Steve McNair Dead

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Former Titans quarterback Steve McNair has been killed. Police said McNair suffered a fatal gunshot wound to the head in downtown Nashville.

V-22 Osprey Shows Serious Problems

From the always informative zerohostel comes some new information about the Marine Corps V-22 Osprey,

The V-22 Osprey, military tilt-rotor built by Boeing and Bell, might see its operational life interrupted after a report issued by the GAO (Government Accountability Office), according to which not only this aircraft had shown serious problems in the difficult environments of Iraq, but it had also reached unacceptable production and maintenance costs.

The GAO recommended that the Defense Department analyze the Marine Corps’ needs against the V-22’s capabilities and costs against other helicopters and aircraft. “This analysis should be conducted within the context of future budgetary constraints, and the services should then adjust total V-22 procurement and annual production and acquisition plans accordingly,” the report said.

yojoe out

Gates To Make Change to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

According to CNN, SecDef Gates has discussed a change to Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy for the military.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates for the first time is outlining potential Obama Administration plans to selectively enforce the “don’t ask don’t tell” ban on gays in the military so that some gays could serve.

Gates says he is now looking at ways to make the ban “more humane” including letting people serve who may have been outed due to vengeance or a jilted lover. The remarks were made in a transcript released Tuesday by the Pentagon.

On a related note, the policy should be Do Not Ask, Do Not Tell.  Let’s do away with contractions.

yojoe out

Blogroll Addition: The Lift

Dreadnaught has a new addition to the blogroll: The Lift.  The Lift covers legal issues concerning the fight against terrorism.  It is a great resource for information on Guantanamo Bay, detainees, and military commissions.  Please check it out.

yojoe out

President Obama To Issue Executive Order Authorizing Indefinite Detention Of Those Held In Guantanamo Bay

A recent WaPo article outlines some of the options being considered by the Obama administration for GTMO detainees.

Under one White House draft that was being discussed this month, according to administration officials, detainees would be imprisoned at a military facility on U.S. soil, but their ongoing detention would be subject to annual presidential review. U.S. citizens would not be held in the system.

Such detainees — those at Guantanamo and those who may be captured in the future — would also have the right to legal representation during confinement and access to some of the information that is being used to keep them behind bars. Anyone detained under this order would have a right to challenge his detention before a judge.

Officials say the plan would give detainees more rights and allow them a better chance than they have now at Guantanamo to one day end their indefinite incarceration.

yojoe out

Congress Limits The President’s Ability To Close Guantanamo Bay

First, the title of this post is a bit misleading.  President Obama never made a promise to close Guantanamo Bay (GTMO).  He only ordered that the detention facility, holding those captured in the GWOT be closed by January 2010.  That being said, the recent bill signed into law by the president, H.R. 2346: Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2009, significantly limits the president’s ability to transfer detainees from GTMO.

Among the provisions in the bill, the president must,

SEC. 319. (a) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than 60 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act and every 90 days
thereafter, the President shall submit to the members and committees
of Congress specified in subsection (b) a report on the prisoner
population at the detention facility at Naval Station Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba.

Additionally, the bill severely limits the use of funds to either close GTMO or transfer detainees to the United States or any other country,

Supreme Court Will Not Take Action On Uighur Case Until Next Term

The Supreme Court will not hear Kiyemba, et al. v. Obama, et al. until next term, October at the earliest.

Because the Court took no formal action on Kiyemba Monday, there was no explanation.  It is possible to speculate on the reasons.

Among them could be that the Court did not want to be seen to be interfering with diplomatic efforts to arrange the re-settlement of the 13 men in the case — Chinese Muslims who are members of the Uighur sect.  The U.S. Solicitor General had told the Court that four of 17 Uighurs originally involved in the case had been released, and that diplomatic efforts would go on to try to place the other 13.

Another possible reason was that the Court was unwilling, while the new Obama Administration was sorting out its overall detention policy, to engage in a confrontation over presidential or congressional war powers of the kind that had led to four earlier rulings limiting detention authority.  The prospect that the remaining 13 might yet be placed in another country perhaps made it seem that the case simply would become moot in a matter of weeks.

