Rob's Blog

I’ve been busy, so it’s been quiet around here lately. By way of filler, here’s a round-up of some articles that have taken my fancy of late, from my two favourite blogs.

David Carr comments on the shocking story about the use of sniffer dogs in schools to catch kids with drugs:

I am sincerely at a loss to comprehend the volcanic eruption of outrage and revulsion over the treatment of Iraqi prisoners when schoolchildren in this country are subjected to ritual abuse and humiliation as a matter of policy.

I feel a bit nervous just going through security checkpoints at airports – there’s an oppressive feeling, a sense that making one wrong move will land you in a cell. Being searched for drugs would be quite an ordeal for me, never mind a bunch of 15-year-olds. I suppose getting ‘em used to the police state while they’re young must have its advantages; catching a teenager with some dope surely can’t be worth it.

Secret Squirrel, in the comments section, has the right idea:

I haven’t consented for my children to be sniffed, and have instructed them to spot opportunities during the “hand search” to make allegation of “feeling up” etc.

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Meanwhile, Perry de Havilland sports a rather excellent T-shirt in a photo accompanying Michael Jennings’ article about Piers Morgan’s “resignation“, and Brian Micklethwait makes the case for watching the TV series Make Me Honest:

And whereas the political (in the broad sense) message that they got across last week was that individuals – both Greg Foxsmith and the people he was trying to help – can, by their individual efforts, change both themselves and by extension the world for the better, this week the message was: that the law is an ass.

Lawrence, it seems, is known as “lucky Lawrence”, because at the critical moment, when a half-sensible legal system would be sending Lawrence to prison for six months, with a stern warning to the effect that if (when) he did it again it would be more like six years, our actually existing legal system would, in the form the risible (in this show anyway) “Crown Prosecution Service” would either lose the papers, or, more basically, simply fail to do the necessary work.

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Over at The Daily Ablution, Scott Burgess does a great job of revealing poor research in the press, in this kind of tone:

Leo’s dishwasher is a big problem, though – it’s made by Siemens, a company that’s “involved in nuclear power.” In the very next paragraph Hannah [Berry, of Ethical Consumer magazine] inadvertently reveals why Siemens should be applauded for their involvement, referring to “the inherent inefficiency – 30% at most – of conventional electricity production.” It’s doubtful whether many Guardian readers will note the irony.

Don’t miss his article about The Day After Tomorrow (a film I hope to avoid), from whence the above quote comes, and read all the comments too, especially the ones by Anthony, who writes:

http://www.thedayaftertomorrowmovie.com/ allows visitors to set up profiles. People are invited to answer several questions

[...]

Some of the answers at the DAT site are rather against the message of the film. When asked You may never have the chance again… What is the one daring thing you wish you had the guts to do today? Several people mention skydiving. I’d be hard pressed to think of a more pointless use of aviation fuel.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 18th, 2004 at 10:14 pm and is filed under Civil Liberties, Links. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.