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Thanks for the good read. Couple questions. Does that court have the capacity to try hundreds, if not thousands of unlawful combatants? And is the same herky-jerky appeals process there that allows trials to drag on for 10+ years?

Here is the President's Executive Order, verbatim. What's striking is how how precise it is. The blow-hards in the press and Congress are blowing this WAY out of proportion.

Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism By the authority vested in me as President and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the United States by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the Authorization for Use of Military Force Joint Resolution (Public Law 107-40, 115 Stat. 224) and sections 821 and 836 of title 10, United States Code, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Findings. (a) International terrorists, including members of al Qaida, have carried out attacks on United States diplomatic and military personnel and facilities abroad and on citizens and property within the United States on a scale that has created a state of armed conflict that requires the use of the United States Armed Forces. (b) In light of grave acts of terrorism and threats of terrorism, including the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, on the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense in the national capital region, on the World Trade Center in New York, and on civilian aircraft such as in Pennsylvania, I proclaimed a national emergency on September 14, 2001 (Proc. 7463, Declaration of National Emergency by Reason of Certain Terrorist Attacks). (c) Individuals acting alone and in concert involved in international terrorism possess both the capability and the intention to undertake further terrorist attacks against the United States that, if not detected and prevented, will cause mass deaths, mass injuries, and massive destruction of property, and may place at risk the continuity of the operations of the United States Government. (d) The ability of the United States to protect the United States and its citizens, and to help its allies and other cooperating nations protect their nations and their citizens, from such further terrorist attacks depends in significant part upon using the United States Armed Forces to identify terrorists and those who support them, to disrupt their activities, and to eliminate their ability to conduct or support such attacks. (e) To protect the United States and its citizens, and for the effective conduct of military operations and prevention of terrorist attacks, it is necessary for individuals subject to this order pursuant to section 2 hereof to be detained, and, when tried, to be tried for violations of the laws of war and other applicable laws by military tribunals. (f) Given the danger to the safety of the United States and the nature of international terrorism, and to the extent provided by and under this order, I find consistent with section 836 of title 10, United States Code, that it is not practicable to apply in military commissions under this order the principles of law and the rules of evidence generally recognized in the trial of criminal cases in the United States district courts. (g) Having fully considered the magnitude of the potential deaths, injuries, and property destruction that would result from potential acts of terrorism against the United States, and the probability that such acts will occur, I have determined that an extraordinary emergency exists for national defense purposes, that this emergency constitutes an urgent and compelling govern-ment interest, and that issuance of this order is necessary to meet the emergency. Sec. 2. Definition and Policy. (a) The term "individual subject to this order" shall mean any individual who is not a United States citizen with respect to whom I determine from time to time in writing that: (1) there is reason to believe that such individual, at the relevant times, (i) is or was a member of the organization known as al Qaida; (ii) has engaged in, aided or abetted, or conspired to commit, acts of international terrorism, or acts in preparation therefor, that have caused, threaten to cause, or have as their aim to cause, injury to or adverse effects on the United States, its citizens, national security, foreign policy, or economy; or (iii) has knowingly harbored one or more individuals described in subparagraphs (i) or (ii) of subsection 2(a)(1) of this order; and (2) it is in the interest of the United States that such individual be subject to this order. (b) It is the policy of the United States that the Secretary of Defense shall take all necessary measures to ensure that any individual subject to this order is detained in accordance with section 3, and, if the individual is to be tried, that such individual is tried only in accordance with section 4. (c) It is further the policy of the United States that any individual subject to this order who is not already under the control of the Secretary of Defense but who is under the control of any other officer or agent of the United States or any State shall, upon delivery of a copy of such written determination to such officer or agent, forthwith be placed under the control of the Secretary of Defense. Sec. 3. Detention Authority of the Secretary of Defense. Any individual subject to this order shall be -- (a) detained at an appropriate location designated by the Secretary of Defense outside or within the United States; (b) treated humanely, without any adverse distinction based on race, color, religion, gender, birth, wealth, or any similar criteria; (c) afforded adequate food, drinking water, shelter, clothing, and medical treatment; (d) allowed the free exercise of religion consistent with the requirements of such detention; and (e) detained in accordance with such other conditions as the Secretary of Defense may prescribe. Sec. 4. Authority of the Secretary of Defense Regarding Trials of Individuals Subject to this