Read more here.

yojoe out

H/T: SCOTUSBLOG

Oregon Ducks 2009 Football Uniforms

The Oregon Ducks, with help from Nike, have done it again, they have come up with new uniforms for the 2009 football season that are even uglier than last season.  And that is saying something, considering the previous uniforms were the worst in all of sports.  Not only are the unis repugnant, they are also versatile with 80 different combinations.  Eighty combinations?  How may games do they plan on playing this season?  Put down the hippy lettuce Oregon and just play football.

yojoe Fight On!

Sarkozy, Burka, Obama, And Paulie Walnuts

French President Nicolas Sarkozy recently addressed parliament on the issue of the wearing of burka in France,

“It will not be welcome on French soil,” he said.” We cannot accept, in our country, women imprisoned behind a mesh, cut off from society, deprived of all identity. That is not the French republic’s idea of women’s dignity.”

President Obama also addressed the subject in a speech in Cairo, stating,

“We won’t tell people what to wear.’’

First, we Americans are often told to follow the lead of Europeans, because they are so much more progressive.  Apparently not on this issue.  Second, it is great to hear our president reinforce our tradition of freedom of religion and expression.  Lastly, it may be worth rethinking our tradition of freedom of religion if we could ban Paulie Walnuts from wearing a cross with an open collar running suit.

yojoe out

Artie Lange, Joe Buck, And The Hypocrisy Of HBO

The comic Artie Lange was recently invited to Joe Buck’s new HBO show Joe Buck Live.  While on the show Lange was both funny and abrasive.  Now the head of HBO, Ross Greenburg has apologized for Lange and banned him from HBO,

“I would say I’m sorry to anyone across America who had kids and were watching what they thought was a good and honest sports show that turned into gutter language.”

I did not see the original airing of the show, but I did catch it on a replay.  Also, the show continues to replay on HBO.  Now if Mr. Greenburg is so sorry for Lange’s actions why is he continuing to air the program?  Either apologize and refuse to air the show, or continue to air it and embrace Lange’s brand of comedy.  Just don’t profit from Lange’s appearance and fain shock.

yojoe out

Osprey Gets Gun Turret

From Aviation Week,

The U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 squadron preparing to deploy to Afghanistan in the third or fourth quarter of this year is now flight testing a turreted gun to beef-up the aircraft’s fire-power.

The Bell/Boeing MV-22 unit is likely to be deployed to Camp Bastion in the Helmand region as part of the U.S.’s ramp-up of forces in the country. The BAE Systems turret uses a GAU-17, 7.62mm cal. mini-gun in the belly or “hell hole” of the tiltrotor aircraft.

USMC Lt. Gen. George J. Trautman III, deputy commandant for aviation, says some “basic” testing work is now being carried out by the squadron, and that next month will see full operational tests. Trautman is “fairly confident we’ll meet the fall objective.”

yojoe out

Uighurs To Bermuda

From Reuters,

Four Chinese detainees from Guantanamo Bay arrived in Bermuda on Thursday after being freed by U.S. authorities in the Obama administration’s latest move to close the controversial prison camp for terror suspects.

Their release took place the same day China repeated its demand for repatriation of all 17 members of the Uighur ethnic group held at the U.S. military prison in Cuba. China said it opposed any third country accepting the men.

Attorneys for the four Muslim men, who were held for seven years before being cleared by U.S. authorities as terrorism suspects, said they will take part in Bermuda’s foreign guest worker program.

yojoe out

Husband And Wife Spy For Cuba

From AP,

A retired State Department worker and his wife have been arrested on charges of spying for Cuba for three decades, using grocery carts among their array of tools to pass U.S. secrets to the communist government in a security breach one official described as “incredibly serious.”

An indictment unsealed Friday said Walter Kendall Myers worked his way into higher and higher U.S. security clearances while secretly partnering with his wife, Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers, as clandestine agents so valued by the Cuban government that they once had a private four-hour meeting with President Fidel Castro.

yojoe out

Photos Of USC Workout

Check out the photos of USC Football workouts at Walter Juarez’s Blog.

yojoe Fight On!

Uighurs Back To Supreme Court

The case of Jamal Kiyemba v. Obama, was decided on 7 April 2009 by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  The court held that no court had the power to order the Uighurs to be released to live in the United States. 

