Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

The Most Cheerful Thing I’ve Read In Weeks

Posted on March 4, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Call it schadenfreude if you must, but I was immensely cheered by Brian Leiter's recent post on the sloath and incompetence of the University of Texas academic bureaucracy. It is so, so nice to know that we are not the only place where this sort of thing happens all the time.

Posted in Readings | Comments Off on The Most Cheerful Thing I’ve Read In Weeks

Who Knew?

Posted on March 4, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

It looks as if it's been going a while, since July actually, but I only just discovered Abstract Appeal, which calls itself, undoubtedly correctly, “The First Weblog Devoted to Florida Law & the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals”.

Posted in Blogs | Comments Off on Who Knew?

Don’t Believe the Headline: 9/11 Commission Still Spineless

Posted on March 3, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Oh, it's a nice headline in the New York Times: 9/11 Panel Rejects White House Limits on Interviews. Sure sounds like the commission found its spine at last, and won't accept the absurd one-hour limit (and chairs only, no members present, please) that Bush-Cheney invented to neuter the commission's investigation.

But read past the headline and the truth emerges. First, no Republicans are quoted; as the commission is split 50/50, that means that there isn't yet a majority to do anything forceful.

Plus, on background, the Republicans as signalling that they plan to cave in:

Commission officials said that if the White House continued to insist on limitations on the interviews with Mr. Bush and Mr. Cheney, there might be little that the panel could do to force the issue and that the commission might have to accept the White House's terms.

And they said that despite internal conversation about the possibility of issuing a subpoena for Ms. Rice's public testimony, that move was unlikely.

Some spine, eh?

Posted in Politics: US: GW Bush Scandals | Comments Off on Don’t Believe the Headline: 9/11 Commission Still Spineless

Report from the Front Lines of Electronic Voting

Posted on March 3, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

My day as an election judge is a very interesting first-person account of a day as an election judge baby sitting electronic voting machines—written by Avi Rubin, a leading critic of Diebold's Accuvote machines. (Spotted via Ed Felten blog.)

Posted in Sufficiently Advanced Technology | Comments Off on Report from the Front Lines of Electronic Voting

For Brian Leiter

Posted on March 3, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Attention Nietzsche scholars. America's Finest News Source™ discloses New Nietzschean Diet Lets You Eat Whatever You Fear Most. [Link updated thanks to Hugh Hyatt]

Continue reading →

Posted in Completely Different | 1 Comment

Florida Anti-Climax

Posted on March 3, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

I was looking forward to voting in a contested primary. But with Florida due to vote next Tuesday, it doesn't look as if my vote is going to count: now that Kerry has effectively wrapped up the nomination our primary becomes something of a meaningless ritual.

Not that in Florida we can ever take having our vote count for granted….

Posted in Florida | 1 Comment