Supreme Court Blocks Guantánamo Tribunals

In case you haven't heard...
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/062906R.shtml
"Justice Stevens declared flatly that "the military commission at issue lacks the power to proceed because its structure and procedure violate" both the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which governs the American military's legal system, and the Third Geneva Convention. The majority opinion rejected the administration's claims that the tribunals were justified both by President Bush's inherent powers as commander in chief and by the resolution passed by Congress authorizing the use of force after the Sept. 11. There is nothing in the resolution's legislative history "even hinting" that such an expansion of the president's powers was considered, he wrote. "

Now lets see what King George does. Already he and his administration sound like as Commander-in-Chief, they can treat a ruling by the Supreme Court basically as a suggestion; that for reasons of "national security" and to "protect the American people" they are not bound by these decisions. "The powers of the Commander-in-Chief in a time of war are SUPREME."

Keep an ear out for the response. Pay attention.

- Vox

Three Iraq Myths That Won't Quit

More from Scott Ritter.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13764.htm
1. The myth of sovereignty
2. The myth of Zarqawi
3. The myth of WMD

And, he says, "I had overlooked the Fourth Myth -- that American citizens are engaged in our national debate."

- Vox

Analysis finds e-voting machines vulnerable

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-06-26-e-voting_x.htm
"WASHINGTON — Most of the electronic voting machines widely adopted since the disputed 2000 presidential election "pose a real danger to the integrity of national, state and local elections," a report out Tuesday concludes."
..."The study, which took more than a year to complete, examined optical scanners and touch-screen machines with and without paper trails. Together, the three systems account for 80% of the voting machines that will be used in this November's election."

Don't say you didn't know.

- Vox

AP: Police Got Phone Data From Brokers

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060620/D8IBT2D80.html
"WASHINGTON (AP) - Numerous federal and local law enforcement agencies have bypassed subpoenas and warrants designed to protect civil liberties and gathered Americans' personal telephone records from private-sector data brokers."

The reality behind the "debate".

- Vox

Pentagon lists homosexuality as disorder

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060620/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_gays
WASHINGTON - A Pentagon document classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, decades after mental health experts abandoned that position.
The document outlines retirement or other discharge policies for service members with physical disabilities, and in a section on defects lists homosexuality alongside mental retardation and personality disorders.
"It is disappointing that certain Department of Defense instructions include homosexuality as a 'mental disorder' more than 30 years after the mental health community recognized that such a classification was a mistake," said Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass.

Can anyone say "out of touch"?.

- Vox

Does anyone else see the irony here?

Lawyers: Threats Used Against Marines
"Pentagon investigators threatened the death penalty and used other coercive techniques to obtain statements from some of the seven Marines and a Navy corpsman jailed for the shooting death of an Iraqi civilian,...".
"...Jodka was questioned for up to eight hours at a time and was not offered water or toilet breaks,...".
"They used some really heavy-handed tactics to extract the information," Siegel said..."

- Vox

Where is the OUTRAGE?

The US gov't and the ostriches-with-their-heads-in-the-sand have sunk to new lows with this al-Zarqawi execution.

We basically dropped two 500-lb bombs on his house, blowing up his family. Is that what we've become?
"The total casualties in the strike included three males and three females; one of the females was a child between the ages of 5 and 7,..."
So let's read between the lines: We know that it was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Sheik Abdul-Rahman (his spiritual adviser), a third male and three females. His mother? Wife? Sister? Daughter? Niece? We are celebrating the possibility that we murdered 4 innocent people to get two so-called "bad guys"! Should we be proud? Is it worth it to you? Do you even know how you were fooled into believing what al-Zarqawi was? What are we, Israel? We'll level a city block full of innocents just to get ONE GUY?

Was he a "bad guy"? Maybe.
Did he have blood on his hands? Possibly.
But where is the moral high ground? Are we so weak and gutless and conviction-less that we believe the only way to beat the "evil-doers" is to join the "evil-doers"?
We have sunk further into the abyss and I am ashamed.

- Vox

Mad cow update

U.S. Mad Cow Cases Are Mysterious Strain
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MAD_COW?SITE=7219&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-06-11-12-04-35
"WASHINGTON (AP) -- Two cases of mad cow disease in Texas and Alabama seem to have resulted from a mysterious strain that could appear spontaneously in cattle, researchers say."

"The Texas and Alabama cases - confirmed last year and this one, respectively - are drawing international attention."

Did anyone hear about these two confirmed mad cow cases in Texas and Alabama?

- Vox

Anne Coulter, are you listening?

Greg Palast has issued a challenge...

"You want to talk about Godless? OK, let’s go:

Would the Lord lie us into a war?
Would the Lord let thousands drown in New Orleans while chilling at a golf resort?
Would the Lord have removed tens of thousands of Black soldiers from the voter rolls as the Republican Party did in 2004?
You talk about being “Christian” — but with all your zeal to fire up electric chairs and Abrams tanks, you sound more like a Roman.

