144 of the 275 members of the Iraqi parliament, including Sunnis, Shia, and Kurds have signed a petition that would require setting a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces in Iraq. The petition is being currently being drafted into a bill. The petition allegedly mirrors similar efforts by Democratic lawmakers here in the U.S.

Petition sponsors say that the withdrawal timetable would need to be accompanied by a build up of Iraqi security forces, although nothing has so far been said as to what benchmarks will be used for measuring their readiness.

President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki both oppose setting a timetable for withdrawl.

Russia’s ambassador to Costa Rica and seven other people have been taken hostage at the country’s embassy by an armed man, The Associated Press reports.

Visit CNN for the latest.

Santa Catalina Island, offshore of L.A., is on fire. Hundreds of residents and visitors have evacuated to the mainland. But things have improved markedly since last night, when it looked like the fire might come roaring into the island’s main population center, the city of Avalon.

So says The Blotter from ABC News, and Drudge has a siren up.

source file

P.S. As you might guess, I made this post, and the one below, some time ago. I had them set to post automatically at noon, but I finished a little early, so I moved up the timestamp (and reset the countdown clock above).

P.P.S. WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

P.P.P.S. Evidence grades are out. They’re on InsideND. I got a B! w00t! I’m very happy about that, considering.

Pardon my French, but:

Holy shit! I’m DONE with law school!! DONE!!!

Cue Alice Cooper…

Or, if you prefer, cue Alice Cooper and the Muppets:

Never have that song’s words rung more true… well, except the part about the school blowing up. :) But yeah: “SCHOOL’S OUT! FOR! EVER!”

(I know what some of you are thinking: “But the bar exam… but bar review courses… but but but…” Blah blah blah, whatever. There’s a whole hell of a lot of partying to be done between now and when I start thinking about that crap. Right now, all I care about is… FREEDOM!!!!!!)

I'm officially the first one here. :) I'll end my law school career in the same place I started it: Room 121, where Professor Tidmarsh first called on Chris Drewry in CivPro on a Monday morning in August 2004 that seems like a very long time ago.