world cup & suspension of civil liberties

I'm trying to find a way to say that Britain's crackdown on potential football rioters is a bit draconian, and possibly hypocritical depending on what stance on Guantanamo you want to ascribe to the British government. The fans "have to report to their local police station every time England is playing." No word on whether the bobbies will let them watch the matches down at the station. On the other hand, I'd be interested in knowing the economic impact of football hooliganism, compared with the 'foreign' forms of terrorism, on Britain.

In any event, the Germans seem well prepared. If they weren't they wouldn't be Germans, I guess. The article's kicker gives an interesting thought-exercise: "What if Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, insists on coming to watch his team play in Nuremberg? The Germans say he cannot be banned, though the mere hint of his presence has prompted widespread outrage."

Harry Reid, Get A Life

I noticed that Senator Harry Reid said that making English the national language is "racist."

News flash, Senator. Language is not a part of race. Did you know that many of the Spanish speaking peoples in the US are caucasian, just like most of the Senate? Do you know what a race is, or do you just go around saying "race, race, race" to make nonsense sound legitimate to everyone who is liberal or isn't white?

And is it obvious that the idea is directed at people who speak Spanish? Basque and Urdu are getting the shaft, too, along with a few thousand other languages.

Go take a sociology class. And one in logic.

Why I Will Vote For Hillary

(aka. "the dirtiest scum gets my vote")

0. All politicians are evil.

1. When a politician seems good, that impression can be blamed on lack of experience.

2. Thanks to Rush Limbaugh, there's nothing evil about Hillary Clinton that hasn't already been made public.*

3. Therefore, Hillary has a ton of political experience.

4. And since the most seasoned candidates are qualified to be president,

5. I'll vote for Hillary.

6. If things get better during Clinton Redux, you'll all thank me.

7. If things get worse, well, that's what we all expected. And meeting expectations can hardly be considered failure.

[Legal warning: This post is more of an exercise in political logic than a declaration of intent to vote for (or against) a particular candidate.]


* Apparently her Wellesley College Honors Thesis on political activism is sealed in the college library. Like no one else did stupid stuff in college. True, some of us admit it proudly. Then again, we're bad at keeping secrets.

The One I forgot

I forgot to post the link to this post at Get Religion. The matter of discussion? Mitt Romney-- Republican, Presidential hopeful, and Mormon.

Republican Rebranding

The Washington Post today had this opinion article on the Republicans.

The poor, the poor, the poor, the poor are not typical words in a Republican's political litany, and that is the point. Santorum has been running behind for months in his reelection struggle against the popular Democratic state treasurer, Robert Casey Jr. If Santorum doesn't change his image, he loses.

...

Santorum is not alone. All over the country, Republicans are engaged in a massive effort at rebranding, reframing and, in some cases, wholesale retreat from past positions. The surest sign that the nation is in the middle of an ideological transition is that Republicans don't want to sound like -- well, Republicans.