Guantanamo Bay Detainee Is First to Be Given a Lawyer (washingtonpost.com): "An Australian detainee at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba last night became the first prisoner there to be given a lawyer, a strong indication that he is on track to be the first alleged al Qaeda fighter in detention to go before a military tribunal, according to informed sources. "

"There is a windowless room on the seventh floor of the US Department of Justice building in Washington. Few people know what happens within its walls. This is the home of America's most secretive court: the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court (FISAC). We need to know about it because what it does or doesn't do has a great impact on the "war against terror" and American civil liberties.
Congress established FISAC in 1978 as a Cold War tool to conduct secret domestic investigations of alleged enemy agents. In those days it had little to do, but today it is one of the principal centers for the government's counter-terrorist efforts. It is where the Justice Department requests "warrantless warrants," authorizing the FBI to conduct secret domestic wiretaps and other snooping. Justice obtained 113 secret emergency search or electronic-surveillance authorizations from FISAC in the year after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, compared to 47 in the 23 years since the court's founding. "

Read on here

Arab Waiter Ousted From Fundraiser Claims Bias (washingtonpost.com): "An Arab American waiter who has worked for seven years at the Hyatt Regency in Baltimore said he was sent home yesterday prior to a presidential fundraiser by a manager who asked him just one question: 'Is your name Mohamad?' "

Yahoo! News - Two youths charged in beating death of Vancouver teen as mourners gather: "VANCOUVER (CP) - As mourners gathered for the funeral of a Filipino teenager, two Indo-Canadian teenagers were being charged Friday with second-degree murder in his death.


The two friends, aged 16 and 17, were picked up hours apart Friday afternoon and police said they continued to search for three suspects and had executed several search warrants.
'We think the two key players have been charged today,' Const. Anne Drennan told reporters.
Police also issued a call for peace among certain groups in 'some schools.'
'We are aware of some tension that has developed since (the victim's) death,' said Acting Chief Const. Dan Dureau. 'We would ask that everyone stay peaceful.'
The youth passed away last Saturday after a savage beating, shocking Vancouver residents and prompting long discussions about racism in the city's schools.
Police have said the Filipino boy was with three other Filipino friends when they were attacked by a group of as many as five Indo-Canadian youths.
The two groups exchanged racial slurs, police said."

BBC NEWS | Europe | Berlusconi tightens grip on media: "The Italian Senate has approved a controversial measure which allows Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to consolidate his media domination.
A total of 155 senators voted the media bill into law, with 128 against.
One provision of the bill is to reverse a court ruling that Mr Berlusconi's Mediaset company must sell off one of its three TV stations by 1 January. "

Seriously?

Patriot Act Author Has Concerns: "The Justice Department's war on terrorism has drawn intense scrutiny from the left and the right. Now, a chief architect of the USA Patriot Act and a former top assistant to Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft are joining the fray, voicing concern about aspects of the administration's anti-terrorism policy."

yaledailynews.com - Law students write for Guantanamo detainees: "Yale Law Students in the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic have obtained hands-on legal experience in recent months, helping to write amicus briefs in U.S. Supreme Court cases dealing with the detainment of foreign nationals in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Under the supervision of Yale international law professor Harold Koh, who was recently selected to be the next dean of the Law School, the students have written and will continue to write briefs on cases dealing with similar post-Sept. 11 detainment policies of President George W. Bush '68."

U.S. Newswire - Amnesty International USA: End of Special Registration Welcome but Will it End Discriminatory Treatment?: "WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Amnesty International USA Senior Deputy Executive Director, Curt Goering, released the following statement regarding today's announcement by the US Department of Homeland Security that it would no longer require the 'special' registration under the National Security Entry Exit Registration System (NSEERS) of Middle Eastern, South Asian and Muslim men:
The end of NSEERS, as we know it, is a welcome step toward closing the gap between recognizing basic human rights principles of non-discrimination and the disparate treatment of a selected group of non-citizens in US policy. But today's announcement does not guarantee individuals targeted under NSEERS will not continued to be singled out for scrutiny in the 'war on terror.'
Although the US government claims to be ending the special registration requirements under NSEERS, the men from 24 predominately Muslim countries in the Middle East and South Asia will still be required to register under US-Visit, the program replacing NSEERS. Serious questions remain as to whether or not these individuals, after registering, will continue to receive disparate treatment under US policy. During the implementation of NSEERS, more than 80,000 individuals complied with the program's registration requirements and, subsequently, hundreds of them were detained and more than 13,000 were placed in deportation proceedings."

