Watching MSNBC last night, I was amazed at the utter stupidity of the talking heads (*) covering the Italian murder case. Upshot is the Italian police (not sure which of the 14 branches, I assume however that they're well dressed and drive Alfa Romeos), have held some American girl because there's a murder investigation, and Italian law allows them to do so for up to a year, if they think she could be a flight risk. One dimwitted talking head actually said:
"In our great country, you need to have a thing called probable cause before they can hold you."
Holy crap, lady. Maybe you haven't been paying attention to what's been going on in the United States lately. Too busy sleeping or following what Britney's been doing? Maybe the Carabinieri decided that she was an "enemy combatant"? Please. This incident has to rank up there with Lynne Cheney on Jon Stewart's show in the "ridiculous hypocrisy/self interest" meter.
Furthermore, flight risk is a real problem in the EU where travelling from country to country doesn't even result in your passport being checked or stamped, so I can understand the rationale behind the Italian law.
Another great comment from a different commentator:
"While the girl may be 20 years old and technically an adult, she clearly does not possess the maturity of an adult."
So, we must release the middle class white girl because she's not sure what she's doing. Think about that next time some poor kid is tried as an adult. (I'm not saying that crimes shouldn't be punished appropriately, I just don't think the rules should be bent just because you're American or of a some other specific demographic).
(* Maybe I shouldn't be amazed, but I wasn't watching Fox News).
Updates and photos from vacation soon.
Wow... the so called medjuh in the US never cease to amaze me...