I suggest this, Anne: let’s debate. Set the time, set the place, and I’ll be there. Nose to nose, my facts versus your fanaticism.
But I know you don’t have the guts to do anything but lob idiocies from your electronic Fox-hole.
Your new book is called, “Godless.” Your autobiography should be called, “Gutless.”"

GP is becoming my hero.

- Vox

Kudos for his courage

Fort Lewis Soldier Says He'll Refuse To Go To Iraq
http://www.kirotv.com/news/9329274/detail.html?subid=22105247&qs=1;bp=t
"SEATTLE -- An Army lieutenant based at Fort Lewis says he has such grave objections to the war in Iraq, he's refusing to deploy."
""He's changed his viewpoints over time," Robert Watada, father of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, told KIRO 7. "He went into the Army in 2002, right when the war started and at that time he thought the president was correct. But he has since found out the president was not correct.""

Although there have been thousands of soldiers who have and are refusing to be deployed, he is the first commissioned officer to refuse deployment to the Iraq war. From those who believe this war is wrong, he deserves our support.

Also: http://www.thankyoult.org/index.php

- Vox

Rumsfeld: Army should pull out of drug war in Bahamas

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/07/drug.wars.bahamas.ap/index.html
"...in a May 15 letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, (Sec. of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld said it was time after more than 20 years to shift the equipment elsewhere. The military is being stretched thin by the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan and other commitments around the globe."
"The Bahamas anti-drug program, Rumsfeld wrote, "now competes with resources necessary for the war on terrorism and other activities in support of our nation's defense, with potential adverse effects on the military preparedness of the United States."" (emphasis by Vox)

MySpace.com users beware...

Musicians' rights:Lost in MySpace?
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/424416p-358103c.html
"Murdoch's News Corp. owns the popular networking Web site,..."

"The troublesome fine print informs users that by posting any content, "you hereby grant to MySpace.com a non-exclusive, fully-paid and royalty-free, worldwide license (with the right to sublicense through unlimited levels of sublicensees) to use, copy, modify, adapt, translate, publicly perform, publicly display, store, reproduce, transmit, and distribute such Content on and through the Services.""

Tenth Anniversary King of New York™ BMX Freestyle competition at Mullaly Ramp Park in the Bronx on July 29, 2006.

http://www.kingofnewyorkbmx.com/
"2006 is the tenth anniversary of the premier Pro/Am BMX Freestyle Competition in New York City, The King of New York™ - one of the longest running bicycle stunt competitions in the world and the only one of its kind in New York City. This year it will be thrown on Saturday July 29, 2006 (rain date-July 30) at Mullaly Park in the Bronx - where it all started, the hottest ramp park in the five boroughs. Easily accessed by numerous forms of transportation and located at 164th Street between Jerome and River Avenues in the Bronx, Mullaly is just three blocks up the street from that 'other' famed, historic landmark, Yankee Stadium."

Be there or be square.

- Vox

Iraq kidnappings? I have to laugh...

I'm sorry, but some of the stuff that gets reported to us unquestioned is laughable.
Police impostors kidnap 50 in Baghdad
Read this carefully (all emphasis added by Vox):
"BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Gunmen posing as Iraqi police commandos raided three transportation companies and kidnapped 50 people Monday in Baghdad,..."
"The kidnappers were wearing police commando uniforms and driving at least 13 vehicles with Iraqi police markings,..."
"Officials said the raid, which took at least an hour to complete, began on a street in central Baghdad's Salihiya district."
"It is unclear why Iraqi police did not notice the raid happening on a busy street in the capital."

My thoughts (and part of my curse of skepticism):
We are expected to believe that "impostors" (insurgents? Al Qaida? Whatever, because the obvious implication is that they are not the "good guys" because they are police "impostors") successfully kidnapped 50 people off a busy Baghdad street, using 13 cars (cars all with "police markings". Authentic police markings? Interestingly, this article doesn't say)? And the "real" Baghdad police knew nothing?
If you take this story on face value, than you deserve to government we have.
We know that their are official gov't-sanctioned"death squads" throughout Iraq, who are uniformed and have access to gov't assets and equipment AND who have infiltrated the police. Plus, the British Basra incident has never been publicly explained. My theory: This was an operation carried out either by the Baghdad police or with their full knowledge and assistance. Who knows how many of these 50 kidnapped people we will hear of turning up dead over the upcoming months only to have their deaths then blamed on "insurgents" or Al Qaida, in order to further foment unrest (or the appearance of) in Iraq?

- Vox

Proposal to Implant Tracking Chips in Immigrants

http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/060531_rfid_chips.html
"Scott Silverman, Chairman of the Board of VeriChip Corporation, has proposed implanting the company's RFID tracking tags in immigrant and guest workers. He made the statement on national television earlier this week."