Just when I think BLS can’t sink any lower…

They surprise me again and sink lower than whale shit.  So this time it’s the actual school and administration and they have no one to blame but themselves.  They are apparently threatening students who are looking to transfer.  As any graduate of BLS knows, if you can work your way into a better school…you DO.  Particularly in this economy.  They have been working their buns off at BLS to come up with new threats and ’school policy’ to keep their best and brightest at the school.  Here’s a thought…offer them FREE TUITION!  Now THAT is an offer that’s hard to pass UP.  Oh-and you can’t sue for that…where as threats that are possibly damaging to your career…and not based on clearly stated and articulated school policy…that could come back to haunt you…and certainly bad news bears for PR.  Nice job, BLS.  Oh and Joan Wexler, thanks for asking but, again, until I pay off my loans, you’re not getting any donations from me.  Also, please get your shit together so I don’t have to take you off my resume…there’s not a lot of good stuff on there so I’d like to keep my degree from BLS on there…but more and more, it’s the sort of thing that would only get me an *agreeable nod* in the black market.

The Blackbook Legal Blog: Are Law Schools Overreacting to the Annual Exodus of Students?.

I’m so confused…I thought people couldn’t afford to go to strip clubs anymore…

According to the ever reliable and not at all sensational New York Post, all sorts of laid-off gals are taking to the pole to make ends meat…or get back to their six figure life-style.  But seriously, a few months ago the newspapers were littered with stories about how strippers, escorts, and mistresses were suffering from the bad economy because men could no longer afford them.  What’s changed?  We’ve hit the bottom so men don’t care if they can afford it anymore?  I guess just former analysts are making tons of money with the career switch?  I have heard that the ‘new girls’ are always more popular.  Also, I’m now really interested to find out what a ‘massage’ girl does at Ricky’s and how it’s legal.  I actually feel pretty sorry for the pastry chef girl who’s now the massage girl…that can’t be good…I mean, I’m sure she’s good at it since she’s used to working with doughy sugar-puffs but it just seems like she’s fallen further than the analyst.  I mean, the analyst lady clearly had no soul to begin with and is just following the dollar…but the pastry chef lady…it sounds like she once had dreams, hopes and ambition at one point.  Le sigh.  Everyone should go buy a cupcake or scone today.  Do your part to keep these chefs from becoming tarts.

AXED GALS TAKE POLE POSITIONS – New York Post.

Mad about the bailout? Get enraged!

With the stock market gaining ground again and the administration declaring the economic meltdown to be over and the country back on the road to recovery, it’s important that we all understand exactly what happened, how it happened, and start working to prevent it from EVER happening again.  People are upset about the bailout but view it as necessary…was it?  Is it?  Dave Chapelle talked about the “real” white man and said that there are men you think control the world and then there are the REAL men…the few richer than god men who are actually pulling the puppet strings that control us all.  I’ve seen some things in my day that imply that’s actually the way of it…that the high rollers who donate the most get the meetings…they get the phone numbers that make the difference…and they have the name recognition that gets their calls put through.  This article talks about a great many things that should give all American’s pause…give us some things to think about…and some things to vote on.  It also talks about our good friend Joseph Cassano…of Che t-shirt fame!  Sounds like he’s pretty much a Grade A douche who enjoys parading around lawn parties wearing his Che T-shirt ironically…just like a hipster who doesn’t get the joke.

We need regulation.  That much is crystal clear…but how can we engineer change if the people who influence the most change are the same people engineered the market’s deregulation?  It’s just like the Obama administration not repealing so many of the Bush Administration’s executive power extensions…

Anyhoo, it’s depressing but important so please read it

The Big Takeover : Rolling Stone.

File this under “Things that would make me poop my pants if I didn’t know they weren’t real”

I cannot believe they are doing this!  And at 9:30am on a weekday!  I used to take Key Bridge to work everyday…around 9:30am…a huge fireball on the river would totally freak me out.  I mean, this is DC we’re talking about.  District of “this is not a drill” fucking Columbia.  Seriously, we don’t practice fire drills or getting bombed…because we actually think those things are happening too frequently.  My mom worked for the govt her entire career.  I can’t even count how many bomb threats her building got…and she worked for the USDA!  On the one hand, you’re probably wondering why bomb them?  On the other hand, the people that do are generally farmers and, as X Files taught me, those farmers have every ingredient needed to make some kick-ass bombs!

So, if you happen to be near Gtown or in NoVa and you see a HUGE fireball on Wednesday, it’s probably not real.  If you see it on Tuesday or Thursday, it is real and you know the drill.

Front Row Washington » Blog Archive » If it’s Wednesday, the fireball isn’t real | Blogs |.

Economy blamed for rise in Japan’s suicide rate

I posted earlier that the Japanese actually have a word for working yourself to death: Karoshi

Now it seems that the economic downturn has increased Japan’s already high suicide rate.  The fact that they also have a “suicide forest” is pretty bleak as well.  But at least Japan takes things like working yourself to death and suicide because of unemployment seriously and have made treatment a priority…on the other hand, it seems fair to say that societal pressures have to be contributing and creating the problem to a certain degree.  It seems like the number of murder suicides in the US has increased but it’s possible that the media is just paying more attention to these horrible stories now as they seek out any stories that are even slightly related to the depressed economy and joblessness.

