And another court decision.

Following on from the previous post, another update.

"In the first ruling of its kind, a US court has overturned the designation of an inmate at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp as an 'enemy combatant."

"But Huzaifa Parhat is now in his seventh year of imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay, and he doesn't even know about this ruling because he's sitting in solitary confinement and we can't tell him about it."

I hope he finds out soon. 7 years????

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7470405.stm
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2008/06/2008623212853179602.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080623/ap_on_go_su_co/guantanamo_chinese_muslim

we always live in extraordinary times -- and so must our laws

"The US Supreme Court has said foreigners held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison have the right under the US constitution to challenge their detention in US civilian courts.

The court ruled on Thursday that detainees in the US jail in southern Cuba 'have the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus'.

'The laws and constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times,' said Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court."

Justice Kennedy, those are sweet words. Though it's worth asking -- don't we always live in extraordinary times? When were the ordinary times?

Read:

US Court Backs Guantanamo Detainees
AlJazeera.Net, June 12, 2008.

I found some articles, some which made me smile and some which made me think.

One for now...explore the site for others.

While we live, let us live
by Juliet Maruru

http://www.kenyaimagine.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1340&Itemid=87

What wonder that every tendency is to excess,- radical complaint, radical remedies, bitter denunciation or angry silence. Some rise, some sink. The criminal and the sensualist leave the church for the gambling hell and the brothel...the better classes segregate themselves.... form an aristocracy, cultured but pessimistic, whose bitter criticism stings while it points out no way of escape. W.E.B. Du Bois

"The theoretical tools we use do make a difference—they influence our choices of questions, our culling of available "data" ("evidence"), they inflect our narrative styles, and, ultimately, they shape the stories we tell. But without such "tools," we could tell no stories at all."

--Richard Handler, AHR 2002.

We agree on something.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7428376.stm

An afternoon of pottering is a luxury to be treasured. Small thoughts, short meandering journeys, and ignoring all those urgent things on the list for a little while.

Memories that appear in technicolor in my mind are surrounded by vaguer sensations, a sign of the time that has passed. Pinks and reds, of sun and blue sky and people, lots of people -- I think of all the places I have been, Rajasthan presents one of the richest array of details -- tassels, jewels, mirrors, sequins, veils and shawls...

I was there a long time ago, over half of my life ago. A blink of the eye in the history of the land, of course, but long enough that the name of the place conjures up a feeling for which I can't quite find the words.

un peu d'espoir?

Yes......finally......maybe this messy contest will finish and the guy who has won the support of Democrats across the US will be recognised as the, er, winner...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7394311.stm

Though it has been a bit messy, you have got to admire the extended contest for votes....American politics...at least the country has taken its time to choose a nominee!

What will November bring?