Friedman is a giant of acadamia, and is probably the most important economist since Keynes. Schembechler coached a lot of winning football teams. Not to get on a high horse, but it does say something about our culture that the coach's death is the bigger news story. But what ya gonna do?
But here's a good Friedman story from one of the many obits today:
Gen. William Westmoreland, testifying before President Nixon's Commission on an All-Volunteer [Military] Force, denounced the idea of phasing out the draft and putting only volunteers in uniform, saying that he did not want to command "an army of mercenaries." Friedman, a member of the 15-person commission, interrupted him. "General," Friedman asked, "would you rather command an army of slaves?" Westmoreland got angry: "I don't like to hear our patriotic draftees referred to as slaves." And Friedman got rolling: "I don't like to hear our patriotic volunteers referred to as mercenaries." And he did not stop: " If they are mercenaries, then I, sir, am a mercenary professor, and you, sir, are a mercenary general. We are served by mercenary physicians, we use a mercenary lawyer, and we get our meat from a mercenary butcher."
Pretty brilliant guy. I don't agree with all of his theories, but I'm not nearly smart enough to contest any of them.
20 comments:
response to swanburg most recent post
I am really getting tired of the god-syndrome running around the Baylor Law school faculty. Teachers, you get paid to teach and that is all. You are not our parents, so please stop trying to give us life lessons. Frankly, most of us have been successful in our undergrad institutions and that is why we got to this "fine institution" where the "best belong." The faculty need to realize that we are the heart of this school not them. This school was created for the students not as a tool for the faculty to pick up outside consulting gigs at $250+ an hour. I think if the teachers want to embarass us, then we need to let prospective students know the truth. I have formed a group with 7 other law students. We call ourselves Coyote Ugly. We call ourselves this as the Law School as a prospective student looks like a hot girl/guy that you have just picked up at a bar. You take her/him home and the next morning after your beer goggles have warn off you realize that you have just hooked up with the ugliest human being in the world. Well after most students start law school here they realize they have made one of the biggest mistakes of their lives. In fact, most students have told me if they were not in so much debt they would have left this fine institution. The seven of us have adopted a mission to hurt the school in the same way it hurts us. We have all gone back to our undergrad institutions and told them the truth about this school, not the half truths given by Assistant Admissions director. We tell them about Promgate, the retaliation by the teachers,etc. Eight prospective students have come in and toured the school with assistant admissions director(AAD). After each one has left the presence of AAD, one of Coyote Ugly has intercepted the prospective student and told them the truth. Today, AAD was giving a tour for a father and son and in the parking lot a member of our group stopped him and his father and explained to them the truth about Baylor Law. The father was especially floored by the dean using a floor of the library for his son's prom during finals. He was asked to not give a description of what we look like to the administration. We are keeping track to see how many of the students we advise actually end up coming here. When the pool of applicants takes a hit, maybe the administration and faculty will figure out that change needs to be made.Frankly, I dont think they have gotten the point. Coyote Ugly will also systematically embarass each faculty member who has embarassed a student. First up is Professor Fed Courts. What is his offense? Well over the past week, members of his LARC III class have told me that he seems more interested in his outside responsibilities then helping them with their brief. His punishment is that the profile he use to have on match.com was captured and will be posted on an anonymous blog we will start in the near future(thank you current PC student). As he has taught us "your actions have consequences." We will soon have an webpage and an e-mail address where we can be reached. I ask the rest of my fellow students who feel the same way to participate in similar actions.
OK, I don't delete comments as a rule. But a few things:
1) Learn to indent. They are called paragraphs. Learn them. Love them.
2) This is my space. Not yours. I'm happy to give people a forum, and a really do enjoy comments, but this ain't the place for your List of Greivences. You want to start a movement? Don't build it off other people's reputation.
3) Coyote Ugly? Seriously? There are seven bright, talented law students at Baylor, and the best name you can come up with is Coyote Ugly, a crappy bar chain? Have an ounce of originality.
4) I'm not going to refute any of your arguments. I'm just going to say I don't feel the same way. at all. I love Baylor Law and think coming to school here is the best decision I've ever made. If you don't feel the same way, well, I guess some guys are lucky and some ain't.
5) Promgate? That's your big beef? Prom? It was an admittedly poor decision, but one the administration apologized for. To keep dredging that up speaks more to your character than the Dean's.
6) Are you really assaulting people in the parking lot? Once again, this speaks more to your character than anyone else's. Maybe the shock on the dad's face was because he couldn't believe how whiny the students were.
7) There are genuine issues at BLS. And you can walk right into the Dean's office, or the Associate Dean's, or any of the professor's offices; and they will be happy to listen to your complaints. They have even made good faith efforts for constructive dialogue, like the student relations committee. You have not made the same good faith effort.
8) Don't you dare say Prof. FedCourts doesn't care about the students. that is contrary to my experience.
9) Perhaps it would be best if you never posted here again.
Amen to that, Poseur.
here, here. i agree with all 9 stephen.
I've only had Prof. FedCourts for one class, Fed Courts, but never did I feel that we were somehow missing out on anything and that the prof wasn't giving his best to see that we were learning.
that was supposed to be "hear, hear" above. never watch college football and try to post intelligently at the same time...
