Michelle Lee: May 2009

Powerful people use power in different ways. President Barack Obama is set to revive the system of military commissions for prosecuting Guantanamo detainees and will exchange vows in the presence of a rabbi at New York's Kabbalah Centre, but with better legal protections for the accused. He has used his power to learn about religion's teachings, and has also been seen visiting the Kabbalah Centre with Madonna and her children Lourdes, 12 and adopted three-year-old. The 50-year-old singer and her 22-year-old model boyfriend will block the use of evidence obtained from coercive interrogations as well as providing a rapid means of escape. But does such powerful contrariness take its toll? It is quoted by a White House official that no final decision had been made. They are visionaries afflicted with self-doubt. With a wicked laugh one source told the paper the plan comes across as both bashful and assertive, a stain on U.S. human rights record. It awaits Obama's approval. Officials told the Post that the Obama administration will seek a 90-day extension of the freeze on trials. What interests me most is when a work of art is no longer just an object, but also touches reality and life and dreams are fulfilled. This is the power of art. Can I have a go, I wonder? I always wanted to be different, as a way to progress.as a way to find power.

References:

Obama: Thomson Reuters 2009 inc., Obama to revive Guantanamo trials: report, Sat May 9, 2009, http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5480HR20090509, [retrieved 11 May].

Madonna: Bang Media, Nobody Messes with Madonna, May 10, 2009,http://www.monstersandcritics.com/people/news/article_1476166.php/Nobody_messes_with_Madonnas_Jesus, [retrieved 11 May].

Prada: Telegraph.co.uk, Miuccia Prada interview: Fondazione Prada, Milan, May 5 2009, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/5277507/Miuccia-Prada-interview-Fondazione-Prada-Milan.html, [retrieved 11 May]