Would Buffy have to be blonde?

Yes. The entire premise of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was to have the stereotypical "ditzy blonde victim" of the past, turn out to be the hero.

"You have the right to remains silent, but it may harm your defence if you fail to mention anything you later rely on in court."

Allowing for the fact that I only know this from watching The Bill -- though not as much as I used to, since they ditched the original premise and turned it into Days of Our Old Bill -- I thought the line was: "You have the right to remain silent but it may harm your defence if during questioning you fail to mention something you later rely on in court."

I notice the UK version of Miranda doesn't even mention asking for a legal representative...

Jim didn't give the full spiel. However, they do inform you of your right to have a "brief" when you're being booked in at the station.

Yeah, let me just remind myself to not get arrested in a foriegn country where I don't know my rights. Eek. (Not that I do want to get arrested in America either, but...) cause...

However, they do inform you of your right to have a "brief" when you're being booked in at the station

I'd be all "Um, brief what? Brief smoke? Pair of briefs? Legal brief, pick one off the shelf?" (And how weird does brief look when typed more than once? Very weird!)

Yeah, let me just remind myself to not get arrested in a foriegn country where I don't know my rights. Eek.

meara, unless things have really improved? The one to avoid is Switzerland. They can toss you in a cell, give you no contact, keep you there for 72 hours, and escort you to the border. And they aren't obliged by their own law to tell you why.

This actually happened to a friend of mine, a high-visibility lawyer, back in the early eighties. Turned out to be her last name: she was married to someone with the same last name as the old royal family of Yugoslavia, and several of them had been banned from Switzerland. Barbara didn't find this out until she'd been escorted to the French border and told never to come back. Weirdness....

meara ... "brief" is UK-TV slang for a solicitor.

Darn. I liked the idea of the prisoner demanding a quickie with the bobby of her choice.

Yeah, let me just remind myself to not get arrested in a foriegn country where I don't know my rights. Eek. (Not that I do want to get arrested in America either, but...) cause...

We're not a fun country to get arrested in as a foreign national, either. :(

I think the English promise to use what you don't say against you is also permitted in American trials, but I'm not sure. You can't use the fact that someone asked for an attorney, but if during questioning the suspect didn't mention the alibi he came up with for trial? That's probative.

We're not a fun country to get arrested in as a foreign national, either

Oh, totally...especially the past year or three. But at least here I vaguely know my rights. :)

the US has a constitution. It isn't stopping John Ashcroft, so far as i can see.

IIRC, someone has to be busted and then make a challenge on constitutional grounds before a law can be chucked for being unconstitutional.

(A little scenario the NRA delights in ignoring.)

IIRC, someone has to be busted and then make a challenge on constitutional grounds before a law can be chucked for being unconstitutional.

Yes, American courts can only rule on Actual Cases. Other countries' courts-- including the Intl Court of Justice-- can issue advisory opinions, which don't require a case to be before it. I think this is becaue precedent is not controlling in those systems, but I'm not sure.

Popping in very quickly before I have to run off to take care of crap.

Waking the Dead is good. My Tuesdays are made even better by it. But Cracker rocks my Wednesdays. I'm watching it right now AIFG!