Baker I would have to say delete that idiots post. He needs his own blog for that non-sense.
The god syndrome (by the way, it's not hyphenated, dumbo). Did you think that maybe YOU have a god syndrome?? "Most of us have been successful in our undergrad institutions...." Then go to med school and be of use to someone.
You're worried about being embarassed in front of your peers? Try being embarassed in front of a jury with a client's interests at stake, bozo.
It seems rather ironic how #1 has posted under an article about one of the greatest economic minds of our time. If these "coyotes" had any basic economic intellect, they would know that by diminishing the credibility of your own school you are diminishing the value of that degree which you hold from that school. So basically, they are not only looking like idiots by 'intercepting' new students, but they ruining for the rest of us--good job!
I think leaving the guy up there for mockery is a better solution. If he posts again, I will probably delete it. But its nice to have the positive responses, which marginalize his/her position. I don't think that comment is starting a groundswell.
And whoever tied it into Milton Friedman... brilliant. Bo would tell him to cut his whining and make him run stadium steps.
11:15 wish to add "high five!"
Stalking people in the parking lot? Really? We're in law school. I thought that there was a certain level of maturity that came along with that.
Is the IP address 71.158.167.165 a law school computer? If not...someone should start having some fun with the bitter and ugly hookups.
Funny...My gripes are about things Mr(s). Coyote gripes about--except in the other direction. I think if Coyote would understand how employers view the school, his/her views would change. I want the school to do more research, to get more consulting jobs on the side, to get better, more qualified students, etc. These things would greatly increase the ranking that BLS currently has, and I would have an easier time having to sale the school to those employers so they will be willing to hire me. And crying about how you get treated in class--Boo f'ing hoo! It's better to learn these life lessons now while your mistakes don't cost anything than later when you are representing a client whose life is at stake! Some people have just been babied their whole lives and don't know how to deal with adversity. As Prof CrimLaw/CrimPro said, "It's that adversity in a child's youth that defines their character." I'd bet Coyote never faced adversity growing up and now has the character to prove it.
Thanks alot for being a cancer to BLS, asshole.
"Texas Alum" that was a great post. If I knew who this guy was I would do everything in my power to make his life so miserable that he quit BLS. We don't need whining losers like that.
i think anteater attractive gave us a clue as to the identity in the IP address.
i, for one, will be starting a club soon called Buttfuck Retards. We're going to wear Nixon masks and hand out flyers in front of the law school declaring our opposition to faculty parking spaces, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and flatulence. Then we're going to form a blog comment correspondence committee, whose officers will all take the Buttfuck Retard Oath of Higher Office and Lower Standards which reads, in pertinent part: [bitch and moan, moan and bitch, whine, whine, whine, GRE time!]. Those are approximate sounds, as we haven't quite decided that part yet. This is serious stuff, this subversive activity-cum-coup-cum-high-school-newspaper-outrage-cum-using-the-prefix-cum-'cause-we're-that-cool stuff.
Wow, I'm exhausted. Maybe we won't get around to making our anonymous blog anyway. Coming up with names and pansy ass "smears" is fun enough. Whew.
Maybe we can get someone on the executive committe of Buttfuck Retards to post this comment on, like, everyone else's blog, though, to save me the trouble. Whew. Gotta get back to the Buttfuck Retard anthem and secret seven-member handshake. Forget "studying."
I think some people really need to stop being candyasses and realize that part of our "other education" here is to develop a certain level of hardness and tenacity...
You know, if these "Coyote Ugly" people spent half as much time studying as they did constructing poorly-written manifestos and chasing people through the parking lot, maybe they wouldn't get embarrassed because they're not ready for class.
I've had Prof. Fed Courts for LARC and Fed Cts. If the Coyotes want to target someone at the law school, they are barking up the wrong tree. Prof. Fed Cts is a very solid prof and spends a lot of time w/ students. As a frequent barrister and officer in charge of barristers, he has a good rep for preparing his students for competition. On a personal level, he improved my brief writing significantly.
It seems very petty to attack him on a personal level, too. What's next? Will they call Prof. Civ Pro's kids ugly? These obviously over the top tactics and demonstrably false allegations make me wonder whether anything these folks post can be trusted. I'm no computer genious, but I could fake a Match.com page. They are a common source of parody and can be set up without any real confirmation of a person's ID.
Maybe the Coyotes would be worth listening to if we knew who they were and could judge their credibility. I've always posted under my name and publicly voiced some very negative opinions about BLS and specific people at BLS. If the folks at BLS were into retaliation for that sort of thing, I would've been hit a long time ago. I urge the Coyotes to have the courage of their very strong convictions and forgo anonymity in their new web page so that we can judge their message fairly and know it is more than mere vindictiveness.
Well put, Joe. I'm a big proponent, within the law school, of letting your identity be known on the net. Especially if you are arguing about things-- which is part of what you are being trained to do. There are no anonymous lawyers, and no one gets to go into court with a bag on their head.
Maybe we should put a bag over these guys'/girls' heads...
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