US postpones first Guantanamo war crimes trial

A military judge on Friday postponed the first war crimes tribunal at Guantanamo Bay, saying he wants to wait until the Supreme Court makes its highly anticipated ruling on the right of detainees to challenge their confinement in civil courts.

Navy Capt. Keith Allred ruled the trial for Osama bin Laden’s former driver should be delayed seven weeks, until July 21, in case the Supreme Court ruling affects his case. He scheduled pretrial hearings to begin a week earlier.

A Supreme Court ruling is expected by June 30.”AP

And of course it’s only a mere coincidence that after witnesses attested the timing of the trials was political in nature, they will now postponed and occur even closer to the US election in November. Mere coincidence, I tell you.

US lists polar bear as threatened

Finally!

The United States has listed the polar bear as a threatened species, because its Arctic sea ice habitat is melting due to climate change.

But even though a Supreme Court ruling said it should:

(…) However, the government stressed the listing would not lead to measures to prevent global warming.” BBC

NYT: 81% of Americans say country on wrong track

“Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s, according to the latest poll.

In the poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed ‘things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,’ up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2002.

Although the public mood has been darkening since the early days of the war in Iraq, it has taken a new turn for the worse in the last few months, as the economy has seemed to slip into recession. There is now nearly a national consensus that the country faces significant problems.”

(…) Only 21 percent of respondents said the overall economy was in good condition, the lowest such number since late 1992, when the recession that began in the summer of 1990 had already been over for more than a year. In the latest poll, two in three people said they believed the economy was in recession today. NY Times

Welcome back to reality.

Clinton likens herself to Rocky

“‘Let me tell you something,’ she told labor leaders firmly in Philadelphia. ‘When it comes to finishing the fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common. I never quit. I never give up.’” NY Times

Of course Rocky also lost in the original movie.

Dean: Dems will seat Fla. delegates if Obama says it’s ok

“Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean said Wednesday the party was committed to seating Florida’s delegates at this summer’s convention as long as any agreement is supported by the party’s two presidential contenders.” AP

Florida knew the rules established by the Democratic National Committee: Have the primary on the date you want (too early) and we will not seat your delegates.

Pretty simple to understand, isn’t it? You’d think Even politicians in Floridaland should be able to grasp that.

Now the DNC caves in and tells Florida that even though they went against all the rules laid out, they will be seated and get to vote as long as Obama says it’s ok. (We all know Hillary will not have a problem with it because she “won” Florida.)

If Obama now says “no” to the FL delegates he will likely lose quite a number of FL superdelegates who previously said they’d support him. How could they vote for him if he disses their entire state?

If he says “yes” he may get some superdelegates, but will also mostly lose his lead because Hillary will be getting more than he does.

In essence the Democratic Committee not only said their own rules aren’t important, they also made a race that’s too close even closer.

Wow, that’s stupid.

Not only that, it’s precisely what the DNC vowed to prevent.

Bush vs World on Dollar

President Bush’s world:

President George W. Bush, under fire from Democrats who say he’s doing too little to help homeowners facing foreclosure, said he won’t be stampeded into “bad policy decisions” that might harm the economy.

“The market now is in the process of correcting itself, and delaying that correction would only prolong the problem,” he said today in his weekly radio address. “I believe the government can take sensible, focused action to help responsible homeowners weather this rough patch.”

Bush’s remarks echoed a speech yesterday, when he said the economy is going through a “tough time'’ and that the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department will take “appropriate steps” to stabilize the financial system after a bailout of Bear Stearns Cos., the fifth-largest U.S. securities firm.” Bloomberg)

The real world:

“Sao Paulo, Brazil - Antique store owners in lower Manhattan, ticket vendors at India’s Taj Mahal and Brazilian business executives heading to China all have one thing in common these days: They don’t want U.S. dollars.

Hit by a free fall with no end in sight, the once mighty U.S. dollar is no longer just crashing on currency markets and making life more expensive for American tourists and business people abroad; its clout is evaporating worldwide as foreign businesses and individuals turn to other currencies.

Experts say the bleak U.S. economic forecast means it will take years for the greenback to recover its value and prestige.

Negative dollar sentiment is growing in nations where the dollar was historically accepted as equal or better than local currency - and dollar aversion is even extending to some quarters in the United States.

At the Taj Mahal, dollars were always legal tender, alongside rupees, for entry into the palace. But because of the falling value of the dollar, the government implemented a rupees-only policy a month ago. Indian merchants catering to tourists have also turned bearish on the dollar.

