The Gvlshornbook

The Seattle Times: Nation & World: Army officer charged in Abu Ghraib prison abuse
By Ann Scott Tyson
The Washington Post
WASHINGTON — The Army on Friday announced criminal charges against a military intelligence officer who was second-in-charge of interrogation operations at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, accusing him of cruelty and maltreatment of detainees, dereliction of duty and making false statements.

Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan faces six charges, including allegations that between September 2003 and December 2004 he oppressed Iraqi detainees “by subjecting them to forced nudity and intimidation by military working dogs” and later lied about his knowledge of any such abuse, according to the Army.

Jordan would become the highest-ranking Army officer tried in the abuses at Abu Ghraib if a preliminary hearing known as an Article 32, for which the date has not yet been set, determines the case should be sent to court-martial.

Jordan was also charged with “dereliction of duty” for failing to train and supervise soldiers under his control in following military policy on interrogation, which resulted in the abuse of Iraqi detainees.

However, I wonder about his “punishment”. Will get his ass handed to him stripped of pension and bennies? or will he get the Medal of Freedom?

Dems say NEVER AGAIN!

Reuters AlertNet - US representatives arrested at Sudan embassy protest
WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - Five members of the U.S. Congress were arrested on Friday at a demonstration held at the Sudan embassy to protest atrocities in that country’s Darfur region, congressional aides said.

The lawmakers, all Democrats, were Reps. Tom Lantos of California, James McGovern and John Olver of Massachusetts, James Moran of Virginia, and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, aides to McGovern and Lantos said.

There were taken by van to a police station, aides said.

The aides said the lawmakers had been told they could not trespass on the embassy property. They made their statements off the property, then stood on the embassy steps.

Hooray! Tom Lantos knows about genocide. He survived one

CNN.com - Clooney, senators urge action on Darfur - Apr 27, 2006
WASHINGTON (CNN) — Oscar winner George Clooney Friday joined two senators, Republican Sam Brownback of Kansas and Democrat Barack Obama, to appeal for greater action to address what is being described as genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region.The three urged more attention across the board — by the United States, other nations and world institutions. “What we cannot do is turn our heads and look away and hope that this will somehow disappear,” Clooney said.

If we say NEVER AGAIN, we must mean NEVER AGAIN.

Tell them they don’t have any right to judge the POTUS

During the March 28 oral arguments in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, there were two main issues: the constitutional legitimacy of the military commissions at Guantánamo, created solely by the president, and whether the Supreme Court itself had the right to even hear the case.

In a revealing exchange, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said to Solicitor General Paul Clement: “I thought it was the government position that these enemy combatants do not have any rights under the Constitution and laws of the United States.”

“That is true, Justice Ginsburg,” the solicitor general said. The unmistakable subtext of the government’s answer was: “So why is this court interfering with the inherent constitutional powers of the commander in chief in the war on terrorism? Get lost!”

This dismissal of the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction by the administration angered at least five of the justices in that hearing during a series of hostile questions to Clement. Among the five, most significantly, was Anthony Kennedy, who increasingly appears to be the Sandra Day O’Connor of this Supreme Court—a more or less conservative swing vote.

YouTube - Pink- Dear Mr President - Live

Hamas-Fatah tensions flare in Gaza
GAZA (Reuters) - Tensions between the Hamas-led government and President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction flared into a shootout at the Palestinian Health Ministry on Sunday, despite pledges to calm an eruption of internal fighting.

At least four people were wounded after dozens of gunmen from Fatah’s al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades stormed into the ministry, where they were confronted by Hamas guards.

Yes, Philistia. aka Gaza…. This does not bode well, since any armed conflict in Gaza and/or W.B will spill over into Israel, and then here comes the Arab League….

End Smithsonian-Showtime Deal, Filmmakers and Historians Ask
More than 200 filmmakers and historians asked the Smithsonian Institution yesterday to abandon its production deal with Showtime Networks and reconsider a recently imposed policy that limits access to Smithsonian archives and experts.In a letter to Secretary Lawrence M. Small, the Smithsonian’s top official, the group objected to restrictions on filmmakers and researchers who seek “more than incidental” use of its public archives. After the Smithsonian signed with Showtime to make television programming, filmmakers and researchers whose projects focused extensively on the Smithsonian’s holdings or staff were informed that they had to offer their film treatments first to Showtime.

This is disgusting.

that they will get confused afterseeing The Da Vinci Code.

My Way News - Opus Dei Asks for ‘Da Vinci’ Disclaimer

apparently so.

A GOP heavyweight stands in for Old Glory | The San Diego Union-Tribune
As someone stood up to lead the Pledge of Allegiance at a GOP dinner here Thursday, it was suddenly realized there was no flag in the room.

“Pledge to the elephant!” shouted Bob Watkins of the county Board of Education.

The article goes ont o state that the elephant was red white and blue. But the mere concept of pldging to the image of a political party in place of the flag is repulsive. and un-American.