Monday

Conditions: Overcast. Boo.


The United States of Tyranny.

From truthout, a response to the latest legislation regarding the 'war on terror' the American Senate has just passed:

It just keeps getting worse. This morning, esteemed Yale Law professor Bruce Ackerman published this fine essay in the Los Angeles Times. His lead? "Buried in the complex Senate compromise on detainee treatment is a real shocker, reaching far beyond the legal struggles about foreign terrorist suspects in the Guantanamo Bay fortress. The compromise legislation, which is racing toward the White House, authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights.

"This dangerous compromise," Professor Ackerman continued, "not only authorizes the president to seize and hold terrorists who have fought against our troops 'during an armed conflict,' it also allows him to seize anybody who has 'purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States.' This grants the president enormous power over citizens and legal residents. They can be designated as enemy combatants if they have contributed money to a Middle Eastern charity, and they can be held indefinitely in a military prison."

But that's not all. The legislation also possibly allows illegally obtained evidence to be used against 'enemy combatants'. Who'd have ever thunk the U.S of A could do something like this, and yet people still aren't out protesting in the street? Of course, some are angry. The columnists are angry, the pundits are angry. The politicians are angry. It's fresh chum in the shark tank. But the people? Meh.


Schumacher.

I don't follow a lot of sports, in fact hardly any at all. ball sports, team sports, whatever. But there's one sport that's fascinated me from the earliest that I remember, motor sport. And in the diverse realm of motorsport, Formula One still sort-of (it's complicated) reigns at the peak. With the loss of Senna twelve years ago (holy crap, twelve!) the sport has taken a distinct turn for the boring. Boring tracks with too many slow corners, boring cars with too powerful wings and traction control, and boring drivers who are their corporate sponsors. But Michael Schumacher has always made it interesting, always been the fiery flawed human element in the all-too mechanical process. Unfortunately his human failings over the years has made him hated by most of the F1 'fans' world wide. He's never had a nemesis in the same way other champions have, which meant a) a glorious/envious run of championships, victories and records, and b) nothing to take the glare away from his mistakes and mis-judgements. That sadly has made him one of the most hated drivers in the sport, ever. Well he's retiring at the end of this year, the haters will finally get what they want, but we're really going to miss him. In fact, even the haters will eventually miss him. He put in another great performance on the weekend in Shanghai, driving a car that wasn't suited to the conditions, was outmatched by the Renaults, but through cunning, skill and luck managed to pull off an unlikely victory. It was brilliant. And tinged by the realisation that once he's gone, that spark will be gone too, because unlike when Mansell retired, or Prost retired, or Senna died, I can't see who could inherit his position, or more accurately, his 'dynamic' when he's gone.





Movie Review: Talladega Nights.

Hey, I can review films too! So, Talladega Nights. Unfortunately, I don't have much to say about it. It's funny in places, feels a bit forced in others. Go if you want a laugh, I guess. Okay, it's damnation by faint praise. Not an auspicious start.