PT-LawMom

Pumpkinhead seems to be doing a bit better. Still kind of pale and not as hungry as usual, but no fever. I’m watching and we’ll see what happens.

I just realized how little time is left in the semester. I better start kicking it into high gear reviewing in preparation for finals because they will be here before I know it! I got CDs for both classes but my CD player in my car is broken and, even though I put them on my iPod, I’ve just been less interested in having a professor droning on and on during my commute than I was during the summer. In the summer, I listened almost daily, alternating between Sum & Substance cds and exam prep tapes. Granted, there was only 10 weeks in that semester so I guess if I think that way and start now, I’m almost on track.

This has been a completely insane week at work and it’s shaping up to be an insane month. Working through lunch, working late, taking work home, etc. We are definitely in the midst of a fall gear-up which probably won’t slow until mid-December when our foreign clients go on an extended work stoppage going into the holidays. Of course I got a fifth assignment added to my desk this week. She’s nice, but could I be more overloaded? At least they’re doing it to all of us so it’s really not just me. Can’t complain about that.

Our immigration attorney filed Chapin’s appeal on Tuesday. I helped her pull a bunch of cases and then read the doc before it went out and I feel really good about her position and the support to back it up. Ultimately it’s all up to the subjective view of the officer who reviews the appeal, but hopefully we’ll get a kind-hearted one. They basically made assumptions with no factual backup and failed to even inquire in the interview as to the discrepancy. Had they asked one question, they would have gotten all the info they needed to explain it away. Instead they made assumptions and you know what they say about people who assume…

I picked Pumpkinhead up last night after school and he was running a fever. Gave him some Motrin and he woke up about 2 a.m. covered in sweat when it broke. No wonder he’s been so grouchy the past few mornings! He’s better this morning (no fever), but I wonder what’s going on. Several people at work have colds and I’m feeling pretty achy this morning. I’m going to think positive and hope that sickness stays away. I can’t afford to take time off work right now (literally — I’m out of sick leave from all of my earlier sickness so now I’d be docked). And Chapin’s job doesn’t offer sick days so time off is unpaid. Hopefully we’ll all make it through the next few days and get to the weekend unscathed! And hopefully Pumpkinhead doesn’t have yet another ear infection.

The Center for Work-Life Law reports that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a California state bill (SB 836) conferring anti-discrimination protection to caregivers in the workplace.

Landon’s home. Monitored, but home nonetheless. All the mothers with their hackles up can rest easy tonight. Yes, there’s still a battle to be fought, but anything is easier with your child in your arms. With any luck they will find the necessary medical answers before this progresses much further.

Here are some great new PSAs from the American Immigration Law Foundation. Visit today for your copy, hang posters in your office or ask your local newspaper to publish them.

Ruben Navarette has another great opinion piece about immigration on CNN today.

The reader offered a scenario — “Where you hire people to clean your toilets, they decide to stay in your house and they bring friends. You end up paying for their schooling and other privileges.”

You see the problem: “Where you hire people to clean your toilets.” Hmm. These people are here illegally, and yet you hire them to clean your toilets, reserving the right to bellyache about them and what they’re costing you. It’s the first act — hiring illegal immigrants — that sets the rest of the story in motion. I have a solution: Clean your own toilets, or at least make sure that those who clean them for you are in the country legally. Or, shut up already.

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Oh, it’s true that the United States is a country of immigrants. But in this case, what matters is that this also happens to be a country full of people who hire illegal immigrants. There is only one reason why so many Mexicans want to come to the United States: because there are so many jobs waiting for them here.

Some Americans still prefer to blame Mexico for illegal immigration. Of course, why wouldn’t they? That sure beats taking their share of responsibility for it.

The New York Times also points out an important fact about illegal immigration that is paving the way for the harassment and racial profiling of Latinos nationwide — noncitizens do not have the same rights as citizens. No Miranda warning, no warrants, etc. The Times piece is an eye-opening one.

Immigration agents are not required to obtain warrants to detain suspects. The agents also have broad authority to question people about their immigration status and to search them and their homes. There are no Miranda rights that agents must read when making arrests. Detained immigrants have the right to a lawyer, but only one they can pay for.

While criminal suspects are generally sent to jails near the courts that hear their cases, immigration agents have discretion in deciding where to hold immigrants detained for deportation. Many suspected illegal immigrants who were detained in Nassau County, for example, were quickly moved to York, Pa., distant from family and legal advice.

