Townie Bastard: Mindset
Array We have run these thru ACS, JAG and MWR, and all appear legit.http://www.operationhomelink.org - Free computers for spouses or parents of deployed soldier in ranks E1 - E5.https://www.operationuplink.org - Free phone cards. http://bluestarmoms.org/care.html - free care packages.http://www.heromiles.org/ - free air travel for Emergency Leave, and for the family members of injured soldiers to travel to Medical facility.http://www.bluestarmothers.org/airlinespecials.php - Airline discounts for R &
link
The photos that I took today: The cities that I visited today: Enschede (9.5h), Glanerbrug (5.4h).
link
In order to prepare for Jack’s travels to Guantanamo Bay, we thought it might be helpful to provide a little background. The first segment, posted previously, will provide a brief oversight about GTMO, where it is located, and how the U.S. acquired it in the first place. The second segment, posted previously, will focus upon the Naval Base itself. This posting will provide some information regarding the detention camp that is the topic of much of the debate in Washington DC as we speak. Jack has not had the chance to verify all of the information supplied by Wikipedia. So, you will need to cross reference yourself. However, it should provide a good starting part and overview.According to Wikipedia:Guantánamo Bay detainment camp, serving as a joint military prison and interrogation center under the leadership of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), has occupied a portion of the United States Navy’s base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002.[1] The prison holds people suspected by the Executive branch of the U.S. government of being al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives, along with some people no longer considered suspects who are being held pending relocation elsewhere. The prisoners were captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world.The detainment areas consist of three camps in the base: Camp Delta (which includes Camp Echo), Camp Iguana, and the now-closed Camp X-Ray. The facility is often referred to as Guantanamo, Gitmo (derived from the abbreviation GTMO ), or Camp X-Ray.[2]The camp has drawn strong criticism both in the U.S. and world-wide for its detainment of prisoners without trial, and allegations of torture. The detainees held by the United States were classified as enemy combatants. The U.S. administration had claimed that they were not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Convention, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against this interpretation on June 19, 2006. Following this, on July 7, 2006 the Department of Defense issued an internal memo stating that prisoners will in the future be entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions.[3][4][5]On September 6, 2006, President Bush announced that fourteen suspected terrorists are to be transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp and admitted that these suspects have been held in CIA black sites. These people include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 al-Qaida leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11, 2001, hijacker; and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells before he was also captured in Pakistan, in March 2002.[6]None of the 14 top figures transferred to Guantanamo from CIA custody had been charged until September 11, 2006.[7]HistoryIn the last quarter of the 20th century, the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base was used to house Cuban and Haitian refugees intercepted on the high seas. In the early 1990s, it held refugees who fled Haiti after military forces overthrew democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. These refugees were held in a detainment area called Camp Bulkeley until United States District Court Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. declared the camp unconstitutional on 8 June 1993. The last Haitian migrants departed Guantánamo on 1 November 1995.The Migrant Operations Center on Guantánamo typically keeps fewer than 30 people interdicted at sea in the Caribbean region.On June 16, 2005, the United States Department of Defense announced that a unit of defense contractor Halliburton will build a new 0 million detention facility and security perimeter around the base.StatisticsAlso see List of Detainees.On September 22, 2004 ten prisoners were brought from Afghanistan. A total of 242 detainees had been moved out of Guantánamo as of July 20, 2005, including 173 that were released, and 69 transferred to the governments of other countries, according to the United States Department of Defense.[8]As of November 7, 2005, 358 of the 505 detainees then held at Guantánamo Bay had had Administrative Review Board hearings, according to a November 12, 2005, report by the Wall Street Journal. Of these, 3 percent were granted and awaiting release, 20 percent were to be transferred, 37 percent were to be further detained at Guantánamo, and no decision had been made in 40 percent of the cases. Of the 505 detainees, 100 or more are from Saudi Arabia, about 80 from Yemen, about 65 from Pakistan, about 50 from Afghanistan, two from Syria and one from Australia. A Camp Delta recreation and exercise area at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The detention block is shown with sunshades drawn on December 3, 2002.From 2002 to 2006 there have been several hunger strikes at Guantánamo Bay, with up to 200 participants according to some reports.[9] Numerous participants were being force-fed through a feeding tube when their health and lives became in danger. The Australian reports that as of May 30, 2006, the number of detainees on hunger strike is 75.