NOW that David Hicks is back in Australia to serve out the rest of his sentence at Yatala, it is opportune to reflect on the implications of his "trial" for the future of the US military commission process. It is not a pretty picture.
One of Major Michael Mori's recurrent criticisms of the proposed US military commissions (mark I and II) was the complete lack of judicial independence from the executive arm of the US Government. He repeatedly used a cricketing analogy, likening the... (more)
SPRINGFIELD — A $38,000 clock. Four-hundred-dollar doorknobs. Redecorated bathrooms for state legislators and staff — more than $444,000.
Those are among the hidden costs of a multimillion-dollar makeover of the Illinois House and Senate with opulent showpieces re-creating the look of the chambers in the late 1800s.
With work finished, a Chicago Sun-Times review of construction documents unearthed expenditures one GOP lawmaker said would “appall&r... (more)
A former Dallas police officer accused in the department's fake drug scandal has been found guilty of tampering with evidence.
Jeffrey Haywood was sentenced to two years' probation following the guilty verdict Friday night.
Prosecutors say Haywood lied in a police report by saying he field-tested a substance believed to be cocaine when it was seized in May 2001. The substance turned out to be pool chalk mixed with a tiny amount of cocaine.
A former Dallas police officer accused in the department's fake drug scandal has been found guilty of tampering with evidence.
Jeffrey Haywood was sentenced to two years' probation following the guilty verdict Friday night.
Prosecutors say Haywood lied in a police report by saying he field-tested a substance believed to be cocaine when it was seized in May 2001. The substance turned out to be pool chalk mixed with a tiny amount of cocaine.
Growing older has many drawbacks and one unalloyed pleasure: passing judgment on the younger generation. Lately, people have been scrutinizing the members of Generation Y and finding them deficient.
What's wrong with the kids? A recent article in The Wall Street Journal reported that because they have been told since infancy that they were special, they believe it and expect to keep hearing it. "Bosses, professors and mates are feeling the need to lavish praise on young adults, pa... (more)
An intensive campaign to enforce strict population-control measures prompted violent clashes between the police and local residents in southwestern China in recent days, witnesses said, describing the latest incident of rural unrest that has alarmed senior officials in Beijing.
Villagers and visitors to several counties of Guangxi autonomous region in southwestern China said rioters smashed and burned government offices, overturned official vehicles, and clas... (more)
HANOVER – Tax protesters Ed and Elaine Brown said in a radio interview yesterday they do not intend to appeal their convictions on federal tax evasion charges.
The Browns, for whom a judge filed a notice of appeal with the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, said they have abandoned "man's law" and now follow only the rules and laws put forth in the Bible.
"We know there's a possibility that this will end badly and they will e... (more)
The US Army tried to kill or capture Muqtada al-Sadr, the widely revered Shia cleric, after luring him to peace negotiations at a house in the holy city of Najaf, which it then attacked, according to a senior Iraqi government official.
The revelation of this extraordinary plot, which would probably have provoked an uprising by outraged Shia if it had succeeded, has left a legacy of bitter distrust in the mind of Mr Sadr for which the US and its allies in Iraq may stil... (more)
WITH stunning views, a low crime rate and dramatic beaches, the Highland town of Tain - Scotland's oldest royal burgh - is starting to be recognised as a perfect holiday destination.
So it might surprise visitors to learn that Highland Council has spent £200,000 to keep them and the town's 3,500-strong population under close surveillance.
The money was invested in nearly 50 cameras linking Tain to nearby towns including Nairn, Dingwall and Thu... (more)
Butchery was the word that came to mind. Twenty-three Lebanese soldiers and police, 17 Sunni Muslim gunmen. How long can Lebanon endure this? Just before he died, one of the armed men - Palestinians? Lebanese? - we still don't know - shot a soldier right beside me. He fell down on his back, crying with pain, and I thought he had slipped on the road until I saw the blood pumping out of his leg and the Red Cross team dragging him desperately out of the line of fire. Not since the war - yes, the Le... (more)
Britain's top health watchdog has called for an inquiry into the use of wireless Internet networks in schools because of concerns they could be exposing children to the risk of cancer.
The demand came after it was revealed that classroom "wi-fi" networks give off three times as much radiation as a typical mobile phone mast.
Guidelines from the Health Protection Agency already state that masts should not be sited near schools because of a possi... (more)
More and more parents are logging on to social networking websites such as Facebook to spy on their children, it was revealed today.
The new generation of technology has moved parents on from reading their kids' diaries to viewing their online profiles to find out what they are up to.
The runaway popularity of My-Space, Facebook and MSN messaging not only gives parents cause to worry about how much time their child is spending online, ... (more)
The British Army is facing new allegations that it was involved in "forced disappearances", hostage-taking and torture of Iraqi civilians after the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein.
One of the claims is made by the former chairman of the Red Crescent in Basra, who alleges he was beaten unconscious by British soldiers after they accused him of being a senior official in Saddam's Baath party.
The family of another Iraqi civilian claims he was arrested and kidnappe... (more)
A paramilitary commander has accused US companies which buy Colombia's bananas of financing illegal right-wing militias that have killed thousands of people in more than a decade.
In testimony to investigators, jailed commander Salvatore Mancuso named Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte as having made regular payments to the paramilitaries, according to Jesus Vargas, a lawyer for victims of paramilitary violence who was present at the hearing.
Directed by Josh Rushing, a veteran Marine Corps media spokesman, "SPIN: The Art of Selling War" is an investigative documentary that looks at the standard justification for going to war by the American administrations of past and present.
Fully 71 percent of Israelis believe that the United States should launch a military attack on Iran if diplomatic efforts fail to halt Tehran's nuclear program, according to a new poll.
The survey, commissioned by Bar-Ilan University's BESA Center and the Anti-Defamation League, found that 59 percent of Israelis still believe the war in Iraq was justified, while 36 percent take the opposite view.
Some 65 percent believe that the United States is a loyal ally of Isra... (more)
THE PENTAGON'S CLAIM that its overseas soldiers were sapping too much bandwidth has been contested by the founders of Youtube.
Military bigwigs banned Youtube claiming soldiers were blocking its network by watching raucous clips of people falling over and cats mugging children.
But Youtube founder, chief executive Chad Hurley, said the Pentagon only thought it would be a bandwidth issue it could not be certain.
He pointed out that the US military created the... (more)
WASHINGTON, May 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The immigration bill unveiled yesterday by the Senate, which would grant amnesty to virtually every illegal alien in the country, plus an unknown number of their relatives, amounts to a complete sell-out of the interests of the American public, declared the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The Senate bill, S. 1348, includes immediate and irrevocable benefits for tens of millions of illegal aliens, access to low-wage foreign labor fo... (more)
On Tuesday, May 15, 2007, Grassfire's website has summarized a copy of a leaked plan for a new 'comprehensive immigration reform' proposal being developed behind closed doors by the Bush Administration and some Republicans in the Senate. Its dreary points confirm the same old, same old, only with greater cost and less likely scrutiny.
These open border Senators will sell us out in a New York minute and constantly keep hoping that by using the old Nazi propaganda expert Joseph Goeb... (more)
