As many of you are probably aware, President Bush signed into law this past Tuesday, October 17, 2006, the Military Commissions Act of 2006. While there are many things this act does that I find reprehensible (including authorizing torture and making a mockery of our most hallowed legal proceedings), perhaps the most dangerous is the revokation of the right of habeus corpus for anyone deemed an "unlawful enemy combatant", whether or not they are an American citizen.

The unfortunate part of this entire story is that the American people noted this tectonic shift in American political, legal, and cultural life with little more than a dismissive wave of their hand. Hopefully, as the reality of what this means for America as a whole becomes more widely known, we will gain the will and strength to undo the damage that has been done, that we will wake up from this nightmare before it is too late. I will leave you with another video from Countdown, one that I think makes my point better than I could hope to in so short a space.

Just settling in to watch the new HBO original series, Rome. Hopefully, it will be better than Empire was on ABC. Check back later this evening or tomorrow for a more detailed account of what I thought of it.

UPDATE: Well, that was definitely a much more rewarding experience than the ABC, though I can say that much of what made it so would have been impossible for ABC, given "broadcast decency" standards. It's amazing how much historical accuracy our society sacrifices to the gods of decency, how much authenticity is lain at the feet of our puritanical myopia. But, I digress. The producers of Rome seem to have gone to great effort to insure the veracity of the story that they are telling. Surely, they are taking some dramatic license, but the core events and people of the story are as accurate as they possibly could be. The violence and sensuality of ancient Rome really come through in the depictions of the city and the portrayals of its people. The simple fact that Octavian is a young boy, no older than 13, rather than a simpering, spoiled pseudo-adult, is enough to make this the superior production. Add to that they inclusion of Pompey, Atia of the Julii, and a much younger Antony and disengaged Brutus, and you get a show that every person who has ever studied the Rome of the late Republic and early Empire should see. I encourage all of you that have HBO to tune in next Sunday at 8pm CDT (9pm EDT) for the second episode and be sure to catch the encore presentation of the premiere that is sure to come this week. Afterwards, be sure to stop by and let me know what you think.