O'Guinnicus.com

Each day in Professor Ira Carmen's Supreme Court class, one of the eight of us students have to present the day's case. It's a lot like a law class, or so I hear.

It's an absolutely terrifying experience the first time out. He stands directly in front of you, leaning on whatever chair is nearest. He slides his glasses down the bridge of his nose, points a pair of fingers, and fires questions like tracer rounds. The first day of class saw one girl nearly break down in tears under his tireless grilling.

When he looked around the class today for the student who would state the facts of Rasul v. Bush (2004), I had a sinking feeling that it would be my turn. He went up and down the rows asking if everyone had done a case, and with the exception of one lucky guy in the corner (how he was skipped, I'll never know), I was the only on who hadn't.

Continue reading "Making a Case for Carmen" »

Posted by Jameson at 2:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Chicgo Tribune and the Daily Illini (link not posted because it's the worst publication on Earth) are reporting tonight that Chief Illiniwek, mascot and source of heated debate, will be retired. I find little solace in the fact that I saw Chief Illiniwek perform at halftime for four football games and one basketball game. It's terribly disappointing to know that a tradition that dates back to 1926 has been ended by what can be described as nothing less than a tyrannical minority usurping the wishes of a perfectly reasonable majority. Seven out of ten Illinois students favored retention of the Chief, but it doesn't even matter.

In any case, it's time to move on. Let's start kicking around ideas for new mascots. I'm thinking:

1. Drinkin' Lincoln.
2. A leprechaun. They're not racist. Ask Notre Dame.
3. A big pansy. It'd typify the people that U of I wants us to be.
4. Rockin' Rod Blagojevich, Patron Saint of Illogika

Beyond livid at this point. Not really about the Chief, just the sheer, unmitigated gall of the radical left. Hell, even the not-so-radical left. Where does it stop?

Posted by Jameson at 2:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's my tentative schedule for next semester:

Posted by Jameson at 10:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Final grades were posted at last this morning. Well, maybe earlier, but today is when I noticed. Anyway, this semester continued my three-semester GPA increase streak. How did I fare?

• PS 301Constitution I: B-
• PS 451 Citizens and Democratic Process: A-
• PS 499 Politics, Law & Eugenics: A
• SPCM 220 Communicating Public Policy: A-
• SPCM 323 Argumentation: A

In any case, I'll be awaiting your kudos.

Posted by Jameson at 10:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's not every day that you get a chance to see Bernstein's Mass. To pull it off, you need more people than the House of Representatives, an understanding sponsor, and people who like Leonard Bernstein. When I heard that Mass was playing at the Foellinger Great Hall in the Krannert Center here at school, I really couldn't pass it up.

It's a pretty solid piece. This particular presentation of it included a childrens' choir, a full adult choir, an orchestra that included a smaller jazz band and a smaller rock band, an ensemble of around 20 players, and six dancers. The music's pretty great- to be expected from Bernstein- and the plot focuses on a priest who gets tied up too much in the ritual and grandeur of a Catholic mass, all the while watching his damaged flock disintegrate.

I'm not what you would call a religious person, yet when the Celebrant (the priest) had his breakdown and shattered the altar, I couldn't help but feel slightly torn. On one hand, as an audience member, I was drawn into the drama, but on the other hand, as a Catholic, I was repulsed by the degredation of the Church's sacred instruments. But I guess that's the point of a controversial show; take someone outside of their comfort zone and give him perspective.

All in all, the show was beautiful and conflicted; quite apropos considering the weekend I had.

Posted by Jameson at 2:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In an effort to write a research paper, I designed a survey to collect my own data. After I had written and tweaked the questions, I sent it to Shaun who coded the forms and PHP. Shaun sent me a link to the survey last night, and I immediately sent out an email to my fraternity and set up Facebook events to invite everyone I knew. As of 10:00 AM, I had received 134 responses, or about 110 more than I thought I'd get.

If you have not yet taken it, please pull up a chair and take it here. You'll be issued a cookie to ensure that participants only take it once (accuracy counts, boys and girls), but I have no idea how to mine data from it. You're totally safe, I give you my word.

Pass it along. Send this URL to anyone and everyone: http://www.jamesonoguinn.com/survey. Thanks!