‘Gone are the days when we used to run after dollars, holding onto them for rainy days,’ said Vijay Narain, a tour operator in the city of Agra where the Taj Mahal is located. ‘Now we prefer the euro. It gives us more riches.’

In Bolivia, billboards feature George Washington’s image on a $1 bill alongside a bright pink 500 euro note, encouraging savers to turn to the euro to tuck away money earned abroad or sent home in remittances.

If the dollar’s going down … save it in Euros!!!’ say the signs popping up around La Paz for Bolivia’s Banco Bisa.” AP)

weak US Dollar makes EU world’s number one economy

The U.S. economy lost the title of “world’s biggest” to the euro zone this week as the value of the dollar slumped in currency markets.

Taking the gross domestic product of both economies in 2007, the combined GDP of the 15 countries which use the euro overtook that of the United States when the European currency surged to a record high of more than $1.56 per euro. Reuters

Arrested for ‘walking while buddhist’

More than 100 Tibetan refugees who were detained in India while attempting to march to the Chinese border have been placed in custody for 14 days.

The marchers, protesting against China hosting the Olympics, were detained near Dharamsala town, headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

The walk began on Monday as part of a global pro-independence protest.

It coincided with the 49th anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s escape from Tibet after a failed uprising against China.

India has in the past been sympathetic to the Tibetan cause but in recent years Delhi’s relations with Beijing have improved and India has not allowed large-scale public protests for fear of embarrassing Beijing. BBC

White House BS on Venezuelan troop movement

This is the stuff that used to drive me insane. From today’s White House press gaggle:

Q Venezuela is saying today that it’s deploying tank battalions and air and sea forces toward the Colombian border and its crisis there. What’s the level of U.S. concern on that? And is there any chance that the U.S. would be offering military assistance to it’s ally, Colombia?

MS. PERINO: I think that’s a little bit premature. I don’t — we do not have independent confirmation of that claim of the troop movements down in that area. So I’m not able to say. I think it’s premature to say that there would be any need for military help. We do believe that Colombia and Ecuador should be able to work this out between themselves. We don’t see any need for a country that wasn’t involved to be a part of it. We do think it’s curious that a country such as Venezuela would be raising the specter of military action against a country who was defending itself against terrorism. I think that says a lot about Venezuela. White House

To review: Venezuela mobilizes its troops and moves them to the border of Colombia, a US ally, yet the White House says “we don’t know what’s going on.”

Spies, satellites, etc not working, I take it? How else can it happen that such an obvious intelligence failure can occur?

Or could it just be Perino was feeding bullshit to the mainstream press to avoid having to give a substantial comment, yet the press still has no idea when and how question should be asked?

It’s probably the latter. Again.

Mental health crisis plagues New Orleans’ 12,000 homeless

Soon after 9/11 Republican scaremongers kept arguing for “tougher” terrorism laws because otherwise the US could actually “loose a major city.”

I imagine it would look something like this:

He was diagnosed by a psychiatrist as aggressive, homeless and schizophrenic. He was kicked out of a Salvation Army homeless shelter late last year for holding a fork to a fellow resident’s throat. On Jan. 4, Johnson was committed to a psychiatric facility for causing a disturbance at a bank. He was released and, a few weeks later, attacked New Orleans police Officer Nicola Cotton, 24, in a parking lot.

Johnson wrestled Cotton’s service handgun from her and shot her 15 times, killing the officer, police said. Johnson remains in jail without bond, charged with first-degree murder.

New Orleans health and law enforcement officials say more cases such as this could unfold if the city’s mental health crisis isn’t resolved soon. Since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city 2½ years ago, the number of public mental health facilities and community outreach centers has decreased dramatically, leaving the mentally ill without medication and monitoring. (…)

Mental illness also is rampant among the city’s homeless, whose population has spiked since the storm from 6,200 to 12,000 today, says Sam Scaffidi of the New Orleans Police Homeless Assistance Unit. Under the Interstate 10 overpass at the corner of Claiborne Avenue and Canal Street downtown, homeless encampments have multiplied since Katrina into a sprawling colony of tents, soiled sleeping bags and cardboard caves.
USA Today

Rice asks Plaestinians to come back to the table

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has called on Palestinians to resume peace talks with Israel, on the eve of her latest Middle East visit. BBC

Right. Because the US has never taken a side in this before:

Benefits to Israel of U.S. Aid
Since 1949 (As of November 1, 1997)

Foreign Aid Grants and Loans
$74,157,600,000

Other U.S. Aid (12.2% of Foreign Aid)
$9,047,227,200

Interest to Israel from Advanced Payments
$1,650,000,000

Grand Total
$84,854,827,200

Total Benefits per Israeli
$14,630 link

And some newer numbers from Dec 2002:

Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. If divided by today’s population, that is more than $5,700 per person.

