Two more power grabs in the news today

More on George Bush's ongoing campaign to become our nation's dictator:

The nation's governors, protesting what they call an unprecedented shift in authority from the states to the federal government, will urge Congress today to block legislation that would allow the president to take control of National Guard forces in the event of a natural disaster or threat to homeland security.
In a sharply worded letter that will be transmitted to Republican and Democratic leaders in Congress this morning, the governors ask that a House-Senate conference committee remove a provision included in the House-passed version of the National Defense Authorization Act giving the president such authority.

"This provision was drafted without consultation or input from governors and represents an unprecedented shift in authority from governors as commanders and chief of the Guard to the federal government," the governors' letter says. Read the rest here

From the editorial page:

In 1949, the United States ratified the Geneva Conventions, which set forth minimal standards for the treatment of war prisoners. In 1996 and 1997, Congress enacted and expanded the War Crimes Act, which makes it a crime to violate the conventions. From 2002 to 2006, the Bush administration insisted the conventions did not apply to foreigners captured in Afghanistan. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that the conventions do apply. This month the administration drafted changes it will propose to the War Crimes Act that would decriminalize most of the conduct used to degrade and humiliate detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.
According to the Associated Press, which obtained a copy of part of the plan, "One section of the draft would outlaw torture and cruel treatment, but it does not contain prohibitions from Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions against 'outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment.' " Another section, it reported, would apply the legislation retroactively.

If you'd bet that this is about senior military and civilian officials of the Bush administration getting concerned that they might be prosecuted, you'd probably win the pot. That is certainly how it looks: Stripped of their "Geneva Conventions don't apply" defense, officials involved in authorizing a whole set of aggressive interrogation techniques now worry about being forced to spend humiliating, degrading time in the court dock.

This effort to rewrite the War Crimes Act would be outrage enough for that reason, but there are even larger risks: The United States would be seen as de-ratifying part of the conventions, thus giving every country, every tinhorn leader justifiable reason to humiliate U.S. soldiers they capture in the future. Just as problematic is the additional tarnish this would throw on the U.S. reputation among the world's people who believe in fair play, in the rules of war and in the United States' leadership of the brigade pushing those good causes. Any way you cut it, this is a bad idea. Congress should give it a quick burial. Link to the editorial here"

First look at Tonks

Looking good.

Remus, are you paying attention?

Probably not quite what Jane Austen had in mind

Somewhat. . . hard to describe, but here's a video that pits "Alan Rickman" and "Ian Mckellen" against one another in their roles as melodramatic villains:

Dead Ringers - Yet Another Costume Drama.

[Error: unknown template 'video'] "Where am I going to find another rakish villain to break my heart at such short notice?"