Smatterings

I had to call a cab to take me to the post office this morning so my BarBri books could get shipped to D.C. I should have just mailed them when I mailed the rest of my stuff to Texas, but I had some crazy idea that I could put them in my suitcases. Fat chance. Between the two PMBR books and the nine BarBri books, I had better than fifty pounds of delicious Bar prep goodness, and of course they wouldn't fit in the suitcases after all (I blame the parasites in my brain that make me buy more clothes than I really need). So I crammed in a couple of intensely Bostonian experiences while running my post office errand: chatting with a garrulous cabbie about his daughter, who went to BC Law School and now practices family law, and stopping at Dunkin Donuts on the way back for a few empty calories. I have the really crucial BarBri books in my carry-on bag so I can go to class on Monday with no problems. I have fallen dramatically behind in the Paced Program, though. Hopefully my D.C. study habits will be more rigorous than my distracted attempts here.

Congratulations to Jonathan Baude of Crescat, who is graduating today.

Unrelatedly, I rode in the trunk of a car once. I can see how this is reckless, but what exactly is the recklessness at issue? It's not the heat, since it's not reckless endangerment to tool around in a car with no air conditioning. Is it that the children were not restrained by safety belts and thus could be flung about in a crash? Does Maryland prosecute parents who don't buckle their kids up for reckless endangerment, too? Apparently minors in Maryland can ride on motorcycles if they have appropriate headgear, and the danger in an accident to a motorcycle rider and a trunk-passenger might be about the same. Would it have been reckless for the kids to ride in the trunk if they'd been wearing helmets?

I'm not trying to defend the mother here (she's clearly an idiot), but I'm always interested in the enforcement of laws against reckless driving and the like. As a society we clearly don't think broad prohibitions on reckless driving really do the work we want them to: thus the vast number of targeted laws, like those against drunk driving or driving while talking on a cell phone. But a simple recklessness prosecution can seem like a catch-all. Hmm.