For reasons I can’t articulate in my current jet lagged (and lost-luggage) state, this moveon.org ad trying to blunt the GOP’s Rovian exploitation of 9/11 just doesn’t seem that effective — even though I agree with it:
In contrast, this ad from votevets.org targeting Sen. George Allen seems just about absolutely perfect:
Do you agree? What’s wrong with the first one?
The nice thing about being chair of the newly created Laterals & Chairs committee is that I can dream about all the wonderful people I will be persuading to come join our faculty.
The not-so-nice thing about being chair of the newly created Laterals & Chairs committee is that it’s quite a lot of work.
Here’s the official approved text inviting experienced law professors to contact me if they fancy joining an exciting law faculty located in a tropical paradise,
The University of Miami School of Law invites applications from faculty at all levels of seniority with an interest in joining our lively faculty beginning in the 2007-2008 academic year. While open to the right candidate in any field, the Laterals & Chairs committee intends to focus its search in the fields of commercial law, health and health policy, international arbitration/ADR, international business transactions, international trade, and trusts & estates.
Candidates should possess strong academic or practice backgrounds, a record of scholarship or public service, the clear potential for scholarly productivity, and an enthusiasm for teaching. We also seek to add to the diversity of our faculty. Women and minorities are particularly encouraged to apply.
Contact: Professor Michael Froomkin, Chair, Laterals & Chairs Committee, University of Miami School of Law, P.O. Box 248087, Coral Gables, FL 33124-8087, fax 305-284-6506.
I’m on my way to Frankfurt today, where I will do hush-hush stuff for the ICANN NomCom. It’s possible I will have very limited Internet access for the next few days, especially today and Sunday which are travel days. And even if I do have access, I probably won’t have much time to use it. If I have a chance, however, I will post something about my airport experiences.
Meanwhile, I’ve queued up a few posts to keep things going.
Air Force chief: Test weapons on testy U.S. mobs,
Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before being used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.
The object is basically public relations. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions from others about possible safety considerations, said Secretary Michael Wynne.
Lauren Weinstein posted his reaction to Dave Farber’s Interesting People mailing list,
I kept hoping that I was getting it wrong.
But no, it means what it says. Our own Secretary of the Air Force is concerned that new “non-lethal” weapons systems might injure foreigners on the battlefield, with devastating negative PR as a result. His suggested solution? Test the stuff on U.S. citizens first! You know the type — unruly crowds, protesters, perhaps folks trying to crash large Bush rallies (are there still large Bush rallies?)
In any case, I suppose that the Air Force chief’s theory is that it would be so difficult for U.S. citizens to successfully sue the government if their brains, eyes, or gonads are fried by the latest microwave weapon, that our own populations are a less risky target — rather than tempting global condemnation if something goes wrong outside the country. You know how distracting global condemnation can be.
I’m all for appropriate and complete empirical testing of novel systems that are being pushed into deployment — be they computers, non-lethal weapons, or the “alternative” interrogation techniques that we’re told render the Geneva Conventions obsolete. But perhaps a rule when it comes to the latter two categories should be that those persons who propose these so-called “safe” technologies and techniques should be willing to test them on themselves first, before placing other citizens into the crosshairs.
As for the Secretary of the Air Force — Rumsfeld must love this guy.
–Lauren–
Lauren Weinstein
I suspect that what the Secretary really meant was that by using the weapons here, we could demonstrate how fundamentally harmless they really were.
At least, I hope that’s what he meant. Of course, the trouble is that “high-power microwave devices” and other Active Denial Systems have not been demonstrated to be all that harmless, especially if used outside laboratory conditions.
He did mean that, didn’t he?
I love funny campaign ads, and this independent campaign ad attacking Sen. Burns by the Public Campaign Action Fund is pretty funny.
More Americans have now died in Iraq than died on 9/11.
And it is getting worse:
July appears to have been the deadliest month of the war for Iraqi civilians, according to figures from the Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue, reinforcing criticism that the Baghdad security plan started in June by the new government has failed.
An average of more than 110 Iraqis were killed each day in July, according to the figures. The total number of civilian deaths that month, 3,438, is a 9 percent increase over the tally in June and nearly double the toll in January.
The rising numbers suggested that sectarian violence is spiraling out of control, and seemed to bolster an assertion many senior Iraqi officials and American military analysts have made in recent months: that the country is already embroiled in a civil war, not just slipping toward one, and that the American-led forces are caught between Sunni Arab guerrillas and Shiite militias.
And, even when they tell you some part of it is getting better…
Aug 31 … On Monday, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell said the murder rate in Baghdad had fallen by 46 percent from July to August and “we are actually seeing progress out there.”
The decline in Iraqi deaths has not been matched by a drop in American casualties. At least 62 U.S. service members died in Iraq in August, compared with 43 in July.
…they’re probably lying:
Sept 7 — Baghdad’s morgue almost tripled its count for violent deaths in Iraq’s capital during August from 550 to 1,536, authorities said Thursday, appearing to erase most of what U.S. generals and Iraqi leaders had touted as evidence of progress in a major security operation to restore order in the capital.
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