[10]FacilitiesThis article or section does not cite its references or sources.You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations.Camp Delta composed of detention camps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and Camp Echo, is a 612-unit detention center built between February 27 and mid-April 2002. Most of the security force there is U.S. Army military police, and U.S. Navy Master-at Arms. Camp Echo, part of the Camp Delta compound, is a detention center where pre-commissions are held — its detainees may talk privately to lawyers. Camp Iguana a smaller, low-security compound, located about a kilometer from the main prison compound. In 2002 and 2003, it housed three detainees who were under age 16, and was closed when they were flown home in January 2004. The compound was reopened in mid-2005 to house some of the 38 detainees who were determined by the Combatant Status Review Tribunals not to actually be illegal combatants. Those who could not safely be repatriated to their home country were moved to Camp Iguana. Camp X-Ray was a temporary detention facility, closed on April 29, 2002, and its prisoners transferred to Camp Delta. But the term Camp X-Ray is sometimes still used as a synonym for the entire facility where suspected (and formerly mistakenly suspected) Al Qaeda and Taliban illegal combatants are detained. ControversyActions of the U.S. GovernmentThe status of this prison, above political beliefs, is not clear and may be against Human Rights and democratic ethics and laws, although U.S. courts have partially accepted the status of the prison as existing outside many of the U.S. laws, with the caveat that additional rights be provided regarding due process. In June 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court further restricted the Bush administration’s use of military tribunals to try the detainees.The Executive branch of the U.S. government has classified the detainees in Camp X-Ray as enemy combatants, rather than prisoners of war (POWs), which they claim means that they do not have to be conferred the rights granted to POWs under the Geneva Conventions. The U.S. government justifies this designation by claiming that they do not have the status of either regular soldiers nor that of guerrillas, and they are not part of a regular army or militia.In July 2003, about 680 alleged Taliban members and suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists from 42 different countries were incarcerated there. None have been allowed to meet with attorneys.On April 23, 2003, the U.S. military reported that three of the Afghan war prisoners held at Camp Delta had been identified as juveniles, were separated from the adult prisoners, and moved to markedly better conditions at Camp Iguana. Civil rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith wrote an article where he cited reports of a further dozen minors detained in the adult portion of the prison. Smith asserted that there were twenty or more minors detained in Guantanamo. When the DoD released what it called its final list of all the detainees who had been held in military custody at Guantanamo there were dozens of detainess who would have been minors when captured, who were housed in the adult portion of the prison, in violation of international law.Main article: minors detained in the global war on terrorOn July 23, 2003, U.S. Major General Geoffrey Miller said that three-quarters of the roughly 660 detainees had confessed to some involvement in terrorism. Many have informed about friends and colleagues. According to Miller, the confessions were acquired through rewards that included extended recreation time, extra food rations to keep in their cells, or a move to the prison’s medium-security facility.On June 12, 2006, Sen Arlen Specter stated to CNN that the arrests of most of the roughly 500 prisoners held there were based on the flimsiest sort of hearsay.[11]Conditions at the campThis article or section does not cite its references or sources.You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations. The neutrality of this article or section may be compromised by weasel words.You can help Wikipedia by removing weasel words. Physical conditions for detainees at Camp Delta meet basic standards for maintaining health[citation needed]. Prisoners are held in small mesh-sided cells with little privacy, and lights are kept on day and night. Detainees are said to have rations similar to those of American forces, with consideration for Muslim dietary needs. James Yee, a Muslim chaplain from the United States Army, provided religious services, but has now resigned after unproven allegations were brought against him by the United States, following his tour of duty at Guantánamo Bay. These charges include sedition, aiding the enemy, espionage — although it was never declared on whose behalf, and failure to obey a general order. He was then transferred to a United States Navy brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Later, the charges were dropped. He states that he resigned because no apology was given, nor was there an acknowledgement of error by the United States.