Remember, "Detainees" = "Prisoners"

Sent a note by email to Nancy Pelosi, after seeing her on a press conference on the news or C-Span. I was at a friend's house, on our way out, so I didn't catch all the details, but she gave three reasons for the following. The third escapes me, so I didn't list it, but it wasn't the third thing that I thought was most important!

Hi,

Saw some of your press conference on TV today. You gave a reporter three reasons why detainees in the so-called War on Terror should receive Habeas Corpus rights. Two of these were to protect American soldiers, and to protect American citizens. I think it's equally important that we emphasize protecting innocent accusees, be they foreign or domestic. We already know that innocent people are sometimes convicted, even with all procedural rights allocated to them. Without Habeas Corpus, the innocent don't stand a chance, and unscrupulous people in government, even our own President, have the increased capability to simply make people they don't like disappear, on a mere pretext of some arbitrary designation. It is no more acceptable that this happens to a Muslim or someone of foreign citizenship than to a Christian or an American Citizen. We must be a country that neither tortures people nor arbitrarily takes away their freedom. At least I hope that's what our Constitution means.

V for Vendetta, a Not So Distant Future

Any movie reviews from me will be rather late, because I almost never go to movies. I recently got the DVD by mail order rental service, though. Movies can be a great way to explore politics and philosophy, though. I found the Wachowski Brothers latest flick to be stimulating, but not quite like the "Matrix", which I could talk about all day, even the sequels.


"V" is sort of a 1984 meets Zorro bin Laden as played by the Phantom of the Opera. I liked it, but I think it was mostly that the dystopian aspect worked and struck a chord with modern times, depicting a not so distant future. When you think about it, people in America have disappeared and wound up in Guantanamo without hearings or trials or even any real process. Some of them are terrorists, but some of them... aren't. We don't know for sure which, because there is no process. So the stormtroopers and the bags thrown over people's heads are getting close to home these days. Not to mention, this is the not so distant past for many nations in Central America. Meanwhile the concept of the character of V, though he was well acted, came across as naive, a bit unbelievable, and anachronistic. But I like Zorro and the Scarlet Pimpernel, and feel the pain of the Phantom of the Opera (and of political prisoners). Casting such a character as a terrorist with bombs and a taste for downright vengeance, in contrast to his basic swashbuckling charm, does provide for an interesting thought experiment, and may help us to understand what some people might see in a bin Laden (I much prefer a Gandhi, and think he would do much more good). The ending was a big yawn, reminiscent of "Dead Poets Society", a mild catharsis that comes across as a simplistic quasi-resolution to a world gone mad, followed by a generic eulogy. But the movie is still worth a spin, and talking about over coffee afterwards.

In fact, reading my own review reminds me that, in contrast to what many people on many sides of the political spectrum would say, I think it is more naive to believe that you will solve problems with bombs than to believe that you will solve them with love.