The folks at the Yale ISP were kind enough to recently to make me an ‘Affiliated Fellow’ of the Yale ISP, so I hope to be involved more in the future.

I like to going to Yale events, as they are both substantive and nostalgic for me (Yale ‘82, Yale Law ‘87)…but I HATE the journey. Flying into New Haven is expensive and usually involves a long layover in Philly followed by a wind-up plane. Flying into Hartford gets you an easy drive…but the two direct planes a day are too early and too late, and why change planes just to drive afterward?

Flying into New York is quickest and cheapest…but then there’s the land portion. CT Limo is so appalling that I vowed never to use it again after last time. And the time before. And the time before that. So this time I’m going to drive.

The trouble with driving is that I get lost. Easily. I was never the most directionally intuitive driver, and I’ve gotten softer from years of being married to a very reliable navigator. I don’t own a GPS, although I’m thinking about it. I’ve asked for one in the rental car as a sort of, well, test drive, to see how I like it. (The other trouble is that I’m landing at 3pm, and will hit the Friday afternoon rush more than likely, but there’s not a lot I can do about that.)

I’m going to miss it, because I will be in New York. On Friday I’ll be at Fordham Law for a seminar; on Monday I’ll be at Brooklyn Law giving a paper. Over the weekend, TKTS willing, I hope to catch a play. Suggestions for other cultural highlights welcomed.

Pelosi was a mix of good ol’ fashioned Democrat — we’d like some good programs, more investment, help veterans etc. and infuriating good ol’ fashioned Democrat — prevarications at best, falsehoods more likely. [Update: I’ve decided that was a little harsh. I think she believes the stuff about FISA. The mystery is why.]

Pelosi tried to suggest that the House had done all it could to stop the war, which she in effect defined as one bill without war funding. That was pretty unconvincing.

Worse was the line on FISA in which (hiding behind a column by Mort Halperin) the Speaker told us that we had a better chance of getting the truth about illegal wiretapping from the telcos by relying on the Bush administration Inspector Generals in a post-immunity world than we would have from discovery in court.

At the receiving line after the talk, I shouted out that we couldn’t rely in the IG’s. Pelosi made a face and said, “then we’ll have to force the issue.”

But that wasn’t the big story of the event.

The big story was the “surprise guest”: Vice President Al Gore. He gave a superb speech. Look for it on YouTube: Al Gore at Netroots Nation 2008, Part 1; Al Gore at Netroots Nation 2008, Part 2.

He was great. She was good enough to come, and I still have my credentials.

But he says we’re not on the internet because we’re here listening to him.

Humph.

PS. You can follow along on Second Life.

Then I lived abroad for long enough to lose many of my local political ties; when I came back to the US it was to a new and strange place, South Florida, where serious politics seemed to happen in Spanish. And I had other things to worry about: hurricanes, children, tenure, life. So I didn’t do much beyond the armchair.

George Bush has (re?)radicalized me. And once again, I’m doing a little activism. This time, I’m helping out one of our wonderful local Congressional candidates, Joe Garcia (FL-25). (Our other great local candidate is Annette Taddeo (FL-18), but we’ve got that covered too, in a different way: my older son, age 14, has been interning at the Taddeo campaign office, and he’s coming too to help Annette and her staff.)

When I called Joe to volunteer, he first asked me to look over his web presence and see if anything needed improving. That wasn’t hard, it was pretty good already. Then, when Joe came over to breakfast to get my report, I asked him what else I could do for him.

I figured he’d ask for money, and was even braced to do a fundraiser, although it’s really really not my style. But he surprised me: Joe asked me to go with him to Netroots Nations and introduce him around to the other bloggers. I tried to convince him that I don’t actually know most of them, except by email, but he seemed to think that would do.

So Thursday, I’m going to Netroots Nation (formerly Yearly Kos), to act as a sort of advance man for Joe Garcia. Perhaps I’ll see you there? If so, there’s this great candidate you might like to meet…

(Poster from Miami & Beyond.)

If you won’t be in Austin for the conference, you can follow along online in Second Life. See NNinSL.org for details. All the main events will be streamed and they also promise inworld parties and special events. And, unlike the meatspace version, this one is free.

And then my personal conference experience went downhill fast — not because CFP did anything wrong, but because I had to go to my hotel room to participate (via phone) in a key meeting of the UM Law faculty about the Dean Search. So I’m missing my favorite conference.

And four and half hours later it’s still going….

Argh!

While the staff here are being very nice about it, the wireless is useless in my room. But it works great in the bar, so all is not lost.

Don’t like those prop planes….