Alfred Nobel
This happened. Michael Russnow, a general Obama supporter, is irritated by the “cheapening” of the award. Jonathan Adler argues that this event is not terribly extraordinary; the Prize has often been awarded to people prospectively. John Miller explains the differences between Obama and other American presidents who have received a Nobel. Jacob Heilbrunn runs through the list of reasons that Obama deserved the award. Eugene Volokh questions whether Obama can accept the $1.4 million prize personally or whether the Emoluments Clause requires that he donate it to the country. As it turns out, he will donate it to charity. Jonah Goldberg explains why Obama should not decline the award. And Anne Applebaum finds it bemusing that we care so much about what five Norwegians think (see also John Podhoretz). On a more abstract level, I agree with Julian Sanchez that the initial reaction was agreement between right and left that this was an odd choice. However, it quickly turned into a partisan litmus test, aided by the DNC’s claim that questioning the award means that you support the terrorists.
President Obama ruled out any reduction in the number of troops in Afghanistan. Fellow Nobel laureate Henry Kissinger approves, but says that the U.S. still needs to pursue more engagement with Afghanistan’s neighbors.
James Joyner takes a break from his vacation to give a nice roundup of the tensions developing between President Obama and his top generals. Obama was reportedly furious at Afghanistan commander Gen. Stanley’ McChrystal’s comments last week in which he called for more troops; now Gen. David Petraeus is becoming more involved in the White House decision-making process. David Greenberg, however, cautions that we should not read too much into the situation.
The Federal Trade Commission issued a set of guidelines for bloggers and users of social media. The guidelines are ostensibly directed at viral marketers who try to ensure that blogs and social media sites give positive press; the rules, however, are written so broadly that any blog could run afoul of the regulations if they do not include an “adequate” notice that they are being compensated. An Arnold & Porter blog gives a summary of the regulations. Walter Olson notes the overbreadth. Slate’s Jack Shafer calls it a “mad power grab.” And Ken at Popehat warns that trying to pump up your page views could land you in the FTC’s crosshairs.
The Justice Department will review whether prosecutors should include waivers of DNA analysis in plea deals. In 2004, the DoJ started requiring some defendants to waive their right to any DNA testing if they were accepting a plea deal, preventing them from ever using the tests to argue for their innocence, even if evidence surfaces later.
As it turns out, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not a Jew. Always beware of British newspapers with “scoops.”
Eugene Fidell reviews the military commissions system set up by the National Defense Authorization Authorizations Act and wonders why accused terrorists will be put into a system that is so different from any other U.S. legal process. Notably, detainees will have their appeals heard by specialized courts rather than using any of the existing military appeals courts. Also, they will be afforded appeals even when U.S. servicemembers would not be entitled to further appeal.
Though the Justice Department argued otherwise, AT&T is not part of the federal government. A federal judge ruled that the government must disclose what role industry lobbying played in the creation of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The government had tried to defeat the request by claiming that the records were intra-agency.
About one year ago, the federal government experimented with putting PACER records online for free. One enterprising programmer found a way to download almost twenty million pages of the non-copyrighted court records and post them online for public viewing. The FBI then investigated him, compiling a dossier and staking out his home.
House Minority Leader John Boehner is fed up with “phantom amendments;” changes to bills that occur between the committee report and the submission to the full House. Softball interview here. I have no idea how often this happens, but it was news to me.
Joe Lieberman inserted a provision into the homeland security appropriations bill that would allow the Department of Defense to avoid having to turn over photographs of detainee abuse that would otherwise be subject to FOIA requests.
In foreign executive power news, Italy’s constitutional court has ruled that the Italian president is not above the law. Again.
Image: BBC
Tags: Weekly Web Watch
