Daily Archives: December 1, 2003

Blogshares Is Dead

Posted on December 1, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

I never did quite get around to figuring out the rules, but it was interesting to see who linked to me and watch my “valuation” gyrate (but generally rise) for no discernable reason. Now it's dead. BlogShares – Closed Down. I think I had a 'market share' of something just over .0065% towards the end there…

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Colorado Supreme Court Strikes Down Mid-Decade Redistricting

Posted on December 1, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Yahoo! News – Court Says Redistricting Unconstitutional

DENVER – In a decision that could have national implications, the Colorado Supreme Court threw out the state's new congressional districts Monday because the GOP-led Legislature redrew the maps in violation of the constitution.

The General Assembly is required to redraw the maps only after each census and before the ensuing general election — not at any other time, the court said in a closely watched decision. A similar court battle is being waged in Texas.

Under the ruling, Colorado's seven congressional districts revert to boundaries drawn up by a Denver judge last year after lawmakers failed to agree.

The issue before the court was whether the redistricting map pushed through the Legislature by Republicans this year was illegal. Colorado's constitution calls for redistricting only once a decade and Democrats contended the task was completed by the judge.

I look forward to reading this decision. I'm more than prepared to believe that there may be state Constitutional law issues here; but much as I think mid-term redistricting is despicable, it will take something substantial to convince me that there is a federal constitutional law violation here. (Although I can imagine what some of those arguments might look like.)

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Posted in Law: Constitutional Law | Comments Off on Colorado Supreme Court Strikes Down Mid-Decade Redistricting

Dollar vs. Euro Suggests Bush Economic Plan Fails Basic Market Test

Posted on December 1, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Once again justifying the Economist's Big Mac Index, which had been saying the dollar was overvalued, the dollar has been crashing against the Euro. This is particularly noteworthy as the Euro-area is not itself in the most wonderful economic shape. Which means that the currency traders think we're in even worse shape (click the imgage for details of the slide over the last 30 days). Lovely.

Posted in Econ & Money | 3 Comments

Our Friends Are Getting Worried that Bush Plans to Cut and Run on Iraq (Like Afghanistan)

Posted on December 1, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil visits Washington D.C. and finds….doom, gloom and a sense that the Iraq invasion is falling apart with appalling consequences: Scotsman.com News – International – Inside story of how Washington is losing its bottle

“In both places it is worse than you think,” I was warned before arriving in the US capital for a series of off-the-record briefings. The warning was accurate.

Take Afghanistan first. You don’t read or see much about it these days. The reality is grim. The Taliban is resurgent; al-Qaeda is there too, but not as relevant as it was. Attacks on aid workers are soaring; many are refusing to leave the urban areas. The warlords are back in control of the countryside, where opium production is already above pre-invasion levels. “Afghanistan is a narco-economy once more,” said one intelligence analyst.

The Taliban regularly mounts attacks in the rural areas and is expected to hit urban centres with greater force. “If they knew how weak we were,” confided one intelligence source, “they would have done it already.” Coalition forces are confined to Vietnam-style strategic hamlets from which they emerge for operations only in great force, before returning to their enclaves. Hamid Karzai’s grip on power is tenuous.

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Posted in Iraq | Comments Off on Our Friends Are Getting Worried that Bush Plans to Cut and Run on Iraq (Like Afghanistan)

“You are talking about overthrowing 800 years of democratic tradition.”

Posted on December 1, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Let me be blunt: if Padilla loses his appeal, this isn't a free country any more. That doesn't mean it's a prison state either, there are many shades of gray in life and it will still be freer than many, but any country where the goverment can grab a citizen off the street, lock them up indefinately in solitary without trial or a lawyer, that's not a free country in my book.

It seems that former head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Policy Viet Dinh, one of the most hard-core right-wing members of the new conservative legal establishment, agrees, albeit more politely. Patriot Act Author Has Concerns.

Dinh said he believed the president had the unquestioned authority to detain persons during wartime, even those captured on “untraditional battlefields,” including on American soil. He also said the president should be given flexibility in selecting the forum and circumstances — such as a military tribunal or an administrative hearing — in which the person designated an enemy combatant can confront the charges against him.

The trouble with the Padilla case, Dinh said, is that the government hasn't established any framework for permitting Padilla to respond, and that it seems to think it has no legal duty to do so.

“The president is owed significant deference as to when and how and what kind of process the person designated an enemy combatant is entitled to,” Dinh said. “But I do not think the Supreme Court would defer to the president when there is nothing to defer to. There must be an actual process or discernible set of procedures to determine how they will be treated.”

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Posted in Civil Liberties | 2 Comments

Weapons of Math Instruction

Posted on December 1, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Brian Leiter's Weapons of Math Instruction shows that it's possible to laugh about Really Serious Stuff.

Posted in Completely Different | 1 Comment