My first week at Interpublic went swimmingly. On Monday, they had me build my own machine, which is apparently a challenge for some people. By "build," I mean they hand me a dual 500 MHz Macintosh G4 tower, a hard drive, some memory, and tell me to make it work. Then Darrin, the person whom I'm replacing, showed me how to use NetRestore to copy a disk image to my new Mac. I'm going to be making a lot of disk images.

I built some more machines this week, sometimes without very much success (I gave a new print producer what's called the "creative" image -- filled with QuarkXPress and the Adobe Creative Suite -- when I wasn't supposed to. Oops!), but often with great success.

Interpublic is a strange company to work for. It's a holding company for a lot of other advertising, PR, and marketing agencies, so things get weird. At the building in which I work, there are three Interpublic companies: McCann-Erickson, FCB, and Zibatoni. The subsidiary I work for is called GIS, which I believe stands for "Global Information Systems." It's the internal name they give the Interpublic IT department.

I work in a building that is connected to another building by a bridge. The side of the building I work on is devoted to McCann-Erickson and Marketing Drive, which is another Interpublic company. On the other side, which requires a key to get into, is an ad agency called FCB (Foote, Cone, & Belding). Though I'm not an FCB employee, I have an FCB email address and an FCB ID card that gets me into the FCB employee cafeteria in Levi's Plaza on Battery Street. And I pretty much spend most of my day with FCB and Marketing Drive; I don't think I've helped a single McCann employee with anything. I also don't report to the local McCann human resources department; if I need something, I have to call New York.

But the people are really cool, and on some Fridays (like this past one), the IT department -- which encompasses the four people at 1160 Battery Street and the seven people at 600 Battery Street -- goes to the San Francisco Brewing Company on Columbus and Pacific for lunch. This past Friday, we celebrated one Mark leaving and another Mark joining the company (the latter is me; the former is a guy who's been with the company for a while but hates the two-hour commute from Petaluma every day). I'm surrounded by Star Wars geeks and people who love XBox. The IT department tries to go to the San Francisco Brewfest every year (Apr. 28 -- mark your calendars!), where, for $50, you get unlimited samples of 200 kinds of beer as well as unlimited free food. Either bring a friend or take a cab home. (Jared and I like beer, but Elizabeth doesn't; however, she does like free food. This all points to "a ride home.")

I don't have an iota of free time while I'm at work. If I'm not building a machine for a new hire, then I'm away from my desk, helping someone with something. But my co-workers are great people and they have no qualms about helping me out with something difficult.

But enough about me. What's been happening in the world?

Hamdan v. Rumsfeld

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 05-184 (oral argument transcript). At issue was whether or not the president has the authority to prescribe guidelines for military tribunals, given the fact that the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Geneva Convention both already provide guidelines for the administration of military tribunals. President Bush has created "military commissions" to try suspected terrorists, but some suspects allege that the commissions are unconstitutional and in violation of several international treaties.

Chief Justice Roberts recused himself from the case, as he had ruled it as an appellate judge on the D.C. Circuit Court. There were calls for Justice Scalia to recuse himself, as well, as Scalia had given a talk at the University of Freiburg (Switzerland) in which he "dismissed the idea that the detainees have rights under the U.S. Constitution or international conventions, adding he was 'astounded' at the 'hypocritical' reaction in Europe to Gitmo" (source). In a letter to the court, five retired generals and admirals -- who also filed an amicus brief on behalf of petitioner Hamdan -- suggested that Scalia should recuse himself, as he may have violated the Code of Conduct for United States Judges. In particular, in making the remarks he did at the University of Freiburg, Scalia may have violated Canon 3-A(6), which says, "A judge should avoid public comment on the merits of a pending or impending action, requiring similar restraint by court personnel subject to the judge's direction and control." Since Scalia made "public comment" regarding the rights of enemy combatants, and the rights of enemy combatants is one of the issues faced in Hamdan, then Scalia should recuse himself from the case, since his continued participation after making those comments would be unethical. Also, since Scalia clearly has "a personal bias or prejudice" regarding enemy combantats, he must disqualify himself from the case under Canon 3-C(1)(a).

I didn't plan this war in advance, honest, I didn't!

A recently leaked memo suggests that President Bush was going to war with Iraq whether or not there was a legitimate reason.

In a Jan. 31, 2003 meeting, Bush "made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons." Bush even went so far as to suggest that he might provoke Hussein into making the first move by painting a U.S. surveillance plane with U.N. colors. Gulf of Tonkin, anyone?

This is a blow to Bush's credibility. Bush had always maintained -- even after he himself withdrew weapons inspectors and then blamed the withdrawal on Hussein -- that war was the only viable option, since all diplomatic means had been exhausted. This five-page memo starkly reveals that the Bush administration was determined to go to war no matter what.