Monthly Archives: October 2003

The Jeb Bush-Arnold Schwarzenegger Connection

Posted on October 20, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

The Forida Blog asks (and answers) a real good question, one which will be of particular interest to Californians and to polticial junkies everywhere, “Who is Donna Arduin? And how is it she's advising Arnold Schwarzenegger while on Florida's payroll?”.

Earlier Orlando Sentinel coverage (also via the Florida Blog) contains this jem:

Those who know Arduin predict Californians will soon be handed a conservative diet of program cuts, the use of one-time tax dollars to pay for recurring state services, the privatizing of state work, and tax cuts to stimulate the economy.

Some creative math might also be thrown in to help balance the books, as well as a few clashes with lawmakers, observers said.

So, would that be Bush-Schwarzenegger, or Schwarzenegger-Bush in '08?

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Posted in Florida, Politics: US | Comments Off on The Jeb Bush-Arnold Schwarzenegger Connection

Why We Don’t Have A Better Press Corps (Part I)

Posted on October 20, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Since Brad has been so kind as to mention this very young blog as a candidate for his project to subvert the dominant internet link hierarchy, (and what better candidate given my BlogShares market share of either 0.00109649638077873 % or 0.00441336872434729 %!) it's time to dust off and commit to finishing my post on Brad's long-running and no doubt never-ending series on 'Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Press Corps?' (See, e.g., Part CCCCLXXVI). My thoughts are also influenced by a steady diet of the incomparable Daily Howler.

On and off I've been thinking a lot about the press question, maybe because I used to love reading the newspaper, maybe because reporting was one of the careers I (very) briefly considered while in college. I was an active student journalist, news editor of the campus paper, and both my mother and brother are journalists. I agree that the state of mass media reporting is terrible—although it bears mention that specialty journalism is flourishing. Not only is the Economist selling well, but so are a plethora of smart high-price, low-circulation publications like the National Journal.

The problem or problems is with the mass media. What explains the cowardice of major newspapers, their focus on the trivial at the expense of the significant, their weird idea that one has to give 'both sides' even if one is demonstrably false and believed by almost no one, and their failure to communicate (to understand?) basic social scientific concepts?

The changes in Big Newspapers seem to me to be driven by the unfortunate coincidence of four factors: economic, sociological, technical and ideological. I'll address the first the two today and the other two in Part Two, which I'll put up Real Soon Now™.

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Posted in Readings | Comments Off on Why We Don’t Have A Better Press Corps (Part I)

Children Who Blog

Posted on October 20, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Amazingly, Google has no entries as of yet for “children who blog”. There are, however, several items on “kids who blog,” including this Christian Science Monitor item. Most of them seem to be about teenagers, especially girls.

I mention this, because all of a sudden I now have two kids who blog. It was Elder Son (age 10) who suggested he could have one at something.discourse.net. I didn't like the idea of a blog open to the world, so we compromised on one that will be served from a different second-level domain name, and is password-protected so that only family members can read it. Fortunately my hosting plan allows me to serve several domains for the same price, and I had an underused one hanging around. Younger Son (age 7), who perhaps already has a keener sense about the dangers in the world (he has, after all, experience of dealing with Elder Son…), enthusiastically agreed with this idea.

So now the kids have an online newspaper they can update when they like, and we have an easy way to share digital pictures with a far-flung family. And the non-blogging relatives can send messages to the kids by posting comments. Don't know if it will last as an enthusiasm, but if it does it should be fun.

Posted in Blogs, Personal | Comments Off on Children Who Blog

IP Justice Says that FTAA Got Infected With Lousy IP Rules

Posted on October 20, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

I generally avoid trade law and trade treaties, on the grounds that life is too short. The way trade law is going, however, I may have to make some exceptions. I've already had to read up on the dispute settlement rules in major trade treaties to teach International Law, which I'm doing for the first time this year.

Now, IP Justice, a civil liberties group, has just published FTAA: A Threat to Freedom and Free Trade. In it they analyze the Intellectual Property parts of the draft Free Trade Area of the Americas Treaty which is intended to go into effect in 2005. Their summary is scary enough that I think I'll have to go read the full agreement and see if it is as bad as they say. [Note: Headline corrected.]

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Posted in Law: Copyright and DMCA, Law: International Law, Law: Internet Law | 1 Comment

The Greatest UCC Cartoons in the History of the World

Posted on October 20, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Cool dudeMy colleague William H. Widen is not your typical law professor. For one thing he practiced commercial and corporate law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore from 1984 to 2001, spending more than a decade of that time as a partner. Most law professors have some practice experience, but few have as much as that. For another thing, he has a wicked taste in movies, and wild taste in aphorisms (is it true that “business law is about as complicated as Donkey Kong”?). And did I mention he's pretty slick at programming interesting web sites on the Uniform Commercial Code? Including one that invites students to play a game he designed called Ultimate Commercial Code! [Admittedly there he has the advantage of being married to serious techie.] And, to top it off, he's fascinated by the Uniform Commercial Code, a subject most law professors do not necessarily find scintillating. In fact, he's so fascinated that it's almost contagious.

Then there are his cartoons, “Tales From The Code.” I think it's safe to call these the Greatest UCC Cartoons in the History of the World, if only because they are probably the only Uniform Commercial Code cartoons in the history of the world. But if there was another UCC cartoon or two, these are funnier. Start with Episode One. Beware, though. You might learn something.

Posted in Law: Everything Else, U.Miami | Comments Off on The Greatest UCC Cartoons in the History of the World

Loving Your Opponent to Death

Posted on October 19, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

Not Geniuses has a pretty smart appraisal of California AG Bill Lockyer's otherwise bizzaro revelation that he voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Basically the theory is that it's a smart and cynical move,

Bill has never voted for a Republican before, he voted no on the recall, he couldn't bring himself to vote for a candidate Californians didn't like, and now he can start working with Schwarzenegger an ally? He's praying that his optimism isn't misplaced and setting up a context for Arnold to con him? He's setting up a whole [expletive deleted] storyline for Arnold to fit into if he missteps even once! And it gets better.

Arnold will [expletive deleted] up, this much is guaranteed. He may block some of Lockyer's liberal policies, thus angering Californians. He may cut services we don't want cut, he may play partisan politics, he may screw with environmental legislation, he may anger Latinos, he may fail. No matter what he does, Lockyer is going to run against him — and he is going to run against him as an experienced politician who was sucked into Arnold's aura of optimism and saw first hand that it was but a sham.

Posted in Politics: US | Comments Off on Loving Your Opponent to Death