[citation needed] Demonstration against what is done in Guantanamo Bay detention center, Washington D.C.Detainees are kept in isolation most of the day, are blindfolded when moving into Camp Delta and from place to place within the camp, and forbidden to talk in groups of more than three. American doctrine in dealing with prisoners of war state that isolation and silence are effective means in breaking down the will to resist interrogation. There have been allegations of torture, including sleep deprivation, the use of so-called truth drugs, beatings, locking in confined and cold cells, and being forced to maintain uncomfortable postures. It has been alleged that SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) program’s chief psychologist, Colonel Morgan Banks, issued guidance in early 2003 for the behavioral science consultants who helped to devise Guantánamo’s interrogation strategy. SERE is a program based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.[citation needed]In April 2006 it was discovered that several detainees had managed to secretly grow vegetables from seeds garnered from their meals, creating a makeshift garden in violation of camp regulations.[12]CriticismsThe use of Guantánamo Bay as a military prison has drawn fire from human rights organizations and other critics, who cite reports that detainees have been tortured [13] or otherwise poorly treated. Supporters of the detention argue that trial review of detentions has never been afforded to prisoners of war, and that it is reasonable for enemy combatants to be detained until the cessation of hostilities. However, the detainees’ status as potential or active terrorists, and the lack of any ratified treaties regarding treatment of captured terrorists, makes the situation particularly complicated. The Bush administration argued that the Third Geneva Convention does not apply to perceived Al Qaeda or Taliban fighters, since the Geneva convention only applies to uniformed soldiers of a recognized government.[citation needed] Critics of U.S. policy say the government has violated the Conventions in attempting to create a distinction between ‘prisoners of war’ and ‘illegal combatants’.[14] A U.S. district court partially agreed with the Bush administration, finding that the Geneva Conventions apply to Taliban fighters, but not to Al Qaeda terrorists.[15]Amnesty International and the United Nations have called the situation a human rights scandal in a series of reports.[16]Member states of the European Union and the Organization of American States, as well as non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International have protested the legal status and physical condition of detainees at Guantánamo. Courts in the United States and the United Kingdom have been approached by relatives and friends of detainees to request a legal determination favorable to detainees.The human rights organization Human Rights Watch has criticized the Bush administration over this designation in its 2003 world report, stating: Washington has ignored human rights standards in its own treatment of terrorism suspects. It has refused to apply the Geneva Conventions to prisoners of war from Afghanistan, and has misused the designation of illegal combatant to apply to criminal suspects on U.S. soil.On May 25, 2005, Amnesty International released its annual report calling the facility the gulag of our times, even using the expression The Gulag Archipelago to design to the whole of the black sites:Guantánamo has become the gulag of our times, entrenching the notion that people can be detained without any recourse to the law. If Guantánamo evokes images of Soviet repression, ghost detaineeslink
One of the leading laptop and desktop PC vendors, Acer has still hold a strong position in Vietnam where it has been holding a pick in the laptop market over the year. It holds the 41% of the market share of laptop sold ever in Vietnam. Moreover, at present the rate is more lucrative. Its present market share is 60%. Acer bosses think that this success came through the competitive price of the Acer laptop. To continue this success rate, Acer is planning to introduce nine new models of laptop in the Vietnam market. I am quoting some information regarding the new laptops in Vietnam from an article: “On Monday, it already launched the Veriton 5800 with 256 megabytes of internal memory and an 80 gigabyte hard drive, plus a 15 monitor at a cost of US99.The prices of laptops using AMD chip range from US00 to US,600 each and the prices of laptops using dual core chip of Intel range from US,500 to US,100 each.link
Since so many of you seem to enjoy the young whipper-snapper rant, I thought I would throw this up as well. Each year Beloit College does their Mindset List for the incoming Freshman class. So this class, which will graduate in 2010 (theoretically) was mostly born in 1988.I assume that’s the anguished scream of Jason I hear, running off to his prscious stash of booze.Anyway, they’ve been doing this for years and they can be pretty entertaining. Feel free to go and check them out.However, presented here for your amusement is this year’s list.1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union. 2. They have known only two presidents.3. For most of their lives, major U.S. airlines have been bankrupt.4. Manuel Noriega has always been in jail in the U.S. 5. They have grown up getting lost in big boxes.6. There has always been only one Germany.7. They have never heard anyone actually ring it up on a cash register. 8. They are wireless, yet always connected.9. A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents’.10. Thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents have always been able to speak freely in the front.11. A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.12. Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines. 13. Faux fur has always been a necessary element of style.14. The Moral Majority has never needed an organization.15. They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams. 16. DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence in court.17. They grew up pushing their own miniature shopping carts in the supermarket.18. They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of communication.19. Google has always been a verb.20. Text messaging is their email. 21. Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.22. Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been the most trusted man in America.23. Bar codes have always been on everything, from library cards and snail mail to retail items.24. Madden has always been a game, not a Superbowl-winning coach.25. Phantom of the Opera has always been on Broadway.26. Boogers candy has always been a favorite for grossing out parents. 27. There has never been a skyhook in the NBA.28. Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents’ attics.29. Computerized player pianos have always been tinkling in the lobby.30. Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.31. They grew up in mini-vans. 32. Reality shows have always been on television.33. They have no idea why we needed to ask …can we all get along?34. They have always known that In the criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet equally important groups.35. Young women’s fashions have never been concerned with where the waist is.36. They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.37. Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or third wedding.38. Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.39. So as in Sooooo New York, has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else40. Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have always been the subjects of television series. 41. They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.42. Ken Burns has always been producing very long documentaries on PBS.43. They are not aware that flock of seagulls hair has nothing to do with birds flying into it.44. Retin-A has always made America look less wrinkled.45. Green tea has always been marketed for health purposes.46. Public school officials have always had the right to censor school newspapers.47. Small white holiday lights have always been in style.48. Most of them never had the chance to eat bad airline food.49. They have always been searching for Waldo.50. The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.51. Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.52. They never played the game of state license plates in the car.53. They have always preferred going out in groups as opposed to dating.54. There have always been live organ donors. 55. They have always had access to their own credit cards.56. They have never put their money in a Savings
link
Array We have run these thru ACS, JAG and MWR, and all appear legit.http://www.operationhomelink.org - Free computers for spouses or parents of deployed soldier in ranks E1 - E5.https://www.operationuplink.org - Free phone cards. http://bluestarmoms.org/care.html - free care packages.http://www.heromiles.org/ - free air travel for Emergency Leave, and for the family members of injured soldiers to travel to Medical facility.http://www.bluestarmothers.org/airlinespecials.php - Airline discounts for R &
link
The photos that I took today: The cities that I visited today: Enschede (9.5h), Glanerbrug (5.4h).
link
In order to prepare for Jack’s travels to Guantanamo Bay, we thought it might be helpful to provide a little background. The first segment, posted previously, will provide a brief oversight about GTMO, where it is located, and how the U.S. acquired it in the first place. The second segment, posted previously, will focus upon the Naval Base itself. This posting will provide some information regarding the detention camp that is the topic of much of the debate in Washington DC as we speak. Jack has not had the chance to verify all of the information supplied by Wikipedia. So, you will need to cross reference yourself. However, it should provide a good starting part and overview.According to Wikipedia:Guantánamo Bay detainment camp, serving as a joint military prison and interrogation center under the leadership of Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO), has occupied a portion of the United States Navy’s base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since 2002.[1] The prison holds people suspected by the Executive branch of the U.S. government of being al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives, along with some people no longer considered suspects who are being held pending relocation elsewhere. The prisoners were captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere around the world.The detainment areas consist of three camps in the base: Camp Delta (which includes Camp Echo), Camp Iguana, and the now-closed Camp X-Ray. The facility is often referred to as Guantanamo, Gitmo (derived from the abbreviation GTMO ), or Camp X-Ray.[2]The camp has drawn strong criticism both in the U.S. and world-wide for its detainment of prisoners without trial, and allegations of torture. The detainees held by the United States were classified as enemy combatants. The U.S. administration had claimed that they were not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Convention, but the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against this interpretation on June 19, 2006. Following this, on July 7, 2006 the Department of Defense issued an internal memo stating that prisoners will in the future be entitled to protection under the Geneva Conventions.