Whoa! Now here's a take on the SCOTUS Military Tribunal Decision I hadn't considered!

Quote:

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Today's Supreme Court ruling seems to me a remarkable point in the development of a kind of quasi-sovereignty for non-state organizations.
Were there to develop an Anti-Qaeda force, a private military to pursue Al Qaeda and win the war on its own terms, then their members would also have the Geneva Conventions apply to them, were they ever to be apprehended or detained by the US, yes? In other words, if the Geneva Convention now applies to a non-state that is a non-signatory in the eyes of the US, does it not then apply to ALL non-states that are non-signatories?
This is quite a large new degree of sovereignty that has been granted to non-state organizations. How will the concept of citizenship evolve with decisions like these?
If protections that normally accrue to states after debate and ratification can now be given over to non-states which have no mechanism for ratification, let alone debate, one can easily imagine a scenario in which non-state organizations form themselves and immediately possess the rights of a state, with no corresponding need to adhere to any laws in their own activities.
If this is the case, then we have the answer to the war: it will be privatized, and its ultimate victories won by uninhibited private military actors, not the hamstrung citizen militaries of nation-states.

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But only a little piece of it, for now.

Dead man's Party
by Oingo Boingo
II'm all dressed up with nowhere to go
Walkin' with a dead man over my shoulder
Waiting for an invitation to arrive
Goin' to a party where no one's still alive
CHORUS
I was struck by lighting
Walkin' down the street
I was hit by something last night in my sleep
It's a dead man's party
Who could ask for more
Everybody's comin', leave your body at the door
Leave your body and soul at the door . . .
(Don't run away it's only me)
All dressed up with nowhere to go
Walkin' with a dead man
Waitin' for an invitation to arrive
With a dead man . . . Dead Man . . .
Got my best suit and my tie
Shiny silver dollar on either eye
I hear the chauffeur comin' to the door
Says there's room for maybe just one more . . .
CHORUS
Don't run away it's only me
Don't be afraid of what you can't see
Don't run away it's only me . . .

Effect: Somewhat similar to Spirits (in the Material World)[i] in that it's an astral projection song for Doug, but there are two important differences: A) It leaves his unconscious body behind for the duration of the song's effect, and B) everyone who is in or enters the area of effect around is body for the song's duration is also affected - and if someone is pulled out of the AoE by some means the effect immediately ends for them, snapping their astral consciousness back, and leaving them disoriented for a few seconds adjusting to the change in surroundings as well as the whole corporeality thing.
I'm picturing this being used when Doug happens to land in a DC Comics world, and ends up starring in the Joker's favorite game show, Dead/Not Dead, to give the clown a taste of his own airborne neurotoxin, so to speak, but I'm sure there are far more interesting things people can think up for it.
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

(sings)
Just a little otaku
Didn't know Freinds from NYPD Blue
but I knew subs before I left my nursery
Left alone just watching Ranma
Slayers, Ah Megami Sama
Anime women! You made a bad boy out of me!

OOOOH, you gotta take me home tonight
OOOOH, in that TV tube's soft light
OOOOH, You gotta make me scream and shout,
Anime girls you make otakus' world go round!

Feel free to join in - you know you're as guilty as I am
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

In a 5-3 vote today, the Supreme Court of the US rejected President's Bush's plan to hold military tribunals for Guantanamo detainees, saying it "violated the U.S. Military Code of Justice and the Geneva Conventions".
The ruling also declared that the congressional resolution passed just after 9/11 did not grant President Bush as much power as he has claimed it did.
Article here.
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

Well, here's one for the "Not allowed under Bob's rules but wish it was" category...
Imagine a universe along the Walk where Doug discovers a Weird Al parody of a particular tune by Queen....
(Weird Al doing Freddy Mercury? The mind boggles. I can't imagine what it would look like, but I know I'd pay money to see it)
Here I am
I'm the master of your pastries.
Fire up your oven
It's my appetite you'll feed.

CHORUS:
Yes, I'm the one
The only one
Bakery critic of kingdom come--
GIMME THE PIES!!
JUST GIMME THE PIES!



"I've got something to say -- it's better to eat out, than to waste away!"
:

Just keep yours cakes
Or I'll crush them in my hands.
Your dainty blintzes
You just leave them in the pans.


...and so on.
The original tune is "Gimme the Prize (Kurgan's Theme)" from the "Highlander" OST (There IS only one!).

As for what Doug's metatalent would do with this song... well, *I'd* say that it's blindingly obvious. Unless Doug has some kind of extreme dislike for Three Stooges movies or something....
Originally, I had wanted to cross-tie this in with all those full-page ads in Marvel comics during the 70s and 80s where the Hero(ine), helpless against the Villain's newest plot, is saved by the timely arrival of a shipment of Hostess pies (and cakes), which distract said villain so much (s/he's busy *eating,* and just can't stop) that the Hero(ine) is able to save the day without much effort. But I decided I was stretching things a bit as it was.
And, sadly, there's probably no chance of Doug doing a Neo and asking
for "Pies. Lots of pies," while infinite racks of baked goods appear out of the vanishing point. Too bad.

Time Article
Y'know, here's usually the time where I could say something witty, like, I dunno, titling the thread "SHOCK and ARGH", or perhaps commenting on how that biased liberal media, determined to believe their own country employs torturers no matter the evidence to the contrary, is at it again.
But some things make a man so goddamn angry, so goddamn bitter, so goddamn full of bile and disgust, that trying to make any sort of joke about them tastes like ashes.

news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060...erprinting

Quote:

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Advocates for abuse victims said they were unaware of the policy change and accused the dioceses of placing concern for illegal immigrants above children's safety.

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z-gryphon.livejournal.com/374480.html
Ja, -n
(an extremist)

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

Wind across Salisbury plain
Ancient stones stand in the rain
Silhouettes against the stormy night
I walk in a counter spiral
Outside of this sunless dial
Waiting, hoping, watching for a sign
I see shadows form and disappear in shades of grey
The flicker of a thousand minds
Voices are calling from another time and place
The name that echoes here is mine
Circle of stone
I step inside
Calling through the window of time
Oh, circle of stone
Circle of stone
It starts to spin
No beginning and no end
Oh, circle of stone
As I turn the storm above me grows away
To reveal a dome of stars
The milky way seems to wink at me as if to say,
"We know exactly where you are"
Circle of stone
It turns inside
Falling through the window of time
Oh, circle of stone
Circle of stone
Forever spins
No beginning and no end
Oh, circle of stone
Rising to the highest plane
Nothing's left undone
In the universal plan
All things are one
Circle of stone
It turns inside
I reach back through the window of time
Oh, circle of stone
Circle of stone
Forever spins
No beginning and no end
Oh, circle of stone
Oh, circle of stone
Wind across Salisbury plain
Ancient stones stand in the rain
Silhouettes against the stormy sky
I walk in a clockwise spiral
Step out of this sunless dial
Back into the darkness of the night
Back into the darkness of the night
-- Laura Powers, Circle of Stone
-- Bob
---------
...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...