Monthly Archives: August 2004

Bush’s Plan to Kill the White House Press Corps

Posted on August 24, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

My brother points to Dana Milbank's column in which he reveals Bush's plan to kill the White House press corps:

Do You Hear What I Hear?: Now for an update on the White House's ongoing effort to kill the press corps. The White House travel office signed a contract last week with an airline called Primaris to fly the press corps to Bush events. The two-month-old company has only one airplane. True, media representatives gave their blessing to the deal. But that was before they learned that the company's president twice had his pilot's license revoked related to his flying of an “unairworthy” aircraft, that the chief executive flopped in his last attempt to start an airline and that the 15-year-old plane itself was damaged in a hailstorm a decade ago and spent most of the past two years mothballed in France.

Posted in Dan Froomkin | 5 Comments

US Troops Under Foreign Command

Posted on August 24, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

I first heard about this on NPR yesterday and was startled that the announcer treated it as a routine fact. Placing US forces under foreign command is not IMHO inherently wrong, but it is assuredly controversial, and not something to be done lightly. Yet, here apparently, a whole lot of US troops are under the tactical command of Iraqi officials…at least officially.

First Draft, in the link above, wonders why the Freepers are not getting all hot and bothered about this, given their hostility to UN and other joint operations in which US troops might have to take foreign orders.

I think the reason is obvious, and it's not just that they don't want to make waves for Bush. Rather, it's that no one really believes that the Iraqi government sneezes without US permission. (Reminds me of South Vietnam, although they did exhibit independence from time to time.)

Correction: there is one group that believes in Iraqi self-determination. That would be the credulous press which no longer gives as much prominence to reports of US casualties in Iraq.

Did you know that US fatalities now stand at 996 966? And that total coalition forces have suffered almost 1100 dead? Not to mention contractor fatalities, or the many many wounded. Details on Iraq casualties at the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.

Posted in National Security | 9 Comments

The Pink Bunny of Battle Sees Red

Posted on August 24, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

The Pink Bunny of Battle sees red over The War on Academic Freedom. We see an echo of this war here in Florida, where Betty Castor the leading Democratic candidate for our open Senate seat, is being castigated for not having fired a tenured professor accused of aiding terrorists when she was a university president. (In fact, if Castor can be accused of anything, it was over-reacting to flimsy charges and suspending the man for two years on the basis of what was then quite little evidence.)

One thing I don't agree with the Bunny about, though, is the claim that legislatures have an obligation to support good science. I want them to, and I demand they support academic freedom — but I can't say that this includes any sort of duty to go beyond contractual committments. The state has no duty to provide research grants unless it's spelled out in a contract of employment. And if the legislature thinks it has better ways to spend the money, or even if it disagrees with the research on ideological grounds (think stem cells), it has a right to withhold funds. Think of it as a right to be wrong, if you disagree with the decision.

Posted in Blogs | 3 Comments

The Swing States Are Blue

Posted on August 23, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Fun online tool proveded by the Wall Street Journal that lets you see a map reflecting the latest polls. Note that this latest map is however misleading as it's pre-Swift-boat, and also isn't adjusted for turnout, which will be affected by things like anti-gay ballot amendments.

Posted in Politics: US: 2004 Election | 2 Comments

Yahoo! Must Play Defense

Posted on August 23, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

The latest twist in the Yahoo! case arrived today when the 9th Circuit overruled a district court decision which had held that Yahoo! could file a declaratory judgement action in the US to block domestic enforcement of a French court's judgment that Yahoo! had violated French law against Nazi propaganda. The 9th Circuit disagreed, holding that US courts lack jurisdiction against the French parties to this case, until and unless they subject themselves to this suit either by presence or by themselves suing to enforce the French judgment.

At first glance, the primary import of this pretty reasonable-looking decision, besides simplifying teaching the case, is to give the French parties more control of the forum if they ever seek to litigate against Yahoo! in the US.

Posted in Law: Internet Law | Comments Off on Yahoo! Must Play Defense

Brad DeLong is Sleuthing for Fafblog’s Secret Identity

Posted on August 23, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

You knows things are not right when college perfessors are takin' time off from important duties like showin' that entire sections of the White House have trouble with little things like addition and substraction and instead put on their deerstalkers and attempt to discern Who Is Fafblog?:

Fafblog is clearly (i) somebody who knows about the Byzantine Empire, the Knights Templar, and the Crusades, and (ii) somebody who knows more about early and Medieval Christian Theology (the suppressed last articles of the Nicaean Creed! Hah!) then is healthy. This implies somebody who was either (a) a medieval history major, or (b) went to a Jesuit high school.

Silly perfessor. Fafblog identity is not secret. Fafnir and Giblets are well known to both of their friends, and to the Medium Lobster, who himself is welcomed in all of the finest establishments in six spiral clusters and seven dimentions.

The Medium Lobster signals that he has never attended a Catholic School, or indeed needed to study in any institution of learning; a knowledge of Romania is only a small part of what one learns in higher dimensions.

“You will never be able to comprehend the Medium Lobster,” adds Fafnir. “He bein' a higher bein' an all,” agrees Giblets. “You is just cross because we have not told you nothing. NYAAAHHH!”

Suddenly Giblets is concerned. He an Fafnir have not been agreeing so much latterly, and now they are in agreement. This is intolerable! Quick, put the next Swift Boat ad on teevee! That's it! We iz miserable again.

Posted in Blogs | 4 Comments