So, I see SG has added another useless feature: a slightly different picture viewer (although not really -- it just looks different, and I guess it also doubles as a Flash player. Flash blows. Yes, I can even find a reason to complain about Macromedia Flash. So sue me!) 
But on a newsy tip, this is from The Irish Independent this morning:
US Concedes Guantanamo Inmates Have Rights
IN a major climb-down, the Bush administration formally conceded yesterday that detainees at Guantanamo Bay and other US military prisons around the world are entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions.
The new policy, contained in a Pentagon memo from Deputy Defence Secretary Gordon England, follows last month's 5-3 ruling by the Supreme Court declaring that the military tribunals set up to try detainees were in breach of the conventions. In doing so, the Court rejected the White House claim to virtually unlimited executive power in a time of war, making it clear that the tribunals should have been authorised by the US Congress.
Ever since Guantanamo Bay opened in early 2002, the administration has contended that as "enemy combatants", inmates did not fall within the jurisdiction of the Conventions - even though, it claims, the detainees have always been treated as if they did apply.
Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, repeated that line yesterday. Detainees, he said, had been treated humanely. Nonetheless, "we want to get it right", he hold reporters. The memo "is not really a reversal of policy" but merely a response to a "complex" decision by the Supreme Court.
In fact, the June 29 ruling was hailed by human rights groups as a huge victory. Almost certainly, it will hasten the end of a prison whose existence has become an embarrassment, severely damaging to the image of the US around the world.
Britain is one of several countries that have called for the prison's closure - and even President Bush says he wants to close it. The problem, according to Mr Bush, is what do to with the 450-odd inmates still held at the facility, on US territory in Cuba.
Within hours of the White House announcement, Congress began discussing laws to govern the treatment and trial of detainees. The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday considered its own proposals, with Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy saying that the US had to do better than "kangaroo courts" in dealing with suspected terrorists.
The House and Senate Armed Services committee will examine the issue later this week.
Either way, new rules are expected to emerge that bring Guantanamo into compliance with existing US international and military law, and the administration will no longer have the unfettered authority it has hitherto claimed.
The Senate is expected to take up legislation addressing the legal rights of suspected terrorists after the August recess - timing that would push the issue squarely into the election season.
Guantanamo has been a flash point for both US and international debate over the treatment of detainees without trial, and over allegations of torture, which have been denied by US officials. Even US allies in the war on terrorism have criticized the facility which in the past has kept prisoners herded in wire cages. (Independent News Service)
Rupert Cornwell
"Sure, like, whatever!"
But on a newsy tip, this is from The Irish Independent this morning:
US Concedes Guantanamo Inmates Have Rights
IN a major climb-down, the Bush administration formally conceded yesterday that detainees at Guantanamo Bay and other US military prisons around the world are entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions.
The new policy, contained in a Pentagon memo from Deputy Defence Secretary Gordon England, follows last month's 5-3 ruling by the Supreme Court declaring that the military tribunals set up to try detainees were in breach of the conventions. In doing so, the Court rejected the White House claim to virtually unlimited executive power in a time of war, making it clear that the tribunals should have been authorised by the US Congress.
Ever since Guantanamo Bay opened in early 2002, the administration has contended that as "enemy combatants", inmates did not fall within the jurisdiction of the Conventions - even though, it claims, the detainees have always been treated as if they did apply.
Tony Snow, the White House spokesman, repeated that line yesterday. Detainees, he said, had been treated humanely. Nonetheless, "we want to get it right", he hold reporters. The memo "is not really a reversal of policy" but merely a response to a "complex" decision by the Supreme Court.
In fact, the June 29 ruling was hailed by human rights groups as a huge victory. Almost certainly, it will hasten the end of a prison whose existence has become an embarrassment, severely damaging to the image of the US around the world.
Britain is one of several countries that have called for the prison's closure - and even President Bush says he wants to close it. The problem, according to Mr Bush, is what do to with the 450-odd inmates still held at the facility, on US territory in Cuba.
Within hours of the White House announcement, Congress began discussing laws to govern the treatment and trial of detainees. The Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday considered its own proposals, with Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy saying that the US had to do better than "kangaroo courts" in dealing with suspected terrorists.
The House and Senate Armed Services committee will examine the issue later this week.
Either way, new rules are expected to emerge that bring Guantanamo into compliance with existing US international and military law, and the administration will no longer have the unfettered authority it has hitherto claimed.
The Senate is expected to take up legislation addressing the legal rights of suspected terrorists after the August recess - timing that would push the issue squarely into the election season.
Guantanamo has been a flash point for both US and international debate over the treatment of detainees without trial, and over allegations of torture, which have been denied by US officials. Even US allies in the war on terrorism have criticized the facility which in the past has kept prisoners herded in wire cages. (Independent News Service)
Rupert Cornwell
"Sure, like, whatever!"
VIEW 12 of 12 COMMENTS
What if we evicted all the Cubans to, I don't know -say Puerto Rico, and just took over the whole island of Cuba? The Bush administration could turn the island into a prison and the Cubans that won't leave can be the first prisoners. Then we could send down the huge segment of the US population that is serving time from this stupid 'war on drugs'. Prison costs across our country could go way down...no need to feed or house the new cuban prisoners, just destroy anything trying to leave the island. Fuck 'em - let 'em fend for theirselves!
Whew...
The things our current administration finds acceptable amaze me.
The Irish Independent??
I hate MySpace. It was with thrilling excitement that I deleted my account there.