Order. (a) Any individual subject to this order shall, when tried, be tried by military commission for any and all offenses triable by military commission that such individual is alleged to have committed, and may be punished in accordance with the penalties provided under applicable law, including life imprisonment or death. (b) As a military function and in light of the findings in section 1, including subsection (f) thereof, the Secretary of Defense shall issue such orders and regulations, including orders for the appointment of one or more military commissions, as may be necessary to carry out subsection (a) of this section. (c) Orders and regulations issued under subsection (b) of this section shall include, but not be limited to, rules for the conduct of the proceedings of military commissions, including pretrial, trial, and post-trial procedures, modes of proof, issuance of process, and qualifications of attorneys, which shall at a minimum provide for -- (1) military commissions to sit at any time and any place, consistent with such guidance regarding time and place as the Secretary of Defense may provide; (2) a full and fair trial, with the military commission sitting as the triers of both fact and law; (3) admission of such evidence as would, in the opinion of the presiding officer of the military commission (or instead, if any other member of the commission so requests at the time the presiding officer renders that opinion, the opinion of the commission rendered at that time by a majority of the commission), have probative value to a reasonable person; (4) in a manner consistent with the protection of information classified or classifiable under Executive Order 12958 of April 17, 1995, as amended, or any successor Executive Order, protected by statute or rule from unauthorized disclosure, or otherwise protected by law, (A) the handling of, admission into evidence of, and access to materials and information, and (B) the conduct, closure of, and access to proceedings; (5) conduct of the prosecution by one or more attorneys designated by the Secretary of Defense and conduct of the defense by attorneys for the individual subject to this order; (6) conviction only upon the concurrence of two-thirds of the members of the commission present at the time of the vote, a majority being present; (7) sentencing only upon the concurrence of two-thirds of the members of the commission present at the time of the vote, a majority being present; and (8) submission of the record of the trial, including any conviction or sentence, for review and final decision by me or by the Secretary of Defense if so designated by me for that purpose. Sec. 5. Obligation of Other Agencies to Assist the Secretary of Defense. Departments, agencies, entities, and officers of the United States shall, to the maximum extent permitted by law, provide to the Secretary of Defense such assistance as he may request to implement this order. Sec. 6. Additional Authorities of the Secretary of Defense. (a) As a military function and in light of the findings in section 1, the Secretary of Defense shall issue such orders and regulations as may be necessary to carry out any of the provisions of this order. (b) The Secretary of Defense may perform any of his functions or duties, and may exercise any of the powers provided to him under this order (other than under section 4(c)(8) hereof) in accordance with section 113(d) of title 10, United States Code. Sec. 7. Relationship to Other Law and Forums. (a) Nothing in this order shall be construed to -- (1) authorize the disclosure of state secrets to any person not otherwise authorized to have access to them; (2) limit the authority of the President as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces or the power of the President to grant reprieves and pardons; or (3) limit the lawful authority of the Secretary of Defense, any military commander, or any other officer or agent of the United States or of any State to detain or try any person who is not an individual subject to this order. (b) With respect to any individual subject to this order -- (1) military tribunals shall have exclusive jurisdiction with respect to offenses by the individual; and (2) the individual shall not be privileged to seek any remedy or maintain any proceeding, directly or indirectly, or to have any such remedy or proceeding sought on the individual's behalf, in (i) any court of the United States, or any State thereof, (ii) any court of any foreign nation, or (iii) any international tribunal. (c) This order is not intended to and does not create any right, benefit, or privilege, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or equity by any party, against the United States, its departments, agencies, or other entities, its officers or employees, or any other person. (d) For purposes of this order, the term "State" includes any State, district, territory, or possession of the United States. (e) I reserve the authority to direct the Secretary of Defense, at any time hereafter, to transfer to a governmental authority control of any individual subject to this order. Nothing in this order shall be construed to limit the authority of any such governmental authority to prosecute any individual for whom control is transferred. Sec. 8. Publication. This order shall be published in the Federal Register. GEORGE W. BUSH THE WHITE HOUSE, November 13, 2001.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/11/20011113-27.html

Thats not true at all. If a Kamikaze pilot had flown into San Francisco during WWII, and somehow miraculously survived, do you really think he would go in front of San Francisco Municipal Court? No. He would go in front of a military tribunal, just like the German Sleeper Cells did in 1942 (two years before D-day mind you), under FDR. Unlawful combatants from foreign soil most definitely will go before a tribunal. On top of that, American soldiers on our soil go before a military court if they commit crimes- why should a terrorist be given MORE rights than one of our Marines?

