Monthly Archives: November 2004

Where Left Meets Right

Posted on November 15, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

The place where the traditional left and the traditional right meet—as against the radicals currently in power—is civil liberties. So I find my self agreeing with, of all people in the world, a far-right ex-Congressperson who I would have put on my list of “top 5 nuts in office” while she served.

FAS Secrecy News, [IP] The Arrival Of Secret Law: Last month, Helen Chenoweth-Hage attempted to board a United Airlines flight from Boise to Reno when she was pulled aside by airline personnel for additional screening, including a pat-down search for weapons or unauthorized materials.

Chenoweth-Hage, an ultra-conservative former Congresswoman (R-ID), requested a copy of the regulation that authorizes such pat-downs.

“She said she wanted to see the regulation that required the additional procedure for secondary screening and she was told that she couldn't see it,” local TSA security director Julian Gonzales told the Idaho Statesman (10/10/04).

“She refused to go through additional screening [without seeing the regulation], and she was not allowed to fly,” he said. “It's pretty simple.”

Chenoweth-Hage wasn't seeking disclosure of the internal criteria used for screening passengers, only the legal authorization for passenger pat-downs. Why couldn't they at least let her see that? asked Statesman commentator Dan Popkey.

“Because we don't have to,” Mr. Gonzales replied crisply.

“That is called 'sensitive security information.' She's not allowed to see it, nor is anyone else,” he said.

There's something seriously wrong here, if we can't even see the rule (as opposed to the screening criteria which might legitimately be kept from the public) authorizing the search.

Which is why I'm involved in various efforts to make the government cough up the text of the alleged regulation, and justify it.

You can read more about the ugly things that TSA is up to regarding the right to travel at Ed Hasbrouk's blog. Also see Emergent Chaos.

Posted in Civil Liberties, Law: Right to Travel | 10 Comments

CIA Under Goss: Train Wreck in the Making

Posted on November 13, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

In Deputy Chief Resigns From CIA, the Washington Post gives us a peek at the train wreck in the making at the CIA.

It's obvious that Bush has nominated a partisan hack. He brought with him four aides, people I don't know much about, but whom the CIA people depict as having much to be modest about.

I wish I could stop there, and just pen another Bush-administration-incompetence story (which this seems to be), but it's more complicated than that. I actually think that a significant fraction of what Goss says is wrong with the CIA is likely to be right.

The problems at the CIA are pervasive. They start with a general lack of brilliance among the people who've been promoted in the agency. They run through bloat and hide-bound ways of work. The agency never recovered from the last purge, so it lacks 'assets' in key parts of the world, and is still shaking off its cold-war-centered focus. The CIA tortures people, which is no trivial matter.

Thus, even though it was politically expedient I have not been real comfortable with the war between the spooks at the Agency and their nominal political masters. It's never good when the secret police or the get into politics.

The agency is a serious mess and nowhere more than the dark side, the clandestine service. It needs a cleanup; it's just not at all likely that the ham-handed methods being used by Goss and his merry henchmen are likely to improve matters much. They might even make things worse.

Posted in National Security | 5 Comments

UM President Donna Shalala Scores a Touchdown

Posted on November 13, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

It's fun having a University President who does good stuff:

Men-only Policy Brings Scrutiny to Booster Club—When Natalie Lemos applied for membership to the Miami Touchdown Club, a bastion of football worship, the mother of four, family lawyer and Hurricanes football fan was told no.

You're a woman, the club said. No women allowed.

Lemos fired off a furious letter to University of Miami President Donna Shalala, noting that the club sponsors UM's annual awards banquet.

Shalala's response? The former Clinton Cabinet member said she, too, would apply to join the club.

Turns out the Touchdown Club may be changing its game plan.

She scores!

Posted in U.Miami | Comments Off on UM President Donna Shalala Scores a Touchdown

Hostage to Fortune: 2006 Election Forecast

Posted on November 12, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Live dangerously: I predict the GOP will do badly in the 2006 federal elections. The signs are there.

Unfortunately, this doesn't have obvious implications for the 2008 elections. I don't think Hilary Clinton would be a good candidate, in part because I don't think she'd be a good President. And so much depends on who the nominee is.

Posted in Politics: US: 2006 Election | 14 Comments

Balkin on Gonzales

Posted on November 11, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

Jack Balkin considers the Gonzales nomination. A taste:

But however fine a fellow he is, he has done something that is, in my mind, inexcusable. He commissioned and put his name on a series of despicable legal memos that justified torture and prisoner abuse and that tried to avoid America's obligations under international law. In ordinary times, this would in itself be disqualifying. But, alas, these are not ordinary times.

It is time for those who think the Bush Administration has gone too far to stand up to the President, to make the legal case against his Administration's policies and appointments. For years conservatives railed against judicial activism. It is time for liberals to start railing against government officials— including judges— who show disrespect for basic Rule of Law values, who flout basic protections of American constitutional law and international human rights law, and who seek to concentate ever greater power in an unaccountable executive.

Even if (and especially if) Gonzales is confirmed, it is vitally important to make these points loudly and often. Liberals must stand for something other than the correctness of Roe v. Wade.

Posted in Law: Ethics | 4 Comments

Adventures in Consuming: BellSouth DSL

Posted on November 11, 2004 by Michael Froomkin

This past week my DSL service degraded to the point that it felt like dialup. This happens from time to time, but never this bad, and it usually fixes itself. But this time it didn't.

So I called tech support. This led to a nasty two hours during which I had conversations with three clueless people, and one with a bit of a clue who still couldn't help me. The first guy seemed to be in an Indian call center, and read from scripts. While he purportedly ran various tests I spent a total of about an hour on hold, although never more than 10 minutes at a time (and even those were interrupted every 3 minutes by reassurances that they were working on it — ie. no way to concentrate on anything else). Over the course of this delightful interlude I was told at least three things that were patently false (including the suggestion that the reason my download speeds were measurably rotten must be due to my using “unsupported software” ie Firefox!).

The call center guy eventually got rid of me by transferring me to sales — maybe I should order faster service? The sales droid said my account was locked and they couldn't alter it, let me transfer you to customer service.

Customer service said that my records showed I had “Lite” service even though I was paying for “Ultra” (i.e. regular). For a minute I thought we had identified the problem, but no, after further investigation it seems Bell South believed it was delivering the “Ultra” service I was paying for … although the download speed was below what they advertise for “Lite”. And no, there's no way to guarantee that if I paid the Danegeld to upgrade to “Xtreme” it would solve my problem.

So it was back to tech support. This time I got a friendly and sensible fellow named Brent based in Shreveport. Brent also had his scripts, but had the sense to know which steps to skip in light of what I'd told him. So we spent 30 minutes trying things and nothing worked. But he was real nice about it.

Bottom line: after the ordeal, all I had to show for it was an appointment to talk with Level 2 tech support this morning.

The level 2 guy fixed it in ten minutes by resetting a port.

Posted in Shopping | 2 Comments