Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

New GOP Leader Wants State Religion Just Like Other GOP Leaders!

We knew that John Boehner, the new GOP leader in the House, was a sleazy guy (he famously handed out tobacco lobbyists’ checks on the house floor).

I admit, though, that I didn’t know Boehner wanted to undermine the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. It seems he supports state-sponsored prayer in the public school, was for allowing federal funding of poverty programs that require aid recipients to join in religious activities, supports the state-sponsored display of protestant Christian translations of religious texts, opposed criticism of proselytizing at the Air Force Academy, and that he enthusiastically pushed for legal requirements that “Intelligent Design” be taught in Ohio schools. Yes, all this (and more) seems to be true.

Of course, it’s hardly surprising — I’d bet these views are far more characteristic of GOP House members than of the population at large.

Posted in Politics: The Party of Sleaze | 2 Comments

A Cell Phone With An Unusual Feature

My sporadic search for a new cell phone took me to an ad for the highly overpriced Motorola Ultimate U6 Quadband Bluetooth. The ad includes the usual marketdroitspeak (“Quadband operation and an integrated digital video camera makes the Motorola Ultimate U6 the perfect phone for your active lifestyle.”). But it also touts a feature I’ve never seen before in an ad for a phone:

Fungus resistant coated mini jet black clamshell design

The mind boggles. Is this a common problem with cell phones? With Motorola phones particularly? Are buyers of overpriced phones especially fungus-phobic, making this a selling point?

I would have thought it was a turn-off, myself…

Posted in Shopping | 3 Comments

The Myth of ‘Going Postal’

In a discussion of the security aspects of last week’s post office shooting, Bruce Schneier says that the US Post office’s reputation for harboring (or creating) a workforce of repressed homicidal maniacs is in fact undeserved,

There is a common myth that workplace homicides are prevalent in the United States Postal Service. (Note the phrase “going postal.”) But not counting this event, there has been less than one shooting fatality per year at Postal Service facilities over the last 20 years. As the USPS has more than 700,000 employees, this is a lower rate than the average workplace.

Posted in Etc | 2 Comments

Bush Cartoons

Via Slate (via Dan), some Bush cartoons:

Posted in Politics: US | Comments Off on Bush Cartoons

Amnesty International Conference at UM Law Feb 25

Amnesty International will be holding its Florida State Conference here at the Law School on February 25. The deadline for registering is Feb. 13, and you can do so online.

I’ll be there to listen to the impressive roster of speakers, including Ricardo Bascuas, Donna Coker, and Steven Vladeck from our faculty.

Posted in Talks & Conferences | Comments Off on Amnesty International Conference at UM Law Feb 25

Things That Give You Hope for the Republic

I think that the omnipresence of hate radio and TV is one of the great poisons of contemporary politics. So it’s very encouraging to see signs that the shine is coming off some of the icons. DO NOT MISS MS-NBC’s Keith Olbermann’s disemboweling of Fox’s Bill O’Reilly, clip courtesy of onegoodmove. (While there, check out the other great video captures.)

Posted in The Media | 6 Comments