This is an estimate by Thomas Stauffer, a consulting economist in Washington. For decades, his analyses of the Middle East scene have made him a frequent thorn in the side of the Israel lobby.

For the first time in many years, Mr. Stauffer has tallied the total cost to the US of its backing of Israel in its drawn-out, violent dispute with the Palestinians. So far, he figures, the bill adds up to more than twice the cost of the Vietnam War.
Christian Science Monitor

That’s about 1/3 of all foreign aid spend by the US.

U.N. Security Council urges end of Gaza violence

The U.N. Security Council on Sunday urged Israel and Palestinian militants to cease all violence in Gaza after the U.N. secretary-general condemned what he called Israel’s “excessive” use of force. (…)

“Members of the Security Council are deeply concerned about the loss of civilian life in southern Israel and Gaza and condemn the escalation of violence,” the council said in a statement read by Russian Ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, the council’s current president.

“These events underscore the need for all parties to immediately cease all acts of violence,” the statement said. Reuters

US cuts aid to poor nation due to soaring prices, biofuels

The U.S. government’s humanitarian relief agency will significantly scale back emergency food aid to some of the world’s poorest countries this year because of soaring global food prices, and the U.S. Agency for International Development is drafting plans to reduce the number of recipient nations, the amount of food provided to them, or both, officials at the agency said.

USAID officials said that a 41 percent surge in prices for wheat, corn, rice and other cereals over the past six months has generated a $120 million budget shortfall that will force the agency to reduce emergency operations. That deficit is projected to rise to $200 million by year’s end. Prices have skyrocketed as more grains go to biofuel production or are consumed by such fast-emerging markets as China and India. Washington Post

It probably doesn’t help that the Dollar keeps falling either.

Plaestinian leader Abbas breaks contact with Israel citing mass killings

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has suspended contact with Israel in protest at an assault on Gaza which has killed about 100 people, an aide says.

The suspension came amid angry demonstrations in Gaza and clashes with Israeli troops in the West Bank.

Israeli PM Ehud Olmert vowed to carry on the assault, which came in response to militant rocket attacks on Israel.

The violence intensified on Saturday, when nearly 70 people were killed in one of Gaza’s bloodiest days in years.

This all “started” because a rocket fired from what is jokingly called Palestine into Israel, killing a 40-year old jewish man. So the going rate apparently is one 44-year old jew against 100 Palestinians, including women and children.

Kremlin handpicked Medvedev ‘heading for clear win,’ Putin to ’serve’ as PM

Not exactly shocking:

Vladimir Putin’s chosen successor, Dmitry Medvedev, is set to win Russia’s presidential election by a wide margin, exit polls indicate.
Mr Medvedev, a first deputy PM, was the clear favourite from the start and enjoyed generous television coverage. (…)

Mr Putin has pledged to serve as Mr Medvedev’s prime minister. BBC

Scores die in raids on Gaza

Israel’s military killed at least 54 Palestinians yesterday - almost half of them civilians, including four children - in its most violent assault on the Gaza Strip since the Islamic militant group Hamas seized power last June. The latest deaths bring to more than 80 the number of Palestinians killed since a rocket fired from inside Gaza killed a 44-year-old Israeli in the town of Sderot last week. Two Israeli soldiers also died in the fighting.

The latest bloodshed comes as an Observer investigation revealed how Israel is again deliberately obstructing the transfer of urgent medical cases for treatment outside Gaza in the latest extension of its policy of collective punishment of Palestinians.Guardian

Guardian: Putin to rig election

The Kremlin is planning to falsify the results of this Sunday’s presidential election in Russia by compelling millions of public sector workers to vote and by fraudulently boosting the official turnout after polls close, the Guardian has learned.

Governors, regional officials, and even headteachers have been instructed to deliver a landslide majority for Dmitry Medvedev - Russia’s first deputy prime minister, whom President Vladimir Putin has endorsed to be his successor.

Officials have been told they need to secure a 68% to 70% turnout in this weekend’s poll - with around 72% casting votes for Medvedev. However, independent analysts believe the real turnout will be much lower - with between 25% and 50% of the electorate taking part.

