Monthly Archives: July 2007

What He Said

Posted on July 9, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

The Carpetbagger Report points out the weird incongruity between two facts. On the one hand, the high (relative) degree of assimilation/economic opportunity of Arabs and other Muslims in the US, a fact likely correlated with the relatively lower rate of homegrown Muslim terrorism here. And on the other hand, the xenophobic right's attempt to make life so miserable for Muslim immigrants, a policy that seems designed to ensure that we start having problems like certain countries in Europe.

(I'd note that opportunity and assimilation isn't perfect inoculation, but even so, it surely helps.)

Posted in National Security | 1 Comment

Decisions With Big Consequences

Posted on July 9, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Stuff like this can have profound (and unhealthy!) effects on the shape of a market.

Joho the Blog: Laminated lock in and lock out. Verizon (according to the AP) has been removing the copper lines from the houses to which it is attaching fiber lines. This means you will have difficulty going back from FIOS, the Verizon fiber product. Also, Verizon is not required to provide other phone companies with access to its fiber lines, the way they are for copper lines. Verizon thus at once accomplishes a laminated lock in and lock out.

Posted in Econ & Money | Comments Off on Decisions With Big Consequences

The Past Is Not Past

Posted on July 9, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Charles Pierce links the current Iraq debacle to our national failure to punish the people behind Iran-Contra—in part due to an earlier round of presidential pardons. There more than something to that, but I think it goes deeper.

Today's brazenly pardoned crimes may be linked to yesterday's brazenly pardoned crimes, but today's policy blunders have their roots a bit earlier: it was much worse for your career (both iin the bureaucracy and in the legislature) to be right too early about Vietnam than it was to be wrong too long. And too many people in DC have learned all those lessons all too well.

Posted in Iraq | Comments Off on The Past Is Not Past

A Very Informative Review of How Congress Enforces the Subpoena Power

Posted on July 9, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

TalkLeft, The Congressional Subpoena Power: How It Is Enforced

As the Congress and the Executive Branch move inexorably towards a clash regarding the Executive Branch's refusal to accede to information requests from the Congress and the resulting subpoenas that have been issued, it is worthwhile to review the powers of the Congress in this regard. Fortunately, in 2003, the Congressional Research Service produced a handy report on the subject:

…

This post is intended to provide some factual background on this subject as there has been much bad information bandied about on this subject. I will be writing a subsequent post on the question of Congressional oversight powers related to its subpoena and information gathering powers.

Posted in Law: Constitutional Law | 2 Comments

Sicko Frightens the Health Insurance Industry

Posted on July 9, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

Crooks and Liars reports SiCKO has Blue Cross Scrambling… and prints the text of a secret internal memo from Blue Cross in which they try to hone a counter-message.

Posted in Econ & Money | 2 Comments

This Email is Making the Rounds

Posted on July 9, 2007 by Michael Froomkin

1) Fred Thompson knocked up his high school girlfriend out of wedlock. They got married and subsequently divorced before Thompson married his current wife, 24 years his junior.
source 1 and source 2.

2) Rudy Giuliani's first wife (of three) was his second cousin (Regina Peruggi). They were married for 14 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani

3) Ron Paul has more cash on hand for his campaign than John McCain.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/07/ron-paul-tops-m.html.

4) Rudy Giuliani has been married more times (3 times) than Mitt Romney has gone hunting (2 times).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani
http://democrats.org/a/2007/04/more_money_same.php

5) Fred Thompson once worked as a lobbyist for the pro-choice National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association. Not terribly shocking given that, to varying degrees, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and even John McCain have all offered pro-choice commentary.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/07/us/politics/07thompson.html
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/4/10/114157/044

6) Rudy Giuliani is the cross-dressingest public servant since J. Edgar Hoover.
http://www.myspace.com/rudyinadress

7) According to their Wikipedia pages, Fred Thompson (2), Rudy Giuliani (3), John McCain (2), and Newt Gingrich (3) combine to average 2.5 marriages each.

Posted in Politics: US: 2008 Elections | 1 Comment