Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

Too True

This 'Goofus & Gallant: A DOJ Human Resources Primer' by Jesus' General is much too true.

It seems there's lots more rot to root out of DoJ. Don't miss the newscast that Ann Bartow linked to in a comment yesterday: DoJ's civil rights division isn't hiring (m)any minorities for its criminal division. Only two black lawyers out of 50. A number lower than any time since 1978. Although the broadcast doesn't say so in so many words, one gathers the overall number for the civil rights division including the civil side is better — or at least, the best in DOJ (whatever that means). But it's hard to escape the suspicion that there's a connection between the whiteness of the criminal division and this:

One Justice Department chart revealed that over a six-year period the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had referred 3,200 individual complaints of discrimination to the civil rights division for action. They have resulted in only six lawsuits for race discrimination.

It never ends…

Posted in Politics: US: GW Bush Scandals | 1 Comment

A Romney Moment?

Perennial Presidential candidate George Romney's defining moment, however unfairly, was when he said in 1967 he'd been “brainwashed” about the Vietnam War. It followed the sometime Michigan Governor around for the rest of his long and endlessly diminishing political life.

Like father, like son? Forty years later George's son Mitt, also a former Governor, is running for the GOP nomination. And he just said something really weird:

In France, for instance, I'm told that marriage is now frequently contracted in seven-year terms where either party may move on when their term is up. How shallow and how different from the Europe of the past.

I don't care if he's tripping, or getting his information from watching French sex comedies, but surely this level of ignorance about Europe ought to disqualify someone from serious consideration for national office?

Or, is it really the case that in the modern GOP this sort of ignorance about Europe — especially France — almost serves as a platform?

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | 5 Comments

Insiders’ Gossip About Wolfowitz

Amazingly, there's a blog at which World Bank insiders discuss the Wolfowitz scandal and share juicy gossip about possibly forged emails and the like. It's currently called World Bank President – Scrutinising Paul Wolfowitz, outgoing World Bank president.

Founded in January 2005, when former World Bank president James Wolfensohn announced he would be retiring, the original mission of the blog was to “shine a light on the medieval process for choosing the head of this very powerful institution.” In particular, the author(s) were unhappy about the ability of the US government to pick the Bank's President. Then they were unhappy with what they got. Then they went on hiatus.

Now they're back, with a new name.

Posted in Blogs | Comments Off on Insiders’ Gossip About Wolfowitz

“Gonzales” Is Now a Trope

NO QUARTER: Letter to George Tenet from “a group of former intelligence officers” including Ray McGovern and Larry Johnson.

It now turns out that you were the Alberto Gonzales of the intelligence community—a grotesque mixture of incompetence and sycophancy shielded by a genial personality.

What does it mean when your name has become a way to invoke “a grotesque mixture of incompetence and sycophancy” — and why is Gonzales still the Attorney General?

I know, I know, for the same reason the US Army is still in Iraq.

Posted in Politics: US: GW Bush Scandals | 2 Comments

GPS Urban Navigation: Still Some Bugs in the System

A walk with GPS reveals some of the problems with the system.:

In retrospect, what's really interesting is this: when the technology failed us, we didn't look around to see where we were and search for street signs. Of course, at that point we were standing in the middle of a barren junkyard wasteland.

Posted in Sufficiently Advanced Technology | 1 Comment

A Grim Prognosis for Iraq

Juan Cole has an anonymous guest commentator, described as “a canny Vietnam veteran” who has a grim prognosis for Iraq. Not pleasant reading. If even half of these thing are right…

Posted in Iraq | Comments Off on A Grim Prognosis for Iraq