The case will be heard by SCOTUS on 25 June 2009.

yojoe out

H/T: ScotusBlog

Increased Legal Rights For Detainees May Lead To More Targeted Killings In Afghanistan

Jack Goldsmith of the WoPo, reveals some of the unforeseen consequences of the increased legal rights for those held at Guantanamo Bay,

A little-noticed consequence of elevating standards at Guantanamo is that the government has sent very few terrorist suspects there in recent years. Instead, it holds more terrorists — without charge or trial, without habeas rights, and with less public scrutiny — at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Or it renders them to countries where interrogation and incarceration standards are often even lower.

The cat-and-mouse game does not end there. As detentions at Bagram and traditional renditions have come under increasing legal and political scrutiny, the Bush and Obama administrations have relied more on other tactics. They have secured foreign intelligence services to do all the work — capture, incarceration and interrogation — for all but the highest-level detainees. And they have increasingly employed targeted killings, a tactic that eliminates the need to interrogate or incarcerate terrorists but at the cost of killing or maiming suspected terrorists and innocent civilians alike without notice or due process.

yojoe out

Guantanamo Bay: Majority Of American Oppose Closing Terrorist Detention Center

Just after taking office, President Obama ordered,

The detention facilities at Guantánamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than 1 year from the date of this order. If any individuals covered by this order remain in detention at Guantánamo at the time of closure of those detention facilities, they shall be returned to their home country, released, transferred to a third country, or transferred to another United States detention facility in a manner consistent with law and the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States.

The Senate was not as open to the idea and refused to allocate any funds to be used to relocate the detainees to the United States.

Now, the idea of closing Guantanamo Bay has become very unpopular with the American people.  In a recent USA TODAY/Gallup Poll,

By more than 2-1, those surveyed say Guantanamo shouldn’t be closed. By more than 3-1, they oppose moving some of the accused terrorists housed there to prisons in their own states.

The findings underscore the difficult task President Obama faces in convincing those at home that he should follow through on his campaign promise to close the prison in Cuba, especially in the absence of a plan of where the prisoners would go.

yojoe out

Military Commissions: Omar Khadr Fires Military Lawyer

The latest on the military commissions being held in Guantanamo Bay,

Judge Patrick Parrish, a US Army colonel, decided to publicly hear arguments in the case of Omar Khadr, who was 15 years old when he allegedly killed a US sergeant with a grenade.

The case highlights the many challenges President Barack Obama faces in changing the military commissions system, part of his vow to shutter the prison at Guantanamo Bay — a US naval base in southeastern Cuba where 240 “war on terror” detainees are still held.

At the hearing the Toronto-born detainee immediately made it clear he wanted to dismiss his legal team, whose members he said have been bickering for months.

“For the past four months, there’s been a conflict,” Khadr, now 22, told the military commission in one of his first public statements since he was arrested in 2002 in Afghanistan.

“I can’t trust them. I am going to excuse all of them but I can’t represent myself,” Khadr said, in some of his first court statements since his incarceration in the US “war on terror” prison here.

yojoe out

HBO Hard Knocks: Season Three Cincinnati Bengals

The third season of the HBO show Hard Knocks will feature the Cincinnati Bengals.  For Trojan fans this will be a great year.  The show should feature a number of former USC players, including Rey Maualuga, Carson Palmer, Keith Rivers, and Fostee Rucker.

yojoe Fight On!

Woman Gives Birth To Twins With Different Fathers

This should not cause a traumatic explanation when these children are old enough to have this explained to them. 

“You see Justin and Jordan, you are twins and you have the same mommy, but you have different daddies.  Mommy was having sexual relations with two men when you were conceived.  Your mommy is so loving that she could love two men at the same time.”

On second thought, this will not go that smoothly. 

The twins were the result of superfecundation, “fertilization of two or more oocytes during the same ovulatory cycle by separate coital acts.”

Having to explain two separate coital acts is never easy.

yojoe out

Jonathan Lee Riches©To Be Named Most Litigious Man By The Guinness Book Of World Records

Jonathan Lee Riches©, or the JRL as he is known on Dreadnaught, is back in the news.  The inmate from Federal Correctional Institution Williamsburg, SC, is to be named the most litigious man by the Guinness Book of World Records.

Here are some of the JRL’s lawsuits for your reading pleasure:

• Michael Vick
• Barry Bonds
• Wal-Mart
• President Bush
• The World Wide Web
• 50 Cent
• Iron Mike Tyson
• Ashlee Simpson
• Viagra, Cialis, Lavitra

yojoe out