News – No Indefinite Detentions for US Citizens

US

The Supreme Court was hearing arguments yesterday over Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla, US citizens captured and now held indefinitely and without charge as enemy combatants. I was listening to the arguments a bit on C-Span and the justices were pretty inquisitive on both the defense and the prosecution in this case. What I did hear made me at least somewhat confident that they would rule in a fair manner. I’m concerned about this case because what it comes down to is the president holding American citizens indefinitely without due process. I’m not saying Hamdi and Padilla are great, innocent guys. I’m concerned about the government having power over US citizens that it shouldn’t have.

For the moment Kerry has the Arab-American vote where it counts. Of course, you know how much polls are worth. Prepare your grain of salt.

The House has overwhelmingly(3:1 ratio) decided to keep the marriage tax breaks in place. A Democratic proposal to deal with the marriage penalty as well as added protections against the alternative minimum tax was rejected previously.

Al Gore is handing out the $6 million left over from his last bid for president to the Democratic National Committee and the party’s House and Senate committees.

The airlines balk at an additional 400 million that Bush wants them to pay for security concerns. Considering punk kids can smuggle items through still, I think something needs to be done at the very least.

New overtime regs, set to take effect in four months, remain the subject of fierce debate. One side claims they have the potential to cost millions of US workers their overtime pay. The other says that is untrue. Question is, who is right? Perhaps, again, the truth lies somewhere between. If I figure it out, you can be sure I’ll tell.

The Bush Administration has stripped information on Women’s Issues from government web sites according to researches, one notable being Linda Basch, president of the National Council for Research on Women. The information missing is classified into four categories: women’s health; their economic status; objective scientific data; and information aimed at protecting women and girls and helping them advance. Does it mean anything? Perhaps, perhaps not. But it is disquieting.

A state government panel recommends California to use voting machines already in play, but wants greater vendor scrutiny and the option for people to use paper ballots if they wish to.

RIAA sues 477 more people. Has it had much effect? I dunno, but I know they aren’t getting much cash out of it overall. Which is good.

Iraq

Amid varied calls for restraint, more armor is being rushed to Iraq. I’d like to be positive and hope it will primarily be used to shore up defenses, but it’s inevitable, I think, that matters will come to serious blows in Iraq and especially Falluja. And that won’t be very good for anyone.

Bush wanted to avoid getting more cash for Iraq before the elections, but the current spate of violence and disorder is likely to require a fresh infusion of further billions to shore things up. He should just give up on trying to keep from spending too much, because this war is already costing scads of cash. It’s unlikely that restraint now will make a difference when it comes to poll time and we can’t really send our troops into battle without what they need to protect themselves.

A car bomb kills eight US soldiers near Mahmudia. Another was killed in an RPG attack in eastern Baghdad.

US forces are pulling out of Falluja immediately. Why? Because of the new Falluja Protective Army, 1,100 Iraqi soldiers led by former general from the military of Saddam Hussein who will move into the city tomorrow. This is interesting.. we’ll see how it pans out.

BP has given up on Iraq due to the political and combat situation in the country. This is a setback to operations regarding Iraq oil.

Israel/Palestine

Sharon trumps up the importance of his Gaza plan. If this party rejects it, it would undermine him(a given, since it was his stupid idea) and wreck the party itself. As noted, I think the first is a given, but I don’t think it would be the end of the Lukid party. The end of Sharon’s political career(or a prime contributor to it’s end) surely, but the man thinks far too much of himself and his importance.

Arab papers muse Blair’s options in regard to the situation between Israel and Palestine.

An Israeli TV station has declared that the prosecution on Sharon’s corruption case have decided that they don’t’ have the evidence to charge him. We’ll have to see if they’re correct or not.

The US government is urging citizens to leave Gaza immediately and to not travel to Israel or the Palestinian territories.. Old news was cited as the reason, which makes one wonder if this is really in response to something that is coming down the pipe soon.

Syria

An al-Queda linked group is the most likely suspect in the sudden violence in Damascus’ diplomatic quarter according to the government. Syrian security is said to be holding two suspects and has found weapons in a raid.

UK

All ten terror suspects captured in a recent raid were released amid concerns of heavy handed tactics by British police.

A detailed, handwritten note justifying suicide bombings was found in the home of Omar Sharif and is claimed to be in his wife’s handwriting. If this is true, it could go against their prior defense that they knew nothing of what Omar was intending to do.

General

The new movie, Godsend, is a tech movie grounded(somewhat) in present day fact. The makers don’t seem to have an anti-cloning agenda, despite the obvious use the movie could have in terms of PR against cloning. Of course, that assumes people don’t realize that it’s just a movie. I might see it.. I have to see what else is coming out.

The next version of Windows and Office will have little pop up dialogue boxes that contain security notes. Question is, how many people will quickly find the pop ups annoying and figure out how to turn them off? As a consumer myself, I know I hate little pop ups leaping out to distract me from what I’m doing.

Today’s Papers notes the White House’s decision to count hatchery-bred salmon as wildlife, thus upping the number of salmon for the Endangered Species Act, the Pentagon’s deputy undersecretary for international technology security under investigation for strong-arming on contracts to help his friends, the Supreme court rules that Southern California air quality officials overstepped their authority by requiring garbage haulers to buy low pollution vehicles and more in the one page news.

Amusements

NASA considers options for dealing with astronauts’ sex drives

ABC’s newest program gives a lucky couple chance to win a teenager’s baby

Driving instructor gets drunk while showing film on dangers of drinking and driving

Mark Fiore: On Message

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this guy and Shrek the Sheep

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop these guys waiting for a train

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Sure signs someone is a badass