Desperate Japanese head to ’suicide forest’ – CNN.com.

I guess my point is, it’s hard to tell when someone is crisis…sure I haven’t showered or gotten dressed today…but that doesn’t mean that I’m taking walks in suicide parks…on the other hand, there are plenty of people who mask the signs very well.  We have to look out for each other right now-those of us who are struggling with the pressure of being the only bread winner in the home, those of us who are jobless and feeling less than fabulous about it, and everyone else who’s just depressed about the current state of affairs.  Spring starts tomorrow and let’s hope its a fresh start for everyone.

How to help someone with depression-wikihow

Rough Day at Katten

The bad news is that there were layoffs…the other bad news is that they will be reducing salaries based on billables.

Nationwide Layoff Watch: Instant Reports From The Katten Meeting – Above the Law – A Legal Tabloid – News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession.

Two takes on Biglaw to ProBono

ATL and CNN both featured articles on BigLaw lawyers transitioning to ProBono and volunteer work…but the messages could not be more different.  Read it and weep…as with so many articles about the legal field these days:

Public Interest Jobs Won’t Fall Into Your Lap – Above the Law – A Legal Tabloid – News, Gossip, and Colorful Commentary on Law Firms and the Legal Profession.

and CNN:

Plan B…how does it pay the bills again?

American Heros: This Unemployed Gal

Cathy was just your regular gambling gal.  She lost her job and went on a four day gambling streak…and WON!  She’s officially my new hero.  What have I been THINKING?  Sitting here, applying for jobs???  CLEARLY I should have hopped the free bus down to Atlantic City with all the vagrants and cashed in on the free time the gambling gods have given me and taken some of that FREE MONEY!!!  I could have been Cathy!  Collecting prize after prize!  $50,000 is a lot of money!  Unfortunately, in this day and age…with the market bouncing up and down…it can be easy come easy go…but if you’re a gambler, like Miss Cathy, that money could make a fortune in a few days in the market!  The right stock tip and she’s set for…well at least a year or so if she stays away from the slots.  Also, she’s been living with her kids so hopefully this will help her move out, get back on her feet, and start gambling again!

Cathy’s situation and two commercials this week have brought something to my attention.  Apparently more parents are moving in with their kids for purely financial reasons-because of foreclosure or layoffs or what have you.  I guess I never really considered that as a possibility with my parents…until someone made off with their retirement nest egg all Madoff style…but now I’m wondering how many people are actually dealing with this.  I’m also imagining my parents showing up with their bags and bunking on the fold out sofa…that would be the awesome icing on the kick-ass cake…

Woman’s Winning Streak.

I hate “Recessionista” and love this article

This article by Kelly Marages sums up my angst and annoyance with the way being cheap has become being chic.  There is NOTHING more frustrating to hear about how people who used to be (and may still be) millionaires are ‘cutting back’ and ‘eating leftovers’ or ‘not eating out’ as much…I could really not care less if fewer people are eating at Le Grenouille or the 21 Club or that more people than ever are packing their lunch. I’ve been eating my lunch out of a brown paper bag since I was a child.  There was a time when I thought I was fancy pants and could afford to step out of the office and buy my lunch, but I quickly learned that’s just a quick way to drain your bank account and pack on the lbs.  Americans do need to be saving more but this shouldn’t be a trend…it should be a cultural overhaul!  As a society we’ve been over spending and over using every resource for WAY too long.  It’s something that our entire culture encourages and that our capitalist market and economy require.  I think articles that use titles like “Recessionistas” and talk about Recession Chic really down play how important it is for people to take our economy and overspending and living beyond our means seriously.  They belittle the problem-give it a cute name, and make it seem like this is all temporary…it’s not…at least it shouldn’t be.  We need permanent change…as individuals and as a society.

The author also makes a great point-if you can’t eat out, then DON’T.  I’m guilty of posting ‘cheap eats’ but, in my defense…I think my cheap eats, at least so far, are actually cheap…not pretend $40 pre-fixed meals that some of the better restaurants in the city are trying to claim as ‘cheap’.  For $40 meal to qualify as cheap, it needs to feed me for at least three days…or make me so sick I can’t eat for three days.  When I was a student in London, my friends and I used to hit Mr. Wu’s all-you-can-eat buffet on Sundays.  It was £4.50 and made us all so sick we couldn’t eat for two days…now that’s a cheap eat and it wasn’t even for the recession!

I’m Not Buying Recession Chic – washingtonpost.com.

Depression Eats: The McGangbang

So wrong it just might be right…actually, there’s no way in hell this is right.  It’s just so clearly an abomination.  The short story is that it is an unholy creation that can be assembled with two items from the McDonalds Dollar Menu.  You take a McChicken sandwich and put inside two double cheeseburgers.  The long story is lovingly chronicled by the Eat Me Daily blog and is totally worth a read…as are a few of the youtube clips of people ordering them.  This is probably the worst thing that’s ever happened to America…but it’s also well over 1000 calories for $2.16.  It makes me want to buy McDonalds stock and then go set one on fire…all at the same time.  Conflicted doesn’t quite cover it.  Is it wrong that I now have an INTENSE craving for McDonalds…but also feel a little sick to my stomach even thinking about it?

The McGangBang: a McChicken Sandwich Inside a Double Cheeseburger [a chronicle] – Eat me daily.