March 31. "2501 Migrants," commentary by producer Yolanda Cruz

"2501 Migrants" explores questions of art, the artist, and indigenous community in the context of global migration. Daily, thousands of primarily poor and young indigenous Mexicans abandon their native homes. They start voyages to the "first world" in search of jobs and the hope of a brighter future–or, indeed, any economic future at all. In their wake, they leave behind the hollow footprints of a cultural and domestic abandonment

April 1. "El Muro," commentary by film maker Greg Rainoff

El Muro shows the human and environmental consequences of the border fence between Playas and San Ysidro, along the way it visits the reasons for the fence and local perspectives on its effectiveness.  Migrants, deportees, minutemen, coyotes, environmentalists, writers, and academics all lend their experience and perspective in terms of human rights, democracy, NAFTA, globalization, and the destruction of the Tijuana estuary.

The new law will eliminate fees paid to private banks to act as intermediaries in providing loans to college students and use much of the nearly $68 billion in savings over 11 years to expand Pell Grants and make it easier for students to repay outstanding loans after graduating. The bill is H.R. 4872 and can be viewed here: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:h.r.04872:

John Adkins, the LRC head of public services, has announced he will be leaving USD to become director of the San Diego County Public Law Library.  His last day here will be April 15.  Please stop by the LRC to say goodbye!

Visit the Trans-Border Institute event page for more information.

When: March 29 – April 1, 2010, 6-8 p.m.

Where: Joan B. Kroc Theatre, University of San Diego

Cost: Free and open to the public

March 29- “The Devil’s Breath,” commentary by producer Laura Castaneda

The Devil’s Breath brings the stories of the undocumented victims of the 2007 California wildfires to life through interviews with their traveling companions, the health care providers who treated them, the family members they left behind, visits to the sites where they perished, and audio of one survivor’s frantic 9-1-1 calls for help during the 2007 firestorms in San Diego.

March 30. "7 Soles," commentary by director Pedro Ultreras

El Negro is hired to smuggle a group of undocumented migrants into the United States. He wants out of the smuggling business and claims this is his last trip. His superiors, now suspicious, send Gavilan, a younger smuggler, to keep an eye on him. During the troubled crossing, the smugglers fight and eventually lose part of their human cargo. Negro escapes from his former associates but also from justice.

March 31. "2501 Migrants," commentary by producer Yolanda Cruz

"2501 Migrants" explores questions of art, the artist, and indigenous community in the context of global migration. Daily, thousands of primarily poor and young indigenous Mexicans abandon their native homes. They start voyages to the "first world" in search of jobs and the hope of a brighter future–or, indeed, any economic future at all. In their wake, they leave behind the hollow footprints of a cultural and domestic abandonment

April 1. "El Muro," commentary by film maker Greg Rainoff

El Muro shows the human and environmental consequences of the border fence between Playas and San Ysidro, along the way it visits the reasons for the fence and local perspectives on its effectiveness.  Migrants, deportees, minutemen, coyotes, environmentalists, writers, and academics all lend their experience and perspective in terms of human rights, democracy, NAFTA, globalization, and the destruction of the Tijuana estuary.

from the Law Librarian blog –

PreCYdent: 2006 – 2009

If you haven't already done so, it's time to update your finding aids for free online legal search services. PreCYdent is no longer. Lack of funds.

PreCYdent was created by USD's own Tom Smith and offered one of the most innovative search engines for a free online legal research service. But funding dried up several months ago. That's a real shame. Not all very good ideas move beyond the experimental stage. Unfortunately, this is one that didn't. So while we check out WestLaw's "WestSearch" and "New Lexis" and try to forget the first iteration of IntelliConnect, give pause for a moment on the passing of PreCYdent and hope for its return by way of some vendor giving its merits a careful look.

For background, see LLB's  Law Prof as Toolmaker: An Interview with PreCYdent's Thomas A. Smith (San Diego). and Steven Robert Miller's PreCYdent:  A New Search Engine Enters the Legal Research World.

When: Thursday, March 18, 2010, 7:00pm-9:00pm

Where: Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre

Cost: Free

From IPJ, Where the Water Meets the Sky is a film about women in rural Zambia and their route to empowerment via training in filmmaking. Narrated by Morgan Freeman. Kimberley Sevcik, Information and Media Relations Manager at Camfed, the organization that made the film, will offer comments and answer questions after the screening.  For more information about the film, go to www.watermeetssky.com

Co-sponsored by the Women's Center, Community-Service Learning, Social Issues Commmittee, and University Ministry.

Contact:

Joan B. Kroc Institute For Peace & Justice | ipj@sandiego.edu | 619-260-7509

Tomorrow the United States will release its 2009 Country Report on Human Rights Practices.  The U.S. State Department prepares and submits the report on an annual basis to provide a full and complete report regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights including individual civil, political, and workers' rights as set forth in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights.  The reports are often used by Congress in making decisions about foreign aid and as evidence of persecution in asylum cases in the United States.

The full-text of the 2009 report will be released on the State Department’s website here.

Above the Law, a legal blog, reports that a Georgetown University law professor unwittingly caused a national media frenzy when he began his criminal-law course by telling the class that Chief Justice John Roberts would soon announce his retirement for health reasons. At least one student in the class immediately began sending notes to the outside world.

Within 20 minutes, Radar Online, a gossip site that is a corporate sibling of the National Enquirer, published an "exclusive" about the alleged news. From there the rumor moved on to The Drudge Report and dozens of other blogs.

But the rumor was not true.  Halfway through the lecture on the credibility and reliability of informants, the Prof revealed that the Roberts rumor was made up to show how someone you ordinarily think is credible and reliable (i.e., a law professor) can disseminate inaccurate information.

Check out AudioCaseFiles: The premier audio and video training and research resource featuring some of the best litigators in the nation. You will find audio opinions for the most commonly assigned cases for first– and second–year law students. To register with AudioCaseFiles, click here to go to the registration page. Select "My school or firm is: a member" and then "I am affiliated with a: school". Select "University of San Diego School of Law" from the drop-down menu. Enter your personal information, including your USD e-mail address and a password of your choosing. You will receive a registration confirmation via e-mail.

Lots of good feedback about this as a study aid and way to pass the time during long commutes!  Let us know what you think.

The U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee is expected to review tomorrow the text of H.R. 4573.  The legislation would direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the U.S. executive directors at the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other multilateral development institutions to use the "voice, vote, and influence of the United States" to cancel completely Haiti’s debts to those institutions.  Track the status of H.R. 4573 here.