[3][4][5]On September 6, 2006, President Bush announced that fourteen suspected terrorists are to be transferred to the Guantanamo Bay detainment camp and admitted that these suspects have been held in CIA black sites. These people include Khalid Sheik Mohammed, believed to be the No. 3 al-Qaida leader before he was captured in Pakistan in 2003; Ramzi Binalshibh, an alleged would-be Sept. 11, 2001, hijacker; and Abu Zubaydah, who was believed to be a link between Osama bin Laden and many al-Qaida cells before he was also captured in Pakistan, in March 2002.[6]None of the 14 top figures transferred to Guantanamo from CIA custody had been charged until September 11, 2006.[7]HistoryIn the last quarter of the 20th century, the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base was used to house Cuban and Haitian refugees intercepted on the high seas. In the early 1990s, it held refugees who fled Haiti after military forces overthrew democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. These refugees were held in a detainment area called Camp Bulkeley until United States District Court Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. declared the camp unconstitutional on 8 June 1993. The last Haitian migrants departed Guantánamo on 1 November 1995.The Migrant Operations Center on Guantánamo typically keeps fewer than 30 people interdicted at sea in the Caribbean region.On June 16, 2005, the United States Department of Defense announced that a unit of defense contractor Halliburton will build a new 0 million detention facility and security perimeter around the base.StatisticsAlso see List of Detainees.On September 22, 2004 ten prisoners were brought from Afghanistan. A total of 242 detainees had been moved out of Guantánamo as of July 20, 2005, including 173 that were released, and 69 transferred to the governments of other countries, according to the United States Department of Defense.[8]As of November 7, 2005, 358 of the 505 detainees then held at Guantánamo Bay had had Administrative Review Board hearings, according to a November 12, 2005, report by the Wall Street Journal. Of these, 3 percent were granted and awaiting release, 20 percent were to be transferred, 37 percent were to be further detained at Guantánamo, and no decision had been made in 40 percent of the cases. Of the 505 detainees, 100 or more are from Saudi Arabia, about 80 from Yemen, about 65 from Pakistan, about 50 from Afghanistan, two from Syria and one from Australia. A Camp Delta recreation and exercise area at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The detention block is shown with sunshades drawn on December 3, 2002.From 2002 to 2006 there have been several hunger strikes at Guantánamo Bay, with up to 200 participants according to some reports.[9] Numerous participants were being force-fed through a feeding tube when their health and lives became in danger. The Australian reports that as of May 30, 2006, the number of detainees on hunger strike is 75.[10]FacilitiesThis article or section does not cite its references or sources.You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations.Camp Delta composed of detention camps 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and Camp Echo, is a 612-unit detention center built between February 27 and mid-April 2002. Most of the security force there is U.S. Army military police, and U.S. Navy Master-at Arms. Camp Echo, part of the Camp Delta compound, is a detention center where pre-commissions are held — its detainees may talk privately to lawyers. Camp Iguana a smaller, low-security compound, located about a kilometer from the main prison compound. In 2002 and 2003, it housed three detainees who were under age 16, and was closed when they were flown home in January 2004. The compound was reopened in mid-2005 to house some of the 38 detainees who were determined by the Combatant Status Review Tribunals not to actually be illegal combatants. Those who could not safely be repatriated to their home country were moved to Camp Iguana. Camp X-Ray was a temporary detention facility, closed on April 29, 2002, and its prisoners transferred to Camp Delta. But the term Camp X-Ray is sometimes still used as a synonym for the entire facility where suspected (and formerly mistakenly suspected) Al Qaeda and Taliban illegal combatants are detained. ControversyActions of the U.S. GovernmentThe status of this prison, above political beliefs, is not clear and may be against Human Rights and democratic ethics and laws, although U.S. courts have partially accepted the status of the prison as existing outside many of the U.S. laws, with the caveat that additional rights be provided regarding due process. In June 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court further restricted the Bush administration’s use of military tribunals to try the detainees.The Executive branch of the U.S. government has classified the detainees in Camp X-Ray as enemy combatants, rather than prisoners of war (POWs), which they claim means that they do not have to be conferred the rights granted to POWs under the Geneva Conventions. The U.S. government justifies this designation by claiming that they do not have the status of either regular soldiers nor that of guerrillas, and they are not part of a regular army or militia.In July 2003, about 680 alleged Taliban members and suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists from 42 different countries were incarcerated there. None have been allowed to meet with attorneys.On April 23, 2003, the U.S. military reported that three of the Afghan war prisoners held at Camp Delta had been identified as juveniles, were separated from the adult prisoners, and moved to markedly better conditions at Camp Iguana. Civil rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith wrote an article where he cited reports of a further dozen minors detained in the adult portion of the prison. Smith asserted that there were twenty or more minors detained in Guantanamo. When the DoD released what it called its final list of all the detainees who had been held in military custody at Guantanamo there were dozens of detainess who would have been minors when captured, who were housed in the adult portion of the prison, in violation of international law.Main article: minors detained in the global war on terrorOn July 23, 2003, U.S. Major General Geoffrey Miller said that three-quarters of the roughly 660 detainees had confessed to some involvement in terrorism. Many have informed about friends and colleagues. According to Miller, the confessions were acquired through rewards that included extended recreation time, extra food rations to keep in their cells, or a move to the prison’s medium-security facility.On June 12, 2006, Sen Arlen Specter stated to CNN that the arrests of most of the roughly 500 prisoners held there were based on the flimsiest sort of hearsay.[11]Conditions at the campThis article or section does not cite its references or sources.You can help Wikipedia by introducing appropriate citations. The neutrality of this article or section may be compromised by weasel words.You can help Wikipedia by removing weasel words. Physical conditions for detainees at Camp Delta meet basic standards for maintaining health[citation needed]. Prisoners are held in small mesh-sided cells with little privacy, and lights are kept on day and night. Detainees are said to have rations similar to those of American forces, with consideration for Muslim dietary needs. James Yee, a Muslim chaplain from the United States Army, provided religious services, but has now resigned after unproven allegations were brought against him by the United States, following his tour of duty at Guantánamo Bay. These charges include sedition, aiding the enemy, espionage — although it was never declared on whose behalf, and failure to obey a general order. He was then transferred to a United States Navy brig in Charleston, South Carolina. Later, the charges were dropped. He states that he resigned because no apology was given, nor was there an acknowledgement of error by the United States.[citation needed] Demonstration against what is done in Guantanamo Bay detention center, Washington D.C.Detainees are kept in isolation most of the day, are blindfolded when moving into Camp Delta and from place to place within the camp, and forbidden to talk in groups of more than three. American doctrine in dealing with prisoners of war state that isolation and silence are effective means in breaking down the will to resist interrogation. There have been allegations of torture, including sleep deprivation, the use of so-called truth drugs, beatings, locking in confined and cold cells, and being forced to maintain uncomfortable postures. It has been alleged that SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape) program’s chief psychologist, Colonel Morgan Banks, issued guidance in early 2003 for the behavioral science consultants who helped to devise Guantánamo’s interrogation strategy. SERE is a program based in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.[citation needed]In April 2006 it was discovered that several detainees had managed to secretly grow vegetables from seeds garnered from their meals, creating a makeshift garden in violation of camp regulations.[12]CriticismsThe use of Guantánamo Bay as a military prison has drawn fire from human rights organizations and other critics, who cite reports that detainees have been tortured [13] or otherwise poorly treated. Supporters of the detention argue that trial review of detentions has never been afforded to prisoners of war, and that it is reasonable for enemy combatants to be detained until the cessation of hostilities. However, the detainees’ status as potential or active terrorists, and the lack of any ratified treaties regarding treatment of captured terrorists, makes the situation particularly complicated. The Bush administration argued that the Third Geneva Convention does not apply to perceived Al Qaeda or Taliban fighters, since the Geneva convention only applies to uniformed soldiers of a recognized government.[citation needed] Critics of U.S. policy say the government has violated the Conventions in attempting to create a distinction between ‘prisoners of war’ and ‘illegal combatants’.[14] A U.S. district court partially agreed with the Bush administration, finding that the Geneva Conventions apply to Taliban fighters, but not to Al Qaeda terrorists.[15]Amnesty International and the United Nations have called the situation a human rights scandal in a series of reports.[16]Member states of the European Union and the Organization of American States, as well as non-governmental organizations such as Amnesty International have protested the legal status and physical condition of detainees at Guantánamo. Courts in the United States and the United Kingdom have been approached by relatives and friends of detainees to request a legal determination favorable to detainees.The human rights organization Human Rights Watch has criticized the Bush administration over this designation in its 2003 world report, stating: Washington has ignored human rights standards in its own treatment of terrorism suspects. It has refused to apply the Geneva Conventions to prisoners of war from Afghanistan, and has misused the designation of illegal combatant to apply to criminal suspects on U.S. soil.On May 25, 2005, Amnesty International released its annual report calling the facility the gulag of our times, even using the expression The Gulag Archipelago to design to the whole of the black sites:Guantánamo has become the gulag of our times, entrenching the notion that people can be detained without any recourse to the law. If Guantánamo evokes images of Soviet repression, ghost detaineeslink
