Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Rangel Remains the Establishment Man

Posted on January 22, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

Anyone who read machine-pol-and-proud-of-it Rep. Charles B. Rangel's autobiography (see Charlie Rangel's “And I Haven't Had a Bad Day Since”) would have predicted that Rangel Remains in Clinton's Camp in Her Battle With Obama.

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | Comments Off on Rangel Remains the Establishment Man

Spot the Outlier

Posted on January 21, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

Group News Blog: Legions of Imperial America:


The United States of America spends 56% of total government military spending on Planet Earth, with a published FY2008 military budget of $623 billion* (in 2008 dollars). China is a distant second at 6% with an estimated 2004 military budget of $65 billion. The entire “Axis of Evil” (with Pakistan thrown in for good measure) spends barely 1% at less than $15 billion.

Posted in National Security | Comments Off on Spot the Outlier

Dubbed Into Chinese

Posted on January 21, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

I was interviewed by the Voice of America Chinese News service the other day, and there's now a web page to prove it: VOA News – 边界电脑æ�œæŸ¥ä»¥å�Šä¸ªäººéš�ç§�æ�ƒ.

Posted in The Media | Comments Off on Dubbed Into Chinese

UM Law Team Wins State Trial Competition

Posted on January 18, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

Each year, the Trial Lawyers Section of the Florida Bar sponsors the Chester Bedell Memorial Trial Competition. Each law school in the state is invited to send two teams. This year eight schools responded and sent sixteen teams.

The 2007-08 competition, a mock products liability case, was held on Wednesday and Thursday. On Thursday, yesterday, each team tried the case twice, representing the plaintiffs at one trial and the defendant at the other. For each trial, three trial lawyers served as jurors and a judge or another trial lawyer served as the presiding judge. The teams with 2-0 records and the highest scores advanced to the semifinals on Friday morning. (Miami's other team ended day 1 with a 1-1 record, losing to one of the semifinalists.) The winners (Stetson and Miami) advanced to the finals on Thursday afternoon. The finals were tried before a panel of five lawyer-jurors and a circuit judge.

And the UM team won. Robert Palmer, chair of the Trial Lawyers Section announced the winning team. Frank Angones, President of the Florida Bar, presented the best advocate award to Jonathan Weiss, and the team trophy to Joycelyn S. Brown, Christopher M.
Lomax, and Jonathan R. Weiss. Sarah B. King was the witness.

Congrats to all, and to team coaches Terry Anderson and James Gailey.

Posted in Law School | 1 Comment

Huckabee Demonstrates His Brand of Moral Leadership

Posted on January 18, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

Demonstrating his brand of moral leadership, former Gov. Mike Huckabee showed how he believes a Bible-inspired Presidential aspirant should take a stand against long-time symbols of racism such as the flying of the Confederate flag on state property:

Huckabee Says Let SC Decide on Flag — Pressed later on whether he finds the flag offensive, Huckabee refused to give an opinion.

''It's really not something that is an issue for the president of the United States; that's an issue South Carolina would deal with,'' Huckabee said at a news conference in Columbia, S.C.”

Even if one believes — as one well might — that federalism concerns make this a state issue as a legal matter, that doesn't absolve national figures from offering moral leadership. Or from showing their true colors.

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | 3 Comments

Squirrelly Politicians

Posted on January 17, 2008 by Michael Froomkin

Maybe I read too many blogs, but when I saw News That Stays News at Unqualified Offerings reporting,

Dr. Eric Weisman, a behavioral neurologist who practices in rural western Kentucky, reported in the distinguished British medical journal The Lancet that he has treated 11 people for Creutzfeldt-Jakob in four years, and all had eaten squirrel brains at some time.

… it triggered an instant association: I immediately thought of a recent Talking Points Memo item pointing to this video in which former Gov. Huckabee explained that while in college he used to use a popcorn popper to cook squirrels:

…only to find as I kept reading that The Poor Man thought of the connection first.

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | Comments Off on Squirrelly Politicians