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Even immigrants who have lived here legally for many years, lawyers said, can run afoul of the immigration laws with minor infractions or misdemeanors. A late filing of visa renewal papers or a shoplifting citation can quickly spiral into an order for the ultimate penalty: deportation. Immigrants who fight the orders have more limited bail rights than American criminals and can spend years behind bars while their cases inch through the overburdened court system.

My very first real digital camera was a Casio Exilim. I loved that camera and carried it everywhere, thanks to its small size, until the day Pumpkinhead dropped it on the concrete floor of my in-laws’ house and cracked it. I’ve got a cheaper, much larger camera now and miss my Casio. Sigh…

5 Minutes for Mom, in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, is giving away a pink Casio Exilim. Visit them today for a chance to win. And click on the link to the Breast Cancer Site on their blog or mine to help fund mammograms for women who cannot otherwise afford them.

Remember how I said that I thought I was really understanding the material this semester? Ha! Now that I’ve worked through some of these fact patterns, I realize I’m in deep shit and that I just don’t get it, especially when it comes to comparing state law rules to federal law rules. Bleech. Off to cozy up with my E&E and see if I can get a grip.

EDITED TO ADD: Thank God for CALI lessons. I think I’m getting it a bit better now.

P.S. Thanks to K and Proto for sending me the exam tips. You guys reinforced my thoughts on this — supress the editor!

As I mentioned in one of my long, rambling posts this weekend, I have a take-home midterm due tomorrow (ungraded but mandatory). It has several fact patterns, each with 2-4 questions. One of the things I’ve been struggling with is how much to write. I think that I made this mistake of not writing enough on my Civil Procedure exam (although I was rushing to finish!). While I got a relatively good grade, it wasn’t high enough and I think this might be why. Having worked as an editor for so long, I’m used to cutting text down to the bare minimum. In my exam responses, I’m covering all the points asked for in the question, plus alternatives, but I’m writing maybe two paragraphs per question. Does that seem right? On one of these fact patterns, I’m barely coming up with a paragraph per question. Should I be discussing the background of the law on this topic and how it developed or just getting straight to the point? How much do you deviate outside the boundaries of what is asked for in the question? Help!

My mother says I have Stray Puppy Syndrome. Always have. In elementary school I brought home a kid who sucked mustard packets at lunch and admitted to me that his parents were starving him (yes, my parents got him help). Another friend’s stepfather was molesting her and my parents let her live with us until her mother decided to leave him and find them a safe place to go. In middle school, my best friends were the guy in the wheelchair and the weird, quiet girl that lived in a trailer park on the edge of town. In high school all my friends were gay (and the ones who weren’t are now!) and I railroaded them into forming a straight/gay alliance. When I was in my senior year, I hid a homeless guy in my parents’ basement apartment so he’d have shelter. I tend to trust easily and give whatever I can. It’s been hard to learn to say “No.” Naive perhaps, but I like to believe it’s part of my call as a Christian to love others as I want to be loved (although I must say it usually ends up being more giving and less taking). And, yes, it’s hurt me in the past.

Zuska doesn’t think it’s the wisest idea to take blog posts at face value, no matter how heartwrenching the story. I see her point (and, in writing this blog post, I am not trying to make her feel bad or say that I don’t think she has made some really important points in her post). You can get taken for a ride, you may not know the whole story, etc. But I am a firm believer in trusting your gut. A while back, a call went out on a blog I read for donations to help a mother of three children who was diagnosed with a terminal brain tumor fly to the Mayo Clinic for a second opinion. I hadn’t read her blog before, but once I did and saw a) how long it had been going on and b) that she was a SAHM to a disabled daughter, my heartstrings were sufficiently tugged and I made a donation. I don’t regret it. My little donation wasn’t much, but Heather went to the Mayo Clinic and I’ve continued to follow her story as she’s undergone surgery and treatment. If someone else was in a similar situation, I’d donate again. I just don’t think people are inherently bad, at least not those on the blogs I read or forums I join.

For all I know, LagLiv is well off and doesn’t need help. But having been through medical crises myself, I know how expensive that can be and I don’t know many people who have that kind of money laying around. So I choose to give and to believe that, should I ever be in a similar situation (God forbid!), people who know me — both IRL and online — would come to my aid and pay it forward. One thing about LagLiv’s situation that has bothered me a little bit is so many strangers coming out of the wordwork. I guess we all are strangers, but I wonder how I would feel if that happened to me. Both Kim and LagLiv are suddenly getting hundreds, if not thousands, of hits daily due to the recent publicity of their blogs. Although support is great, that extra attention would probably make me a bit more cautious.