Carville's plan is just plain stupid. ANYONE that's been following the stock market knows that the economy started taking a dump while Clinton was still in office. For the Democrats to start calling this the "Bush recession" is downright ignorant, and America can see right through it. And its going to backfire next November when a bunch of Congressional seats become availabe in states that Bush won.

That' a greeaaaat idea, Alan. So what you're saying is, if a terrorist commits a mass atocity on foreign soil, he should be subject to a military tribunal, but if he does it on American soil, he should get an OJ trial with Greta Van Sustren? Wouldnt that make all the terrorists want to come America FIRST before they commit their crimes? It basically ensures more terrorism at home than abroad.

Barney Fife Airport Security:

Hey can someone help me with the proper code for posting pics? Thanks in advance.

http://www.truthresources.org/faasposter.jpg

My girlfriend (a very attractive blonde) just got back from London for the Thanksgiving holiday. She travelled from San Francisco to Dallas to London and the same way back. She got felt up EVERY single time she went through a security checkpoint. This is getting ridiculous.

Go to the NY times. Its on the front page. I would post the link, but it requires registration.

I think that some of his points have merit but the fact that the cocktail of HIV drugs (each one independently validated) works quite well (on certain variants of HIV) is compelling evidence for the cause/effect relationship of HIV/AIDS. And the fact that some people get HIV but dont ever contract AIDS is more a testament to genetic polymorphisms are an evolutionary mechanism to prevent the human race from being wiped out by a single disease rather than solid dispute of HIV causing AIDS. Some people smoke their whole live and never get lung cancer. Other people smoke their lives and do get cancer. Just because people respond differntly to something foreign (whether its a virus or in this case a carcinogen) doesn mean that smoking doesnt cause cancer.

LOL. I just needed to set the record straight. Its a joke, farce, tragedy, whatever, that some people take a big fat dump on millions of man-hours of conclusive research (conducted by thousands of people worldwide), which is dillegently collected and quite clear that AIDS is caused by HIV to propose preposterous counter-theories. What's next cold-fusion? Oh wait they already tried that.

No I havent read it, and Im afraid I cant really offer any non-technical books on the subject. The fact that you can get a so-called "expert" to say (with a straight face) that the PCR data is not-conclusive (because there is an extremely LOW probability of error, like a 1 in a million) so they can get their tesitmony fees is simply a disgrace to our legal system.

Just to set the record straight, AIDS is caused by HIV.

A guy like Wiley is doing basic research on what proteins look like- that type of science is really far removed from reasearch to develop drugs. His job is to understand what the 3D structure of the protein is. That is just the first step in the 10-20 year long process to develop a drug which attacks the disease protein. If he was going to be whistle blowing on anything, it would probably be invloving some kind of political/money scandal at the hospital he was just coming from. I would be investigating hospital corruption way before I start thinking about bioterrorism of pharmaceutical companies.

If the Anthrax was distributed from a domestic terrorist, I still believe that it had to be culivated abroad. I frankly dont buy that some grad student could have produced the spores at night in his spare time, at an Academic Lab or Research Institure. There would have been some leakage and subsequent infections, that public health officials would have caught on to.

Although he didnt testify, we had to hear on and on from Johnie Cockroach about how they had a "Nobel Peace Prize" winner (cockroach was too stupid to recall that Mullis was a Chemistry Nobel Laureate) to testify on how "disputable" the evidence was. I followed that case very, very closely (Im a trained Ph.D. Molecular Biologist, who lived in L.A at the time) and OJ was a guilty as you can get.

Kerry Mullis is an absolute fraud. Yeah he invented PCR, but and AIDS expert, he is not. Dont beleive a word that guy says. He is one of the reasons OJ Simpson is a free man.

damn sorry about all the spelling errors there.

A guy like Wiley has absolutely zero value to a terrorist. The problem is that some of these terrorists are too stupid to knwo who to snatch and who not to. I dont think that it was suicide (world class Harvard scientists that have everything they want dont typically jump off bridges- bit ya never know). It seems much more like he knew something that somebody with ALOT of money didnt want him to know.