How the U. S. Gov't Works:

Stephen Labaton, in today's New York Times, reports on the Google v. Microsoft legal battles. Google claims that Microsoft is violating the 2002 anti-trust decision that prohibited the latter from making an operating system that would diminish non Microsoft products from performing properly, citing the way Google's search engine functions while running on Vista, Microsoft's latest operating system.

Thomas Barnett, the member of the U. S. Justice Department responsible for handling the case, has rejected Google's argument. The interesting thing is that Barnett previously worked for a legal firm that represents Microsoft (and still does). Barnett, of course, will leave office in about a year and a half, and he will no doubt go back to work at the firm that represents Microsoft, where he will no doubt make loads of money.

The honorable thing to have done would have been to recuse himself from participating in this investigation. Instead, Barnett lead the charge to bring the power of the government to back Microsoft in its attempts to continue its illegal behavior.