Author Archives: Michael Froomkin

The Speech

Posted on January 10, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Bush looked scared.

The so-called new tactics are not new, the escalation while large in human terms is too small to matter in strategic terms, the troops being sent over will not in the main have proper equipment (the armor hasn’t been built yet), and they will not “win” the conflict — whatever “win” means in this context.

Rattling the saber against Iran and Syria is sort of new — it’s been policy for a while, but this is more open.

Overall, I see this as a bookend to Bush’s post-9/11 speech, about a week after the attack. I cried at that one — I saw it as making an open-ended commitment to an endless, formless, armed conflict against vague enemies, a conflict so prolonged it would eat my children, then quite young. I didn’t cry today, I’m too numbed by all that’s led up to this.

Best case: Today is the day that Bush started to lose his base, at least as much on body language as on bankrupt policy. But will the loss come quickly enough to slow or stop the carnage?

Worst case: We’re all seriously f***ed.

Update: image via Gen. JC Christian, Patriot.

Posted in Iraq | Comments Off on The Speech

Is that a Loonie in Your Pocket or is Someone Else Glad to See Me?

Posted on January 10, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Canadian coins bugged, U.S. security agency says: They say money talks, and a new report suggests Canadian currency is indeed chatting, at least electronically, on behalf of shadowy spies.

Canadian coins containing tiny transmitters have mysteriously turned up in the pockets of at least three American contractors who visited Canada, says a branch of the U.S. Department of Defence. …

“On at least three separate occasions between October 2005 and January 2006, cleared defence contractors’ employees travelling through Canada have discovered radio frequency transmitters embedded in Canadian coins placed on their persons,” the report says. …

Bugging a coin with an RFID is a weird way to track people since they are likely to spend the coins.

Could this be a mad scientist economist doing a study on the velocity of money? Where’s George on Canadian steroids?

Posted in Law: Privacy, National Security | 3 Comments

Congratulations to FIU and Barry Law Schools

Posted on January 10, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Word has just reached me (code for: I started reading the stuff piled in my “in” box) that FIU and Barry law schools both achieved full ABA accreditation in December.

Congratulations to all. The FIU achievement is particularly impressive, as they did it in the minimum time possible under the rules.

Posted in Miami | Comments Off on Congratulations to FIU and Barry Law Schools

A Different Iraq Metric

Posted on January 10, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Cosmic Iguana – Voice of the Evil Doers says,

US SPENT $1 MIL FOR EVERY DEAD IRAQI – CIVILIANS INCLUDED:
GUARDIAN:

Early this year the Bush administration is to ask Congress to approve an additional $100bn for the onerous task of making life intolerable for the Iraqis. This will bring the total spent on the White House’s current obsession with war to almost $500bn – enough to have given every US citizen $1,600 each… with over half a million dead, it means that the world’s greatest military superpower has spent a million dollars for every Iraqi killed… [*]

Last year I posted that the US had shot 250,000 bullets per dead insurgent [*]. I suggested sarcastically that our kill ratio was not that bad when you consider how many civilians we have knocked off. Now it appears that even taking that into account we’re not dreadfully efficient.

But I especially liked this:

One commenter suggested it would be cheaper to kill people by dropping the bundles of money we’re spending directly on their heads.

Posted in Iraq | Comments Off on A Different Iraq Metric

Beyond Parody (Hall of Mirrors Dept)

Posted on January 9, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

In the course of recounting some media stupidity so dumb I don't even want to write about it, The Carpetbagger Report asks,

I can’t help but notice that Stephen Colbert’s over-the-top parodies of right-wing blowhards is looking less and less like a parody all the time. As Kevin Drum put it, “Parody is going to become a lost art if the blowhard brigade keeps trying to top itself with stuff like this. I mean, what could I possibly write that was any more ridiculous than the thing itself?”

I think I've got the answer: O'Reilly, Colbert to trade appearances.

Posted in The Media | Comments Off on Beyond Parody (Hall of Mirrors Dept)

Historians Make News!

Posted on January 9, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Riveting Highlights from the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Historical Association.

On Thursday, just after noon, the Tufts historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto was arrested by Atlanta police as he crossed the middle of the street between the Hilton and Hyatt hotels. After being thrown on the ground and handcuffed, the former Oxford don was formally arrested, his hands cuffed behind his back. Several policemen pressed hard on his neck and chest, leaving the mild-mannered scholar, who’s never gotten so much as a parking ticket, bruised and in pain. He was then taken to the city detention center along with other accused felons and thrown into a filthy jail cell filled with prisoners. He remained incarcerated for eight hours. Officials demanded bail of over a thousand dollars. To come up up with the money Fernandez-Armesto, the author of nineteen books, had to make an arrangement with a bail bondsman. In court even the prosecutors seemed embarrassed by the incident, which got out of hand when Fernandez-Armesto requested to see the policeman’s identification (the policeman was wearing a bomber jacket; to Fernandez-Armesto, a foreigner unfamiliar with American culture, the officer did not look like an officer). The prosecutors asked the professor to plead nolo contendere. He refused, concerned that the stain on his record might put his green card status in jeopardy. Officials finally agreed to drop all charges. The judge expressed his approval. The professor says he has no plans to sue. But the AHA council is considering lodging a complaint with the city.

The interview with Prof. Fernandez-Armesto is at once hysterically funny and a cringe-making embarrassment to Atlanta,


Click here for Part 2. Click here for Part 3.

Oh yes–the AHA made some history at this meeting too:

At the annual Business Meeting, a proceeding usually featuring dry reports by the organization’s leaders, the members approved an anti-war resolution, the first in the AHA’s existence. The voice vote at the packed meeting was nearly unanimous. It was sponsored by Historians Against the War.

Posted in Iraq, Law: Criminal Law | 2 Comments