's right, I blame Drew's cancer for too many tweets!

Oh, and one more thing, I blame Drew's cancer for this:

WTF? Are we behind the Great Firewall of China, or in Toronto for meshmarketing?

Vickie Pynchon Outdoes Herself

Hosts of Blawg Review know how much Vickie Pynchon contributes to these presentations every week, as a "sherpa guide" helpfully providing recommendations of some of the best law blog posts.

This week, our Blawg Review Sherpa Victoria Pynchon really outdoes herself with Blawg Review #234, a detailed look at the "200 year present" that marks conflict resolution week. Her presentation this week provides not only an overview of the blawgosphere, but insight into who she is as a lawyer, mediator, and as a person--in her own words.

These are the words I leave with the readers of Blawg Review #234 because they are the ones that informed my personal and professional transformation from a legal career based on rights and remedies to one based upon interests and consensus.

Whatever my own personal 200-year present was, is and will be, it is pointed in the direction of peace with justice, with an enormous and probably unwarranted optimism best expressed by the man after whom my law school was named: the arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Recently, I had the opportunity to visit with Vickie, whom I've known online for several years. That meetup, one of the highlights of my recent travels, gave me an up close and personal look at one of the superstars of the legal community. In real life, as they say, Vickie's as amazing as she is here in the blogosphere.