Harry Potter

So I'm reading the new Harry Potter book, and I'm not done, though I probably will be by the time I'm posting next. But don't post spoilers anyway, just because.

But the thing is, as I'm reading the descriptions of life at Hogwarts, it doesn't ring quite true. It's not that it doesn't sound like school, or the kinds of things that happen there, but it doesn't resemble my school at all. Oh, not the fripperies, the magic and owls and death threats, but the interactions between the people. The kids, mostly. Which is always much more important than the gobbledygook about magic, since that's all covered by suspension of disbelief. I think it has less to do with the writing though, than with me. I probably just wasn't paying attention, or cared at the time, but all the petty "who's dating who" stuff seems, well, petty and silly, and wasn't something that I paid any attention to during school. Which is probably part of why I'm still terminally single, but.

Just random commentary.

Technorati Tags: Mindscribbles, Me, Books

Rule of Law? What's that?

Government Defies an Order to Release Iraq Abuse Photos

Lawyers for the Defense Department are refusing to cooperate with a federal judge's order to release secret photographs and videotapes related to the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal.

The lawyers said in a letter sent to the federal court in Manhattan late Thursday that they would file a sealed brief explaining their reasons for not turning over the material, which they were to have released by yesterday.

The photographs were some of thousands turned over by Specialist Joseph M. Darby, the whistle-blower who exposed the abuse at Abu Ghraib by giving investigators computer disks containing photographs and videos of prisoners being abused, sexually humiliated and threatened with growling dogs.

(visit bugmenot to get a password to read the whole thing in all its depressing glory.)

The Executive Branch is refusing a court order, to try and cover up the fact that we've been torturing innocent people. It's times like these that I'm so proud to be an American, y'know? There is really no way at this point that you can pretend that President Bush DOESN'T favor torture. Especially since Bush and Cheney have been twisting arms on the few Republicans daring to suggest passing a law requiring Bush to follow the law with regards to torture. See here, for links.

What happened to my country?