BBC NEWS | Asia-Pacific | '100 to be freed' from Guantanamo: "The United States plans to release at least 100 inmates from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in the coming weeks, according to media reports.
It is not clear whether they will face charges in their home countries. "

Boston.com / News / Boston Globe / Magazine / God on the Quad

I would think that religious identification is going up in general. Just look at the new Hindu Student Groups at Dartmouth and on several other campuses . . .

[via Instapundit for a change]

Clark Proposes $30 Billion Plan: "FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 30 � Seeking to flesh out his policy agenda, Gen. Wesley K. Clark on Monday will propose doubling to $30 billion the United States' financial commitment to fighting AIDS and other diseases in the developing world.
In a speech he is scheduled to give at a community H.I.V. treatment center here on Monday, which international organizations have designated World AIDS Day, General Clark also plans to propose financial incentives for pharmaceutical companies working on vaccines for AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, diseases that disproportionately affect people in developing countries.
The $30 billion commitment, to be spread over five years, would be paid for in part by rescinding recent tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, aides to General Clark said. "

Op-Ed Columnist: On Same-Sex Marriage: "The libertarian in me says: civil union corrects an inequity in the law. There should be no legal or economic discrimination against homosexuals anywhere in the U.S. And what is lawful in Vermont or Massachusetts should be recognized in every other state because we are one nation when it comes to basic rights, popular statutes to the contrary notwithstanding.
That's the easy part. More difficult is the argument that the primary purpose of society's bedrock institution is to conceive and rear children in a home of male and female role models known as caring parents. But now that there are adoptive and scientific substitutes for old-fashioned procreation, and now that 43 percent of first marriages fail, the nuclear family ideal is not what it used to be. Little lock is left in wedlock."

KR Washington Bureau | 11/30/2003 | Military officers file brief against Bush's policy in Guantanamo:

"WASHINGTON - Navy Rear Admiral Don Guter felt the Pentagon shudder when an airliner hijacked by terrorists crashed into it on Sept. 11, 2001. He helped evacuate shaken personnel and later gave the eulogy for a colleague killed that day.
'I would have done anything that day, and I fully support the war on terrorism,' said Guter, who served as judge advocate general, the Navy's chief legal officer, until he retired last year.
Nonetheless, he's joining his predecessor and a retired Marine general with expertise on prisoner issues to challenge the Bush administration's indefinite detention of suspected terrorists at the Navy base in Guantanamo, Cuba.
Guter, Rear Adm. John Hutson and Brig. Gen. David Brahms worry that lengthy incarcerations at Guantanamo without hearings will undermine the rule of law and endanger U.S. forces.
'For me it's a question of balance between security needs and due process, and I think we've lost our balance,' Guter said.
The trio of retired officers recently filed a Supreme Court amicus brief on behalf of 16 detainees held for almost two years. The government contends that all are enemy combatants, most captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and have no legal rights, prisoner of war status or access to federal courts. "

Boston.com / News / Nation / Washington / High court may hear Cheney appeal: "WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's sustained campaign to build up the powers of the presidency and to extend the confidentiality of White House decision-making is due for a major test in the Supreme Court, possibly as early as today.
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The justices appear ready to decide whether they will hear an appeal by Vice President Dick Cheney, who is defending his refusal to disclose files of the task force that he headed in developing the administration's energy policy, which is now stalled in Congress.
If the court grants a review, a final decision would be months away. The administration has raised the stakes on the preliminary decision by arguing that the case threatens 'fundamental principles of the separation of powers' between the branches of government.
Because of the sweeping constitutional arguments being made, the case has the potential to sharply curtail the power of the courts and, by implication, Congress to oversee the workings of the executive branch."

BBC NEWS | Africa | France 'not leaving Ivory Coast': "France has rejected demands by Ivory Coast soldiers to withdraw its peacekeepers from a buffer zone separating government and rebel forces.
A French military spokesman said they would stay on to fulfil their mission. "

Just for once, I want to say: this guy truly deserved what he got.


Sniper Jury Cites Lack of Sorrow for Death Sentence: "IRGINIA BEACH, Nov. 24 � After deliberating for just over five hours, a jury here sentenced John A. Muhammad to death on Monday for directing the Washington-region sniper killings, expressing dismay with what jurors saw as his steely lack of remorse for the attacks last fall that left 10 people dead."