Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of the Eighteenth District of Florida Votes Against Health Care for Poor Children

Posted on September 26, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

How sad it is to be represented by a Republican with such a safe seat that she can vote against her community's interests.

Final Vote Results for Roll Call 906: Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of the 18th District of Florida voted against the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act which would have expanded the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). In other words, she voted against insuring another four million kids who lack health insurance because their parents simply don't make enough money to pay for it.

Florida has an estimated 658,000 uninsured children. This bill would have provided health insurance for about 240,000 of them (down from the larger number in the original Democratic version of the bill). But even that one-third increase was too much for Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who toed the GOP party line that effective government programs must not be allowed to grow, for fear that people might start to believe that government can actually help them.

What a terrible, terrible vote. It's not the childrens' fault that their parents are poor. And the amount of money at stake is remarkably low in the grand scheme of things — compared to tax cuts for the richest Americans for example.

Will no one rid of this representative who votes against our interests?

[Update: cf. Who Will Run Against Ros-Lehtinen? (All Politics Is Local).]

Posted in Politics: FL-18 | 2 Comments

Yalies For the Impeachment of Bush and Cheney

Posted on September 26, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Two of my college classmates, Ralph Lopez and Mark Konick, have set up a new web site, Yalies for the Impeachment of George Bush and Richard Cheney.

The site proclaims,

With great privilege comes great responsibility
If not us, who? If not now, when?

And those are indeed good questions.

Their full manifesto is reproduced below.

Continue reading →

Posted in Politics: Impeachments | 1 Comment

Rats

Posted on September 25, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

In 14 Spy Squirrels In Iranian Custody we learn that Iranian authorities have recently arrested more than a dozen squirrels for espionage. Unfortunately, this has no connection with the other piece of Middle-East bait-related news, U.S. Aims To Lure Insurgents With 'Bait': Snipers Describe Classified Program.

From the second story:

A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of “bait,” such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents.

From the first story:

“In recent weeks, intelligence operatives have arrested 14 squirrels within Iran's borders,” state-sponsored news agency IRNA reported. “The squirrels were carrying spy gear of foreign agencies, and were stopped before they could act, thanks to the alertness of our intelligence services.”

One story is horrific — our tax money is now being used to shoot civilians who bend over to investigate shiny stuff on the street — and the other story is just weird. The article is silent as to what sort of bait was used to catch the squirrels.

Posted in Iran, Iraq | 1 Comment

It Can’t Happen Here

Posted on September 25, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

This clip from an Australian comedy show, the Chaser's War on Everything, which purports to be man-in-the-street interviews of somewhat ordinary Americans (conducted by US-based reporter Charles Firth?) must be a spoof. It's probably a spoof. I mean, it has a laugh track. I hope it's a spoof.

People wouldn't really say that stuff just sixty years after the Holocaust, would they?

Posted in Civil Liberties, Iran | 1 Comment

Not In My House

Posted on September 25, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Every so often I think, “maybe we should buy a TV”. Then I read stuff like this catch at Amygdala:

Katie Couric just led off the opening story on tonight's CBS Evening News by announcing that “President Ahmadinejad of Iran, an enemy of the United States, arrived tonight….

That's just the sort of neutral reporting I want to expose myself and my family to on a nightly basis.

As Gary Farber says, is there an official national enemies list somewhere?

Nixon must be smiling in his grave. Actually, you know it's bad when the administration starts making you think Nixon was better than what you've got… After all, they stole both money and elections on a much smaller scale….

And CBS, even after he and Agnew broke its spirit, was never this deferential to Nixon.

Posted in Iran, The Media | 5 Comments

I Knew That

Posted on September 24, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Does Law School Curriculum Affect Bar Examination Passage? asks the question, and says the answer is “no”. That is certainly what our study here, several years ago, showed.

Posted in Law School | 2 Comments