To defend itself against a lawsuit by the widows of three American soldiers who died on one of its planes in Afghanistan, a sister company of the private military firm Blackwater has asked a federal court to decide the case using the Islamic law known as Shari’a.

WTF??? What? How? Why?

If the judge agrees, it would essentially end the lawsuit over a botched flight supporting the U.S. military. Shari’a law does not hold a company responsible for the actions of employees performed within the course of their work.

Oh, well gee, we aren't responsible because it was our employees, not the company.

Guys, here's a short pier, take a long walk off it. Oh those fins? Those are... dolphins! Yeah! Dolphins! And they want to play in the water with you! It'll be a blast!

Blackwater: Apply Sharia law in US Courts!

Torture "is basically subject to perception," CIA counterterrorism lawyer Jonathan Fredman told a group of military and intelligence officials gathered at the U.S.-run detention camp in Cuba on Oct. 2, 2002, according to minutes of the meeting. "If the detainee dies, you're doing it wrong."

Well no shit Sherlock. Does anyone still question whether what we were doing at Abu Ghraib, Bagram or Gitmo was torture? How can that still be in question? Because Georgie said we don't and the President wouldn't lie to us? When has he told the truth?

CIA Played Larger Role In Advising Pentagon - washingtonpost.com

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that Justice Department lawyers had brought what is known as a grand jury referral focusing on possible perjury by Bradley J. Schlozman, who was acting head of the civil rights division in 2003.

Yep, this loser. We're quite familiar with him here in Missouri where he acted against DoJ practice to try to throw the 2006 election in favor of his party while acting US Attorney over in Kansas City. See ya Brad, we don't miss you.

Grand Jury Said to Look at Attorneys’ Dismissals - NYTimes.com

The U.S. military hid the locations of suspected terrorist detainees and concealed harsh treatment to avoid the scrutiny of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to documents that a Senate committee released Tuesday.

If we're going to continue to use "War on Terror" we have lost. The point of such "quaint" things like the Constitution and Geneva Conventions are to give concrete examples of what we stand for as opposed to sinking into barbarism.

The current administration has failed at every level, and this news, and the approval of these policies at the highest levels of American government, is a disgrace.

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 06/18/2008 | Documents confirm U.S. hid detainees from Red Cross

Woods also said he suffered a double stress fracture of his left tibia while preparing to return to the PGA Tour last month, which forced him to miss the Memorial and was the source of his pain at Torrey Pines when he won the U.S. Open.

91 holes on a broken leg. I had respect for his skills, but DAMN! That's toughing it out.

Tiger Woods Out For Season, Requires Knee Surgery: Report - The Huffington Post

The A.P. doesn't get to make it's own rules around how its content is used, if those rules are stricter than the law allows. So even thought they say they are making these new guidelines in the spirit of cooperation, it's clear that, like the RIAA and MPAA, they are trying to claw their way to a set of property rights that don't exist today and that they are not legally entitled to. And like the RIAA and MPAA, this is done to protect a dying business model - paid content.

So here's our new policy on A.P. stories: they don't exist. We don't see them, we don't quote them, we don't link to them. They're banned until they abandon this new strategy, and I encourage others to do the same until they back down from these ridiculous attempts to stop the spread of information around the Internet.

Good.

Here's Our New Policy On A.P. stories: They're Banned - washingtonpost.com

Former guards and detainees whom McClatchy interviewed said Bagram was a center of systematic brutality for at least 20 months, starting in late 2001. Yet the soldiers responsible have escaped serious punishment.

Nope, we don't torture, nosireebob.

We did, we probably still do, and the people involved, especially the people who authorized it need to be stuck in a hole someplace they can clear brush. The kind you get shot trying to leave. Like Joliet federal penitentiary. Sorry Mr. Bush, you don't even have plausible deniability. Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not go to Crawford, do not become baseball commissioner. You have done more to destroy this great nation than any prior enemy, foreign or domestic, has ever managed to achieve.

U.S. abuse of detainees was routine at Afghanistan bases

The hospital has begun a bus service from Cedar Rapids and a plane service from the Quad Cities to bring in essential employees. Vice President for Medical Affairs Jean Robillard said six employees used the plane service Saturday.

I lived in Iowa City during the '93 flood and it was a wreck. The numbers coming down are 93+5 feet. They're talking 3/4 of a billion in damage in Cedar Rapids with numbers yet to come in Iowa City. This is still getting worse.

Three more UI buildings start to flood | press-citizen.com | Iowa City Press Citizen

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that foreign terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay have rights under the Constitution to challenge their detention in U.S. civilian courts.

Message to George and Dick. "Go fuck yourselves." Message to everyone, this was a 5-4 decision, the dissent core was Scalia, Thomas, Alito and Roberts. If you need another description on just how thin the margin is between America and a police state is, it's ONE vote.

November matters.

High Court ruling may delay war crimes trials - Yahoo! News

In a speech to the European Business Congress in Deauville, France, Mr Miller offered little prospect of relief. He warned that the world was experiencing a fundamental shift in energy prices that will end at a "radically new level. We expect that the oil price will approach $250 per barrel in the foreseeable future".

Welcome to the new world. It is time to fundamentally change what we're doing and how we do it.

An ominous warning that the rapid rise in oil prices has only just begun - Home News, UK - The Independent