Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

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

WSJ Story on Impoverished Law Graduates

Posted on September 24, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

The whole legal blog world is linking to the Wall St. Journal article Hard Case: Job Market Wanes for U.S. Lawyers and this WSJ blog discussion of it, WSJ.com : The Dark Side of the Legal Job Market, so why buck the trend.

For what little it's worth, the anecdotal evidence I have from former students is that while things can be pretty rough, they're not as bad as this article makes out unless you either did very poorly in law school, or (this is my interpretation) interview very badly.

There's no question that a law degree from U.M., or indeed any but a tiny number of law schools, does not guarantee you a job, much less a very high-paid job: as I noted previously (Starting Salaries For Law Students are BiModal — If Not Bipolar), the evidence is that the legal market has become segmented into two parts, with the lower tier getting starting — starting — salaries in the $40-$55 thousand range. A good wage…but not so great if you are carrying a huge load of debt.

Posted in Law School | Comments Off on WSJ Story on Impoverished Law Graduates

Priorities

Posted on September 24, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

The Democrats (and a some Republicans) want to increase funding for medical care for poor children. The specter of healthy poor children cased by the expenditure of tax money has so terrified GW Bush that it has turned him into a born-again fiscal tightwad, or so his stennographers would have it. (Actually, for some strange reason the stenography is silent on the subject of the children…)

The debate is pretty simple: how many kids to insure in the federal scheme, with the understanding that as the number grows, the program reaches up into the working poor and even if funded to Democratic levels, substantially above the poverty line.

The Speaker's office has more on the issue, along with a nice chart comparing the cost of this program to a few weeks of the Iraq occupation. (They call it a war.)

Posted in Iraq, Politics: US | Comments Off on Priorities