Superfans - US Soccer Fan Fails Part 1

Believe it or not, his outfit is the least of his problems.

Happy as I am that the US managed a tie against England on Saturday, it makes me a bit worried.  There was a certain type of US soccer fan that was bad enough before.  Now?  I'm getting worried.

It can only get worse from here.  Superfans were bad enough when the US never won anything important.  No matter how tiny and inept the other team was, these guys would celebrate like we won the World Cup itself.  If you didn't get excited that we outscored Guam, they'd accuse you of personally holding back the American soccer program.

The worst was that they'd always get excited that we qualified for the Cup.  We play in CONCACAF, guys.  Mexico is good but the rest?  Not so much.  It's like bragging about how you were first in your class in kindergarten.  Nicely done; everyone else was eating paste.

If the US manages to make it into the next round, it's all over.

Are You an Imperialist?

I got called an agent of capitalist imperialism the other day. This wasn't the first time. It's probably my own fault.

Business Law Journal staff photo.

It begs the question, though: why do I care about corporate law reform in other countries? Am I just acting out a sublimated desire for Anglo-American legal hegemony on the rest of the world?

European Disunion

Only a few weeks ago it seemed like Greece's EU friends would take care of it. That idea fell through, though, and now Germany and France are squabbling over whether to bring the IMF in to deal with the problem. As if things weren't bad enough on the Continent, Portugal's debt was downgraded with exquisite timing.

Germany's reluctance to bankroll a Grecian bailout is pretty understandable. Athens routinely cooked their books when times were good, and the Greek public is throwing fits over cuts to a posh welfare state they couldn't afford to begin with. Add to the Greeks' own bad behavior the fact that Germany is essentially the keystone for all of Europe's economy these days and you can comprehend why Germans might be getting a little frustrated.

These troubles highlight just how weak the EU is as a political institution. EU member states must beg their sister states for help--the equivalent of Florida having to go directly to New York every time it wanted to repair hurricane damage. Despite all the regulations coming out of Brussels, the EU is still more of a confederation than a real union. During the EU elections last year, I kept hearing a weary sort of optimism from Europeans about the future strength of the EU. The Grecian Dilemma (sounds like a Ludlum story about hair dye) casts more cold water on that dream.

In Other News

Japan is starting jury trials. More accurately, a current case is the first jury trial in Japan in over sixty years but they are conducting mock trials to work the system out. The usual warring theories abound: jurors can't make good decisions, judge only courts lack transparency, etc.

The current system involves three judge panels. This first jury case involves both six jurors and three judges. Curiously (at least from a UK/US point of view) at least one of the judges has to agree with the jury's verdict.

The article mentions a few other interesting details. First, Japan boasts a 99% conviction rate. I have a hunch that the Japanese police are not 99% good. Second, Japan had a jury system from the mid-1920s until 1943. It seems like an odd exception to the US-designed political overhaul after the War to leave out a jury system.

As an added historical tid-bit: Japan actually adopted the German Civil Code not longer after the Buergerliches Gesetz Buch was adopted, during the Meiji period when Japan was busily modernizing everything.