The Kremlin is planning to bridge the gap by the use of widespread fraud, diplomats and other independent sources have told the Guardian. Local election officials are preparing to stuff ballot boxes once the polls have closed with unused ballots, they believe, with regional officials also giving inflated tallies to Russia’s central election commission. Guardian

Israel warns of invasion of Gaza

Israel’s deputy defence minister has said it will be left with “no choice” but to invade Gaza, if Palestinian militants step up rocket attacks.

Matan Vilnai said the Palestinians risked a big disaster - using the Hebrew word for the Holocaust.

Mr Vilnai said Israel would use all its might to defend itself, after rockets hit the city of Ashkelon, 10km (six miles) from Gaza. BBC

Turkish troops pull out of Iraq, both sides declare victory

The Turkish version of “mission accomplished”:

Turkey says its troops have been withdrawn from northern Iraq after an offensive against Kurdish PKK rebels.

In a statement on its website, Turkey’s military said it had achieved its goals, and there was no question of any foreign influence on the decision. BBC

Update: The PKK responds via Al Jazeera:

Ahmed Danis, a spokesman for the PKK, confirmed the Turkish troop pull-out.

He said: “We are observing military movements like empty military trucks coming from Turkey. The trucks are being loaded with troops and returning to Turkey.

“If they [Turkish troops] withdraw completely it would be a victory for Kurdistan and for the PKK.” Al Jazeera

US sends warship to Lebanon

Signaling impatience with Syria, the United States has sent its USS Cole warship off the coast of Lebanon in a “show of support” for regional stability, U.S. officials said on Thursday.

(…) “The United States believes a show of support is important for regional stability. We are very concerned about the situation in Lebanon. It has dragged on very long,” said the senior official, who spoke on condition he was not named. Reuters

Watch stability sprout up at gunpoint.

Army: Nation building as important as combat missions

The Army on Thursday rolled out the first revision of its operations manual since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, putting stability operations - nation-building - on par with combat.

Army officials said the revision reflects a focus on fighting terrorism.

“The field manual is our Army’s blueprint for an uncertain future,” said Lt. Gen. William Caldwell IV, commander of Fort Leavenworth, where the document was produced. “It does provide the blueprint for how we, as an Army, will operate over the next 10 to 15 years.”

The new manual reflects Army experiences over the past six years of fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida in Afghanistan and insurgents in Iraq, as well as with relief efforts after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Caldwell said the U.S. will focus on building its influence in nations plagued by conflicts so that it can make them stable and secure. AP

Now all we need is a time machine to send this back to 2000. That can’t be harder than what the US Army is facing in Iraq, so I say we go for it.

Bush 2000

Seeing the Democratic debate reminded me of something. And it still blows my mind. Bush actually said this in his second debate with Al Gore in 2000:

MODERATOR: The use of the military, there (Columbia) — some people are now suggesting that if you don’t want to use the military to maintain the peace, to do the civil thing, is it time to consider a civil force of some kind that comes in after the military that builds nations or all of that? Is that on your radar screen?

BUSH: I don’t think so. I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations. Maybe I’m missing something here. I mean, we’re going to have kind of a nation building core from America? Absolutely not. Our military is meant to fight and win war. That’s what it’s meant to do. And when it gets overextended, morale drops. I strongly believe we need to have a military presence in the peninsula, not only to keep the peace in the peninsula, but to keep regional stability. And I strongly believe we need to keep a presence in NATO, but I’m going to be judicious as to how to use the military. It needs to be in our vital interest, the mission needs to be clear, and the extra strategy obvious.
Debate transcript, October 11, 2000

1% of Americans behind bars

The land of the Free.

For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs.

The report, released today by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.

Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 — one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world. AP

What’s worse, the prisons are so overcrowded that one has to be tough to walk out of it again. So prisons are responsible for releasing hardened criminals who are usually a bigger threat to society than they were before they went to prison. The “correctional” aspect of “correctional institution” never even enters into the equation as people are warehoused.

Millions of dollars are spent on such crime farms, yet any suggestions like maybe not sending people to prison for minor offenses (420), is brushed aside as not being “tough on crime.”

Well, way to be “tough on” society there.

Iraq denounces Turkish offensive, tells troops to withraw immediately

One thing to remember: Kurdistan once existed where now Iraq and Turkey do.

The Iraqi government has denounced a Turkish incursion into northern Iraq in some of the strongest terms heard since the operation began last week.

In a statement, the Iraqi cabinet expressed its “rejection and condemnation” of the operation.

It called on Ankara to withdraw its troops immediately. BBC

Or else?