I understand that the Obama campaign is worried about the GOP whispering campaign that his name is really “Osama” and/or that he's a closet Muslim, but is a video making people think he is a Hindu really going to help matters?
Found via: e.politics: online advocacy tools & tactics » Barack Obama Bollywood Video Editing Software = Genius
Thanks to Oyez, you can hear (and read along with) the Boumediene v. Bush, U.S. Supreme Court Oral Argument.
It does not increase my respect for the Chief Justice. But it reflects well on both advocates, especially Seth Waxman.
C.I.A. Destroyed Tapes of Interrogations:
The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Al Qaeda operatives in the agency's custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about the C.I.A's secret detention program, according to current and former government officials.
The videotapes showed agency operatives in 2002 subjecting terror suspects — including Abu Zubaydah, the first detainee in C.I.A. custody — to severe interrogation techniques. They were destroyed in part because officers were concerned that tapes documenting controversial interrogation methods could expose agency officials to greater risk of legal jeopardy, several officials said….
The recordings were not provided to a federal court hearing the case of the terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui or to the Sept. 11 commission, which had made formal requests to the C.I.A. for transcripts and any other documentary evidence taken from interrogations of agency prisoners.
C.I.A. lawyers told federal prosecutors in 2003 and 2005, who relayed the information to a federal court in the Moussaoui case, that the C.I.A. did not possess recordings of interrogations sought by the judge in the case.
Update: Read this: Firedoglake, Absence of Torture Tape Librarian a Feature, Not a Bug
Local court blogger 'Rumpole' spots an interesting legal issue in setting up the issues in the upcoming trial of the alleged killers of Sean Taylor. The alleged shooter is under 18, and thus cannot be subjected to the death penalty. The two alleged accomplices are subject to a potential death penalty under the felony murder rule:
First question: under the principle of proportionality, can the prosecution seek the death penalty for defendants who were not the shooter when they are precluded from seeking the death penalty for the shooter based on the shooter's age?
I could see a set of these as being a popular joke Xmas gift: Defense Intelligence Agency: Terrorist Recognition Cards.
Maybe it's my weird sense of humor, but I really enjoyed this video from The Richter Scales, YouTube – Here Comes Another Bubble.
(Spotted via Unfogged.)
Certainly more cheerful than their Fine Line: Sub-Prime Decline
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