One of the leading laptop and desktop PC vendors, Acer has still hold a strong position in Vietnam where it has been holding a pick in the laptop market over the year. It holds the 41% of the market share of laptop sold ever in Vietnam. Moreover, at present the rate is more lucrative. Its present market share is 60%. Acer bosses think that this success came through the competitive price of the Acer laptop. To continue this success rate, Acer is planning to introduce nine new models of laptop in the Vietnam market. I am quoting some information regarding the new laptops in Vietnam from an article: “On Monday, it already launched the Veriton 5800 with 256 megabytes of internal memory and an 80 gigabyte hard drive, plus a 15 monitor at a cost of US99.The prices of laptops using AMD chip range from US00 to US,600 each and the prices of laptops using dual core chip of Intel range from US,500 to US,100 each.link
Since so many of you seem to enjoy the young whipper-snapper rant, I thought I would throw this up as well. Each year Beloit College does their Mindset List for the incoming Freshman class. So this class, which will graduate in 2010 (theoretically) was mostly born in 1988.I assume that’s the anguished scream of Jason I hear, running off to his prscious stash of booze.Anyway, they’ve been doing this for years and they can be pretty entertaining. Feel free to go and check them out.However, presented here for your amusement is this year’s list.1. The Soviet Union has never existed and therefore is about as scary as the student union. 2. They have known only two presidents.3. For most of their lives, major U.S. airlines have been bankrupt.4. Manuel Noriega has always been in jail in the U.S. 5. They have grown up getting lost in big boxes.6. There has always been only one Germany.7. They have never heard anyone actually ring it up on a cash register. 8. They are wireless, yet always connected.9. A stained blue dress is as famous to their generation as a third-rate burglary was to their parents’.10. Thanks to pervasive headphones in the back seat, parents have always been able to speak freely in the front.11. A coffee has always taken longer to make than a milkshake.12. Smoking has never been permitted on U.S. airlines. 13. Faux fur has always been a necessary element of style.14. The Moral Majority has never needed an organization.15. They have never had to distinguish between the St. Louis Cardinals baseball and football teams. 16. DNA fingerprinting has always been admissible evidence in court.17. They grew up pushing their own miniature shopping carts in the supermarket.18. They grew up with and have outgrown faxing as a means of communication.19. Google has always been a verb.20. Text messaging is their email. 21. Milli Vanilli has never had anything to say.22. Mr. Rogers, not Walter Cronkite, has always been the most trusted man in America.23. Bar codes have always been on everything, from library cards and snail mail to retail items.24. Madden has always been a game, not a Superbowl-winning coach.25. Phantom of the Opera has always been on Broadway.26. Boogers candy has always been a favorite for grossing out parents. 27. There has never been a skyhook in the NBA.28. Carbon copies are oddities found in their grandparents’ attics.29. Computerized player pianos have always been tinkling in the lobby.30. Non-denominational mega-churches have always been the fastest growing religious organizations in the U.S.31. They grew up in mini-vans. 32. Reality shows have always been on television.33. They have no idea why we needed to ask …can we all get along?34. They have always known that In the criminal justice system the people have been represented by two separate yet equally important groups.35. Young women’s fashions have never been concerned with where the waist is.36. They have rarely mailed anything using a stamp.37. Brides have always worn white for a first, second, or third wedding.38. Being techno-savvy has always been inversely proportional to age.39. So as in Sooooo New York, has always been a drawn-out adjective modifying a proper noun, which in turn modifies something else40. Affluent troubled teens in Southern California have always been the subjects of television series. 41. They have always been able to watch wars and revolutions live on television.42. Ken Burns has always been producing very long documentaries on PBS.43. They are not aware that flock of seagulls hair has nothing to do with birds flying into it.44. Retin-A has always made America look less wrinkled.45. Green tea has always been marketed for health purposes.46. Public school officials have always had the right to censor school newspapers.47. Small white holiday lights have always been in style.48. Most of them never had the chance to eat bad airline food.49. They have always been searching for Waldo.50. The really rich have regularly expressed exuberance with outlandish birthday parties.51. Michael Moore has always been showing up uninvited.52. They never played the game of state license plates in the car.53. They have always preferred going out in groups as opposed to dating.54. There have always been live organ donors. 55. They have always had access to their own credit cards.56. They have never put their money in a Savings
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