Posted by Jameson at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"In October, I'm going to be in Philadelphia with 7,000 of my peers at the American Politcal Science Convention. That also happens to be the weekend where all of the prostitutes in Philadelphia take their vacations."
Professor Jeff Mondak

"Our persuasive speaking class requires overheads, yet does not allow powerpoint. The reason: too much goes wrong with technology. Ugh."
Me to Shaun, Greg, Mike, and Scott via text message

"Pour alcohol over the transparency and proclaim, 'Science!'"
Scott in response

Posted by Jameson at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I decided to take a trip to U of I today, I didn't realize it would be such an event. Sure, I knew that Greg and I would look at his recent work on In Memory, and I knew that we would be moving some stuff of mine into the apartment, but I could have never guessed what would happen on the way home.

Continue reading "The Longest Day" »

Posted by Jameson at 11:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An A- for Political Science 387: National Security Policy. As some of you may remember, this was the class for which I had to read 30-60 pages and write summaries for every night. Professor Jurgen Scheffran may not have made my favorites list during the semester, but around the final grade time, he was aces all the way.

Oh, and that 10 page paper I wrote on Africa? 97%. Take that, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Posted by Jameson at 12:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here it is, 2:40 AM. I'm on my 6th straight hour of working on the final paper for Political Science 387: National Security Policy. I foolishly misread the instructions, mistaking the required 3,000 to 5,000 word paper for a much smaller 3-5 page one, but caught it early enough to not be set back too terribly much. I picked the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Security Complex as my region of analysis, and am currently not happy with Africa as a result. As it stands right now, I have 2,441 words. I'm feeling pretty good about it, I guess; I still have to analyze the South African Regional Security Complex, look at the Sub-Saharan Africa complex as a whole, and conclude. That'll fill up the rest of the word requirement with some room to spare.

Anyway, I need to hit the ol' dusty trail.

Posted by Jameson at 2:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My first entire year at the University of Illinois is nearly complete. At the end of it, I will have improved my GPA (albeit slightly), gotten and broken up with a girlfriend, shut down my old xanga site, built a professional site for myself, started a political blog, and completely renovated my old website. In retrospect, it hasn't been a bad year at all.

The summer is already shaping up to be an interesting one. Mom, Eric, Nick and I are taking a trip out to Philadelphia at some point over the summer. This could facilitate a brief romp through Philly proper with Scott, even though he lives in Boston. On July 25, Mike, Dan Reid, and I will all be heading up to the University of Michigan for NOAC 2006. I'll see Carl for a few days, I'll see Greg for a few more, and I'm sure I'll catch Allison for a bit while she's home.

As for the rest of the year, I have a 3,000-5,000 word paper due tomorrow. This marks the first time in college, outside of a foreign language class, that I've been given a target number of words instead of a page count. Anyway, it's tentaviely titled Diamonds Are a Rebel's Best Friend: Security Concerns in Sub-Saharan Africa. I also have a five page paper for Political Theory due sometime next week, and two finals to study for. It's all coming to a close, and I can't say that I'm disappointed.

Posted by Jameson at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

These are the people who I wish were alive today so that I could assassinate them. Damn you three for writing such influencial documents.
In other news, I should have taken Introduction to Public Policy instead.

Posted by Jameson at 3:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, here it is: 4:00 AM. I 've just finished reading and summarizing Major Robert D. Allen's essay entitiled Lessons From Somalia: The Dilemma of Peace Enforcement. It took three hours to do. That's about an hour over par, but I chalk it up to the fact that this reading was actually pretty good. No obvious bias either way, just empirical evidence supporting claims that the UN is a paper tiger that would be nothing without the US.

Posted by Jameson at 4:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a meeting with Professor Ira Carmen today, I was accepted into the Political Science 499 seminar entitiled "Politics, Law, and Eugenics." Professor Carmen described the class in a brief overview like this:

There has been much discussion over the years of manipulating human genes to make people healthier, prettier, more athletic, and smarter. Now there exists the distinct possibility of doing these things. Such practices are called by critics "eugenics," and they raise profound legal and political issues. This seminar will address those issues.

Posted by Jameson at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)