Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Dumbest and Clumsiest TV/Video Ad Ever By an Incumbent Senator?

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

Is this Norm Coleman (R-MN) ad, Al Franken Green Screen Conspiracy?, the worst produced and most stupid TV/video advertisement ever paid for by an incumbent Senator?

If it isn't the stupidest and worst, then I shudder to think what is. (Note: there may be something stupider out there, but the production values have to be better.)

Until the closing credits I was sure this was an independent effort from someone's laptop.

(For the back story to which this ad may be a lame response, see Minnesota Campaign Report: Coleman campaign green-screening the spouse?.)

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | 7 Comments

Best Evidence that the Miami Herald is Doomed (and How to Save It)

Posted on June 24, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

It was a good paper 15 years ago. And despite some subsequent slippage, there were real signs of life. I thought hiring DeFede was a great move a few years ago; firing him was super-stupid. Other than Fred Grimm and the soon-to-be departed Ana Menendez, who still shine, the local section, which used to be the best part, is a five-minute read. If the kids didn't like the comics so much, I'm not sure I'd keep my subscription.

The Miami Herald has gotten pretty dull.

And the sign of the times that makes me think it's not going to get better isn't the 17% cut in staff detailed at How will staff cuts affect The Miami Herald?, although that's sure to hurt, but rather this gem in the same article:

… a group of 15 distinguished Miami-Dade County leaders quietly have been meeting on their own over the past four months to make recommendations for what they think The Miami Herald should be.

Miami is a diverse, fragmented community with many media options, but because of its wide circulation, The Miami Herald can be the glue that holds us all together, one of the group s members, Florida International University President Mitch Maidique, explained.

Other members include United Way President Harv Mogul; UM trustee and Coral Gables attorney Dean Colson; Marvin O'Quinn, chief executive of Jackson Memorial Hospital; UM President Donna Shalala; Miami-Dade County School Superintendent Rudy Crew; attorney Aaron Podhurst; and Flagler Development Group President Adolfo Henriques.

The Herald didn't pick this committee, but I am pretty sure they'll get a very respectful listen. And the makup of this group exemplifies what's wrong with the Herald. This is not a challenge-the-status-quo kind of a club. But if you want to sell papers, you have to give voice to the afflicted and afflict the powerful.

Want to fix the Herald? Start by putting the guys at Eye on Miami in charge of the Metro section. Or at least give them serious column inches and the power to assign a couple reporters.

President Shalala can be an iconoclast when she wants to be. I wish I thought there were any chance she'd recommend the Herald hire Genius of Despair and Gimleteye. It's hard to see how anything less radical can save the paper.

Posted in Miami, The Media | 3 Comments

An Extraordinary Statement About Torture, Honor, Law, and Country

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

I've said many times before that the JAGs are heroes of the post-9/11 military. Here's another extraordinary example of this: the closing argument of an Air Force Major, David J. R. Frakt, in Favor of Dismissal of the Case Against Mohammad Jawad (6/19/2008) in a 'combat status review tribunal' [Note 6/24/08: commentator mremer says below that this was a merits hearing, not a CSRT, and based on this aclu blog post, I think he's right] held at Guantánamo. (Transcript via the ACLU.)

There ought be be a medal for this sort of princpled powerful advocacy in service to the nation. Please read it. I've reprinted the full text below to make it easier. (If you care — I'm not sure how relevant it is under the circumstances — you can learn more about the facts of the Mohamed Jawad case from FreeDetainees.org.)

Update: Here's some background on Major and Professor David Frakt.

Continue reading →

Posted in Guantanamo, Torture | 5 Comments

Tres Florida

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

Why I am not the least bit surprised that all three major Florida universities — UM, UF, FSU — are represented on this select list of institutions of higher education who have signed deals with Victoria's Secret for “pink” themed clothes and underwear?

All so very tasteful and revenue-enhancing, I'm sure. And so Florida. Although to be fair, there are lots of schools from both sunny and raininy states on that list…

(Spotted via Kieran Healy, A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste.)

Posted in Florida, U.Miami | 1 Comment

Obama Acts Like a Coward

Posted on June 20, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

I think Obama will be great on foreign policy. On domestic policy, not so much.

Today he as good as sold out the fight against FISA's immunity provisions. While the statement below might sound OK, it's failure to say that the bill is unacceptable in its current form, or to say 'filibuster' amounts to a surrender to the fix put in by the leadership. (And, no, this bill is not in any noticeable way an improvement over its predecessor draft. The judicial review provisions are a sham — they don't test for the legality of any wiretapping, they don't test for the legality of any request by the administration to engage in wiretapping, they don't test for whether the recipients of those requests thought or had reason to think that the requests were legal — no, all the court will test is whether the administration says that it made a request. Big deal.)

As one person put it to me, “Obama's national security state is going to be so much cooler than McCain's.”

The full text of Obama's weasly statement is below.

Update: Jack Balkin says, from Obama's perspective, what's not to like?.

Continue reading →

Posted in Civil Liberties | 5 Comments

Democratic Leaders Join GOP In Selling Out the Constitution

Posted on June 20, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

The Democratic Congressional leadership has endorsed the new FISA sellout. (Text here; instant analysis by EFF here.)

The ACLU is enraged. See ACLU Blog: Because Freedom Can't Blog Itself: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union » This Spade is a Spade: FISA Deal Is Bunk

You should be enraged too. Perhaps you might even consider a donation to the fund that seeks to punish elected officials who should know better (starting with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer), the Act Blue PAC vs. Retroactive Immunity, also known as the Strange Bedfellows Fund, as it's attracting support from a group ranging from progressives to supporters of Ron Paul.

Our only hope in stopping this is going to be the Senate. Is Obama going to step out to lead on this? (Meanwhile see the statement by Sen. Feingold.)

I have no idea why our congressional leaders feel a need to be so craven on this issue. Their position doesn't even poll well. It's as if they are suffering from some sort of battered person syndrome or something.

Posted in Civil Liberties | 3 Comments