Will Unger Undo Odd Coupling?

Pragmatism without boundaries: Brazil’s official political philosophy? It can often take the form of Gordon Gecko’s narcissistic categorical imperative, “greed is good,” in my experience. I’m a pre-Walter Lippmann Peircean pragmaticist, myself.

Congresso: reforma política está na pauta (G1/Globo): The fate of Brazil’s once and future Minister of the Future, Harvard Law professor Roberto Mangabeira Unger, may be decided today. Unofficially, the Estado de S. Paulo reported last week — leaked anonymous source, mind you — the ethics council suspects the professor of, ahem, misrepresenting material facts.

See “Mangabeira Unger Rebuffed by Ethics Board”

Background:

• Mangabeira Unger Apologizes; Long-Term Deep Thinker Says He Rushed to Judgment
• Brazil: “Is The Minister of the Future History?”
• “Mangabeira Unger Never Sued Brasil Telecom”
• Mangabeira Unger: Minister of the Future May Be History!
• Mangabeira Unger and DVD: Applying the Teste da Farinha
• Dantas and Kroll: Early Daze
• Mangabeira Rewrites History!

That last factoid, if true, and deliberately done — I have it from several not unreliable sources, but did not do the work of checking it out in the Internet Archives myself, mind you — in itself provides ample grounds for borking the gentleman, in my book.

A Comissão de Ética Pública da Presidência da República deve se reunir, também nesta segunda, e pode discutir a situação do filósofo Roberto Mangabeira Unger, convidado para assumir a Secretaria da Ações de Longo Prazo. Na última semana, a Comissão teria recomendado a Mangabeira que retirasse a ação que move contra a Brasil Telecom antes de tomar posse. A empresa tem entre os acionistas fundos de pensão de estatais (Previ, Petrus, Funcef).

The Public Ethics Commission of the Presidency will meet today and may discuss the situation of the philosopher Roberto Mangabeira Unger, nominated to serve as Secretary of Long-Term Activities. Last week, the Commission reportedly recommended that Mangabeira withdraw his lawsuit against Brasil Telecom before taking office. The firm’s shareholders include the pension funds of state-owned firms (Previ, Petrus, Funcef).

I cannot believe that Unger would actualy have the brass to ask the ethics commission if he could serve as an outside consultant while serving in the cabinet– if that is what happened.

I guess he figured that if the U.S. Dept. of Justice could hire a tobacco lobbyist from a firm representing Microsoft to regulated Microsoft, well, anything must be possible.

Banana-republicanism rules the world. See Antitrust Mistrust In Google Vista Beef.

But I will try to do some independent digging on the underlying fact. It’s only fair.

Stay tuned. My bet, though: The man is so borked.

Why do I say that? Because José Alencar, the vice president, who co-founded the Republican Party in Brazil with the Demon of Deweyism — despite what some reports suggested — carefully avoided vouching for the guy. That’s what I heard, anyway.