Entries by emptywheel

12 People

The AP reveals how it is that a top legal scholar can be un-hired by the University that just signed him.

A conservative Los AngelesCounty politician asked about two dozen people in an e-mail last monthhow to prevent the University of California, Irvine from hiringrenowned liberal scholar Erwin Chemerinsky as its founding law schooldean, a spokesman for the politician said Friday.

Making Chemerinsky the head of the law school “would be likeappointing al-Qaida

Domestic Spying

I’ve got more questions about the Patriots spy scandal than I do answers. Will the Pats do measurably worse now that the league is going to be watching for them videotaping their opponents defensive calls?Are the great halftime coaches really just users of illegal spy techniques, as is the logical progression of Brian Dawkins’ thoughts?

Public Intellectual

Kudos to Hugh Hewitt and Douglas Kmiec, who criticized Michael Drake’s decision to “un-hire” Erwin Chemerinsky.

“Even though I agree with him on only about one out of 100 issues, Ibelieve he is one of the top legal minds in the United States,” saidHugh Hewitt, a law professor at Chapman University and host of a dailyradio talk show.

It’s All Zapruder’s Fault

Jay Rosen posts and comments on a letter from an anonymous member of the WH press corps. Said anonymous journalist tells you everything you need to know about the WH press corps: It’s all Zapruder’s fault. Zapruder, of course, was the guy–the only guy–who filmed all of Kennedy’s assassination. And apparently, the press corps has to subject itself to continual abuse from the Administration because once upon a time, some average

Novak’s Counter-Proliferation Problem

Thank Jeebus for public libraries, where you can get propaganda written by conservative writers without putting any incremental money in their pocket. Yesterday I exchanged Hayes for Novak. While the Novak book has clearly been vetted more closely than Novak’s blabber-fest last year, I’m just on page 6 and already Novak has a big problem.

More Inauspiciousness: Your Rent-a-Sheikh Gets Killed

As many of you have pointed out, the guy I called Bush’s Rent-a-Thuggish-Sheikh last week died in a bomb blast today.

The leader of local Sunni tribes in Iraqwho have joined American and Iraqi forces in fighting extremist Sunnimilitants was killed by a bomb today, Iraqi police officials said,potentially undermining what has become a new thrust of United Statespolicy in the country.

[snip]

It could be a significant setback for American efforts to work

McConnell and Lieberman

Isikoff and Hosenball tell us what we already know–McConnell is a liar (only the crack headline artists at Newsweek call this “an error”). But here’s an odd detail in their story about McConnell’s petulant confession.

After questions about his testimony were raised, McConnell calledLieberman to clarify his statements to the Senate Committee on HomelandSecurity and Governmental Affairs, an official said.

Oil Oops

It is probably inauspicious for Bush that on the eve of his debut in the Magical September extravaganza, the elusive Iraqi oil compromise is falling apart.

A carefully constructed compromise on a draft law governing Iraq’srich oil fields, agreed to in February after months of arduous talksamong Iraqi political groups, appears to have collapsed.

McConnell: I’m a Liar

Oddly enough I just read this anecdote in Stephen Hayes’ hagiography of Cheney. In an interview with Hayes, Mike McConnell confesses to the childish tactics he used to force CENTCOM to commit, one way or another, whether they thought Saddam would invade Kuwait.

“I’m going to see the chairman [Powell],” [McConnell] told his colleagues.

Aieieieie! The Dead Awake!!

I’ve been almost as skeptical of Silvestre Reyes as Chair of the House Intell Committee as I am of Jay Rockefeller as Chair of the Senate Intell Committee. Reyes approved of Ashcroft’s testimony on the FISA program–though Russ Holt thought thought the same testimony was a big long filibuster. Even after hearing from Ashcroft, Reyes bought Alberto Gonzales’ dishonest explanation for why his lies to Congress about warrantless wiretapping were not

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