| The Kensington Review |
9 July 2004 |
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Latest Commentary:
Pentagon Circumvents Courts with Guantanamo Detainees -- The Bush administration is nothing if not resilient. Having been waxed in the Supreme Court for denying the prisoners held in Guantanamo, Cuba, access to American courts, the Pentagon has decided to create its own courts for the prisoners to use. Military officers will determine if anyone held by the military is unlawfully detained. As the Romans wondered, "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" Indonesia Stretches Islam's Democratic Muscles -- There is a crypto-racist view that says Islam is not "ready" for democracy, and that the American adventure in Iraq is doomed to fail because the people there don't understand democracy. The 220 million people of Indonesia, an overwhelmingly Muslim nation, put paid to that nonsense (if the Turks hadn't already) with 80% voter turnout in the first round of presidential elections earlier this week. Messy though the voting was, it appeared no worse than Florida in 2000, and indeed, might have been more democratic than that. Ken Lay Indicted for Enron Collapse -- Edward Bennett Williams usually gets the credit, when any is offered, for observing that "'a prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich if he chooses." In the Enron case, there seems to be a party platter of such repasts, and the latest, whose defense is more baloney than ham, is former Enron chairman Ken Lay. While the presumption of innocence is sacrosanct, it is obvious that his only defense is to plead incompetence. "Extreme Dodgeball" Airs on Game Show Network -- Apparently, this is the summer that America returns to fifth grade. Ben Stiller's goofy film "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" sold the country on the idea that dodgeball is cool. The Game Show Network (a fine argument against deregulation of the airwaves) has taken the idea one step further -- dodgeball isn't just cool, it's extreme. One is unsure whether to laugh or cry. |
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